visiblechildren:

According to diplomatic notes leaked last year by whistle-blower site Wikileaks, Invisible Children tipped off the Ugandan government about the location of Patrick Komakech, now under arrest for treason. Komakech had been involved in a rebel group (the PPF) seeking to overthrow the current President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni.

The June, 2009 cable, from the US Ambassador to Uganda (Steven Browning) to the Secretary of State, claims that Komakech (who had previously been featured in Invisible Children films) had been arrested by the Ugandan government for treason and extortion, thanks to a tip from Invisible Children regarding his location. The cable reads, in part:

“The latest plot was exposed when the Government received a tip from the U.S. non-governmental organization (NGO) Invisible Children regarding the location of Patrick Komekech.* […] Invisible Children reported that Komekech had been in Nairobi and had recently reappeared in Gulu, where he was staying with the NGO. Security organizations jumped on the tip and immediately arrested Komekech on March 5 [of 2009].”

Invisible Children has denied their involvement, with Uganda spokesperson Florence Ogola saying, “We are not involved in anything to do with security. We only deal with development.” A further spokeperson told Foreign Policy: “[W]e do not conduct intelligence efforts of any kind for a foreign government.”

This story hasn’t really been picked up by mainstream media yet, so I’m going to break with my rule of not asking for reblogs and ask you to please reblog this if you think it’s worthy of media attention.

*Spelling of Mr. Komakech’s name is currently unclear – Foreign Policy and the Daily Monitor both spell it as “Komakech”, while the original cables from Mr. Browning spell it “Komekech”

thedailywhat:

Didn’t See That Coming of the Day: Jason Russell, co-founder of the controversial nonprofit Invisible Children and the star of its ultra-viral fundraising campaign video KONY2012, was arrested last night in the San Diego neighborhood of Pacific Beach for masturbating in public while under the influence.

The San Diego Police Department says Russell, 33, was taken into custody after he was caught masturbating in public and vandalizing cars. Lt. Andra Brown also noted that he was under the influence, but did not identify the substance.

His overall behavior was said to have been “Very strange.” 

[nbcsd.]

newwavefeminism:

innovateafrica:

35,000 people attended a screening of the Invisible Children film in Lira, Northern Uganda. The screening was organized by a great local organization called The African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET). Here is a video of the community response. HINT: they’re not happy.

The quote the video ends with speaks volumes: “Kony2012 may be the most watched video on youtube this year, but it clearly doesn’t resonate with many of the people it claims it’s meant to help”

(trigger for potentially graphic images of war wounds)

jazzylittledrops asked: Respectfully, I don't think the article linking IC to the Christian Right organizations is relevant if one is using sound reasoning. While I support gay marriage and I am currently weighing IC as an organization (who I believe to be well-intention, but possibly more harmful than good), I do not think you can fault a non-profit for accepting money from an organization that is against gay marriage. They are not responsible for the views or actions of their donors, and to say so is a straw-man.

The National Christian Foundation is well known for their anti-gay agenda though and I guess people assume that IC are aware of it, but you bring up a good point. Personally I figured charities do background checks on larger organizations before accepting their donations to make sure they’re not associating themselves with anything that might hurt their cause, but perhaps that was naive of me. Anyone else know?

24hoursremain:

lollandlass:

What does Invisible Children share in common with the Discovery Institute, the leading organization promoting “Intelligent Design”, a pseudo-scientific theory created to insinuate creationist ideas into public schools — or with The Call, whose leader Lou Engle claims homosexuals are possessed by demons, calls God an “avenger of blood” and a “terrorist”, and in May 2010 staged a rally in Kampala, Uganda, at which Engle warned of a gay menace to society and shared a stage with one of the authors of Uganda’s notorious Anti Homosexuality Bill ?

(I said stalking horse for the “kill all the queers” people two days ago. Right there, people. Right. Effing. THERE.)

OH LOOKY HERE

stay-human:

As always, these are just my personal opinions and observations, feel free to message me, tell me what you think.

