Guest AcrossCanyons Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 http://vimeo.com/37119711 "KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice." http://www.kony2012.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hexagon son Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Fuck, this is viral... It's all over my FB. People I know from all over the world have been posting it. Maybe I should watch the fucking thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary C Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 If you do watch it, then take the time to read this critique which has been banned from sharing on Facebook. 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, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven’t had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that. The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money funds 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arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. As Christ 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.” 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Such a juvenile criticism. Link by link then: The first one is a long piece from Foreign Affairs: it simply says that the one effort is not enough to resolve the situation in Uganda. Meanwhile the stated mission of Invisible Children is not to solve affairs in Uganda - it is simply to bring Kony to justice. The second link is an op-ed which states that this take sup resources which could be used more productively. Since there were no US government resources devoted to this topic previous to this, all the film has done is open up a market to draw funds. Many competing ideas can fill that place. Again, this is not supposed to be a comprehensive solution, it is bring attention to the message. The third link is a criticism that the movement smells of a "White Man's Burden". The United Nations mandate Responsibility to Protect is an international mandate which has three basic pillars: A state has a responsibility to protect its population from mass atrocities. The international community has a responsibility to assist the state if it is unable to protect its population on its own. If the state fails to protect its citizens from mass atrocities and peaceful measures have failed, the international community has the responsibility to intervene through coercive measures such as economic sanctions. Military intervention is considered the last resort. This has nothing to do with the White Man's Burden as it is not an attempt to colonise and rule, nor is it about cultural imperialism. For a yale professor to suggest that it reeks of such suggests to me that he hasn't actually read the poem "White Man's Burden". This is about assisting nations all over the world in protecting the most vulnerable populations. It should also be noted that the opinion piece by the professor was written in 2009. Second paragraph - if the organization Invisible Children's finances are public, then the criticism that they haven't had their finances externally audited is fundamentally invalid - their finances are always open to audit. The issue of rape is of course a serious one. The Ugandan army is not perfect, and in an ideal world, military intervention would not be necessary. The claims of rape deserve to be treated seriously, and the issue of former LRA being in the Ugandan army is also one that needs to be addressed. Developed nations such as the US have a responsibility (although the US army is far from perfect, it has evolved since the days of mass rape by US soldiers in Vietnam) to assist in creating a more professional and accountable military in Uganda. The LRA has most certainly been active since 2006 The last paragraph links to the same criticism about taking up resources. The notion that it takes up rhetorical space is ridiculous at its very core - there is no limit on space that can be devoted to rhetoric on Uganda, and while this one might be simplistic in its approach, apparently the way to motivate people to action or further investigation is by first promoting simplistic thought, since not many people are going to be willing to sit down and read pages and pages and pages of information. I was going to post this video here - it is powerful in its message, it raises awareness, and it can effect change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nene multiple assgasms Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 they should exile this guy to some kind of island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary C Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 That's all well and good, Chen, but I was trying to raise awareness about alternative ways of interpreting narratives in social media. I'm printing some bracelets to highlight my inspirational cause right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshuatxuk Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 The strangest thing about all of this is I quite vividly remember the Save Darfur campaign in 2005 and the original Invisible Children documentary tour in 2006 when I was still in college. You couldn't escape it nor the bandwagon joining students who signed up for free t-shirts and repeatedly invited peers to facebook groups. I hate to be a cynic as well, but I highly doubt the majority of those 20-somethings now have even checked a headline about South Sudan's current struggles. And now, I find it beyond ironic that Jim Inhofe, the same anti-gay legislator that was affiliated with American organizations that openly supported Uganda's death penalty legislation for homosexuals, is a major supporter of Kony 2012 and Obama's deployment of military advisors to the country last year. These kind of campaigns do raise awareness well, and they are well organized and sincere, but it just always seems the same superficiality that draws its support also cripples it. I recall my very nice but nonetheless bible-thumping friend who volunteered for Invisible Children talking my ear off about it. He never played up any guilty feelings, which I appreciate (and he could of, since he actually did humanitarian work there), but I was always amazed at how naive he was about history and society in general. Specifically, I remember him watching the end of Full Metal Jacket and being visually shocked and disturbed at the end when a child soldier is shot point blank by the main character and he begun asking "that didn't happen right? kids didn't fight...and Americans didn't do that kind of stuff...right?" I think he's mellowed out religiously, but still, another irony in the fact that Kony and the LRA are ideologically driven by fundamentalist Christian beliefs. There always seems to be very firm black and white thinking about U.S. foreign policy, and young idealists often seem completely detached from the pragmatic decisions actually made by most developed nations. Even worse, the right-wingers here seem very irrational in their pick-and-choose decisions on what America should be doing (i.e. fight terrorists, do something in Syria but not Libya, basically be skeptical of all Obama does even if Bush did it too) I'm not totally on board with criticizing it though. The "White Man's Burden" allusion is extremely misinformed. I think even a African lead UN-peacekeeping operation is better than some unrealistic and massive international military intervention. Maybe a ceasefire with long-term benefits will emerge. Those are reasonable expectations. Because I highly doubt college students will drop out of school and form a militia to fight the LRA themselves, the last time that kind of mobilization occurred was the Spanish Civil War. The international community generally wants to quell violence without much hypocrisy, and with as little financial and military involvement as possible. That's why it's all just calculated operations by private contractors and special operations troops when the U.S. and NATO get involved. We're not going to see another Gulf War or Kosovo-esque operation any time soon, especially in Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Gary - the whole thing reeks of smug condescension, it is far easier to sit back and criticize than to be