[quote]Posted at 04:37 PM ET, 03/07/2012
Invisible Children responds to criticism about ‘Stop Kony’ campaign
By Elizabeth Flock
A new campaign spreading across the Internet says it has one goal in mind: Make Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the violent Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) “famous” so he can be brought to justice.
Joseph Kony. (Stuart Price - AP)
The viral film was created by Invisible Children, a charity that seeks to end the conflict in Uganda and raises awareness about the use of child soldiers and other human rights abuses by Kony and the LRA.
But some activists have voiced concerns about the methods used by Invisible Children to raise awareness.
Jedediah Jenkins, director of idea development for Invisible Children, called the criticism “myopic” and said the film represented a “tipping point” in that it got young people to care about an issue on the other side of the planet that doesn’t affect them.
#StopKony has been trending worldwide on Twitter since Tuesday, and, as of this writing, the video “Kony2012” has a combined 15 million views on YouTube and Vimeo.
Kony is undeniably brutal, and the World Bank estimates that under his leadership the LRA has abducted and forced around 66,000 children to fight with them during the past two decades. In October, President Obama committed 100 U.S. troops to help the Ugandan army remove Kony.
But in November, a Foreign Affairs article pointedly challenged the tactics used by Invisible Children and other nonprofits working in the region to raise awareness. “Such organizations have manipulated facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil,” the magazine wrote.
One of Invisible Children’s partner organizations, Resolve, responded to the accusation at the time in a blog post, calling it a “serious charge ... published with no accompanying substantiation.”
Jenkins maintained Wednesday that the numbers the charity uses are not exaggerated, as they are the same numbers used by Human Rights Watch and the U.N.
Charity Navigator, a U.S.-based charity evaluator, gives Invisible Children three out of four stars overall, four stars financially, and two stars for accountability and transparency.
Invisible Children has two stars, Jenkins said, because the charity has only four independent board members instead of five. He said it is currently interviewing for a fifth position.
A bill Invisible Children helped pass into law in 2009 has also been criticized. The bill is designed to support stabilization and peace in Uganda and areas affected by the LRA. Critics say it has strengthened the hand of the Ugandan president, whose security forces have a human rights abuse record of their own. The Enough Project, an NGO that fights genocide and human rights abuses, has said the bill’s bipartisan support showed people “come together for peace.”
“There is a huge problem with political corruption in Africa,” said Jenkins. “If we had the purity to say we will not partner with anyone corrupt, we couldn’t partner with anyone.”
Human rights activists agree, however, that the abuses of the LRA are far worse than those of Uganda’s security forces. Over the past two decades, the LRA made it common practice to enter towns and kill the adults, take the male children as soldiers, and sexually abuse the female children.
Lt. Col. Mamadou Gaye, a military spokesman for a United Nations stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said recently that the LRA “has been weakened” by military efforts. The group is believed to now have only about 250 armed members. Gen. Carter Ham, the head of U.S. Africa Command, said recently that Kony was no longer in Uganda.
On April 20, Invisible Children is calling on its supporters to stop Kony and the LRA’s campaign once and for all — by using the social media and viral tactics that have made “Kony2012” so widespread.
“This is the day when we will meet at sundown and blanket every street in every city until the sun comes up,” Jason Russell, who directed the film for Invisible Children, says in the video. “The rest of the world will go to bed Friday night and wake up to hundreds of thousands of posters demanding justice.”
But “Visible Children,” a Tumblr blog that has received much attention for questioning the efforts of Invisible Children, wrote Wednesday that those social media tactics aren’t helping. “These problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren’t of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow,” the blog wrote.
Jenkins doesn’t agree. “There is only so much policymakers and foundations can do,” he said. He thinks that if a high schooler and a adult were asked today who Joseph Kony is, only the high schooler would know the answer, as a result of Invisible Children’s film.
“The film has reached a place in the global consciousness where people know who Kony is, they know his crimes,” Jenkins said. “Kids know and they respond. And then they won’t allow it to happen anymore.”
[/quote]
I think he has a point here,
[quote]“There is a huge problem with political corruption in Africa,” said Jenkins. “If we had the purity to say we will not partner with anyone corrupt, we couldn’t partner with anyone.”[/quote]
I don't know too much about their organization, but I do think their focus on using a large amount of their charitable donations to market themselves isn't ill-intentioned considering they done such a good job raising awareness. Though they could have been more forward as to how donations were going to be used.
