What’s next after the movie, Black Panther?

What’s next after the movie, Black Panther?
By Maurice Robinson

“There is a new world coming and that new world is going to come from Africa” – Kwame Nkrumah.

The African world is highly excited for the anticipated Marvel-Disney movie titled the “Black Panther” which leads to the movie outselling every previous superhero film in advance ticket sales. Black Panther is a fictional super hero character created by Stanley Liber better known as Stan Lee. Many sources confirmed that Lee’s inspiration of the Black Panther logo stems from the Lowndes County Freedom Organization’s logo, which emerged from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in late 1965 and was associated with founding members Willie "Mukasa Dada" Ricks and Kwame Toure also known as Stokely Carmichael (https://adeptpress.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/the-black--panthersthe-coal-tiger-and-us/). The Alabama group used the Black Panther as its logo but the image and term was swiftly picked up by western media in 1966 and was then used by a number of organizations, including two in California (Oakland and Watts), one in Chicago and New York City.

Mr. Lee, editor-writer of Marvel comic book superheroes, the Hulk, Iron Man, Spiderman, Thor and the X-Men developed the character, Black Panther in July of 1966. Stan Lee was also inspired by the Civil Rights movement to create the X-men comic. Lee and his partner Jack Kirby used the iconic civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and El-Hajj Malik Shabazz also known as Malcolm X as the inspirations for characters Charles Xavier also known as Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr also known as Magneto, the creators of the X-Men ”(X-Men-Malcolm-Martin). Stan Lee created the characters to fight against oppression that mutants faced in society instead of fighting aliens and criminals. In a 2000 interview Lee stated that the X-Men were “a good metaphor for what was happening with the civil rights movement in the country at that time”(X- Men-Malcolm-Martin). The X-Men mutant heroes used tactics similar to those that were used by King and Malcolm in the 1960s. Professor X strategized a non-violent tactic similar to King and Magneto took more of a defensive stance against violent oppression and prejudice similar to Malcolm.

The era of the 1960s was not only an era of the Civil Rights Movement but also filled with African Independence on the African continent with President Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah achieving independence in Ghana from 1957 to 1966, Amilcar Cabral gaining independence in Guinea-Bissau in 1963, Patrice Emory Lumumba achieving independence in the Congo in 1960 and many more. The backstory of the Black Panther, also known as T’Challa, concerned him and his nation protecting the high-technical advanced society known as the fictional country of Wakanda from European invaders like the supervillain and arch nemesis of the Black Panther, Klaue (Ulysses Klaue), who is the son of Nazi war criminal Colonel Fritz Klaue. In the comics, Klaue was sent to Wakanda to learn their secrets by European Nations and was granted asylum by the Belgium government (Fantastic Four Unlimited #1 (1993), (Marvel Comics). The East-African nation contained and produced a fictional mineral known as the sound-absorbing element of “Vibranium.” As we all know by now from seeing the trailers or the movie of the Black Panther his suit is made with Vibranium that absorbs vibratory or kinetic energy. This mineral is very similar to the Uranium mineral produced in the Congo that was exploited by Western European nations to use for the development of atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan in August 1945 during World War II (New African Magazine: January 2017 pg. 21).

The Black Panther was considered a socialist. As shown in the movie, Captain America: Civil War, there is a scene where the Black Panther states that he does not approve of American politics. Also in the BET and Marvel Knights animation adaptation of the Black Panther, he boldly identifies as a Pan-African socialist (Black Panther animated series: Episode 4, "Death of a Father"). The original concept of the Black Panther was the Coal Tiger, a media term for post- colonial African nations. The term was used in the media metaphorically to represent the first Prime Minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba in 1960. Lumumba, an African revolutionary leader who led resistance against the Belgian colonial government, was also an advocate for nationalizing the resources of the Congo. He was imprisoned, executed and ousted in a military coup backed by the United States of America and Belgium. Let us not forget without neo-colonialism or opportunist puppets, Lumumba would have a hell of a chance of bringing about a Wakanda-like nation in the Congo. The neo-colonialist I am referring to in this instance is Mobutu Sese Seko who served as chief of staff of the army under Lumumba but was taking orders instructed by Belgium and the United States. Mobutu eventually was put in position to deposed Lumumba in 1960. After the assassination of Lumumba, Mobutu transformed the Congo into a ruthless dictatorship nation called Zaire funded by western nations from 1971 to 1997.

