This is a call for submissions for a new project, the anthology Artist Intersections: Woman, Artist, Muslim. As you well know art and all its various forms, such as poetry, performance, film, illustration, fashion, are often misunderstood and even demonized in the greater Muslim community. The intent of this project is to reflect on the experiences of creative/creating Muslimahs to (insha Allah) dispel some of these myths as well as to inspire others to maximize their God-given talents and the blessings available through doing so.
As this project hopes to reveal (notice we didn’t say “unveil”!) a wide scope of the artists and artistic happenings, both visual and literary, across the ummah, we are open to accepting a diverse array of writing styles, including and by no means limited to essays, dialogues, creative non-fiction writing and poetry that is directly relevant to the subject matter. We would also like to include some inspiring, entertaining and/or insightful interviews of artsy sisters. You are welcome to put together an interview for submittal, contact us for suggestions of sisters of interest, or run by us ideas of potential interviewees.
Works which include excerpts from Quran, hadith, and other Muslim Maxims are of course welcomed in this project, however if your style or preference does not include such, your work is also welcome as we strive for inclusion of a diverse representation of believers, respecting the individuality in each Muslim point of view. This is not an anthology of “Islamic Art,” rather it is an anthology of Muslim Women Artists. In the spirit of inclusivity we ask that writers consider their readers and therefore cannot accept any work which includes vulgarity or explicit depictions of sex. Submissions from Sisters of Color are especially appreciated.
We would love to hear about issues related to being a Muslim woman artist, such as:
Internal and external struggles with accepting yourself as a artist
Rectifying your culture, art and religion
Epiphany-like moments related to being an artist
Art and dawah
Art as ibadah
Art as rizk: Being a working (as in selling) artist
Accepting yourself as being a creative being or non-working (as in selling) artist
Creativity and your community
Reflections on historical Muslim arts and artists which inspire you
Anything else related to your being an artist, a woman and a Muslim
Submissions due March 1st, 2012 PLEASE NOTE THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO MARCH 31, 2012
Information about compensation, copy rights and similar will not be available until a publisher has been secured, minimally each accepted entry will receive a copy of the anthology.
Please help spread the word! Share the submission guidelines for Intersections: Woman, Artist, Muslim on your blog, website, social networks and with all of your creative sisters.
Editors:
Brooke Benoit is an almost graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute and has a B.A. in Rhetoric from the University of Alaska at Anchorage. She lives in Casablanca, Morocco where her current preferred mediums are gemstones and words.
Aaminah Shakur is a self-taught experimental poet and artist whose work is most informed by her First Nations/Indigenous and traditional Sufi Muslim cultures. She has produced four zines and is currently tangled up in yarn.
Short Short Fiction to us means less than 500 words.
Open to all writers.
Age and previous book publication are not considerations for eligibility.
Work published in periodicals may be included in the manuscript.
Please, no submissions from students or close friends of the editors.
Reading Fee
$15 entry fee must come with EACH entry by deadline or entries will not be considered.
Manuscripts will NOT be returned.
Pay online! You can pay by credit or debit online. (You cannot submit your manuscript online if you need to pay by check. You will need to send your submission/payment via postal mail.)
Format
Manuscript format:
between 20 and 30 pages
must be typed (clear photocopies are fine)
(for mail submissions only) 2 title pages: 1- title with contact info. 2- book title only
A biographical profile/cover page is not necessary.
**FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS: There is no need to submit 2 title pages. Simply submit the manuscript with an anonymous title page online. Your contact info is with your submission (though the readers are not able to access this information). Do not put your name in the title. Do not include an acknowledgments page. Right? Right.
Compensation
The winner will receive $250 and copies of the winning chapbook.
The winning chapbook will be a high quality printing with letterpress cover.
The New Cosmic Frontiers International Science Essay Competition On the Nature of our Universe and its Habitats is open to high school and college students. Its purpose is to inspire students to consider careers in science and to nurture their enthusiasm for the subject, and to engage young minds in creative, intellectual activities essential in scientific endeavors.
Winners will be awarded significant monetary prizes to support their education and given an extraordinary opportunity to meet today’s world-renowned scientists and scholars at a conference and award ceremony, held in Philadelphia, on October 12-13, 2012. The program will include presentations by winners of the New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology Research Grant Program and the New Cosmic Frontiers Student Essay Competition; a banquet; a public event lecture related to the Big Questions; and panel of Templeton Prize winners and other original thinkers discussing the future of the Big Questions.
PRIZES
The top three essays in each category will be awarded significant prizes recognizing excellence, originality and creativity. The winners are encouraged to use the prize money for the purpose of furthering their career in science.
Category 1: High School Students or Equivalent
First Prize – The top essay will be chosen for a $25,000 cash prize.
Second Prizes – The next two essays will be chosen for a $10,000 cash prize each.
Third Prizes – The next five essays will be chosen for a $5,000 cash prize each.
Category 2: College Students
First Prize – The top essay will be chosen for a $50,000 cash prize.
Second Prizes – The next two essays will be chosen for a $25,000 cash prize each.
Third Prizes – The next five essays will be chosen for a $10,000 cash prize each.
In addition, up to 10 honorable mentions of $3,000 each will be awarded in either category.
The Essay Competition Invitation, containing complete information about the program, is available here. Essays should be submitted using the online templates available on this website after March 15, 2012.
The essay contest has been organized in conjunction with the New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology - An International Grant Competition, a research grant program that aims to advance our understandings in fundamental areas of astronomy and cosmology, which overlap with the following Big Questions.
Notification of Awards: September 2012
Awards ceremony, Philadelphia, PA, USA, October 12-13, 2012
CATEGORY 1: ESSAY THEME FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Big Question IV
Are we alone in the Universe? Or, are there other life and intelligence beyond the solar system?
The recent, rapid advances in technologies that allow the detection of exo-planets in the “life zone” and potential signatures of life and intelligence in the universe raise hope that we are getting very close to the stage to be able to answer the age old question: “Are we alone in the universe?” Discovering life and intelligent beings outside our solar system will be among the greatest scientific discoveries of all time.
Students are encouraged to choose some aspects of this question, from which they may generate more focused essays. The following sub-questions are provided as exemplary questions. Applicants may choose their own research questions provided that such questions are directly or significantly relevant to the above Big Question.
Exemplary sub-questions:
What are the signatures of the existence of life and intelligence in the universe? How may we detect them?
Would the fine-tunings required for life in the universe also necessarily require that life be rare?
To what degree are such other beings likely to be similar to humans? Are there features in nature which could limit the level of intelligence or the differences we may expect?
How important is it for mankind to answer this Big Question and why?
What will the implications be of the answer “yes” or “no” to this Big Question?
Does our universe have features that limit the level of intelligence and/or the differences we may expect from them? What kinds of behaviour might we expect from them, if we ever meet them? Should we expect that they have learned how best to live with other beings as they must have survived their own conflicts long enough? What are the possibilities?
Are there advanced intelligent beings out there in the universe that are not biological or are beyond biological (post-biological)? If so, what would be the signatures of the existence of such intelligence?
Entrants may consider the following suggested readings for inspiration:
Life in Space: Astrobiology for Everyone by Lucas John Mix
Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond Our Solar System by Ray Jayawardhana
Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life by Paul Davies
Intelligent Life in the Universe: Principles and Requirements behind Its Emergence by Peter Ulmschneider
CATEGORY 2: ESSAY THEME FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
Big Question III
What is the origin of complexity in the universe?
We are living in a wonderfully complex world. According to the known astronomical and cosmological theories, our universe has become more and more “complex” and produced more and more interesting phenomena in it. How did this happen? What were the key stages? What are the prerequisites for such emergent complexity? For instance, is the “Past Hypothesis” (the idea that the universe had the initial low entropy state) true? Through the process of becoming more and more complex, the universe generated conscious observers who contemplate the very meaning of existence of the universe as well as their own and ask the question: “Why are we here?” What are the origins of this amazing complexity in the universe? What are the origins and conditions of continuing complexity in the universe?
Students are encouraged to choose some aspects of this question, from which they may generate more focused essays. The following sub-questions are provided as exemplary questions. Applicants may choose their own research questions Ïprovided that such questions are directly or significantly relevant to the above Big Question.
Exemplary sub-questions:
What are the conditions for the universe to evolve to a high degree of complexity?
What are the key stages of increasing complexity in the universe? How do they come about?
Will the complexity of the universe continue to increase? If so, how long?
Or, are there any theoretical limits to the complexity of the universe?
Entrants may consider the following suggested readings for inspiration:
Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos by M. Mitchell Waldrop
Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe by Martin Rees
At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity by Stuart Kauffman
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle by John Barrow & Frank Tipler
Intelligent Life in the Universe: Principles and Requirements behind Its Emergence by Peter Ulmschneider
A 28-minute film about the plight of children in Africa has been watched more than 21m times on YouTube. But the charity behind it is facing criticism for its Hollywood-style campaigning on the issue. Are the criticisms fair?
The Lord's Resistance army leader, Joseph Kony, pictured in 2006. Photograph: Stuart Price/AP
Since Monday, more than 21m people have viewed this film – made by an American charity called Invisible Children – about the plight of children in Uganda at the hands of the warlord Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) guerilla group. His group is said to have abducted 60,000 children.
With its slick Hollywood production values, the film has been an almost instant viral success, dominating Twitter worldwide and having one of the fastest ever take-offs on You Tube. The hashtag #stopkony has had hundreds of thousands of tweets, and millions of people now know something about Uganda and what is happening to children there. Support for the campaign to end the conflict in the country this year is spreading.
Kony stands accused of overseeing the systematic kidnapping of countless African children, brainwashing the boys into fighting for him, turning the girls into sex slaves and killing those who don't comply.
His forces are believed to have slaughtered tens of thousands of people and are known for hacking the lips off their victims. Kony has been wanted by the international criminal court since 2005 on charges that include crimes against humanity. He has been living in the bush outside Uganda since that time.
The US designated the LRA a terrorist group after September 11, and in 2008 began actively supporting the Ugandan military. In October, the president deployed 100 combat-equipped troops – mostly special operations forces – to Uganda to advise regional military units in capturing or killing Kony.
But it has also attracted criticism: there are questions about the charity's funding, its targeting of US leaders instead of African leaders to instigate change, and accusations that it is failing to criticise the Ugandan government, with its poor human rights record.
This Tumblr page is collecting criticism of the project and this blog sums up a lot of the questions.
This morning, Invisible Children issued a detailed response to the criticism here.
We want, with your help, to investigate this further. Our principle approach is to attempt to gather views from Uganda about whether this film is the right way to go about campaigning on the issue. I'm going to be working with John Vidal, our environment editor, who has travelled extensively in the region and is on the phone now to his contacts there.
