On April 20th at 7pm AEST, I’m going to be spreading information explaining concisely who Joseph Kony is, what the Invisible Children movement is about and what we can do to stop Kony, all around Newcastle. I will not stop until either the sun is up, or I’ve got someone telling passers by about it on every single corner. I want to give Newcastle, and by extension, New South Wales, no option but to know about it. To do something about it. Make the government notice, make the people see. I want as many people as possible to help me blanket this city in as much information about this as possible (within the confines of the law). A place to meet will be arranged closer to the date. Feel free to invite anyone. Please reblog.
We all talk about wanting change. Here’s your chance.I actually just wrote a feature about this, and the abysmal media coverage of the LRA, at uni, so i’ll post it here:
Make Joseph Kony famous.
These four words have been floating around the Internet for the last week or so, and word is finally starting to spread about one of the most dangerous men on the planet. The important question, though, is: why has it taken this long?
Joseph Kony fronts up the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a so-called resistance movement from Uganda. Their modus operandi includes violent attacks and abductions of children. Ploughshares, a non-government anti-war organization, estimated in 2010 the death toll caused by LRA-related conflicts and skirmishes to be in the hundreds of thousands.
But there’s a hitch: they’re Christian.
Conflict with the LRA has been going on since 1987, making it Africa’s longest running war. Despite this, media coverage is minimal. With the exception of the 2006 documentary film Invisible Children, there’s been no detailed mainstream coverage of the conflict.
This is troubling.
In October 2011, when the US sent in 100 troops to assist in Uganda, against both the LRA and other smaller groups, there was backlash. Rush Limbaugh criticized President Obama for sending in troops to attack Christians. There was even an overt mention in the article that the effort would be better spent focusing on Muslims.
Very troubling.
While the word is now starting to spread with the emergence of a viral online video aiming to make Joseph Kony ‘famous’ in an effort to raise support for his arrest, the media coverage of the LRA highlights serious problems. Perhaps it’s symptomatic of a society that, while crying secularism, is still highly Christian. Perhaps it’s a traditional news media that is still largely concerned with the interests of a few key power brokers. Whatever it is, we cannot let these problems blind us to serious issues.
so basically, guys, get amongst it. think critically about the world around you
