Commercialization of Northern Uganda's Children by Invisible Children
Juliane Okot Bitek writes eloquently in the Black Star News about activism that cheapens and downplays its cause. Spearheading a simulated “rescue” of child soldiers this past April 25th, Invisible Children, a popular and wildly misleading organization based in San Diego, California, has done more to hurt the northern Ugandan situation, than help it. Interestingly, the filmmakers admit the Ugandan government convinced them to change their first film project, in order to downplay the Ugandan government’s role in the long-running conflict in Northern Uganda.
A San Diego resident who has watched the group’s rise, notes that the founders have roots in Christian theater, and have proclaimed that they are on a mission from God, and are out to “Save Acholi people from themselves.” The three founders pay themselves $75,000 a year, and spend $3million a year marketing Invisible Children Inc.
Unfortunately, the three young founders who began Invisible Children: Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole have become the leading broadcasters of false information about the northern Uganda conflict, hoplesessly simplifying the conflict and playing up the LRA’s violence, turning a blind eye to the role of the Ugandan government in the conflict. The group’s following continues to grow, with media appearances on Larry King, Oprah and the BBC — none of whom have bothered to investigate the full tragedy of the Ugandan war.
The organization reported earnings of over $10 million in 2008 and is a partner to Resolve Uganda, a Washington-DC based organization which aides in Senator Russ Feingold’s office have referenced as the organization which it “works through.”
With groups like Invisible Children, Enough and Resolve Uganda working on the Northern Ugandan situation, we can expect continued suffering in the Great Lakes region, as these groups rally to demonize the dreadful Lord’s Resistance Army, and justify a war cry.
Enough, Resolve Uganda and Invisible Children have the ears of policymakers, and are advocating for a military solution to the war. After 23 years, advocating for a military solution seems incredibly misplaced. The very children we say we are seeking to protect will be the same victims killed in any assaults upon the LRA.
After watching the incredibly efficient US response to the Somali pirates who held an American captain, one has to wonder why 17 military generals, satellite imagery and other intelligence provided by the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) this past Christmas in Operation Lightning Thunder lacked a similar effectiveness.
Okot Bitek writes on the “games” created to “raise awareness” about the situation:
It hurts immensely to watch commercialism take over in a bid to garner the interests and involvement of young people in the campaigns. The British Red Cross has joined in the fray by producing a game that allows players to become 16-year-old Joseph who “has one goal – to find out from the Red Cross if his mother is dead or alive.”
“Click here to play,” the website invites.
http://www.tracesofhope.com/ To play.
Reducing the horrific experiences of hundreds of thousands of young Ugandans down to a game is unconscionable. To ask thousands of young people to pretend that they can “abduct themselves” into creating a new reality for the children in the northern Uganda is more than appalling – it is manipulative and undermines the horror of the last two decades of suffering over there.
One wonders if such theatrics are reserved for African settings; would anyone in the United States dare to create similar gimmicks to highlight the suffering of the victims of Katrina in New Orleans?
Ironically, the theatrics seem to work. Invisible Children have harnessed the technological savvy of the younger generation in order to empower them into finding meaning outside their lives.
I can see your point about exploitation. The selfless Invisible Children founders earn $75,000 a year to shop images of Ugandan children, and spend $3million marketing their suffering to clueless young people with big hearts.
KFire, IC started out well, but it seems were co-opted by different interests/agendas and maybe their own ambitions played a role?
The original film IC made was incredible according to some diaspora Acholi who saw the film when Laren Poole and co. first got back from Uganda and were totally broke. Grown men cried when watching it — but the film was edited and the narrative that’s been assumed is a false one.
How can the LRA be the sole focus of a war? What’s the other side? The government’s responsibility – especially when the US is funding and training the Ugandan army!
Maybe IC will grow a conscience and correct themselves.