"But I know who he is. Because I see him on this picture. Right now." - 6 year old Gavin
Almost overnight - well, in some cases, literally overnight - Joseph Kony has become a household name. Thank goodness. It's about time. The terrible work of the Lord's Resistance Army didn't start yesterday, but it became pretty clear to the masses as of yesterday. In the span of hours, (really, hours, this is amazing) the internet became flooded with the 2012 Invisible Children campaign. Which is exactly what they wanted, and I applaud them for that. I remember spending a significant portion of my Grade 12 Photography class trying to do the same thing, but at the time I was faced with the (general) consensus of "Uganda? Who cares?".
Who is Kony?
For those who live under a rock as of approximately 9 PM yesterday (that's when my facebook / pinterest / twitter exploded), Kony 2012 is a campaign led by The Invisible Children campaign which seeks to bring attention to the ICC (International Criminal Court)'s No.1 listed war criminal, Joseph Kony. Kony, for no reason but to maintain his power in Uganda, has raised up an "army" of tens of thousands of children who he drugs, mutilates, and transforms into child soldiers instructed to amass damage & death on local civilians. A few scenes from the movie Blood Diamond should be coming to mind (sorry).
Here's the video "Kony 2012":
KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.
Covering the night.
On April 20 2012, Invisible Children has asked young people across North America to "cover the night", releasing posters, stickers, and other propaganda (that's not always a negative thing) to raise cross-national awareness about what is really going on. Let's face it, just because millions of young people are aware of this campaign, doesn't mean their parents are... or their grandparents... and these are the voters. So I see the value in covering the night. If my babygirl will allow it, maybe I'll join in to cover the night too. Until 9 PM, that's her bedtime ;)
What about Canada?
Although the campaign is directed majorly at American leaders, and hopes to encourage them to unite in their goals of arresting Joseph Kony and stopping the creation of child soldiers, our very own Stephen Harper is a target for the attention. Rightly so - Canada has a role to play, too. If you're a Canadian, please don't excuse yourself from the campaign. Sure, their main posters (feat. the Eledonkeydove) are directed towards the 2012 US presidential campaign - but us Canadians don't need to look exclusively to those posters as our inspiration (mostly because it makes no sense for us to). There are a wealth of other resources available to us to lobby our MPs, MPPS, and PM to get involved in the American action.
We join their wars. Why can't we join their peace?
Where's my money going?A big (BIG) criticism coming out through Facebook and other online media is this whole exhausted issue of "know where your money is going before you donate". To this I say: duh. Obviously. Do your research before you give a penny to any organization in the world ever. Invisible Children is not begging for your buck, although I'm sure they do have an abundance of administration and on-field costs to cover. If your heart and passion is not directed towards the work that Invisible Children is doing, then don't donate to them. There are many, many other worthy causes out there (like this one and this one) which do amazing work to help the world.
However, I think people are going too far by assuming that this campaign is a scam to make more money for a worthy organization who has scraped by for as long as I can remember (back to my early highschool years).
But you should know that if you are passionate about stopping the creation of child soldiers, this is a solid place for your money to go. And really... what's the big deal? I know you've dropped $30 on a t-shirt you've worn 3 or 4 times - or dinner with friends - or 10 coffees - so I'm not sure why you are suddenly on a kick to get your research out of the way for a tax-deductible contribution towards a good cause. Go donate to something, someone.
It seems like they came out of nowhere.
It may seem that way to a few people who haven't been in the Invisible Children scene. John and I can remember Invisible Children campaigns dating all the way back to 2003 / 2004, and some of our favourite bands partnering with their work. As they started out, they targeted a very select group of individuals: namely, young Christian teens who enjoyed themselves some hardcore music and made it out to a couple festivals a year. To me, this was a brilliant starting place: Young Christian teens (especially us girls) love to share good news. It's what we were taught to do, and what we are daaang good at. Want to know how to find peace in life? Check out Jesus. Want to know how to make a change in the world? Check out Invisible Children. It was that simple.
Since this time, their work has obviously become substantially more legitimate and they are now backed by a collective of media-savvy political young adults (who probably grew up with the campaign themselves).
These guys didn't come from nowhere, they just built themselves from the ground up.
And to clarify, they are not a Christian organization. They were just where we were.
To learn more...
Check out the 2009 documentary "The Rescue of Joseph Kony's Child Soldiers" (below):
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