On March 5, 2012 a video popped up on Facebook titled “KONY 2012.” This video is a short, half-hour movie made to educate the world about Joseph Kony and how to stop him.
Joseph Kony is one of the world’s worst war criminals. In 1987, he took over leadership of an existing rebel group and renamed it the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA has earned a reputation for its cruel and brutal tactics. When Joseph Kony found himself running out of fighters, he started abducting children to be soldiers in his army or “wives” for his officers. The LRA is encouraged to rape, mutilate, and kill civilians–often with blunt weapons. The LRA is no longer active in northern Uganda (where it originated) but it continues its campaign of violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan. In its 26-year history, the LRA has abducted more than 30,000 children and displaced at least 2.1 million people.
The KONY 2012 campaign is through a non-profit organization called Invisible Children. Invisible Children uses media elements and propaganda to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in Central Africa to peace and prosperity.
After nine years of hard work, Invisible Children managed to persuade the United States government to deploy a group of one hundred military advisors to Uganda to assist in the capture of Kony. The international support will only remain in Uganda as long as the U.S. government believes that it is a matter of public interest. Once interest ebbs, the mission will be called off.
The goal of the KONY 2012 campaign was to make the name “Joseph Kony” a household name. The campaign expires at the end of the year. Invisible Children believes that if the world knows who Joseph Kony is, they will let the government know that this is a matter of importance to the country. Invisible Children has enlisted the help policy makers to help stop Kony.
On the other hand, many are responding to the video with harsh criticism and facts that feature the Invisible Children foundation in a negative light. Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services, with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they lack an external audit committee.
The group is in favor of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. The bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on supporting African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Financial statements from the last five years are available at www.invisiblechildren.com/financials.
Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.” U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they’ve failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children’s deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation.
The Internet is a great way to spread information fast. The trouble is that you never know what the truth is and what is not. These are the facts according to official websites. So, the debate now remains: KONY or phony?
