Note: If you happen to know of any members of the Loem please let me know.
Article #1 of 3:
W&L Law Professor Says Kony 2012 Oversimplifies Problem of Child Soldiers
Posted on March 9, 2012 by Jeff Hanna
Mark Drumbl
A Washington and Lee University law professor who has written extensively about child soldiers believes the Kony 2012 Campaign unduly simplifies the problem of child soldiering.
A video released this week is part of a charity effort called Kony 2012 that targets the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, whose Ugandan rebel group is blamed for tens of thousands of mutilations and killings and charged with forcing children to serve as soldiers or sex slaves. The video has gone viral via social media.
Mark Drumbl, author of Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy, says that the focus on Uganda, where there currently are few child soldiers, hampers efforts to prevent child soldiering everywhere. In Uganda, most child soldiers have been abducted. Worldwide, however, Drumbl notes, “a majority of child soldiers demonstrate some initiative in coming forward and enlisting in fighting forces.”
In the Ugandan case, Drumbl says “a better way to reintegrate former child soldiers, and attend to restorative needs, is to humanize former child soldiers, not present them as devastated mindless victims or deranged cold-blooded automatons programmed to kill.”
Drumbl says that child soldiering is not an African phenomenon. The majority of child soldiers, in fact, live outside the African continent. Further, most of them are older adolescents, not young children, and approximately 40 percent of them are female.
“The saving grace of international humanitarianism can only go so far,” he adds. “The vast majority of LRA child soldiers, after all, exited the LRA not by humanitarian rescue but, instead, by escaping or abandoning the group.”
Drumbl emphasizes that the campaign does demonstrate the power of social media to mobilize and raise awareness.
But this campaign also demonstrates the ability of social media to omit crucial details, sensationalize and reductively simplify,” he says. “For starters, in addition to the horrors inflicted by the LRA, the government of Uganda has also been responsible for human rights abuses in the country, including massive displacement of local populations, and also outside the country. The video encourages partnering with these forces.
“Second, in calling for armed action, the Kony video exhorts the very militarization that, in turn, has plagued Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan for decades already. The process of peace and justice in Northern Uganda is painstakingly complex, and criminal prosecutions – firmly encouraged by the video – are far from a self-evident solution, especially at the International Criminal Court. In fact, Uganda adopted a national policy of amnesty to end the conflict with the LRA. This policy has worked, since the LRA is so weakened right now. It no longer operates in Uganda.”
News Contact:
Peter Jetton
School of Law Director of Communications
pjetton@wlu.edu(540) 458-8782
Source:http://news.blogs.wlu.edu/2012/03/09/wl-law-professor-says-kony-2012-oversimplifies-problem-of-child-soldiers/
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204781804577269781172772516.html
Article #3:
Viral Kony 2012 campaign finds both supporters and detractors in Denmark
Mike Hofman
March 9, 2012 - 16:39
Campaign to make war criminal “famous” has spread like wildfire, but does it tackle the topic the right way?
In the video, filmmaker Jason Russel explains the story of Joseph Kony (left photo) to his five-year-old son (Screenshot from Kony2012 video on Vimeo)
If Joseph Kony enjoyed a relatively anonymous existence before this week, he’s an internet star now. Avideo about the atrocities carried out by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army has gone viral, receiving millions of views on YouTube and Vimeo.
The marketing campaign is an effort by the advocacy group Invisible Children to raise awareness about Kony, a wanted war criminal said to be responsible for the abduction of 60,000 children, in the hopes of bringing him to justice.
As of Friday March 9, the video had been viewed nearly 50 million times. The video ends with a call to action for people to “make Kony famous” by plastering his name all over social media, targeting cultural trend-setters and American politicians. It also sells an “action kit” with posters, stickers and bracelets, with the aim of making Kony - and his atrocities - so well-known that international pressure will lead to his capture.
