The Kony 2012 Campaign Is Fraud And Its Cause Is A Difficult Problem
There is a stupid campaign in the asocial media to go after Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. First thing wrong with that is that he isn't in Uganda and hasn't been for some six year.
I regard the campaign as total fraud which has only one real aim which is to enrich its initiators. The charity that runs the campaign, Invisible Children, uses 70% of the money it gets for administration and marketing. As it is not even audited the number that really goes to the cause may be far less than 30%.
But there are lots of other issues with this and other such campaigns and by now a lot of smart people have written about those (see links below).
The first issue is that killing someone like Kony and his gang, as the U.S. tried three years ago and is now again trying, may not be the solution of the problem:
‘Kony 2012′, quite dubiously, avoids stepping into the ‘peace-justice’ question in northern Uganda precisely because it is a world of contesting and plural views, eloquently expressed by the northern Ugandans themselves. Some reports suggest that the majority of Acholi people continue to support the amnesty process whereby LRA combatants – including senior officials – return to the country in exchange for amnesty and entering a process of ‘traditional justice’. Many continue to support the Ugandan Amnesty law because of the reality that it is their own children who constitute the LRA. Once again, this issue is barely touched upon in the film. Yet the LRA poses a stark dilemma to the people of northern Uganda: it is now composed primarily of child soldiers, most of whom were abducted and forced to join the rebel ranks and commit atrocities. Labeling them “victims” or “perpetrators” becomes particularly problematic as they are often both.Furthermore, the crisis in northern Ugandan is not seen by its citizens as one that is the result of the LRA. Yes, you read that right. The conflict in the region is viewed as one wherein both the Government of Uganda and the LRA, as well as their regional supporters (primarily South Sudan and Khartoum, respectively) have perpetrated and benefited from nearly twenty-five years of systemic and structural violence and displacement. This pattern is what Chris Dolan has eloquently and persuasively termed ‘social torture‘ wherein both the Ugandan Government and the LRA’s treatment of the population has resulted in symptoms of collective torture and the blurring of the perpetrator-victim binary.
As many smart people have written about the campaign by now I have an excuse to be lazy and to just leave you with links to them.
- Jospeph Kony And Crowdsourced Intervention - Kings of War
- Invisible Children’s Military Disconnect - Kings of War
- Invisible Children Pretty Dang Visible - Duck of Minerva
- Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and other complicate things - Foreign Policy
- Phony 2012 Risible Children - Africasacountry
- Acholi Street Stop Kony2012 Invisible Childrens Capaign Of Infamy - This Is Africa
- Think Twice Before Donating to Kony 2012, the Charitable Meme du Jour - Jezebel
Posted by b on March 8, 2012 at 18:17 UTC | Permalink
@Judah - do we sit by and let it sort itself out whilst preventing anyone from giving leverage to any side in the conflict?
No! Do NOTHING.
I remember not having the nerve to talk my wife out of donating to tsunami relief in Thailand and SE Asia in 2005. Then I read about how corrupt officials were demanding bribes to allow aid to reach the devastated area and put my foot down about any sort of reaction to any charitable cause that was not carefully weighed and considered.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Mar 8 2012 19:27 utc | 3
"Do nothing"
Presumably, aid provided to South Sudanese "Lost Boys" would be an example of "Western" neocolonialism. I should tell that to my neighbor who immigrated to the US from Sudan eight years ago, and who is leaving in July to complete a Masters degree in economics at the University of Chicago.
Posted by: slothrop | Mar 8 2012 19:37 utc | 4
Slothrop: Or you could interview these people.
See http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/04-Mar-2012/us-army-s-top-soldier-talks-victory-in-iraq
Money quote: “A jump in the number of Iraqis living in slum conditions from 17 per cent before the American invasion to 50 per cent as of last year, with 7m of Iraq’s population of 30m living below the poverty line. “
Posted by: Matthew | Mar 8 2012 19:45 utc | 5
Just more vulger generalizations from b, in the service of anti-USuk and sweeping contrarianism necessary to sustain the growth of MoA's curiously unpolitical conspiracy mongering – "nonpolitical" because there doesn't seem to be any alternatives offered except a luxurious complacency enjoyed by bourgeois Hamburgers and other libertarian euro-trash, and a few confused Americans who have been intellectually exiled from their brains.
There are a number of NGOs working in sub-Saharan Africa who have done a lot of good. And it's also true that the cost of operating NGOs often exceeds the expense of dispensation of charity. It depends where your organization is operating, and the logistical problems of delivering aid. Also, critics of these charities often disingenuously lump-in the cost of clerical and legal representation needed to assist refugees as "administrative/operation" costs.
You suck.
Posted by: slothrop | Mar 8 2012 19:51 utc | 6
"Critics of Invisible Children are also likely to be critics of foreign aid and by extension the place of Western charities in the mis-education of western publics about the realities of Africa."
