38 - Kony 2012 and the Imperial Slacktivists

If you had internet access in 2012, you likely remember a film and social media campaign dubbed ‘Kony 2012’ — a drive to apprehend Ugandan militia leader and war criminal Joseph Kony. The 30-minute viral video created and posted by an organization called Invisible Children, Inc. urged viewers to spread awareness of Kony, with the mission of apprehending him by the end of that year.

In this episode, we have two stories unfolding at the same time: the first is the calamity of the Kony 2012 campaign — its fervid rise, rapid fall, and immortalization as an internet meme. But a second story lurks beneath Invisible Children’s glossy PR campaign — one which includes the commodification of activism, laundering United States imperialism in central Africa, and mining trauma for profit.

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Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw