Recently, the Kony 2012 campaign has swept the Internet. The Kony 2012 video went viral in a matter of hours after being posted. The purpose of this video is supposed to expose Kony and his rebel group.
Joseph Kony is a wanted war criminal. He is also the leader of a rebel group named The Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Other wanted members of the LRA include: Vincent Otti Alleged Vice-Chairman and Okot Odhiambo Second-in-Command of the LRA, Okot Odhiambo Alleged Deputy Army Commander, and Dominic Ongwen Alleged Brigade Commander.
The LRA has been known for their cruel and inhumane tactics that range from abducting children from their homes, forcing little boys to kill and girls into becoming sex slaves, to brutal mutilating torture.
According to The International Criminal Court (ICC) Kony, Otti, Odhiambo and Ongwen are wanted for: crimes against humanity, pillaging, enslavement, sexual enslavement, rape, inducing rape, cruel treatment of civilians, inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering, forced enlistment of children and murder.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The ICC is an independent international organization, and is not part of the United Nations system.
The goal of this video is to “Make Kony famous.”
According to the video’s creator, Jason Russell by making Kony famous world wide, but mainly in the United States will show our government that we the people of America are concerned about the people of Uganda and want to help.
There are already a few dozen American ‘Military Advisors’ in place in Uganda, but in order for them to stay or send reinforcements to actually find Kony and stop the LRA we have to Make Kony famous.
While the intentions of the video Kony 2012 were to produce positive results, there has been an influx of Youtube videos posted in favor or against the Kony 2012 movement.
Russell’s the stop Kony campaign has been criticized because of ‘Invisible Children’ charity set up in order to help displaced Ugandans.
‘Invisible Children’ has declined to show the ways they allocate their funds, and refuse to disclose basic information to the public.
Organizations that comply with these accountability standards have provided documentation meeting the basic standards including: how they govern their organization, the ways they spend their money, the truthfulness of their representations, and their willingness to disclose basic information to the public.
“If the report is about a charity and states the charity meets or does not meet the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability, it reflects the results of an evaluation of information and materials provided voluntarily by the charity,” according to the BBB’s website.
According to the Better Business Bureau criteria, the charity Invisible Children does not meet the requirements to be declared a charity.
Some American people do not agree with the Stop Kony movement in fear that it will provoke a new war. “We just suffered for years due to the war in Iraq, I don’t want to see anymore war stuff on the news,” Jennifer Williams a sophomore English major from Monroe said.
Another incident effecting the Stop Kony movement is the Russell’s recent outburst. According to abcnews.go.com, “Russell, 33, was taken to a mental health facility for observation after onlookers reported him roaming naked through the streets of San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood, possibly masturbating, and pounding his fists on the sidewalk.
“I think he might have too much on his mind. Maybe handling a charity is too much for him right now,” Brittany James a freshman general studies major from Houston said.
After his break down Jason Russell has not been seen in the media.
According to abcnews.go.com, Danica Russell, Jack Russell’s wife said in a statement.
“Because of how personal the film is, many of the attacks against it were also very personal, and Jason took them very hard.”
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Who exactly is Joseph Kony
May 6, 2012
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