Invisible Children - KONY 2012

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Het gaat over Joseph Kony, een giga crimineel die in Uganda kinderen ontvoerde om ze te recruiten voor zn persoonlijke leger. De jongetjes werden getrained om te doden, de meisjes verkocht als seksslaven. Veel werden er ook verminkt, ook door het kinderleger.

Het filmpje vraagt aandacht voor deze zaak, en dat er een eind aan Kony's waanzin moet komen

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Op woensdag 7 maart 2012 21:51 schreef Yuri_Boyka het volgende:

[..]

Over hoeveel geld heb je het. Ik weet niet of jij weet wat een private army kost maar dat is niet zo goedkoop.

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We got trouble.

For those asking what you can do to help, please link to visiblechildren.tumblr.com wherever you see KONY 2012 posts. And tweet a link to this page to famous people on Twitter who are talking about KONY 2012!

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, I’m strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They’ve released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don’t think that’s a good thing, and I’m not alone.

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal for an issue which arguably needs action and aid, not awareness, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they lack an external audit committee. But it goes way deeper than that.

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on supporting African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates 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.” He’s certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

As Chris Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC’s programming, “There’s also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. […] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man’s Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming.”

Still, Kony’s a bad guy, and he’s been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they’ve failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children’s deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don’t realize they’re supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it’s the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don’t think most people are in that position, and that’s a problem.

Is awareness good? Yes. But 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. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn’t helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it’s something. Something isn’t always better than nothing. Sometimes it’s worse.

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony’s crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let’s keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

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Op woensdag 7 maart 2012 22:25 schreef Nibb-it het volgende:
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

[..]

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Actie tegen oorlogsmisdadiger Kony hype op internet

Een wereldwijde campagne tegen de Oegandese guerrillaleider Joseph Kony is uitgegroeid tot een hype op internet. De video Kony 2012 roept op om in actie te komen tegen de van oorlogsmisdaden beschuldigde Kony en is al door ruim 7 miljoen mensen bekeken.

Terreur
De organisatie 'Invisible Children' die de video 'Kony 2012' op het net zette, is opgezet door de Amerikaanse filmmaker Jason Russell en werd in 2006 opgericht. Negen jaar geleden bezocht Russell Oeganda en zag hij hoe duizenden kinderen gebukt gingen onder de terreur van Joseph Kony, de leider van de christelijke Oegandese verzetsbeweging LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). De LRA ronselt kindsoldaten en zaait dood en verderf onder de bevolking.

Het Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag beschuldigde Kony in 2005 van oorlogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid maar tot nu toe kon hij niet worden gearresteerd. Het doel van de campagne is om Joseph Kony's gruweldaden bekend te maken bij het grote publiek en zijn arrestatie te bespoedigen.

Actiepakket
Russell roept op de website Kony 2012 iedereen op om een actiepakket te kopen, dat onder meer twee armbanden en een affiche bevat. De filmmaker rekent erop dat zoveel mogelijk mensen een affiche op 20 april zullen ophangen en stickers zullen plakken. Het pakket bestaat verder uit armbandjes die als steunbetuiging voor de kinderen dienen.

De campagne wordt gesteund door onder meer Rihanna, Vanessa Hudgens, George Clooney en zelfs VS-president Barack Obama.

De organisatie oogst ook kritiek wegens een gebrek aan nuance. Sceptici stellen dat een blanke man uit het Westen een complexe situatie als die in Oeganda niet zomaar even kan oplossen.

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Op woensdag 7 maart 2012 22:39 schreef t-8one het volgende:

[..]

bron: http://www.volkskrant.nl/(...)pe-op-internet.dhtml

Volkskrant artikel over het filmpje en de hype.

quote:

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, Im strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. Theyve released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I dont think thats a good thing, and Im not alone.

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal for an issue which arguably needs action and aid, not awareness, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they lack an external audit committee. But it goes way deeper than that.

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan governments army and various other military forces. Heres a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan Peoples Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasnt been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.

Still, the bulk of Invisible Childrens spending isnt on supporting African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRAs use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony a brutal man, to be sure as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil. Hes certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

As Chris Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of ICs programming, Theres also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. [] It hints uncomfortably of the White Mans Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming.

Still, Konys a bad guy, and hes been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And theyve failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many childrens deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably dont realize theyre supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel its the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I dont think most people are in that position, and thats a problem.

Is awareness good? Yes. But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, arent of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isnt helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I dont, but that doesnt mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because its something. Something isnt always better than nothing. Sometimes its worse.

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Konys crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But lets keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

~ Grant Oyston

Grant Oyston is a sociology and political science student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. You can help spread the word about this by linking to his blog at visiblechildren.tumblr.com anywhere you see posts about KONY 2012.

Please do not email Grant except to provide alternative causes, or with media requests, as I am no longer able to read emails (which Im receiving at a rate of over 1000 an hour).