JOSEPH RAO KONY is a Ugandan war criminal and an International Criminal Court fugitive. Kony proclaimed himself as spokesperson of god and visited by multinational hosts of 13 spirit. In 1987, Kony took over leadership of an existing rebel group and renamed it the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
When Kony found himself running out of fighters, he started abducting children to be soldiers in his army or made to be 'wives' for his officers. The LRA is encouraged to rape, mutilate and kill civilians - often with blunt weapons. The LRA is no longer active in Northern Uganda, where it originated, but it continues it campaign of violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic and South Sudan. In it 26 years history, the LRA has abducted more than 30,000 children and displaced at least 2.1 million people.
I am joining a chorus of people around the world today in making Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.
He received a surge of attention in early March 2012 when a 30-minute documentary titled Kony 2012 by film make Jason Russell for the campaign group Invincible Children Inc was released.
Watch this video...
KONY 2012
The intention of the production is to draw attention to Kony in an effort to increase United States involvement in the issue. The Huffington Post commented: "The 27-minute video was posted on Video and YouTube by Invisible Children and became a worldwide trending topic on the Internet. Personally, I have never seen an out pour of support from people on my Facebook news feed like this." The video has been viewed more than 80 million times as of 17 March.
The film has quickly received attention from celebrities. Elizabeth Flock, writer for the Washington Post, offered more background on the LRA as well as Invisible Children in response to the documentary. Flock and Toronto Star stated that Invisible Children hoped to raise Kony's notoriety enough to provoke a massive overnight poster campaign, planned for 20 April 2012. Invincible Children has been working for 9 years to find Africa's longest-running armed conflict. U.S Military advisers are currently deployed in Central Africa on a "Time-limited" mission to stop Kony and disarm the LRA. If Kony isn't captured this year, the window will be gone.
On 5 April 2012, Invincible Children Inc releases a follow up video - Kony 2012 Part 2: Beyond Famous. Watch this video...
KONY 2012 Part 2
Kony 2012 Part 2: Beyond Famous is a twenty minutes video follow up to Kony 2012. The film was originally announced to be released on 3 April 2012, but got delayed for two days due to editing problems. Kony 2012 Part 2 aims to address criticisms of the original film and to show more about Kony's rebellion, including its effects on the countries other than Uganda as well as about the Invincible Children's work in Africa the Kony 2012 campaign. Ben Keesey, who narrates the film, said the sequel was made in two weeks. In a statement announcing the video, Keesey said "We want people to dig deeper into this conflict and actively engage in the solutions".
SO, REMEMBER 20 APRIL 2012 - A MASSIVE WORLDWIDE OVERNIGHT POSTER CAMPAIGN WILL BE HAPPENING. YOU CAN WATCH THIS HAPPENING OR YOU CAN JOIN THE CAMPAIGN.
Here's a rundown for April 20th :
- Wear Kony 2012 t-shirt all day (make one of you don't have one).
- Drop off you advocacy letter in the mail.
- Engage in local services
- When the sun goes down, it's time to hit the streets and paste as many Kony 2012 posters as possible to spread the words about bringing an end to Kony and his LRA violence. Keep it legal and go HUGE!!
JOSEPH KONY - YOU WILL BE STOPPED!!
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