Post date: Mar 12, 2012 9:47:58 PM
INVISIBLE CHILDREN - After only six days, Kony 2012, a video about Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, has broken the record for the most viewed viral video of all time.
Logging over 112 million hits from 750 plus clips uploaded on the Internet, the video has versions in English, Spanish, Italian, French and Chinese. On the organization's official Youtube.com page over 74 million people have viewed the 29-minute movie.
As Kony 2012 sets records, Invisible Children CEO, Ben Keesy, defends the organization against numerous accusations.
However, all the attention has brought much criticism to the foundation responsible for making the video. On Monday (March 12) the foundation's CEO, Ben Keesey addressed the critics in an eight-minute response.
"It's been difficult to read some of the comments about Invisible Children. But I understand because for many people they just learned about Invisible Children a couple of days ago through the "Kony 2012" movie. And if that's the case, if all you see is the 29 minute movie and then you try to go to our website and it doesn't exist because the traffic crashed it. So you're not seeing any information about our programs, you're not understanding that this has been going on for a long time, I think I understand why a lot of people are wondering is this just some slick kind of fly-by-night slacktivist thing, when actually it's not at all, it's actually a really - it's connected to a really deep, thoughtful, very intentional and strategic campaign," said Keesey.
One of the main criticisms facing the group was their use of funds. Keesey explained the model of Invisible Children in hopes to clarify misunderstandings.
"There's been a lot of questions about us and so we want to be as transparent as possible and answer some of those questions right now. Because our goal has always been the same, it's always been one thing and that's to stop the violence of the LRA permanently and help restore the war-affected communities. The first thing that we do is make compelling movies and films. I don't do that personally, that's what (Director/Filmmaker) Jason (Russell) leads and that's what he does so well. And the reason for those is that we want to make a film in a narrative to connect brand new people to the issue of the LRA, so we have more and more people invested in seeing a successful end of LRA violence. And then once people care, once they see the movie and they start to care, we ask them to get involved. We ask people to share that with their governments so that the international community and the world knows that there is a constituency that cares about seeing the end of LRA violence, so that they do more to make that a reality. Mobilizing the international community takes time, you know, we've seen that, this has been going on for 26 years. So we decided we can't just wait for that, we had to start taking action right away. And we were able to link up with incredible leaders on the ground in these communities, like Jolly Okot, our country director in Uganda, who had a vision of how we, international donors, could help support her vision and programs on the ground," said Keesey.
"I understand that people have questions about our comprehensive model and may question our strategy. But any claims that we don't have financial transparency, or that we're not audited every year by an independent firm or that we don't have financial integrity, just aren't true," he added.
At the end of the video Keesey once again drove home the main message of the organization, which is to capture Kony.
"There is one thing that everyone agrees on and that's that Joseph Kony should be stopped. The problem is that's not that easy, it's actually really difficult, therefore, the effort to stop the LRA has to be comprehensive and it has to be huge. There has to be a massive amount of individuals and citizens of the world that are invested in that successful outcome that are asking their leaders, that are asking their governments to do more. To do what it takes to do the hard work, to contribute the resources, especially since the LRA is in a weakened state. If we can rally now and get our government to support the regional effort, we can disarm the LRA once and for all."
Invisible Children will use Twitter to answer additional questions regarding their charity and the movement.