Surely everyone knows who Joseph Kony is, and what impact he and his actions have had on international social media in the past month. Jason Russell, the leader of the group Invisible Children (a name in and of itself offensive) has crusaded, using the Internet and YouTube, to have Kony apprehended and tried for war crimes, all while raising money to support his cause. This is my first problem.
It was discovered, through multiple news outlets, that Russell was misappropriating a large amount of funds received by his company, with only 32% going to the actual fund to stop Kony, the remaining 68% going to pay his workers, fund his high definition YouTube films and so on. This definitely discredits any actions Russell tries to defend in terms of the Invisible Children organization. The video, which is 30 minutes in length, begins with Russell explaining, in a very watered down way, the work he does to his 4-year-old son and the audience, assuming the viewer isn’t intelligent enough to know the true reasons behind his African crusade. As with most activist causes on social media networks, many people believed that sharing the link or clicking “like” on Facebook is akin to going to Africa and handling the problem themselves. The batch of “social activists” once again have something to crusade on and on about, which is a problem in itself, but I’m not here to discuss that.
Even more offensive to some is this idea of the white savior, which has offended many people here in America, and within Africa, who feel that Russell’s efforts are superficial at best. Although I have never been sensitive to stories like The Blindside, Russell’s actions and reasoning do seem a bit suspicious. His idea of going down to Africa and blindly trying to rescue the Ugandan people seems to have some sort of underlying motive. Ugandans say that Kony and his army have long abandoned Uganda, fleeing to the jungles of neighboring countries. The Ugandan people have been rebuilding their homes and towns since Kony’s group disappeared, and Invisible Children doesn’t highlight how to help rebuild those towns, so much as to help takedown Kony. One would think that the general purpose of a charity is to help your fellow man, but we all know that definition has been misinterpreted before. Another problem I had with the film and Russell is that Russell never really highlights the victims of Kony’s crimes. He selfishly focuses on himself, his group and Kony’s actions.
Although I don’t mind trying to get a message out about an injustice in the world, and even encourage it, what bothers me most is using propaganda like techniques to send an incomplete or misleading message, especially when it involves giving some sort of money away to a stranger organization, and not knowing exactly what it is going to. Educate yourselves, do your own research, because everything is not always what it seems.
It’s sad to see opinion articles like this one which clearly have no actual research behind them. Honestly, it looks as though the author simply caught part of a Fox News broadcast and decided to write an opinion piece. Editorials, by the very nature of being opinions, are some of the hardest pieces of journalism to write; just ask Times Reporter Nick Kristoff who recently came and spoke at KSU’s campus.
Having been personally involved with IC from an early stage and having met both the managing staff and many volunteers, I can tell you that this article contains very little actual fact. I could go on for days, but I want to address just a couple of key points.
KONY2012 is one of the best awareness programs ever set in motion. Was it oversimplified? Sure. The majority of the public is likely unable to find Uganda on a map. Further, sometimes complex issues need conversation starters rather than a four-hour symposium discussing all angles of the conflict. Certainly, this is one of the focuses of going to college – learning how to gain basic information and then research the cause to find out more. This is what Invisible Children counted on with Kony2012 – that it would be the beginning to a conversation on child soldiers by focusing on one evil man.
Make no mistake – Kony is an evil man and needs to be brought to justice. The fact that he has not operated in Northern Uganda in the last few years actually makes him MORE of a concern, not less. Intelligence reports coming out of Africa have LRA actions in the Congo and Southern Sudan. There is some evidence to support that the LRA is actually working in conjunction with the Sudan’s government to undermine the birth of South Sudan. Certainly, there have been attacks there by the LRA on a number of villages. The fact that Kony now heads a band that “only” numbers around 400 is not to be taken lightly. This is a heavily armed group with no moral boundaries. When the LRA has attacked villages, it has frequently forced children to murder their parents, participated in gang rape, murder and dismemberment of its victims. In December of 2010, Kony’s group attacked a church during a worship service and killed more than 400 people. Certainly, if such a group were wandering about in the US, we would dedicate all possible federal, state and local authorities to bring such a band to justice.
As to what Invisible Children has done and the concept of the “white saviour,” the folks at Invisible Children never set out to be heroes. Initially, it was three recently-graduated college students who went to make a documentary showcasing the effects of the war in Sudan, yet ended up in Northern Uganda where they found thousands of children who trekked daily to bus stations and other places to hide from Kony’s band and avoid being kidnapped. The documentary they produced sparked a nationwide outpouring of support and a desire to help. Instead of plowing through Uganda and setting their own agenda, IC went to the children and asked what they wanted. The unanimous answer? They wanted to go to school. So IC partnered with local (yep, the people who actually live there) organizations to efficiently build education programs, pay for teachers, pay for supplies and uniforms and help build the next generation of Ugandans who, once they reach adulthood, will determine the course of their own country. Their bracelet program enabled women disaffected by the war to participate in a microeconomic program that gave them economic security all the while helping to build a fundraising tool to send more students to school. Most recently, IC began a program installing radios and radio towers in the Congo to help build a rudimentary 911 system that allows villages to alert others not only to the movements of rebel groups like the LRA but also to natural disasters and other threats to human life.
Mr. Pless ends his article with a strong caveat – “Educate yourselves, do your own research, because not everything is what it seems.” Good words to live by. It’s a shame that Mr. Pless didn’t actually take them to heart and do any research on his own, say, such as actually calling Invisible Children and speaking to CEO Ben Keesey or any of the other senior management. I’m sure they could have given him a much better perspective on a complex issue such as the multi-year work of an outstanding organization rather than just “I heard something negative so I’ll go out and spout off on something of which I basically have no understanding.” Next time, Mr. Pless, take your own advice.