The”New Breed” of African Leaders: US Backed War and Mayhem in the Heart Africa

Friends of the Congo in collaboration with the People’s Forum, Black Star News and the African Great Lakes Action Network invite you to an evening of film screening and discussion about the United States role in supporting authoritarian leaders in East and Central Africa.

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The evening will begin with a screening of “A Brilliant Genocide” By Ebony Butler. The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the following panelists and moderator: Register here for free
Helen Epstein, Author of Another Fine Mess, America, Uganda and the War on Terror
Judi Rever, Author, In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front
Milton Allimadi, Publisher Black Star News
Claude Gatebuke, Director, African Great Lakes Action Network
Kambale Musavuli, Spokesperson, Friends of the Congo

Moderator: Professor Tiffany Wheatland-Disu – Teaches African history in the Africana Studies Department, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)

For more information, please call 202-584-6512 or send email to info@friendsofthecongo.org.

Co-sponsors: Africa in Harlem, Safaru Yangu, Pan African Unity Dialogue, Africa News in Brief, Tabilulu Productions and Amnesty International Bronx Chapter

DATE AND TIME

Thu, December 13, 2018

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM EST

Add to Calendar

 

LOCATION

TRYP HOTEL NYC TIMES SQUARE SOUTH

345 W 35th St

New York, NY 10001

United States

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We’re opening the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in Melbourne this Saturday might! There’s only one showing so don’t miss your chance to see the full feature cut!

Venue:     Alex Theatre, Fitzroy St, St Kilda (The George)

Time:       7pm for drinks and director meet & greet / media

                  Screening at 8pm sharp. (Duration 75 minutes)

Post Screening Drinks to celebrate our Aus Premiere

Tickets on sale now via Ticketek http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=MUFF17

Melbourne Underground Film Festival selects A Brilliant Genocide to open the controversial festival, now in it’s 18th year of operation. 

See: http://www.muff.com.au/opening-night/

In 2012 small time African leader Joseph Kony was deemed a terrorist by the US government and became the world’s most wanted man thanks to Youtube. Like pieces of shrapnel, shards of reportage on his activities barely pierced mainstream Western media other than providing images of child soldiers.

TV news services and especially daily newspapers were useless in following the story of Kony and in fact the entire dire political situation in Uganda has remained wholly under-reported since. In fact, perhaps due to vested interests Uganda’s Wikipedia page has barely been updated since then.

Enter Melbourne based filmmaker Ebony Butler and the creation over a period of years of the documentary A BRILLIANT GENOCIDE. Sharp visuals, editing and consistent tone provide a picture of clarity with serious global consequences that deftly demonstrates the reality of its own title.

A BRILLIANT GENOCIDE is AFRICA BLOOD AND GUTS on another level that should create sadness and anger amongst all viewers but motivate those who are not simply numbed by it all. Of greatest importance is its exposure of world leaders both symbolic (the Queen & the Pope) and those in charge of military budgets (U.S presidents Clinton, Bush & Obama) and their continual support of Uganda’s President Museveni who as of 2016 was elected for a fifth term and remains the go to guy in Africa for arms purchases and is still upheld as a universal role model for how to run a third world country that apparently only needs its health services upgraded.

Museveni’s own monster squad has allowed the emergence of another monster Kony and in between these opposing forces the general population continues to suffer. A BRILLIANT GENOCIDE is a taut and timely documentary that positively radiates with its own brilliance. A very serious opening night film.

Richard Wolstencroft

Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) Director

 

