Our Common Good

WikiLeaks: Invisible Children May have Spied for the Ugandan Government »

A government cable published by WikiLeaks shows that San Diego-based nonprofit Invisible Children, whose video about Lord’s Resistance Army warlord Joseph Kony became an internet sensation, may have acted as spies for the Ugandan Government. If accurate, Invisible Children violated its nonprofit status, which prohibits the participation in political acts.

According to a cable from U.S. ambassador Steven Browning, the group provided Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni the location of former child soldier turned extortionist Patrick Komekech.

Here’s an excerpt from Browning’s document:

“The latest plot was exposed when the Government received a tip from the U.S. non-governmental organization (NGO) Invisible Invisible Children regarding the location of Patrick Komekech. He was wanted by the security services for impersonating [Lord’s Resistance Army] leaders to extort money from government officials, NGOs, and Acholi leaders. Komekech is purportedly a former child soldier abducted by the LRA. Invisible Children had featured him in its documentaries. Invisible Children reported that Komekech had been in Nairobi and had recently reappeared in Gulu, where he was staying with the NGO. Security organizations jumped on the tip and immediately arrested Komekech on March 5. He had a satellite telephone and other gadgets, which were confiscated when security forces picked him up.”

A spokesperson for the nonprofit in Uganda told the The Daily Monitor the cables were not accurate: “That is not true. We are not involved in anything to do with security. We only deal with development.”

(Source)

(h/t Amber)

Remember that the “president” of Uganda, Museveni, is a dictator and has committed a targeted campaign against the Acholi People, who were most effected by the LRA-Gov’t War

Kony 2012 has succeeded in part because it echoes and amplifies a classic narrative that America buys into and loves: The white male savior, swooping into Africa to save “those poor people,” and coming out as the hero, the masculine father figure whose blonde-haired, blue-eyed five-year-old boy will one day do for the world what his dad tried to do. As such, the video hardly gives a voice to the people it is trying to “save,” instead painting them as helpless one-dimensional victims exploited for the purposes of cajoling a Western audience out of its Internet-amplified apathy.

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—	Why Kony 2012 Went Viral (via steptimeeditor)

Activate the Mechanism!: “Stealth Evangelism” - KONY 2012 a “Trojan Horse” To Get Into Schools, Said Invisible Children Cofounder Russell »

abaldwin360:

As the LGBT rights watchdog group Truth Wins Out reported yesterday, in an April 5th, 2012 press release, the Invisible Children nonprofit behind the viral video hit KONY 2012, and its video sequel “Beyond Famous”, appears to have an invisible agenda – which TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen calls “stealth evangelism”:

“In audio TWO discovered from a 2005 Christian conference in San Antonio, Invisible Children’s co-founder Jason Russell called his organization a “Trojan Horse” designed to infiltrate secular institutions and surreptitiously promote his group’s version of Christian fundamentalism. The audiotape reveals that that his organization is particularly focused on targeting youth in public schools. According to Russell’s remarks (0:44):

“Coming in January we are trying to hit as many high schools, churches, and colleges as possible with this movie. We are able to be the Trojan Horse in a sense, going into a secular realm and saying, guess what life is about orphans, and it’s about the widow. It’s about the oppressed. That’s God’s heart. And to sit in a public high school and tell them about that has been life-changing. Because they get so excited. And it’s not driven by guilt, it’s driven by an adventure and the adventure is God’s.”

“This vividly reveals Invisible Children’s invisible agenda,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “This group is not simply about exposing LRA leader Joseph Kony, but engaging in stealth evangelism.

read more (and listen to the audio)

paxamericana:

‘KONY 2012’ Exec Joking About Keeping $900k Donation for Himself

In the video, Jenkins is holding a handle of Smirnoff vodka … and slurs to the camera, “I don’t know if you heard this or not … but we won a … we won a million dollars so … pretty rad.”

But I think if the goal is to raise awareness and you define awareness as more than just: I know Joseph Kony’s name, and I’ve watched this video, and I shared it on Facebook - awareness means understanding some basic facts about where the LRA is and where Kony is today. Because if you want to stop him, you have to understand that he has a tiny force scattered in a vast jungle area across three countries. And so it’s not simply a matter of flicking a switch and saying, yep, we voted. Let’s stop Kony now.

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—	Fact Checking The ‘Kony 2012’ Viral Video (via kileyrae) I quit questioning my non-support when I read this bit about it being about about Jesus and Evangelizing.

Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell hints it's about Jesus and Evangelizing »

thecranium:

dustoffvarnya:

marmarsplainingitall:

joiesdevivre:

Cranium called it.

Well shit, all that’s left is using funds to pay for some sort of sex scandal and we get the trifecta.

Fidle-dee-dee; that will require a tetanus shot.

My support has waivered back and forth on this, but heard a fairly positive story on it on NPR tonight driving home so was feeling more positive about it. This takes me back to the very negative realm.

aninsufferableknowitall:

Soon, the name JOSEPH KONY will be as well known as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are now. The difference is YOU can help stop this man.

Watch and share this and then choose to change the course of history.