Likewise in the animated BET series by writer Reginald Hudlin, The Black Panther which aired in 2010 during sleep hours when the show would likely have lesser viewers, portrayed a character named M’Butu who literally was portrayed to represent the likes of Mobutu (Black Panther animated series: Episode 4, "Death of a Father"). M’Butu was a villain of Black Panther who was backed by Western governments to overthrow the Wakandan leader but failed. M'Butu was also the Prime Minister of Niganda, a fictional country neighboring Wakanda. He was an authoritarian leader, violent with his people and proceeded to barbaric actions, such as purges against doctors (http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Panther_Vol_4_8).

It appears that Lumumba and the Black Panther have 3 main things in common:
1. Protecting their African nations from European governments, more specifically the Belgian government.
2. Having the same goal of maintaining their land and minerals independently for Africans and “Wakadans”.
3. Both being Pan-African socialists with the main goal of keeping their nations free from the exploitive system of capitalism and imperialism.

Minerals like cobalt and coltan that we use today exploited from the Congo is utilized to create the high-tech images that we see in the Black Panther movie. The same minerals make it possible for us to view, share and enjoy pictures and social media posts on our Androids and iPhones. Coltan is a black tar-like mineral found in major quantities in the Congo. The Congo possesses 64 percent of the world's coltan and it can become a heat resistant powder that can hold a high electric charge. The properties of refined coltan is a vital element in creating devices that store energy or capacitors, which are used in a vast array of small electronic devices especially in mobile phones, iPad, tablets, handheld video game devices, laptop computers, pagers, and other electronics (http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/resource-center/coltan.html). Cobalt is a shiny metal that is a result of the mining of nickel and copper and is found primarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC is the largest producer of cobalt in the world, producing an estimated 60% of the world's supply. It also has the largest reserves of cobalt with about 50% of the world's reserve of cobalt. Cobalt is used in two key sectors, military and industry. In the military sector it is vital for the functioning of jet engines and in the commercial industry sector it is critical for rechargeable batteries (http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/resource-center/coltan.html).

This leads us to the technology question of why is it now that we have a Black Panther movie. The answer is due to the advancement of technology. Actor, Wesley Snipes stated that he had high hopes of bringing the Black Panther to the big screen in the 1990s but failed to do so due to the lack of technology representing the fictional country of Wakanda on the big screen. Snipes reached out to black directors to help develop the film, one in particular, John Singleton. Snipes stated “I laid on him my vision of the film being closer to what you see now: the whole world of Africa being a hidden, highly technically advanced society, cloaked by a force field, Vibranium. Also at the time, we were so far ahead of the game in thinking, the technology was not there to do what they had already created in the comic book” (http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/02/01/wesley-snipes-opens-couldnt-get-black-panther-made-1990s/ ). Due to the setback of technology, Snipes continued to press on with the motion picture, “Blade” about a black vampire hunter superhero (http://atlantablackstar.com/wesley-snipes-opens-couldnt-get-black-panther-made-1990s/). The 1998 film brought in a profit of $131 million worldwide and helped Marvel to get out of debt and put an end to their 1996 bankruptcy. Blade led the way for the Marvel Comic Universe and gave birth to movies like Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and ultimately the Black Panther. Hence, the cobalt and coltan exploited from the Congo which the fictional country of Wakanda is based on produced the seeds for the movie, Black Panther to be developed. Actress `Lupita Nyong’o who plays Nakia, Black Panther’s love interest in the Black Panther movie stated “ Wakanda is such an exciting world to be in. Like none other we have ever seen. What would Africa look like if it was not colonized? I hope the audience leaves thinking about if they can be citizens of Wakanda” (Lupita Nyong'o “Loves Physical Challenge” of “Black Panther” | E! Live from the Red Carpet, YouTube). This transitions us to what is next after we all see the movie Black Panther and how can we see Wakanda in reality and how can we see the new world that is going to come from Africa as Kwame Nkrumah stated. Some are attempting to strive for the reality by creating petitions pressuring Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Company to donate 25 percent of the profits from the movie to STEM programs in the black community. Moreover, a lot of us were already in the struggle prior to the movie working to get our people to live and experience a real Wakanda by reclaiming our home of Africa for the Africans which can only be done through the means of creating political educational organizations and study groups. Yes, we do see the Black Panther as a king who inherited the mantle of Black Panther from his father, King T’Chaka but please do not let this refocus our view that one person can alleviate the masses out of the oppression of capitalism and imperialism. Kwame Nkrumah stated “The total liberation and the unification of Africa under an All-African socialist government must be the primary objective of all Black revolutionaries throughout the
world” (Nkrumah 88 Class Struggle in Africa).

