Limerick, Ireland – When John O’Dowd’s daughter came home from school determined to help stop African warlord Joseph Kony after viewing the “Kony 2012″ viral video, O’Dowd was intrigued.

As the drama around “Kony 2012″ creator and Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell unfolded and critics began voicing concerns about Invisible Children’s handling of funds, O’Dowd started conducting his own research. Now, the author has released his findings as a Kindle e-book and paperback as The Amazing Story of the Kony 2012 Phenomenon and the facts of the case are startling.

“Invisible Children posted ‘Kony 2012′ on YouTube on March 5, 2012,” O’Dowd explained. “By March 11, it had 100 million views, making it the most successful viral video ever. Yet only days later, Russell had a public breakdown, and within a month, interest in Invisible Children-promoted protests against Kony waned. From the rise of Joseph Kony to the apparent fall of the Invisible Children founder, it was a fascinating story that needed to be told.”

O’Dowd began by exploring the history of Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), by all accounts a brutal guerrilla organization led by a man whose “army” consists of children forced to commit atrocities across central Africa. He found that Kony had kidnapped more than 104,000 children over the last 20 years, and had 88 wives, most of whom the LRA kidnapped as young girls. However, there was much more to the story.

It turned out there was also more to Invisible Children. The charity which three college students founded with a $70,000 loan and quickly grew into a $46,000,000 organization, faced criticism following the video.

Ugandans spoke out against “Kony 2012,” and survivors of Kony’s violence protested Invisible Children’s tactic of displaying their tormentor’s name and face on bracelets, t-shirts and marketing materials. As he dug deeper, O’Dowd discovered exactly how Invisible Children was spending the donations that poured in after the release of the video. The Amazing Story of the Kony 2012 Phenomenon recounts those findings in detail.

O’Dowd then tackled the social media component of the Kony 2012 phenomenon. “Analysis of the first 1,000 people to re-tweet the #Kony2012 hashtag on Twitter shows that they were clustered around a few southern U.S. cities,” wrote Examiner.com correspondent Peter Kelton in his review of O’Dowd’s book. “… In effect, the evangelical Christian spirit pushed Kony 2012 to record heights, a view confirmed by U.S. analysts … This is not a dry, statistical history, but a lively yet deeply moving story superbly written.”

In The Amazing Story of the Kony 2012 Phenomenon, O’Dowd tells the truth behind the scandals, successes and failures of “Kony 2012.” Readers might open the book out of curiosity, but they will turn the last page armed with knowledge about a watershed cultural phenomenon.

Image Courtesy of   http://ctn.kony2012.com

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Uganda: Millions of Americans are expected to participate in the “Cover the Night” activities outlined in the viral video phenomenon, Kony2012. Christian aid group World Vision released a video warning that, while now-infamous warlord Joseph Kony no longer threatens Ugandan communities, invisible killers continue to stalk the nation’s children – killers with far more reach than Kony’s army, even at its worst.

The violence executed by Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was maniacal in its brutality. The LRA targeted innocents, abducting children and forcing them to commit inhumane acts of brutality, often against their own families, before using them as child soldiers in its military campaign. While human toll is hard to calculate, during the early 2000s, an estimated 120 to 150 people died every day as a direct result of the LRA conflict, particularly due to conditions in the squalid displacement camps where many fled to avoid LRA attack.

The LRA left Uganda in 2006, and the millions affected by the war have since been rebuilding their lives after a generation of war. But as they do, poverty-related diseases like malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition continue to kill hundreds of Ugandan children every day. Some 4% of infants in Uganda die in their first year of life; 9% die before the age of five.

“I experienced Kony’s violence myself,” said James Odong, who was abducted by the LRA at the age of 19. “I saw children killed – their lives tragically cut short. Today, hundreds of Uganda’s children were taken by the invisible killers of malaria, malnutrition and diarrhea. These deaths aren’t violent, but each loss is tragic.” Odong now serves as World Vision’s associate director for peace building.

During the conflict, World Vision provided counseling and support to former child soldiers through its Children of War Rehabilitation Program. Outside of Uganda, World Vision offices carried out extensive advocacy campaigns to raise awareness and political support for a peaceful end to the conflict.

Now that peace has returned to Uganda, World Vision’s community development programs – funded by the sponsorships of thousands of children in Uganda – continue to help provide anti-malarial bed nets, clean water systems, rehydration treatment, nutritional education, agricultural training and many more initiatives to combat these silent killers – each and every day.

All of these killers are easily prevented and easily treated with the right resources. Extreme poverty keeps most of these children’s families from accessing the preventative care and treatment they need, but with the support of groups like World Vision and others, many of these families are gaining access to lifesaving resources.

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Earlier this week Jason Russell, co-founder of Invisible Children, the organization responsible for the KONY 2012 video, was arrested in San Diego after running around naked in public and allegedly performing lewd acts.

Russuell, 33, was taken into police custody last Thursday after neighbors noted his odd behavior. He was born in El Cajon, where his parents run a Christian Youth Theater. A graduate of the University of Southern California, he helped co-found Invisible Children, which changed locations to an office building in downtown San Diego.

A few weeks ago the group posted the now viral half-hour video on Youtube, narrated by Russell, and garnering eighty-three million views in just over two weeks.  The film talks in detail about the dealings of Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a guerrilla group working in Uganda which commits atrocities and kidnaps children in order to achieve its goals.

Although the level of awareness raised by the video is undeniably massive, many, including Toonari Post, have been critical about how much of the money raised actually went to aid Uganda, and have even called into question the legitimacy of some of the facts presented in the film.  The L.A. Times has noted the level of violence in Uganda at this time, Kony’s present location and the power of his army were all misstated in it.

