Invisible Children, Inc.

Invisible Children, Inc.

Founded	2004
Founder	Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, Jason Russell
Location	United States, Uganda
Origins	San Diego, CA
Area served	Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, and Uganda
Key people	Ben Keesey, Laren Poole, Jason Russell
Revenue	$13,765,177 (2011)[1]
Slogan	Do More Than Just Watch
Mission	Invisible Children uses film, creativity and social action 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.[2]
Website	http://www.invisiblechildren.com

Invisible Children, Inc. is an organization founded in 2004 to increase awareness of the activities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony. Specifically, the group seeks to put an end to the practices of the LRA which include abductions and abuse of children, and forcing them to serve as soldiers. To this end, Invisible Children urges the United States government to take military action in the central region of Africa. Invisible Children also operates as a charitable organization, soliciting donations and selling merchandise to raise money for its cause. The organization promotes its cause by dispensing films on the internet and presenting in high schools and colleges around the United States.

When the organization was founded, the LRA was active in Uganda. The rebel group left Uganda in 2006 and continues to operate in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. Invisible Children advocated for the passing of the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, a piece of legislation which led to the deployment of 100 combat-equipped, US soldiers to the region for the purpose of advising the local forces in tracking, and capturing, Joseph Kony. The United Nations Security Council met in November of that year to discuss the LRA. Internationally, journalists began to seek more information about the conditions in Central Africa at that time.

The group has received both praise and criticism for its methods. The organization's films have won several awards, while the group's use of funds, projection of facts, and support of the SPLA and the Ugandan Army have come into question as these two groups have been known to commit similar atrocities to those blamed on the LRA. In March 2012, Invisible Children began an internet video campaign called Kony 2012, the purpose being to promote the charity's 'Stop Kony' movement to make indicted Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony internationally known in order to arrest him in 2012.^[3]

Background

In 1985, Ugandan dictator, Apolo Milton Obote (December 28, 1925 – October 10, 2005) was overthrown by his own military commanders. Although he was from the Lango ethnic group, the soldiers who made up his army were primarily from the Acholi region, in northern Uganda. He was replaced with Tito Okello (1914–1996), the president of Uganda who was Acholi. Okello was deposed in 1986 and the leader of the National Resistance Army, Yoweri Museveni became president, after questionable elections.^[4] The Acholi were resistant to the authority of the new president who "launched a brutal search and destroy mission against former government soldiers throughout the north, which swept up many ordinary Acholi in its wake.^[4]

Several resistance groups emerged and most were put down, but the LRA survived. In the early 2000s media attention was drawn to the region when thousands of children affected by the LRA activities, took refuge in Gulu, Uganda. The government of Uganda forced the Acholi into "what were effectively concentration camps".^[5] These camps were overwhelmed with disease and the inhabitants were not able to continue farming.^[4]

The attention the conditions in Uganda received revealed that over the previous 20 years the LRA was kidnapping children and using them as kadogo (child soldiers). This was a practice that the Museveni government had also used. In 2005, an arrest warrant was put out for Joseph Kony by the International Criminal Court "for crimes against humanity and war crimes".^[4]

After failed peace negotiations with the Ugandan government in 2006, the LRA left Uganda retreating to southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic, where they continued to "wreak havoc".^[4] In May 2010, President Barack Obama signed the "Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act". This law led to the deployment of U.S. Troops in the region in October, 2011. Shortly thereafter the United Nations Security Council met to discuss the LRA. Internationally, journalists set out to inform themselves about the conditions in the region.^[5]

History

With the intent to film a documentary about the War in Darfur, college students, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole traveled to Africa in 2003.^[6] Russell had recently graduated from film school at the University of Southern California, and after witnessing gunmen shoot at the truck in front of him while driving in northern Uganda, he discovered Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army.^[7] After the incident, the group decided instead to focus on the civil war affecting the region. After returning home to the United States, the group created a documentary entitled Invisible Children: The Rough Cut, which aims to expose the plight of child soldiers and night commuters of northern Uganda.^[8] The film was originally shown to the group's friends and family, but eventually reached millions of people.^[8] The three men believed that the world was unaware of the conditions in Uganda and the plight of the children they met there.

