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| Congo Basin Rainforest |
I’m Congolese, Congolese and Angolan actually. My mother was raised in Angola where her father is from but was born to a Congolese mother and my father was born and raised in the capital Kinshasa. So you can accurately assume that the news going around about my parents’ homeland has been upsetting.
However, this is not new news to me, whatsoever. To be honest, I don’t think this is new news to any Congolese person.
I’ve been trying to organise my thoughts over the last month or so with everything going on with the world but it’s been hard to find something to say so I’m going to speak on what I know and educate you on the history of my country.
There are two Congos, the DRC and Republic of Congo. The news circulating about the Congolese genocide is about the democratic republic of Congo, previously known as Zaire or Congo belg after its Belgian occupancy.
Congo is in the very centre if Africa, which is home to a majority of the world's natural resources, such as diamonds, gold and specifically lithium and cobalt the materials that are currently running the phone you're watching this video on, that help create cars such as teslas and the laptops we all use for work and school. technically making it one of if not the wealthiest countries in existence yet it is economically the second poorest third-world country in the world.
SOURCES:
Coloured gemstones in eastern DRC: Tourmaline exploitation and trade in the Kivus
Poorest Countries in the World 2023 [Updated December]
Can the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mineral resources provide a pathway to peace?
Because of its rich resources, European settlers were eager to capitalise on profits, despite African merchants previously trading internationally through the silk roads for many years prior Congo was one of the first African nations to be colonised back in 1908 by King Leopold the Second as the land was hot commodity for the growing industrial European nations.
The “scramble for africa”, is the history event of the mass colonisation of African kingdoms which is what formed the border for modern-day African nations that previously were large expansive kingdoms, such as the Bantu kingdom. Ironically Angola and Congo used to be part of the same kingdom but after the Portuguese occupancy of Angolan land, it formed the modern-day country.
SOURCES:
Trade between Western Africa and the Atlantic World in the Pre-Colonial Era
The Philosophy of Colonialism: Civilization, Christianity, and Commerce
The Scramble for Africa James Heartfield
Back to the topic at hand, Congo has never had the oppurtunity to capitalise on it’s rich range of resources and when they did try to well it ended in the way you would probably think with congo’s first prime minister, after gaining indepence, patrice lamumba being assinated only ayear after his election as Congo had gained it’s independence from belgium in 1960, to put that into perspective 1960 was the same year hugh grant, robert downey r and rupaul were born. This was also the same year JFK was elected president of the unites states which is very relevant to congo’s political history that i will divulge in a seperate video.
After Congo’s first leader Patrice Lumumba was assassinated , it was run by dictator Mobutu who with the federal governments support allowed western countries to capitalise and suck dry Congo’s resources whole putting money into his own pocket. 
Mobutu Sese-Soko
This unfortunately bled all the way to the genocide we see in modern day Congo. Congo for decades has been exploited for his resources by western governments and nations, namely by utilising Rwandan and Ugandan militias it’s groups to forcible use civilians that include men women and very often children, due to their smaller sizes be useful for extracting materials from mines for slave labour.
SOURCES:
The story behind Patrice Lumumba assassination
A brief history of Joseph Mobutu’s kleptocracy
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| Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images |
I’ve made a twitter thread where I’ll be adding informative videos and sources to educate yourself more on the current state of congo but in the meantime i want to create more content talking about congolese culture, my family’s own history and hopefully just educating my audience about the beauty of my country to help spread awareness on why it’s so important that we are educated about current matters.
With black friday around the corner, I highly encourage you all to not buy into buying new technologies that let’s be honest in this day an age are not necessary but also you probably aren’t saving much. If you do please buy second hand or refurbished and carry on educationg yourself on not only the unethical mining of cobalt, lithium and other resources in congo but also becoming ore mindful consumers for the betterment of the earth.
The environmental impacts of lithium cobalt and mining
DR Congo: Huge expansion of cobalt and copper mining is ‘wrecking lives’ - news report
Facts about the democratic republic of Congo economy
ADDITIONAL SOURCES:
https://www.icj-cij.org/case/116
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/98-of-black-friday-
deals-werent-worth-buying-last-year-aoIJw3j40Sou
https://e360.yale.edu/features/siddharth-kara-cobalt-mining-labor-congo
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