--Africasacountry
Debauching Africa with charity has been the key to plundering it since the Brits wandered up the Nile waving the "Good Book".
Posted by: yes_but | Mar 8 2012 19:58 utc | 7
Yes. You've said it yourself, as I recall. You counted yourself as an economic libertarian, and you're politics as casual anarchism. if I recall incorrectly, I'm happily disabused.
Your non-interventionism is unprincipled as it is ahistorical. there is no way to defend in any logical way noninterventionism, because the basis of collective security is assured by the intervention of state institutions. I would just be curious to know when you believe intervention is necessary or not? Are there any social events that require international cooperation and intervention to reduce the misery of victims of social violence or resource scarcity?
Posted by: slothrop | Mar 8 2012 20:05 utc | 9
@6. Please read a wonderful book titled 'Dark Star Safari'. The simple conclusion is that no NGO has done any good in Africa. In some cases people had very good intentions but very little if anything remains of their positive efforts. One place the author poses the question that people have been working in Africa for 40 years and yet the conditions today are same or worse. How can that be? As I have written before I do not share 'b's worldview. But this is not about US is good or US is bad. This is about the corrosive effects of money and how they permeat many parts of life.
About Southern Sudan which has always been painted as a Khartoum vs the South struggle I have asked many people to explain why over a million refugees from Southern Sudan had fled north to Khartoum during the civil war? It made no sense if Khartoum was engaging in mass killings. You don't run TOWARDS your oppressor in search of security. This is not to say that the government in Khartoum isn't corrupt and terrible. It is simply to point out that there are no heroes just villains of different shades. For some in South Sudan Khartoum was the villian for others there were others they feared more.
It seems this is the point of the particular blog by 'b'. Not that the LRA is good or US/UK is bad. Just that each is exploiting the people in a different way and the best resolution isn't painting one all good and the other all bad.
Posted by: Khalid Shah | Mar 8 2012 20:10 utc | 10
actually, slothrop, getting Europeans (and the US) not to insist on strict immigration controls against Africans (and Latin Americans) definitively would make the world a better place, I fully agree. (it would save a lot of lives lost in the Mediterranean too, how come noone campaigns about this slaughter?)
At present, activists are strangely selective.
For example, Avaaz here seems to be concerned about the Netherlands' attitude towards the economic immigration of Eastern Europeans (they are neither refugees, nor starving). Netherlands has been traditionally really good on immigration, much better than other European countries.
http://en.avaaz.org/192/those-pesky-immigrants-sinister-dutch-website-targets-east-europeans
Geert Wilders, whom they criticize, however, has a different take on desired and undesired immigration to the Netherlands
http://www.geertwilders.nl/
The European black sheep in near-fascist government at present is Eastern European Hungary. How come the fairly decent Netherlands are attacked and Geert Wilders' is hyped, who is in a minority there?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/04/geert-wilders-victory-elections-netherlands
this here is what afrisynergy thinks of it
AVAAZ, Obama and the Makings of War Through Demonstrations and Humanitarianism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Wel-T3JxM
"... just when you thought you had no more tears left ..."
Posted by: somebody | Mar 8 2012 20:15 utc | 11
Hey, that's strange, Avaaz is concerned about money in Hungary, not about Roma and Jews ...
http://en.avaaz.org/166/alarm-bells-in-hungary
Posted by: somebody | Mar 8 2012 20:20 utc | 12
the main function of NGOs to to keep young do-gooders off the streets at home, where they might become a nuisance as they protest the policies of their home governments...
..policies that create the need for NGOs.
NGOs, too, give "humanitarian" cover for continued exploitation of the victim countries...cpver, too, for military intervention on a humanitarian pretext, if the host government doesnt willingly corrupt itself and surrender its resources to the usuaal gang of leeches and fat cats...
but nobody much wants to talk about the oil in south sudan and uganda, do they?
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 8 2012 20:30 utc | 13
I'm not sure the world can just stand by and do nothing. That's not an answer either. What would have been the result if the world stood by and did nothing whilst the Nazis exterminated the Jews? Yes, the world did stand by then for a while, but eventually the world defeated Germany and saved the few remaining Jews. Are you advocating turning your back on potential genocides and ethnic cleansings? That's immoral and without conscience. That's something China would do. It's a disturbing stance when you consider that such behavior is only going to increase with the scarce resource issues with which the world is now confronted.
Posted by: Sultanist | Mar 8 2012 20:44 utc | 14
Sultanist, you forget, that the second "World War" was not about the Jews ... As a matter of fact German and Austrian Nazis and Eastern European fascists nearly did exterminate "the Jews" whatever that meant in those times. A lot of other people got exterminated, the Second World War did not happen because of them either.
