KONY 2012 created quite the buzz in the beginning of March this past year. The half an hour YouTube video about the Lord’s Resistance Army’s (LRA) leader Joseph Kony went viral not only in the United States, but around the world. This short film created by Invisible Children Inc. to promote the “Stop Kony” movement was to make Joseph Kony famous.
Kony is the leader of the LRA, an indicted war criminal and an International Criminal Court fugitive. The goal of the campaign is to have Kony arrested by December 2012. The video on YouTube currently has over 93 million views and over 16 million views on Vimeo. After the explosion of popularity and high traffic to Invisible Children’s website, their system crashed.
Rumors were out that this entire campaign was a scam and personal attacks on Invisible Children representatives began. Jason Russell, the creative director of Invisible Children, was the face of the video with his son to explain whom Joseph Kony is and why Kony needs to be stopped. Russell began receiving attacks, he wasn’t sleeping or eating and warned his friends and co-workers he was not feeling himself. After running naked through the streets, he was brought to a mental hospital to be treated.
Needless to say, the state of Russell and his actions did not help the already questionable image of Invisible Children.
The focus of this video was not to raise money, but to spread awareness of this violent war that has been raging on for decades. The negative press and rumors helped slow this movement down and people were starting to move on.
Even with this bad press, those who fought for Invisible Children got world leaders’ attention and even resulted in a resolution by the United States senate to help the decision to send about 100 troops to help with this war. Other world leaders made promises to help in arresting Joseph Kony.
After a few quiet months, on May 13 2012, news of the capture of Caesar Achellam, a senior leader in the LRA and Kony’s henchman, by the Ugandan Army brought this issue back into the news. It also brought the truth and validity back into the press of Invisible Children’s motives.
The next chapter in this movement is to convince world leaders to move for justice. Invisible Children put out another video, MOVE: D.C., explaining everything that happened when the system crashed and how the movement has already been working. The video moves into what is next to come. Only the leaders of the world can put pressure on Kony to surrender or arrest him. The African Union, United States, UN, and European Nation have all made promises to stop the LRA and protect civilians.
On November 17, Invisible Children is calling a summit of ten world leaders who can activate the arrest of Kony to make sure these leaders have not forgotten their promises. Thousands of people will be there for the global summit and after, they will march to the White House and rally on the 10 city blocks that surround it to show they want peace in Central Africa and justice to Kony.
At the end of the MOVE: D.C. video, there is a reminder of how social movements have brought equality to many and how it is now time for this movement to make history.
“Our great-grandparents saw women fight for equality. Our grandparents stopped Adolf Hitler from taking over the world. Our parents fought for civil rights to declare us equal. We have been told our generation will accomplish nothing of value, but the words of others will not define us; only our actions will. We are fighting for a world where genocide and crimes against humanity cannot happen. The experiment is not over; we all have to make a decision. Either we lead or we follow but eventually everyone will have to MOVE. This is our chance to make history.”
Kony is the leader of the LRA, an indicted war criminal and an International Criminal Court fugitive. The goal of the campaign is to have Kony arrested by December 2012. The video on YouTube currently has over 93 million views and over 16 million views on Vimeo. After the explosion of popularity and high traffic to Invisible Children’s website, their system crashed.
Rumors were out that this entire campaign was a scam and personal attacks on Invisible Children representatives began. Jason Russell, the creative director of Invisible Children, was the face of the video with his son to explain whom Joseph Kony is and why Kony needs to be stopped. Russell began receiving attacks, he wasn’t sleeping or eating and warned his friends and co-workers he was not feeling himself. After running naked through the streets, he was brought to a mental hospital to be treated.
Needless to say, the state of Russell and his actions did not help the already questionable image of Invisible Children.
The focus of this video was not to raise money, but to spread awareness of this violent war that has been raging on for decades. The negative press and rumors helped slow this movement down and people were starting to move on.
Even with this bad press, those who fought for Invisible Children got world leaders’ attention and even resulted in a resolution by the United States senate to help the decision to send about 100 troops to help with this war. Other world leaders made promises to help in arresting Joseph Kony.
After a few quiet months, on May 13 2012, news of the capture of Caesar Achellam, a senior leader in the LRA and Kony’s henchman, by the Ugandan Army brought this issue back into the news. It also brought the truth and validity back into the press of Invisible Children’s motives.
The next chapter in this movement is to convince world leaders to move for justice. Invisible Children put out another video, MOVE: D.C., explaining everything that happened when the system crashed and how the movement has already been working. The video moves into what is next to come. Only the leaders of the world can put pressure on Kony to surrender or arrest him. The African Union, United States, UN, and European Nation have all made promises to stop the LRA and protect civilians.
On November 17, Invisible Children is calling a summit of ten world leaders who can activate the arrest of Kony to make sure these leaders have not forgotten their promises. Thousands of people will be there for the global summit and after, they will march to the White House and rally on the 10 city blocks that surround it to show they want peace in Central Africa and justice to Kony.
At the end of the MOVE: D.C. video, there is a reminder of how social movements have brought equality to many and how it is now time for this movement to make history.
“Our great-grandparents saw women fight for equality. Our grandparents stopped Adolf Hitler from taking over the world. Our parents fought for civil rights to declare us equal. We have been told our generation will accomplish nothing of value, but the words of others will not define us; only our actions will. We are fighting for a world where genocide and crimes against humanity cannot happen. The experiment is not over; we all have to make a decision. Either we lead or we follow but eventually everyone will have to MOVE. This is our chance to make history.”