Showing posts tagged invisible children
“

The aid industry has just been Biebered. Invisible Children’s hundreds of thousands of donor / activist – they were invisible to us. Kids. That’s the target and that’s the message. If you think the aid world depends on gray haired HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals, aka rich folk), wait and see what IC does with its pubescent legions.

My advice to the aid industry? First, get over it. Then, get on the boat. Invisible Children has more than an audience, more than loyal donors. They’ve built a repository of faithusiasm that will make change happen.

“New Kids on the Block” - Humanicontrarian, on why the Kony 2012 viral video naysayers need to step-up or die of obsolescence. (via climateadaptation)

Continued,

As a colleague of mine lamented, too bad we can’t do for tuberculosis or Eastern Congo what they’ve done for Kony. Invisible Children might well deserve our scorn, but we’d be smarter to take notes. They are schooling us in comms, mobilization and fundraising. While we try to exploit social media to improve return on investment, IC turned social media into operations itself.

They don’t have any shame, and they don’t have doubts.  They don’t have any hang ups about dreaming.  

Related to what I said yesterday. I know The Help is loathed in these parts and so some of you may want to read about how activists/ people on the ground worked around the controversial and panned film to spread a message. Nothing’s perfect.

(via thenoobyorker)

(Reblogged from thenoobyorker)
hitrecordjoe: Points worth considering re: the Kony debate… rtnt: RTNT On The Problems With KONY 2012 The deluge of social media attention that has been given to the simplistic KONY 2012 campaign and the surrounding haze of misinformation has reaffirmed our purpose at Read This, Not That. Joseph Kony is a warlord and a monster - this much cannot be denied. The present controversy swirls not around Kony himself, but rather around the substance of the campaign, and the intentions of the organization behind it: Invisible Children. Conversations are raging across the web between supporters and detractors - conversations that suffer, in many instances, from a lack of understanding about the current state of Uganda and of Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (details of which are notably lacking from the film.) There has been much resistance to criticism of the campaign, resistance founded in knee-jerk reactions meant to defend the perceived good intentions of Invisible Children. The appearance of a noble cause to mask questionable action is not anomalous in our world. As such, it is our responsibility to be skeptical, especially when engaged with propagandistic media that aims to affect us emotionally and prompt a very specific reaction: in this case, to give money to Invisible Children. Our effort here is to offer articles that inform the debate surrounding KONY 2012 and to encourage everyone to embrace critical conversation, even when that gaze is directed at what appear to be good intentions. Things are rarely as simple as they are made out to be, and we can be sure that the state of Uganda and the LRA is not as simple as the KONY 2012 campaign makes it seem. Michael Wilkerson, writing for Foreign Policy, asks what the video is meant to accomplish: So the goal is to make sure that President Obama doesn’t withdraw the advisors he deployed until Kony is captured or killed. That seems noble enough, except that there has been no mention by the government of withdrawing those forces — at least any I can find. Does anyone else have any evidence about this urgent threat of cancellation? One that justifies such a massive production campaign and surely lucrative donation drive? TMS Ruge, writing for Project Diaspora, pleads with us to respect the agency of Ugandans: This IC campaign is a perfect example of how fund-sucking NGO’s survive…They are, in actuality, selling themselves as the issue, as the subject, as the panacea for everything that ails me as the agency-devoid African. All I have to do is show up in my broken English, look pathetic and wanting. You, my dear social media savvy click-activist, will shed a tear, exhaust Facebook’s like button, mobilize your cadre of equally ill-uninformed netizens to throw money at the problem. Ugandan Journalist Angelo Izama, writing at This Is Africa, finds KONY 2012’s portrayal of Uganda outdated: To call the campaign a misrepresentation is an understatement. While it draws attention to the fact that Kony, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005, is still on the loose, it’s portrayal of his alleged crimes in Northern Uganda are from a bygone era. Musa Okwanga, writing for The Independent, discusses the complexities the video left out: What the narrator also failed to do was mention to his son that when a bad guy like Kony is running riot for years on end, raping and slashing and seizing and shooting, then there is most likely another host of bad guys out there letting him get on with it.  He probably should have told him that, too. Guy Gunartne, writing for Codoc, questions the wisdom of Invisible Children’s preferred policy of military intervention: The LRA is reported to be 90% made up of abducted children – military defeat would mean engaging in combat and targeting of the very victims of this war; these children are the LRA. The author of Visible Children examines the armies on the other side of the war: 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. Glenna Gordon, who took the photograph above, takes issue with the filmmakers’ self-aggrandizement in this interview for The Washington Post: People who have lived there for years, bona fide aid workers who have studied foreign policy and other relevant fields like public health, who are really there because they are trying to solve problems — they see Invisible Children as trying to promote themselves and a version of the narrative.  Eric Ritskes, writing at Wanderings, reminds us that it is not about us: It falls into the trap, the belief that the problem is ignorance and the answer is education. When we tell more people about Kony and the LRA, something WILL happen. It’s not true…More education does not change the systems and structures of oppression, those that need Africa to be the place of suffering and war and saving…We need to learn: It’s not about us. Patrick Wegner, writing at Justice in Conflict, offers some final thoughts: To conclude, the Kony 2012 campaign is a reminder why we should see advocacy campaigns to interfere in conflicts with some scepticism, no matter how good the cause…. It also challenges us to think of ways how to design advocacy campaigns that mobilise many people without dumbing down the problem and its purported solution. We put in a lot of work reading, reviewing, compiling, and excerpting these pieces for you, and hope you will consider them in this debate. - The RTNT TeamFollow Read This, Not That on Tumblr / Facebook / Twitter  View high resolution