11.30am:This excellent post by Michael Wilkerson, a journalist who has worked extensively in Uganda, starts busting some of the myths around Kony and the situation in Uganda. He writes:
It would be great to get rid of Kony. He and his forces have left abductions and mass murder in their wake for over 20 years.
But let's get two things straight:
1) Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for six years;
2) The LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds, and while it is still causing immense suffering, it is unclear how millions of well-meaning but misinformed people are going to help deal with the more complicated reality.
It makes the following points:
• The LRA is not in Uganda but now operates in the DRC, South Sudan and the Central African Republic
• In October last year, Obama authorised the deployment of 100 US army advisers to help the Ugandan military track down Kony, with no results disclosed to date.
• The LRA is much smaller than previously thought. It does not have have 30,000 or 60,000 child soldiers. The figure of 30,000 refers to the total number of children abducted by the LRA over nearly 30 years.
It also makes the point that there is currently no threat to remove the US advisers who are working with the Uganda government to track down the army – Invisible Children's key aim is to force the US government to keep them there.
We're contacting Michael to ask him to write more about the background to this for us.
11.43am:Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian's film critic, has just filed his verdict on the Kony 2012, which will be up on the site soon.
I'm posting a taster below, partly in response to the reader who has just emailed me saying: "I am a mum in Devon with three kids, just about to run six miles for Sports Relief, please get behind this. Hollywood slick, who cares, support the kids – raise awareness and then start the criticism. It is a simple message which my 15-year-old son sent to me – Hollywood or not, it works!"
Peter Bradshaw writes:
Maybe Jason Russell's web-based film Kony 2012, calling for international action to stop the Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony, can't be considered great documentary-making. But as a piece of digital polemic and digital activism, it is quite simply brilliant.
It's a slick, high-gloss piece of work, distributed on the Vimeo site, the upscale version of YouTube for serious film-makers. And its sensational, exponential popularity growth on the web is already achieving one of its stated objectives: to make Kony famous, to publicise this psychopathic warlord's grotesque crimes – kidnapping thousands of children and turning them into mercenaries, butchers and rapists.
It does not stick to the conventions of impartial journalism in the BBC style. It is partisan, tactless and very bold. But it could be seen as insufferably condescending, a way of making US college kids feel good about themselves. And is Jason Russell scared to come out and admit that effective action entails an old-fashioned boots-on-soil invasion of a landlocked African country, with all the collateral damage that this implies?
12.32pm: I've just been speaking with Arthur Larok, Action Aid's director in Uganda.
He was previously the director of programmes at the Uganda National NGO Forum for nine years. He describes the NGO forum as independent of the government. We had a long conversation but, to be clear, he hasn't at this point seen the film though he does know about Invisible Children and its work in Uganda.
It was quite a bad line from Nairobi airport, but this is what he told me:
From what I know about Invisible Children, it's an international NGO, and it documents the lives of children living in conflict for international campaigning to draw attention to the lives of children in the north.
Six or 10 years ago, this would have been a really effective campaign strategy to get international campaigning. But today, years after Kony has moved away from Uganda, I think campaigning that appeals to these emotions … I'm not sure that's effective for now. The circumstances in the north have changed.
Many NGOs and the government, especially local government in the north, are about rebuilding and securing lives for children, in education, sanitation, health and livelihoods. International campaigning that doesn't support this agenda is not so useful at this point. We have moved beyond that.
There are conflicts in the north – several small conflicts over natural resources. Land is the major issue: after many years of displacement, there is quite a bit of land-related conflict.
But many organisations and governments are focusing on this. We need to secure social stability, health and education. These are the priorities. This is what we're trying to focus on. Poverty is high compared to the rest of the country. That's the practical issue that needs to be addressed.
I don't think this is the best way. It might be an appeal that makes sense in America. But there are more fundamental challenges. Kony has been around for 25 years and over. I don't think in the north at the moment that is really what is most important. It might be best on the internet and the like but, at the end of the day, there are more pressing things to deal with. If the Americans had wanted to arrest him, they would have done that a long time ago.
They [Invisible Children] are not a member of our forum. Many international organisations prefer to work and have direct contact with their quarters. They don't work so much within the structures we have in the country. There is nothing dramatic about them. They are like any other organisation trying to make a difference. At the moment I think the work of Invisible Children is about appealing to people's emotions. I think that time has passed. Their reputation in the country is something that can be debatable. There is a strong argument generally about NGOs and their work in the north.
It doesn't sound like a fair representation of Uganda. We have challenges within the country, but certainly the perception of a country at war is not accurate at all. There are political, economic and social challenges, but they are complex. Being dramatic about a country at war is not accurate.
If the international media want to be helpful especially for the conflict situation, they should exert more time and effort understanding practically what the needs are. It is fast-changing.
The video would have been appealing in the last decade. Now we just need support for the recovery rather than all this international attention on this one point. Getting the facts right is most important for the international media. That would help the situation as it is.
12.54pm: The Invisible Children film has now been viewed more than 26m times. These stats from YouTube show how it has taken off since Monday, where it's being watched and the age profile of those watching.
Invisible Children stats
12.59pm: The Ugandan journalist Angelo Opi-aiya Izama has written this blog, which makes a similar point to that of Larok about the Invisible Children campaign being outdated. He's been talking to our foreign desk and has just sent this as an addition:
One salient issue the film totally misses is that the actual geography of today's LRA operations is related to a potentially troubling "resource war".
Since 2006, Uganda discovered world class oil fields along its border with DRC. The location of the oil fields has raised the stakes for the Ugandan military and its regional partners, including the US.
While LRA is seen as a mindless evil force, its deceased deputy leader, Vincent Otii, told me once that their fight with President Yoweri Museveni was about "money and oil". This context is relevant because it allows for outsiders to view the LRA issue more objectively within the recent history of violence in the wider region that includes the great Central Africa wars of the 90s, in which groups like LRA were pawns for proxy wars between countries.
In LRA's case, its main support came from the Sudanese government in Khartoum and many suspect it still maintains the patronage of Omar el-Bashir, the country's president, himself indicted for war crimes by the ICC.
A reader has emailed in pointing us towards this Facebook page: PhonyKony 2012.
1.22pm: Recommended: this audio slideshow by our then Africa correspondent about the LRA related violence in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It documents child abductions happening there as recently as 2009.
@Uglyflubb and others have been providing some information about the funding of Invisible Children below the line. John Vidal has been looking into this. He writes:
They call themselves "a movement" seeking to end the conflict in Uganda and stop the abduction of children for use as child soldiers, but behind the slick website and the touchy-feely talk about "changing the course of human history", there's a hard-nosed money-making operation led by US filmmakers and accountants, commuication experts, lobbyists and salespeople.
So far the organisation has released 11 films and run film tours across the US and other countries to raise awareness. In Uganda, it has given scholarships to 750 children, and helped to re-build schools there and in centralo Africa. The organisation's accounts show it's a cash rich operation, which more than tripled its income in 2011, with more than two thirds of its money coming from "general donations".
The accounts suggest nearly 25% of its $8.8m income last year was spent on travel and film-making with only around 30% going toward programes on the ground. The great majority of the money raised has been spent in the US. $1.7 million went on US employee salaries, $357,000 in film costs, $850,000 in film production costs, $244,000 in "professional services" - thought to be Washington lobbyists - and $1.07 million in travel expenses . Nearly $400,000 was spent on office rent in San Diego.
Charity Navigator, a US charity evaluator, gives Invisible Children three out of four stars overall, four stars financially, but only two stars for "accountability and transparency". This would seem to be a vote of no confidence, but it is explained by Noelle Jouglet, communication director of Invisible Children, like this:
"Our score is currently at 2 stars due to the fact that Invisible Children currently does not have five independent voting members on our board of directors. We are currently in the process of interviewing potential board members, and our goal is to add an additional independent member this year in order to regain our 4-star rating by 2013. We are aware of this and trying to fix it."
The website suggests a staff of around 100 people, with the founders and senior staff mostly drawn from film-making and media industries. Jason Russell, the ceo and a co-founder, is described as Jason Radical Russell, "our grand storyteller and dreamer". He is said to be "redefining the concept of humanitarian work" and to believe "wholeheartedly in magic and the impossible". Laren Poole, another co-founder, is another filmmaker and the Ben Keesey, the chief finanacial officer, has been with Deloitte and Touche LLP, JP Morgan & Associates and Brentwood Associates Private Equity. He is described as "embracing the impossible and plots the course of our daring future".
2.27pm: This is really interesting detail from a reader about the process of what would happen if Knoy is arrested.
Caroline Argyropulo-Palmer writes:
I did my masters at SOAS last year, focusing on transitional justice. One aspect of the IC campaign that I would like to highlight is that it is not a given that Kony would be tried at the ICC [International Criminal Court]. The court works on a system of complementarity - if Uganda can try him they will be given preference. There is also a lot of academic discussion about whether the in country trials would have to be criminal prosecutions or if alternative justice processes, such as truth commissions, would be acceptable to the ICC. It might seem like a minor point, but to me it demonstrates a lack of interest on the part of IC on the specifics. And emphasising bringing Kony to the ICC rather than to trial more generally takes the justice process away from Uganda, where complex discussions about what justice would mean about the conflict more generally have been taking place.
Does anyone know any more about this? Do get in touch.
2.39pm: If you want to know where the Lords Resistance Army is doing now in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it's well worth watching this film made by Simon Rawles for the Guardian last year.
This is Simon's take on the Invisible Children campaign:
I felt a little nauseous watching the film. Couldn't help but feel the director's concern was less about addressing the needs of those affected today by the LRA and the complexities of tackling the rebel group, than as serving as a very slick promotional vehicle for his charity.
Sure, it's great to raise awareness of the issue, but efforts need to be made today to help protect people in isolated areas that are vulnerable to attack. Pressure needs to be put on organisations like the UN to protect those in LRA-occupied areas. The film never addressed this point.
Villagers I interviewed complained why, despite a presence of over 100 UN troops in their village, the UN was consistently failing to protect them (there were several deaths in the days before I arrived there).
As those in my film explain, the LRA operate in groups or 2 or 3, and attack at random making ordinary life impossible. According to informed assessments, the LRA number little more than a few hundred and are scattered over an area the size of the UK. No one knows where Kony is, and most of his band operate independently. It'll be a hard nut to crack. And, frankly, I'm struggling to see what difference a mass social media movement can make.