When we turn our attention to the recent 2018 film adaptation of The Black Panther we have to clearly understand that this movie is not representing the previous comic book version nor the Reginald Hudlin’s BET (Black Entertainment Television) animated series of The Black Panther. The first inconsistency of the movie begins in the year of 1992 with the father of The Black Panther, King T'Chaka traveling to Oakland, California to visit his brother, N'Jobu. Ulysses Klaue portrayed as a Black market arms dealer in the movie infiltrated Wakanda and stole vibranium, and T'Chaka accuses N'Jobu of assisting him. N'Jobu's friend reveals himself to be Zuri, an undercover Wakandan who is a spy. T’Chaka exposed his brother working with Klaue, who in the original comics was the Black Panther’s main nemesis, we do not see this in the movie. In the movie we see T’Chaka’s brother, N’Jobu working with Klaue to use vibranium to create weapons to provide to Africans in America to start a revolution against their oppressors. Yes, I know this sounds confusing and misleading due to N’Jobu working with Klaue, who is a colonizer in the comics, to bring an African revolution in America. Once T’Chaka exposes his brother, N’Jobu, N’Jobu becomes defensive by attempting to kill the Wakandan spy, Zuri (who is portrayed by actor Forest Whitaker) but failed to do so after being murder by his brother T’Chaka (the main Black Panther, T’Challa’s father). We have in the first scene of the movie, black on black violence, furthermore black family violence which sets the tone for the remainder of the movie. However, we do have quick scenes of T’Challa along with his beautiful African female bodyguards, the Dora Milaje, fighting Klaue and European enemies but these scenes last for approximately 30 to 45 minutes out of a 2 hour and 15 minute length motion picture.

After these scenes, the movie takes a dive when C.I.A agent, Everett Ross teams up with The Black Panther to take down Klaue. The Black Panther and Ross fail to take down Klaue due to T’Challa’s cousin, Erik Stevens Killmonger, son of N’Jobu who also was not related to T’Challa in the original comics, breaks Klaue free from the constraints of The Black Panther and C.I.A agent Ross. Once Klaue is free, 10 to 15 minutes later in the movie, Erik Killmonger who is played by Michael B. Jordan turns against Klaue and murder’s him and delivers his corpse to Wakanda. From this scene on throughout the entire movie, black on black violence occurs until literally the end of the movie. As the movie carries on, the viewers begin to realize that Killmonger is trying to carry out his father’s goal of a African armed revolution against oppressors but is eventually prevented by The Black Panther and C.I.A agent Ross shooting down aircrafts with weapons being delivered to Africans in the diaspora. Furthermore, viewers come to another realization that the villain Killmonger is the revolutionary not the Black Panther who was a revolutionary in the original comics and Hudlin’s animated BET series. In one scene, Killmonger attempts to persuade The Black Panther to use Wakanda resources to free Africans in the diaspora but The Black Panther denies Killmonger’s request and later murders him. During this scene when The Black Panther murders his cousin, Killmonger, Killmonger states “Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, because they knew death was better than bondage”.