As the Kony 2012 campaign has gained attention, it’s also encountered a wave of criticism. One of theses critics is the Danish Red Cross Youth (Ungdommens Røde Kors), which maintains “the effort is all too simplistic”.
“The Danish Red Cross Youth believes the solution lies somewhere else - by focusing on the many thousands of young people who have been directly or indirectly affected by the conflict,” national chairman Mads Espersen wrote in a statement. “The problem in Uganda today is thankfully not outrageous assault, but the aftermath of many years with just that. An entire generation of children have grown up with violence and destruction that has put severe scars on the soul.”
In the video, you will meet Jacob, a young Uganda who fought as a child soldier for Kony. Jacob was taken from his family and saw his own brother be beheaded by Kony’s army. In the video, Jacob says he cannot see how he can have a future in a country where everyone knows what horrors he has helped to commit. This led the filmmaker, Jason Russell, to vow to Jacob that he would do whatever he could to stop Kony.
“Whilst the Kony campaign has as its main purpose to capture Joseph Kony, the Danish Red Cross Youth would rather help Jacob to get a meaningful existence,” Espersen said. “We do this through the Life Skills Project, in which we strengthen young people's skills and restore their faith in the future.”
The Facebook event “Stop Kony 2012! Danmark!” encourages people to spread posters and stickers throughout the city and has become a board of discussion – with nearly 11,000 subscribers to the page.
“Of course I’m against Kony, but the Facebook hype isn’t doing much,” Oliver Figueiredo from Frederiksberg wrote. A Facebook user going by the name ‘Sales Stopping Kony’, who sells the Kony action kits in Denmark, replied: “The message is spread and the politicians focus on stopping Joseph Kony, because the people want it. It's not only Denmark who participates, it’s the whole world.”
But how has Russell's 30-minute video managed to turn so many into online activists?
“It has become fashionable to be politically engaged,” trend researcher Kirsten Poulsen told MetroXpress newspaper. “They’re not expecting to find him in Nørre Sunby, right? So why else would they hang up these posters?”
Other criticisms have focused on a more basic issue: Kony is no longer in Uganda.
“The film shows that Kony’s horrific acts still take place in Uganda, but they do not,” Holger Bernt Hansen, a professor of African studies at the University of Copenhagen, told MetroXpress. “Joseph Kony has not been in Uganda for five or six years.” According to Hansen, “the film and campaign make it look like everything will be resolved when you catch Kony.”
“I saw the video after one of my students made me aware of it”, Pernille Viese, a teacher from Aabybro, told The Copenhagen Post. “After I did some research on the topic, I asked my boss to let me take our students to Aarhus on April 20 for Cover The Night, where we will go around the city to hang up posters. Whether or not you agree with the way Jason Russell and his friends have made people aware of this, is not important to me. I'm just floored that is has become so big so fast. They must be doing something right in spreading the word.”
Read more about the Kony 2012 campaign here.
Source:http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/viral-kony-2012-campaign-finds-both-supporters-and-detractors-denmark
Child Soldier Video Updates 1 of 14
Kony 2012
Kony 2012 On The Today Show
Kony 2012 - African Psyops To Justify Invasion of Africa?!
Rush Limbaugh: Kony Defense?
Kony 2012: As If You Really Cared...
Child Soldiers in the DRC (Amnesty Intl 2009)
Child Soldier, Now GrownUp, Writes Book & Tells His Story (2007)
Somalia's Child Soldiers (NYT 2010)
Darfur Child Soldiers (2009)
Double-Standard ? Child Soldiers in Britain? (2011)
Children Soldiers 2006
Child Soldiers of Burma 2011
Child Soldiers - Serra Leone (2008)
Child Soldiers Columbia 2008
Article #1 of 3:
W&L Law Professor Says Kony 2012 Oversimplifies Problem of Child Soldiers
Posted on March 9, 2012 by Jeff Hanna
Mark Drumbl
A Washington and Lee University law professor who has written extensively about child soldiers believes the Kony 2012 Campaign unduly simplifies the problem of child soldiering.
