ARTICLES

Wake Up My D. R. Congo, Recreate Yourself

“This article has incorporated some ideas from the books: Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freiro, and Existentialism is Humanism by Jean Paul Sartre. These are the books that have inspired me to write this article.”

A society that does not recreate itself is more dead than alive. This is the case with the Congo. From 1960, the year in which Congo got her independence; there have been a number of unreasonable wars that has left the country in total depression and despair.  When Lumumba, the Congolese freedom fighter and great hero in the history, officially announced the independence of his nation there emerged a lot of forced violence. The so called ‘les martyrs de l’independance’were killed due to the violence that took place at the period, that is from the 1959 to the 1960s. They stood courageously and violently to demand for their right. I think this was not the right way to do so, but that was for them the available means to go with as Franz Fanon would buttress. They thought that by fighting these colonials they will obtain independence and lead their country toward great development as sung in their national anthem. What these people fought for was the freeing of their nation from oppression. In the 1965 the very first president of D.R. Congo, Kaza Vumbu, was overthrown by Mobutu Sese Seko, who is seen as the great oppressor of the Congolese politicians and citizens in general.  When he came into power, people thought that he was going to lead the country towards grand growth. This remained at the level of illusion. After him, there came Lauren Desire Kabila, who was not only a man of big ideas but of great actions. He wanted the resources of Congo to be fully enjoyed by the Congolese themselves. Many may deny, but he aimed at that because during his time the economy was stable and things started working out. This was a man who would have led the country toward something greater than what it is today. In 2001 this marked the homecoming of our misery. Kabila came in power and officially announced the renaissance by planning what he called, ‘les cinq chantiers’. He promised to reconstruct the nation and make sure that everyone accesses their basic needs. This for me remained in the level of ideology. There are people today in the vast forest who cannot meet the basic needs such as adequate health care, food, security, shelter and good quality education. That is why at the international standard Congo is referred to as ‘a failed nation’. This is shameful to all the Congolese citizens.

Congo is a country that is full of great intellectual people and enormous resources that can enrich its population. I personally view it as a paradise. But, its people are experiencing what I can describe as ‘hell on earth’ due to the unreasonable greed of their representatives. Those who think that their existence is necessary have deliberately decided to make others experience wretchedness.  

There is a lot that is taking place in the country that needs to be addressed. Due to the selfish pursuit of power of its leaders, people are being killed in the East and other parts of the heart of Africa. This happens because the power they are after is not the one of empowering and enriching others but acquiring as much resource as possible for themselves. These people, who are being forsaken, asked those who can be heard to speak for them no one have strongly spoken from the international level; they have stood up themselves on the streets to say ‘enough is enough’. And that is why they are being killed and threatened. This is something that needs to be condemned. How do you expect someone who wakes up in the morning and does not know where to start from or where he/she will end the day, to stay calm and not demonstrate? Those who support the oppressor are the people who have been fed with enough soup in form of money in order to keep silent and act as if nothing is happening. Actually, we should stop being indifferent to our own brothers and sisters’ cries. Those who demonstrate and ask for good leadership are not after anyone but equal share of the common wealth. They fight so hard that their children may go to school and be provided with quality education, meet all the above mentioned basic needs, and have good means of transport and communication within their nation’s boundaries. If they ask for those who can be heard to speak for them to do so, they are not doing because they fear to be killed, since those who tried are no longer among the living or sent to exile.