In relation to the scene of Killmonger attempting to persuade The Black Panther to use the resources of Wakanda to liberate the masses of Africans on the continent and the diaspora, I want us to focus our attention to a another quote from, Kwame Nkrumah, “We have to be able to develop our great resources of Africa fully for the well-being of African people as a whole (Nkrumah, Axioms of Kwame Nkrumah). In the final scene of the movie, The Black Panther travels to Oakland, California to the apartment building where his father, T’Chaka killed his uncle, N’Jobu, to purchase the building and transform it to a STEM foundation for black inner-city youth. Are you kidding me? The richest superhero in comic book history who is worth well over a trillion dollars kills his cousin who wanted to create a African revolution with Africans in the diaspora decides to build a STEM facility in Oakland, California, the birthplace and home of the real Black Panthers, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. In the bonus scene after the credits, The Black Panther gives a speech at the United Nations declaring that Wakanda will share its resources with the world while agent Ross was smiling. Also, please do not forget that this movie was release on February 16th, a day before Huey P. Newton’s birthday on February 17th. To add insult to injury, during the scene when T’Chaka murder’s his brother in his apartment in Oakland, the viewer will see a poster of Huey P. Newton in the background on the wall of N’Jobu’s apartment.

In conclusion, overall this Marvel Black Panther movie produced by the racist cartoonist, Walt Disney’s company named after him, Disney, was a counter-revolutionary film. I suggest Black Panther fans to stick with the comics and animated series. Furthermore, if readers and Black Panther fans of African ancestry want to bring about a real Wakanda in Africa, we must organize, unify and free Africa from colonialist like Klaue, Imperialist Western European nations and Neo-Colonialist puppets. In order for a real Wakanda to exist in Africa as a whole, us as Africans must create a union of African states on the continent, eliminate artificial boundaries in Africa that were created by imperial powers and finally as Kwame Nkrumah stated “If we do not formulate plans for unity and take active steps to form political union, we will soon be fighting and warring among ourselves with imperialist and colonialist standing behind the scenes and pulling vicious wires, to make us cut each other’s throats for the sake of their diabolical purposes in Africa (Axioms of Kwame Nkrumah). This is what the Marvel Universe and Disney Company did with our beloved African superhero movie and also what the COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) did with the real revolutionary organization group known as the Black Panther Party. We must unite and organize to bring about a real Wakanda in Africa.
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Sources:
https://adeptpress.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/the-black-panthers-the-coal-tiger-and-us/
http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/02/01/wesley-snipes-opens-couldnt-get-black-panther-made-1990s/
http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/01/31/lupita-nyongo-hopes-black-panther-will-help-many-envision-
africa-look-like-never-colonized/

http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/
https://libyadiary.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/46691356-axioms-kwame-nkrumah.pdf
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Panther_Vol_4_8
www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/03/xmen.legacy.go/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtTjpOZEccs
Class Struggle in Africa, Nkrumah, Kwame
New African Magazine: January 2017

Adam Branch Tackles The Kony Issue

Adam Branch
Senior Research Fellow
Makerere Institute of Social Research

March 8, 2012
Kampala, Uganda
From Kampala, the Kony 2012 hysteria is easy to miss. I’m not on Facebook or Twitter, and I don’t watch YouTube—but over the last twenty-four hours, I have received dozens of emails from friends, colleagues, and students in the US about the video by Invisible Children and the massive on-line response to it.