A video released this week is part of a charity effort called Kony 2012 that targets the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, whose Ugandan rebel group is blamed for tens of thousands of mutilations and killings and charged with forcing children to serve as soldiers or sex slaves. The video has gone viral via social media.
Mark Drumbl, author of Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy, says that the focus on Uganda, where there currently are few child soldiers, hampers efforts to prevent child soldiering everywhere. In Uganda, most child soldiers have been abducted. Worldwide, however, Drumbl notes, “a majority of child soldiers demonstrate some initiative in coming forward and enlisting in fighting forces.”
In the Ugandan case, Drumbl says “a better way to reintegrate former child soldiers, and attend to restorative needs, is to humanize former child soldiers, not present them as devastated mindless victims or deranged cold-blooded automatons programmed to kill.”
Drumbl says that child soldiering is not an African phenomenon. The majority of child soldiers, in fact, live outside the African continent. Further, most of them are older adolescents, not young children, and approximately 40 percent of them are female.
“The saving grace of international humanitarianism can only go so far,” he adds. “The vast majority of LRA child soldiers, after all, exited the LRA not by humanitarian rescue but, instead, by escaping or abandoning the group.”
Drumbl emphasizes that the campaign does demonstrate the power of social media to mobilize and raise awareness.
But this campaign also demonstrates the ability of social media to omit crucial details, sensationalize and reductively simplify,” he says. “For starters, in addition to the horrors inflicted by the LRA, the government of Uganda has also been responsible for human rights abuses in the country, including massive displacement of local populations, and also outside the country. The video encourages partnering with these forces.
“Second, in calling for armed action, the Kony video exhorts the very militarization that, in turn, has plagued Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan for decades already. The process of peace and justice in Northern Uganda is painstakingly complex, and criminal prosecutions – firmly encouraged by the video – are far from a self-evident solution, especially at the International Criminal Court. In fact, Uganda adopted a national policy of amnesty to end the conflict with the LRA. This policy has worked, since the LRA is so weakened right now. It no longer operates in Uganda.”
News Contact:
Peter Jetton
School of Law Director of Communications
pjetton@wlu.edu(540) 458-8782
Source:http://news.blogs.wlu.edu/2012/03/09/wl-law-professor-says-kony-2012-oversimplifies-problem-of-child-soldiers/
Article #2:
Viral Video Puts Spotlight on Uganda Rebel
YouTube Phenomenon Urges Donations and a Pledge to Help Bring Joseph Kony to Justice; Detractors Say It Won't Help
By ERICA ORDEN And NICHOLAS BARIYO
Non-profit Invisible Children posted a film about Joseph Kony, leader of the Ugandan rebel force Lord's Resistance Army. It quickly became the most viral video to date, Emily Steel reports on the News Hub. Photo: AP.
A video campaign about a fugitive rebel leader in Africa has exploded into a viral online phenomenon, igniting debate about the group behind it and the threat posed by the rebel himself.
The 30-minute video, "Kony 2012," focuses on Lord's Resistance Army head Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, sexual slavery and using children as combatants—sometimes forcing them to kill their own parents—in Uganda and its environs for more than 20 years.
The video features interviews with children in Uganda who say they are fearful of being captured and killed by the rebels.
By Thursday afternoon it had generated more than 44.7 million views and over 170 related video clips from the time it was uploaded to YouTube on Monday by Invisible Children Inc., a San Diego-based nonprofit, according to online measurement firm Visible Measures Corp.
Discuss the impact of the viral campaign with WSJ's Emily Steel and Eduardo Kaplan at 3 p.m. ET. Ask your questions now.
Associated Press Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
Twitter users mentioned Kony more than 950,000 times on Thursday, according to social- media analytics firm PeopleBrowsr, with tweets by public figures including Rihanna, Alec Baldwin, Sean Combs, Ryan Seacrest, Bill Gates and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.).