2.54pm: A reader has written in pointing out there there is now thousands of pounds worth of Kony 2012 merchandise available of Ebay. On the American Ebay website 1,391 items come up under a search for "Kony" including keyrings, t shirts, posters and phone covers. This search shows 443 items for sale on the English version of the site. As far as I can tell from flicking through the sellers, this is not related to the Invisible Children campaign, but seems to be some sort of industry springing up around it. There's no indication that the profits will go to charity. One seller rgalle86rob is located in Wallasey, Merseyside and offering vinyl stickers for £1.49. M-u-s-k-y, also in the UK, is selling wristbands for £2.99.
Screengrab of Kony 2012 merchandise on Ebay.
3.04pm: We're been trying to get official views from other aid organisations through the day. This from Save the Children's director of policy and advocacy, Brendan Cox:
Anything which continues to pressurise world leaders to bring Joseph Kony to justice is to be welcomed. Joseph Kony's crimes against children are well documented. Murder, recruitment of children as soldiers, mutilation and rape. This viral film shows that even though Joseph Kony is in hiding his crimes will not be forgotten.
Throughout today several people have recommended that I speak with the Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire. She's just posted this response to the Kony 2012 campaign (hat tip @LionelBadal on Twitter) and you can read her blog here. She says: "The war is much more complex than one man called Joseph Kony."
3.48pm: I've just been speaking with Liz Wainwright, an English photojournalist who completed research in Uganda for an Msc in 2009. During her time there she worked with Invisible Children and she gives a really nuanced views of their work. To verify her relationship with Invisible Children, and her knowledge of the region, Liz sent me a copy of her thesis on "stakeholder perspective on how to holistically support children who have experienced conflict in Northern Uganda", which makes frequent references to her time with the organisation. She said:
Invisible Children have had a huge impact on the area. They are well respected by other NGOs. I worked alongside them and they were very solutions focused. They didn't sit around talking for too long and checked with experts and that the local people wanted what they were doing. So many organisations stomp in, do what they do and leave. It was very needs driven. My impression over the past few years is that they've got very shiny and slick. The media campaigning is a different type of work to on the ground project work they do. I think they need to decide whether they go down the route of media campaigns or do project work. The film is very sensationalist about the conflict in Uganda. But Uganda is in transition. They are in the aftermath of the war.
This film will have implications that we can't predict yet. It'll be children who are Kony's bodyguards. If they do get Kony there will be a wall of children to get through. How will they deal with that? I don't know whether those details are thought about. Any publicity is good publicity I suppose. But everything now seems to have very short term vision. In something which is the future of these children's lives you have to have a long term vision. Anything else is reactionary and frankly selfish.
Most of the people working for Invisible Children are media professionals not development professionals. That's important, but you need the expert input. It's hard, I'm caught in the middle; I do admire them. They are having a great impact in northern Uganda. They have some unique ways of working, a good mentoring scheme where they pair people who have come through the conflict with people who are coming out of it now. But then I don't agree in the film itself. It was a little self-indulgent, emotive, that's how they do things and it has had a huge impact. Perhaps development needs refreshing as an industry and this is new blood and it's causing a stir that they are doing something different.
In the north of Uganda women are still scared to go home, even though they are told it's OK. In terms of psychological day to day living Kony is the bigger barrier to people getting on with their lives. But the Ugandan and Sudanese army don't have a great track record. They also have very aggressive tactics and they are not squeaky clean.
3.51pm: Our New York based reporter Ryan Devereaux has been attempting to make contact with Invisible Children to put some of the concerns about their tactics to them. Do post any specific questions you'd like them to answer below the line or tweet @RDevro.
4.43pm: I've just been speaking to Teddy Ruge who runs Project Diaspora, an American group working to "mobilise the African diaspora in the states to engaged with the continent". He was speaking to me from New York, but spends half his time in Uganda. Teddy wrote this blog about the campaign. Thanks to all those who suggested I make contact with him. He said:
What I'd really like is for organisations like this to have a little bit more respect for individuals like ourselves you have the capability to speak for ourselves. By putting themselves as the heroes of our situation it debilitates our own ability to progress and develop our own capacity. Every time we take a step forward to rebrand ourselves, something comes along like this and uses us in their own game. We are left as the pawns in the game. Without a better brand we cannot develop better international relations. We need to change the image of Africa as a basket case.
The man [Kony] hasn't been in the country for over six years. You know that the majority of the audience is a bunch of teens and ideological college students who just want to do good. They don't understand the nuance of the situation. They will take it as the only story about that issue. If we don't stand up as members of the Africa diaspora, the educated elite of the continent, this story won't change. We recognise the situations, we know what they are, it's not everybody's responsibility to come and rescue us. We're not babies. We have to rise ourselves otherwise we'll always be the dependants.
All ill roads are built on good intentions. Meaning well doesn't give you the right to march into my house and tell me how to live. It does not offer you that right. Uganda is my country, my brothers, cousins and countrymen. Because I have the privilege to be in the States and I have a forum which is listened to, it's my responsibility to stand up and say something. Just because you mean good doesn't give you the right to control my life. I don't care if you mean good.
Uganda needs to be respected as an equal participant in this, we need to be respected as equal citizens of his world. We need to understand that there is more to us than the failures of our past. The US isn't defined by civil war or 9/11. Uganda is strong, vibrant, developing technology, industry, the resilient women are rising in civil groups, that's what I want to talk about.
Kony is nowhere near the top of the concerns for us Ugandans. If you go to Gulu, where the worst of his atrocities were committed, it's a different town. It's thriving, growing, people are trying to put their lives together. Kony is a sore in our history. We are not defined by him or Idi Amin
What will a $30 kit do? Did I ask you to sell my story for an action kit to make uninformed college students feel good?
5.00pm:Rory Carroll, who has reported from all over the world for the Guardian, has just filed a story reflecting on his experience meeting members of the LRA. He writes:
He wore tattered trousers, muddy wellington boots, a grubby anorak and avoided eye contact. The voice was soft. "Sometimes one blow is enough. You have to make sure the skull is crushed and the brains come out."
He was 17, still dressed in what passed for his Lord's Resistance Army uniform and still getting used to the idea he was no longer Ambush, his nom-de-guerre, but Patrick Ocaya.
For five years he had served as a corporal in Joseph Kony's ranks, tasked with leading groups of 11-year-olds in attacks on vehicles and, on occasion, clubbing prisoners to death.
Asked if he had felt sorry for those he abducted and killed Ocaya's eyes flicked from the azure sky to the red, baked earth of a ramshackle rehabilitation centre. He shrugged. "I didn't have pity. They were my orders."
It was June 2003 and I was reporting for the Guardian from Kitgum, a beleagured town of dirt roads and one-storey buildings in northern Uganda in the midst of a new LRA offensive.
Lots of comment about this picture of the founders of Invisible Children, including on the left Jason Russell who features in the film. We've only just got the rights to use it.
The photo shows the founders of Invisible Children - Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, and Jason Russell - posing with guns alongside members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). The photo was taken at the Sudan-Congo border during the 2008 Juba Peace Talks by a photographer on assignment for the Associated Press Photograph: Glenna Gordon
This is IC's official explanation:
A story told by Jason Russell: The photo of Bobby, Laren and I with the guns was taken in an LRA camp in DRC during the 2008 Juba Peace Talks. We were there to see Joseph Kony come to the table to sign the Final Peace Agreement. The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was surrounding our camp for protection since Sudan was mediating the peace talks. We wanted to talk to them and film them and get their perspective. And because Bobby, Laren and I are friends and had been doing this for 5 years, we thought it would be funny to bring back to our friends and family a joke photo. You know, "Haha - they have bazookas in their hands but they're actually fighting for peace." The ironic thing about this photo is that I HATE guns. I always have. Back in 2008 I wanted this war to end, like we all did, peacefully, through peace talks. But Kony was not interested in that; he kept killing. And we still don't want war. We don't want him killed and we don't want bombs dropped. We want him alive and captured and brought to justice.
5.22pm: Ryan Devereaux in our New York office writes:
I managed to speak to Ida Sawyer, a Congo researcher with Human Rights Watch currently based in Goma. Sawyer has studied the Lord's Resistance Army for several years. She made a number of positive comments regarding Invisible Children's work in the region outside of Uganda.
"From out perspective at Human Rights Watch, we definitely support the message of the film and we think it's great that they're bringing so much attention to the film with Kony's crimes and the phenomena of the LRA," Sawyer said.
"Hopefully this will create a movement for more pressure so that real action, effective action is taken to end the LRA, and arresting, capturing Kony is a key component of addressing the LRA problem," she added.
Sawyer commented on the Ugandan military forces that the United States is cooperating with in its efforts to eliminate Kony.
"We have always had concerns about the Ugandan army and they have tried to go after the LRA for 25 years and have not succeeded in ending the problem. They pushed him out of Uganda but didn't effectively weaken the actual strength of the group. We've had concerns about Uganda's human rights record domestically, within Uganda," Sawyer pointed out.
"We think that if the US is supporting them, they need to make sure that the Ugandan troops that they are supporting are not committing any abuses," she said.
While reports of abuses committed by regional military forces pursuing Kony have surfaced, Sawyer said Human Rights Watch has not documented any committed by the Ugandan troops working with the United States.
"We have not, so far on the LRA operation, we haven't documented any serious abuses committed by the Ugandan troops," she noted. "They are probably the most capable force in the region now compared with Congo and Central African Republic armies."
"And hopefully, the idea of having these American military advisers working closely with them, they can help insure that protections of civilians is prioritized and intelligence is acted on effectively and that any potential threats to civilians, or possible retaliation attacks are avoided."
Sawyer praised Invisible Children's work in north eastern Congo–an area impacted by LRA activity–in setting up an early warning system.
"I think Invisible Children is starting some of the best work there, in terms of setting up the early warning mechanism."
The system relies on a two-way radio network, "They're training these two-way radio monitors who can report immediately when there's LRA presence or there's an attack."
Sawyer described the network as "crucial" in terms of circulating information in effected areas. "These are areas that don't have phone networks and the roads are really bad."
"That's been one of the key programs on the ground addressing that issue," Sawyer added.
She also praised Invisible Children's rehabilitation program–a partnership with the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission–for former child soldiers abducted by the LRA in Congo. While such programs have taken hold in Uganda, Sawyer noted "a gap" in similar support networks for Congolese victims.
In Congo and Central African Republic, Sawyer said Invisible Children has been "some of the quickest organizations to respond to the needs on the ground, very flexible and willing to work with and listen to the local communities."
"I think they recognize that they are people from California coming in, they don't understand the Congo context immediately and all the facts, but I think since they've come into Congo and CAR they've worked to make sure they don't move too quickly."