It is our duty to speak for the voiceless whose hopes and expectations have been thwarted. It is when we understand what it means to be oppressed that freedom can be pursued. Since the year 2017 to date, Congo has been through all sorts of calamities that have left unforgettable marks in the history. The people who have supported the acts done by the leaders in Congo are those who enjoy the resources of the country to better their nations. I humbly ask, without offending anyone, that our government should pay attention to the needs of the population. These are people who are snacking through the borders of other nations just to find how to survive. They are therefore referred to as ‘refugees’. I think we should be ashamed to have refugees in the world, though many will say that it is the fact of life. I say that it is not the fact of life. We are not born refugees. We get refugees due to our selfish motives and unconcerned spirit for the human race. Why do we run after power when we do not empower others? Nelson Mandela once said, ‘a successful leader is not one who leads against his people’s will, but one who empowers others to do the same just as he did’. Let this article not be misinterpreted as an attack, but be looked at as an appeal for us to act with humanity in mind. For our leaders who have not paid attention to our plea, may they wake up from their willed dogmatic slumber and embrace the challenge. People have suffered and they need to be alive, not dead. Our population deserve respect than witnessing blood every day. I think they have seen enough, and if we are willing, we can end this.  All this occurs due to the self-deceiving attitude of those who think that they are necessary i.e. the world cannot do without them. Thus, they end up treating others simply as objects or means to meet their ends instead of looking at them as members of one family. Among those who treat others as objects are the Christians who go to Church and believes in Christ’s message, yet Christ is regarded as the great moral teacher. We have to imitate Christ who came to restore our lost dignity. I would like here to speak like my highly estimated moral teacher philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. He speaks of human dignity which he traces from Descartes’ ‘cogito’. The “Cogito ergo sum; I think therefore I am; Je penses donc je suis”. This is the indubitable truth that is self-sustaining. Sartre writes, “The man who discovers himself in the Cartesian cogito, does not only discover himself but discovers others as a condition to his existence. Under these conditions, the intimate discovery of myself is at the same time the revelation of the other as a freedom which confronts mine...” (J-P Sartre,Existentialism is a Humanism, p. 53). When our leaders choose to stay in power forever and do not at the same time serve their populations, they are therefore misusing their power and becoming a hell to the entire country. This is exactly what is happening in Congo. People are lacking what we may call the ‘necessary basics’ while the few are becoming richer than the entire country. Surely, how can you, only one individual, keep on growing richer and being happy at the suffering of the others? I think it is time for the Congo to look back and restore their dignity, because she is referred to as a ‘nation of crooks’. I therefore call for the ‘renaissance’. People should be given their rights. What is wrong with us?

For peace to prevail, the leaders should avoid the oppressing attitude and know that they are leading their own people who have suffered throughout history. The approach should be natural, yet functional within each structure. People need someone who can restore their dignity, give them hope again, and ensure that they meet their basic needs. I, personally, do not find any rational reasons to say that only few individuals should enjoy the wealth of a given nation while the rest of the population experience misery. I wish those who amass more resource than what they actually need could know how it feels like when you empower and enrich others.The sad situation is that the dictator will always think of oppressing others in order to be happy, yet they will never be happy. If a heartless person is the leader, he/she would not mind of other people’s cry. They only see themselves.

We cried for the independence, but are we truly independent?  We have instead become hell to ourselves. People are no longer working for the good of all but personal. We cannot develop, because those who are in the so called big positions are not for the whole but individual. Even if it is said that man is for himself, it is in this understanding that he also lives for others. When choosing for himself, he also chooses for the entire world. We can see how the choices made by some of our people affect the country. They chose to say no to the colonials so that they may lead their own people toward something greater than themselves. We collectively said no. After saying no to the colonial powers, we are the ones now becoming burdens to our own people. Why this? Let us not preach freedom, development and many other good terms without being ourselves promoters of those values. This is what the Congolese leaders should know. They attend both national and international meetings; they give good speeches yet find it hard to practice what they preach. Are they not right to refer us as ‘a failed nation’? I will not allow my grief overtake me. It is those who have been burnt or oppressed will understand how it feels like. Even those who have not experienced these things can identify with the oppressed if they understand what it means to be human. God will punish us if we try to be indifferent to the misery of our brothers and sisters. What will we gain after amassing all that the earth contains? The day we will experience death’s sting we will realise how vanity is the world.  

 Jose Nixon Litako Belengo a Mill Hill Missionary Student, at PCJ.