KONY 2012 (A Reaction Paper)

Joseph Kony

Make Joseph Kony famous. That is the goal of a 30-minute video produced by the nonprofit organization Invisible Children. The video, released just two weeks ago, has already received more than 68 million views and counting between Vimeo and YouTube. The documentary follows filmmaker Jason Russell in his pursuit to end the conflict in Uganda by capturing Joseph Kony, the leader of the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army, his personal army of kidnapped children.

The KONY 2012 documentary was created by Invisible Children and ”aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.”

Joseph Kony is a very evil man.  Kony is an Ugandan warlord who kidnaps children and uses them as child soldiers and sex slaves for his militia: the LRA.  A radically perverted and delusional terrorist, Kony has claimed to get orders and authority from divine powers.  Many of his followers and enemies believe he has been possessed by powerful spirits, which dictate orders through him. 

Instigating a cult in the form of an army of child soldiers, Joseph Kony is responsible for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity.  He is among the International Criminal Court’s most wanted.

Invisible Children says that Kony has gone unnoticed for his crimes against humanity because the American government does not see him as a direct threat to American foreign policy or interests. Invisible Children feels the injustice against the children has gone on for far too long, and the group wants to put a stop to it.

The organization decided to raise Kony's international profile so American politicians would take notice. The goal is to make Joseph Kony famous through making the documentary and having everyone possible, primarily college students, share the story of the tragedies. Using social media, word of mouth, posters and awareness rallies, Invisible Children has aimed to have Kony captured by the end of 2012 and to restore peace and prosperity to communities in Central Africa.

The documentary calls for a massive event on April 20^th called “Cover the Night,” culminating in the form of hundreds of thousands of supporters placing posters and stickers in every city across America.  These materials seek to make the name of Joseph Kony famous and eventually bring him to justice via awareness.

Instantly, “Cover the Night” events on Facebook were started and grew to many hundreds of members who each committed to take part in this effort on the night of April 20^th.

The video states that when Kony is a household name, the US Government will have to keep American soldiers in Central Africa, on their mission to find Kony.  

“In order for Kony to be arrested this year, the Ugandan military has to find him.  In order for them to find him, they need the technology and training to find him in the vast jungle. That’s where the American advisors come in.  But in order for the American advisors to be there, the US government has to deploy them.  They’ve done that, but if the government doesn’t believe that the people care about arresting Kony, the mission will be canceled.  In order for people to care, they have to know, and they will only know if Kony’s name is everywhere.”