mack20
05-24-2010, 10:00 PM
Some of you may remember me posting a thread about Joseph Kony's LRA and the devastating effect their presence has had in Uganda, in addition to the horrific atrocities they are committing (including their kidnapping "recruitment" of child soldiers). Well today President Obama signed the LRA Disarmament And Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law! The LRA has been terrorizing Uganda for more than 20 years and the story has been almost entirely ignored. Our Congress and President have finally taken steps to actively work against the LRA.
You can read an overview of the legislation here (http://www.resolveuganda.org/legislation/overview).
You can read the bill itself here (http://www.resolveuganda.org/legislation/fulltext).
There is a phenomenal organization called Invisible Children that has been working tirelessly to further knowledge about this particular cause (and who have created some truly inspiring films of their work) and you can see their statement after the legislation passed Congress below:
For those of you watching C-SPAN just now…. we assume you were cheering/crying too!
In the span of one year, we have made history. In April of 2009, 80,000 of us stood in solidarity with the child soldiers trapped in Joseph Kony’s war. In June, we were two-thousand strong on the lawn of Capitol Hill, asking our leaders to consider the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. In January of this year, we delivered 253,512 signatures to the State Department in support of Kony’s arrest. Our tenacity, annoying phone calls, hundreds of local office lobby meetings, and certainly our sleeping bag assaults (Oklahoma) paid off and the bill has been passed. Getting a bill passed through Congress is an enormous accomplishment. In the last session of Congress, only 3% of bills introduced were actually passed. We’ve done the impossible.
Now, it goes to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. We expect him to sign the bill into law within the next 10 days.
Lawwwww. We have made it law to pursue Joseph Kony. Let that sink in.
This is confirmation that young people have a powerful political voice. We have asked our government and our President to pursue Joseph Kony and other top LRA commanders, to disarm and disband his militia, and to restore stability to those areas of Africa that have been terrorized by the LRA. They have heard us, and now we will hold them accountable to their commitment.
Our generation has become educated and empowered in the quest to resolve this conflict. While American intervention in foreign conflicts is always complicated and often discouraged, we believe in the moral mandate of the international community to come to the aid of the most vulnerable peoples in the world. There are none more vulnerable than abducted children forced to be soldiers in a region ill-equipped to protect them. We are not advocating international meddling. We are asking our leadership to respond to this unique crisis of conscience with the strategic expertise and capability unique to our nation. This is an entirely solvable conflict. In the aftermath of Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Darfur, it is with our generation’s united voice that we proclaim national self interest is no longer our only priority.
We celebrate this victory with our partners Resolve: Uganda and Enough Project, and now we must pressure the Obama Administration to follow through on this important mandate, to set a precedent for justice, and to protect these children who have too long been trapped in a war against their will. We will see them come home.
Fist pumps and aggressive status updates with too many exclamation points are encouraged. (sorry news feed… making history wins)
Sincerely!!!!!!!!!!!!
Invisible Children.
Invisible Children Blog (http://current.com/1v9704c)
And for reference, here is my original thread on the topic which explains the role of Invisible Children and the events they have held in the past few years dedicated to bringing a greater awareness to Joseph Kony's child soldiers.
http://www.commongroundpolitics.net/discussion/showthread.php?p=681289
You can read an overview of the legislation here (http://www.resolveuganda.org/legislation/overview).
You can read the bill itself here (http://www.resolveuganda.org/legislation/fulltext).
There is a phenomenal organization called Invisible Children that has been working tirelessly to further knowledge about this particular cause (and who have created some truly inspiring films of their work) and you can see their statement after the legislation passed Congress below:
For those of you watching C-SPAN just now…. we assume you were cheering/crying too!
In the span of one year, we have made history. In April of 2009, 80,000 of us stood in solidarity with the child soldiers trapped in Joseph Kony’s war. In June, we were two-thousand strong on the lawn of Capitol Hill, asking our leaders to consider the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. In January of this year, we delivered 253,512 signatures to the State Department in support of Kony’s arrest. Our tenacity, annoying phone calls, hundreds of local office lobby meetings, and certainly our sleeping bag assaults (Oklahoma) paid off and the bill has been passed. Getting a bill passed through Congress is an enormous accomplishment. In the last session of Congress, only 3% of bills introduced were actually passed. We’ve done the impossible.
Now, it goes to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. We expect him to sign the bill into law within the next 10 days.
Lawwwww. We have made it law to pursue Joseph Kony. Let that sink in.
This is confirmation that young people have a powerful political voice. We have asked our government and our President to pursue Joseph Kony and other top LRA commanders, to disarm and disband his militia, and to restore stability to those areas of Africa that have been terrorized by the LRA. They have heard us, and now we will hold them accountable to their commitment.
Our generation has become educated and empowered in the quest to resolve this conflict. While American intervention in foreign conflicts is always complicated and often discouraged, we believe in the moral mandate of the international community to come to the aid of the most vulnerable peoples in the world. There are none more vulnerable than abducted children forced to be soldiers in a region ill-equipped to protect them. We are not advocating international meddling. We are asking our leadership to respond to this unique crisis of conscience with the strategic expertise and capability unique to our nation. This is an entirely solvable conflict. In the aftermath of Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Darfur, it is with our generation’s united voice that we proclaim national self interest is no longer our only priority.
We celebrate this victory with our partners Resolve: Uganda and Enough Project, and now we must pressure the Obama Administration to follow through on this important mandate, to set a precedent for justice, and to protect these children who have too long been trapped in a war against their will. We will see them come home.
Fist pumps and aggressive status updates with too many exclamation points are encouraged. (sorry news feed… making history wins)
Sincerely!!!!!!!!!!!!
Invisible Children.
Invisible Children Blog (http://current.com/1v9704c)
And for reference, here is my original thread on the topic which explains the role of Invisible Children and the events they have held in the past few years dedicated to bringing a greater awareness to Joseph Kony's child soldiers.
http://www.commongroundpolitics.net/discussion/showthread.php?p=681289