A Brilliant Genocide / Another Fine Mess
Film Screening and Book Release Talk

Date:  October 4, 2017 – 6:00pm8:00pm
Location:  International Affairs Building 1501
In honor of the release of SIPA adjunct professor Helen Epstein’s new book, Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda and the War on Terror, the SIPA Economic and Political Development will be hosting a book talk combined with a screening of the 2016 documentary film A Brilliant Genocide, on the Ugandan government’s crimes against its own people in the northern region of the country.
Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs are screening the documentary which will be followed by a panel discussion featuring:
Helen C. Epstein, whose Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda and the War on Terror explores the US relationship with Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and his involvement in five violent conflicts that erupted shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in the Horn and Great Lakes regions of Africa. She teaches at Bard College and Columbia’s School of Public and International Affairs and writes frequently for the New York Review of Books and other publications.
Ogenga Otunnu, an Associate Professor of History at DePaul University whose two volume study, Crisis of Legitimacy and Political Violence in Uganda (Palgrave 2016,2017) is the only academic work covering Uganda’s entire history. He is an expert on the causes and consequences of forced migration, humanitarian emergencies and Africa and Black Diaspora studies.
Milton Allimadi, who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is publisher of Black Star News. He comes from Uganda and appears in A Brilliant Genocide.
Date: 
October 4, 2017 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm
 
Location:
 

Columbia University
School of International and Public Affairs
Room 1501
420 W 118th St #1410
New York, NY 10027

 

A Brilliant Genocide director Ebony Butler and her London based collaborator Belinda Atim spoke with Joseph Ochieno on Talking Africa (Resonance 104.4fm) yesterday afternoon about our documentary, the conspiracy of silence around the war in Uganda and the largely untold story of state sponsored atrocities in the north and east of the country. Belinda starts off the interview discussing the recent news of Uganda and the U.S stopping the six year man hunt for rebel leader and supposed most wanted man in Africa, and top 10 most wanted in the world, Joseph Kony. The question of whether or not A Brilliant Genocide had anything to do with the decision did come up, as many people seem to believe our film was a cause for the unexpected change of heart regarding the massive man hunt for Joseph Kony which has to date cost close to if not over one billion US dollars. I bet the US taxpayers aren’t aware of that – nor that the money was largely looted and used for other purposes, oppression, invasions and to help build one of the strongest armies in East Africa…. to essentially help entrench the dictator in power for longer. (31 years years is a long time in power, but it seems Museveni can’t get enough)

One other thing that was stressed in the interview was the importance of the petition that is attached to our documentary, primarily calling for US to stop funding and military support to the Ugandan regime. You can help end the silence by signing and sharing the petition here: www.bit.ly/STOPM7  Thank you!

#EndTheSilence 

How to Tune in Next Time:

If you have the internet  you can tune in live from anywhere in the world on Resonance 104.4FM in London – but best to come back the same time next week (Thursday, pm-2pm GMT) for the Talking Africa program… I’m sure we will be back for a few more shows as there is so much to cover and we only scratched the very tip pf the iceberg yesterday!

‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ 

A Brilliant Genocide screens for a second & final time tonight at the Beloit International Film Festival in Wisconsin (March 1st, 7pm sharp)

If you’re within reach of Beloit we would love to see you! (2 hrs drive ex Chicago)

See: www.bit.ly/ABGBeloit
#EndTheSilence

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Sean Stone interviews journalist Milton Allimadi about the hidden genocide taking place in Uganda and Ebony Butler’s feature documentary, A Brilliant Genocide’.

Contextualising genocide is difficult. The millions (billions?) of words written on the Holocaust attest to the challenge. A Brilliant Genocide manages to successfully tell the story of the most neglected humanitarian crisis since the formation of the United Nations. The salient facts are brought to the fore to create a cohesive narrative of the Acholi genocide that does not shy away from any of the guilty parties, be they government or rebel. Both Museveni and Kony face documentary reckoning.

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This is a brave film, not least because it faces the very real possibility of getting people killed. That is not a criticism. There is no other way to tell the truth without risk. I do not want to recount here what happened in Northern Uganda over the past three decades, Ebony Butler does a better job of that than I could, I want people to see the film for themselves. A Brilliant Genocide allows the survivors, politicians, academics, and soldiers to speak for themselves, to tell their own stories. In doing so, the war is humanised in a way that is not possible through any other medium. The visceral emotion of men and women discussing the atrocities they endured is not lost as it may be if they are just read about. Their accounts are supplemented by archive footage and Hieronymus Bosch-like depictions of torture and violence. All this is done in an unobtrusive style, understanding that no rhetorical device can match simple truth telling.

