Notes for background research on KONY2012

As most should know by now, Joseph Kony is the infamous leader of the guerilla group the Lord's Resistance Army, which have fought the authorities of Uganda for many years. In 2005 the International Criminal Court charged Kony and some of his accomplices for their attrocities. Planning to use KONY2012 as a case study for my course in Media and Politics later this year, I started collecting material, and might as well share some of it. Those unfamiliar with Kony may for instance read:

Fisher, M. (2011, October 17). The Bizarre and Horrifying Story of the Lord’s Resistance Army. The Atlantic.
International Criminal Court. (2005). ICC-02/04-01/05. The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.
Schomerus, M., Allen, T., & Vlassenroot, K. (2011, November 15). Obama Takes on the LRA. Foreign Affairs.

Despite the ICC-charge and US support to search for Kony, he is still at large, probably somewhere in East Congo. When the NGO Invisible Children started their campaign KONY2012 to mobilize political pressure to seize Kony, their 29 minute video distributed on YouTube and Vimeo was an overnight sensation, as it became truly viral, thanks to sharing via social media.

Ackerman, S. (2012, March 7). Viral Video Hopes to Spur Arrest of War Criminal. WIRED.
Invisible Childrens home page and Facebook page.

 

There has also been a lot of reactions against both the campaign and the video. Not because there is any sympathy with Kony, but because there are doubts about the motives and transparency of the NGO itself, that the video is too simplistic in its storytelling, is a product of the "white man's burden" type of thinking and so on. Some of the articles are collected in the list below. Possibly the best of the lot is the posting of Ethan Zuckerman on his blog (at the bottom of the list).

Bjørn Stærk: (Utenrikspolitikk som) Såpeopera for nyhetsinteresserte (nordmenn). Om Midt-Østen, Kony2012 og andre ow.ly/9PMnr
Alex de Waal: Don't elevate Kony ow.ly/9Ozi2
Adam Finck: How Kony 2012 succeeded beyond our wildest expectations. 100 Million Viewers Can't Be Wrong ow.ly/9OsU6
David Rieff: The Road to Hell Is Paved with Viral Videos ow.ly/9FQpq
Patrick Meier: #UgandaSpeaks: Al-Jazeera uses Ushahidi to Amplify Local Voices in Response to #Kony2012 ow.ly/9FPls
Jason Mogus: Why your non-profit won't make a KONY 2012 ow.ly/9FNLP
Jenkins, H. (2012, March 12). Contextualizing #Kony2012: Invisible Children, Spreadable Media, and Transmedia Activism. ow.ly/9FMoa
Gilad Lotan: KONY2012: See How Invisible Networks Helped a Campaign Capture the World’s Attention ow.ly/9FGoo
Ethan Zuckerman: Useful reads on Kony 2012 ow.ly/9FGfW
Mareike Schomerus et al.: KONY 2012 and the Prospects for Change. Examining the Viral Campaign ow.ly/9E6pL
Christian Caryl: Let’s Stop Miscasting Africans. A tale of two films ow.ly/9E5MR
Charlie Skelton: Kony 2012 is about now – right now. Get with the programme! ow.ly/9E3uc
Bradshaw, P. (2012, March 8). Kony 2012 – review. the Guardian.
Curtis, P., & McCarthy, T. (2012, March 8). Kony 2012: what’s the real story? the Guardian.
Deibert, M. (2012a, March 9). How Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 Will Hurt - And How You Can Help - Central Africa. Huffington Post.
Deibert, M. (2012b, March 9). The Problem With Invisible Children’s “Kony 2012.” Huffington Post.
Fisher, M. (2012, March 8). The Soft Bigotry of Kony 2012. The Atlantic.
Joyce, M. C. (2012, March 8). Why Kony 2012 Brought Out the Cyber-Skeptic in Me. The Meta-Activism Project.
Kagumire, R. (2012, March 9). More perspective on Kony2012. Rosebell’s Blog.
Murtnes, S. (2012, March 8). - Trist at Kony-dokumentar får oppmerksomhet. VG Nett.
Naughton, J. (2012, March 10). After Kony, could a viral video change the world? the Guardian.
Okwonga, M. (2012, March 7). Stop Kony, yes. But don’t stop asking questions. The Independent. Retrieved from
Pflanz, M. (2012, March 8). Joseph Kony 2012: growing outrage in Uganda over film.
Rosen, R. J. (2012, March 9). Why We Should Take Heart From the Backlash Against Kony2012. The Atlantic.
Ruge, T. (2012, March 8). A Peace of my mind: Respect my agency 2012!
Taub, K. C.-F. & A. (2012, March 8). Solving War Crimes With Wristbands: The Arrogance of “Kony 2012.” The Atlantic.
Wilkerson, M. (2012, March 7). Guest post: Joseph Kony is not in Uganda (and other complicated things). Foreign Policy Blogs.
Woolf, N. (2012, March 8). Kony 2012 and the politics of sending a brutal villain viral. the Guardian.
Wright, R. (2012, March 9). Can the Internet Catch Joseph Kony? The Atlantic.
Zuckerman, E. (2012, March 8). Unpacking Kony 2012. my heart’s in accra.

The Guardian did interviews with a few children/youths who belonged to the group that watched the Invisible Children video.  Here's what they had to say: