Get Kony in 2012: the Year for Africa's Invisible Children

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

Joseph Kony photo: artistsagainstcorruption.wordpress.com

(SALEM) - The Charles Manson of Africa's Genocidal Guerrilla militants: Joseph Kony of Uganda. leads what is known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a band of bloody zealots with a history of tragic violence carried out on children and their families.

Members of his band of rogue soldiers comprising the LRA, say that spirits have been sent to communicate this mission directly to Kony.

Kony will become a very famous man this year, you will understand more after watching the video below, one of the most moving and meaningful half hours I have ever invested in anything.

An American named Jason Russell has become the arch nemesis of this terrorist (The LRA is a terrorist organization- for once they strike the nail squarely on the head) and his years on the ground in Africa - and his experience meeting and videotaping a Uganda boy fleeing from the LRA, named Jacob, who today tours the world speaking about the ongoing horrors related to the LRA.

You will see in the extremely-well thought out and produced film, that the man is probably only alive today because of the relationship he struck up with this humanitarian filmmaker. It is hard to keep your eyes dry while watching this, but it isn't just a ton of misery, it is motivating and it provides the answers.

I suspect Jason Russel might be a genuine superhero; he is a rare and highly efficient human being and his 'army for peace' is several hundred thousand strong, connected through Facebook and other online sources. The points and values he cites, along with a particular war crime judge featured prominently in the video, back everything we believe and are doing here as online humanitarian reporters.

The video will show you the track record of Kony which goes right up and down the faces of Ugandan people, as 'face carving' with a knife is one of the LRA's specialties

Russel, and many high level celebrities like George Clooney, want to make this man very famous, and we're on board, I've never seen a cause so easy to back. That is partly because absolutely nobody in power backs the LRA, they truly are a rogue group and when Kony is finally arrested, there will be much work to do with his heavily indoctrinated child soldiers, many of whom were forced to kill their own parents as part of his 'process'.

Take a good, close look at this war crimes suspect. Kony is the target of a world-level operation. 2012: it will be a banner year for a world that is poised to do something for humanity that matters.

LRA child soldiers - many are forced to kill their own parents

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in The Hague, released details on the war crime indictment against Kony. He faces 33 charges; 12 counts are crimes against humanity, including murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement, and rape. Another 21 counts of war crimes include murder, cruel treatment of civilians, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, pillaging, inducing rape, and forced enlisting of children into the rebel ranks. Ocampo said that "Kony was abducting girls to offer them as rewards to his commanders."

Kony, who has met with many public officials in Africa at different times throughout this dark period, says he has done nothing wrong. His efforts to establish a theocratic government based on the 'Ten Commandments' throughout Uganda is obscene and needs to end yesterday, but he is deep in hiding.

This is because the efforts spearheaded by Jason Russel led to the deployment of 100 U.S. military advisers being sent to work with the Ugandan Army, in an effort to capture the elusive Kony. They are still there and the mission, a rare one indeed, initially refused by the military because it did not impact U.S. security or investments, is underway, but it needs more support and a lot more awareness. For Barack Obama to have committed U.S. troops this way, is in keeping with the view of all parents on this planet; nobody has a right to steal children and enslave them, nobody.

The message is clear, Kony is attempting to evade capture and the whole world in unison needs to take him to The Hague to face 33 assorted war crimes.

With regard to the U.S. mission in Uganda, Wikipedia states:

In May 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, legislation aimed at stopping Kony and the LRA. The bill passed unanimously in the United States Senate on March 11, then passed unanimously in the House of Representatives on May 13. In November Obama delivered a strategy document to Congress, asking for more funding to disarm Kony and the LRA. In October 2011, Obama authorized the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. troops to central Africa. Their goal is to help regional forces remove Kony and senior LRA leaders from the battlefield. "Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense," Obama said in a letter to Congress.

Victim of the LRA's facial knife carving

Kony and his forces have terrorized much of Africa, the LRA gained a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan.

The number of children abducted from their families and forced into military service reportedly exceeds 66,000. Along with that staggering number, we learn that the violence has led to more than 2,000,000 refugees fleeing for their lives since the beginning of this rebellion in 1986.

Kony was officially indicted for war crimes in 2005 by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture so far.

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

This is a harsh story, about the terrible, ongoing slaughter of families, the language is not censored, so be advised. Those who do read this, please sign watch the video and sign your name in support.

On the pledge page, which is very easy and quick to sign, Ian Blaydes cites the number of kids forced into the LRA as being a third again higher:

“

90000 children, 3 decades...Kony's been doing his shit since before I was born, now I know him and I know this...we need to stop him playing god with people's lives...everything he has done, from abducting to enslaving children is why god gave us a voice for...to say this is not right, this beyond wrong, and what he is doing is beyond evil! so its great I get to pledge to do something that's going to stop what's has, should not, will not be happening..KONY 2012 (get ready fucker, you're going down).

”

And this heartbreaking comment from Qyira Yusri:

“

Stop whining about how your phone is being taken away, how your hair doesn't turn out right. While you're screaming at your parents for a new phone, these kids are screaming for their parents to be alive again. While you're complaining about how lousy your food is, these children would do anything for a plate of decent food. Stop and think of what you have, and not what you don't have, and contribute to this cause.

”

It really cuts to the mustard, when families are being slain, nothing else matters.

HOW TO HELP:

Donate to Invisible Children: www.causes.com/donatekony2012
Purchase KONY 2012 products: http://invisiblechildrenstore.myshopify.com/
Sign the Pledge: www.causes.com/konypledge

Sources:

Joseph Kony - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kony2012.com

Lord's Resistance Army - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joseph Kony - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And for those who wish to support us, our PayPal email is bonjtheartists@hotmail.com

Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

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