5.24pm: Rosebell Kagumire in Kampala writes for us:
The invisible Children's video Kony2012, its producers said it was an attempt to get the world to become more aware of Kony's war. A video, which features the producer and his son, his trips to northern Uganda and the need for an urgent action, however has not received the applause that it saw in western countries. In Uganda many have seen it as a misrepresentation of conflict and attempt to bring down the conflict just to American action, ignoring other actors.
Victor Ochen, the Director of African Youth Initiative Network (AYInet) based in Lira which was the site of one Kony's worst massacres in Uganda said that though the campaigners have good intentions they don't seem to seek a lasting solution.
"They are focusing more on an American solution to an African conflict than the holistic approach which should include regional governments and people who are very key to make this a success," says Ochen, "Every war has its own victims. They are advocating for a mechanism to end war with more attention to a perpetrator not victims. Campaigning on killing one man and that's the end is not enough."
Javie Ssozi a digital media consultant in Kampala commented on his facebook wall "They are responding to the right cause with a wrong approach! It's a good thing to raise awareness and let the world know what is happening but its a bad thing to start fromvery far away from where "what" is happening!". He added this video is very fit for the Western world but we must not forget that there is another side of the story. Action cannot be based on one-sided-facts or thoughts. The people of this country can speak for themselves. KONY IS A BAD GUY. Yes! Can we at least hear from the victims?
Barbara Among, a Ugandan journalist at the independent Daily Monitor said the video simplifies the war against Kony and downplays realities on the ground. "He shows the fighting Kony is like Ramble in the movie and there's no reality," she says, "You would be forgive to think the war began with him (producer) and will end with him"
Among who also hails from the north says there's a lot of ego in the video and he ignores the past initiatives of people like Betty Bigombe, the Jub peace process which is wrong. Among also points out that it is not first time that celebrities have been brought on board for the cause of ending war in northern Uganda. In 1996 after Kony's rebels attacked Aboke girl's school and abducted many girls, the then deputy head rallied around the world and made calls for peace. In fact the late Pope John Paul sent a message to Kony which is inscribed on a stone in the school in northern Uganda.
Among says the whole approach doesn't respect victims of this war. "Asking people to buy an item written on Kony is out of this world. Even if you are trying to help just imagine parents whose children have been killed, mutilated or abducted and the emotional pain the name brings to them."
The other criticism has been that the video heavily relies on images shot in Uganda more than 6 years ago and presents it as the current situation. Yet northern Uganda is dealing a whole lot of fresh challenges of resettlement and dealing with broken systems.
Ochen adds that "To me even a bullet alone isn't good enough for Kony, killing him alone will not be enough. There are many people who are caught up in this war. Invisible Children has good access to international media but they have no connection with the community they claim to represent."
5.27pm: I'm signing off now and handing over to Tom McCarthy in our New York office who is going to continue this blog. Many thanks for all your contributions today.
I am a researcher based at the Centre of African Studies, Edinburgh University and have been working on northern Uganda since 2009. This includes field work, academic publishing, advising the Foreign Ministry of Finland on the topic (I was based in Helsinki until 2010), and using the case in postgraduate courses I teach on the topics 'Development & Security in Africa' and 'Mineral Extraction in Africa'.
Your blog already cites other experts pointing out that the LRA has been outside Uganda for several years, is far smaller than Invisible Children try to make believe, and that the Ugandan government and army are a deeply problematic ally in their campaign. I second all these points, based on my own research and that of my colleagues.
The Guardian has widely reported recent electoral violence and the persecution of opposition leader, homosexuals and journalists in Uganda. This is clearly sanctioned, even driven by the country's leadership. The persecution of homosexuals is also strongly driven (and funded) by American-based Christian fundamentalist groups, who also see Uganda as a frontline in the cultural war against Islam, thanks to the Museveni regimie's outspoken (and military-strategis) support of the US 'War on Terror'.
There is also wide consensus in the scholarly community on the following facts:
While the extreme atrocities committed by the LRA cannot be justified by any 'political cause', the LRA did originally emerge as a direct reaction to extreme atrocities committed since the late 1980s by the government and armed forces of Uganda against the Acholi people in northern Uganda. The person in charge since 1986 until today is Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, who is himself a former rebel army leader and came to power by force.
The Ugandan army and military, including members of the family of the president, are known to have cashed in on the country's sending of troops to participate in the civil war of Congo DRC in the 1990s. The enrichment schemes involve the plundering of timber and high-value minerals like gold, diamonds and coltan in eastern DRC and the creation of false payment and pension schemes for army sections that do not exist ('ghost soldiers'). The DRC case led to a high-profile investigation by the UN and in the final report from 2001 Uganda was singled out for its involvement.
7.27pm GMT / 2.27pm ET: We've produced a video capturing the reactions of children from London aged 14 and 15 to the Invisible Children documentary.
7.44pm GMT/2.44pm ET: For readers just tuning in, or for readers in the United States who missed it, I want to repost a video reaction to KONY2012 by the Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire (here's her blog). She criticizes the Invisible Children video as propagating sterotypes about Africa.
"Basically my major problem with [the Invisible Children] video is that it simplifies the story of millions of people in northern Uganda, and makes out a [misconception] that is often heard about Africa, about how hopeless people are in times of conflict."
7.51pm GMT / 2.51pm ET: More from Ugandan journalist Angelo Izama, from his post at Ch16.org, the international blogger network. Izama writes: "For many in the conflict prevention community including those who worry about the militarization of it in Central Africa, [the KONY2012] campaign is just another nightmare that will end soon. Hopefully."
If six years ago children in Uganda would have feared the hell of being part of the LRA, a well documented reality already, today the real invisible children are those suffering from "Nodding Disease". Over 4000 children are victims of this incurable debilitating condition. It's a neurological disease that has baffled world scientists and attacks mainly children from the most war affected districts of Kitgum, Pader and Gulu.
8.01pm GMT / 3.01pm ET: Here's a voice of support for the Kony 2012 initiative from someone close to the matter indeed.
Jacob Acaye, the Ugandan former child abductee at the heart of the film Kony 2012, has defended the video and its makers. He rejected widespread criticism in Uganda and abroad that the American-made film calling for Kony's arrest is out-of-date or irrelevant, my colleague Julian Borger writes.
A still from the so-called Kony2012 initiative, launched by the non-profit group Invisible Children which demands the removal of Ugandan guerrilla leader Joseph Rao Kony. Pic shows Jacob Achaye Photograph: .
"It is not too late, because all this fighting and suffering is still going on elsewhere," Acaye, now 21, told the Guardian in a telephone interview from Kampala.
"Until now, the war that was going on has been a silent war. People did not really know about it.
"Now what was happening in Gulu is still going on elsewhere in the Central African Republic and in Congo. What about the people who are suffering over there? They are going through what we went through."
Surely any exposure of such a man is positive, no matter how much money is spent on the medium in which the message is contained? The fact that the Invisible Children group is doing anything is better than doing nothing. I believe that, living in an age where media and social-media are engrained from the youngest to the oldest, the best way in getting a message across is by using them as a tool to do good. This is nothing new in political circles - why should it be any different when it comes to charities?
– Dan from Cardiff
8.39pm GMT / 3.39pm ET: The Guardian's Ryan Devereaux just spoke to Steven Van Damme, Oxfam's protection and policy advisor for the whole of eastern Congo. He is currently based in Goma. Van Damme said his organization is concerned about potentially violent consequences for the local population from the Kony2012 campaign. Here is Ryan's report:
"In general, we're concerned [about] the catastrophic consequences for the local population," Van Damme said. "We've seen in the past, over and over again, how there's been a lot of retaliation by the LRA, the burning of villages, maiming people, a lot of killings, with little military success."
According to Van Damme, military operations targeting Kony would present a host of risks. "They should take into account the protection of those people living in the areas where those military operations would take place, and at the same time [we're] concerned about the fact that Kony has surrounded himself with a lot of civilians around.
"The LRA is able to operate in that part of DRC because it is a remote area, because it's cut off, because it's isolated. There is very limited infrastructure, very limited amount of roads, schools, hospitals, very limited communications. The state authority is very weak and is absent. ... There's a lack of political acknowledgment of the presence of the LRA in the area."
Van Damme said the challenge of helping people impacted by Joseph Kony and his LRA forces requires focus on issues that are bigger than one man.
"What we want to highlight is the lack of development in the area that we're talking about, where people have a lot of concerns – including the lack of access to hospitals, roads and schools – with this impacting massively on these people," Van Damme said. "And so, any solution has to look at wider development in the area, and that seems to be where there's a lot less attention and a lot less funding and political support.
"The LRA problem goes way beyond a purely military solution and has to tackle all of these matters that basically boil down to a very underdeveloped region."
"Kony2012 is aimed at children... it is a very, very persuasive, manipulative film, beautifully made."
"I think it's very successful because it doesn't ask very much of people. It doesn't ask people to understand much more than 'There is good, and there is bad.'"
4.56pm: My colleague Ryan Devereaux has had a longer conversation with Ugandan journalist Angelo Izama. Izama was born in Kampala, Uganda and is currently a Knight Fellow at Stanford University. He specializes in security issues in Central Africa, and argues for a more nuanced and complex look at the region than the picture painted by Invisible Children. Here's the latest from Ryan:
Izama says there's a crucial natural resource angle that's being overlooked, pointing out that Uganda recently discovered "significant deposits of oil" near its border with the DRC. "This is the one game changer in the history of conflict in that region" Izama said. He said joint military operations are increasingly concentrated in the oil-rich area.
"One of my issues with Invisible Children is that by providing such a truncated vision, and an unreal one, of what's happening today in our area right now, they missed the opportunity to cast this in much more broader and much more significant terms."
Izama pointed out that the Ugandan military – which the Obama administration legally committed itself to assisting one year after the oil discovery – has been increasing its oil-related security operations.
"For Uganda to exploit oil on that border region, it has to run a very large security operation. Part of that includes securing the border against rebels groups including the LRA, the Allied Democratic Forces, Congolese militias and several other Sudanese and Congolese groups that are all operating in that area," he said. "LRA is actually a minority."
"Governments that are motivated by exploiting solely this resource can be pretty excessive in their choice of policies. I think that Invisible Children really lost that wonderful opportunity," Izama added. "The big story in Uganda is about the oil."
Izama believes Invisible Children was mistaken in "going back into history and casting this in terms of what happened five, six years ago, which is no longer the case."
"If they had taken the story to where it is now, which is DRC, I think that you could still raise the question of Kony's atrocities, which are still ongoing now, but also raise the important issues that come with that, including the fact that DRC is where in 90s six or seven armies fought. Those are resource wars."
