Wednesday, 9 April 2014

KONY 2012 Success or Fail?


Over two years ago , Jason Russell, director and co-founder of Invisible Children posted a video on YouTube titled ‘Kony 2012’. The video detailed acts against humanity by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda and the Republic of Congo, and called for the world to make its leader Joseph Kony famous. 

Within six days the video received over 100million views, calling for the mobilisation of young people from around the globe to make Kony famous and bring Kony to Justice by the end of 2013.

Days after the video, Russell was arrested naked in San Diego, vandalising cars and making sexual gestures. He said in a statement to the guardian;
"It's so obvious that I'm not OK. And I'm so naked. And it's just very, very public. The joke we always had, even before this happened, is that the Internet is forever. If you put your crotch on there, it's forever. And now this is out there forever and my kids are going to have to deal with it at high school."

Although Kony is still out there, the campaign did what it was supposed to do. Bring about awareness. According to Invisible Children since the video, World leaders have increased their aid, to find and capture Kony. According to the Washington post, Obama has recently sent US military aircraft to Uganda for the first time, in an effort to hunt down the warlord.

So, as in organisation, what are your thoughts on Invisible Children? Are they just enjoying there 15minutes of fame on social media, or can the power of social media really influence government decisions?


 The video can be found by the following link;


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