The young men set out on a mission to expose what they had witnessed in Uganda, showing screenings of their film at hundreds of high schools, colleges and churches throughout the United States.^[9] In 2004 the group founded Invisible Children, Inc as a non-profit charitable organization.^[6] They solicit donations and sell merchandize, such as bracelets, T-shirts and posters, to raise money for their cause.^[10] The money they raise is used, in part, to produce awareness films, and for humanitarian aid to northern Uganda.^[11]

Invisible Children, Inc. supporters in Portland, Oregon participating in a Global Night Commute on April 29, 2006. The participants sleep in a public place to simulate children in Uganda sleeping in a city center to avoid capture from the Lord's Resistance Army.

In April 2007, the group organized an event called "Displace Me", in which 67,000 activists throughout the United States slept in the streets in makeshift cardboard villages, hoping to raise awareness about those displaced by the Ugandan government.^[12] Later in 2007, American rock band Fall Out Boy filmed a music video for the song "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" in Uganda after hearing of the organization's cause.^[13] Fall Out Boy originally intended to create a documentary-style film, but decided to focus on a love story between two Ugandan children, opining that the treatment "seemed a lot more dangerous and compelling. I mean, have you ever seen a love story between Ugandan people — especially with a rock band — on 'TRL'?"^[13] Invisible Children co-founder Bobby Bailey referred to the video as "groundbreaking".^[13]

Although the LRA left Uganda in 2006 after failed peace negotiations with the government, in March 2012, Invisible Children, Inc. continued to create new awareness programs. In May 2010, President Barack Obama signed the "Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act". Invisible Children was one of the advocacy groups that influenced the passing of the bill.^[11] Representatives of Invisible Children and other groups were present in the Oval Office when the President Barack Obama signed the law. The President told the people in attendance "We have seen your reporting, your websites, your blogs, and your video postcards—you have made the plight of the children visible to us all."^[11]

In March 2012, Invisible Children began an internet video campaign called Kony 2012.^[4] The premise of the campaign was to heighten awareness of the actions of Kony and the LRA in order to put further pressure on the U.S. government to intervene militarily in Central Africa. The campaign focused on "making Kony famous" in order to awaken people to his crimes and the pressure the government into military actions.^[14] The production value of the film was praised and it was suggested that the methodology used would be a trend in activism in the future.^[11] The video went viral, reaching more than 40 million views in three days after being tweeted by celebrities such as Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey, and Ryan Seacrest.^[15] Immediately following the release and success of the internet films in the Kony 2012 program, criticism of the organization's activities and finances surfaced.^[11]

Criticism

In an article analyzing why the Obama administration sent U.S. troops to Central Africa in October, 2011, the Council on Foreign Relations (C.F.R.) reproached groups like Invisible Children for "manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders".^[5] Resolve, one of Invisible Children's partner organizations addressed the Council on Foreign Relations' accusation as a "serious charge...published with no accompanying substantiation."^[16] Jedidiah Jenkins, the director of idea development for Invisible Children, asserted that the numbers of child abductions the charity uses "are often the same numbers as the ones used by Human Rights Watch and the United Nations".^[17]

The C.F.R. article went on to say that organizations such as Invisible Children "rarely refer to the Ugandan atrocities or those of Sudan's People's Liberation Army."^[5] These thoughts were echoed in the Huffington Post, by Michael Diebert, author of Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair. Diebert further explained that the Ugandan government itself used child soldiers to gain power.^[4] The Washington Post brought up criticism of the organization for its role in the passing of the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. The law was designed to help bring peace and stability to the region, however, according to the article "Critics say it has strengthened the hand of the Ugandan president, whose security forces have a human rights abuse record of their own".^[17] In response, Jenkins said, "If we had the purity to say we will not partner with anyone corrupt, we couldn't partner with anyone."^[17]