10.47pm GMT / 5.47pm ET: My colleague Ryan Devereaux spoke with comedy writer Jane Bussman, who has been traveling to Uganda since 2005. Bussman said Invisible Children did what it had to do to draw attention to an important issue. Here's Ryan's report:
"I think they really sat down and worked out the best way to get attention to what should be the biggest news story in the world but never is because the children involved are black," Bussman said. "Everyone is going ballistic on the Internet today," she added, "because they say the film is white-focused."
People need to realize, Bussman said, that "it's really bloody difficult to get the media to give a damn about stories with black people in the middle. ...The fact that they managed to make it an issue took some real some real brains."
Bussman takes issue with those who criticize the film for oversimplifying the situation in Central Africa. "If they got 27 million people watching it, it ain't that f**ing stupid," she said.
10.52pm GMT/5.52pm ET: The White House has congratulated Invisible Children, the makers of the Kony 2012 video.
11.09pm GMT / 6.09pm ET:President Obama talks about Joseph Kony. Jake Tapper of ABC News has posted video in which he asks the president about the LRA. The exchange is below.
Tapper: On Friday we learned that you authorized the deployment of 100 Special Forces troops to Central Africa. The Lord's Revolutionary (sic) Army that these troops will be helping to remove their leaders from the battlefield, they are known for using child soldiers, and I'm wondering — the process of agreeing to deploy troops in a situation like this where you know that these special forces might have to return fire and they might be firing upon child soldiers — how difficult is that as a decision to make?
Obama: Well none of these decisions are easy, but those who are familiar with the Lord's Resistance Army and their leader, Mr. Kony, know that these are some of the most vicious killers. They terrorize villages, they take children into custody and turn them into child soldiers, they engage in rape and slaughter in villages they go through. They have been a scourge on the Uganda and that entire region, eastern Africa. So there has been strong bi-partisan support and a coalition, everything from evangelical Christians to folks on the left and human rights organizations who have said it is an international obligation for us to try to take them on and so given that bipartisan support across the board belief that we have to do something about this, what we've done is we've provided these advisors, they are not going to be in a situation where they are called upon to hunt down the Lord's Resistance Army or actively fire on them, but they will be in a position to protect themselves. What they can do is provide the logistical support that is needed, the advice, the training and the logistical support that hopefully will allow this kind of stuff to stop.
6.31pm: We're going to wrap up our live blog coverage of the controversy surrounding the Kony 2012 viral video. Thanks for reading – and thanks especially to all those who wrote in with valuable context and ideas. Check out the Guardian tomorrow for more, including an interview with Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti on why this video, of all activist videos, went viral.
The rate at which the video ‘Kony 2012′ went viral on 7th March 2012 is quite astonishing, but unsurprising and perhaps predictable. Just as the comments and responses to the video, and the organisation that produced it (Invisible Children), are also quite astonishing, unsurprising and predictable. If you have not already, you can watch the video below.
According to Vimeo, the video had a respectable 58,000 plays of March 5th. On March 6th, 2.7 million. On March 7th, another 2.7 million for a three day total of 5.4 million. Truly remarkable.
(Update on the afternoon of 8th March GMT: it has now reached over 32.6 million views on YouTube, and has surpassed 12.5 million on Vimeo).
There are a growing number of critical responses to both the video and the organisation. Both Chris Blattman and the team atWrong Rights made a number of cutting observations in 2009 (this particularly video is the 12th installment of a long-running series, to which Invisible Children allocate a majority of their funding). We will update this list with new posts, articles and tweets that seek to take on this latest phenomenon in fundraising and advocacy, to make sure you get a balanced diet of KONY 2012. It is unfortunate timing, as the 8th of March is International Women’s Day, and this will surely detract (and this post is not helping, I know).
“The central thesis of #Kony2012 is that social media can be exploited to place great crimes in a bright spotlight. Hard to criticise that.” (Tim Minchin)
“Interesting video on Joseph Kony. Can someone give me the uncensored answer on why we takeover other countries but won’t stop Mr. Kony?” (Chad Ochocinco)
Brendan is a professional educator, having worked as a teacher at both the primary and secondary levels in China and Australia. Although he pursued the dreams of Indiana Jones in Uzbekistan, he eventually completed an MA in Development Studies at the University of NSW. Brendan has interned with the Centre for Refugee Research and volunteered at ActionAid Australia, Football United & Wokai. After teaching, he became a Senior Researcher and Project Manager in Learning & Teaching at Macquarie University. Brendan currently works as an Education Officer with UNICEF in Tamale, Ghana.
Thank you for reading this and doing further research about Invisible Children (IC) and KONY 2012. In response to this explosion of interest about the KONY 2012 film, there have been hundreds of thousands of comments in support of the arrest of Joseph Kony and the work of Invisible Children. However, there have also been pieces written that are putting out false or misleading information about these efforts.
This statement is our official response to some of these articles and is a source for accurate information about Invisible Children's mission, financials and approach to stopping LRA violence.
Invisible Children's mission is to stop LRA violence and support the war-affected communities in East and Central Africa. These are the three ways we achieve this mission; each is essential:
1) Make the world aware of the LRA. This includes making documentary films and touring them around the world so that they are seen for free by millions of people.
2) Channel energy from viewers of IC films into large-scale advocacy campaigns to stop the LRA and protect civilians.
3) Operate programs on the ground in LRA-affected areas that provide protection, rehabilitation and development assistance.
As you will see, we spend roughly one third of our money on each of these three goals. This three-prong approach is what makes Invisible Children unique. Some organizations focus exclusively on documenting human rights abuses, some focus exclusively on international advocacy or awareness, and some focus exclusively on on-the-ground development. We do all three. At the same time. This comprehensive model is intentional and has proven to be very effective.
We are committed, and always have been, to be 100% financially transparent and to communicate in plain language the mission of the organization so that everyone can make an informed decision about whether they want to support our strategy.
RE: FINANCIALS
Invisible Children's financial statements are online for everyone to see. Financial statements from the last 5 years, including our 990, are available at www.invisiblechildren.com/financials. The organization spent 80.46% on our programs that further our three-fold mission; 16.24% on administration and management costs; and 3.22% on direct fundraising in Fiscal Year 2011. Invisible Children is independently audited every year and in full compliance with our 501(c)3 nonprofit status.
Below is a screen-shot from pages 35 and 36 of the 2011 Invisible Children annual report that detail our total expenses for Fiscal Year 2011. An expense statement by class is the way nonprofits present their expenses to the public because it's the clearest way to show the purpose of different organizational expenses vs. a line item expense statement such as the one on page 6 of our Audited Financial Report.
RE: CHARITY NAVIGATOR RATING
Charity Navigator gives Invisible Children 3 out of 4 stars. It's gives our Programs its highest rating of 4 stars. Our Accountability and Transparency score is currently at 2 stars due to the fact that Invisible Children does not have 5 independent voting members on our board of directors--we currently have 4. We are in the process of interviewing potential board members, and we will add an additional independent member this year in order to regain our 4-star rating by 2013. We have been independently audited by Considine and Considine since Fiscal Year 2006, and all of our audits have resulted in unqualified opinions on the audit reports. An unqualified opinion means that the auditors believe the financial statements are free of material misstatement and are in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles of the United States.
RE: BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU (BBB)
Participation in BBB's program is voluntary-- we are choosing to wait until we have expanded our Board of Directors, as some questions hinge on the size of our Board. The current Board is small in size and reflects Invisible Children's grassroots foundation. We have now reached a juncture of success that has astonished even our greatest supporters. While it is important to retain a presence on the Board that reflects Invisible Children's early beginnings, we are also working to expand the Board this year.
RE: LOBBYING EFFORTS
Part of Invisible Children's mission is advocacy, and we lobby within our 501(c)3 status. We have lobbied Congress on multiple occasions, but especially in 2009 and 2010 which led to the passage of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. We lobby all members of Congress, regardless of party affiliation. We do not endorse a political party.
Federal laws exist to encourage charities to lobby within certain specified limits and Invisible Children has been careful to stay within these legal limits. Each year, as part of our Form 990, we submit an additional schedule that provides the financial details surrounding Invisible Children's involvement in lobbying. We have also elected 501(h) status--part of which is a commitment to continue to voluntarily report our lobbying expenditures to the IRS. The Invisible Children Form 990 and audited financials for the past several years can be found on our website at: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/financials.
THE BEST RESEARCHED PAPER SUPPORTING THE POLICY POSITION OF THE KONY 2012 CAMPAIGN CAN BE FOUND HERE, DRAFTED BY PAUL RONAN OF RESOLVE:
But here are a few quick responses to some of the most common questions we're seeing online:
RE: THE STRATEGY TO SECURE KONY ARREST
For more than two decades, Kony has refused opportunities to negotiate an end to the violence peacefully, and has used peace talks to build up his army's strength through targeted abduction campaigns. Governments of countries where Kony has operated -- including Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Central African Republic -- have been unable to capture Kony or bring him to justice. This is because regional governments are often not adequately committed to the task, but also because they lack some of the specific capabilities that would help them do so. The KONY 2012 campaign is calling for U.S. leadership to address both problems. It supports the deployment of U.S. advisers and the provision of intelligence and other support that can help locate and bring Kony to justice, but also increased diplomacy to hold regional governments accountable to their basic responsibilities to protect civilians from this kind of brutal violence. Importantly, the campaign also advocates for broader measures to help communities being affected by LRA attacks, such as increased funding for programs to help Kony's abductees escape and return to their homes and families. For a clear understanding of the KONY 2012 political goals, please see the letter to President Obama.
RE: UGANDAN GOVERNMENT HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
We do not defend any of the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Ugandan government or the Ugandan army (UPDF). None of the money donated through Invisible Children ever goes to the government of Uganda or any other government. Yet the only feasible and proper way to stop Kony and protect the civilians he targets is to coordinate efforts with regional governments.
RE: STOPPING KONY
We are advocating for the arrest of Joseph Kony so that he can be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a precedent for future war criminals. The goal of KONY 2012 is for the world to unite to see Kony arrested and prosecuted for his crimes against humanity.
RE: OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF A COMPLEX ISSUE
KONY 2012 portrays, in no uncertain terms, the image of a madman who manipulates children spiritually for his own tactical gains. In our quest to garner wide public support of nuanced policy, Invisible Children has sought to explain the conflict in an easily understandable format, focusing on the core attributes of LRA leadership that infringe upon the most basic of human rights. In a 30-minute film, however, many nuances of the 26-year conflict are admittedly lost or overlooked. The film is a first entry point to this conflict for many, and the organization provides several ways for our supporters to go deeper in learning aboutthe make-up of the LRA and the history of the conflict. Likewise, our work on the ground continually adapts to the changing complexities of the conflict.
