source: http://www.interaksyon.com/infotech/critics-up-in-arms-against-kony2012-viral-social-media-campaign
MANILA, Philippines — The people behind
Invisible Children, a non-profit organization aiming to help free
children from conflict in Uganda, had set out to do one thing: Stop
Joseph Kony, an indicted war criminal that has been abducting children
for his personal army for 26 years.
To achieve that, Jason Russell, one of the founders of the group,
created a 30-minute video and posted it on YouTube, illustrating how
Kony had amassed an army of 30,000 children over the years for his
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda.
Since posting the video on Monday, it has garnered more than 21
million views on the video-sharing site. The terms #Kony2012, Invisible
Children and Uganda had all been top Twitter trending topics in the
Philippines and in the world since the video’s launch. Users on Facebook
are also chiming in, posting and reposting the video for their friends
to see.
In just less than a week, more people had come to know about Kony
today, considered the most wanted criminal by the International Criminal
Court, than those who did in the past two decades.
Thanks to the power of social media, the campaign to raise awareness
about the repulsive ways of a Ugandan criminal had become an overnight
viral success.
But now that the dust has slightly settled, people who had the
opportunity to step back have pointed out the obvious cracks in the
pavement: about how the organization behind the advocacy had been remiss
in the use of donated funds, and how a single social media campaign
couldn’t possible end conflict in Central Africa.
In a blog post, which had also gone viral as of late, Acadia
University sociology and political science student Grant Oyson pointed
out how Invisible Children had been “condemned” time and again for their
financial mishaps.
“Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to
direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries,
travel and transport, and film production,” Oyson asserted in his blog post.
“This is far from ideal for an issue which arguably needs action and
aid, not awareness, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4
stars because they lack an external audit committee,” he added.
The issue of money particularly came to light since one of the
group’s call to action is the purchase of a Kony2012 bracelet and action
kit, which costs $30 each.
The group had also been criticized for twisting certain facts in the
video–such as the total number of children currently in LRA’s army–and
for letting slip critical information such as the fact that Kony is no
longer in Uganda and that the LRA had not been as active for about six
years now.
“The small remaining LRA forces are still wreaking havoc and very
hard to catch, but Northern Uganda has had tremendous recovery in the 6
years of peace since the LRA left,” wrote Joshua Keating for the Foreign Policy blog.
To their defense, the people behind Invisible Children responded by publishing a page answering all the critiques against their cause.
“Our Accountability and Transparency score is currently at 2 stars
due primarily to the single fact that Invisible Children does not have 5
independent voting members on our board of directors–we currently have
4,” the statement said, adding that the group is currently in the
process of interviewing potential board members to up their rating.
The group further stressed that they had been independently audited
by Considine and Considine since 2006, “and all of our audits have
resulted in unqualified opinions on the audit reports.”
Critics had also pointed out how the LRA vs. Ugandan people
polarization had been an oversimplification of the conflict in the
African country, especially since Uganda’s government security forces
are also guilty of crimes similar to those perpetrated by the LRA.
“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’,” Oyson said.
The group, however, denied defending the human rights accusations
hurled against the Ugandan government, adding that no money donated to
the group “ever goes to the government of Uganda.”
Oyson concedes, however, that raising awareness about Kony is good, since that could ultimately lead to his arrest.
“But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and,
frankly, aren’t of the nature that can be solved by postering,
film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that
is to swallow,” he stressed.
