Lets Talk about Joseph Kony - Term Paper Example

Joseph Kony: A Research Paper Presented Summary This paper seeks to examine public awareness and opinions regarding the issues related to a Ugandan-based rebel group known as Lord Resistance Army (LRA). This group, which is headed by Joseph Kony has conducted a lot of brutal acts against civilians in Uganda for a long time without public awareness in most parts of the world. Recently, an awareness campaign has been raised against Kony to seek support from the general public and national governments to eliminate Kony and save children who have been abducted. Within a very short span since it was launched, this campaign has helped to increase awareness of the atrocities of this group to the public. This paper therefore presents a qualitative research using both primary and secondary data to examine the opinions of the public to the issue. The Primary data is gathered from 5 students using questionnaires. Secondary data is gathered from various internet websites and journals that analyze opinions on this issue. The opinions gathered in this research showed that has expressed mixed reactions to the issue, with some supporting it and others do not. Various arguments are advanced in support of the different perspectives of the public. Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.0Introduction 3 2.0Background 3 3.0Public Awareness 5 4.0Research Methodology 5 5.0Findings 7 6.0Conclusion 8 7.0Recommendation 8 8.0References 10 9.0 Index 1 12 Joseph Kony: A Research Paper 1.0 Introduction Joseph Kony is the head of a Ugandan Guerilla group known as Lord Resistant Army (LRA). This group was formed in 1987 with an agenda of overthrowing the government of Uganda. According to Ksilvers (2012), this group enjoyed massive public support initially. However, this changed after the group turned against its own supporters in the process of trying to turn Uganda into a theocracy. Kony is a superstitious leader who claims that he is a spirit medium and a spokesman of God. He believes that if he succeeds in overthrowing Ugandan government, he can create a more suitable government based on theocracy and guided by the biblical Ten Commandments. His soldiers have crosses painted on their chests and believe that this will protect them from bullets. Unfortunately, the actions of this group directly contrast the requirements of biblical principles. However, though as the survey portrays most people did not know Kony before his indictment by the ICC, Kony remains as the biggest threat to peace and stability in Norhtern Uganda, having carried out massive abductions and killings in his guerrilla tactics. 2.0 Background As noted earlier, LRA, originally called United Holy Salvation Army (UHSA) was established in 1987. Its agenda was political and the ruling party, the National Resistant Army led by Ugandan President did not perceive it as a threat (Ksilvers, 2012). One year later, it became a major player in most Ugandan affairs and enjoyed public support. During the same year, the ruling party and another opposition political party called the Uganda Peoples Democratic Army (UPDA) rocked horns as they constantly disagreed on various issues. The dissatisfied members of UPDA joined UHSA, and formed a rebel group against Ugandan government. Joseph Kony, the leader of UHSA was convinced by Odong Latek, the UPDA founder to start using military tactics instead of sprinkling holy water and attacking in cross-shaped formations (Ksilvers, 2012). Kony found the new tactics to be more pleasing and successful after the rebel group increased its support from the public (Gerson, 2011). The government of Uganda responded by attacking the rebel group using military forces. This operation annoyed the rebel group as a huge number of its followers were killed, reducing the number of followers from thousands to hundreds. The rebel group responded by attacking the collaborators of NRA and the general public. The group was involved in numerous terror attacks against the general civilian population and claimed that the missions were communicated to Kony through spirits from God (Annan & Brier 2010, 153). The group, which named itself the ‘Lord Resistant Army,’ started to forcefully recruit children as soldiers. The recruitment of children has been ongoing and the figure is currently estimated at 104,000 child soldiers (Ksilvers, 2012). This group often kills families, relatives and neighbors of the children that are kidnapped, leaving them no choice but to fight for the group. Since the mid 1990s, LRA started received military support from the government of Sudan, which was annoyed by the support of Sudan rebels by the government of Uganda. However, Sudan withdrew the support after The International Criminal Court placed warrant of arrest on Kony in 2005 (International Criminal Court, 2005). Since he was indicted, he is yet to be arrested and his group continues to attack the public amidst the arrest warrants. One famous incident took place on 25th December, 2008, when Kony’s soldiers killed 189 Ugandans and abducted 120 children in a Catholic church. In December the following year, LRA massacred 321 people and kidnapped more tan 80 children (Gerson, 2011). 