RE: EXAGGERATING THE IMPACT OF THE LRA AND IMPLYING THE WAR IS IN UGANDA
Since the LRA left Uganda in 2006, Invisible Children has been publicly denouncing their atrocities in DR Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR), while continuing to work with now-peaceful communities in post-conflict northern Uganda. In September 2011, Invisible Children launched the LRA Crisis Tracker website with the aim of providing high-quality, verified information about LRA attacks in DR Congo, South Sudan, and CAR. A detailed methodology is available on this website that explains how information is collected, verified, and rated in terms of its accuracy and reliability. Every incident that is reported through the Early Warning Radio Network run by Invisible Children's partner organizations is carefully verified with other actors in DR Congo and CAR before being published to the LRA Crisis Tracker; even after publishing, incidents on the website continue to be modified as--and when--further information becomes available. Each incident is rated according to two criteria, on a scale of 1 to 5: whether an incident has actually occurred, and whether it was committed by the LRA. In this way, Invisible Children is providing concrete data and helping to dispel unfounded rumours about LRA attacks.
RE: PERPETUATING THE ‘WHITE MAN'S BURDEN' AND THE SAVIOR COMPLEX
Invisible Children's programs in Uganda, DR Congo, and Central African Republic are implemented with continuous input from, and in respect of the knowledge and experience of, local communities and their leaders. In Uganda, we learned very quickly that a top-down, Western approach was not the answer, and that local solutions were needed to fill critical humanitarian gaps. It is for this reason that over 95% of IC's leadership and staff on the ground are Ugandans on the forefront of program design and implementation. In DR Congo, Invisible Children works with the Commission diocesaine justice et paix (CDJP), supporting projects that have been identified as priorities by local partners and that are responsive to local realities and needs. Invisible Children staff members in project areas consistently strive to ensure that they build the capacity of local partners and do not take on duties where local partners can more responsibly and effectively carry these out; the organization meticulously monitors and evaluates the impact of its work on the ground, partnering with Princeton in Africa and employing qualified Monitoring & Evaluation professionals.
RE: THE PHOTO OF THE FOUNDERS WITH THE GUNS (SEE BANNER IMAGE)
A story told by Jason Russell: Let me start by saying that that photo was a bad idea. We were young and we got caught up in the moment. It was never meant to reflect on the organization. The photo of Bobby, Laren and I with the guns was taken in an LRA camp in DRC during the 2008 Juba Peace Talks. We were there to see Joseph Kony come to the table to sign the Final Peace Agreement. The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was surrounding our camp for protection since Sudan was mediating the peace talks. We wanted to talk to them and film them and get their perspective. And because Bobby, Laren and I are friends and had been doing this for 5 years, we thought it would be funny to bring back to our friends and family a joke photo. You know, "Haha - they have bazookas in their hands but they're actually fighting for peace." The ironic thing about this photo is that I HATE guns. I always have. Back in 2008 I wanted this war to end, like we all did, peacefully, through peace talks. But Kony was not interested in that; he kept killing. And we still don't want war. We don't want him killed and we don't want bombs dropped. We want him alive and captured and brought to justice
RE: PROGRAMS ON THE GROUND
While the vast majority of the recent exposure and commentary about Invisible Children has been towards the awareness portion of our mission, below is an up-to-date explanation of our work in Central Africa, an equally important element to the mission of Invisible Children.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN'S PROGRAM IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND SOUTH SUDAN:
Invisible Children is committed to supporting communities affected by the Lord's Resistance Army by empowering local leaders to implement programs that have a lasting impact. Our work in Uganda is focused on assisting in the recovery of northern Uganda after being decimated by two decades of conflict, while in DR Congo and the Central African Republic we are working with local partners to protect communities, encourage peaceful LRA surrenders and support the victims of the conflict.
HF EARLY WARNING RADIO NETWORK:
To address the lack of information from the most vulnerable and remote communities, Invisible Children partnered with Commission Diocesaine Justice et Paix (CDJP), led by Abbe Benoit and internationally recognized Congolese human rights advocate for LRA issues, to expand an Early Warning Radio Network connecting communities to one another through twice-daily security and humanitarian reporting. This network utilizes high frequency radios to allow for advanced warning of LRA activity. It also provides the humanitarians that are delivering life-saving services and the groups involved in civilian protection with real-time information. Communities participating in the project were selected due to their susceptibility to LRA attack and their lack of the communication infrastructure necessary to report and receive security information. A Local Protection Committee is established in each community to gather and disseminate information, provide regular maintenance to the equipment, and to ensure that trained operators in each community are carrying out the daily reporting
This project connects communities with local and international humanitarian groups, ultimately allowing for heightened humanitarian response while limiting the LRA's ability to attack without warning. Through Invisible Children's support, there are now 27 communities linked into the HF Early Warning Network in Haut and Bas Uele.
FM Radio: FM radio is one of the few ways to directly reach LRA combatants across central Africa with messaging encouraging them--many of whom are unwilling combatants--to escape. Invisible Children partnered with UN DDR/RR and Interactive Radio for Justice (IRfJ) to increase the capacity of Radio Zereda, a community-run FM radio in Obo, Central African Republic, from 1km to an over 30-km radius. Through locally-produced radio programming, members the victims' association in Obo and cultural leaders from LRA-affected regions share insight and sensitize local populations to the LRA's activities. In conjunction with sensitization, programming directly targeting nearby LRA groups and is broadcast in both the local Pazande and Acholi languages to encourage and give instructions for peaceful surrender.
In 2011, Invisible Children also provided support to repair Radio Rhinoceros in Faradje, DR Congo, and provided monetary support for a DDR/RR mobile FM unit deployed on rotation in Haut Uele. Additional community-FM projects in Haut Uele and in the highly remote and vulnerable district of Bas Uele are being identified and assessed for support during the 2012 calendar year.
LRA Crisis Tracker: The LRA Crisis Tracker is a real-time mapping platform and data collection system created to bring an unprecedented level of transparency to the atrocities of the Lord's Resistance Army. Using information sourced from Invisible Children's Early Warning Radio Network, UN agencies, and local NGOs, this tool allows for better response from governments, policymakers, and humanitarian organizations. This joint project, developed by Invisible Children and Resolve, marks the first time data surrounding the crisis has been comprehensively aggregated and made publicly available.
REHABILITATION CENTER:
As abductions continue throughout Central Africa, Invisible Children is partnering with renowned LRA-trauma specialist, Els de Temmerman, and the leadership of CDJP-Dungu, to establish the first trauma-focused rehabilitation program in the LRA-affected regions of northeastern Congo. Invisible Children, using its construction expertise from our education programs in Uganda, built the center with local labor and largely local materials. The center, located in Dungu, is locally managed and provides one-on-one counseling, utilizing a variety of therapy approaches adapted to each youth, including UNICEF-approved Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET). The center provides vocational and life skills training, school catch-up programs, and reunification services. Upon completion of the second phase of construction, the center will have capacity for up to 250 children and youth to reside at the center where they will receive holistic counseling services, which are also available for less-severe outpatient cases. Currently, a limited number of severely traumatized children are receiving treatment while the center builds staff capacity and develops systems. Full capacity is targeted for Fall 2012. Program management will continue to coordinate with both local and international NGOs and UN agencies to ensure that the center's activities are utilized by, and fit within, the regional psychosocial and protection strategies.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS IN UGANDA:
Promoting peace and prosperity through Education and Livelihood initiatives
LEGACY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM (LSP):
The scholarship provides fully paid, merit-based scholarships and mentoring from local full-time Invisible Children Mentors. Students are selected based on academic potential and need.
This program partners with 11 secondary schools and their surrounding communities in northern Uganda, working on projects that both build and renovate structures, while also investing in teachers and curriculum. The program also facilitates a yearly Teacher Exchange Program benefiting both Ugandan and international educators.
Stats as of December 2011:
Partner schools: 11
Students attending partner schools: 9,048
LIVELIHOOD PROGRAM:
The Livelihood Program takes a holistic approach to providing sustainable economic growth and improved living conditions for war-affected northern Ugandans. It impacts rural communities using a three-pronged approach: over 1,250 community members are saving and loaning together, participating in our Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) program; 5,000 community members are benefiting from clean water and health and sanitation initiatives through the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program; and over 1,000 people are receiving training on numeracy, reading, and writing in their local language as a part of our Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) program.
Stats as of December 2011:
WASH: over 5,000 (20 communities with an average of 250 community members)
VSLA: 1,250 community members (50 groups of 25-30 members each)
FAL: 1,000 community members (50 groups of 20-25 members each)
THESE ARE THE STATS USED BY THE KONY 2012 FILM AND CAMPAIGN:
We've done our utmost to be as inclusive, transparent, and factual as possible. We built this organization with "seeing is believing" in mind, and that's what why we are a media-based organization. We WANT you to see everything we are doing, because we are proud of it. Though we would no longer consider ourselves naive, we have always sought counsel from those who know much more. We have never claimed a desire to "save Africa," but, instead, an intent to inspire Western youth to "do more than just watch." And in Central Africa, focus on locally-led long-term development programs that enable children to take responsibility for their own futures and the futures of their countries. Our programs are carefully researched and developed initiatives by incredible members of the local community that address the need for quality education, mentorship, the redevelopment of schools, resettlement from IDP camps, and rehabilitation from war. If you know anyone who has been there to see it first hand, there is no doubt they will concur. Also, we have invited you to join us on www.LRACrisisTracker.com, which we established as a way to bring you near real-time reports from the ground, making available to the public the same information received by humanitarians working on the ground.
But, credibility in the eyes of policymakers, fellow non-profit workers, LRA-affected communities, and YOU is our most important asset, so we would like to encourage you, if you have critiques, to get specific: find facts, dig deeper, and we'll gladly continue the conversation from there. If encountering something you disagree with, suggest an alternative to what we are doing- and we will absolutely take heed. If it's a matter of opinion, taste, humor, or style: we apologize, and will have to agree to disagree. As the poet Ke$ha says, "we are who we are."
Let's focus on what matters, and what we DO agree on: Joseph Kony needs to be stopped. And when that happens, peace is the limit. This is the beautiful beginning of an ending that is just the beginning. We are defending tomorrow. And it's hopeful.
• Above, a video by Rosebell Kagumire, a Ugandan multimedia journalist who works on "media, women, peace and conflict issues." She writes, "This is me talking about the danger of portraying people with one single story and using old footage to cause hysteria when it could have been possible to get to DRC and other affected countries get a fresh perspective and also include other actors."
• Ethiopian writer and activist Solome Lemma writes that she is disturbed by the "dis-empowering and reductive narrative" evidenced in Invisible Children's Uganda narrative: "[It] paints the people as victims, lacking agency, voice, will, or power. It calls upon an external cadre of American students to liberate them by removing the bad guy who is causing their suffering. Well, this is a misrepresentation of the reality on the ground. Fortunately, there are plenty of examples of child and youth advocates who have been fighting to address the very issues at the heart of IC’s work."
