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Saturday 30 March 2013

The liberation of African minds: a giant step to make


The liberation of African minds: a giant step to make

A friend asked me once if I liked movies and what I liked watching on TV. I replied and said that I had not watched television for the last four years. I didn't elaborate on the reasons that had pushed me to that radical resolution. But what he added summarized most of it.

'A rabbi once said that watching television [or a censored news source – my emphasis] is like opening sewage in your house.'

Many are not aware of which ground they stand on. Harriet Tubman, a black American abolitionist born in 1822, helped to free many among her compatriots from slavery. With a lot of courage, she took enormous life risks to liberate black people during the time when a handful of Negroes would dare to oppose openly the slavery system. To those who praised her for her efforts and achievements, she responded,

'I would've freed many more if they had realised that they were slaves.'

Realising that you are a slave or not free, or simply the fact that you are oppressed or exploited, is the initial step for your liberation, your path to freedom, or recovery of your intrinsic powers. And it is a giant one. Because the power of oppression resides in the ignorance of the oppressed about their inner situation. This reminds me of a big event I attended a while ago in London city where the cream of the establishment had gathered. The keynote speaker delivered a speech which made me understand the working of capitalism. The main message was that being part of its project is the best option you can find around. It's an opportunity to be grabbed with both hands, even if they have to be tied in the process.

Dr Chancellor Williams, in his book 'The destruction of Black Civilization,' explains how Black people came to be what we generally observe today,

'The present-day confused outlook of the African people is the result of centuries of Caucasian acculturation, a quite natural process wherever one people come under the economic, political and social domination of another people. The ideologies and value system of the oppressors quite unconsciously become those of the oppressed, even when the result is demonstratively against themselves. But all other oppressed peoples, whether Indian, Chinese or Japanese, were able to hold on doggedly to their own social racial pride and cultural heritage as the last resource for survival as a people. Unlike the Blacks, they were never completely cut off from this sustaining life-live of every people.'

It could be rightly said that few black people in general and Africans particularly, feel deep-seated in their roots and proud. This small fraction is the one which occasionally raises her voice to condemn aggressors of the motherland when countries like Libya and Ivory Coast are invaded by Western powers. Unfortunately, the majority among Africans, those that Harriet Tubman would refer to as they don't know that they are slaves, will praise NATO's invasion of Libya and France for its military intervention in Ivory Coast, whatever the false justifications of the invaders. These Africans with a mind of slaves will call invaders liberators because of their ignorance.

As Africans, unless our minds become liberated, we will die and the next generation too, without knowing who is killing us, or even believing that we are living while we are in the process of dying. That would really look pathetic. It would be acceptable to succumb to a sudden tsunami which has not given any warning signs, but perishing from slow motion deadly symptoms which could be won over if addressed properly is not excusable.

The liberation of African minds: a giant step to make


The liberation of African minds: a giant step to make

A friend asked me once if I liked movies and what I liked watching on TV. I replied and said that I had not watched television for the last four years. I didn't elaborate on the reasons that had pushed me to that radical resolution. But what he added summarized most of it.

'A rabbi once said that watching television [or a censored news source – my emphasis] is like opening sewage in your house.'

Many are not aware of which ground they stand on. Harriet Tubman, a black American abolitionist born in 1822, helped to free many among her compatriots from slavery. With a lot of courage, she took enormous life risks to liberate black people during the time when a handful of Negroes would dare to oppose openly the slavery system. To those who praised her for her efforts and achievements, she responded,

'I would've freed many more if they had realised that they were slaves.'

Realising that you are a slave or not free, or simply the fact that you are oppressed or exploited, is the initial step for your liberation, your path to freedom, or recovery of your intrinsic powers. And it is a giant one. Because the power of oppression resides in the ignorance of the oppressed about their inner situation. This reminds me of a big event I attended a while ago in London city where the cream of the establishment had gathered. The keynote speaker delivered a speech which made me understand the working of capitalism. The main message was that being part of its project is the best option you can find around. It's an opportunity to be grabbed with both hands, even if they have to be tied in the process.

Dr Chancellor Williams, in his book 'The destruction of Black Civilization,' explains how Black people came to be what we generally observe today,

'The present-day confused outlook of the African people is the result of centuries of Caucasian acculturation, a quite natural process wherever one people come under the economic, political and social domination of another people. The ideologies and value system of the oppressors quite unconsciously become those of the oppressed, even when the result is demonstratively against themselves. But all other oppressed peoples, whether Indian, Chinese or Japanese, were able to hold on doggedly to their own social racial pride and cultural heritage as the last resource for survival as a people. Unlike the Blacks, they were never completely cut off from this sustaining life-live of every people.'

