S4S // Whip My Hair

S4S // Whip My Hair from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Sometimes, we make music videos. We challenged students across the US to join us to whip their hair with us. Then we made a video about it. It gets messy, check it out. 

Lady Gaga makes her "last tweet and testament" for HIV/Aids in Africa

         

Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Usher are among some of the stars signing off of facebook and twitter in support of Alicia Keys’ Keep a Child Alive campaign to support families affected by HIV/Aids in Africa and India. They will be raising money this Wednesday, which happens to be World’s Aids Day. The stars have filmed their “last tweet and testament” videos and will be back online when they reach their goal of $1 million. 

“It’s so important to shock you to the point of waking up,” says Alicia Keys, “It’s not that people don’t care or it’s not that people don’t want to do something, it’s that they never thought of it quite like that.”

With Gaga’s following of 24 million on facebook fans and 7 million twitter followers, this vow of silence will speak volumes on behalf of those who cannot speak. 

This creative campaign is a reminder of the power of this medium that we are all connected on, and the statement that it makes to “sign off” to bring awareness to something greater. To learn more- go to www.keepachildalive.org

A letter from the President about his LRA strategy

Here is a link to the White House website where the letter was published. We are proud that our efforts have come this far. So proud. Now the time has come to support a serious and sincere follow through of the plan. We will be updating you periodically with next steps in the road to peace.  - Jedidiah

The Guardian: Obama’s LRA disarmament strategy

Here is a good summary of what Obama has pledged to do from the UK’s The Guardian. Although, I must say, it somewhat implies that civilian protection isn’t part of the plan, which it most certainly is. Regardless, we are glad this bill is getting international attention and even international critique. The goal is not only for the conflict to be ended, but for the world to see that the democratic process is adapting to expand national interest to the vulnerable populations of the world. – Jedidiah

The Guardian:

The US government yesterday revealed a plan to disarm Lord’s Resistance Army fighters in central Africa and capture or kill their leader, Joseph Kony.

Barack Obama presented a strategy document to Congress designed to “mitigate and eliminate” the threat to civilians posed by one of the world’s longest-running and most brutal insurgencies.

While they are unlikely to result in US troops being directly involved in combat operations, the proposed measures should strengthen local military efforts against the LRA. Several international human rights groups welcomed the move, although some relief agencies working in the affected areas warned the plan could prove counterproductive.

The rebels emerged in northern Uganda 24 years ago with devastating consequences for the local population. In recent years, they have exported their terror to the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.

More than 2,300 people in these countries have been killed by LRA fighters over the past two years, with 400,000 civilians forced to flee their homes.

At least 3,000 men, women and children have been abducted – the rebels’ primary form of conscription.

Obama’s announcement followed the passing of a bill in May that requires the US to support multilateral efforts to subdue the LRA.

The four main objectives of the new plan are to increase protection for civilians, encourage rebel defections, improve humanitarian access and “apprehend or remove from the battlefield Joseph Kony and senior commanders”, according to a letter sent to congressmen.

The strategy is a more formal and official version of the one employed by the US for the past two years after it took the lead among western countries in trying to end the rebellion.

In December 2008, the US military provided intelligence and financial support to the Ugandan-led Operation Lightning Thunder, which flushed LRA fighters from their main hideout in Congo, Garamba National Park.

But rebel leaders including Kony – who claims to have messianic powers – escaped the ground and air assault and immediately embarked on a series of massacres in remote villages.

The strategy document said the US had spent more than $23m (£14.5m) on support for the Ugandan military since then, but added that more money was needed.

But ending the insurgency is likely to be extremely difficult, even with more cash and commitment. It was a task that proved beyond the Ugandan military when the LRA operated there for 20 years, and the rebel fighters have proved equally comfortable in countries to the east.

The US-based Enough Project warned in a recent report that the LRA’s “propensity for violence remains undiminished” despite having a fighting force of just 400. Ledio Cakaj, a field researcher for the project, said Obama’s plan signalled a more hands-on approach by the US military in regional counterinsurgency operations.

“You are not going to see marines on the ground fighting Kony,” Cakaj said. “But you are going to see more US troops and contractors on the ground facilitating regional efforts to stop the rebels. It’s not a radical move, but it is certainly a positive step.”

However, Chris Bain, head of UK aid agency Cafod, said that while the US commitment to tackling the LRA problem was encouraging, the military approach is a “dangerous one if it doesn’t ensure the protection of innocent civilians” – as has happened in the past.

