By Kilaika Anayejali kwa Baruti
The Congo has been kissed by Mother Africa herself. The Congo is her heartbeat, being the very
center of all her existence, located in Central Africa and surrounded by nine
other countries. The land of the Congo
is rich and plentiful just like the rest of her. It is full of vast resources and the most
beautifully skilled people that she birthed to care for the land, which is a
natural law that they possess. It is
even more so natural that they should benefit from her by giving her continuous
life and shall forever bask in all her glory.
However, this has unfortunately not been the case. As beautiful and harmonious it could all be,
it is not, although everything is as plentiful now as it has always been for
centuries. It is because over centuries
as in other countries in Africa the land and the people have been
exploited. This must end.
The Congo is a land that is rich with resources such as;
petroleum, potash, lead, zinc, copper, phosphates, gold, magnesium, cobalt,
industrial diamonds, gem diamonds, coal, silver, timber, uranium, natural gas,
and hydropower. The main minerals that
the Congo are also rich in that are commonly being mined today are cassiterite,
coltan, gold, and tungsten ore also known as wolframite. These are her minerals. This is her blood. Let us not forget the rubber which has mounds
of exploitive stories to tell. The Congo
is also known for its production of things we love such as coffee, cocoa, tea,
and sugar. If ever a place was blessed
or to be called an Eden we could call it the Congo.
Colonization had been the monster that plagued Mother Africa
and the Congo specifically. Indeed, I
say, yes it still does till this day. The Congo’s first encounter with this parasitic
beast came in the form of “Explorers” as they would call themselves. They bore the face of the Portuguese in
1482. They had an increasingly
stronghold on the Congolese people. Using
Christianity as one of the biggest methods they managed to keep this grip. Once they baptized King Nzinga Nkuwu on May
3, 1491, it was pretty much a wrap and later his son King Alfonso I. The way of the colonizer is to destroy your
way of life and give you what you think is his, which he will prove is more
beneficial than your primitive ways. It
is this way that the people are manipulated.
Getting the people to believe what you want them to believe creates a
place of submission. This tactic has
proven to be very affective. Three
centuries later these Portuguese “Explorers” ran up on Brazil in what they
called, “discovery” and begin to transport over 300,000 slaves to Brazil from
the Congo. The Portuguese were extremely
happy with the rights they possessed as time went by over their mining rights
that they established in the Congo. My,
what wealth they weaved. Things however
started to turn the corner when the first revolt took place spear-headed by a
Congolese woman by the name of Kimpa Vita.
Under the leadership of this bold African woman the Congolese people
refused to give the Portuguese more mining rights and it resulted in the Battle
of Mbwila. Over 20,000 Congolese fought
this war with the Portuguese, but for them it was a loss battle. At the same time the Dutch were moving in
which created dismay for the Portuguese.
The Dutch wanted their bite out of the Congo as well. The Congolese more so took sides with the Dutch
to help aid them in their struggle against the Portuguese and so they did gain
their independence. Even though Kimpa
was revered as nobility by her people and victory was declared, she was later seized
by her enemies and condemned for being a witch although she was baptized in the
name of Christianity bearing the name Dona Beatrice. Just the idea that she had the ambition to
wage battle against her oppressor was a sentence to burn.
Amid the quest of Europe’s need for power, which had them
warring with each other, the Congo and its resources continued to suffer. As a result of the Berlin Conference the
French prevailed as the victors gaining control of Congo’s raw materials and at
the time the highest commodity was rubber, palm oil, and cotton. This fight between the French, Belgian, and
the Portuguese led to the French gaining control of the Northern sector of the Congo
while King Leopold II privately owned the area that is now known as the
Democratic Republic of Congo. The now
one man show that featured King Leopold resulted in the most horrific
atrocities known to mankind against mankind.
So many men, women, and children suffered unimaginable torture, again in
the name of Christianity. King Leopold’s
greed for wealth somehow justified inhumane treatment to people often referred
to as savages, the Congolese people. Belgian
soldiers without any moral consciousness hunted people and were known for
cutting off limbs such as hands and feet collecting them. This is just a small example of the wide
scale torture the people suffered at the hand of Leopold. He was criticized by his equally vicious
peers around the world for these atrocities.
They labeled him a monster. In King
Leopold’s rubber collecting expedition he managed to create a death toll of ten
million people. The land he controlled
was annexed to the British Parliament on Nov 15, 1908. Not really changing the situation for the
Congolese people. It was merely an
exchange of European power which continued to rule over them. The Germans also had their hands in on the
exploitation of the Congo with the introduction of the French granting them,
through trade agreements, the laying of the German railway and it resulted in
the death of over 23, 000 more Congolese.