You also forget that a lot of people do die without any campaing trying to help them. How do you chose your cause? Death is the same for all of us.
b. there is this link too
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-deibert/joseph-kony-2012-children_b_1327417.html
tracking the policy back to Bill Clinton
"The problem with Invisible Children's whitewashing of the role of the government of Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni in the violence of Central Africa is that it gives Museveni and company a free pass, and added ammunition with which to bludgeon virtually any domestic opposition, such as Kizza Besigye and the Forum for Democratic Change.
By blindly supporting Uganda's current government and its military adventures beyond its borders, as Invisible Children suggests that people do, Invisible Children is in fact guaranteeing that there will be more violence, not less, in Central Africa.
I have seen the well-meaning foreigners do plenty of damage before, so that is why people understanding the context and the history of the region is important before they blunder blindly forward to "help" a people they don't understand.
U.S. President Bill Clinton professed that he was "helping" in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s and his help ended up with over 6 million people losing their lives.
The same mistake should not be repeated today."
Posted by: somebody | Mar 8 2012 20:53 utc | 15
i guess we could have stayed home and not caused the problem in the first place.
there's no convincing evidence that nazis came close to "extrminating the jews", but that kind of argument appeals to the same people who are willing to got off to sudan and create a population that's dependent on the people who originally created the problems.
i got to admit, it's a pretty slick system.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 8 2012 20:54 utc | 16
@Sultanist 14, who says...
"Are you advocating turning your back on potential genocides and ethnic cleansings?"dont you see something ironic about america, which was founded in genocide and ethnic cleansing, defending israel, which continues its ethnic cleansing to this day?
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 8 2012 21:27 utc | 17
slobroth: I would just be curious to know when you believe intervention is necessary or not?
Me too. Do you think it justifiable that teams of snipers descend on Wall St and start picking off bankers?
Posted by: yes_but | Mar 8 2012 21:27 utc | 18
The Youtube link to the video in question "Kony 2012" from the NGO "Invisible Children" (38 Million views in 2 days :o) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
Saw the story/video earlier in the Guardian. It is interesting that after Obama ordered 100 JSOC troops to go after Kony that 3 months later this video appears and goes viral instantly. Some more of this "Soft Power" approach to US objectives? Some quotes from one of the Guardian stories:
Foreign Affairs magazine has accused the organization of "manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes." Charity Navigator has given Invisible Children a two-star rating in accountability out of a possible four.
Also
Critics point out that the campaign calls on the public to pressure the US to continue working with the Ugandan military, an organisation that has its own record of abuses. "The Ugandan army continues to commit politically motivated abuses in Uganda," Maria Burnett, senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, Africa Division, told the Guardian."We have documented numerous cases in which they've been involved in torture and arbitrary arrests, as well as a score of killings of unarmed protesters and bystanders during political demonstrations in the past three years."
Of course this sudden interest in Kony (after 20 years of the LRA operating with impunity) has nothing to do with 2-6 Billion barrels of oil discovered in the Lake Albert basin in 2006. Production was set to begin in 2013 on the field but due to it being close to Kony's stronghold it was pushed back to 2015. Did I mention that the Albert basin's oil is owned through a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) by British oil company Tullow Oil and US firm ExxonMobil? Also if you have the time read some Wikileaks cables on Uganda corruption and ExxonMobil.
Source: http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=10KAMPALA19&q=corruption%20uganda
Posted by: Colm O' Toole | Mar 8 2012 21:28 utc | 19
Resist AFRICOM
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1552/t/5717/signUp.jsp?key=3094
Posted by: easy e | Mar 8 2012 21:29 utc | 20
There's a rather skeptical view from this BBC correspondent, which raises similar points to this thread.
Joseph Kony campaign under fire
The extraordinarily sudden success, if that is the right word, of the social media campaign by three American advocacy groups aimed at shining a big spotlight on the notorious Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony has prompted some scathing reactions from plenty of well-informed quarters. ...
" well-informed quarters "
Posted by: nobodee | Mar 9 2012 0:18 utc | 21
A Jedediah Jenkins, spokesman of some kind for Invisible Children was just on bbcR5 here in UK, so I sent text about the 70% admin. He claimed under 20% went to admin, 80% to 'programs'.
Posted by: Anne O'Nimmus | Mar 9 2012 1:03 utc | 22
'Why The US Is Chasing Kony And The LRA'The US military was active in Northern Uganda and bordering countries long before President Obama announced he was sending Special Operations forces there in October 2011. ...
When Uganda discovered oil prospects, the US became interested in the LRA. ...
Kony and the LRA operate across the borders in the territories of several countries that are of particular interest to the United States (partial lists of their resources in parentheses) South Sudan (oil, land, water, China) the DRC – Congo (oil, coltan, tin, tungsten, copper, gold, water, timber, China etc.) Uganda (oil, China, source of proxy soldiers, water, land, etc.) Burundi (uranium, rare earth, diamonds, cobalt, copper, land, water) CAR – Central African Republic (diamonds, uranium, timber, gold, oil). So Kony and the LRA are a very handy target indeed. ...
