'Kony 2012' Campaign Against Uganda Warlord Takes Over Internet
If you logged onto Facebook at any point today, you may very well have found friends and others sharing " Kony 2012," a 30-minute YouTube film on the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.
The nonprofit charity Invisible Children Inc. uploaded the video Monday to bring attention to Kony and the rebel group Lord's Resistance Army, which has terrorized central Africa for several years. The YouTube video currently has more than 7 million views.
The hashtag #stopkony has been trending worldwide on Twitter.
On its Facebook page, Invisible Children says it "uses film, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in Central Africa to peace and prosperity."
The charity came about after three Southern California filmmakers returned from Africa and released a documentary on the children forced to fight under Kony's leadership.
In October, President Obama sent 100 troops to Uganda to help regional forces battle the LRA and capture or kill Kony.
During that announcement, he said that for more than two decades the LRA had been responsible for having "murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in central Africa" and continues to "commit atrocities across the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan that have a disproportionate impact on regional security."
On April 20, the group is asking supporters to cover their hometowns with posters calling for Kony to be brought to justice. On its website, supporters can sign a petition and contribute to the cause by buying T-shirts, posters and bracelets.