KONY 2012 clip fuels student empowerment

If children were being abducted, forced to join an army, made to watch their families die and having their childhoods taken away, would you try to stop it from happening?

That’s precisely the idea behind KONY 2012, a campaign started by Invisible Children, a humanitarian organization whose co-founder, Jason Russell, is a USC alumnus.

Max Rubin | Daily Trojan

If you’re unfamiliar with this issue — Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a militant group made up mostly of abducted children. Kony says that he acts as a spokesperson for God and that his group fights for the Ten Commandments. The LRA originated in Uganda and has since spread to the Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan.

On Monday, a short film was released on YouTube by Invisible Children. It “aims to make Kony famous; not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.” The film walks viewers through Kony’s career and the LRA’s atrocities, the action that was recently taken by Congress to help stop him and the increase of support for the movement.

As much support as there is for KONY 2012, Invisible Children has also faced criticism. The movement is certainly not perfect.

The organization backs the Ugandan and Sudanese armies, which have been riddled with accusations of rape and corruption. Moreover, Invisible Children has spent significant funds on the organization itself instead of direct measures that further the cause.

KONY 2012 leaves much to be desired. It remains uncertain whether the course of action Invisible Children is looking to take is the “right” one.

So why is this relevant?

For Americans struggling to prosper in the face of a recession, maybe it isn’t. Many people question the relative importance of this issue.

But as a human being, how could it not be?

If we don’t care about kids not being given the chance to grow up and if we don’t even look to save other human beings, what are we doing?

The LRA is known for murder, rape and mutilation, among other human rights violations. Kony is on the World’s Most Wanted List and has been indicted for war crimes.

Viewers were encouraged to share the video, and by Wednesday afternoon, the film had topped 8 million views, with more than 500,000 “likes” on the video. Russell wants to get younger people, celebrities and politicians in on the campaign to bring Kony to justice.

If you want to believe in the cause, you can certainly make it happen. We’re on a college campus. We’ve all seen how information can be put out there. The point of the campaign is to get the word out, and we all have the power to help in this regard.

The campaign alone will not topple the Ugandan warlord. But if enough people get behind KONY 2012, someone will eventually have to listen.

Mat Goldstein is an undeclared freshman.