First Ugandan screening of Kony film prompts angry scuffle

The first public screening in northern Uganda of the Kony 2012 film has prompted an angry scuffle by viewers who thought it was insensitive to the victims, The Guardian reports.

The video, made by a U.S. charity, about fugitive warlord Joseph Kony has been seen by more than 78 million people around the world on the Internet, but not by his victims in northern Uganda.

The Guardian says Ugandans who saw the film projected on a white sheet set up in a town park in Lira, 220 miles north of the capital, Kampala, Tuesday night were particularly offended by the Stop Kony campaign's use of merchandise, such as bracelets and T-shirts.

"If people in those countries care about us, they will not wear T-shirts with Joseph Kony for any reason," says one armless man, Al-Jazeera-TV reports. "That would celebrate our suffering."

Al-Jazeera reporter Malcolm Webb, who attended the screening, blogs that one woman "made the comparison of selling Osama Bin Laden paraphernalia post 9/11 – likely to be highly offensive to many Americans, however well-intentioned the campaign behind it."

The stone-throwing crowd sent organizers fleeing, The Guardian says, and plans for more screenings have been suspended.

"People were very angry about the film," says Victor Ochieng, director of the African Youth Initiative Network, a charity that arranged the screening, The Guardian reports. "They were all saying, 'This is not about us, it does not reflect our lives.'"

Some complained that the film was more about a white person than the victims.

Reuters quotes one viewer as saying the audience expected a "serious action" film showing Americans fighting Kony "like in a real movie."

STORY:"  Can Uganda tourism survive 'Kony 2012'?

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