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Making Joseph Kony a household name

March 7, 2012 @ 3:08 pm (Updated: 10:27 am - 3/8/12 )

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Who is Joseph Kony? A filmmaker wants the world to know that name, and the crimes he's accused of, with the hope of bringing the Ugandan warlord down by the end of this year.

In 2003, Jason Russell traveled to Africa to document the genocide in Darfur but instead uncovered a conflict that he said shocked him. He learned of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group fighting the Ugandan government for decades.

JosephKonyJoseph Kony leads the LRA. The international community says he's guilty of brutal war crimes and kidnapping 30,000 children and using them as soldiers, forced laborers and sex slaves.

On the first of many trips to Africa, Russell met Jacob. The boy told him, "It is better when you kill us."

He did not want to stay on earth because there was "no one taking care of us." He said he witnessed his brother's death as a member of the LRA slashed his throat. Through Jacob's sobbing, Russell tried to tell him he would "be okay."

"Everything in my heart told me to do something, and so I made him a promise," says Russell. "We are going to do everything that we can to stop them."

Russell came back to the United States and thought members of Congress and the President would be able to do something about the deaths of the children of Uganda.

"Everyone in Washington we talked to said there's no way the United States will ever get involved in a conflict where international security or financial interests aren't at stake," he says in a 30 minute video that has now had more than 26 million views online.

The video includes a picture of Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany concentration camps, with this narration from Russell:

It's hard to look back on some parts of human history, because when we heard injustice we cared, but we didn't know what to do. Too often, we did nothing. But if we're going to change that we have to start somewhere. So we're starting here with Joseph Kony. Because now we know what to do. Here it is, ready? In order for Kony to be arrested this year the Ugandan military has to find him. In order to find him, they need the technology and training to track him in the vast jungle. That's where the American advisors come in. (President Obama sent 100 U.S. military troops to Uganda in October of 2011). But if the government doesn't believe the people care about arresting Kony, the mission will be cancelled.

Russell's son is featured throughout the video as he explains what is going on in Uganda. Toward the end of the video, Russell explains the "biggest problem" to his son.

"Nobody knows who he is," says Russell.

"But I know who he is," says the little boy, "because I see him on this picture right now."

"He's not famous," Russell responds. "He's invisible."

That launches the multi-media effort to make Kony visible. Russell, and his organization Invisible Children, want to make Kony a "celebrity." Not to celebrate him, but to bring his crimes to the light. He says Kony is aware of the efforts to capture him. He continues his strategy of killing, mutilating, and abducting civilians in other areas of Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.

Although Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005, his whereabouts are unknown.

Along with sharing the video around the world, Russell's team plans to cover cities - including Seattle - on April 20th with posters of Joseph Kony, a name and likeness "99 percent of the world doesn't know," he says.

The hashtag #StopKony was trending in the number one spot on Twitter as celebrities, including Justin Bieber, posted links to the film and encouraged others to get involved.

Some are not on board with the campaign. The Council on Foreign Relations has concerns with the charity and the new campaign. It says Invisible Children has "manipulated facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA's use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful."

The video doesn't refer to the Ugandan atrocities or those of Sudan's People's Liberation Army, such as attacks against civilians or looting of civilian homes and businesses, or the complicated regional politics fuelling fueling the conflict."

It says there's no doubt Kony is "evil" and awareness of the situation is good, but says, "these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren't of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow."

By Linda Thomas

Stuart Price/AP photo of the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, in 2006.

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (24)


  • Add A Comment

  • InfoSupervisor86 wrote...
    The website doesn't work
    March 7, 2012 4:01 pm
    When I try to sign the pledge it pops up with an error... http://s3.amazonaws.com/kony2012/kony-4.html This may cause issues in getting the #'s needed to make this happen (or maybe I'm just inept)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Jawanova wrote...
    Scam?
    March 7, 2012 4:52 pm
    I've heard some shady stuff on the Invisible Children INC organization. Better do you homework before you donate!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Jawanova wrote...
    Food for Thought
    March 7, 2012 4:52 pm
    http://blog.joerenken.com/2012/03/07/invisible-children-and-kony-2012-exposed/
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    Donating money
    March 7, 2012 6:35 pm
    Always beware of where you donate money. I didn't include the information in my story about the $30 kits they're selling to raise money. When it comes to donating to make a difference in Africa, I personally prefer World Vision, based in Federal Way.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Normal Human wrote...
    Why Report On Something So "Sketchy"?????
    March 8, 2012 5:37 am
    You should have done your homework before doing a story that is almost as manipulative as the video itself. You should explain to your daughter that she was MANIPULATED by carefully crafted filmmaking.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    Kony is a bad guy
    March 8, 2012 7:51 am
    It's a good history lesson, but if these film makers want to make an impact, they need a little less heart string pulling and a little more fact. Targeting an individual is only partly useful. Individuals cannot do much damage on their own, they need a support network. You need to take out the network through public pressure WITHIN the country.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    Africa
    March 7, 2012 11:11 pm
    The land that morality forgot.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Normal Human wrote...
    A Manipulitive SCAM Tugging at Ignorant Heartstrings!
    March 8, 2012 5:11 am
    Look before you leap folks! This Joseph Kony business may not be all you think it is. http://blog.joerenken.com/2012/03/07/invisible-children-and-kony-2012-exposed/?fwcc=1&fwcl=1&fwl
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Jeddite wrote...
    THANKS TO YOUTUBE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
    March 8, 2012 5:27 am
    ...I learned that poverty, hunger, disease, and war are widespread in Africa. So now that I know that - and subsequently feel bad about myself for no rational reason whatsoever - I choose to do absolutely nothing at all. Yay cause celebres! THANKS INTERNET.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • I_see_stupid_people wrote...
    Compelling piece of propaganda
    March 8, 2012 6:24 am
    There are always two side to a civil war, do your research before falling for this hype.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SnowLeopard wrote...
    I love the internet generation
    March 8, 2012 6:34 am
    They do research to see who is spoon feeding the information and have a healthy dose of skepticism.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • DesertRez wrote...
    Agreed Snow
    March 8, 2012 7:06 am
    Massive amounts of information with a few strokes of the keys!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • doublej wrote...
    DesertRez
    March 8, 2012 10:14 am
    Too bad the news chick hasn't figured this out yet
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    Doublej
    March 8, 2012 1:47 pm
    Too bad you didn't read to the end of the story. I raise the concerns about the piece and link to them as well.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nickatnyt wrote...
    Did the first billion dollars that we sent to Africa do much good?
    March 8, 2012 8:38 am
    Doesn't look like it. I have to 'ditto' Snout on this one and use my meager charity donations on more local issues.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • edmondschris wrote...
    for those of you who care
    March 8, 2012 10:27 am
    http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/184/663/drink-all-the-coffee.png this is who you are giving money too they fund another militia that is raping women and children and forcing kids to pick up weapons and fight. 68 cents on every dollar they earn goes to paying for more women being raped and children killed.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • PScott wrote...
    To those that criticize . . .
    March 8, 2012 10:33 am
    I have known the Invisible Children filmmakers and helped them establish a non profit over seven years ago. I was in charge of IC national events here in Seatle in 2005 and 2007. I have been to Uganda with them and can speak to their character personally. I have been several times to Washington DC to help lead outreach to leaders about the child soldier issue - a partnership by IC with leading human rights and humanitarian organizations. As an attorney and someone highly involved in non profit work, I can attest that IC is completely above-board.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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