Hidden links between #Kony2012, "The Family," and Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill

Bruce Wilson has been looking deeper into ties between Invisible Children, the group behind "Kony 2012," and a secretive fundamentalist Christian organization known variously as The Family and The Fellowship—which, as it turns out, is said to be a force behind Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill. For a primer on The Family, by the way, there's no better place to start than Jeff Sharlet's book.

What Wilson dug up is now detailed in an extensive blog post. There's a lot to sort through, but it's exhaustively-researched stuff.

At least two of Invisible Children's programs have involved collaboration with The Fellowship and and its members, and by 2007 -- according to accounts from both Invisible Children and Fellowship members -- Invisible Children had partially merged its developing school and mentoring programs in Uganda with The Fellowship's Ugandan educational and leadership training system, which works to raise up a cadre of elite Jesus-centered leaders who will transform their nation along "Biblical" lines - with one apparent objective being the categorical elimination of homosexuality.

Read the whole thing.

Here's an interesting note not included in the report, which Wilson points out to Boing Boing: if you do a search on Google for "schools for schools" you'll find documentation of of Invisible Children fundraising activity in schools across America. Add "bake sale" he says, and "you get schools doing bake sale fundraisers for IC's schools for schools (S4S) program which - it so happens - was being supervised, at least back in 2009 but possibly still - by The Family. So what's the bake sale for?"

• [goldenearth]

  Yeah, but we have to get together and take down Kony and get him out of power.
  The Kony video told me so -

  Wow, this is a great report. I’m not surprised that the slick makers of the Kony propaganda film have shady connections. Excellent!

  • [mccrum]

     The connections are only shady if you hate Jesus.

    You don’t hate Jesus, do you?  If so, I have a lovely video here from the makers of Kony 2012 that will change your mind and bring you back into the fold. And while we’re at it, I’m thirsty, would a quick drink of this perfectly harmless liquid relax you as well?  Would you like to smell my handkerchief?  Someone said it smells like “chloroform,” whatever that is, want to see?

    • [Paul Renault]

      Me, I don’t hate Jesus.  After a while, I figured out that he never existed – you can’t hate something that doesn’t/didn’t exist.

      • [crackfox]

         You should do your research.  Even if you don’t believe the whole “virgin birth/died for our sins” thing Jesus definitely existed and it’s wise to acknowledge his role as an historical figure.

        • [Ryan]

          On the contrary, there is no contemporary evidence that Jesus ever existed.

        • [Paul Renault]

           Don’t you remember that fake ‘James, brother of Jesus’ ossuary from a few years back?

          I remember a quote from a Roman Catholic priest who said something like “This is the first piece of evidence we have that Jesus actually did exist.”

        • [Summer Seale]

          @boingboing-78288c7898fdad99aee06e3b42213c7b:disqus The ossuary was faked. It’s a forgery. So even their “proof” is a forgery.

• [hypersomniac]

  Hey buddy. You’re rockin a tee with a tyrant’s name on it. Herp. Derp. Check out this Pol Pot hanes I got for ya, bruh.

• [voiceinthedistance]

  These are not simple times to engage in self-hatred.  Sometimes it takes a good deal of work.

• [Jorpho]

  This was hinted at in Charlie Brooker’s amusing commentary, as seen in the earlier “Musical Comedy” (brrr) post.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpuB11d0Gog&feature=player_embedded

  How utterly dreadful.  The Family gives me the willies.

• [That_Anonymous_Coward]

  If they keep making videos and taking out the “bad guys” do they not understand it means less distractions from the evil they do?

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Maybe it’s a blackmail racket.

• [Jurgen Westerhoff]

  Is it me, or does the guy in the suit have Lizard eyes…

  • [Mike]

    Good God that’s horrifying.

  • [teknocholer]

    Not to mention the steepled fingers. One can imagine him hissing “Excellent!” in a lizardy voice.

• [benher]

  Remember when Kony was an island?

  How naive do you have to be to believe that American forces can go into yet another country unasked, and fix their problems for them? Isn’t the last half-century proof at how shitty we are at this?

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Most Americans and, funnily enough, anyone who inhabits 10 Downing Street, seem to feel that the US should forcibly rule the world.