hitrecordjoe:

Points worth considering re: the Kony debate…

rtnt:

RTNT On The Problems With KONY 2012

The deluge of social media attention that has been given to the simplistic KONY 2012 campaign and the surrounding haze of misinformation has reaffirmed our purpose at Read This, Not That. Joseph Kony is a warlord and a monster - this much cannot be denied. The present controversy swirls not around Kony himself, but rather around the substance of the campaign, and the intentions of the organization behind it: Invisible Children.

Conversations are raging across the web between supporters and detractors - conversations that suffer, in many instances, from a lack of understanding about the current state of Uganda and of Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (details of which are notably lacking from the film.)

There has been much resistance to criticism of the campaign, resistance founded in knee-jerk reactions meant to defend the perceived good intentions of Invisible Children. The appearance of a noble cause to mask questionable action is not anomalous in our world. As such, it is our responsibility to be skeptical, especially when engaged with propagandistic media that aims to affect us emotionally and prompt a very specific reaction: in this case, to give money to Invisible Children.

Our effort here is to offer articles that inform the debate surrounding KONY 2012 and to encourage everyone to embrace critical conversation, even when that gaze is directed at what appear to be good intentions. Things are rarely as simple as they are made out to be, and we can be sure that the state of Uganda and the LRA is not as simple as the KONY 2012 campaign makes it seem.

Michael Wilkerson, writing for Foreign Policy, asks what the video is meant to accomplish:

So the goal is to make sure that President Obama doesn’t withdraw the advisors he deployed until Kony is captured or killed. That seems noble enough, except that there has been no mention by the government of withdrawing those forces — at least any I can find. Does anyone else have any evidence about this urgent threat of cancellation? One that justifies such a massive production campaign and surely lucrative donation drive?

TMS Ruge, writing for Project Diaspora, pleads with us to respect the agency of Ugandans:

This IC campaign is a perfect example of how fund-sucking NGO’s survive…They are, in actuality, selling themselves as the issue, as the subject, as the panacea for everything that ails me as the agency-devoid African. All I have to do is show up in my broken English, look pathetic and wanting. You, my dear social media savvy click-activist, will shed a tear, exhaust Facebook’s like button, mobilize your cadre of equally ill-uninformed netizens to throw money at the problem.

Ugandan Journalist Angelo Izama, writing at This Is Africa, finds KONY 2012’s portrayal of Uganda outdated:

To call the campaign a misrepresentation is an understatement. While it draws attention to the fact that Kony, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005, is still on the loose, it’s portrayal of his alleged crimes in Northern Uganda are from a bygone era.

Musa Okwanga, writing for The Independent, discusses the complexities the video left out:

What the narrator also failed to do was mention to his son that when a bad guy like Kony is running riot for years on end, raping and slashing and seizing and shooting, then there is most likely another host of bad guys out there letting him get on with it.  He probably should have told him that, too.

