Invisible Children: The Power of Survival

Hey everyone! It has been a very long time since I wrote a thread and many of you have been asking me to write one! I have been finding it hard to make threads, maybe because of lack of inspiration or simply because I just busy with college. But today my friends, I am not without inspiration. I am full of inspiration and want to discuss with you an organization that came to our college recently to discuss the effects of Child Soldiers in Africa. I did search on ATS and did find that there have been a few threads on ATS about this; however, I wanted to show you how easy it is, scary easy, for one man to cause so much chaos and destruction. How one man is able to turn so many people into monsters. How one man could kidnap children and force them to do terrible acts against there own people. How one man, in this day and age, is pure evil on a national scale. This man, is Joseph Kony.

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One man, like so many before him, who possesses the power of fear and persuasion will control many. Sadly, those that he controls are nothing more than children. Kony's Rise to power is not only frightening, but downright disturbing. This is the story of how one man is able to terrorize hundreds of thousands.

The LRA rebel movement can be traced back to a woman named Alice Lakwena. In the 1980s, Lakwena believed the Holy Spirit spoke to her and ordered her to overthrow the Ugandan government for being unjust to the Acholi. Lakwena and her followers, known as the Holy Spirit Movement, gained momentum as resentment toward the government increased. When Lakwena was exiled and no clear leader of the movement was left, Joseph Kony, who claimed to be Lakwena’s cousin, took control and transformed Lakwena’s rebel army into the LRA.

Kony's LRA did not receive the same support as the Holy Spirit Movement from the Acholi people. With dwindling approval for their cause and heightened government offensives, the rebels resorted to abducting children and indoctrinating them into their ranks. It is estimated that more than 90% of the LRA’s troops were abducted as children.

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In response to those who would not follow him by divinity, Kony decided to become a god. Performing staged miracles, such as walking on water, to solidify his divinity. In many instances Kony is known as divine and in some scary ways has become a god to many of his followers.

In 1996, as a response to the LRA attacks in the villages, the Ugandan government forcibly evicted thousands from their homes, relocating them into overcrowded camps in hopes of providing protection. But over a decade later, roughly one million individuals still live in these camps and struggle to survive among the effects of abject poverty, rampant disease, and near-certain starvation.

In recent years more and more international attention has been focused on this crisis. In 2001, the US Patriot Act officially declared the LRA to be a terrorist organization - a huge step in drawing attention to the conflict and the atrocities committed by the LRA. In 2004, Congress passed the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, the first piece of American legislation to address this disaster. And in 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and four of his top commanders.

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Before we continue, I want all of us to be able to understand what is happening in a way that correlates with home:

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Uganda is the green section of the map. A very small country and according to the CIA World Fact Book, and still ten years later people are still displaced. In hurricane Katrina over 1 million people were displaced, this means that over a DECADE, nothing has changed for these people who live in relocation camps in Uganda. It took a storm to displace us and in Uganda it took one man, one human being.

One man with a gun can control 100 without one.
V.I. Lenin

Since September 2008, hostility in the Orientale province in DR Congo and Western Equatoria in South Sudan has reached a feverish pitch. LRA attacks have become more frequent and hostile, provoking military action against the rebel group. In an unprecedented joint military operation, the governments of Uganda, DR Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic launched an attack on LRA strongholds within DR Congo. “Operation Lightning Thunder”, the name designated for the counteroffensive, was largely unsuccessful in light of both the failure to reach top LRA leadership and the onslaught of violence that followed.

One month later on December 24th, 2008, the LRA launched a retaliatory attack against the people of DR Congo. In apparent desperation and a renewed will to spread terror to DR Congo, the LRA murdered over six hundred and abducted more than one hundred and sixty children to fight amongst its ranks. More than 104,000 Congolese have been displaced since Christmas in attempts to escape the LRA forces.

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For more information about Operation Lightening Strike, please visit: Operation Lightening Strike Revisited

Since recent actions, Kony has been forced out of the heart of Uganda; however, he still in and around the country. Kony has begun to move further north toward the Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic. Hiding in the shrubs of the forest, like the animal that he is and in the night kidnapping children. The ultimate boogie man, by today's standards. What bothers many of the us are the effects, that all through history, the rise of one man who kills hundreds of thousands. Such as Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, Stalin, and many many more. As many continue to say, history does repeat itself.

This video is a very interesting and brief look into the experiences of the men who went to Uganda to try and attain peace for that region.