Friends and family of Russell have cited this criticism for his apparent mental breakdown. Invisible Children’s chief executive, Ben Keesey, was quoted as saying, “these last two weeks have been tough,” as news of the video reached almost unheard-of heights.  He stated that the pressure “was hard for all of us, but it was especially hard for Jason because the story was so personal for him and his family. That pressure took a serious toll on him, and unfortunately the whole world saw that.”

A family statement said, “We thought a few thousand people would see the film, but in less than a week, millions of people around the world saw it,” declaring between the words that Russell was not emotionally prepared for the popularity and subsequent criticism the video received.

Invisible Children is not slowing down its operations in spite of these criticisms or the recent stories about Russell.  The group plans to send out materials with more information about Kony in certain major cities, including San Diego, later this spring.

The end of the organization’s statement also aims to confront the criticism that it was not committed enough to its operation, using most of the money raised for personal purposes, stating: “On our end, the focus remains only on his health, and protecting our family. We’ll take care of Jason, you take care of the work. The message of the film remains the same: Stop at nothing.”

At this time Russell plans on focusing on his health.

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The Board and Executive of the national Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (ACAS) has called on the U.S. government to give more attention to supporting the African Union of 54 nations in negotiating for peace in the militia‐torn areas of East and Central Africa.

“We have listened to many African people from the war‐torn areas of Congo, South Sudan, Uganda, and Central African Republic,” said David Wiley, spokesperson for ACAS, “and they are calling for negotiations and peaceful reintegration of the militias into their communities. Many are saying they do not want a widening of the war with national armies who often commit atrocities backed by U.S. troops or advisors that could continue the conflict for decades.”

The Africanist scholars said they are encouraged that so many Americans are concerned about Africa and want to help with the disorder of the militias there. However, the ACAS says:

“… After consulting with scholars of Uganda and Central Africa and with other experts in the region, we are deeply concerned that the recent campaign in the United States to pursue and arrest Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), could have dangerous unintended consequences.

Expanding U.S. military operations with the Ugandan army to capture Kony could increase the militarization of the region and lead to deaths of civilians who are caught in the crossfire or become targets of retaliatory attacks by the LRA, as has occurred in the past.”

“Indeed,” Wiley noted, “the Ugandan army itself has been guilty of atrocities and abuse of civilians both in Uganda, probably killing more people over the years than the LRA, and now in the Central African Republic while chasing Kony again.”

Dr. Mahmoud Mamdani, Ugandan director of the Makerere University Institute of Social Research, said the 70 million plus who have watched the Invisible Children video need to realize that the LRA – both the leaders and the children pressed into their service – are not an alien force but sons and daughters of the soil. “The solution is not to eliminate them physically, but to find ways of integrating them into (Ugandan) society.” Mahmoud commented.

Instead of military action, ACAS is calling on President Obama and the Congress to support and take the lead of the African Union (AU) and its new Special Representative for Counter‐ Terrorism. ACAS also urges Obama “to take a strong stand against the use of child soldiers by fully complying with the U.S. Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2009 by prohibiting military assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other governments until they meet specific benchmarks,” as urged by Amnesty International.

“Much of Africa,” Wiley noted, “is awash with AK‐47s and other cheap small arms, light weapons, and mines, the munitions of terrorist militias.” So ACAS also is calling on the Administration, “…to actively seek an effective United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to end irresponsible trade in weapons, munitions, and other military and policing equipment that often inflict misery and carnage on people, especially in Africa. “

Donations by Americans are very much needed for the pressing needs of these former child soldiers, the raped, and the displaced,” Wiley commented, pointing out that the “excellent programs” of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund.

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Posted two days ago, the Kony 2012 video has garnered over 15 million views, according to the Washington Post. The speed in which it went viral can only be attributed to the power of social media, and to the number of people simultaneously connected on the World Wide Web. The video itself makes clear its intent to exploit the virtual platform, and make it its stage.

The 30-minute documentary was produced by Invisible Children, a nonprofit charity that wants Joseph Kony to face trial for his war crimes in the International Criminal Court. Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army–better known as the LRA–has been evading capture for some time. A warrant for his arrest has been out since 2005. At the height of its power, the group kidnapped, horribly mutilated and killed thousands of people.

Many of these atrocities were perpetrated by children who were kidnapped themselves. Tens of thousands of people have been estimated to have fallen victim to these crimes. The exact numbers will never be known.

What is known, is that the campaign was a hit. It is impossible to predict the factors that went behind the video’s viral success. Whatever they are, the Kony 2012 video is undeniably a successful combination of these. One of its greatest aims was fulfilled: the world, or an important platform for it, knows exactly who Joseph Kony is. Millions saw the video, and within hours of its being posted.

But a backlash has occurred regarding the du jour status of the campaign. As quickly as it burst into the scene, some are growing tired of the topic. Calling those who repost the video “internet activists,” the cynics are skeptical of the staying power of what seems to be a superficial ‘trend’ cause.

The organization itself has come under fire. The Tumblr blog of a Canadian student, by the name of Visible Children, begs to question the transparency and accountability of Invisible Children. According to the blog, only 32% of what the organization spent went towards direct services. The rest went towards “staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production.”

This is an abysmal figure that the organization disputes, stating that the reason it only has two stars for accountability, is because the charity has only four independent board members, as opposed to five. Furthermore, according to KSDK.com, Invisible Children has refused to be reviewed by the Better Business Bureau, a decidedly red flag.

The charity maintains they are waiting until they expand their board.

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