Who's Grant Oyston? He's a 19-year-old student at Acadia university, in Canada's "down East" provinces. And he's the driving force at Visible Children, a website set up to set the fats straight on the Invisible Children campaign to expose Joseph Kony and his murderous Lord's Resistance Army. The KONY 2012 video has had millions of views and garnered support from celebrities from Janet Jackson to Zooey Deschanel. Hey, if Rihanna is for something, how can you be against it?
But Geoffrey York, the Globe and Mail 's man in Africa, reports that the video has attracted a lot of blowback from people who challenge the aims and approach of the Invisible Children campaign. As Walt told you earlier this week, Mr. Oyston has raised some serious questions about Invisible Children's financing structure, its call for direct military intervention against Kony's ragtag "army" of child slaves, and Invisible Children's connections with the Uganda and Sudanese armies.
"Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don't realise they're supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away," Oyston wrote. Check out "Why I'm Opposed to the Campaign", in Sabotage Times. [Gotta love that name. Ed.]
In Oyston's view, learning more about Kony and lobbying western governments to do more to bring Kony before the International Criminal Court is good. But still, he advises against supporting the campaign or donating to Invisible Children. Click here to read "What to do", posted on Visible Children yesterday. Hint: Don't give them any money. Oyston recommends another charity instead.
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