3.0 Public Awareness For more than two decades after LRA started carrying out these atrocities, the issue did not attract enough public awareness in many parts of the world, until very recently (The Daily Telegraph, 2012). About a decade ago, three individuals took an adventure trip to Uganda, which dramatically changed to a campaign against Kony and his group. Jason Russell, a film maker for Invisible Group Inc, which is involved in the campaign, released a 30-minute documentary known as Kony 2012 in early March 2012 (The Daily Telegraph, 2012). The intention of this video has been to raise public awareness regarding Kony and his group in an effort to increase the intervention of foreign states, particularly the United States to the issue. After its release, the video was posted in internet social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which has greatly helped to raise attention of the issue to the public. This massive campaign has elicited mixed reactions, which have led to different opinions among individuals in the general public. The basis of this research therefore is to identify the different opinions in order to understand the reactions of the general public to the issue (The Daily Telegraph, 2012). 4.0 Research Methodology Methodology is the manner in which a research study is carried out and it helps in the collection of the required set of information (Creswell 2003, 96). This research adopted a qualitative approach since questionnaires and interviews were the major sources of information. The researcher used both primary and secondary data to complete the study. The research process involved two phases. During the first phase, the researcher conducted a survey of students regarding their awareness and opinions on the issue. Survey Questionnaires, which contained open-ended questions, were administered on 5 students. Before the survey, the ethical issue of access and acceptance in research was adhered to by seeking voluntary involvement of the respondents. In the second phase, the researcher gathered information regarding the awareness and opinions of public on the issue on focus. Various internet sources and journals with different opinions from the general public were consulted. Both the primary and secondary information consulted gave valuable information needed in the research. The findings of this data enabled the researcher to arrive at a formidable conclusion and make recommendations. What do you think about Joseph Kony? What do you understand about issues related to LRA? How would you rate the seriousness of campaign against Kony? Serious or not serious? Do you think the American government should support this campaign? If the answer is no please give reason? Should the American government take more Ugandan refugees? Do you think other countries should help the American troops to capture Joseph Kony? Joseph Kony is believed to be doing a good campaign and struggle for his country trying to unite Uganda by recruiting children in his military; True or False? Should the media continue to expose more information about Joseph Kony to the public? Do you think Joseph Kony should be punished for his crimes? In the second phase, the researcher gathered information regarding the awareness and opinions of public on the issue in question. Various internet sources and journals with different opinions from the general public were consulted. Both the primary and secondary information consulted gave valuable information needed in the research. The findings of this research enabled the researcher to reach a conclusion and to make relevant recommendations. 5.0 Findings From both the primary and secondary findings, the research observed that most people did not have any information about Kony and his brutal acts until recently when campaigns against him were launched (Cassil, 2012; Gerson, 2011; & Orden & Bariyo, 2012). Few who claimed to know him stated they had minimal awareness on the seriousness of acts by Kony until it was documented during the campaign. All the respondents and most of the opinions gathered from the sources consulted portrayed Joseph Kony as an evil man. They believe that the mission of Kony is against biblical teachings and not as the group claims. They supported the campaigns by the media to expose Kony to increase public awareness regarding his brutal actions. Most participants suggested that such campaigns would help to combine the support of all nations and fight Kony (Cassil, 2012 & Gerson, 2011). Three of the respondents argued that it was vital for the United State government to intervene and assist Ugandan government in fighting and eliminating Kony, and aim at rescuing tens of thousands of children recruited in his army (Cassil, 2012; Gerson, 2011; & Orden & Bariyo, 2012). They added that other countries should work together with US troops to achieve this objective. In addition, most opinions from the secondary sources consulted supported this fact. However, two of the respondents and few authors of secondary sources differed from this view (Ksilvers, 2012 & Lusblin, 2012). They generally held that if the US intervenes in this issue, US funds would be used to support the operations. They opposed this issue arguing that this would continue to drain the US budget at a time when US economy is not completely secure from financial crisis. Furthermore, some added that funds to support these operations were likely to be drawn from various national sectors, which