I have not watched the video. As someone who has worked in and done research on the war in northern Uganda for over a decade, much of it with a local human rights organization based in Gulu, the Invisible Children organization and their videos have infuriated me to no end—I remember one sleepless night after I watched their “Rough Cut” film for the first time with a group of students, after which I tried to explain to the audience what was wrong with the film while on stage with one of the filmmakers.

My frustration with the group has largely reflected the concerns expressed so eloquently by those individuals who have been willing to bring the fury of Invisible Children’s true believers down upon themselves in order to point out what is wrong with this group's approach: the warmongering, the self-indulgence, the commercialization, the reductive and one-sided story they tell, their portrayal of Africans as helpless children in need of rescue by white Americans, and the fact that civilians in Uganda and central Africa may have to pay a steep price in their own lives so that a lot of young Americans can feel good about themselves, and a few can make good money. This, of course, is sickening, and I think that Kony 2012 is a case of Invisible Children having finally gone too far. They are now facing a backlash from people of conscience who refuse to abandon their capacity to think for themselves.

But, as I said, I wouldn’t have known about Kony 2012 if it hadn’t been for the emails I’ve been receiving from the US. I have heard nothing about Kony 2012 here in Kampala because, in a sense, it just does not matter. So, as a response to the on-line debate that has been going on for the last couple days, I want to explain why, from here, Kony 2012 can be ignored.

First, because Invisible Children is a symptom, not a cause. It is an excuse that the US government has gladly adopted in order to help justify the expansion of their military presence in central Africa. Invisible Children are “useful idiots,” being used by those in the US government who seek to militarize Africa, to send more and more weapons and military aid, and to build the power of military rulers who are US allies. The hunt for Joseph Kony is the perfect excuse for this strategy—how often does the US government find millions of young Americans pleading that they intervene militarily in a place rich in oil and other resources? The US government would be pursuing this militarization with or without Invisible Children—Kony 2012 just makes it a bit easier. Therefore, it is the militarization we need to worry about, not Invisible Children.

Second, because in northern Uganda, people’s lives will be left untouched by this campaign, even if it were to achieve its stated objectives. This is not because things have entirely improved in the years since open fighting ended, but because the very serious problems people face today have little to do with Kony. The most significant problem people face is over land. Land speculators and so-called investors, many foreign, in collaboration with the Ugandan government and military, are trying to grab the land of the Acholi people, land that they were forced off of a decade ago when they were herded into camps. Another prominent problem is nodding disease—a deadly illness that has broken out among thousands of children who grew up in the government’s internment camps, subsisting on relief aid. Indeed, the problems people face today are the legacy of the camps, where over a million Acholi were forced to live, and die, for years by their own government. Today’s problems are the legacy of the government’s counterinsurgency, which received full support from the US government and international aid agencies.

Which brings up the question that I am constantly asked in the US: “what can we do?”, where “we” tends to mean American citizens. In response, I have a few proposals. The first, perhaps not surprising from a professor, is to learn. The conflict in northern Uganda and central Africa is complicated, yes—but not impossible to understand. For several years, I have taught an undergraduate class on the conflict, and although it takes some time and effort, the students end up being well informed and able to come to their own opinions about what can be done. I am more than happy to share the syllabus with anyone interested! In terms of activism, I think the first thing we need to do is to re-think the question: instead of asking how the US can intervene in order to solve Africa’s conflicts, we need to ask what we are already doing to cause those conflicts in the first place. How are we, as consumers, contributing to land grabbing and to the wars ravaging this region? How are we, as American citizens, allowing our government to militarize Africa in the name of the War on Terror and securing oil resources? That is what we have to ask ourselves, because we are indeed responsible for the conflict in northern Uganda—however, we are not responsible to end it by sending military force, as Invisible Children tells us, but responsible for helping to cause and prolong it. In our desire to ameliorate suffering, we must not be complicit in making it worse.