proactive. This is a complex issue, and the idea that there is ever going to be a "one size fits all" solution to the myriad problems sub-Saharan Africa faces is simply not realistic. The idea that this sort of movement takes away from the ability to think comprehensively about the issue is nonsense. The International Crisis Group has quite a bit of literature on the subject written by several people who are eminently much more qualified to talk about the issue than anybody on this board (including me). Yes it's an appeal to authority, but these are people who have done aid work in the region, have studied it for years and have a much better grasp oh what is going on than a simple response to a video. Joshua - the idea is not to form student militias. The US has sent 100 advisors or so to work with the Uganda (and possibly ANISOM) military forces. Also the LRA is a christian militia in name only - their tactics and operations give the lie to any claim of Christian motivation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chassis Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 THE WORD IS FUCKING INFAMOUS. Why the fuck do they keep saying famous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ruiagnelo Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 my facebook news feed has 70% of Kony trailers. should i be worried? edit: something happening? end of the world related?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YO303 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 lol i watched this thinking it was a mockumentary about ACTUAL invisible children (it was good though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshuatxuk Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Joshua - the idea is not to form student militias. The US has sent 100 advisors or so to work with the Uganda (and possibly ANISOM) military forces. Also the LRA is a christian militia in name only - their tactics and operations give the lie to any claim of Christian motivation. Oh I know, sorry I should of made that sarcastic point more obvious. I know that's not even remotely they organization's intention. It was a ridiculous counter to the highly emotional and motivated rhetoric behind "raising awareness." I just find it interesting to think about how in the first half of the 20th century it wouldn't be unusual or unheard of for Americans to raise money or directly volunteer for say, armed resistance in a certain country, the Spanish Revolution or the Irish Civil War. (It's probably on my mind because I've been scanning/digitizing a lot of historical documents dealing with such events) And I agree, LRA, much like many terrorist groups, armed militias, nationalist parties, etc. is "Christian" in name only. I just read up some more on their ideological positions - you're right, they're actually quite vague in their "religious" motivations, especially compared to other such groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanakori Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Everyone that cares about this is hypocritical, juvenile, and misinformed. only if the ron paul campaign team had such skills at making corny videos..... Now THAT would help the world. Kony 2012? Grow up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest disparaissant Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 A girl I work with is half Ugandan. Her father (Ugandan, from Uganda) fucking despises Invisible Children. Says they are by far the most worthless and self-serving group of foreigners in Uganda. They have very little idea of what they are actually doing or what is actually going on in the region, and their actions a few years ago lead directly to the breaking of a truce that resulted in fighting between Kony and the SPLA that ended up with another thousand dead people. I'm down with the idea that criticizing a good thing isn't a great idea. However, everything I am hearing from reasonable sources (i.e. not an anonymous facebook post or a not-very-well-read professor) is that Invisible Children does more harm than good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanakori Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Thank you for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest disparaissant Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 You're welcome! I'm glad you care so deeply about the Ugandan people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanakori Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Thanks. I do care about people in general.I have a big heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KY Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 what about me, kanakori? i sent you an apology message:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alex C Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I'm amazed Coldplay haven't put together a benefit show yet. Ah. Give it a week and kids will have forgotten about it, tumbling the shit out of some shit clubnight instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 A girl I work with is half Ugandan. Her father (Ugandan, from Uganda) fucking despises Invisible Children. Says they are by far the most worthless and self-serving group of foreigners in Uganda. They have very little idea of what they are actually doing or what is actually going on in the region, and their actions a few years ago lead directly to the breaking of a truce that resulted in fighting between Kony and the SPLA that ended up with another thousand dead people. I'm down with the idea that criticizing a good thing isn't a great idea. However, everything I am hearing from reasonable sources (i.e. not an anonymous facebook post or a not-very-well-read professor) is that Invisible Children does more harm than good. Umm I'm pretty sure that Invisible Children wish they had that much influence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006%E2%80%932008_Juba_talks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest disparaissant Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 im not pretending to be an expert just saying what i heard. that article certainly doesn't preclude external involvement. and frankly, a group of white people not from uganda calling for us military intervention in uganda strikes me as. well, wrong. silly. stupid. fucking idiotic, even. we've got a shitty track record with that sort of thing. we're what, 1 for 17 or something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest disparaissant Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 i think this fits in this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YO303 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 The sad thing is that this is just a fad for 99 percent of people "concerned" about this after watching the video, they'll forget about this in a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshuatxuk Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 ^Didn't know about that guy. Reminds me of the Swedish pilot who smuggled relief supplies into Biafra, then imported small rocket-armed planes in order to fly air raids against the Nigerian Air Force. Thanks for info disparaissant. Coincidently I saw some Today Show feature a day or two ago about Sundanese civilians being attacked in air strikes on the Sudan/South Sudan border. They interviewed "Nuba rebels" at one point as well as an Invisible Children volunteer in the region. I think the rebels they interviewed might be SPLA or SPLA affiliated, but I don't know. Searched around, and sure enough, there are claims the SPLA and Invisible Children are quite close, with this blog post (<granted this one goes into the 'white man burden' rhetoric) linking to the picture below. This blog has a decent amount of good links about "Kony 2012" in the context of what is actually going on, and suggested donating to Child Soldiers International instead. ^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YO303 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I also hate enthusiasm , i can't be bother doing any of the stuff the video asks me to do, wish them luck though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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