• Musa Okwonga, a " football writer, poet and musician of Ugandan descent," writes in an Independent op-ed: “I understand the anger and resentment at Invisible Children’s approach, which with its paternalism has unpleasant echoes of colonialism. I will admit to being perturbed by its apparent top-down prescriptiveness, when so much diligent work is already being done at Northern Uganda’s grassroots... Watching the video, though, I was concerned at the simplicity of the approach that Invisible Children seemed to have taken."
• Award-winning Nigerian-American novelist and photographer Teju Cole published an inspired set of tweets today on sentimentality toward Africa by Americans. Ethan Zuckerman gathered them here, and Alexis Madrigal did the same here. "From Sachs to Kristof to Invisible Children to TED, the fastest growth industry in the US is the White Savior Industrial Complex," Cole writes. "The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening." He is brilliant and you should be following him on Twitter, anyway.
• Angelo Opi-aiya Izama, a journalist and researcher based in Kampala, Uganda, writes: "The simplicity of the 'good versus evil,' where good is inevitably white/western and bad is black or African, is also reminiscent of some of the worst excesses of the colonial era interventions. These campaigns don’t just lack scholarship or nuance. They are not bothered to seek it."
• TMS Ruge, the Ugandan-born co-founder of Project Diaspora is pissed. He says he wants to "bang my head against my desk" to "make the dumb-assery stop." writes, "It is a slap in the face to so many of us who want to rise from the ashes of our tumultuous past and the noose of benevolent, paternalistic, aid-driven development memes. We, Africans, are sandwiched between our historically factual imperfections and well-intentioned, road-to-hell-building-do-gooders. It is a suffocating state of existence. To be properly heard, we must ride the coattails of self-righteous idiocy train. Even then, we have to fight for our voices to be respected."
Bonus Round:
• Ethan Zuckerman is not African, but the Global Voices co-founder has done much work over the years to create platforms and networks that amplify voices from the continent, and promote thoughtful, informed dialogue on complicated issues like this one. Ethan has a greatroundup of links from various African voices. And Global Voices contributor Rebekah Heacock has an extensive post here, which gathers opinions from the African blog-o-/twitter-o-sphere.
• UPDATE: The Guardian has just published an interview with Jacob Acaye, "the Ugandan former child abductee at the heart of the film Kony 2012." Acaye is now a 21-year-old law student in Kampala, and he defends the video, the online campaign, and the people behind it.
Acaye's home region around the town of Gulu is now relatively peaceful, and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which kidnapped him and killed his brother in 2002, has been driven out of northern Uganda along with its warlord leader, Joseph Kony, who has melted into the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. But Acaye denied widespread criticism in Uganda and elsewhere that the American-made film calling for Kony's arrest is out-of-date or irrelevant. "It is not too late, because all this fighting and suffering is still going on elsewhere," Acaye, now 21, told the Guardian in a telephone interview from Kampala, where he is studying law. "Until now, the war that was going on has been a silent war. People did not really know about it.
I love looking through Google Images at all the fly photos of black female figures wearing their hair in such an eclectic array of styles. Going against the grain, their jet-setting looks and fierce-ness opened up a lot of doors for the sistas of today to do just about anything to their hair. From Blaxploitation stars to famous singers and models, these iconic women gave us hair envy, as well as lots of innovative idea for things to do with our own strands. Check these hot mommas out.
Billie Holiday
If Billie taught us something about hair, it’s that a gal always has to have her signature style. Reinvention is for the birds! Billie’s head full of gardenias started off as an accident with a curling iron (isn’t that always how it starts??). After burning a section of her hair, a fellow jazz singer went and bought some gardenias for her to use temporarily to cover up that section. But Billie loved the gardenias so much, she decided to keep wearing them for every performance. What a smart move. It’s the accessories ya’ll! They matter…
Turban alert!
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Diana Ross
When you think of Dirty Diana, sure, you could think about her music collection or her few movie roles. But when we look at the icon, all we see is hair. Literally. Big bold and beautiful hair, Ross was rocking the most ornate and glamorous wigs and weaves at a time when other people weren’t trying to. The rules to her hair moves include growing hair out instead of worrying about it growing down in length, and not being afraid to go wild with it. Fake it until you make it…
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Pam Grier
Pam’s afro was everything! A perfect circle (and sistas with fros know how hard that can be to achieve) with fun, tight curls, the actress’ hair had just as much character as Ms. Grier did. Sure, there were many women with much bigger fros (Marsha Hunt, Angela Davis, etc.), but with the exposure Grier was getting thanks to her roles in films like Foxy Brown and Coffy back in the ’70s, she became something of a spokesmodel for the natural style. I can dig it!
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Pat Evans
Who needs a Caesar cut when you boldly just go bald like Pat Evans did? The model, tired of the industry’s obsession with hair for models, decided to get rid of it all near the height of her career. Bald and beautiful, her hairless look didn’t stop her from being a stunner in the modeling world and from obviously being a stunner in everyday life. She was even asked to walk runways bald because her look was so fresh and free. What a trailblazer.
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Grace Jones
Bump what you heard. Nobody could and can wear a fade like Grace Jones–she did it to death. Sharp and chic, the androgynous figure stepped outside of the box (smashed it actually) and wore an attention-grabbing and powerful fade when chicks were running around with the big, poofy hair. Whether that thing was pressed, worn as is or was shaved down to a bald fade, Grace was FIIIIIIIERCE. Loved the look then, love the look now (not on me though…) and I’ll probably love it forever.
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Patti LaBelle
Before Lady Gaga and similar entertainers were doing the absolute most with their hair, Patti LaBelle was stepping in the place with a “new attitude” and a new, big a** hairstyle! Homegirl’s hair was like art to her back in the day. I’m talking hair that looked like a fan, a dustmop, a chess piece, wigs that looked like a bunch piled on to one–you name it, she tried it. Anything with a lot of spunk, spike and character was Patti’s thing. Sure, she has toned it down a lot, but I’m sure we’re all waiting for her to come on stage, kick her shoes off and roll around in a banana-shaped wig sometime soon…
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Salt-N-Pepa
“You know life, it’s all about expression…” The ladies of the famous group once told us to feel free to express ourselves (and shake our thangs), and they led the way by changing up their hair all the time and ushering the dawn of the asymmetrical cut. Before Cassie was shaving the side of her hair off, Pep was doing it while dancing around in tights and an 8-ball jacket. The provocative group was also coloring their hair the lightest of blondes (hey Salt!), and doing Bantu knots, finger waves and braids at all the styles’ primes. Totally original, you had to love these chicks.
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Erykah Badu
This Analog Girl in a Digital World has done just bout any and everything with her hair. I would go through the fried and dyed joke, but that’s not really true. Instead, she’s done locks, a bald fade, big, short and long wigs, afros, small twists, etc. She’s even stepped out with her hair looking like she didn’t even comb it and still been chic! Erykah has always been a step ahead of the game and the curve, trying styles and looks way before others, and giving them up just when the fads start. Truly a one-of-a-kind sista.
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Lil Kim
Ha! Ignore the colored contacts, the altered nose and chin, and take a walk down memory to focus on Kim’s hair. I added homegirl to this list because, let’s face it, the whole multi-colored wig and weave thing was something a lot of people saw on her first. Not to throw shade or take sides in any beefs (because I could truly care less), but she mysteriously found a way to make ridiculous shades of green, pink, red, purple and more look great on her head. Not feeling what she’s done to herself lately, but back in the day, I can’t lie, she was pretty cool.
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Halle Berry
Somehow, this chick stepped on the scene and revolutionized the way we look at hair and how it adds to our beauty. Berry usually walks around with the least amount of hair possible thanks to some expertly crafted pixie cuts, and she’s as gorgeous as they come. Who said you need to have uber-long locks down to your butt to look fab? Rihanna and Nia Long are close in competition, but sorry, nobody does short hair like Halle. She kills it. Everytime!
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Brandy
Another shocker, right!? Well, don’t be surprised. Back in the early ’90s when Brandy became the new sweetheart and household name thanks to her musical talents and TV show, she ushered back in the braids of yesteryear. Micros, box braids, braids in all kinds of shades–she was pretty much doing it all. I can’t tell you how many people came to school back in junior high with her same exact braids thinking they were toooooo cute. Homegirl was the queen of protective styling (and bankhead bouncing) and she easily found a way to make her braids more fun by contorting them in different designs and shapes. Loved it!
Just in the last year, 96-year-old American artist Elizabeth Catlett has had her work featured in exhibitions from Istanbul to Mexico to New York. Young artists use Catlett's technical expertise and insights into gender, race and class as a jumping-off point for their own work, yet she's still unknown to much of the general public.
The 'Invisible' Artist
An exhibit at the Bronx Museum of the Arts last year juxtaposed Catlett's work with pieces from 21 other artists. Along with her sculptures and prints, it also included her drawings of women with powerful legs and hips, the very act of their standing imbuing them with a force like nature.
Artist Vincent Jackson drank in the figures as he walked through the exhibit. The flowing lines of the figures, he said, expressed the strength and character of the black woman. That's one of the major themes flowing through Catlett's art.
Jackson stopped dead in his tracks by the 1968 Catlett sculpture Homage to My Young Black Sisters. It's one of Catlett's better-known works: a life-sized personification of feminine black power. It's a brown figure of a woman standing defiantly upright, fist raised in the air.
"Doggone it!" he said. "That's the one I like the best." Yet as much as Jackson loved this sculpture, he'd never heard of the artist. Catlett, as she said in a 2003 interview with NPR, is used to this.
"I, as an artist, a black woman artist, have been invisible in the art world for years," she said.
Vince Bucci/Getty Images
In 2009, Catlett was honored at the NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles. In the past year, her work has been shown from Istanbul to Mexico to New York.
Portraying What She Knows
When Catlett began creating, curator Isolde Brielmaier says, everything artists of color did was a struggle.
"Catlett kind of came of age as an artist when African-Americans and women were not part of the mainstream," she says. "They were not part of the center. They were relegated to the margins and excluded."
Catlett, the grandchild of slaves, was born in 1915 in Washington, D.C. She won a scholarship to the then-Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, but ended up at Howard University after Carnegie refused to accept a black woman.
By 1940, Catlett had become the first black woman to receive a master's in fine arts at the University of Iowa. Her mentor there, American Gothic painter Grant Wood, encouraged Catlett to portray what she knew best. Wood inspired her to focus on black people — especially women — and their ongoing struggle for equality.