“This is far too high a price to pay,” he said. “A negotiated solution is the only long-term solution.”

Don’t mistake the scent for the flower

In the quest for a life lived honorably and well, we are intentional in focusing on the local to prove the universal.

We don’t talk about loving humanity, we lift up our stumbling brother. We don’t talk about peace on earth, we pursue the end of Joseph Kony’s terror. And we do not mistake the love of a brother for Love itself. We search out that mystery together.  – Jedidiah

“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things– the beauty, the memory of our own past– are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.

Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has laid upon us for nearly a hundred years.”

–C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,”

NYTimes responds to questions about Wikileaks

The New York Times is publishing State’s Secrets, a series of articles about a trove of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables that were originally obtained  by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to exposing official secrets. The cables reveal the daily traffic between the State Department and more than 270 diplomatic outposts around the world and offer a secret chronicle of the United States’ relations with other nations in an age of war and terrorism.

In addition to a nine-day series of articles on the trove of documents, The Times plans to publish on its Web site the text of about 100 of the cables — some edited and some in full — that illuminate aspects of United States foreign policy.

Editors and reporters of The Times are answering questions from readers about the series this week.

What Right Do You Have?

Q. I am greatly saddened by your role in this issue, and I disagree with your attempts to cloak your pursuit of readers in the context of some sort “right to know.” The fact is that these are secret documents of the United States Government, which by extension therefore are secret documents of the people of the United States. For the government to function, the simple reality, just as is undoubtedly the case in your organization, is that in order to candidly assess the situation, some items are not for public consumption. To say “it would be presumptuous to conclude that Americans have no right to know what is being done in their name” is a ridiculous statement. Are you really saying that the government should make public all its information at every level? There are reasons why there is secrecy. Should we have told Hitler when and where D-Day was coming so that the “people have a right to know”? Farce, plain and simple.

Moreover, in this case, the release of these documents means that people will die. It is as simple as that. I cannot say how many, but the butcher’s bill from this sorry “disclosure” will have to be met. Personally, I consider this willful release of secret documents to be treason.

I am not a Tea Party fanatic, nor even a Republican. I am proud to be a Democrat and have enjoyed your publication for many years both online and in print. I fear that this relationship will now have to end. I expected better.

— David Stier

A. Quite a few readers are uncomfortable with the idea that a group of editors —  unelected editors — can decide to reveal information that the government wants kept secret. Sometimes we’re uncomfortable with that, too. We have as much stake in the war against terror as anyone. Our reporters travel in dangerous places to report on these subjects, and we have had members of the Times family injured, kidnapped and killed in pursuit of the news. So the thought that something we report might increase the dangers faced by the country is daunting and humbling — and not just a matter of theory for us. When we find ourselves in possession of government secrets, we think long and hard about whether to disclose them. Invariably that consideration includes extensive and serious discussions with the government, as it did with the diplomatic cables.

Pause for a second to consider exactly what The Times has done in this case. We have written a series of articles based on what we have learned about various aspects of American foreign policy from this trove of secret cables. We have drawn on our past reporting and the experience of our correspondents to supply context and to cast doubt where information in the cables is questionable. We have also chosen a small selection of the cables — about 100 in all, out of a quarter of a million documents — that we think provide useful source material for the articles we have written. We have edited out any information that could identify confidential sources — including informants, dissidents, academics and human rights activists —  or otherwise compromise national security. We did this in consultation with the State Department, and while they strongly disapprove of the publication of classified material at any time, and while we did not agree with all of their requests for omission, we took their views very seriously indeed.

So, two basic questions. Why do we get to decide? And why did we decide to publish these articles and selected cables?

We get to decide because America is cursed with a free press. I’m the first to admit that news organizations, including this one, sometimes get things wrong. We can be overly credulous (as in some of the reporting about Iraq’s purported Weapons of Mass Destruction) or overly cynical about official claims and motives. We may err on the side of keeping secrets (President Kennedy wished, after the fact, that The Times had published what it knew about the planned Bay of Pigs invasion) or on the side of exposing them. We make the best judgments we can. When we get things wrong, we try to correct the record. A free press in a democracy can be messy.

But the alternative is to give the government a veto over what its citizens are allowed to know. Anyone who has worked in countries where the news diet is controlled by the government can sympathize with Thomas Jefferson’s oft-quoted remark that he would rather have newspapers without government than government without newspapers. And Jefferson had plenty of quarrels with the press of his day.

