Kony 2012: Cause or Fad?

The movement to arrest Ugandan militia leader Joseph Kony culminates this Friday in a day of national action.---

"Make him famous," Jason Russell says in his KONY 2012 video. The video, uploaded on March 5 to YouTube, promotes the arrest of Joseph Kony, leader of the Ugandan militia group called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), for crimes against humanity. Its viewership has grown to 87 million, with numbers increasing every day.

The video promotes more than just heightened awareness about Joseph Kony. Russell, co-founder of the California-based advocacy group Invisible Children, also created an event called Cover the Night, scheduled for this Friday, April 20. The intention is for people from every city in the United States to gather and cover sidewalks, walls, lawns and light posts with posters, drawings, and etchings of Joseph Kony in order to continue the momentum created by the video. Russell hopes to use this fervor to push KONY 2012 throughout the year.

While the video went viral, it—and Invisible Children—also quickly gained critics, who questioned the movement's tactics, the video's factual information and Invisible Children's financial accountability. Then, on March 16, less than two weeks after the video was released, the movement hit its first and largest setback when Russell was taken into custody "for his own safety." According to the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Police Department responded to several callers during a busy intersection around noon who reported that an "…underwear-clad male was in the street, interfering with traffic, screaming, yelling incoherently and pounding his fists on the sidewalk."  Russell was subsequently admitted into a hospital for treatment and medical help. Since then, his family has released a statement, claiming Russell suffered "reactive psychosis" due to stress. A second Kony video, released the first week of April, was intended to address many of the criticisms garnered by the first, but has yet to receive the same level of attention.

"I'm very disappointed in Jason Russell," Santa Fe University of Art and Design student and Invisible Children supporter Tom Grimes says, when asked about his reaction to the development with the video's creator. "I love what he's done for Africa, but what he did discredits what they're trying to do."

Nonetheless, Grimes says he intends to participate in Cover the Night. "I'm trying to lead a group in Santa Fe," he says. "I don't care if it's me and one other or 40. I plan on making sure Kony's face is all over the Plaza."

There is a Cover the Night Santa Fe event listed on Facebook as well.

Other students, however, see KONY 2012 as a fad, not a cause.

"People are a part of it to look good and to say, 'Look, I'm supporting these kids in Uganda,'" SFUAD student Nick Martinez says. "He's not even in Uganda anymore."

Santa Fe Reporter