It could be rightly said that few black people in general and Africans particularly, feel deep-seated in their roots and proud. This small fraction is the one which occasionally raises her voice to condemn aggressors of the motherland when countries like Libya and Ivory Coast are invaded by Western powers. Unfortunately, the majority among Africans, those that Harriet Tubman would refer to as they don't know that they are slaves, will praise NATO's invasion of Libya and France for its military intervention in Ivory Coast, whatever the false justifications of the invaders. These Africans with a mind of slaves will call invaders liberators because of their ignorance.

As Africans, unless our minds become liberated, we will die and the next generation too, without knowing who is killing us, or even believing that we are living while we are in the process of dying. That would really look pathetic. It would be acceptable to succumb to a sudden tsunami which has not given any warning signs, but perishing from slow motion deadly symptoms which could be won over if addressed properly is not excusable.

Prevent the the cessation of refugee status for Rwandans fearing return


Please help us encourage UNHCR to reconsider its recommendation that states invoke the Cessation Clause for Rwandan refugees who fled between 1959 and 1998. Such action would put many at risk at a time when the fundamental, durable and positive changes required to invoke the Cessation Clause have not yet been achieved.

Thursday 28 March 2013

Democratic Republic of Congo braced for more conflict

 

Democratic Republic of Congo braced for more conflict

Sultani Makenga strengthens his grip on the M23 rebel group and reinforces his position around Goma
Sultani Makenga
A UN official said: 'Makenga has been digging in, consolidating and going after new recruits. Everything feels very jittery right now.' Photograph: Isaac Kasamani/AFP
The Democratic Republic of Congo is braced for more conflict in its eastern provinces as the warlord, Sultani Makenga, strengthens his grip on the M23 rebel group and reinforces his position around Goma.
Local aid groups and UN officials said that while they welcomed the decision of a M23 faction leader, Bosco Ntaganda, to hand himself in to the US embassy in Rwanda last week and then to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face war crimes charges, it would not make peace between the M23 and the DRC government more likely.
Ntaganda surrendered along with 700 of his followers because his faction had lost decisively to Makenga and he was thought to be in fear of his life. According to unconfirmed accounts, US intelligence facilitated his trip across Rwanda to the embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, while the British and Dutch organised his flight from Rwanda to the Hague.
Since then, a UN official said: "Makenga has been digging in, consolidating and going after new recruits. Everything feels very jittery right now. It's an unstable moment."
The M23 took Goma, on the Rwandan border, last November but its leaders were persuaded by Rwanda and Uganda to withdraw on 1 December. The rebels still hold some of the high ground a couple of miles from Goma airport, close to the camps that house the more than 200,000 people displaced by November's offensive.
Peace talks between the M23 and the DRC government of Joseph Kabila are being held in Uganda and parallel contacts are said to be underway elsewhere in the region, but the distance between the two sides is substantial. Makenga is demanding the full reintegration of his force into the DRC army from which it mutinied last year, and a senior position for himself that would give him control of the mineral-rich North and South Kivu provinces.
The Kinshasa government is prepared to absorb Makenga's estimated 1,500 fighters, but will only accept M23 officers on a case-by-case basis depending on their human rights record, and says it will not will not accept Makenga.

Democratic Republic of Congo braced for more conflict

 