“TO REITERATE: FIND A WAY OF WATCHING THIS FILM”

Butler must be especially commended (I can think of no other word) for securing interviews with male survivors of rape. A taboo subject everywhere, but particularly in Uganda. It is not known for LGBT rights and homophobic attacks are commonplace. All of the survivors who appear in the film speak with dignity and measure. At no point does it descend into calls for retribution, no matter how tempting that must have been sometimes. I honestly do not know what more I can say about this documentary. It frankly should not have needed to be made. The Acholi genocide should be ranked alongside the killing fields and Rwanda in the worst excesses of the past century. That so few are knowledgeable is tragic.

A Brilliant Genocide is a stunning exemplar of what film is capable of. I hope that a wider release can be secured through streaming services or even just free on Youtube. It needs to be watched. The survivors need to be heard. I do not know if the film can find justice for the Acholi or even the peace they deserve. However, I do know that the more people that are aware of the genocide, the more uncomfortable it will be for the perpetrators. The spotlight will take away their hiding spaces. To reiterate: find a way of watching this film. If you cannot then please try and read about the war. It has taken 100 years for the Armenian genocide to be fully recognised and acknowledged. The Acholi do not have that long.

Julius L. Geertz (The Panoptic UK)

https://thepanoptic.co.uk/2016/10/01/a-brilliant-genocide/

Upcoming Film Festival Screenings:

21st October at the Document Human Rights Film Festival in Glasgow

22nd and 23rd October at the 36th Cambridge International Film Festival

9th of November at the We The People’s Film Festival in London

10th November at the Lone Star Film Festival, Sundance Square Fort Worth

A documentary accusing President Museveni and the Uganda army of genocide against the Acholi people in the north is being used to lobby for an end to US aid to Uganda.

By Daniel Nelson

A Brilliant Genocide argues that Museveni exploited atrocities by a rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), as a cover for his own “reign of terror” against the Acholis.

The film’s website carries a petition asking the US President to cut arms supplies and non-humanitarian aid, to ensure Museveni and others face justice, and to use sanctions and diplomacy to force the Uganda government to compensate victims of army violence.

After a film festival screening in London last Friday, Olara Otunnu, a Uganda politician, diplomat and former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, insisted that Acholi culture and civilisation faced “existential annihilation.

“We must address how to resuscitate [this culture] gather the pieces – a Marshall Plan is not big enough for Acholiland today,” he said.

The crisis had been written about and been the subject of reports, but all had been “studiously ignored and brushed under the carpet”.

Director Ebony Butler has said that she started making a film about Joseph Kony, the LRA and the use of child soldiers in 2009 but “along our six-year journey we found some completely untold ‘hidden’ stories that we felt were even more important to bring to light …”

Those responsible for these massive human rights abuses were still in office today, she has written, and continue to enjoy “complete impunity for their crimes”.

Why the title? As an interviewee in the film says: “No food, no hydration, sexual violence from the soldiers who were meant to protect them. That’s why this was a ‘brilliant genocide’ – a silent genocide: perfect crime.”

http://oneworld.org/2016/10/03/uganda-government-accused-of-the-perfect-crime/

Sign the petition here: www.bit.ly/STOPM7

Our U.K Premiere at Raindance Film Festival was a huge success with booked out screenings and week long celebrations to mark the beginning of and end to the silence around the genocide in Uganda.

Our major premiere screening took place in London on Friday night (Sept. 27) at Vue Cinemas on Regent Street and was followed by an expert panel discussion with hosts traveling from other parts of the world just to take part in the event. 

Ambassador Olara Otunnu (UPC Party President) flew in from Uganda and Milton Allimadi (Black Star News) travelled from New York  just hours before the screening to host our panel.

Here is one of many reviews of our film, this time from George Okello who attended one of our screenings at Raindance:

A Brilliant Genocide Film Documentary was screened yesterday evening at at Piccadilly Circus, London. The event was sold out, and I met a few of the UAH members, including Joseph Ochieno, Milton Alimadi, John Latigo and plenty of others.