[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-childrens-stop-kony-campaign/2012/03/07/gIQA7B31wR_blog.html?wprss=blogpost[/url]
I just don't think it's entirely fair for them to be vilified so often here, the IC is just trying to get the ball rolling in Uganda by promoting stability. regardless if the current govt. has problems with human rights abuses of their own, it would stop a lot more human suffering in the grand scheme of things.
I'm sorry... but is your avatar a penis? What the fuck?
On topic: Didn't Kony leave the country they're supposedly helping?
I failed for it.
Luckily the price of that package woke me up
[QUOTE=NicoleEmilid;35044640]I'm sorry... but is your avatar a penis? What the fuck?
On topic: Didn't Kony leave the country they're supposedly helping?[/QUOTE]
Yes. And now he occupies an even larger area than before.
Lmao at penis avatar.
If you're funding corrupt people to hunt another corrupt person, you aren't making the situation much better.
[QUOTE=NicoleEmilid;35044640]On topic: Didn't Kony leave the country they're supposedly helping?[/QUOTE]
The U.S. has been hunting him since October.
Wil Wheaton had a [URL="http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to"]really good post[/URL] on the whole Kony thing, too bad it doesn't want to load for me.
[QUOTE=Ordigenius;35044689]I failed for it.
Luckily the price of that package woke me up[/QUOTE]
You failed for it? What?
Anyways I just purchased the package and I am feeling really good about myself. $30 for package + $20 for international shipping ( :S ). Who cares money is going for a good cause!
i was stingy about buying into this
looks like years of muted cynicism have payed off
[QUOTE]“Kids know and they respond. And then they won’t allow it to happen anymore.”[/QUOTE]
This sounds like the Children's Crusade Round 2: Electric Boogaloo. With AIDS.
[QUOTE=peepin;35044756]You failed for it? What?
Anyways I just purchased the package and I am feeling really good about myself. $30 for package + $20 for international shipping ( :S ). Who cares money is going for a good cause![/QUOTE]
Not especially a good cause, only 31% of that is actually going to Uganda, where Kony isn't active anymore.
[QUOTE=Kinversulath;35044736]If you're funding corrupt people to hunt another corrupt person, you aren't making the situation much better.
The U.S. has been hunting him since October.
Wil Wheaton had a [URL="http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to"]really good post[/URL] on the whole Kony thing, too bad it doesn't want to load for me.[/QUOTE]
The Ugandan govt. would at least provide stability. Africa is a hellhole already, but the IC by funding them is still preventing a lot of suffering
It's not an ideal situation, but it does much more good than harm in my opinion. Even if that means funding a lesser evil.
[QUOTE=peepin;35044756]You failed for it? What?
Anyways I just purchased the package and I am feeling really good about myself. $30 for package + $20 for international shipping ( :S ). Who cares money is going for a good cause![/QUOTE]
The "good" cause part is what is controversial, the point is in that 30 minute propaganda short you saw on youtube, left out some SERIOUS key facts about where your money is going, how it is being used, and it neglects to mention the shady entities in the Uganda government that is getting funds from the IC (IE donators/you). Maybe you could argue "fight fire with fire" on this situation, stop another corrupt human being by funding a less corrupt, but still bad entity and hope that it makes the situation better, but in reality, it is a sad and ironic situation,
[editline]8th March 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Lamar;35044809]The Ugandan govt. would at least provide stability. Africa is a hellhole already, but the IC by funding them is still preventing a lot of suffering
It's not an ideal situation, but it does much more good than harm in my opinion. Even if that means funding a lesser evil.[/QUOTE]
The issue is, the video leaves that part out, because it would de-validate their cause to a degree. That's technically propaganda to the highest point, leaving out the facts that could hurt you, only tell the side of the story that helps you the most.
I'm not exactly sure who to support here. This Kony guy is definitely evil as hell, and I think the people who disregard him are fools. On the other hand, the Invisible Children do seem to not be entirely trustworthy and such, so, yeah.
We still need to look at this Kony situation, but perhaps in a different way.
[QUOTE=NicoleEmilid;35044640]I'm sorry... but is your avatar a penis? What the fuck?
On topic: Didn't Kony leave the country they're supposedly helping?[/QUOTE]
that's a tiny dick
[QUOTE=Lamar;35044809]The Ugandan govt. would at least provide stability. Africa is a hellhole already, but the IC by funding them is still preventing a lot of suffering
It's not an ideal situation, but it does much more good than harm in my opinion. Even if that means funding a lesser evil.[/QUOTE]
But there are other, better charities that you can donate to.