Democratic Republic of Congo braced for more conflict

Sultani Makenga strengthens his grip on the M23 rebel group and reinforces his position around Goma
Sultani Makenga
A UN official said: 'Makenga has been digging in, consolidating and going after new recruits. Everything feels very jittery right now.' Photograph: Isaac Kasamani/AFP
The Democratic Republic of Congo is braced for more conflict in its eastern provinces as the warlord, Sultani Makenga, strengthens his grip on the M23 rebel group and reinforces his position around Goma.
Local aid groups and UN officials said that while they welcomed the decision of a M23 faction leader, Bosco Ntaganda, to hand himself in to the US embassy in Rwanda last week and then to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face war crimes charges, it would not make peace between the M23 and the DRC government more likely.
Ntaganda surrendered along with 700 of his followers because his faction had lost decisively to Makenga and he was thought to be in fear of his life. According to unconfirmed accounts, US intelligence facilitated his trip across Rwanda to the embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, while the British and Dutch organised his flight from Rwanda to the Hague.
Since then, a UN official said: "Makenga has been digging in, consolidating and going after new recruits. Everything feels very jittery right now. It's an unstable moment."
The M23 took Goma, on the Rwandan border, last November but its leaders were persuaded by Rwanda and Uganda to withdraw on 1 December. The rebels still hold some of the high ground a couple of miles from Goma airport, close to the camps that house the more than 200,000 people displaced by November's offensive.
Peace talks between the M23 and the DRC government of Joseph Kabila are being held in Uganda and parallel contacts are said to be underway elsewhere in the region, but the distance between the two sides is substantial. Makenga is demanding the full reintegration of his force into the DRC army from which it mutinied last year, and a senior position for himself that would give him control of the mineral-rich North and South Kivu provinces.
The Kinshasa government is prepared to absorb Makenga's estimated 1,500 fighters, but will only accept M23 officers on a case-by-case basis depending on their human rights record, and says it will not will not accept Makenga.

Congolese women against genocide in DRC

 