The reason that so many people have jumped on this bandwagon is essentially due to a misguided at best and racist at worst mindframe. I feel like it’s like a movie for some people; that African warlord kidnapping children to make an army terrorizing everything in their path. And this is your feel-good moment to do something to “stop him” …and you get a trendy bracelet in the process. Do you see what I’m getting at? The video wasn’t even as bad as many I’ve seen say from Iraq or Palestine or recently Syria, but it got so many people mobilized because it requires no effort, they didn’t have to research anything; learn about the complex history or culture or even the specifics of this man and his crimes; “omg he kidnapped 30, 000 children, and the cute little 5 year old in the video says we have to stop him!!!” Well let me tell you about a few people who killed 500, 000 children -perhaps one million civilians all together, and condemned thousands of babies to a life with deformities (kinda like the way Kony got his soldiers to mutilate people’s faces)- and guess what? You won’t even have to go 8000 miles to get these guys. They’re in your country; they’re running your country. Getting Kony is a long shot, but you can actually get these guys! In fact Amnestly International even asked for one of them to be  arrested. Multiple times.

Only I forgot, they’re not African warlords and it’s not as romantic arresting old white dudes in suits, is it?

satans-advocate:

“If you are showing me as voiceless, as hopeless, you have no space telling my story. You shouldn’t be telling my story if you don’t believe that I also have the power to change what is going on. And this video [KONY 2012] seems to say that the power lies in America and it does not lie with my government; it does not lie with local initiatives on the ground. … It is furthering that narrative that Africans are totally unable to help themselves and need outside help all of the time.”

Rosebell Kagumire, a blogger from Uganda, speaks on the Western condescension in the KONY 2012 campaign, and how the West thinking they it sweep into Africa with generalized, ignorant ideas of what actually goes on in Africa can “save” Africa and Africans like the “great Western heroes” they are.

pomee:

Dear readers,

I honestly was not expecting this sort of response when I wrote my letter. It has only been a day and my letter seems to have, somehow, “gone viral”.  Thank you to everyone who has read it. I am grateful and humbled that so many people took the time to read my letter. (For those of you who have asked, I have not received an official response from Jason Russell or even a confirmation that he has read it).

All of this activity has also entailed receiving many messages. I appreciate them all and I apologize that I have not addressed them. The past day has been so overwhelming that I needed some time before I could properly respond and react.

 The biggest question that I have been asked is:

 “NOW WHAT?”

As my professor, Mahmood Mamdani, once said, “Certain assumptions drive research efforts, solutions and so much effort is expended in solving the problem as opposed to defining the problem. Once you have defined the problem, 90% of the solution is already there. Most of the time the solution is in the problem’s definition itself” (Columbia University, 10/20/10). 

I believe this is important advice because I think often times there are actually more problems within the “solution”. Therefore, I suggest that the next step is to further explore the problems and continue to ask questions. 

**I would like to clarify, I am not saying that we should “simply sit back and let people die”. I am saying that we should make sure that we fully understand the situation and the consequences of our actions, so it is not our very actions (no matter how good the intentions) that are actually responsible for more deaths. This way we can be sure we are responding to problems, not causing problems. However, for those of you who are still antsy, I will reassure you somewhat by saying that we are currently working on something…

Anyways, as I said in my previous post, “We must act on knowledge, not emotions.” Therefore, for now, I have gathered a preliminary mini “informational kit”:

————

 1. SCHOLARY RESPONSE TO KONY 2012:

http://www.misr.mak.ac.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=186:adam-branch-on-invisible-children&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

2. CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION IN UGANDA:

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1362350/-/axe1dtz/-/index.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/04/201142831330647345.html

http://thinkafricapress.com/uganda/mamdani-ugandas-walk-work

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2011/10/20111012152024670219.html

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/1361410/-/126l8lrz/-/index.html

 http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1359216/-/axupwrz/-/index.html

http://www.misr.mak.ac.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184:adam-branch-on-human-rights&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

3. CITATIONS (For people who have questioned my sources, I apologize for not providing them in the letter):

Sverker, Finnström. Living With Bad Surroundings : War, History, and Everyday Moments in Northern Uganda. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

Branch, Adam. Displacing Human Rights : War and Intervention in Northern Uganda. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Nibbe, Ayesha Anne. “The Effects of a Narrative: Humanitarian Aid and Action in the Northern Uganda Conflict”. Diss. University of California, Davis, 2011. 3456852

My own research that I conducted in the summer of 2010 and 2011 in Northern Uganda that focused on the effectiveness and role of NGOs, especially Invisible Children (even though it is actually a corporation) in the area. I will provide the report upon its official completion.

Lastly, my mentors and close family and friends in Uganda. 

————

Again, thank you again for your support. I really appreciate it. It has been exciting to be a part of this process of questioning, problematizing, debating, sharing, and learning. It really goes to prove that we are not only capable of, but also demand, a higher level of discourse than that of a toddler. (No matter how cute he is). 