As for why we directed our journalistic attention to these cables, we hope that will be clear from the articles we have written. They contribute to our understanding of how American foreign policy is made, how well it is working, what kind of relationships we have with allies and adversaries. The first day’s articles offered the richest account we have yet seen of America’s attempts to muster a regional and global alliance against Iran; and disclosed that the State Department has increasingly put its diplomats in the uncomfortable position of gathering intelligence on diplomatic counterparts. There is much more to come. We sincerely believe that readers who take an interest in America’s conduct in the world will find this material illuminating. — Bill Keller

Read more of the questions here. From ‘Losing foreign cooperation?’ to ‘Are the documents genuine?’

Wonder Bear — find of the day

I come across a lot of music on a daily basis, to the point where it just all starts sounding the same, then I just end up sticking to our office’s go-to albums, Dawes, Delta Spirit, David Bazan, Peter and the Wolf.. Lady Gaga..kiddinggg.. She’s Kenny’s favorite. Secret’s out!

But I love it when I come across new stuff that really catches me. I found out about Wonder Bear a little while ago- they’re two 16 year olds from NYC (I believe, by way of Alaska) who make pop music together. Seriously guys, what were you doing at 16? Sheesh! I wanted to share a few tracks with you all, all of which are up for grabs on their bandcamp, I especially love Azul, but G A L A is their latest release- check it out at www.wonderbear.bandcamp.com. They play that spaced-out electronic stuff with echoey female vocals that sound like Memoryhouse or Phantogram. Love it!

Wonder Bear- BB Gun

Wonder Bear- BB Gun

Obama delivers strategy to disarm the LRA

180 days ago, I stood with Invisible Children Founders Laren Poole and Jason Russell in the Oval Office of the White House when President Obama signed The LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law. The LRA Bill gave the administration 180 days to deliver a strategy on how to support the disarmament of the LRA.

Today, the strategy was due. And today, the strategy was delivered.

Around 11am PST, the strategy was sent to the congressional offices as mandated by law. Around one hour later, we were given access to read and review the strategy.

And now you can take a look at the strategy by downloading it here.

It opens with a letter from President Obama to the members of Congress who passed the Bill. President Obama writes: “The strategy guides U.S. support across the region to mitigate and eliminate the threat to civilians and regional stability posed by the LRA. It has four objectives that support regional and multilateral efforts: (a) increase protection of civilians; (b) apprehend or remove from the battlefield Joseph Kony and senior commanders; (c) promote the defection, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of remaining LRA fighters; and (d) increase humanitarian access and provide continued relief to affected communities.”

The true test of this 36-page strategy will not be the words on the paper, it will be in the implementation of the ideas and the affect on the ground.  We applaud the hard work that the President’s team went through to create this strategy. We met with them many times this year in Washington DC, Uganda and Congo. The men and women who worked on this plan are thoughtful, intelligent and committed to help end the atrocities of the LRA. They have provided a great framework of objectives that can be successful, but only if the administration finds the ability to pay for and implement the ideas proposed.

We will provide more of our thoughts about the President’s strategy after we have more time to review it and talk with our partners in D.C. in the coming days.

The delivery of this strategy does not guarantee success, but it is a great start. Please continue to follow-up with us to see how we can make sure these words are turned into actions.

In the meantime, congratulations to all of you. We made a law for the United States, and it wouldn’t have happened without you.

-Ben Keesey, CEO Invisible Children.

Tom Waits Releasing Poetry Book "Hard Ground"

       

Tom Waits is set to publish a collection of poems in collaboration with photographer, Michael O’Brien entitled “Hard Ground” to be released in March of 2011. The book features Waits’ prose alongside O’Briens photographs of homeless people, aiming to “create a portrait of homelessness that impels us to look into the eyes of people who live “on the hard ground” and recognize our common humanity.” 

You can preview some of the pages of the book here, and pre-orders are already being taken on Amazon over here. For decades, Waits’ has championed the stories of the outcasts, called by the New York Times, the “poet of the outcasts” through music, film and writing he’s captured the plight of those suffering in a beautiful and heartbreaking way. We’re excited for this book.

“We meet O’Brien’s people one on one. Their ‘otherness’ is removed. The photographs engender compassion and empathy. If that sounds simple, it is because it is simple. And, as you know, being simple is very, very difficult. Hard Ground is a rare and powerful book.”

—John Loengard, Life magazine photographer and picture editor, and one ofAmerican Photo magazine’s “100 most influential people in photography”