Invisible Children, founded by three filmmakers, turned to Twitter and Facebook to encourage its followers to share the short film, donate to its campaign to raise awareness about Mr. Kony and sign a pledge "to help bring Kony to justice in 2012."
The nonprofit's Invisible Children Protection Plan, according to financial statements, is a five-step strategy that includes building an early-warning radio network "to facilitate twice daily security broadcast and early-warning communications," and deploying search-and-rescue teams.
Ugandan officials, nongovernmental organizations and others have questioned the group's capacity to enact change on the ground, such as enabling family reunifications, as well as the utility of its focus on Mr. Kony.
A spokesman for Uganda's defense and army, Felix Kulayigye, said Mr. Kony is already a spent force. "The world is just realizing the evil in this man, but these are the things we have pointed out countless times in the past," Mr. Kulayigye said. "Good enough, we have decimated his capabilities now."
Viral Video Puts Spotlight on Uganda Rebel
YouTube Phenomenon Urges Donations and a Pledge to Help Bring Joseph Kony to Justice; Detractors Say It Won't Help
By ERICA ORDEN And NICHOLAS BARIYO
Non-profit Invisible Children posted a film about Joseph Kony, leader of the Ugandan rebel force Lord's Resistance Army. It quickly became the most viral video to date, Emily Steel reports on the News Hub. Photo: AP.
A video campaign about a fugitive rebel leader in Africa has exploded into a viral online phenomenon, igniting debate about the group behind it and the threat posed by the rebel himself.
The 30-minute video, "Kony 2012," focuses on Lord's Resistance Army head Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, sexual slavery and using children as combatants—sometimes forcing them to kill their own parents—in Uganda and its environs for more than 20 years.
The video features interviews with children in Uganda who say they are fearful of being captured and killed by the rebels.
By Thursday afternoon it had generated more than 44.7 million views and over 170 related video clips from the time it was uploaded to YouTube on Monday by Invisible Children Inc., a San Diego-based nonprofit, according to online measurement firm Visible Measures Corp.
Discuss the impact of the viral campaign with WSJ's Emily Steel and Eduardo Kaplan at 3 p.m. ET. Ask your questions now.
Associated Press Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
Twitter users mentioned Kony more than 950,000 times on Thursday, according to social- media analytics firm PeopleBrowsr, with tweets by public figures including Rihanna, Alec Baldwin, Sean Combs, Ryan Seacrest, Bill Gates and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.).
Invisible Children, founded by three filmmakers, turned to Twitter and Facebook to encourage its followers to share the short film, donate to its campaign to raise awareness about Mr. Kony and sign a pledge "to help bring Kony to justice in 2012."
The nonprofit's Invisible Children Protection Plan, according to financial statements, is a five-step strategy that includes building an early-warning radio network "to facilitate twice daily security broadcast and early-warning communications," and deploying search-and-rescue teams.
Ugandan officials, nongovernmental organizations and others have questioned the group's capacity to enact change on the ground, such as enabling family reunifications, as well as the utility of its focus on Mr. Kony.
A spokesman for Uganda's defense and army, Felix Kulayigye, said Mr. Kony is already a spent force. "The world is just realizing the evil in this man, but these are the things we have pointed out countless times in the past," Mr. Kulayigye said. "Good enough, we have decimated his capabilities now."
Associated Press Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony, left, and his deputy Vincent Otti in Sudan in 2006.
The United Nations said in a November report that fewer than 500 combatants operated under Mr. Kony's command, but said concern remained about the LRA's ongoing attacks on civilians, "which have resulted in deaths, abductions, looting and the displacement of some 440,000 people."
In October, the White House authorized up to 100 U.S. special-operations trainers and military advisers to assist African forces searching for Mr. Kony and other leaders of the LRA.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said attention generated by Invisible Children is useful and welcome if the group's work is performed in cooperation with U.N. programs.
