Many of us are
familiar with the viral campaign “Kony 2012” — and if not, you have probably at
least seen a cover photo or two on Facebook that looks something like this:
Kony 2012 was a
campaign designed by the NGO Invisible Children that aimed to make the LRA´s (Lord Resistance Army´s)
chief leader famous in order to garner citizen concern and awareness around
remedying the situation of child slavery in Uganda. Kony 2012 advocated that if
people care about the issue, then politicians, particularly those in the United
States, will spend their time and resources to address these problems. Thus,
Kony 2012 primary objective was to spread the word and make people care about
the turmoil in Uganda and the Invisible Children.
The video Kony 2012
became the most viral video in the history of the Internet; it received 100
million views within the first 6 days of its release. So massive was its spread
across social media that shortly after the release, Invisible Children became
the most popular NGO on Facebook. The staggering fact about this popularity:
the video is 30 minutes long! How is it that so many people invested such time
watching a video that was being shared around the Internet? Most people hardly
sit through a three-minute Youtube video of a cat doing something goofy and
cute.
I argue that the
key to the success of this campaign is Jacob´s story juxtaposed and integrated
with Gavin´s. For amidst all of the strategies that this video outlines for
Kony´s capture and flashy messaging which champions a call to action from all Internet
users, is woven in a startling and compelling story—the story of Jacob, a
Ugandan boy who´s brother is kidnapped to become a child soldier. Jason
Russell, the director of the Kony 2012 video met Jacob while in Uganda and has
sought to help him ever since. In the Kony 2012 video, Jason tells us his own
story and the story of his son Gavin, and we see with startling clarity the
differences in their lives. Gavin is born into a safe home, where he is allowed
to attend school and pursue fun and learning experiences as any child ideally
would. In comparison, we learn of Jacob, who lives everyday in fear of capture
and has lost family since a young age to the terrors of civil war and slavery.
The friendship between the Russell family and Jacob is moving and a pointed
reminder that while some parts of the world do not have the same privilege to
safety as the Russell´s do.
For those of you
who missed it, let´s revisit Jacob´s story now and see how it becomes tied to
Gavin and Jason´s. For even taken out of the context of the Kony 2012 video,
Jacob´s story lets us understand the situation in Uganda today and realize the
terror it creates in the lives of Ugandan families. Ultimately, combined with
Jason Russell´s story of how he met Jacob and why he wants to help, a powerful
message of destruction and possibility is finally generated.
Jason Russell
prefaces Jacob´s introduction by sharing this footage of his own son´s birth:
“Every single
person in the world started this way. He didn´t choose where or when he was
born. But because he´s here, he matters.”
We learn that Gavin
likes making sand angels, and acting and directing in films like his father.
Gavin points to a photo on the refrigerator of Jacob and comments that this is
their friend Jacob from Africa.
The film backtracks
to 2003, where we are virtually dropped into a map of Africa, in Uganda near
Gala to meet Jacob – who was then a schoolboy fighting for his life.
In this image, we
see Jason and Jacob meeting for the first time. We learn that Jacob is a
schoolboy who saw his brother murdered by the LRA for attempting to escape.
“We come here to
save our lives.” These young boys and girls seek refuge within an urban Ugandan
city. Living with their parents at home is too great of a risk because the
rural setting allows for easy capture by the LRA. These children sleep like
sardines in these somewhat dilapidated buildings so that they may live another
day free from slavery. Jason comments that if this were to happen one day in
the United States, it would run on the cover of Newsweek, but these children
and their battle for survival remain invisible to the world.
In school, Jacob always wanted to be a lawyer. But his fear of capture and lack of financial means make him feel as if he has bleak chances in succeeding this dream.
In this disturbing and moving scene, young Jacob speaks with Jason about his brother’s murder. He witnessed as the LRA slit his brothers neck; and this is a moment he has carried with him ever since. Jacob goes as far as to say that he often wishes he were dead so he could be with his brother and avoid the torment that is fearing every day and a potential kidnapping.
At this moment, Jason Russell vows to stop the LRA so that what happened to Jacob's brother does not happen to any more children.
Jason explains to Gavin a bit about the situation, and this moment really highlights the differences in their lives. “I
couldn´t explain to Gavin the details of what Joseph Kony really does because
the truth is kony abducts kids just like Gavin. For 26 years , Kony has been
kidnapping children into his rebel group the LRA. Turning girls into sex slaves
and the boys into child soldiers. He makes them mutilate people´s faces and he
forces them to kill their own parents. And this is not just a few children.
It´s been over 30,000 of them.”
Jacob
was one of these children.
Jacob goes on to aid Invisible Children and travel to the United States to tell his story and spread word about the atrocities committed by the LRA. He is currently pursuing his dream of becoming a lawyer, and given that the LRA has traveled toward the Congo, Uganda is peaceful once more. However, the same is occurring with children now outside of Uganda and their stories must continue to be made visible in order to make things right.
To watch the complete video and learn the details of how Invisible Children strategized to help Kony and bring down Kony and the LRA at large, click here.
Jacob goes on to aid Invisible Children and travel to the United States to tell his story and spread word about the atrocities committed by the LRA. He is currently pursuing his dream of becoming a lawyer, and given that the LRA has traveled toward the Congo, Uganda is peaceful once more. However, the same is occurring with children now outside of Uganda and their stories must continue to be made visible in order to make things right.
To watch the complete video and learn the details of how Invisible Children strategized to help Kony and bring down Kony and the LRA at large, click here.
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