Kony 2012 (and repercussions)
By now I'm certain that many of you have caught notice of Invisible Children's video/campaign against Ugandan guerrilla leader Joseph Kony and his child army. He is the head of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) which seeks to overthrow the current Ugandan government and replace it with a theocratic government based on the 10 Commandments (Kony claims that he is under instruction from God.) 66,000 children have been abducted and enslaved by Kony in an attempt to raise forces for his army; he has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005 but has managed to evade capture. He is on the list of most wanted criminals in the world.
I'm not here to encourage you to watch Invisible Children's video on Joseph Kony (which has gone viral over most social networking sites); I'm only here to spread the word a little more. If you're going to donate to this cause I encourage you to donate through Unicef or another charitable institution considering Invisible Children does not have a good reputation as to the amount of money that makes it to the actual victims.
I'm just pleased (if surprised) that this issue has suddenly gone viral. It is not "recent" by any means but I am glad that people are rallying around this issue even if they are not usually aware of social justice. To the people that decry "bandwaggoners" of this issue, I can only say that you are missing the point, which is to make people realize that the world is bigger than what directly affects us. We have failed as a global community as we have consistently failed in the past, and we will never rectify this unless we become aware of the issues that surround us. It's not only Joseph Kony's child army in Uganda; an issue that is dear to my heart is the independence movement in Chechnya, which has been a war zone since it declared independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. (The whole reason I fell under a brief spell of senioritis was because I became aware of this issue, and studying just seemed pointless to me.)
I know that not all of you pay attention to politics or concern yourselves with the goings on in the world (my best friend is one of them) and even if I don't agree, I can't judge you for that. Social justice is very pertinent to my lifestyle values and something I wish to dedicate the rest of my life to. Be aware of what's going on around you, because one day if there is no one left to fight for your rights, you will have to fight for them yourself.
Edit: Jason Russel, co-founder of the organization Invisible Children and director of the Kony 2012 video was hospitalized due to "extreme dehydration and stress" and was detained for public masturbation and public nudity. The Ugandan government has released a video on Youtube decrying the Kony 2012 for misleading information, claiming that Joseph Kony is no longer in Uganda and that the video aggravated the issue by supporting the use of military force. Read more about that on the Huffington Post's article here.
I'm not here to encourage you to watch Invisible Children's video on Joseph Kony (which has gone viral over most social networking sites); I'm only here to spread the word a little more. If you're going to donate to this cause I encourage you to donate through Unicef or another charitable institution considering Invisible Children does not have a good reputation as to the amount of money that makes it to the actual victims.
I'm just pleased (if surprised) that this issue has suddenly gone viral. It is not "recent" by any means but I am glad that people are rallying around this issue even if they are not usually aware of social justice. To the people that decry "bandwaggoners" of this issue, I can only say that you are missing the point, which is to make people realize that the world is bigger than what directly affects us. We have failed as a global community as we have consistently failed in the past, and we will never rectify this unless we become aware of the issues that surround us. It's not only Joseph Kony's child army in Uganda; an issue that is dear to my heart is the independence movement in Chechnya, which has been a war zone since it declared independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. (The whole reason I fell under a brief spell of senioritis was because I became aware of this issue, and studying just seemed pointless to me.)
I know that not all of you pay attention to politics or concern yourselves with the goings on in the world (my best friend is one of them) and even if I don't agree, I can't judge you for that. Social justice is very pertinent to my lifestyle values and something I wish to dedicate the rest of my life to. Be aware of what's going on around you, because one day if there is no one left to fight for your rights, you will have to fight for them yourself.
Edit: Jason Russel, co-founder of the organization Invisible Children and director of the Kony 2012 video was hospitalized due to "extreme dehydration and stress" and was detained for public masturbation and public nudity. The Ugandan government has released a video on Youtube decrying the Kony 2012 for misleading information, claiming that Joseph Kony is no longer in Uganda and that the video aggravated the issue by supporting the use of military force. Read more about that on the Huffington Post's article here.