#StopKony: Activism Or Exploitation?

Uganda itself is largely absent from the video, aside from brief appearances from Invisible Children employees and a few local leaders (on its website, the group says it employs “roughly” 100 Ugandan citizens in programs in the area.) But for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to neither appear nor be mentioned in the video is “a crucial omission,” said author and musician Musa Okwonga in The (U.K.) Independent:

Invisible Children asked viewers to seek the engagement of American policymakers and celebrities, but – and this is a major red flag – it didn’t introduce them to the many Northern Ugandans already doing fantastic work both in their local communities and in the diaspora. It didn’t ask its viewers to seek diplomatic pressure on President Museveni’s administration.

Courtesy Visible Children

On his blog, Visible Children, Canadian political science student Grant Oyston provided a link to four other charitable groups working in central Africa. He has also criticized Invisible Children for photos the one shown at right, where Nelson and his fellow co-founders are holding weapons and posing with members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

“Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting,” Oyston wrote Wednesday. “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arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.”

While not naming Oyston’s site, Invisible Children issued a statement addressing the issue on its’ website:

We do not defend any of the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Ugandan government or the Ugandan army (UPDF). None of the money donated through Invisible Children ever goes to the government of Uganda. Yet the only feasible and proper way to stop Kony and protect the civilians he targets is to coordinate efforts with regional governments.

…

Invisible Children’s mission is to stop Joseph Kony and the LRA wherever they are and help rehabilitate LRA-affected communities. The Ugandan government’s army, the UPDF, is more organized and better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries (DRC, South Sudan, CAR) to track down Joseph Kony. Part of the US strategy to stop Kony is to encourage cooperation between the governments and armies of the 4 LRA-affected countries.

Page 2 of 3 | Previous page | Next page