It would be excellent for everyone if Kony and the LRA are put out of business. IF (big IF) the US military can put Kony out of business, on its own, that would be a blessing. That is not the real reason the US is there, and the US will not be leaving when Kony is gone. ...
Kony is a handy cover for the real reasons for US interest in the region, which are all about African resources.
http://crossedcrocodiles.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/why-the-us-is-chasing-kony-and-the-lra/
Posted by: Watson | Mar 9 2012 5:45 utc | 23
retreatingbladestall they were exterminated under the cover of war. They were not the reason the US or anybody else went to war.
Basically you are rewriting history for colonialist purpose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_United_States#World_War_II_and_the_Holocaust
"The United States’ tight immigration policies were not lifted during the Holocaust, news of which began to reach the United States in 1941 and 1942 and it has been estimated that 190,000–200,000 Jews could have been saved during the Second World War had it not been for bureaucratic obstacles to immigration deliberately created by Breckinridge Long and others.[43]
Rescue of the European Jewish population was not a priority for the US during the war, and the American Jewish community did not realize the severity of the Holocaust until late in the conflict."
Posted by: somebody | Mar 9 2012 5:56 utc | 24
Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire, who covered the war, in a video response to the campaign: My response to KONY2012 - recommended.
Also - "Invisible Children" Co-founder (KONY 2012) Hints It's About Jesus, and Evangelizing
On its face, the effort appears secular, and evangelizing is not mentioned as an objective.But in a November 7, 2011 appearance at Liberty University, as part of Liberty's Fall Convocation speaker series, Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell hinted that Invisible Children was also an evangelizing effort, and during his talk Russell coached Liberty University students on what could be characterized as extremely low-key, or stealth, evangelism.
this is pretty funny (in a sick way)
"Yes, the world did stand by then for a while, but eventually the world defeated Germany and saved the few remaining Jews."
They cared so little about what was happening to the Jews that the western powers would not bomb Auschwitz even when prisoners there begged them to do so to stop the gassing (they had rigged up a radio transmitter) of the Jews. THEY DID NOT CARE ONE BIT.
Posted by: Susan | Mar 9 2012 7:21 utc | 28
@9 You counted yourself as an economic libertarian, and you're politics as casual anarchism. if I recall incorrectly, I'm happily disabused.
Someone who writes pieces like Declare All Credit Default Swaps Null And Void can hardly be an economic libertarian nor a casual anarchist.
Anyone who thinks differently needs their head examined.
@Sultanist 14, who says...
"Are you advocating turning your back on potential genocides and ethnic cleansings?"
dont you see something ironic about america, which was founded in genocide and ethnic cleansing, defending israel, which continues its ethnic cleansing to this day?
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 8, 2012 4:27:06 PM | 17
And let's not forget the recent ethnic cleansing of Baghdad, which the US military/government oversaw.
Posted by: Susan | Mar 9 2012 7:27 utc | 30
"extremely low-key, or stealth, evangelism."
Repent and be enslaved by us or starve?
Posted by: david | Mar 9 2012 8:09 utc | 31
to somebody @24
i dont think there's much sense in fretting about the fate of jews... persecution is one of the mainstays of jewish philosophy, and that's just how it is.
the real pity is that jews are saddled with that philosophy, and go so far out of their way to fulfill their expectations.
if jews are the master race, and goys are required to serve them, and a mainstay of jewish philosophy demands that jews be persecuted, then what?
are goys obligated to persecute jews to fulfill their jewish masters' expectations of persecution?
on the other hand, if jews cook up fairytales about how badly they're persecuted, that would work, too...
jews use the fairytales to unify the tribe, terrorize themselves into overachieving, and get a horse on goys.
that works, too, but it's tricky because it's based on a myth, a lie, bullshit and propaganda.
so the first option is still best for reasons of structural integrity and durability.
the simplest approach is the one that's usually used...
it boils down to... if you got to be persecuted, do shit that guarantees you'll be persecuted.
that works, too, but it's messy... the big jews do the shit and get away with the loot, and the little jews are left behind to get shat on.
this situation makes goys uneasy, since they still possess a rudimentary sense of justice and fair play.
none of this is my fault.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 9 2012 8:44 utc | 32
Thanks to Colm O'Toole @19 for the link to the Wikileaks document. I really like this kind of detailed, nuts-and-bolts information, about policy implementation and relatively low-level conflict between competing operators, even if it is "episodic".
Posted by: Hannah K. O'Luthon | Mar 9 2012 12:12 utc | 33
Regardless of the motivations of those who defeated Germany and the Nazis in WWII, the basic fact is that it took interventionism for whatever reason to bring the German death machine to a grinding halt. In a Nazi dominated world, there is little to no doubt that there would have been no Jews left standing besides Hitler and a handful of others who hid their true blood lines. The lesson learned from that is not refraining from interventionism because of impure motives but rather directing and controlling interventionism for pure motives and peaceful and positive results. The former is a defeatist approach that would have the world community stand by and watch brutal and vicious atrocities from the comfort of its bourgeois living rooms. The latter is proactive and empowering and will help to mitigate any further misery and suffering and bring about a more peaceful world.