Guy Gunartne, writing for Codoc, questions the wisdom of Invisible Children’s preferred policy of military intervention:

The LRA is reported to be 90% made up of abducted children – military defeat would mean engaging in combat and targeting of the very victims of this war; these children are the LRA.

The author of Visible Children examines the armies on the other side of the war:

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.

Glenna Gordon, who took the photograph above, takes issue with the filmmakers’ self-aggrandizement in this interview for The Washington Post:

People who have lived there for years, bona fide aid workers who have studied foreign policy and other relevant fields like public health, who are really there because they are trying to solve problems — they see Invisible Children as trying to promote themselves and a version of the narrative. 

Eric Ritskes, writing at Wanderings, reminds us that it is not about us:

It falls into the trap, the belief that the problem is ignorance and the answer is education. When we tell more people about Kony and the LRA, something WILL happen. It’s not true…More education does not change the systems and structures of oppression, those that need Africa to be the place of suffering and war and saving…We need to learn: It’s not about us.

Patrick Wegner, writing at Justice in Conflict, offers some final thoughts:

To conclude, the Kony 2012 campaign is a reminder why we should see advocacy campaigns to interfere in conflicts with some scepticism, no matter how good the cause…. It also challenges us to think of ways how to design advocacy campaigns that mobilise many people without dumbing down the problem and its purported solution.

We put in a lot of work reading, reviewing, compiling, and excerpting these pieces for you, and hope you will consider them in this debate.

 - The RTNT Team

Follow Read This, Not That on Tumblr / Facebook / Twitter 

(Reblogged from hitrecordjoe)

African voices respond to hyper-popular Kony 2012 viral campaign

This commentary is honestly what matters most in all the hype around KONY 2012. If you’re going to seriously try to understand this, this is where you need to be looking.

captainjhwatson: Since Uganda is getting a lot of interest on the internet right now, I figured it was important to try to present an alternative source of information. Invisible Children is, as many already know, a highly problematic organization, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying to help. Here are some other sources of information, statistics, and ways to donate/help. American Progress’s 2007 report, “What to Do About Joseph Kony” Amnesty International’s 2011 report on Uganda Global Security’s page on the Lord’s Resistance Army Washington Post, “A Child’s Hell in the Lord’s Resistance Army,” May 2006. HRW: “Protect civilians from LRA abuses,” May 2011 AllAfrica.com, “Amnesty International wants Kony arrested,” May 2010 AI’s Uganda Portal Human Rights Watch’s Uganda portal Democracy Now!’s Uganda portal View high resolution

captainjhwatson:

Since Uganda is getting a lot of interest on the internet right now, I figured it was important to try to present an alternative source of information. Invisible Children is, as many already know, a highly problematic organization, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying to help. Here are some other sources of information, statistics, and ways to donate/help.

(Source: michael-corleone)

(Reblogged from crookedindifference)

steveagee:

please watch this and don’t click “like”, click “reblog”. 

Getting involved with Invisible Children in 2007 is why I’m at the New School studying conflict/post-conflict societies, and specifically focusing on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the surrounding region. I am 26 years old. The Lord’s Resistance Army and Joseph Kony have been terrorizing people as long as I’ve been alive.

(Reblogged from spytap)

Donate to Rebuild Pabbo Secondary

rebuildpabbo:

Schools for schools is a competition set up by a non-profit named Invisible Children.  Invisible children is a creative group of Individuals that seeks to end the longest running war in Africa (In N. Uganda) by using information and media to inspire the youth of America to do something about it.  Horn high school, my school, is participating in this competition.  In the wake of the war, the schools of Uganda have been left in ruins.  So We have been paired up with Pabbo secondary School as our Ugandan school beneficiary to directly contribute to the recovery.   One for One.  This year the rebuilding agenda includes finishing a science laboratory/classroom block, four staff housing units, latrines, and administrative blocks.

In years past our school has raised over $15,000.  Two years ago we were the top raising school in Texas, which gave one of our students the journey of a lifetime: a trip to Northern Uganda to see first hand the impact that we have had.  But last year we only raised just over $5,000 due to the economic downturn.  The economy is looking up this year and we need your help to make sure that we are once again the top raising school in Texas.  Thank you for your donations.  

