In the past few days the new campaign by Invisible Children, KONY 2012, has gone viral. Viral meaning 76 million views in one week. While their goal was a viral video, their video had some unexpected results as well. Invisible Children Inc. has undergone a barrage of critiques and questions that included anywhere from financial statements to questions of a five year old receiving an explanation of the crisis. While I’ve already addressed the financial aspects of the critiques in a blog, I feel that I need to address the effects on the people of Uganda and the region that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) occupies. The LRA is a military group that has waged war on the people of Central Africa for a period of 26 years. The LRA gains its recruits by kidnapping children from their beds at night. The girls are used as sex slaves and the boys are trained as soldiers. Bear in mind that these children are taken as soon as they are able to hold a weapon (like five years old). They take these kids because while they will put up resistance, they are still easily impressionable and will ultimately die for the cause. However, there is no cause. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony (the world’s most wanted man), has been waging a war for the sake of waging a war for 26 years. The people of the region are tired and fed up with the violence. They have seen their friends die, watched their children as they bled out and hidden as their village was raided for supplies. They want this war to end and they want their children back.
This new campaign brings them hope, hope for a better and brighter day. People have responded with overwhelming enthusiasm, Invisible Children isn't even offering Action Kits anymore, however some question the size of the response. The campaign targets their audience in order to raise awareness. This war is virtually unknown. The goal of Invisible Children is to bring to light the war and the tragedy that Kony has brought to the region. However some question the productivity of only bringing this crisis to light. While it needs to be done, some have tagged this movement as "nodding disease" or "slactivism", meaning that this method of raising awareness is so simple that nothing will get done. That people can "sign on" with out actually signing on to help the campaign. So what happens if nothing is achieved as a result of this movement? The people of the region only want peace. They only want the LRA and Jospeh Kony gone so that they can move on with their lives without fear of war. And while that might be the aim of the movement, there is no gaurantee of it actually happening. The movement is relying on a dysfunctional Congress to keep 100 military advisors in Uganda. Can we actually keep them there even though we have no foreign interests in Uganda? I hope so.
This new campaign brings them hope, hope for a better and brighter day. People have responded with overwhelming enthusiasm, Invisible Children isn't even offering Action Kits anymore, however some question the size of the response. The campaign targets their audience in order to raise awareness. This war is virtually unknown. The goal of Invisible Children is to bring to light the war and the tragedy that Kony has brought to the region. However some question the productivity of only bringing this crisis to light. While it needs to be done, some have tagged this movement as "nodding disease" or "slactivism", meaning that this method of raising awareness is so simple that nothing will get done. That people can "sign on" with out actually signing on to help the campaign. So what happens if nothing is achieved as a result of this movement? The people of the region only want peace. They only want the LRA and Jospeh Kony gone so that they can move on with their lives without fear of war. And while that might be the aim of the movement, there is no gaurantee of it actually happening. The movement is relying on a dysfunctional Congress to keep 100 military advisors in Uganda. Can we actually keep them there even though we have no foreign interests in Uganda? I hope so.