Otunnu made a very powerful address, on the Genocide that happened in northern Uganda, specifically aimed at wiping out the Acholi as a people. Otunnu contended it was the deliberate intention and policy of Rwandan outlaw Kayibanda Museveni and the NRA gangster movement to wipe out an entire people, only the first time it had been attempted since the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. He distinguished the NRA progroms from others before it, in that genocides like in Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Iraq etc tended to be sudden, concentrated bursts of violence that lasted a short duration of probably 2-3 years, whereas the one in Acholi was drawn out over 20 years, and was systematic, carefully planned, assiduously orchestrated following a pre-determined pattern aimed at delivering a Final Solution; ie the total elimination of the Acholi people;

1. First Kill the Acholi people.

2. Take away their Land

3. Destroy their culture and identity as a people and Make Them Slaves.

Otunnu said Kayibanda has in fact almost succeeded in his mission of wiping out the Acholi people. He contended the Acholi of old is almost dead- her rich cultural heritage reduced to ashes, her people deliberately marginalised and removed from all positions of power and authority; and her land is now being systematically grabbed by Kayibanda and given away to foreigners. 20 years of brutal encampment have almost destroyed the Acholi traditional systems of governance and completely corrupted the culture that had kept the society together for centuries.

Otunnu painted a very bleak picture of what would amount to one of the greatest crimes ever committed in the history of humanity and human civilisation, and that this crime took place in the full glare of the world without anybody doing anything to stop it. Kayibanda was given free reign to implement one of the worst episodes of barbarity ever inflicted on human beings anywhere in the world.

Dr Adam Branch, who is probably the only western academic to document the suffering of the Acholi people, and the holocaust they went through also gave testimony. Other panelists included Dr Vincent Magombe (Free Uganda).

The Documentary itself is a very powerful rendition of the darkness of man’s heart, how a very cruel and sadistic maniac, obsessed with power, was allowed to run amok among a totally defenceless people and set about murdering them just for fun.

There was not much chance for debate, because of time limitation. My only criticism is that being a mainly victim narrative, the political explanation for Kayibanda Museveni’s grosteque violence and savagery remains largely unexplained. Secondly, the suffering of the Acholi people is made to be unique to the Acholi people, whereas kayibanda Museveni’s barbarity and Rwandan occupation of our country has inflicted harm and suffering all across Uganda, and Eastern Uganda in particular Teso.

The Documentary is a valuable contribution to the unmasking of the brutality of Rwandan outlaw Kayibanda Museveni, and is one of the many attempts Ugandans will use to bring world attention to their suffering. The world can not surely turn a blind eye anymore to the suffering of Ugandans

The Documentary is also a reminder that we will bring Kayibanda Museveni and his henchmen to justice, no matter how long it will take. He will be be punished and should have no illusions about our determination.

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We are honoured to be included in the year’s official selection at the Lighthouse International Film Festival, on Longbeach Island, New Jersey.

This will be the last screening until late August in Moscow. Don’t miss out.

We also have an expert panel joining us after the screening to answer any questions and to offer their expert views.

PANELISTS INCLUDE:

Milton Allimadi
Allimadi who is also featured in ‘A Brilliant Genocide’ is the Ugandan born editor of www.blackstarnews.com and www.burkinastyle.com and also writes a column for www.huffingtonpost.com His late father was a Ugandan politician and his family fled from Idi Amin’s and then Yoweri Museveni’s reigns of terror.

Kiwanuka Lawrence Nsereko
Nsereko is a Ugandan journalist, political activist, freedom fighter and now U.S.-based professor. He was incarcerated and tortured by the Yoweri Museveni dictatorship before escaping the country.
Helen Epstein
Epstein’s articles on human rights and public health in Uganda and other African countries have appeared in The New York Review of BooksThe New York TimesThe Lancet and other publications. She is the author of The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight against AIDS in Africa (Picador 2008) and has conducted research for Human Rights Watch, UNICEF and other organizations. She teaches at Bard College in Annandale, New York.

 

Info and tickets at : http://liff.festivalgenius.com/2016/films/abrilliantgenocide0_ebonybutler_LIFF2016