Critique of a Critique: KONY2012

The following was written by junior Helena Buchmann in response to the Harbinger’s editorial in our past print issue.

When I first started reading the criticisms against Invisible Children after the release of KONY2012, I was ready to jump on the cynical bandwagon. As a leader of Coalition, it hit especially close to home when I read that the organizations that I have avidly supported aren’t necessarily who they say they are. A great example is Greg Mortenson’s Pennies for Peace, who faced similar charges (in a brilliant piece by Jon Krakauer on a much less drastic scale). At first, I was angry. Now, after doing many hours of research, I am excited about the controversy and its effect on the future of the campaign against Kony.

The blog “Visible Children” is where most opposition to the KONY2012 campaign tend to get their ammunition. It is the initial criticism I read, in part, because so many people cited it. However, there are a few things one must remember when reading the blog: it is written by a 20-year-old Nova Scotian college student whose sources have since been deemed less than credible. Here are the main arguments in his post that I find important:

1. “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.”
2. “This is far from ideal for an issue which arguably needs action and aid, not awareness.”
3. “The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces.”
4. “Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission.”
5. “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.”

What I think many people fail to realize is that Invisible Children is not and has never claimed to be a direct action organization. They are an awareness organization, and that has been their mission since they were founded. Any direct services that they have established have been in addition to their main goal. Why doesn’t more money go to these direct services? When you donate willy nilly to Invisible Children, you give them license to do whatever they want with your money. By being proactive and researching Invisible Children’s programs, you can give your money to people you feel need it the most. If you want Ugandan women to receive it, buy a bag through their Mend program. If you want to build a school, participate in Schools for Schools. But don’t just sit there and complain about how they’re not using your money the way you want it to be used.

Obviously this issue needs action and aid, but you aren’t going to get that without awareness. Before KONY2012 was released, only a handful of people knew who Joseph Kony even was. Now there are millions of people globally who have seen the video, and though they may not necessarily agree with Invisible Children’s plan to catch Kony (like myself), they at least know who he is. No government who is not directly affected by this wants to get involved, but public demand increases the likelihood of politicians paying attention and from there stems action and aid.

The blog claims that Invisible Children funds and supports the Ugandan government’s army. Invisible Children in a statement has said that they do not financially support either, though they do feel that the Ugandan military and government are the solutions to this problem and we should support and train them.

That is where I disagree with Invisible Children. I can think of a few instances where our support and training has ended up stabbing us in the back (can you say Taliban?) and I think the United States should be extremely cautious when it comes to providing military training to unstable and corrupt countries. I believe that, since Joseph Kony is the #1 most wanted war criminal in the International Criminal Court, and since his reign of terror has expanded past Ugandan borders, this is a situation in which the UN should get involved, not the US government alone. Not only would this help when it comes to actually catching him, but it would also create a balance in interests, since there have been rumblings implying that the only reason the US wants to go to Africa is to establish capitalism there before China can get to the oil-rich continent.

The fact that Kony is no longer active in Uganda is irrelevant to me. He is active in other countries and he needs to be caught. Yes, many people say that the LRA is not nearly as strong as they once were. However, Kony has proven to rise again time and time again. Moreover, who cares if he is no longer there? He has kidnapped, enslaved and killed many children. We started two wars in an attempt to find Osama Bin Laden, whose influence was far less on the American people than Kony’s has been on the Ugandans.

Finally, the author is correct in asserting that most problems cannot be solved by postering and posting Facebook statuses (his condescending tone really grinds my gears, though). However, I would like to remind readers that we should never underestimate the power of social media. The Arab Spring would never have happened without Facebook and Twitter, and though these are not identical situations, there is obviously no harm in raising awareness of issues via social networking platforms.

I don’t necessarily agree with Invisible Children in all aspects of their work. But their KONY2012 campaign got me excited. It got me excited that though Coalition has been preaching this for years, and though some only recognize him because of the Invisible Children controversy, my friends actually know who Joseph Kony is. It got me excited because we are one step closer to getting this man to be held accountable for his actions. Invisible Children’s plan may not be perfect – and I’m not saying that we should use an imperfect plan – but it is making others think of better plans, which is the most exciting part of it all.