[QUOTE=neos300;35044867]But there are other, better charities that you can donate to.[/QUOTE]
I'm not advising you need to donate to them, I just posted this since I noticed a lot posters were completely vilifying them and I didn't think that was entirely fair.
Aren't they just taking most of the donations for themselves?
How did people not know about this before the viral video? This shit has been going on for decades.
[QUOTE=neos300;35044788]Not especially a good cause, only 31% of that is actually going to Uganda, where Kony isn't active anymore.[/QUOTE]
31% isn't bad actually. Most charities spend on average about 80% of their donations on administration and marketing I believe. I'll find a source if I can later today I guess.
[QUOTE=Takkun10;35044952]How did people not know about this before the viral video? This shit has been going on for decades.[/QUOTE]
It's called western societies. AKA the general public doesn't really care on what doesn't affect them until a piece of propaganda hits them emotionally.
[QUOTE=Rubs10;35044946]Aren't they just taking most of the donations for themselves?[/QUOTE]
No, it seems like most of it is towards marketing themselves in order to raise awareness. Though by doing this they may have raised more money than they would ever have if they didn't spend so much of it on marketing themselves.
[QUOTE=Rubs10;35044946]Aren't they just taking most of the donations for themselves?[/QUOTE]
You can say that about every large organization that asks for donations.
The whole point of this move is to make Kony 'popular' so that the world leaders would finally make a move against him and bring him to justice. So I wont be surprised that most of the donations are used to fund this move (to break even from all the costs) and send the rest to actually help others.
Like I said; I purchased the kit and I am happy with my decision. I want to believe that Kony will be brought to justice by the end of this year.
Disagree with me or rate me dumb I don't care. <3
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/5H5gy.jpg[/IMG]
Donating money to them when they just give it to the Uganda military kind of defeats the purpose though, doesn't it? I mean aren't they known to recruit and use child soldiers themselves? If so, do you really want to save child from being soldiers by fighting against them with child soldiers? Sounds really flawed, even if its a lesser of evils thing.
[QUOTE=lum1naire;35045509]Donating money to them when they just give it to the Uganda military kind of defeats the purpose though, doesn't it? I mean aren't they known to recruit and use child soldiers themselves? If so, do you really want to save child from being soldiers by fighting against them with child soldiers? Sounds really flawed, even if its a lesser of evils thing.[/QUOTE]
31% of the money that they receive is actually used to help. Some of that 31% is put towards infrastructure and such in Uganda, and some of it is put towards the Uganda military. And yes they are known for child soldiers and raping and looting themselves
[QUOTE=JCDentonUNATCO;35044708]Yes. And now he occupies an even larger area than before.[/QUOTE]
Hardly, he's backed into a corner.
[editline]8th March 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=peepin;35044756]You failed for it? What?
Anyways I just purchased the package and I am feeling really good about myself. $30 for package + $20 for international shipping ( :S ). Who cares money is going for a good cause![/QUOTE]
Do you know where the money is going? It's not going to Uganda, if you're thinking that.
[editline]8th March 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=peepin;35045046]You can say that about every large organization that asks for donations.
The whole point of this move is to make Kony 'popular' so that the world leaders would finally make a move against him and bring him to justice. So I wont be surprised that most of the donations are used to fund this move (to break even from all the costs) and send the rest to actually help others.
Like I said; I purchased the kit and I am happy with my decision. I want to believe that Kony will be brought to justice by the end of this year.
Disagree with me or rate me dumb I don't care. <3[/QUOTE]
Uh, no, they don't, they actually put it to use in the area effected. IW doesn't.
Its like when World Vision used their money to send priests instead of food.
[QUOTE=Pandamox;35045864]31% of the money that they receive is actually used to help. Some of that 31% is put towards infrastructure and such in Uganda, and some of it is put towards the Uganda military. And yes they are known for child soldiers and raping and looting themselves[/QUOTE]
It's part infrastructure and part Military Technology. They even mentioned that in the 30 minute video.
"Donate money so that the Ugandan Military can have the technology to track down Joseph Kony"
[QUOTE=NoobieWafer223;35048362]It's part infrastructure and part Military Technology. They even mentioned that in the 30 minute video.
"Donate money so that the Ugandan Military can have the technology to track down Joseph Kony"[/QUOTE]
Who the hell wants to fund the Ugandan military? They're almost as bad as Kony himself.
I fell for it
by paying my favourite mods
so uuuh win/win?
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