Others have questioned whether the group's capabilities extend beyond its skill in attracting attention. "While this is a very impressive example of viral marketing, it's raising awareness for a cause that doesn't need awareness," said Scott Gilmore, chief executive of Peace Dividend Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on streamlining inefficiencies in humanitarian operations. "Those 30,000 kids who were kidnapped, this isn't going to un-kidnap them."
"That's a naive and sad world view," said Jesse Derris, a spokesman for Invisible Children. "The idea that you should do nothing unless you can do everything is exactly what we're trying to avoid." Mr. Derris declined to comment further on the group's efforts.
The film features Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell, who in one scene shows his son, a toddler named Gavin, a photo of Mr. Kony, to whom he refers as "the bad guy."
"Joseph Kony, he has an army, OK?" Mr. Russell tells Gavin. "And what he does is he takes children from their parents, and he gives them a gun to shoot and he makes them shoot and kill other people."
"I couldn't explain to Gavin the details of what Joseph Kony really does, because the truth is, Kony abducts kids just like Gavin," Mr. Russell says in a voice-over.
Angelo Izama, a Ugandan analyst with local research group, Fanaka Kwa Wote, said the campaign is misleading since Mr. Kony's crimes in Uganda are from a bygone era. "What does it profit to market the infamy of a man already famous for his crimes and whose capture is already on the agenda?" Mr. Izama said.—Emily Steel contributed to this article.
Write to Erica Orden at erica.orden@wsj.com and Nicholas Bariyo atnicholas.bariyo@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared Mar. 9, 2012, on page A9 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Viral Video Puts Spotlight on Uganda Rebel.
The United Nations said in a November report that fewer than 500 combatants operated under Mr. Kony's command, but said concern remained about the LRA's ongoing attacks on civilians, "which have resulted in deaths, abductions, looting and the displacement of some 440,000 people."
In October, the White House authorized up to 100 U.S. special-operations trainers and military advisers to assist African forces searching for Mr. Kony and other leaders of the LRA.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said attention generated by Invisible Children is useful and welcome if the group's work is performed in cooperation with U.N. programs.
Others have questioned whether the group's capabilities extend beyond its skill in attracting attention. "While this is a very impressive example of viral marketing, it's raising awareness for a cause that doesn't need awareness," said Scott Gilmore, chief executive of Peace Dividend Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on streamlining inefficiencies in humanitarian operations. "Those 30,000 kids who were kidnapped, this isn't going to un-kidnap them."
"That's a naive and sad world view," said Jesse Derris, a spokesman for Invisible Children. "The idea that you should do nothing unless you can do everything is exactly what we're trying to avoid." Mr. Derris declined to comment further on the group's efforts.
The film features Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell, who in one scene shows his son, a toddler named Gavin, a photo of Mr. Kony, to whom he refers as "the bad guy."
"Joseph Kony, he has an army, OK?" Mr. Russell tells Gavin. "And what he does is he takes children from their parents, and he gives them a gun to shoot and he makes them shoot and kill other people."
"I couldn't explain to Gavin the details of what Joseph Kony really does, because the truth is, Kony abducts kids just like Gavin," Mr. Russell says in a voice-over.
Angelo Izama, a Ugandan analyst with local research group, Fanaka Kwa Wote, said the campaign is misleading since Mr. Kony's crimes in Uganda are from a bygone era. "What does it profit to market the infamy of a man already famous for his crimes and whose capture is already on the agenda?" Mr. Izama said.—Emily Steel contributed to this article.
Write to Erica Orden at erica.orden@wsj.com and Nicholas Bariyo atnicholas.bariyo@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared Mar. 9, 2012, on page A9 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Viral Video Puts Spotlight on Uganda Rebel.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204781804577269781172772516.html
Article #3:
Viral Kony 2012 campaign finds both supporters and detractors in Denmark
Mike Hofman
March 9, 2012 - 16:39
Campaign to make war criminal “famous” has spread like wildfire, but does it tackle the topic the right way?