This sums it up nicely. It's a better option than the obviously transparent Kony 2012 campaign and the Invisible Children.
http://www.warchild.ca/news/detail/beyond_a_campaign/
At the core of the campaign is a very real and brutal war. It is a war that was fought, more often than not, by children, and it was characterized by unimaginable cruelty. War Child has been working to address the problems faced by the communities caught up in the bloodshed – and in particular the continuing sexual violence against girls and women, and the culture of impunity that surrounds it. The continuing presence of the Lord's Resistance Army in at least three of the countries we work in is a significant concern, as it destabilizes the region as a whole.With this in mind, what is important is not the nature of this or any other campaign but the urgency we see in the country for access to justice and a strengthening of a fragile peace. What we ought to be talking about is the extraordinary courage of communities rebuilding in face of profoundly unfair odds. And what we should be investing in are programs and organizations that work with the people of Uganda to empower them to break out of the cycle of violence and create a prosperous and peaceful future.
If you would like to make a difference to families devastated by war, become a War Child Hero today.
Posted by: Sultanist | Mar 9 2012 12:29 utc | 34
Again lost in this frenzy is what the actual people of Uganda think about the video.
- Dr Beatrice Mpora, director of Kairos, a community health organisation in Gulu, a town that was once the centre of the rebels’ activities.
“What that video says is totally wrong, and it can cause us more problems than help us. There has not been a single soul from the LRA here since 2006. Now we have peace, people are back in their homes, they are planting their fields, they are starting their businesses. That is what people should help us with.”
- Javie Ssozi, an influential Ugandan blogger.
“Suggesting that the answer is more military action is just wrong. Have they thought of the consequences? Making Kony ‘famous’ could make him stronger. Arguing for more US troops could make him scared, and make him abduct more children, or go on the offensive.”
- Rosebell Kagumire, a Ugandan journalist specialising in peace and conflict reporting.
This paints a picture of Uganda six or seven years ago, that is totally not how it is today. It’s highly irresponsible”.
Posted by: Colm O' Toole | Mar 9 2012 13:19 utc | 35
Regardless of the motivations of those who defeated Germany and the Nazis in WWII, the basic fact is that it took interventionism for whatever reason to bring the German death machine to a grinding halt.
What nonsense. There was no "interventionism". Britain could have avoided the war, but as whole fight since the begin of the century was about primacy in Europe between Britain and Germany Britain took it on because it believed it could win. That had nothing to do with "interventionism". Through WWII Britain ruined its empire and a hundred years later the Germans have more or less won the competition.
"Interventionism" is what empires or colonial powers call their wars to beat up smaller countries for economic gain. It never has anything to do with the declared "cause". "Interventionism" is killing and maiming other people for economic purpose. Nothing else.
The aristocracy in Britain was very much divided on Germany prior to the late thirties, early forties. There was not an insignificant number of them who found favor with Hitler and Fascism. I do not believe Britain could have avoided war with Germany at the later stages of the Nazi regime. Certainly, war with Germany could have been avoided if the fascist Nazis were not aided and abetted in their rise by greedy Plutocrats seeking global markets with cheap resources and cheap, obedient labor.
A war is an intervention of sorts, for whatever reason. I will grant that the U.S. interests in the war were purely opportunistic. The U.S. saw the momentum swing when the Soviet Union defeated Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad and had the Germany military retreating back to its own borders. There was no way the U.S. was going to let the Soviet Union defeat Germany on its own and take the spoils. So, the U.S. intervened for self-interested reasons, but that intervention had many positive outcomes despite the self-concerned motivation. The remaining Jews of Europe were spared complete annihilation. Britain was spared annihilation. Germany was rebuilt anew so it could once again rise to be the new leader in Europe in the early 21st century thanks in large part to the Marshall Plan and a proper winning of the peace by the West. Yes, all of that was done for selfish reasons predominantly, but that doesn't preclude the fact that it had positive outcomes for those who were not even taken into consideration, i.e. the Jews and even you. If not for all of that, you wouldn't have this blog. You may not have even been born, or even worse, you could have become a child soldier just like those unfortunate victim perpetrators in Uganda.
You seem to adhere to the view of that arch conservative and isolationist, Pat Buchanan. Keep in mind that he is also a veiled racist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill,_Hitler_and_the_Unnecessary_War
Posted by: Sultanist | Mar 9 2012 14:29 utc | 37
b: You make a point most people forget. Britain went to war with Germany in 1940 because Britian thought it would win. This runs contrary to the "Britain stands alone" mythology. In fact, if Britain believed that the Nazis were going to defeat them, then declaring war on Germany would have been political malpractice of the highest order, akin to Saddam invading Kuwait.
