KONY 2012 has been becoming more and more viral over the last week. This led me to look into what they are doing and get more information about the whole situation.
It bring about some interesting points as follows:
"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 (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven’t had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that."
"The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel 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, 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that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda andhasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission.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."
"If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony’s crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let’s keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012."
There will always be 2 sides to this and logically looking at it Joseph Kony would never have got the publicity needed to bring about a change that KNOY 2012 is bringing. It does seem like a necessary evil to spend money on viral advertising but the main thing that bothers me is the misallocated money and where a lot is not accounted for though direct services that Invisible Children are carrying out, thus making them a profit organisation.
"Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don’t realize they’re supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it’s the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don’t think most people are in that position, and that’s a problem."
The other more important point is the supporting of the Ugandan military who are condemned for the very similar reasons as Kony is. The whole situation with the military action is that it seems to be a lesser of 2 evils.
I don't have a better answer to the problem and i am in no way condemning KONY 2012 i was just intrigued by the situation.
If you have anything to add or i have missed something feel free to get in contact.
This is the latest Invisible Children film, watch and decide for yourself.
