As global awareness grows around the Congo and the silence is finally being broken on the current and historic exploitation of Black people in the heart of Africa, a myriad of Western based “prescriptions” are being proffered. Most of these prescriptions are devoid of social, political, economic and historical context and are marked by remarkable omissions. The conflict mineral approach or efforts emanating from the United States and Europe are no exception to this symptomatic approach which serves more to perpetuate the root causes of Congo’s challenges than to resolve them.
Tags:
Africom,
AngloGold Ashanti,
Anvil Mining,
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen,
Banro,
Blattner Elwyn Group,
Bodia Macharia,
Canadian Bill C-300,
Carter Center,
cassiterite,
CNDP,
coltan,
conflict minerals,
Congo,
counterinsurgency,
Eagle Wings/Trinitech,
FDLR,
First Quantum,
FreePort McMoRan,
Group of Experts,
International Court of Justice,
Joseph Mobutu,
Kagame regime,
Kambale Musavuli,
Kemet,
Kivu provinces,
Laurent Nkunda,
Lundin,
Museveni,
Obama administration,
OM Group,
Patrice Lumumba,
Paul Kagame,
Rwanda,
Southern Africa Resource Watch,
Traxys,
tungsten,
Uganda
One hundred years ago, a global outrage surrounding the death of an estimated 10 million Congolese resulted in the end of King Leopold II of Belgium’s rule in the Congo. Ordinary people around the world from all walks of life stood at the side of the Congolese and demanded the end of the first recorded Congolese holocaust. A century later, the world finds itself facing the same issue, where the Congolese people are subjected to unimaginable suffering.
Tags:
Africans,
Antonio Guterres,
automobile,
Black people,
Cabot Corp.,
cell phones,
Charity,
cobalt,
coltan,
Congo,
Congo Week,
Congolese holocaust,
copper,
corporate interests,
diamonds,
Eagle Wings,
electronics,
foreign governments,
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki,
Frantz Fanon,
FreePort McMoRan,
Friends of Congo,
geo-strategic battles,
geo-strategic minerals,
gold,
humanitarian industry,
Japan,
justice,
Kambale Musavuli,
Kemet Electronics,
King Leopold II,
Kwame Nkrumah,
local elites,
media caricatures,
military,
misrepresentation of Africans,
multi-lateral institutions,
multi-national corporations,
natural resources,
New Zealand,
OM Group,
poverty,
Rwanda,
technology,
the Congressional Budget Office,
the devaluation of Black lives,
the Financial Times,
the humanitarian industry,
the mainstream media,
the pilfering of Congo’s wealth,
the United States,
tin,
tungsten,
U.S. aerospace,
U.S. business interest,
U.S. corporate foreign policy interests,
Uganda,
Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland,
uranium,
Western economic and military dominance,
World War II,
“Challenge of the Congo”,
“Final Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo”
Following “Break the Silence” Congo Week, Kambale Musavuli urges the global community, and African-Americans in particular, to revitalize international attention on the Congo as a means of shedding light on the ongoing conflict and harnessing the potential for strong advocacy relationships.
Tags:
"Break the Silence" Congo Week,
cobalt,
coltan,
Congo,
copper,
Cynthia McKinney,
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),
DRC,
eastern Congo,
FreePort McMoRan,
Friends of the Congo,
George Foreman,
gorillas,
Heart of Darkness,
Joseph Conrad,
Kambale Musavuli,
King Leopold II,
Muhammad Ali,
Pambazuka,
Patrice Lumumba,
Rumble in the Jungle,
Rwanda,
tin,
Tom Tancredo,
Uganda,
Zaire
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