Apwoyo matek,

Amber Ha

pomee:

Dear Jason Russell,

After being bombarded with your KONY 2012 crusade, I have no choice but to respond to your highly inaccurate, offensive, and harmful propaganda.  I realized I had to respond in hopes of stopping you before you cause more violence and deaths to the Acholi people (Northern Ugandans), the very people you are claiming to protect.

Firstly, I would like to question your timing of this KONY 2012 crusade in Uganda when most of the violence from Joseph Kony and the LRA (The Lord’s Resistance Army) has subsided in Uganda in the past 5 years. The LRA has moved onto neighboring countries like the DRC and Sudan. Why are you not urging action in the countries he is currently in? Why are you worried about Kony all of a sudden when Ugandans are not at this present moment?

This grossly illogical timing and statements on your website such as “Click here to buy your KONY 2012 products” makes me believe that the timing has more to do with your commercial interests than humanitarian interests. With the upcoming U.S. presidential elections and the waning interest in Invisible Children, it seems to be perfect timing to start a crusade. I also must add at this point how much it personally disgusts me the way in which you have commercialized a conflict in which thousands of people have died.

Secondly, I would like to address the highly inaccurate content of your video. Your video did not leave the viewer any more knowledgeable about the conflict in Uganda, but only emotionally assaulted. I could not help but notice how conveniently one-sided the “explanation” in your video was. There was absolutely no mention of the role of the Ugandan government and military in the conflict. Let alone the role of the U.S. government and military.  The only information given is “KONY MUST BE STOPPED.”

I would like to inform you that stopping Kony would not end the conflict. (It is correctly pronounced “Kohn” by the way). This conflict is deeply embedded in Uganda’s history that neither starts nor ends with Kony. Therefore, your solution to the problem is flawed. There is no way to know the solution, without full knowledge of the problem itself.  We must act on knowledge, not emotions.

Joseph Kony formed the LRA in retaliation to the brutality of President Museveni (from the south) committing mass atrocities on the Acholi people (from the north) when President Museveni came to power in 1986. This follows a long history of Ugandan politics that can be traced back to pre-colonial times.  The conflict must be contextualized within this history. (If you want to have this proper knowledge, I suggest you start by working with scholars, not celebrities).  President Museveni is still in power and in his reign of 26 years he has arguably killed as many, if not more Acholi people, than Joseph Kony. Why is President Museveni not demonized, let alone mentioned? I would like to give you more credit than just ignorance. I have three guesses. One is that Invisible Children has close ties with the Ugandan government and military, which it has been accused of many times. Second, is that you are willing to fight Kony, but not the U.S. Government, which openly supports President Museveni. Third, is that Invisible Children feels the need to reduce the conflict to better commercialize it.

This brings me to my third issue, the highly offensive nature of your video. Firstly, it is offensive to your viewer. The scene with your “explanation” of the conflict to your toddler son suggests that the viewers have the mental capacity of a toddler and can only handle information given in such a reductionist manner. I would like to think American teenagers and young adults (which is clearly your target audience) are smarter than your toddler son. I would hope that we are able to realize that it is not a “Star Wars” game with aliens and robots in some far off galaxy as your son suggests, but a real world conflict with real world people in Uganda. This is a real life conflict with real life consequences.

Secondly, and more importantly, it is offensive to Ugandans. The very name “Invisible Children” is offensive. You claim you make the invisible, visible. The statements, “We have seen these kids.” and “No one knew about these kids.” are part of your slogan. You seem to be strongly hinting that you somehow have validated and found these kids and their struggles.

Whether you see them or not, they were always there. Your having seen the kids does not validate their existence in any shape or form or bring it any more significance. You say “no one” knew about the kids. What about the kids themselves? What about the families of the kids who were killed and abducted? Are they “no one?” Are they not human?

These children are not invisible, you are making them invisible by silencing, dehumanizing, marketing, and invalidating them.

Last year I went to Gulu, Uganda, where Invisible Children is based, and interviewed over 50 locals.  Every single person questioned Invisible Children’s legitimacy and intention. Every single person. If anything, it seemed the people saw Invisible Children as a bigger threat than Joseph Kony at the time. Why is it the very people you are trying to “help” feel more offense than relief with your aid?

“They come here to make money and use us.”

 “It makes us feel terrible to be presented as being so stupid and helpless.”

