Alan Boswell/MCT It didn’t take long for the Kony 2012 video, produced by Invisible Children, to go viral. The movement received massive support in its first few weeks as the video received hundreds of millions of views, retweets, shares and comments. However, Invisible Children and the Kony 2012 movement have recently come under fire.
Critics are mainly worried about how Invisible Children spends their money, whether their facts are true and whether this movement will actually bring about Kony’s arrest. Due to waning support for the movement, members of Coalition are struggling to keep attendance high while continuing to support the movement.
“When the video first came out, everyone knew what it was, everyone knew about it,” said junior Helena Buchmann, a Coalition leader. “Everyone I knew was like, ‘We’ve gotta do this, we’ve gotta cover the night’ and it was gonna be a really big deal. Now people are just trying to argue against it.”
These arguments slowed the movement, Buchmann said, but they didn’t stop it. It wasn’t until March 15, when Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell was rumored to have been arrested and hospitalized for being under the influence of drugs, that Buchmann really saw the Kony movement begin to face challenges. It was then when Buchmann began to hear more dissent over Kony 2012 from fellow East students.
“It’s not that I’m completely against it,” said junior Gabi Magalski, a Coalition member. “It’s just a very complicated issue. It’s not as black and white as it’s made out to be, and there’s a lot of problems with it.”
Magalski disagrees with Invisible Children’s approach towards arresting Kony, because although Kony is currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Invisible Children is calling on the Ugandan government to aid in Kony’s arrest. This is a common concern for critics of the Kony movement. Another major concern that Magalski raised is how Invisible Children spends their money because only 32% of their funds go to direct services. Buchmann, along with fellow Coalition leaders, worries that these widespread concerns could cause a drop in participation to any Coalition events connected to Kony 2012.
“I’ve had friends say, ‘Oh, you’re watching the Kony video? I’m not coming’,” Buchmann said. “And that’s really frustrating for me, because I support it, it’s still a big deal in my eyes.”
Buchmann has been a supporter of Invisible Children for over three years. She admits that she was upset when reports about Invisible Children first surfaced. However, after doing her own research, Buchmann has decided that she is still in support of Kony 2012. She quotes the fact that Invisible Children is an awareness organization, not an aid organization, as a major reason for her support. Buchmann also believes that while Kony 2012 is not a perfect solution to the problem, it is the best one available.
Coalition still plans on taking part in Cover the Night, and they are meeting again on April 11 to discuss further plans for raising group involvement. They will also watch the latest Kony video, which was released April 5 with the aim to respond to claims made against the movement.
“I hope people come-I’m going to do it no matter what,” Buchmann said. “All they’re asking is for Kony to become the most famous man in the world, which isn’t too much to ask, in my opinion.”
Leave a Reply