The organization has been criticized for oversimplifying a complex and multi-faceted issue. Of major concern is that US troops are already deployed in an operation that should be secret. The attention that is being brought the region now may actually do harm. It is assumed that Joseph Kabila, the President of the Congo, would not respond favorably to foreign troops crossing his borders. For this reason, the attention that the Kony 2012 film is bringing could incite violence. "If you want to catch Kony, I can't think of a dumber thing to do,"^[10] said Africa expert, Peter Pham. Following the release of the film Kony 2012, the group asserted that it hoped to explain the conflict in "an easily understandable format", with CEO Ben Keesey adding that "There are few times where problems are black and white. There's lots of complicated stuff in the world, but Joseph Kony and what he's doing is black and white."^[18]

It has also been criticised because of its funding sources. For example, in 2006 and 2007, Invisible Children acknowledged support from the Caster Family Foundation which was also one of the biggest donors of the campaign for California’s anti-same sex marriage Proposition 8. In 2008, they received over 400,000 dollars from The Call, another backer of the Proposition 8 campaign. Furthermore, The National Christian Foundation (the largest backer of the creationist Christian right) and its subsidiaries donated a total of $414,000 to IC in 2008.^[19] Thus, it has received a substantial support from groups associated with the Christian right.

Scrutiny of the distribution of the organization's funds have also emerged, specifically due to information reported by charity watch group, Charity Navigator. Charity Navigator currently has Invisible Children rated three out of four stars overall (two out of four in the category of "financial" and four out of four in the category of "accountability and transparency").^[20] Other critics claimed that the group spends most of the money they collect from their charity on staff salaries and "making films that attract much publicity, but don't do much to help people on the ground."^[11] The organization responded to critiques of its spending by providing a breakdown of its finances on its website, which claimed that 80.46% of its money raised was spent on its "mission", with 16% going to administration and management costs.^[10]

Another focus for criticism of the organization has been a photograph of the three founders holding weapons and posing with armed members of the SPLA.^[17] Invisible Children responded on their website with founder Jason Russell explaining that it was a joke photo taken at the 2008 Juba Peace Talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo that would have been "funny to bring back to our friends and family".^[21] Glenna Gordon, the photographer who took the picture, is not associated with the organization and was on assignment for the Associated Press at the time. Gordon explained the context of the photograph as the Invisible Children founders being bored at the stalled peace talks and deciding to have some fun posing with weapons and SPLA members. Gordon later published a story about what she saw as their questionable practices.^[22]

Awards

• In 2007, Progressive Source Awards, awarded Invisible Children's TRI podcast as the Best Fundraising
• In 2008, Invisible Children was awarded the Human Security Award.^[23]
• In 2008, Invisible Children was awarded the People's Voice Webby Award.^[24]
• In 2008, Invisible Children received an award from the American Advertising Federation.
• In 2008, Invisible Children received one of the Summit Awards, specifically in the category of Summit Creative Award, for its Schools for Schools website and its Displace Me website.^[25]
• In 2009, in collaboration with Digitaria, Invisible Children received an award for The Rescue website from the Interactive Media Awards.^[26]
• In 2009, Invisible Children was nominated for the Think Social Award.
• In 2010 and 2011, Invisible Children won the Stay Classy Award for Most Effective Awareness Campaign.^[27]
• In 2011, The LRA Crisis Tracker (a joint project between Invisible Children, Resolve, and Digitaria) was awarded Best in Show at the 2011 MediaPost Creative Media Awards.^[28]
• In 2013, Kony 2012 was awarded "Digital Campaign of the Year" under Interactive Awards at SXSW ^[29]

Filmography

The organization's founding was catalyzed by Invisible Children, the documentary that the founders filmed and edited in 2003.

References

External links

• Invisible Children