Staff
Local teen Dexter Fichuk, head of the Fort Frances Mob(ilizers) group at Fort High, is altering the “Cover the Night” event originally planned for this Friday night (April 20), in which people would cover the community with posters of Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony in an effort to make him “famous.”
Instead of participants meeting as a group at 11 p.m., Fichuk has decided individuals can put up posters on their own during the day.
“Due to the strong criticism of the campaign, I am worried about people’s safety and think it would be better to do it in the daytime,” explained Fichuk, noting people can do it on their own whenever they have a chance that day.
The “Cover the Night” event, which is set to take place in many cities around the world, stems from 30-minute film released last month entitled “Kony 2012,” which is a campaign by Invisible Children to raise support for Kony’s arrest and set a precedent for international justice.
The film, which received more than 76 millions views on YouTube in the first week, has drawn criticism regarding its accuracy, tactics, and the organization’s spending practices.
“It’s an awareness campaign,” stressed Fichuk. “I want people to look past the main message of the video and see the underlying issues.
“But everyone is entitled to their own opinions,” he conceded. “I’m not forcing it on anyone.”
Fichuk also feels the release of the film on March 5 and the “Cover the Night” event should have been planned closer together.
“It’s lost a lot of momentum,” he remarked. “And Kony became ‘famous’ within 24 hours of the video coming out and everybody talking about it.
“I don’t think they expected it to spread so fast.”
Still, Fichuk feels the campaign is worth supporting and hopes those interested will show their support by putting up posters at their homes, on their lockers at school, in their neighbourhoods, and at local businesses (if they have permission to do so).
“People can even change their profile picture on Facebook to the poster to show their support,” he noted.
Posters will be available for people to print from the Facebook group “Kony 2012-Fort Frances,” which people can find by searching the name.
Those looking for more information also can contact Fichuk at dexterfichuk@gmail.com