Today, Catlett says the work she's still creating in her home studio in Cuernavaca, Mexico, remains centered on women and those who are poor and disenfranchised.
"I still believe in getting rid of discrimination," she says.
Catlett wound up in Mexico after accepting an invitation to work at a printmaking collective. She married a Mexican artist and eventually became a citizen. The U.S. government denied her a travel visa for nine years, declaring her an undesirable alien because she was a suspected communist.
A Great Influence
LaDawn Law flew in from Pasadena, Calif., for the New York exhibition.
"I just see a reflection of all of us in her work, like the Madonna," Law said. "It reminds me of my own mother and how hard she worked to raise her children."
Sanford Biggers contributed an oversized woodcut of an afro pick, with a clenched fist as its handle. In a panel discussion about the themes in the exhibition, Bigger called Catlett a trailblazer.
"I think we have a lot more freedoms because of the work Elizabeth and her colleagues did — her generation did," he said. "Elizabeth's work has influenced me greatly."
Artist Xaviera Simmons had a photograph in the show called One Day and Back Then. It's a nude woman, covered in black paint, with a large afro and bright red lipstick. "That's Xaviera looking at Elizabeth Catlett," Simmons said.
Bronx Museum /AP
Catlett's bronze sculpture Torso was part of the Bronx Museum's exhibition featuring works by Catlett and 21 contemporary artists.
Not only does Simmons follow Catlett's focus on making work about what she knows, she's also influenced by its precision and clarity.
"For me, Elizabeth's craftsmanship is kind of unparalleled. I don't know anyone's work that consistently stays so rich and rigorous over such a long period of time," she says. "I've always looked to her work for that inspiration."
Like Catlett, the artists who contributed to the exhibition want to produce strong images that make people think differently about the historical struggles of people of color and incorporate what's happening today.
Revealing Potential Through Art
Back in Mexico, Catlett works with assistance and offers practical advice to artists trying to learn from her struggle and her work.
"I hope they would learn to put in their best effort," she says, and that "they would learn to keep a contract on time, they would learn to ... do a good job so they could get another one."
Calling her the mother of modernist sculpture is too much, however. "I'm not the matriarch. I don't know who is, but it's not me," she says.
Catlett once said she always wanted her art to service black people, "to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us and to make us aware of our potential." From the level of conversation her work continues to inspire among both artists and admirers, it seems she has more than accomplished that goal.
For decades, women have struggled not only for their own rights, but also for their societies’ liberation from oppression as a whole. In the Arab uprisings, for instance, women and girls took a central role in protests to bring down one dictatorial regime after another.
But in a world plagued with war and poverty, women remain unequal to men when it comes to opportunities for education and work, salary schemes, and social recognition.
In most Western countries, women’s salaries remain well below their male peers’. In much of Africa, women work without basic social rights and also deal with raising a family. In Latin America, women face patriarchal systems that fail to recognize their central role toward social development. In much of Asia, women deal with cultural, religious, and economic obstacles to their own fulfillment as individuals.
At the same time, corrupt and violent regimes the world over treat women detainees just as badly as their male peers, if not worse. Sexual violence remains a characteristic of war and conflict everywhere. Poverty forces women and men alike to resort to inventive measures to provide for their children.
But violence and injustice do not only bring out the worst in humanity; they also force women to engage in struggle while maintaining a semblance of normalcy for their children.
Yet in spite of all the obstacles they face, many women display magnificent courage. On International Women’s Day, we commemorate not only the struggle for women’s rights, but also the struggle for freedom from oppression as a whole. Because without women, the dream of liberation is impossible.
An Indian women carries firewood on her head as she walks past an advertisement billboard in Siliguri on 7 March 2011 on the eve of International Women's Day. International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women's Day is marked annually on March 8. (Photo: AFP - Diptendu Dutta)
A burqa-clad Afghan woman walks down a street in Kabul. As winter sets in across Central Asia, many Afghans struggle to provide adequate food and shelter for their families. (Photo: AFP - Shah Marai)
A women picks vegetables at a communal farm on 15 February 2012 in Diagle, central west Senegal. In the arid rural areas, which have been put in a tough situation due to droughts and bad harvests, locals no longer believe in their countries politicians. (Photo: AFP - Seyllou)
A woman wearing a "Niqab" takes a picture with her phone of the Salafist demonstration in Martyr square, Beirut on 4 March 2012. The "Niqab" is still a very controversial topic in many parts of the world. (Photo: Haytham al-Moussawi)
A woman attends a masquerade party during Carnival celebrations in Salvador 16 February 2012. (Photo: REUTERS - Ueslei Marcelino)
A woman and a domestic worker walk past a garbage truck, in Beirut, on 8 March 2012. Numerous of local and international NGO's are engaged in a rigorous battle for reforming labor laws. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)
Maria Jose Cristerna, 36, a mother of four, tattoo artist and former lawyer, applies make-up to her face at her home in Guadalajara 7 February 2012. Cristerna, who is dubbed "Vampire Woman" but prefers to be identified as "Jaguar Woman", had her first tattoo when she was 14 and decided to physically transform herself after having gone through 10 years of domestic violence in her first marriage. (Photo: REUTERS - Alejandro Acosta)
A woman dries her saree, a traditional cloth used for women's clothing, after washing it on the banks of river Tawi in Jammu, India 3 March 2012. (Photo: REUTERS - Mukesh Gupta)
Cleaner Emilia Rodriguez, 78, stands at the doorway of her home in Havana 6 March 2012. Rodriguez, the granddaughter of Spanish immigrants, has been a state employee all her adult life. When she was 17, she started work in a clinic, doing cleaning and feeding bedridden people. For the last 30 years she has been cleaning apartment buildings, receiving a monthly salary of 250 pesos ($10). (Photo: REUTERS - Enrique de la Osa)
Migdalia Matamoros, a member of the cooperative "El Recuerdo" from the Federation of Cooperatives of women producers of Nicaragua, rests after working on her field of onions ahead of International Woman's Day in Ciudad Dario 5 March 2012. Women in Nicaragua makes up for around 42 percent of the agricultural labor force. (Photo: REUTERS - Oswaldo Rivas)
Hokom Al, a disabled woman, walks near her home in a rural area in Khartoum 7 March 2012. Hokom Al, 45 years old, was born without hands. (Photo: REUTERS - Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)
A Ninjutsu practitioner performs a split as members of various Ninjutsu schools showcase their skills to the media in a gym at Karaj, 45 km (28 miles) northwest of Tehran 13 February 2012. Currently about 3000 to 3500 women train in Ninjutsu in independently run clubs throughout Iran working under the supervision of the Ministry of Sports' Martial Arts Federation. (Photo: REUTERS - Caren Firouz)
Beah Richards' struggled to overcome racial stereotypes throughout her long career onstage and onscreen in Hollywood and New York, she also had an influential role in the fight for Civil Rights, working alongside the likes of Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois and Louise Patterson.
Recently while performing at Viper Alley in Lincolnshire, Illinois, soul music living legend Rachelle Ferrell requested the presence of a very special audience member on stage. That's when former American Idol contestant and multiple award-winner Jennifer Hudson joined Ferrell for a very unique and heartfelt musical conversation adorned with vocal acrobatics and harmonies. Oh how refreshing it is to hear Hudson's voice sans repetitive and often unbearable wailing force-fed to the world during commercial breaks via her Weight Watchers campaign. This is the JHud that we love. Both singers, Jennifer Hudson and Rachelle Ferrell, are treasures, and we only hope to hear the two collaborate on record soon.
Taiwo and Kehinde Lijadu, better known as The Lijadu Sisters are identical twins musicians who blazed through the charts in Nigeria in the 70s and early 80s. Stylistically, it would be hard to put them in a box. Their sound was an amalgamation of afrobeat, reggae, soul, R&B, disco and traditional Yoruba rhythms. The usually sang in Yoruba and English, and occasionally in other Nigerian dialects. On Mother Africa, they mostly sing in Yoruba, the exception being the track Dibe Nuwa, which they sing in Yoruba and Igbo.
As youngsters, their mother, noting their affinity for singing, encouraged them and bought them records by musicians like Victor Olaiya, Miriam Makeba, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles among others. These artists inspired them. They also happened to be second cousins to Fela Kuti, so music was sort of in the blood.
Before The Lijadu Sisters became big stars in Nigeria (they already had local success in Lagos), they toured Europe and North America with Ginger Baker’s band Salt. They played at the World Music Festival in 1972, which was held during the Munich Olympics. On their return they embarked on tandem solo careers. But while found national success, their international success was only moderate. Nevertheless, they rode their success well into the 80s, culminating in a US tour with King Sunny Ade.
After that tour, they started fielding offers from record labels, but nothing ever materialized. They also felt that the labels they’d recorded under had been ripping them off, so they essentially retired from the entertainment business. They made NYC their home, and have lived there ever since.
The recent resurgence in West African music in the west brought them attention and new fans outside of their Nigerian base, but along with the attention was also appropriation and copyright-infringement. One such incident was the rapper Nas’s use of Life’s Gone Down Low off their Danger album. It wasn’t just a sample; he literally took the entire chorus, hook, bridge and instrumental.
Mother Africa was the second release (Danger was first) of four albums by the twins on the Afrodisia label, a label launched by Decca West Africa. The label was a powerhouse in Nigeria; it was the home of major players like Fela Kuti, The Oriental Brothers International Band and BLO. Like its predecessor, social and political issues are at the core, addressed in mesmerizing and enchanting lyrics, which are accompanied by unmistakable Yoruba percussion.
On the surface, it’s a great album, full of great songs, and it should be lauded for that. But it’s more than just a funky album. There are messages embedded in this 35-year old-album that remain relevant today. Take for instance the song Dibe Nuwa. I mentioned earlier that it was sung in both Yoruba and Igbo. That wasn’t just a stylistic decision. The Biafran war had ended less than a decade before, a war in which most of the casualties were Igbo people. It was still fresh in the minds of the populace, and ethnic tensions were still high (the tension remains to some degree today). The song was a plea for peace, not just in Nigeria but all over the world. It was, however, the victims of Biafra (Igbos) that inspired the song, hence the Igbo lyrics. With the current ethnic tensions and clashes in the middle belt of Nigeria, this, and other messages on this album, still needs to be heard.
Mother Africa is now available as a reissue from Knitting Factory. I can’t recommend it enough; top stuff from start to finish. Even if you are not a native Yoruba speaker, you’ll find that the popular description of music as a universal language rings true here. The Lijadu Sisters convey their points succinctly and with palpable emotion. When you can do that, language will never be a barrier.
The Lijadu Sisters are as enchanting today as they were decades ago. They still dress alike and complete each others sentences. Below is a video of them in their NYC apartment.
UPDATE: The 