Long Live the Spirit of Floribert Chebeya

We are outraged by the loss of Floribert Chebeya, a champion for human rights and justice in the Congo. Indications are that the repressive Kabila regime is increasingly extinguishing the voices of the people as the regime looks to maintain power by any means.

Listen to Radio France Internationale (RFI) reports on the assassination of Congolese Human Rights activist, Floribert CHEBEYA BAHIZIRE. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1291835&id=1252894080&comments&alert#!/video/video.php?v=402579444658

Mr. Chebeya's assassination is part and parcel of a climate of impunity that pervade Congolese society, which has resulted in the systematic murder of journalists and human rights activists under the regime of Joseph Kabila. An independent investigation with the full participation of civil society and the parliament is a bare minimum.

The Cause of Death of Chebeya to be known in 3 to 5 weeks:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hFs-EjJvIysW4oR4LlwyxF_ZmGGw

Congolese Grassroots Undertake a Month of Activism to Culminate in the Burial of Chebeya on June 30, the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of the Congo
http://friendsofthecongo.org/pdf/floribert_en.pdf (English)
http://friendsofthecongo.org/pdf/floribert.pdf (French)

Message From the Human Rights Community of the DRC
http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/pressreleases/chebeya_human_rights_collective.php

A Song For Floribert Chebeya
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdnz65_une-chanson-pour-floribert-chebeya_news

Huffington Post Journalist Says Next President Must Address Congo Crisis

The current tragedy in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not an "ethnic conflict," as reported by the US State Department and seconded by the candidates. It is a proxy war, fueled by international competition for the vast mineral wealth of Congo.

Over ten years of war propagated on a scramble for the vast resource wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo has intensified in recent weeks as "rebel" leader General Laurent Nkunda (CNDP) intensified his offensive against the regular Congolese army (FARDC) and threatened to take the city of Goma, headquarters of MONUC, the United Nations Mission to Congo.

Read entire article and make comments so that the Huffington Post can continue to report on the Congo in an in depth manner.

Who jendayi Frazer Should See and What She Should Say

It is reported that Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer was heading to Kinshasa, Congo and would arrive today. She issued a statement on yesterday warning Nkunda's rebel group not to take Goma, capital of the North Kivu province of Congo.

We believe that Secretary Frazer's first stop in the region should be in Kigali to speak to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. According to La Libre Belgique, rebel Leader Larent Nkunda is also in Kigali convalescing from an illness or injury. She should deliver a clear message to US Allie Rwanda that they should immediately stop supporting Nkunda in the Congo and cease once and for all the destablization of Eastern Congo. Far too many people have died and suffered as a result of Rwanda's intervention in the Congo. Moreover, she should make it clear to Kagame that its time to genuinely participate in a political process that would result in the return of the Rwandans who are now in the Congo.

The United States has considerable leverage on Rwanda and can play a decisive role in bringing this conflict to an end. There is no way that thousands of rebels should be allowed to hold millions of Congolese hostage because of the backing from Rwanda.

Rebels in Congo Continue to Wreak Havoc

The situation in eastern Congo is beyond the pale. Due to the fact that the world community and the key players in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa have not fully and comprehensively addressed the root causes of the conflict in the Congo. At the root of the conflict as the scramble for Congo's spectacular wealth.

When Rwanda and Uganda first invaded the Congo in 1996 and again in 1998, the invasions unleashed what the United Nations calls the deadliest conflict in the World since World War Two. Several peace accords later and the holding of historic elections in 2006 have not brought peace and stability to the beleaguered people of the Congo. This is in large part due to the fact that the world community has not demonstrated the will to put the necessary pressure on Paul Kagame of Rwanda to cease his support of rebel groups in the Congo. In addition, the international community's rush to install a weak government that would provide unfettered access to Congo's wealth but not the ability to mobilize a nation to properly deal with its historic challenges has compounded the problem.

