(SACNS Africa News; Social Justice South Africa)
Marc Aupiais - 19:26 - Public
Kony 2012: "Invisible Children" campaign, a Blatant deception, and hurting Uganda
Portrays a situation from almost a decade ago, no longer in existence, to raise money
The explicit, publicly disturbing, next to naked parading of himself, by the organizer of the Kony 2012 campaign (now in hospital for psychological breakdown), may be getting many stories. The fact, that his Kony 2012 campaign to raise money for his Invisible Children Non-Governmental Organization/Charity : used blatant deception, is less well known.
"Kony's Lord's Resistance Army is a shadow of its former self, numbering about 250 members, according to a December 2011 report published by the Social Science Research Council.
Some 200 of them are with Kony in the Central African Republic, and 50 others are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report said.
The video Russell directed, interspersing shots of his own young son with those of suffering Ugandan children, depicts children walking into the city centre of the Uganda city of Gulu at night to avoid capture.
But active violence like that has not been seen in northern Uganda in seven or eight years, according to Laura Seay, a professor at Morehouse College, who studies conflict and community in central Africa."
Reuters | 'Anti-Kony campaign in turmoil as AU sends troops' by Reuters Staff 2012-03-24 14:05
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Anti-Kony-campaign-in-turmoil-as-AU-sends-troops-20120324
Kony, and his LRA are shadows of what they once were, and deep in hiding, not in Uganda. This is a fact to remember, with only 50 troops of the "Lord's Resistance Army" in DR Congo, and 200 with Kony, having fled into the depths of the Central African Republic.
""LRA victims are depicted as absolutely helpless," Seay said, characterising the portrayal as neo-colonial and saying the film may have mischaracterised the nature of Gulu, where the number of children taking nightly refuge dwindled after a truce between government forces and the LRA in 2006.
"You have coffee shops and pizza places in Gulu. It's absolutely peaceful," she said.
Seay suggested that those whose interest in the region were piqued by the Invisible Children campaign turn their attention next to more active warlords in the region such as Bosco Ntaganda, nicknamed "The Terminator," and also wanted by the ICC for war crimes.
Ntaganda, a Rwandan operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is accused of conscripting child soldiers under age 15 to carry arms and fight in open conflict.
"He walks freely," Seay said. "I know where he eats dinner every night.""
Portrays a situation from almost a decade ago, no longer in existence, to raise money
The explicit, publicly disturbing, next to naked parading of himself, by the organizer of the Kony 2012 campaign (now in hospital for psychological breakdown), may be getting many stories. The fact, that his Kony 2012 campaign to raise money for his Invisible Children Non-Governmental Organization/Charity : used blatant deception, is less well known.
"Kony's Lord's Resistance Army is a shadow of its former self, numbering about 250 members, according to a December 2011 report published by the Social Science Research Council.
Some 200 of them are with Kony in the Central African Republic, and 50 others are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report said.
The video Russell directed, interspersing shots of his own young son with those of suffering Ugandan children, depicts children walking into the city centre of the Uganda city of Gulu at night to avoid capture.
But active violence like that has not been seen in northern Uganda in seven or eight years, according to Laura Seay, a professor at Morehouse College, who studies conflict and community in central Africa."
Reuters | 'Anti-Kony campaign in turmoil as AU sends troops' by Reuters Staff 2012-03-24 14:05
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Anti-Kony-campaign-in-turmoil-as-AU-sends-troops-20120324
Kony, and his LRA are shadows of what they once were, and deep in hiding, not in Uganda. This is a fact to remember, with only 50 troops of the "Lord's Resistance Army" in DR Congo, and 200 with Kony, having fled into the depths of the Central African Republic.
""LRA victims are depicted as absolutely helpless," Seay said, characterising the portrayal as neo-colonial and saying the film may have mischaracterised the nature of Gulu, where the number of children taking nightly refuge dwindled after a truce between government forces and the LRA in 2006.
"You have coffee shops and pizza places in Gulu. It's absolutely peaceful," she said.
Seay suggested that those whose interest in the region were piqued by the Invisible Children campaign turn their attention next to more active warlords in the region such as Bosco Ntaganda, nicknamed "The Terminator," and also wanted by the ICC for war crimes.
Ntaganda, a Rwandan operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is accused of conscripting child soldiers under age 15 to carry arms and fight in open conflict.
"He walks freely," Seay said. "I know where he eats dinner every night.""
Reuters | 'Anti-Kony campaign in turmoil as AU sends troops' by Reuters Staff 2012-03-24 14:05
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Anti-Kony-campaign-in-turmoil-as-AU-sends-troops-20120324
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Anti-Kony-campaign-in-turmoil-as-AU-sends-troops-20120324
The anti-Kony campaign has been thrown into turmoil even as the film succeeded in turning the world's attention to capturing an elusive and brutal Ugandan warlord.
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