In the last few days every journalist (or outraged blogger) covering #Kony2012 has been so busy reporting on what the bloggers have been saying and putting together salad after salad of African (and therefore authentic, true etc) opinion, that they have utterly failed to actually do any journalism. That’s right: reporting. Finding out what this thing is actually about. So far as I can tell there hasn’t been much of this. As a result the conversation has either taken the form of handwringing over What Is To Be Done in Northern Uganda (we all think we know more about this than six-year-old Gavin and so we can all speak with great confidence on such matters) or else gawping blankly at the colossal, though suspiciously self-pronounced, power of social media. A big part of the story that is being missed is that Invisible Children and their project are firmly rooted in evangelical Christianity.
The Invisible Christians of #Kony2012
Safari Suits
Hoping to dress people who want to reference themselves as elites who’ve had the leisure to “do good” after having spent as much on their wardrobe as they did on their fave charity? Michael Kors did, apparently.
I like Kors’ self-parodic performances on the TV show, Project Runway, and also like that he’s more into producing for the fashion consumer (albeit the animal-print clad Amazonian variety with the deep pockets); not mystical productions intended to generate critical acclaim (often done without the talent necessary for any real critic to drum up any acclaim).
But this year, for New York Fashion Week, he produced what The Guardian’s culture critic and sometime-fashionista Hadley Freeman described as “gap year-esque fare” following the “eternally popular and eternally misguided theme of “safari”,” which “looked like something designed solely for a magazine fashion shoot in Africa, probably starring Angelina Jolie lounging decorously on a designer handbag while gazing soulfully at some noble tribesmen.”
Clooney in Africa
The media buzz (including blogging, tumbling and retweeting, as well as Facebooking) around Newsweek magazine’s ridiculous cover story of film actor George Clooney (title: “On the ground with a new kind of statesman”) highlight the titilating; i.e. Clooney’s sexual conquests of “way too many chicks”). Too bad, since the piece is really about how Clooney has the access and time to jet off to be a presence in nations that may not need him.
In January alone, he’s balanced the rigours surrounding the Academy Awards, hanging out on Mexican beaches with his Italian model/actress-of-the-moment, and giving face-time to South Sudanese. There he is in Sudan (above), method acting Marlow by the river of his destiny.
Bono knows an immense amount
The Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog” on Friday claimed “… there is no simple answer to whether we should or should not use stars to promote good causes,” especially when it comes to development issues. Though the phenomenon has spawned a slew of derogatory words to describe the celebrity/cause mashup (“celanthropists”, “mallrtuism”, “charitainment” and “badvocacy”, and even “celebrigod”), argued Poverty Matters, “… like it or not, celebrities are regarded as crucial tools to raise unpopular issues, and over the past 25 years, development issues have been inextricably linked with celebrity status.” Even better, “… experts in development will acknowledge that celebrities like Bono or Bob Geldof now know an immense amount about the subjects on which they are lobbying.”
Here you can listen to The Guardian on whether celebrities “have a role in development.”–Neelika Jayawardane.
Blinded by Red Ribbons
And what has Mr. Bono been doing lately?
Here he is, frolicking with a gala-flawless red satin ribbon. (Caption:”U2 front man, Bono, middle, poses with fellow band member, The Edge, left, Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard, right, and New South Wales state Premier Kristina Keneally at an event to launch World Aids Day in Sydney.”)
Out of Africa Redux
Every Journey Began in Africa. Oh, really?
Checking in from that mythical magical place known as “Africa” (or, as Women’s Wear Daily reports, an “arid South African vista”) are Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, founders of the fashion brand, Edun, for which the above campaign was shot. The campaign is part of a push to relaunch the brand, which Bono and Hewson founded in 2005 with, as the Wall Street Journal reports, “the lofty mission of revitalizing apparel manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa.” Trade, not aid. That’s what “the Africans” tell Bono, anyway.
‘The Religion of the Contemporary West’
Jacob Collins, writing in The New Left Review, summarizes Regis Debray’s critique of ‘Human Rights’:
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Keep Africa Alive*
It’s been four years, but the juggernaut that is (PRODUCT) RED rolls on. And new products keep getting added to what was once only GAP t-shirts, Starbucks lattes and iPod Nanos. Most recently, Nike joined in with special edition laces. Yes, that’s right. Laces. As in, laces. (This makes me wonder why there hasn’t been a SWEDOW/(RED) collabo, à la “Save an African, then clothe him with the t-shirt—now used obviously—that saved his life!” Between labels like GAP, Armani, Converse and Nike, the possibilities are endless!) And just this week, it was announced that book publisher Penguin Classics was partnering with (RED) to bring us special editions of “some of the best books ever written,” including titles from Edith Wharton, Henry James, Leo Tolstoy, and, none other than Joseph Conrad. Yes. I know what you’re thinking but, alas, it is not his Heart of Darkness. I suppose even Bono can understand that this would have been the ultimate irony. Buy the heart of darkness and save it at the same time!
After four years of this, there really doesn’t seem anything left to say about (RED), which is why I was expecting more of the same from The Lazarus Effect, the Spike Jonze-produced (RED)/HBO documentary about Zambians living with HIV/Aids that premiered last night. (You can watch the 30-minute film in its entirety on YouTube here.)
Well, I wasn’t entirely wrong.
Bono does something right
You know we give Bono a lot of grief on this site, but in this commercial for the ESPN’s coverage of the 2010 World Cup, he is on point. And he speaks the truth. Did I just say that. In this case of course.
Two Annoying White Men
Another year, another “special” Africa issue. For today, it’s Canada’s Globe and Mail, guest edited by the OGs of Team Save Africa, Bono and Bob Geldof. In their first order of business, B&B answered the very tough question: who speaks for Africa? (The Globe and Mail had invited readers to send in questions.) Why, asked one reader, does it take two white men to discuss the positive things that are happening in Africa? Why, indeed?
Well I don’t know, because they don’t actually answer the question. Note that part of the impetus for this issue was to highlight “the Africa you don’t know.” B&B, of course, only go on about the Africa they want us to know, the poor one that cannot function without their intervention. And, yes, they get that they’re “annoying,” says Bob. And? Bono, for his part, takes it a bit further. He “doesn’t see color,” he says. He “forgets,” you see (must be nice). Perhaps what he doesn’t see is that there are others more qualified than he to do this job. Not many, of course, come endorsed by both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Bono does, he reminds us. That Bono—the one thing he never forgets is to namedrop.
