War in Northern Uganda...Help Stop It!
There are always screwed up things going on in the world, but some of them are moreso than others. This story relates to search, because you really have to search hard to find any information about it...
Recently Andy Hagans mentioned to me that in northern Uganda there is a war where children are being abducted and trained to kill or abduct other children. For safety at night many children are forced to leave their homes and sleep in a pool of overlapping bodies hoping they are not abducted or killed, living in perpetual fear.
Invisible Children is a recent DVD which shows what is going on in Uganda. If you would like, I have a couple of them and I can send you one (just send me an email with address, etc).
The war has been going on for about 19 years and has got next to no legitimite media coverage here in the United States. Andy Hagans has been helping Uganda CAN do SEO, but the problem is nobody is going to be searching for it if nobody knows about it.
Recently some people from Uganda CAN got a bit of coverage on a few articles and on NPR. The online petition to stop the war was getting about 10 signatures an hour, but that number has started to drift back downward :( I think if blogs really got ahold of the story that number should be able to run well into the thousands / hour. With enough voices of concern the US government will hopefully be forced to help the Uganda government face and fix the problems.
Not too long ago, when Ian Turner was missing, search related bloggers helped spread his name to where it was the #1 search term on Technorati. Hopefully we can raise the war in Uganda to #1 as well.
If you do not like the idea of children being abuducted, murdered, and living in constant fear please help. A few options:
- Sign the petition
- Mention and link to the petition on your website. Also tell your friends to link up and sign it.
- donate
- volunteer
- speak out
- for background watch the video or read about the conflict in northern Uganda
Techorati Tags: Uganda War Uganda Children
Comments
A lot fo people don't know about what is going on in Uganda right now. Including many people I know. Just trying to explain it doesn't do much. I was wondering if I could get a copy of the 'Invisible Children' DVD. We have a small school and I know all the teachers, so getting everyone to watch it isn't a problem. I really want to help with this any way I can. Please e-mail me if you have any left.
michelle_ewashko@yahoo.ca
Why not add a tag to your post HREF=http://technorati.com/tag/war+in+northern+uganda REL=tag?
thats the point... there is no tag or information about it, nobody is really covering it. tagging it will not make more people see it since nobody is covering it... referencing it is something people have to decide to do like one at a time.
I do see what you are saying that doing a tagging thing would give people a common theme and help that meme boost to the top of technorati.
I've just recently returned from Uganda where I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I was obviously south of the war (we'd be kicked out if we went anywhere the embassy suggested we didn't). I'm very interested in a copy of "Invisible Children" if you still have a copy. Please write me an email and I'll give you info.
> I think if blogs really got ahold of the
> story that number should be able to run
> well into the thousands / hour. With
> enough voices of concern the US
> government will hopefully be forced to
> help the Uganda government face and fix
> the problems.
Exactly. Hopefully your (bigger than average) voice can help start some momentum on that front... of course a meme in the "SEOsphere" can pack an extra punch ;-)
I also think the technorati tag is a good idea... I wonder what would be the best way to go about getting that going?
The tag makes sense *when* the SEOsphere achieves a #1 in combination with other tags. A few links from outside the blogosphere may help too. Finally only word of mouth can make it popular.
I think its terrible that there is a war going on and has been for the last 19 years but whats a petition going to do?
Its ok sitting at home signing a petition but is is just a token contribution to make people `feel` like they are doing something.
I beg to differ.
-The petition got coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which exposed the conflict and our movement to tens of thousands.
-When it reaches 5K signatures, we are going to personally deliver it to the White House. We may get media coverage for this stunt.
-A 'token' contribution to the cause gives people an emotional connection to it and makes it more likely they they will take other action in the future.
-Consider this: with only 12 phone calls to his office in one morning, Uganda-CAN representatives were able to set up a personal meeting with Senator Brownback (Kansas). Old-fashioned politicking DOES work in DC.
-And of course the petition is only a small part of a larger action schedule which included meeting with Senator Brownback, and in October a woldwide Gulu Walk happening in several cities on one day, including Kampala, Gulu, DC and Toronto.
Don't be a hater. If we could get enough signatures, you bet your ass the petition would gives us some leverage. Go sign it.
Signing of petition does help. I would suggest passing on this information to instapundit.com and Paul Frankenstein of Global Voices online - http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/ http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/author/paul-frankenstein/
But then again there isn’t any oil in Northern Uganda, so I wonder how aggressive the Bush Administration will be.
Thanks so much for your openness about the war in the northern part of Uganda.We are really suffering and we have suffered in these people's hands!.Help to catalyse the peace talk so that the Acholi people may have a rest also.Joseph Kony is fighting the most useless war I have never seen since I was born.God have mercy on us!!!!.Send for me the DVD if possible and I watch.
so i would REALLY like a copy of the dvd. I would show it to alot of friends and family so that i may raise the awareness and hopefully get a group together to take a mission trip down to Uganda to help out. If you would please send me i copy i would be very grateful.
Thanks
micahbear777@yahoo.com
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