In the video, filmmaker Jason Russel explains the story of Joseph Kony (left photo) to his five-year-old son (Screenshot from Kony2012 video on Vimeo)
If Joseph Kony enjoyed a relatively anonymous existence before this week, he’s an internet star now. Avideo about the atrocities carried out by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army has gone viral, receiving millions of views on YouTube and Vimeo.
The marketing campaign is an effort by the advocacy group Invisible Children to raise awareness about Kony, a wanted war criminal said to be responsible for the abduction of 60,000 children, in the hopes of bringing him to justice.
As of Friday March 9, the video had been viewed nearly 50 million times. The video ends with a call to action for people to “make Kony famous” by plastering his name all over social media, targeting cultural trend-setters and American politicians. It also sells an “action kit” with posters, stickers and bracelets, with the aim of making Kony - and his atrocities - so well-known that international pressure will lead to his capture.
As the Kony 2012 campaign has gained attention, it’s also encountered a wave of criticism. One of theses critics is the Danish Red Cross Youth (Ungdommens Røde Kors), which maintains “the effort is all too simplistic”.
“The Danish Red Cross Youth believes the solution lies somewhere else - by focusing on the many thousands of young people who have been directly or indirectly affected by the conflict,” national chairman Mads Espersen wrote in a statement. “The problem in Uganda today is thankfully not outrageous assault, but the aftermath of many years with just that. An entire generation of children have grown up with violence and destruction that has put severe scars on the soul.”
In the video, you will meet Jacob, a young Uganda who fought as a child soldier for Kony. Jacob was taken from his family and saw his own brother be beheaded by Kony’s army. In the video, Jacob says he cannot see how he can have a future in a country where everyone knows what horrors he has helped to commit. This led the filmmaker, Jason Russell, to vow to Jacob that he would do whatever he could to stop Kony.
“Whilst the Kony campaign has as its main purpose to capture Joseph Kony, the Danish Red Cross Youth would rather help Jacob to get a meaningful existence,” Espersen said. “We do this through the Life Skills Project, in which we strengthen young people's skills and restore their faith in the future.”
The Facebook event “Stop Kony 2012! Danmark!” encourages people to spread posters and stickers throughout the city and has become a board of discussion – with nearly 11,000 subscribers to the page.
“Of course I’m against Kony, but the Facebook hype isn’t doing much,” Oliver Figueiredo from Frederiksberg wrote. A Facebook user going by the name ‘Sales Stopping Kony’, who sells the Kony action kits in Denmark, replied: “The message is spread and the politicians focus on stopping Joseph Kony, because the people want it. It's not only Denmark who participates, it’s the whole world.”
But how has Russell's 30-minute video managed to turn so many into online activists?
“It has become fashionable to be politically engaged,” trend researcher Kirsten Poulsen told MetroXpress newspaper. “They’re not expecting to find him in Nørre Sunby, right? So why else would they hang up these posters?”
Other criticisms have focused on a more basic issue: Kony is no longer in Uganda.
“The film shows that Kony’s horrific acts still take place in Uganda, but they do not,” Holger Bernt Hansen, a professor of African studies at the University of Copenhagen, told MetroXpress. “Joseph Kony has not been in Uganda for five or six years.” According to Hansen, “the film and campaign make it look like everything will be resolved when you catch Kony.”
“I saw the video after one of my students made me aware of it”, Pernille Viese, a teacher from Aabybro, told The Copenhagen Post. “After I did some research on the topic, I asked my boss to let me take our students to Aarhus on April 20 for Cover The Night, where we will go around the city to hang up posters. Whether or not you agree with the way Jason Russell and his friends have made people aware of this, is not important to me. I'm just floored that is has become so big so fast. They must be doing something right in spreading the word.”
Read more about the Kony 2012 campaign here.
Source:http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/viral-kony-2012-campaign-finds-both-supporters-and-detractors-denmark
No comments:
Post a Comment