Geography Archives: Congo

The people are living in a situation of chaos and despair, deprived of security and essential resources such as housing, food and medicine. The Congolese people, who have long suffered the horrors of war, bloody conflict and the atrocities of colonization, are plunging into an even darker period.

Ottawa has stayed silent on Rwandan aggression while continuing to back Africa’s most ruthless regime led by Paul Kagame.

Lumumba had seen hope in the African diaspora to invest what capital and skills it had in building the Congo. Arghiri Emmanuel made similar recommendations to Antoine Gizenga, Lumumba’s former deputy prime minister who led the rebel socialist Free Republic of Congo from December 12th 1960 to January 1962.

Writing about Arghiri Emmanuel’s Unequal Exchange, Jairus Banaji noted that it is “the closest Marxist counterpart I can think of to Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth”.

In order to allow for a deeper understanding of the ongoing conflict in the Congo today, this newsletter presents an analysis of the resource theft and processes of imperialism and colonialism that have long plagued this part of Africa, including the fight over raw materials that are key for the electronic age.

The DRC’s vast mineral wealth contrasts with its extreme poverty, caused by exploitation and conflict. The dossier emphasises sovereignty and dignity, echoing Congolese activists’ visions for freedom.

Siddarth Kara’s book exposes the exploitation behind the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The European Union has sanctioned five members of different armed groups operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including the spokesman for the M23 militia. It did not, however, sanction Rwanda, Uganda or the Rwandan and Ugandan presidents, despite decades of UN Group of Experts reports that the militias operating in the eastern DRC are largely Rwandan and Ugandan, though they typically claim to be Congolese.

Much attention is paid to the ongoing environmental crises engulfing the regions of South Asia, North America, and Europe, and rightfully so. The global climate crisis—as well as environmental injustice generally—is contiguous and virulent. But much less attention, however, is paid to the ongoing ecological crisis of Africa; the mother of all civilization.

‘The Cry Is “Lumumba Lives”—His Ideas, His Principles’

On 17 January 2021, we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961).

The Great Lie about the Rwandan bloodbath opened the door to a far larger genocide in Congo and justified U.S. military interventions all over the planet. During a recent campaign event, Florida Senator Bill Nelson said, “That story of Rwanda is very instructive to us because when a place gets so tribal that the two […]

Genocost asks that nations formally recognize August 2nd as Congo Genocide Commemoration Day.