Many of you have probably seen or heard of the KONY 2012 video that has been passed around on Facebook, Twitter, and other online websites. If you haven’t yet, watch the video here.

Since it was released on YouTube this past Monday, the 30-minute video has gone viral. According to Associated Press,  the video has been viewed more than 40 million times by last (Thursday) night. The essential message in the video is that the majority of the American public know little about Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the guerilla group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and the crimes and atrocities he has committed and continues to commit today – including kidnapping, utilizing child soldiers, mutilation, rape, sex trafficking, and murder. The anti-LRA non-profit organization, Invisible Children (IC), filmed and released this video with the goal of making Kony “famous” – in the sense that it wants the power of social media to propel the crimes of Kony and the LRA into U.S. citizens’ minds so that American policy-makers will take a greater lead in trying to “stop” him by the end of this year (the reason the video is entitled “KONY 2012”).

The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Kony’s arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and last fall Obama sent 100 U.S. Special Forces and advisors to Uganda and surrounding countries in support of ending Kony’s campaign. However, Jason Russell, co-founder of IC, wants viewers of this new video to support this cause further by spreading the word about Kony and targeting specific media personalities and policy-makers in order to make bringing Kony to justice an important goal on Washington’s agenda. A flyering campaign on April 20^th has been called for, and a Facebook event is even up for Berkeley.

Now, along with mass appeal and support from various figures (Oprah, Justin Bieber, and Rihanna to name a few), KONY 2012 and Invisible Children have received just as much criticism, not only from your own student peers, but also from various blogs and opinion articles. One of the main issues that critics have of the video is the fact that it glosses over much of the complexities of the conflict regarding the ethnic and civil war in Uganda and the LRA. For example, the video focuses on Uganda, whereas Kony and the LRA have left that region in 2006 and moved to nearby countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.

IC provides rebuttals and explanations to several of these criticisms on its website. With regard to the oversimplification argument, IC states that it “sought to explain the conflict in an easily understandable format”, and that the film is an “entry point” to allow Western youth to learn about the conflict and encourage them to research it in more depth. This website also provides details regarding critiques about the proportion of IC’s spending on actual humanitarian efforts and programs and the organization’s 2 out of 4-star rating for Accountability and Transparency on Charity Navigator.

Another significant critique is that the video does not relate just how exactly the organization wants the U.S. government to “stop” Kony, which misleads viewers into supporting this movement without considering the consequences of its true end-goal: American intervention in the region. Invisible Children supports “the deployment of U.S. advisers and the provision of intelligence and other support that can help locate and bring Kony to justice” and, additionally, “increased diplomacy to hold regional governments accountable to their basic responsibilities to protect civilians from this kind of brutal violence”. Some also say that money donated to this cause goes toward supporting the current Ugandan government and its army’s efforts to stop Kony. The state of Uganda, known as being severely corrupt, itself commits human rights abuses. IC notes that it does not directly give money to the government, but that “the only feasible and proper way to stop Kony and protect the civilians he targets is to coordinate efforts with regional governments”.

In the end, it is important to note that any movement which supports foreign intervention and military involvement must be carefully analyzed, since it may be the case that the United States could have ulterior motives in supporting the capture of Kony that underlie any humanitarian goals – usually regarding oil or other American interests in Africa. In addition, it must be remembered that before an arrest of Kony can be made, those intervening must figure out how to rehabilitate Kony’s followers, soldiers, and victims and ensure that another leader does not take his place and continue the LRA movement. Furthermore, supporting American military intervention increases U.S. expenditure on the military, taking away from domestic concerns and issues. If we were to intervene abroad, we have to ensure that our reasons are sound and that we consider each and every cost and consequence of such actions.

In my opinion, the video is well made and is a great way to spread the word and get people thinking about that part of the world, which, unfortunately, does not get much attention in American media. However, the lack of specific historical background and information about the complexities surrounding the conflict, the fact that IC’s end-goals are not really specified, and the sort of odd and overly-cutesy way that the video gets its message across – by focusing on the co-founder Russell’s son and his reactions to hearing about Kony and not as much on the real issue at hand – keeps me wary about the impact that this movement will have. Furthermore, we must take into account whether or not organizations such as IC are more commercial than non-profit in nature. So, while it is true that this video is a wonderful step to raising public awareness about the human rights abuses and horrific actions that Joseph Kony and the LRA have done and are still doing, it is important that viewers of this video and others like it research any new cause or organization to fully understand where their support and money are headed, the nature of the conflict, and the best ways to assist that region without causing more harm than good.

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