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Ganging Up

 

A group of rival crews shot up a funeral procession in Washington, leaving one dead and two injured. Untold innocent bystanders are caught in cross fire intended to settle beefs. Gang activity has also shaken cities around the world from Chicago to Capetown, South Africa.

What’s  being done to combat this problem? FullyConnected.com looks at funding over the years, efforts by leaders such as President Obama to control guns and various initiatives — those that seem to work and others that didn’t. This will be an ongoing, multi-part series. We will seek to involve at-risk youth who will compile video diaries. How better to see it up close and personal than employing teen journalists who are close to the action.

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Another View of Kony Campaign

Roughly 100 million people saw the “Kony 2012” clip that Invisible Children posted on YouTube in early March, making it one of the most viral videos ever. “Joseph Kony, the Ugandan warlord and leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), recently gained a sudden fame which he probably would have preferred to do without,” Cameroonian freelancer Julie Owono writes in a commentary for Al Jazeera. “He became the No. 1 enemy of Internet users around the world.”

While Owono, a Paris-based international relations consultant, believes that Kony “must be brought to justice,” she and others find fault with the campaign.

“The propaganda used by the organization to ‘raise awareness’ is highly questionable, and allows dangerous and misleading messages to be spread,” Owono contends. “One such message is that the African continent, and, in this specific case, the northern part of the Great Lakes region, is a playground where international law and respect of sovereignty have no place.”