The prescriptions for resolving the conflict have been clear for quite sometime now but they require the political will of the global community and they include the following:
1. An understanding that there is no military solution to the conflict. A political solution must be sought.
2. Pressure must be put on Rwanda to stop its support of Launrent Nkunda's rebel movement in the Congo. Rwanda continues to benefit from instability in the Congo.
3. A peace process that engages Rwanda, Uganda, Congo and the Rwandan Hutu rebels in the Congo
4. The creation of political space inside Rwanda that will accommodate disparaged groups in Congo
5. The creation of a system that punishes perpetrators of crimes against humanity, particularly the outrageous rapes of women and children. The climate of impunity in the Congo must be stopped now and the global community can play a constructive role in this process.

Latest News:
Thousands of protesters attacking UN in east Congo

UN: Rebels fire rockets at peacekeepers in Congo

DR Congo rebels seize army camp

Congo Accuses kagame-Nkunda Collaboration

The Congolese government formally accuses Rwanda of what many people already know. Bloomberg news quotes the Congo government as saying that Rwanda is visibly supporting rebels in the Congo. Congo's foreign minister, Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi told the United Nations Security Council that Rwanda's actions are ``in flagrant violation of all the processes in progress'' to end fighting in the region. (Read entire article>>)

The State Department has chimed in but you will hardly hear Rwanda or Kagame mentioned in any of their proclamations as Kagame is a long-time client of the U.S. who will not come in for an admonition or pressure whatsoever.

Congo Issues

Peace Process in Danger:
1. Political dialogue increasingly seems the only way of resolving the problem of Rwandan militias in eastern Congo
2. Congo Advocacy Coalition Update
3. Update on Protection of Civilians in Eastern Congo’s Peace Process


Carter Center:
1. Mining Review Press Release
2. National Public Radio Report on Chinese Presence in the Congo
3. Bloomberg report on China in the Congo


Virunga Park and the So-called Charcoal Mafia:
1. Fox-Owned National Geographic Uses Gorillas as Cover for Exploitation of Congo


Greenpeace:
1. Conning the Congo Report
2. Carving Up the Congo (Video)

Rethinking the Congo: A Dedication to Daniel Boteti

By George Bakaly Sembe

After a 15 year « exile », I have been back in the DRC for exactly 16 months, given my age (29) it is not surprising that in that span of time I have learned more about my country than when I was watching it from afar. From the corruption to the lack of leadership and capacity to lead what I have seen is far more complex, I still can’t comprehend it fully, than anything you can be told in the West. We spend so much of our time discussing the symptoms of Congo’s malady that we tend to overlook its root causes. In my view it is not colonialism, or neo-colonialism the former is an historical fact that can no longer be used as an excuse almost 50 years after independence, the latter along with interventionism from different external interests is a symptom rather than a cause, the true source of our woes is the rot within our society, it is deeply rooted in our tendency to never do the right thing, our tendency to never look for the greater good, our tendency to believe that, a messiah will come down from the heaven and fix our mess for us. One of my favourite quotes from Lumumba says: “...to make you forget that you were a man they taught you their hosannas and made you believe that one day good white god will come down from the heavens and free you...” my personal experience in the DRC in the last year and a half has lead me to believe that Congolese have forgotten that they were men.

We do not believe in our own agency, a couple of years back we let the “international community” or the West, lead us to peace and through a fraught electoral process and today we believe that it will be the Chinese who will save us by building us roads and bring us “development” in all this we have accepted that the destiny of the Congolese people does not lay in the hands of Congolese. This national trait of ours translate into two things, because we hope that someone with “superpowers” will come and save us from ourselves we, collectively as a people, suffer from what can best be described as a “messiah syndrome” at one time Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Gwendu Wa Za Banga was that messiah, then it was Etienne Tshisekedi the self proclaimed “leader maximo” after that came the turn of Mzee Laurent Desire Kabila, who was succession was bitterly contested by his son Joseph “Momemi Maki” Kabila and Jean Pierre “Mwana Mboka” Bemba with the former winning that battle by TKO. Back in Mobutu’s time his proponent claimed that everything that was good and right about Zaire as the country was known then was a credit to Mobutu, his opponent of course opined that everything was wrong about the country and the blame lay at the “Leopard’s” hands, current Minister of Infrastructure Pierre Lumbi who was minister of foreign affairs in the brief Tshisekedi I government in 1991 said “the problem of Zaire is Mobutu” well today 10 years after Mobutu died, the DRC still has problem and H.E. Pierre Lumbi hopes that the Chinese will solve it.

