Invisible Children has issued a statement calling for a meeting with Ugandan Diaspora tomorrow, March 24th. No doubt the agenda at said meeting is going to be about the controversy surrounding the recent viral success of the Kony 2012 video. I think this is the least that the organization can do. Dialogue is always a good start. In hind sight, this probably should have happened prior to the release of the video, but I suppose, better to engage Ugandan now than than never.
The meeting notice is rather sudden and I am not sure how long the request has been out, but I am publishing this within the same hour as I received it. Nonetheless, if you do happen to be a Ugandan within driving distance of IC’s San Diego offices, please do make a point to get in touch with Sean Poole to make arrangements for attendance. Full announcement below:
Invisible Children would like to invite all members of the Ugandan diaspora to attend a meeting on Saturday, March
24th31st at 11am in San Diego where members of the Invisible Children team would like to listen to insight from the Ugandan diaspora and discuss the recent Kony 2012 campaign and its impact. Please RSVP to spoole@invisiblechildren.com so we can ensure their is sufficient space for all to participate. While we realize it is not possible for many members from across the US to participate in a meeting with such short notice, we would like this just to be the beginning of engagement with the diaspora on this issue.
Update 1:
Sean Poole, IC’s Programs Coordinator, has issued a correction. The meeting is actually scheduled for Saturday, March 31. This gives everyone a week to make travel arrangements. If you are available, please get in touch with Sean to make arrangements.
Invisible Children wants to talk… to Ugandan Diaspora, tomorrow
March 23, 2012 at 4:31 pm[…] By TMS Ruge via Project Diaspora […]
Juliane Okot Bitek
March 23, 2012 at 7:30 pmIs there a chance of having attendance through Skype or any other such technologies? I’m in Vancouver, Canada, and I think I can speak for those who would love to be there but can’t…
tms ruge
March 24, 2012 at 8:57 amHi Juliane, Good to hear from you. I am not sure if that is going to be possible. I plan on talking to them sometime this coming week. I will update if there is streaming channel provided for those who can't attend.
David
March 24, 2012 at 2:53 amYou hould have plenty to talk about. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/14…
Renee Tantala
April 30, 2012 at 6:19 pmThis link doesn’t seem to work any more. Can you furnish an alternative or post the contents somewhere?
will
April 5, 2012 at 9:18 amI’m curious to hear about how this went. Do you have any updates?
Alison
April 11, 2012 at 9:29 amCan you please post the transcript / minutes of the discussion from your meeting with Invisible Children so that everyone can read it (and in the interest of transparency)?
The fact that Invisible Children are actually meeting with the people that so openly and viciously criticize them seems an extremely good reflection on them to me.
Spreading hope not negativity is perhaps what is best to take from the success of this film. People are not idiots, they are capable of finding out more information for themselves.
Give IC a break and think seriously about your intentions. Do you want to intellectually aggrandize or commit to ensuring something positive comes out of this for the people effected by these issues?
Looking forward to reading the content of the meeting.
tms ruge
April 11, 2012 at 7:18 pmHi Alison, I am not sure what you are getting at actually. I've been a little busy to follow up on what happened at the meeting. But so far according to my sources the meeting was cancelled. IC didn't update us on the details. I jus t have a personal account from someone who tried to attend the meeting. It was cancelled due to the planned protests at their head quarters that very same day. Will update as I have more information. I was not able to go and attend the meeting myself.