These lives loss was a direct relation to forced labor. Forced labor was abolished in 1946 because of
the pressure that the U.S. was putting on the French about its colonial
policies. The world was taking notice,
not because they cared about the lives of the people, but again because they
wanted a piece of the pie. This is a
reflection of World War II.
Riots broke out in a place called Leopoldville and Stanleyville
resulting in Congo’s independence. The
struggle for independence named Patrice Lumumba as it prime Minister. Patrice Lumumba a great African, a
revolutionary, and a freedom fighter waged tireless struggle for liberation. He echoed the fact that History will
one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris,
Washington or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in
the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write
its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a
history of glory and dignity. Because of it he suffered tremendously. He suffered unjustly, just as Kimpa did. Lumumba pushed very intensely for all foreign
powers to be removed from the Congo. He
was aided in his quest for liberation with arms and weaponry from the USSR. Many were not happy with this. The C.I.A. infiltrated and aided in the overthrowing
of the government and the unlawful arrest of Prime Minister Lumumba along with making
sure he was tortured severely. He was
dismissed from office on September 5, 1960.
He was viciously murdered in January of 1961. Those that continued the war cry of Lumumba fought
continuously in rebellion.
One known rebellion was the Simba Rebellion, which gained
control of at least half the country, but Belgian troops were sent in to destroy
the rebellion. After five years of
unrest Mobutu declared his self president in 1965 and was elected president
officially in 1970. Between the times of
Congo’s independence up until now there have been so many episodes of corruption
and scandals that have taken place in the name of democracy. Yet we know and what we must continue to
confront is the fact that we know it is indeed a struggle of conflict minerals
and diamonds that create these neo-colonialist leaders that sacrifice the lives
and livelihood of the people to satisfy their own thirst for wealth by aiding the
foreign powers who seek to continue to monopolize off of the resources and will
never care about the lives of the people of the land.
There now is continuous struggle and unrest today in the Congo
over the production of minerals such as coltan, gold, and ore. These natural resources are those that are
used in technological products across the world. Products such as cell phones, laptops,
computers, and phones are somehow more important than human existence. The everyday products that come a dime a dozen
and that are so readily available to be gobbled up at every moment by billions
of consumers across the globe that are oblivious to the realities that goes
into making these very products or that simply choose to ignore the fact
because consumerism is far more important than humanism.
In short there are military forces in the Congo, militias in
the Congo, and leaders that know this market has an immeasurable dollar amount
on it, as foreign interest want, need, and have to suck these raw materials up. The only people that are paying the price are
the people that suffer tremendously and yet reap no rewards at all. They only die. The only thing the people of the Congo see is
death from this reality. In a recent
supposedly Democratic election Joseph Kabila was declared President. Civil war has broken out in a country that
that says the elections were stolen.
They say the election was unjust.
Tshisekedi’s stance echoes that the results were unjust and attempted to
declare his self president.
I must mention that
this is a man that aided in the overthrowing, imprisonment, and torture of
Lumumba. The Carter Election Monitoring
Center issued that the results were mismanaged as well. As a result of it all people have taken to
the streets in protest throughout the world and in the Congo. Men and women have been abducted from their
homes and manhandled. I can safely say
that this, as any many cases, has proven to be a question of power play. I can say that I firmly believe that neither
party holds the interest of the people at bay.
I can safely say that the abuse of power is clear and evident in the way
that the military and the militias treat the people. It is also clear that the people of the Congo
have never reaped the benefits of these resources and that the President elects
don’t have any interest to make sure that they do in the future.
It is my hope, and it is my hope because I know that it is
the only solution, that African people throughout the world stand up collectively
against Capitalism and Imperialism. It
is this driving component, these outside corporations and industries that are
the catalyst for the chaos. It is they
who bid the highest bid for the resources and by this they lay the framework of
exploitation. When the people denounce Capitalism
and Imperialism as one voice, African people, they can begin to collectively
organize themselves to say, “Hey we will control our own resources. We will not sale and exploit each other for a
dollar. We will collective fight against
you if you try and take our resources.
We will not allow you to continue to do this to us and our children that
come after us.” African people must get
organize and come to control the means of production and reap the benefits of
the labor. The crisis in the Congo is one
that African people throughout the world must be concerned with.
It is our responsibility to ensure that our brothers and
sisters know that we stand in solidarity with them. Yet we must organize the battle. We must organize the masses to aid us in this
struggle. We must consistently expose
the plight of our enemies and show the people how our enemies hold no love for
us. We must continue to expose these
Neo-colonialist puppets that run for presidents and call filling their pockets
democracy. We must show the people that
we will at all time safeguard Mother Africa.
She is our breath and we must make sure that she is breathing
properly. The only solution is a Unified
Socialist Africa, an Africa that serves the interest of her people. We call on you brothers and sisters to create
the reality of Pan-African Internationalism, for it is the way to organize the
Proletariat (working class) to total liberation! UHURU DAIMA!
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