Today, it is the same thing the country is divided in two, Pro-Kabila who argue that the fragile peace in DRC is due, ONLY, to Kabila and anti-Kabila who blame all the ills of the country on the “Rais” and believe that Bemba and, or Ngbanda, like Tshisekedi yesterday, are the answers to all our problems, in all of this there is never an hint of inward inspection and no one takes a step toward making things better, yesterday we said “once Mobutu goes, everything will be better” today we say the same thing about Kabila, everything will just magically fix itself, no one has a plan how we just hope that we can wish that into happening.

Two events in the past week illustrate that peculiar Congolese attitude, on 30th June we celebrated our independence, I organised a football game in the town of Lemba, there was easily 700 people in attendance and though I did not utter a single word about my values or belief I automatically became known as “leader” even though I did not show any ability to do that, but these people are so desperate that they are in the search for leaders, they have lost all hope so it is easy for them to convey all their aspiration into any one who cares to accept that. Be it Mobutu, Laurent Kabila, Bemba or Joseph Kabila, we do not look at their ideas we accept them simply because they allow us to put all our burden, the burden of an entire society onto their shoulders though they could never deal with it alone.

In that Faustian bargain, the “leader” is merely asked to help his “followers” get by, he is asked to permit them to hope, he is never asked to lead, ideology is not required in exchange he is treated like a King, he becomes the archetypal African “Big Man”. Jean Pierre Bemba called his troops “my children”, Mobutu called himself “the father of the nation”, Mzee Laurent Kabila was the “liberator” and his son has brought us “peace, stability and prosperity” can you imagine any Western leader adorning such superlatives?

In my case, I realized that to my new “fans” I was the one who could bring in a job or whichever solution was needed for their problems, those people never took the time to introspect and think about what they could do for themselves, and this creates a corrupted relationship between leadership and the people whereby it is the latter that fears the former rather than the contrary, as a result the country and its meagre resources are managed in a manner characterized by a tendency to think in the short term and to exclude the masses.

The second event occurred this week end as my friend Daniel “Danou” Boteti , the Vice-President of the Kinshasa Provincial Government, was shot down by soldiers in the Ngaliema municipality. Danou four months shy of his 30th birthday leaves behind two children and a pregnant wife. What is revolting about his death is that his murderers; troops belonging to the Republican Guard, that is the President’s Praetorian guard, have been known to wreak havoc in the same neighbourhood for at least as long as I have been here, beside Danou at least 4 people I know have been attacked by these thugs in the past 6 months, the security services believe that they kill at least two people per day. Yet nothing has been done to stop them, we all try to arrange our lives in such a way that we won’t be caught outside our own neighbourhood between the hours of 10 PM and 5 AM. So the people do not demand that this situation be resolved and the authorities do not act on it, rather the presidency asks members of his cabinet to move out of the neighbourhood. Thus in an extraordinary show of incompetence the Government acknowledges its inability to secure a suburb in the capital city, we acknowledge the inadequacy and incapacity of our own agency and therefore we do nothing.

This is why we must rethink the Congo, we must engrain in our society a belief in self-help and self reliance, we must awaken from our collective slumber and ask ourselves what we can do, individually, to make our country better, Kabila’s departure like Mobutu’s will not be the answer, it is up to us all to create the conditions that can allow a just, peaceful and prosperous society to flourish and this we the people, and only we the people, can do for our country.