Here is a video of when they came to my school (Ignore the title, it is an inside joke between the Ugandan Students and ourselves). My classmates and I were able to talk to two of the Ugandan Students there and they were absolutely inspirational and a delight. It was an experience that I am glad I got on camera and one that I am happy to be able to share with you. You can check it out here (and yes that is me in the video):



While it was a toned down experience and a much more one on one experience. The message was the same. There is evil in the world, evil that affects all of us. I did not know about this a couple of days ago and now I am glad that I was able to connect with these people. To learn a little bit about there lives and the struggles that they have endured. And also the people that are making a difference in trying to stop the crimes and save as many lives as possible. The organization is known as invisible children and they are to commended for a great job in spreading this injustice.

And in conclusion, we cannot forget about the children there today. The kids that continue to hide from Kony and his rebels. We must count our blessings everyday, because we do not live in such fear. We do not have to commute every night to a safe ground, we have our homes and our parents, guardians and other places of sanctuary. You may ask why is Kony being compared to Stalin and Hitler? Well, my friends, it takes an extraordinary monster to attack children and make them your slaves, force them to fight and force them to kill. To brainwash them into doing anything you want and taking there innocence away. That is why Kony is right up there with Hitler and all the other evil dictators. We have learned from our past to never allow men like these:

Hitler lives taken for his genocides: 12,000,000+

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Stalin lives taken in genocides: 23,000,000+

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Kony lives taken in kidnappings and forced child soldiers- 30,000+/ Lives taken in genocide- 10,000+/ Torture victims- 10,000+

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Hopefully, Kony can be arrested and put on trial for his crimes in the World Courts. His reign of terror needs to end and end swiftly. Because if not he will only be replaced and history will once again begin its circular cycle.


For more information about Kony:

Kony- The Man of Evil

For Information about the Torture victims:

I Cannot Forgive

For more information about the history and what you can do:

Invisible Children

I have flagged this and bookmarked it. I think an article like this deserves more sober attention, so I will leave it for tomorrow to delve into.

reply to post by TheMythLives

TML, good thread, but you missed one thing. The movie.

Google Video Link

Sad flick, no doubt. Heartbreaking to watch the kids cry. They don't deserve to live life that way, for sure. No one does. But, it's Africa, who gets the short shrift every time. The international community doesn't give a frak about Africa.

If the coltan stopped flowing from Africa I'd bet there would be a uproar but it still wouldn't stop this situation, as that's a different area. For those who know not of what I am speaking about.

Gotta laugh(cry?) at the insanity of the story. Originally, they thought if they covered themselves in oil they could beat the government with sticks and stones.

Yeah, that didn't work.

reply to post by TheLoony


Wow, I totally forgot about the movie! Thank you so much for posting this Loony. And you are right, children should not be subjected to this type of evil.

SF Thanks for the good info. I am glad someone put a face on the one of the people who are terrorizing Africa. In cases like this PMCs are a good thing. Private Mercenaries have actually done alot of good throughout Africa, but were declared to be unjust after a while by the African governments.

reply to post by cbaskins


Very true my friend! Glad you mentioned about the mercenaries. I would think that they would be big in Africa and of course there would be a lot of money to make there as well. Thank you for the support my friend!

The world seems so small now. There are so many fires that never seen to go out.
It's hard to believe this goes on without remedies. Small groups help, I'm sure, but something of this magnitude will have to be resolved by a larger entity. A government, a military. Oprah Winfrey.

Thank you for your thoughtful post.

Since those Californian kids became adults in a dangerous land and close to death's domain...
Being that they got Capitol Hill's Ear, perhaps now they can get American Special Forces Ear...
A Seal Team and two weeks will put Kony in the dirt, and free those children, and that region of the devil itself.

It would take a private security detachment just as long, given the funding. I think it's a need, and a cost well worth the price.

I think some folks will visit this thread soon, who can and will make matters right for these people. Those three Americans who sought to make the difference can be glad to know that they ulimately did, even though the blood of one more human being needed to be shed...

reply to post by ladyinwaiting


Very True! Hopefully, with everything happening and the organization known as Invisible Children. Hopefully, this war can end soon. And hopefully, until it does, it gets as much attention from governments and everyone.

reply to post by Heyyo_yoyo


That is very true and thank you for your kind words. With enough time I am sure anyone could be found by any countries military. However, getting them over there is another story, plus the most difficult one to overcome is...politics...