These are direct quotes. This was the sentiment of the majority of the people that I interviewed in varying degrees. I definitely didn’t see or hear these voices or opinions in your video. If you are to be “saving” the Acholi people, the very least you can be doing is holding yourself accountable to them and actually listening to what they have to say.

This offensive, inaccurate misconstruction of Ugandans and its conflict makes me wonder what and whom this is really about. It seems that you feel very good about yourself being a savior, a Luke Skywalker of sorts, and same with the girl in your video who passionately states, “This is what defines us”. Therefore, I can’t help but wonder if Invisible Children is more about defining the American do-gooders (and making them feel good), rather than the Ugandans; profiteering the American military and corporations (which Invisible Children is officially and legally) than the conflict.

Lastly, I would like to address the harmful nature of your propaganda. I believe your actions will actually bring back the fighting in Northern Uganda. You are not asking for peace, but violence. The fighting has stopped in the past 5 years and the Acholi are finally enjoying some peace.  You will be inviting the LRA and the fighting back into Uganda and disturbing this peace. The last time Invisible Children got politically involved and began lobbying it actually caused more violence and deaths. I beg you not to do it again.

If you open your eyes and see the actions of the Ugandan government and the U.S. government, you will see why.  Why is it that suddenly in October of 2011 when there has been relative peace in Uganda for 4 years, President Obama decided to send troops into Uganda? Why is it that the U.S. military is so involved with AFRICOM, which has been pervading African countries, including Uganda? Why is it that U.S. has been traced to creating the very weapons that has been used in the violence?  The U.S. is entering Uganda and other countries in Africa not to stop violence, but to create a new battlefield.

In your video you urge that the first course of action is that the Ugandan military needs American military and weapons. You are giving weapons to the very people who were killing the Acholi people in the first place. You are helping to open the grounds for America to make Uganda into a battlefield in which it can profit and gain power. Please recognize this is all part of a bigger military movement, not a humanitarian movement. This will cause deaths, not save lives. This will be doing more harm, than good.

You end your video with saying, “I will stop at nothing”.  If nothing else, will you not stop for the lives of the Acholi people? Haven’t enough Acholi people suffered in the violence between the LRA and the Ugandan government? Our alliance should not be with the U.S. government or the Ugandan military or the LRA, but the Acholi people.  There is a Ugandan saying that goes, “The grass will always suffer when two elephants fight.” Isn’t it time we let the grass grow?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Amber Ha 

zuleikha:

“KONY 2012 is Bullshit”

Peep this.

swintons:

I will legitimately backhand anyone who attempts to derail serious criticisms of all these large western NGOs who swoop into non-western countries especially those in Africa by saying that “you’re not helping the cause by being cynical!!!!!”. 

If your thinking of how developmental aid and history of non-western countries are that limited, you need to learn to shut up and read not just history of these countries but post-colonial literature by the likes of Cesaire and Said to see how most of these NGOs are just another form of neocolonialism. 

Good intentions are not enough to help people in all honesty when you are beset with your privileges and thinking of how to help these non-white “”“backwards”“”” non-western people.

Is there no way to help? Of course not but the organizations that most likely people will help are led and dominated by Westerners who have a limited thinking of how developmental aid, culture, and prejudiced assumptions of how the people they are working towards are like. As Wangari Maathai of the Green Belt Movement points out, the issue is that this aid is short-termed and unsustainable.

So great that you have good intentions but good intentions does not equal sustainable long-term help for countries that are continuously degraded and exploited still by the same countries that these westerners, many on this site included are from.

esprit-follet:

-history. context. 

-colonization of the continent of Africa and elsewhere
-the scramble for africa

-the after-effects of colonialism and the arbitrary defining of geographical borders Africa that left nations/groups divided and goverments weak for military take over

-IMF and world bank, how they screwed everything up
-what development NGOs and IGOS really do

-white benevolence/saviour complexes stemming from missionaries that went to Africa to convert the ~heathens~

-structural adjustment policies*** kind of a big one—> caused inflation, poverty throughout Africa and increased violence, poverty, migration
-among so many, many other things. 

You care about these causes, yes? So if you do, learn a little bit more. Do your part. 

Some resources here: 
http://cassa.on.ca/racismfreeontario/resources/articles/

• A History: The Construction of Race and Racism by the Western States Center
• Africa observed : discourses of the imperial imagination by Jean and John Comaroff
• Savages, Animals, Heathens, Races by Jan Nederveen Pieterse

More resources, things to add to this list? Hit me up. 

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