Posted by: Matthew | Mar 9 2012 15:17 utc | 38
Exterminate?Dictionary;To kill all individuals.
Contrary to the claims of the serial liars,despite Uncle Adolfs total control and alleged(Isn't that the result of their serial lies,the crumbling of their narrative and Hitlers rehab?-oy!) directive,it didn't happen.Too busy playing Russian Roulette with Joe Goebbels maybe?
Sorry for the cold water thrown on the would be gods narrative.
Putin;For the west to be invulnerable,that means that we are vulnerable,a very very impossible situation.(sic)
Bomb Auschwitz?And then we would be liable for their deaths?Talk about a can of hasbaritic worms.
Posted by: dahoit | Mar 9 2012 15:32 utc | 39
they could have bombed the railroad lines too - and very little chance of death with that plan.
But, no, the bombs were used elsewhere.....
Posted by: Susan | Mar 9 2012 15:42 utc | 40
We need a new World NGO to watch NGOs (incl. Amnesty Int. to whom I used to give half my pocket money as a teen) and these new social agglomerates.
Shoot, I guess that won’t work. So should Gvmts regulate NGOs? Errr.. Should the UN take on that task? Errr, again.
That said, some NGOs do sincere, selfless, useful work, as said, (haven’t a clue about in Uganda) - but without thorough knowledge one can’t judge, and the info is hard to come by.
One of the things I wondered about Avaaz was what, if any, forces or influence or funders etc. was behind it - or was it just a money making effort?
Avaaz is a non-profit incorporated in Delaware.. the possibility that it is just for money is plausible. Small non-profits of the ‘media’ kind don’t make many millions but will easily stretch to an extremely comfortable life-style for 7-10 or even far more, like 30, people. They are relatively cheap to run and the actions they undertake don’t cost much, as they aren’t active in the real world but merely in the symbolic one.
Then there is the return in influence - if you can mobilize ppl you attain at least some status, importance. Are invited to pontificate, hired at a think tank, etc. The hype about the role of ‘social media’ in the Arab Spring was way peculiar - I don’t believe it played much role, so who was pushing that meme?
Tangential, but in a rare candid moment the prez of CH (Calmy-Rey) said that every CHF invested in development in the 3rd world returned 1.5 CHF to Switzerland.
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 9 2012 18:03 utc | 41
as a matter of fact sultanist, you do rewrite history.
Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Union
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/auschwitz/
the remaining Jews of Europe were saved by the Soviet Union.
Posted by: somebody | Mar 9 2012 19:19 utc | 42
@42 - how did I rewrite history? I said intervention liberated the remaining Jews of Europe from certain extermination. That intervention came from many sources, the Soviet Union included. Show me where I stated otherwise? Why did you say I rewrote history? Surely you can't argue that the U.S. intervening and causing the Germans to fight on multiple fronts didn't aid in the defeat of Germany and as a consequence of that defeat, the liberation of the remaining European Jews. I find it unfathomable that anyone in this day and age can argue to the contrary of this. What is the point of arguing to the contrary? It makes no sense.
Posted by: Sultanist | Mar 9 2012 19:37 utc | 43
So now someone has diverted the thread to the holocaust and how the war was won. Doesn't Godwin apply here?
Then imply that those not in agreement are racists.
"You seem to adhere to the view of that arch conservative and isolationist, Pat Buchanan. Keep in mind that he is also a veiled racist."
Nice little operation going on on this thread.
Posted by: nobodee | Mar 10 2012 4:04 utc | 44
i thought the evolution of their Form 990 mission statements and achievements was interesting. it starts out very noble, then just, well... the mission now is Kony.
note, each year's form is for the previous year, so they might appear a year off.
Form 990 (2005)
Mission:
RAISE AWARENESS AND EDUCATING THE U.S. ABOUT THE ATROCITIES, EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Achievements:
TO BUILD, HOUSE AND CARE FOR ORPHANS IN GULU, UGANDA, AND
AFRICA.
Form 990 (2006)
Mission:
RAISE AWARENESS AND EDUCATING THE U.S. ABOUT THE ATROCITIES, EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Achievements:
MEDIA BASED AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY PROGRAMS IN THE US.
LONG TERM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN NORTHERN UGANDA THROUGH EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES.
Form 990 (2007)
Mission:
RAISE AWARENESS AND EDUCATING THE U.S. ABOUT THE ATROCITIES, EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Achievements:
MEDIA BASED AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY PROGRAMS IN THE US.
LONG TERM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN NORTHERN UGANDA THROUGH EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES.
Form 990 (2008)
Mission:
RAISE AWARENESS AND EDUCATING THE U.S. ABOUT THE ATROCITIES,
EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Achievements:
MEDIA BASED AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY PROGRAMS IN THE US.
LONG TERM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN NORTHERN UGANDA THROUGH EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES.
