If you logged on to Facebook the week before spring break, your news feed was probably filled with information about Kony 2012. Kony 2012 is a campaign to capture Joseph Kony. Kony is best known for the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a fundamentalist guerilla group that operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The LRA has been accused of numerous human rights violations such as murder, abduction and primarily the forcing of children to participate in conflicts. In 2005, Kony was indicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, but has so far evaded capture.
The widely viewed Kony 2012 YouTube video has received mixed reactions on campus. Many students support the fight for Ugandan children, but do not support this campaign video released by Invisible Children on YouTube. The 29-minute video briefs viewers on the struggle in Uganda over the course of the last 27 years, and details ways to get involved in the fight to find Kony.
Junior Brigid Hokana saw the video and was originally moved by it "because there were a lot of emotional ties in the documentary." Hokana added, "Once I realized that there were a lot pathos in the film, I decided that I needed to step back from it and do more research on it."
When Hokana began to do additional research, she found those who made the videos made a lot of money to create videos like that, but most of the money went to production costs and travel instead of direct support on the ground in Uganda.
Many students are raising the concern that the video exaggerated the issues, but sophomore Emberli McGann, who recently traveled to Uganda, disputed that statement. "I have gotten upset with people saying it's overexaggerated. Being there you see not only what Invisible Children is doing, but also that the things he talks about in the video are true. Kids are really forced to set people on fire or murder their parents," said McGann.
Senior El "Rigby" Bendele saw the video and was impacted by it, but as she started reflecting, she realized there was not a big push for actual action. "As far as I saw there isn't a lot of actual activism being done by it," said Bendele. She felt following up the awareness with actual political action would do more good than just talking about it. Bendele explained a lot of people feel guilty about what is happening in Africa, and they are engaging in "slactivism" by sharing a video but not getting actively involved.
Senior Chris Cheatham echoed that idea. "It's not what they are trying to achieve, it's how they are trying to achieve it," he said. He added, "Retweeting something won't save a child." Cheatham does think topics like this need to be shared in a simplified way, but he also said Invisible Children might have gone about simplifying it in the wrong way.
"There is a point were simplification does need to happen because these sorts of things are so specialized that the average person isn't going to understand, but the way they simplified it was to an emotional scale," said Cheatham.
Junior Chris White explained he understands the concerns about oversimplification, but he felt the video did what it needed to do to get people involved. "It has to be simplified in order to appeal to mass amounts of people, especially on social media. People don't want to watch a two-hour documentary; it was hard enough to get them to watch the half an hour," said White. White added, "It's hard to sum up 26 years of violence and civil wrongdoing in one video. He was just trying to get the idea out. It's to hook you in and get you to read more."
Cheatham pointed out that Kony has not been active in Uganda for several years and the number of children taken has been over a period of time.
"They said 30,000 [children] taken , but they didn't say that was over 20 to 30 years. They make it sound like a huge army, 30,000 strong, is running around now," explained Cheatham.
Assistant Professor of History Dr. Phil Cantrell, who teaches specialized courses in African history, is a supporter of the Kony 2012 movement, but agrees the video does have some inaccuracies. "One historical inaccuracy is they said no one supports Kony. That's not true. They got guns from somewhere," he said.
He added that the video takes a lot of credit for President Barack Obama sending in forces, and although Invisible Children did have a huge impact, they were not the sole reason behind that decision. Cantrell explained that the video was meant to be provocative and compel people to get more involved, and it did just that.
Cantrell said another big factor is that both Kenya and Uganda have been supporting South Sudan because they have an opportunity to profit from oil in South Sudan. North Sudan, in recent years, has pulled back on Kony's action. If things take a negative turn between North and South Sudan then Kony could be a concern. Capturing him would help ensure the stability of the region.
The video inspired White so much that he wanted to make a bigger impact with the cause. He originally started Lancers for Uganda, but then expanded it to Lancers for Africa in order to be more inclusive and get involved all over the country through various efforts. He explained that the group is getting involved with Kony 2012, but not solely focusing on it. They are also interested in getting involved with Schools for Schools, among other organizations. He said their main focus is to find ways to have an impact. "We are all about trying to make a difference," said White.
Cantrell has signed on to Lancers for Africa as their advisor and the group is going through the process of becoming a recognized organization though the Student Government Association. The group will be bringing in Invisible Children to give a movie screening this Friday, April 6 at 7 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium. If you are interested in getting involved in Lancers for Africa, attend the movie screening on Friday or join their group on Facebook to get more information.
