

Open your eyes a little wider


Kony 2012. Photo by AP.

By now most of us internet-savvy human beings and/or devoted followers of Delaney McDonough have heard about the Kony 2012 campaign against the Lord’s Resistance Army, led by Joseph Kony, that has been terrorizing Uganda for decades. The movement that has quickly spread over the interwebs through social networking sites, where the video by Invisible Children was originally shared, has created a lot of controversy, pitching people against each other and providing everyone with a soapbox to stand on.

If you don’t know what I mean, take a look at some “Stop Kony” Facebook groups or scroll down your Twitter feed. Both are filled with hate from every spectrum: people bashing Kony, bashing the efforts to stop Kony, and bashing the organizations that are trying to stop Kony. People are complaining that America has enough of it’s own problems, that child warfare and sex slavery is happening all over the world, and that people are just “jumping on the bandwagon” and should stop being so mindless.

But really, let’s look at the big picture. People are becoming aware of something that wasn’t present to them before. An effort to stop one atrocity will only lead to more awareness, a stronger effort, a more informed public.

And I’d rather see a mass migration to a child slavery protest than to a Twilight movie premiere.

Regardless though, the problem I have with all of this is its spearhead group: Invisible Children.

While I commend their efforts, they have single-handedly taken the hearts of millions with the sad plight of helpless Ugandan children and, according to a 2011 Foreign Affairs article, used them for sympathtic support for their “charity” and exaggerated the tragedy in Uganda itself. Also, Invisible Children isn’t necessarily a non-for-profit as much as an advocacy group, meaning of the millions of dollars they raise through sales of t shirts and bracelets, only about 30% makes it directly to those they are “supporting,” the displaced children and victims to war crimes across Africa through active aid.

The rest: supporting the film-making habit of the three kids who went to Africa, saw some stuff and showed their college friends.

Oh, and paying their salaries.

I genuinely support what they do and I think their progress and spread of awareness is amazing and so beneficial, but their mission has simplified an extremely complex issue.

Solome Lemma, the Assistant Program Officer for the African chapter of the Global Fund for Children, says sarcastically in her recent blog about the IC movement that according to Invisible Children and their latest documentary, “you don’t have to learn anything about the children, Uganda, or Africa. You just have to make calls, put up flyers, sings songs, and you will liberate a poor, forgotten, and invisible people.”

Kony has been on watch for years and he has evaded assassination attempts and peace negotiations for years.

The best route to killing a man with devoted followers and a literal body guard-shield of children is not to shoot through the wall that surrounds him. And ridding the LRA of their leader would not likely disintegrate the organization, but only make them angrier and more violent.

Invisible Children is supporting the training of the Ugandan army, an army known for raping and looting refugee’s, to take down the LRA, which is the wrong way to go.

Do you see the problem?

I’m clearly oversimplifying, but so does Invisible Children…

BUT Invisible Children and other charities like them have brought the atrocity in Uganda, and in many other countries to light and have sparked government intervention and awareness and for that I commend them, but we all need to look more closely at the motives for non-for-profits like Invisible Children before devoting our hard earned paychecks to travel expenses and film equipment, and not to saving the children.

I by no means support Kony; I think he is inhuman and vile and should be stopped as soon as possible, and I am also an advocate for awareness so seeing the response to the KONY 2012 campaign and how it’s spread is astonishing to me, but first and foremost I think the “masses” who are moved by the subject should also do their research, try to understand the conflict of interest between international intervention and the effect it has on the people who call those countries home, described by Ugandan born blogger, Musa Okwonga, as having “unpleasant echoes of colonialism,” that Invisible Children advocates for.

Their methods are wrong, but their stories and intentions are right.

This is not simply about Kony, this is about every person like him, every man and woman that agrees with him, and every human willing to stop them.

Learn about the strides against the LRA that Ugandans themselves are making and help them directly by checking out local charities and community groups here:

Alexis Willey, Hofstra University

4 Responses

  1. Devin Wallace says:

    Finally, someone who goes against the hive-mind screaming for Kony on a stick. The same people I’ve heard saying they don’t care about sweatshops in Asia or migrant farm workers dying in the fields now care about a ruthless man, yes, but one that has been around for decades? Welcome to the 21st century of slacktivism, where everyone can know everything if they watch a single video on YouTube and share it with their friends. Because examining the root cause (poverty, corruption, infrastructure) would be too challenging, so lets all just accept the word of a poorly-run organization that wants to arm the equally nuts Ugandan military to the teeth, send them into the jungle, and shoot every kid in sight. But don’t worry, they’re saving the children by slaughtering them.

    Alright, I think I’m done with that rant, although if I keep seeing this fetish with Kony, I think I’m going to blow a gasket.

  2. Firebrand says:

    I watched the video. I love the support this is getting but I am still reserved. I gree this man has to be stopped and out government should play a role in stopping him. I just hope that when this mission is complete, they can turn their intelligence and talents and energy, which are considerable, to domestic plights.
    There are many children here at home that need need help, can we ALSO rally for them?

  3. Firebrand says:

    Additionally, if people REALLY wanted to help further this cause and do even MORE to help children all over Africa, rally against UNICEF and our own State Department. There was a statement released late last year. To sum it up, both UNICEF and the State Department want to put an end to international adoption. It is their belief that a child is better of in their home country and culture than by being adopted. Yeah. Right.

  4. Sean says:

    FINALLY someone who did a little bit of research into the matter. The two seconds it takes to do a Google search would save a lot of people’s money.

    Invisible Children has done some good, but not in the right ways, and their ultimate goal will never be reached if they keep robbing people. Kony deserves to rot in a jail cell, but wearing a bracelet and sharing a video on Facebook won’t do anything to further that cause.