would most likely lead to an increase in prices of goods and services (Lusblin, 2012).. Some opinions collected seemed to take an analytical point of view. Solomon (2012) indicated that though the issue of Kony needs to be addressed, the approach should be cautious. According to Solomon (2012), it seems like the campaign meant to be against Kony is making him famous rather than infamous. Furthermore, Solomon criticized funding of the awareness campaign, claiming that it might not achieve much; if anything as Solomon argues, such funds should be used in operations to eliminate Kony (Solomon, 2012) 6.0 Conclusion The opinions identified in this research indicate there are mixed reactions from the public regarding the issue of Kony. Some support the operations to eliminate him while others do not. From the findings, it is clear the most people became aware of Kony after the campaigns to eliminate him. Majority view his acts as brutal and support his elimination. Most people are of the view that supporting US intervention as well as other countries would help in solving the issue. However, a few differ from this view and offer contrasting opinions. Most opinions in this research indicate that majority of the public are in support of eliminating Kony. 7.0 Recommendation Irrespective of the different perceptions of the public, the issue of LRA is real and remains a problem to the Ugandans citizens, who are always the victims of the brutal acts of this group. Most importantly, the suffering children who are abducted and misused by this group should not be ignored. Rather, a drastic action is needed to rescue them. War against such a group is not always the answer, though sometimes it cannot be avoided. However, before engaging in war against the group, quick research should be done so as to ensure that war against Kony is not started for the wrong reasons. Further, as Solomon, 2012 stated, caution should be taken to make sure the campaign against Kony does not turn to look like a campaign for him. A more comprehensive research, using a greater size of respondents and resources is needed, which will be able to produce more solid findings. 8.0 References Annan, J., & Brier, M., (2010).The risk of return: Intimate partner violence in Northern Uganda’s armed conflict. Social Science & Medicine 70,152–15 Cassil, J. P. (2012), Conserving freedom, Available from http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/conserving-freedom/2012/mar/7/kony-2012-bringing-joseph-kony-justice/ (6th May. 2011). Creswell, J W (2003) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Sage Publications, London Gerson, M. (2011). Joseph Kony and the international effort to bring him to justice. Available from. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/joseph-kony-and-the-international-effort-to-bring-him-to-justice/2012/01/26/gIQAYk04TQ_story.html. ( Accessed 6th May. 2011) International Criminal Court, (2005). Warrant of Arrest unsealed against five LRA Commanders. Available from http://www.icc-cpi.int/menus/icc/situations%20and%20cases/situations/situation%20icc%200204/related%20cases/icc%200204%200105/press%20releases/warrant%20of%20arrest%20unsealed%20against%20five%20lra%20commanders ( Accessed 6th May. 2011) Ksilvers, (2012). Who is Joseph Kony? Available from http://www.infobarrel.com/Who_is_Joseph_Kony ( Accessed 6th May. 2011). Lusblin, N., (2012), Stop Kony: the Cheers and Jeers, The word press journal Spring 12. Available from http://bibekjournal.wordpress.com/tag/joseph-kony/ ( Accessed 6th May. 2011). Orden E & Bariyo, N. (2012), How social media made Joseph Kony the Web’s most hated man, Available from http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/03/08/viral-video-puts-spotlight-on-uganda-rebel-kony/ (Accessed 6th May. 2011). Solomom D., (2012), Lets talk about Joseph Kony, Nextjen journal, Spring, 8 The Daily Telegraph (2012). “Joseph Kony 2012: online video campaign to bring Uganda war Criminal to justice goes viral.” The Daily Telegraph. (7 March 2012.) Available from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9129085/Joseph-Kony-2012-online-video-campaign-to-bring-Uganda-war-criminal-to-justice-goes-viral.html (Accessed 6th May. 2011). 9.0 Index 1 Facts on John Kony Fact description 1987 Kony founds he LRA as a christen party with proposition of instilling Christian ideals in Uganda 2005 Kony driven out of Northern Uganda as hunt is expedited by the Ugandan army and is sought by ICC who calls of warrant of arrest against Kony and his generals for crimes against humanity 2006 8 Guatemalan Kaibi forces under UN mission in Congo killed by Kony soldiers in a botched attack 2008 United States offers 100 special advisors to track Kony in Congo and the Northern terrains of Uganda. Okot Odhiambo one of LRA to lieutenants is presumed to have been killed regarding planned compromise between the government and LRA to surrender, with a promise of dropping all their crimes and protecting him from prosecution. 20 years Number of years that LRA has been fighting against the Ugandan army 140,000 The number of children presumed to have been abducted by LRA as child soldiers or as sex slaves for girls. 1.5 million The number of civilians presumed to have been displaced by the war from the Northern Ugandan region. 250 The presumed number of Kony soldiers Read More