**Above is a video about the S4S competition and tells a bit about one of the advocates that is traveling around the US as we speak, telling her story.**

If you have time and want an in-depth look at the war, it’s history, it’s impact, and what the situation is today, there is a full length documentary movie at the bottom of this page.  

(Reblogged from rebuildpabbo)

Invisible Children Presents: Tony

ihiphopalot: A Child Soldier in Uganda. In Northern Uganda, a war that has started 20 years ago is still causing torment to the people. A man named Joseph Kony has his men kidnap children in the villages of the four surrounding countries of Uganda and builds an army with them. He forces them to kill or be killed. One person from the United States gets abducted and it’ll make global news but over the past 20 years 30,000 children, ages 3-17, have been abducted AND forced to murder and we never even hear about it? THIRTY THOUSAND. Seriously, fuck the world for a) allowing Joseph Kony to do this unstopped for 20 years and b) for not publicizing this properly. This man is soon to reach the status of the modern day Adolph Hitler, he is responsible to genocide down there, yet oil prices are still our biggest concern. Educate yourselves and learn more. Seriously. http://www.invisiblechildren.com/history-of-the-war Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m trying. This will probably get no attention because you all are too busy reblogging pictures of girls holding cameras or internet memes. Invisible Children is a great organization and actually what led me to going back to school to finish my degree and focus on international poverty and conflict. They’ve had several events, and a year ago they partnered with Resolve and Enough for a conference and lobby event in Washington D.C. that I attended. If you don’t know much about child soldiers, the LRA, or Joseph Kony, check out the Invisible Children website and get involved. Kony has been terrorizing the region (not just Uganda) for as long as I’ve been alive — it’s time for us to say enough. View high resolution

ihiphopalot:

A Child Soldier in Uganda.

In Northern Uganda, a war that has started 20 years ago is still causing torment to the people. A man named Joseph Kony has his men kidnap children in the villages of the four surrounding countries of Uganda and builds an army with them. He forces them to kill or be killed.

One person from the United States gets abducted and it’ll make global news but over the past 20 years 30,000 children, ages 3-17, have been abducted AND forced to murder and we never even hear about it? THIRTY THOUSAND. Seriously, fuck the world for a) allowing Joseph Kony to do this unstopped for 20 years and b) for not publicizing this properly. This man is soon to reach the status of the modern day Adolph Hitler, he is responsible to genocide down there, yet oil prices are still our biggest concern.

Educate yourselves and learn more. Seriously.

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/history-of-the-war

Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m trying. This will probably get no attention because you all are too busy reblogging pictures of girls holding cameras or internet memes.

Invisible Children is a great organization and actually what led me to going back to school to finish my degree and focus on international poverty and conflict. They’ve had several events, and a year ago they partnered with Resolve and Enough for a conference and lobby event in Washington D.C. that I attended.

If you don’t know much about child soldiers, the LRA, or Joseph Kony, check out the Invisible Children website and get involved. Kony has been terrorizing the region (not just Uganda) for as long as I’ve been alive — it’s time for us to say enough.

(Reblogged from crookedindifference)
Played 183 times

crookedindifference:

The Arcade Fire - No Cars Go

Every time I hear this song it reminds me of Displace Me.

(Reblogged from crookedindifference)

via Pitchfork… great bands and a great cause:

Yeasayer has committed to join the Polyphonic Spree on a trip to Gulu, Uganda later this year, where the bands will learn about the effects of the Ugandan civil war and perform live in various locations. As previously reported, the trip is being organized by Invisible Children, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children forced to become soldiers in the civil war. It will be filmed for a documentary by the French site La Blogotheque, known for capturing musicians performing in unlikely settings on programs such as the Take Away Shows.

Such an undertaking requires a lot of money, however. To raise funds for the trip, the organizers are using the website Kickstarter to seek out donations, hoping to raise $20,000. (Full disclosure: Pitchfork publisher Chris Kaskie is an investor in Kickstarter.) Click here to learn more about the venture, and to pledge. Those who donate will receive all sorts of incentives, from downloads and DVDs of the documentary film when it’s finished, to autographed albums, to autographed Polyphonic Spree robes, to La Blogotheque organizing your very own private filmed concert.