Explaining 'Kony 2012'
By: Chris Clackum, NBCNC
Updated: March 12, 2012
A worldwide internet campaign designed to capture a brutal African warlord has certainly captured the world's attention.
The online video "Kony 2012" focuses on the murderous Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony.
It's now the fastest-growing viral video in history.
Posted online Monday, "Kony 2012" had 70-million views by Friday morning.
The man who made the video credits young people and social media.
"These are children and young people, 25 and younger, saying 'Mom, Dad..we want you to pay attention to this right now," explains Jason Russell.
Russell's video documents the brutal exploits of Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, his notorious "Lord's Resistance Army" and their reign of terror that included kidnapping children of Uganda and three neighboring countries.
The boys are turned into child soldiers; the girls are used as sex slaves.
It's called "Kony 2012" because the goal is to catch Kony by the end of the year.
Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie and Justin Bieber have latched on.
The group "Invisible Children", co-founded by Russell, is promoted in the video.
Its website sells the "Kony 2012" action kits with stickers and posters that supporters are urged put up on street corners worldwide April 20th.
There are critics, though, of the group and the video.
The most notable is the Ugandan government, who thinks Kony actually fled their country when he was indicted by international courts seven years ago.
"There has been outrage, as I already mentioned. The country is completely peaceful and what the Invisible Children is doing is to castigate or rather reflect Africa as a dark continent," says Ugandan government spokesman Fred Opolot.
They say conditions are not as bad in central Africa as they were when Jason Russell started shooting the documentary nine years ago.
The online video "Kony 2012" focuses on the murderous Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony.
It's now the fastest-growing viral video in history.
Posted online Monday, "Kony 2012" had 70-million views by Friday morning.
The man who made the video credits young people and social media.
"These are children and young people, 25 and younger, saying 'Mom, Dad..we want you to pay attention to this right now," explains Jason Russell.
Russell's video documents the brutal exploits of Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, his notorious "Lord's Resistance Army" and their reign of terror that included kidnapping children of Uganda and three neighboring countries.
The boys are turned into child soldiers; the girls are used as sex slaves.
It's called "Kony 2012" because the goal is to catch Kony by the end of the year.
Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie and Justin Bieber have latched on.
The group "Invisible Children", co-founded by Russell, is promoted in the video.
Its website sells the "Kony 2012" action kits with stickers and posters that supporters are urged put up on street corners worldwide April 20th.
There are critics, though, of the group and the video.
The most notable is the Ugandan government, who thinks Kony actually fled their country when he was indicted by international courts seven years ago.
"There has been outrage, as I already mentioned. The country is completely peaceful and what the Invisible Children is doing is to castigate or rather reflect Africa as a dark continent," says Ugandan government spokesman Fred Opolot.
They say conditions are not as bad in central Africa as they were when Jason Russell started shooting the documentary nine years ago.