Form 990 (2009)
Mission:
RAISE AWARENESS AND EDUCATING THE U.S. ABOUT THE ATROCITIES,
EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE OF INVISIBLE CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Achievements:
THE ORGANIZATION’S PROGRAMS IN UGANDA INCLUDE THE VISIBLE CHILD SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SCHOOLS 4 SCHOOLS FUNDS RAISED, AND THE MICRO ECONOMIC PROGRAMS INCLUDING THE COTTON INITIATIVE, MEND, THE BRACELET CAMPAIGN AND THE VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LOAN INITIATIVE.
INVISIBLE CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES INCLUDE A SEMI-ANNUAL NATIONAL TOUR, THE SCHOOLS 4 SCHOOLS PROGRAM AND A GRASSROOTS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN AND A FEATURE FILM TELLING THE STORY OF THE INVISIBLE CHILDREN OF EAST AFRICA THAT HAVE BEEN SUFFERING AT THE HANDS OF THE LRA FOR PAST TWENTY YEARS.
Form 990 (2010)
Mission:
INVISIBLE CHILDREN USES FILM, CREATIVITY AND SOCIAL ACTION TO END THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS IN JOSEPH KONY’S REBEL WAR AND TO RESTORE LRA-AFFECTED COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL AFRICA TO PEACE AND PROSPERITY.
Achievements:
THE ORGANIZATION’S PROGRAMS IN CENTRAL AFRICA FOCUS ON EDUCATION, PROTECTION, REHABILITATION AND LIVELIHOOD BENEFITING OVER 11,000 PEOPLE.
THE ORGANIZATION HAS DEVELOPED PROGRAMS STATESIDE THAT FOCUS ON ADVOCACY AND SPREADING THE MESSAGE TO "DO MORE THAN JUST WATCH". THESE INITIATIVES INCLUDE A BIANNUAL FILM TOUR, CROSS-PLATFORM MEDIA CAMPAIGNS, AND GRASSROOTS AWARENESS EVENTS.
Posted by: Proton Soup | Mar 10 2012 4:48 utc | 45
@22 - Anne O'Nimmus
i'm beginning to think that the "programs" are mostly the raising awareness stuff. social media is their business. which means a lot of people making videos and such. "admin" is just the paperwork to support that effort.
@28 - Susan
ask Rabbi Weissmandel who else ignored their pleas. (hint: Israel)
http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/weissmandel_lublin.htm
@30 - Susan
oh, and you realize the Zionists collaborated with the Nazis too, right? and now they collaborate with the US nazi policies in the mideast. very little has changed, really.
Posted by: Proton Soup | Mar 10 2012 5:47 utc | 46
Since overthrowing Hitler meant allying ourselves with the mass-murderer Stalin, I find the Godwin here particularly apt, but I remain unconvinced that to get rid of the LRA it is necessary to throw our lots in with the marketing arm of the Sudan People's Liberation Army or the old Ugandan dictatorship (both of whom are accused of doing the very same things that they are so publicly condemning the LRA of doing.)
Anyway, the bright side of this brouhaha is that it has graphically demonstrated that the majority of fauxtivists have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.
@Noirette #41: I usually use this thing.
Posted by: Monolycus | Mar 10 2012 6:12 utc | 47
And the German death machine was succeeded by the American death machine,but it's victims don't control the presses,and are voiceless in this premodern age of BS.
Posted by: dahoit | Mar 10 2012 15:52 utc | 48
Guys, I need your help here. There is a campaign to save Syrian children by Savethechildren.Can which is an affiliate of Savethechildren.org http://www.savethechildren.ca/page.aspx?pid=898
I tweeted @SaveTheChildren and its CEO @patriciaerb asking them questions on numbers and facts of children killed in Syria for the last year and on whether they would be willing to conduct such a campaign for the children of Lebanon and Gaza bombed by Israel, they immediately blocked me. I however got an answer from main org in US @Every_One_Can in the form of a citation of their founder Eglanthyn Jebb circa 19-20th century.
I think this is a campaign we should propbably watch...
Nice riposte: TONY2012
In light of the new campaign to find Joseph Kony, we feel that if we can attract half that attention towards bringing the war-criminal Tony Blair to justice, it would be a huge success. Tony Blair has the blood of 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi civilians on his hands. This isn't just a figure or a statistic. Each individual had a family and a community of people around him, and each and everyone of those has been shattered.