The LRA has been accused of numerous human rights violations such as murder, abduction and primarily the forcing of children to participate in conflicts. In 2005, Kony was indicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, but has so far evaded capture.
The widely viewed Kony 2012 YouTube video has received mixed reactions on campus. Many students support the fight for Ugandan children, but do not support this campaign video released by Invisible Children on YouTube. The 29-minute video briefs viewers on the struggle in Uganda over the course of the last 27 years, and details ways to get involved in the fight to find Kony.
Junior Brigid Hokana saw the video and was originally moved by it "because there were a lot of emotional ties in the documentary." Hokana added, "Once I realized that there were a lot pathos in the film, I decided that I needed to step back from it and do more research on it."
When Hokana began to do additional research, she found those who made the videos made a lot of money to create videos like that, but most of the money went to production costs and travel instead of direct support on the ground in Uganda.
Many students are raising the concern that the video exaggerated the issues, but sophomore Emberli McGann, who recently traveled to Uganda, disputed that statement. "I have gotten upset with people saying it's overexaggerated. Being there you see not only what Invisible Children is doing, but also that the things he talks about in the video are true. Kids are really forced to set people on fire or murder their parents," said McGann.
Senior El "Rigby" Bendele saw the video and was impacted by it, but as she started reflecting, she realized there was not a big push for actual action. "As far as I saw there isn't a lot of actual activism being done by it," said Bendele. She felt following up the awareness with actual political action would do more good than just talking about it. Bendele explained a lot of people feel guilty about what is happening in Africa, and they are engaging in "slactivism" by sharing a video but not getting actively involved.
Senior Chris Cheatham echoed that idea. "It's not what they are trying to achieve, it's how they are trying to achieve it," he said. He added, "Retweeting something won't save a child." Cheatham does think topics like this need to be shared in a simplified way, but he also said Invisible Children might have gone about simplifying it in the wrong way.
"There is a point were simplification does need to happen because these sorts of things are so specialized that the average person isn't going to understand, but the way they simplified it was to an emotional scale," said Cheatham.
Junior Chris White explained he understands the concerns about oversimplification, but he felt the video did what it needed to do to get people involved. "It has to be simplified in order to appeal to mass amounts of people, especially on social media. People don't want to watch a two-hour documentary; it was hard enough to get them to watch the half an hour," said White. White added, "It's hard to sum up 26 years of violence and civil wrongdoing in one video. He was just trying to get the idea out. It's to hook you in and get you to read more."
Cheatham pointed out that Kony has not been active in Uganda for several years and the number of children taken has been over a period of time.
"They said 30,000 [children] taken , but they didn't say that was over 20 to 30 years. They make it sound like a huge army, 30,000 strong, is running around now," explained Cheatham.
Assistant Professor of History Dr. Phil Cantrell, who teaches specialized courses in African history, is a supporter of the Kony 2012 movement, but agrees the video does have some inaccuracies. "One historical inaccuracy is they said no one supports Kony. That's not true. They got guns from somewhere," he said.
He added that the video takes a lot of credit for President Barack Obama sending in forces, and although Invisible Children did have a huge impact, they were not the sole reason behind that decision. Cantrell explained that the video was meant to be provocative and compel people to get more involved, and it did just that.
Cantrell said another big factor is that both Kenya and Uganda have been supporting South Sudan because they have an opportunity to profit from oil in South Sudan. North Sudan, in recent years, has pulled back on Kony's action. If things take a negative turn between North and South Sudan then Kony could be a concern. Capturing him would help ensure the stability of the region.
The video inspired White so much that he wanted to make a bigger impact with the cause. He originally started Lancers for Uganda, but then expanded it to Lancers for Africa in order to be more inclusive and get involved all over the country through various efforts. He explained that the group is getting involved with Kony 2012, but not solely focusing on it. They are also interested in getting involved with Schools for Schools, among other organizations. He said their main focus is to find ways to have an impact. "We are all about trying to make a difference," said White.
Cantrell has signed on to Lancers for Africa as their advisor and the group is going through the process of becoming a recognized organization though the Student Government Association. The group will be bringing in Invisible Children to give a movie screening this Friday, April 6 at 7 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium. If you are interested in getting involved in Lancers for Africa, attend the movie screening on Friday or join their group on Facebook to get more information.
