Today we live in a world where we can connect and interact constantly. Through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube the voices, ideas, and opinions of thousands of people can be collected in real time. Recently my little brother sent me a video called Kony 2012. This video told the story of a man named Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and his crimes against humanity. Since 1987, Joseph Kony has been abducting children from Northern Uganda and arming them to fight against fellow citizens. Through the video we meet a boy named Jacob who has escaped from the rebel army. In possibly the most moving part of the video Jacob says he would rather die in the hopes of seeing his murdered brother than live in his present situation. With no money for education many children like Jacob see no future for themselves. In this light Kony 2012 is calling for a revolution through the voices of ordinary people. Joseph Russell, one of the movers and shakers of Kony 2012, calls for the population to make Joseph Kony “famous” through posters, bracelets, t-shirts, rallies and most importantly direct contact to cultural and political leaders. By making Kony socially relevant, policy makers across the nation can listen to their constituents who are demanding justice. In this way, Russell wishes to flip the social spectrum and move power into the hands of those that do not necessarily run corporations or govern countries. It is through social change, and relevancy that Russell and thousands who believe, that Kony must be stopped. “Who are you to end a war?”says Russell in his video Kony 2012, “I’m here to tell you who are you not to?” For more information about the Kony 2012 movement please visit http://www.kony2012.com/ or watch the video at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc.
By: Gretchen Weber
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