Posted by: Biklett | Mar 11 2012 6:33 utc | 50
africom would be chasing the elusive kony bin laden for the next 10 yrs
in wot2
http://tinyurl.com/7eqmm9e
Posted by: denk | Mar 11 2012 14:20 utc | 51
'The Kony 2012 campaign is a complete fraud. But unlike most skeptics (KONY 2012 is a SCAM is a good one) who have accurately pointed out that the people behind it are out to make a lot of money on this scam, I intend to show that it’s actually designed to do much worse.'
etc
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/the-truth-about-kony-2012-the-goldstein-effect/
Posted by: brian | Mar 12 2012 20:52 utc | 52
' noticed the other day that the NGO behind the Kony 2012 campaign, Invisible Children, doesn’t publish in their financial statements where their funding has been coming from. Just check out their “financials” page and pull up their 2011 statement and you will quickly see they don’t include that information. Then I found a paper on AFRICOM’s website dated Feb. 2012 stating that they are working with USAID “programs” to handle the Kony LRA situation starting in Oct. of 2011. Is it a coincidence or did USAID pump millions into this slick marketing campaign?'
etc
Posted by: brian | Mar 12 2012 20:56 utc | 53
'Since Invisible Children seems to support putting boots on the ground in Africa and therefore AFRICOM (U.S. military control over the continent) I decided to look at AFRICOM’s website for a little more information. This is what I found in a PDF (U.S. Military Support to African Efforts to Counter the Lord’s Resistance Army) on the front page of their website:
The role of the U.S. military
It is widely recognized that there is no purely military solution to the efforts of African security and administrative officials from throughout the region to protect the civilian population from the threat posed by Joseph Kony and the LRA. The U.S. military role is in support of a combined effort that involves the U.S. embassies in the affected countries, U.S. Agency for International Development’s programs, as well as contributions from nongovernmental organizations.'
HMMMM...So the US military is in africa to protect african civilians....note how US embassies are part of the miltiary machine.
If the Lords army didnt exist. the US regime would have had to invent it!
Posted by: brian | Mar 12 2012 21:00 utc | 54
'And the German death machine was succeeded by the American death machine,but it's victims don't control the presses,and are voiceless in this premodern age of BS.
Posted by: dahoit | Mar 10, 2012 10:52:22 AM | 48'
you will notice that even citizens have no say in our post modern one......the mark of a dictatorship.
Posted by: brian | Mar 12 2012 21:05 utc | 55
a daughter of uganda speaks on Kony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DO73Ese25Y&feature=related
ugandan journalist on Kony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVY5jBnD-E
Posted by: brian | Mar 13 2012 13:26 utc | 56
http://www.cbsnews.com/2102-503544_162-57396592.html?tag=contentMain;contentIous
Joseph Kony resolution introduced in House
hahaha.... We are a fucking laughing stock...
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 14 2012 15:16 utc | 57
Man behind ‘Kony 2012’ arrested – for masturbating in public
i.e. jason russel
Posted by: nobodee | Mar 16 2012 23:11 utc | 58
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Christian filmmaker behind the Internet’s most recent famous activism campaign, “Kony 2012,” has been arrested. For masturbating. And being drunk. And vandalizing cars. In public. In the morning.Oh man.. that is priceless. Although, there obviously is a tragedy behind such behavior.Jason Russell, 33, was arrested Thursday morning by the San Diego Police Department in Southern California and the earliest reports detailing the incident suggest it was one hell of a day already for the Invisible Children co-founder and proclaimed “mastermind” behind the Kony 2012 viral video.Police say he was described as "in his underwear" when the first 911 calls were made.
San Diego Police Department Lieutenant Andrea Brown tells a local NBC affiliate that Russell was found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of an unknown substance at around 11:30 am on Thursday. Authorities detained him at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Riviera Drive in San Diego, only a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean.
Speaking on behalf of the San Diego PD, Lt. Brown also made an announcment. NBC reports she described Russell as acting “very strange,” but when your charges include public masturbation and auto vandalism a few feet from the shores of the Pacific while stumbling incoherently on a Thursday night, that’s pretty much a given.
Within minutes of the news of his arrest being released on Friday, the group issued a statement. Invisible Children CEO Ben Keesey published an one-paragraph press release, but did not touch on the topic of arrest. Instead, Keesey says, “Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition."Less than poetic justice.. Anyway, read the article, I posted this in case the piece is taken down."He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday," added Russell.
"He was no problem for the police department, however, during the evaluation we learned that we probably needed to take care of him," Brown explained to the media. "So officers detained him and transferred him to a local medical facility for further evaluation and treatment."
Posted by: Alexander | Mar 16 2012 23:39 utc | 59
One of those WTF moments. Don't even want to know...
Still kind of ironic, a week after calling for Kony to be arrested in 2012 he himself gets arrested.
Posted by: Colm O' Toole | Mar 17 2012 1:35 utc | 61
dark as this world is it's still good for laughs sam beckett reminds me always
Posted by: remembererringgiap | Mar 17 2012 4:03 utc | 62
@59 "Although, there obviously is a tragedy behind such behavior."
I agree with that.
I didn't even need to watch the video.
Posted by: nobodee | Mar 17 2012 6:09 utc | 64
The comments to this entry are closed.
deleted and banned - same IP address as "brian" above
Posted by: judah | Mar 8 2012 18:25 utc | 1