Inside Story: Is 'Kony 2012' the Future of Activism?

March 11, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

What is the role of charities, have some of them exceeded their limits, and should they freely use the power of social media to shape public opinion around the world? Guests Mareike Schomerus, Jolly Okot, and Jillian York discuss the issues raised by the huge success of Invisible Children's "Kony 2012" campaign video.

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Kony 2012

Kony 2012 is a film created by Invisible Children, Inc. which became a viral video. The film's purpose is to promote the charity's 'Stop Kony' movement to make indicted Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony internationally known in order to arrest him in 2012. Explore this topic

Invisible Children, Inc.

Invisible Children, Inc. is an organization founded in 2004 to bring awareness to the activities of the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony. Specifically, the group seeks to put an end to the practices of the LRA which include abductions and a... Explore this topic

Uganda

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern ... Explore this topic

Public opinion

Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views, or as a single opinion held by an individual about a social or political topic.... Explore this topic

Joseph Kony

Joseph Rao Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, guerrilla group which used to operate in Uganda. While initially purporting to fight against government suppression, the LRA allegedly turned against Kony's own supporters, supposedly to "purify" the Acholi people an... Explore this topic

Lord's Resistance Army

The Lord's Resistance Army, also known as the Lord's Resistance Movement, is a militant movement, which is described by some as new religious movement or a cult which was operating in northern Uganda, South Sudan. Since 2005 there have been claims that the group has entered th... Explore this topic

Jason Russell

Jason Russell (born 1979) is an American film and theater director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible Children, Inc. He is the director of Kony 2012, a short documentary film that went viral in the beginning of March 2012. In the first week it gained over 83... Explore this topic

Activism

Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, or environmental change, or stasis. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or p... Explore this topic

Non-governmental organization

非政府组织是一个不属于政府、不由国家建立的组织，通常独立于政府。虽然从定义上包含以营利为目的的企业，但该名词一般仅限于非商业化、合法的、与社会文化和环境相关的倡导群体。非政府组织通常是非营利组织，他们的基金至少有一部分来源于私人捐款。现在该名词的使用一般与联合国或由联合国指派的权威非政府组织相关。由于各国文化、法律等的差异，不同国家对这个概念的指称所适用的对象范围也各不相同。美国一般称之为“非营利组织”、“独立组织”或“第三部门”，英国称之为“志愿组织”，还有许多国家则用“社团”称之。由于一些人认为“非政府组织”被滥用了，因为它可以涵盖一切非政... Explore this topic

Viral video

Ви́русное видео — видео, которое распространяется пользователями Интернета за счет добровольного размещения на своих страницах, ресурсах, а также посредством функции «поделиться с другом». Обычно это осуществляется через веб-сайты, социальные медиа и e-mail. Вирусные видео час... Explore this topic

Also See

Kony 2012

Invisible Children, Inc.

Uganda

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With supporters of the "Kony 2012" campaign being encouraged to cover streets with the name of African war criminal Joseph Kony, the question again...