Congolese women against genocide in DRC

Congolese women protesting against Rwandan support to M23
Congolese women protesting against Rwandan support to M23 in Goma – Eastern Congo.
"No brutality, no agony, no torture has ever driven me to beg for mercy, for I would rather die with my head high, my faith unshaken, and a profound trust in the destiny of my country, than live in subjection, seeing principles that are sacred to me laughed to scorn. History will have its say one day." Patrice Emery Lumumba
Congolese women denounce consumed and ongoing genocide of their compatriots since 1996. The following is a memorandum which condemns international crimes committed in the DRCongo and neo-colonial policies imposed on local populations.
Congolese women activists at a protest organised in Paris on March 23rd, 2013
Congolese women activists at a protest organised in Paris on March 23rd, 2013. They stand against the inhuman cowardly complicit and racist attitude of the West in front of the millions of their compatriot victims, particularly the thousands of dehumanized raped women.
Recalling the UN SC Resolutions 1325 on Women, Peace and Security; Diaspora Congolese Women stand in solidarity to express our solidarity and our concern for innocent Congolese populations, particularly women and young girls who are living in human insecurity, poverty, fear, hunger and oppression since 1997 in the DRCongo.
We stand united to vigorously condemn the ongoing dehumanization of the DRCongo by the ongoing war of low intensity imposed on the Congolese populations for economic reasons since 1997 by multinational corporations who have orchestrated the world's deadliest armed conflict since World War II, killing more than 5.4 million people in total international impunity.
We denounce and reject the ongoing racist neo-colonial policies imposed on the Congolese populations in attempts to dismantle the DRCongo for the control of resources and to displace local populations from their lands.
We are reminded of the 1884-1885 Berlin conference that partitioned Africa map without the presence of any African individual or representative of communities.
We commemorate the 19th century genocide of Millions of Congolese, perpetuated by the members of the International African Association, under the command of Leopold II of Belgium; who used forced labor to gather wild rubber from vines and enforce quota by the cutting off of heads or hands of recalcitrant Congolese populations.
We recall the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1956 Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that recognise the right of all peoples to exist, to live in peace and dignity, to self-determination, to freely determine their political status, to pursue their economic, social and cultural goals, as well as to manage and dispose of their own resources.
We deplore the crimes committed in the DRCongo since 1997 breach Article 6, 7, 8 of the Rome Statute defined as crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, on sexual violence, (h) on the persecution and forced displacement; and war crimes. The consecutive armed conflicts that are fought in the DRC are proxy wars sponsored by multinational corporations for the illegal access and control of coltan, cassiterite, beryllium, niobium, andesine, europium ruthenium (used in aeronautic and space industry), oil, diamonds, gold, zinc, cobalt, copper, silver, cadmium, uranium, and other rare and new metals of exceptional concentration in the DRCongo's soil. The mining of these natural resources are often undertaken in inhuman and unsafe conditions, by men, women as well as children who are exploited, treated without human dignity and often forced into labour under the threat of guns.
We cite the following reports that detail international crimes committed in DRCongo and Great Lakes Region of Africa since 1994:
-The 2012 UN Group of Experts (Hege) report on the ongoing role played by Rwanda and Uganda in directing proxy militia groups in the DRCongo.
-The 2010 "Mapping Project" report by the UN HCR on serious violations of human rights and international laws committed between 1993 and 2003 in the DRCongo.
-The 2009 Mukwege &Nangini report on Rape with Extreme Violence: a weapon of war, of destruction and displacement in the DRCongo.
-The 2008 report by UN experts showing the involvement of several companies in the financing of the conflicts DRCongo and particular the armed groups.
-The 2005 UN SC resolution 1756 recognising the specific link between illicit trade of natural resources and the proliferation of arms trafficking in the DRCongo.
-The 2006 Lutundula report on illegal mining and contracts in the DRCongo.
-The 2004 UN Security Council resolution 1533, on the illicit flow of weapons in the DRCongo and arms embargo on all foreign and Congolese forces.
-The 2002 Kassem report on the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources in the RDCongo.
-The 1994 Gersony report on mass killings of Rwandan civilians by the Rwandan Patriotic Front led by Paul Kagame.
We decry the neo-colonial and paternalist visions imposed upon the populations of the DRCongo, under the 2013 signed Framework for Peace, Security and Cooperation Agreement drafted without any national consultations in the DRCongo and based on policies that favors the international economic interests of multinational corporations.
We demand the accountability of the five permanents members of U.N Security Council for the 1994 UN SC Operation Turquoise and to demonstrate a political will to end the armed conflicts in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, by organizing effective inter-Rwandan and inter-Ugandan dialogues necessary for peace, security, good governance, economic development and stability in the region.
We call for an end to the legitimization of armed violence as the only accessible route to power in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
We call for increased international efforts to promote regimes that will build strong institutions to end impunity for perpetrators of violence against civilians including rape of women in the DRCongo.
We call for international sanctions to ensure that multinational companies buying minerals imported from the DRCongo should carry out due diligence to international standards to ensure they aren't supporting armed groups and oppressive regimes through their purchases. It is time for reason, morality and human dignity to prevail over financial profits and injustice to enable restoration of peace, human rights, human development and sustainable environment in the DRCongo.
Diaspora Congolese Women immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers from Belgium, Canada, France, South Africa, United Kingdom and United Stated of America.
Our existence begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter for humanity. As long as injustice will continue to constitute the "international agenda and policies", resistance will continue to be the duties of Congolese populations in the DRCongo and the diaspora.
For further information, please contact the following: yabisomag@yahoo.fr, commoncauseuk@gmail.com, fondshalupe@yahoo.fr.
For Diaspora Congolese Women in the U.S.A: Jeanne Kasongo (FondShalupe -Boston) Marie-Jeanne Luyinda Georges (Victory Women-New Hampshire), Bibiane Tshefu (WILPF-New York) Leontine Daliga Lanza (Activist Congolese Woman- Los Angeles), Marie-Jeanne Kirby- Lanza (Atlanta), Jacky Kalonji (Catholic Mothers-Boston), Anne M. Kalonji (Dallas), Claude Kabuya (Boston),
Nita Evele (Congo Global Action-Washington), Marie-Claire Ghonda-Mpanu Mpanu (Washington).
For Diaspora Congolese Women in the U.K: Marie-Louise Pambu (COMMON CAUSE UK -London), Maguy Mayanda (COMMON CAUSE UK- -London)Kongosi Onia Mussanzi (COMMON CAUSE UK-Bradford) Nzita ngma (COMMON CAUSE UK-Manchester) Mina Munga (WILPF Scotland Glasgow), Liliane Mbiki Lando (COMMON CAUSE UK-London), Francoise Lutala Kabe (COMMON CAUSE UK-Cardiff), Esther Muloway(COMMON CAUSE UK-Essex), Carine Mushigo (COMMON CAUSE UK-London) Christine Lilley (UK), Marie-Claire Faray (COMMON CAUSE UK-WILPF UK-London). Me Marie-Thérèse Nlandu (London). For Diaspora Congolese Women in Belgium: Stella Kitoga (FIREFEC Bruxelles), Juliette Kimpiabi (FIREFEC Bruxelles), Marceline Mundela (Bruxelles) and Elena Matundu (GFAIA-Bruxelles).
For Diaspora Congolese Women in the UK France: Elza Vumi (Congo ActifParis).
For Diaspora Congolese Women in the UK South Africa: Me Lola Miteu (Johannesburg).
Reference Documents 

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