#Congolese liberation now

[profound-thots]

a link to an article with more info 🍉🇵🇸🐄

[adropofhumanity]

the 10 crises the world must not look away from:

1. SUDAN

24.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid. a still-escalating war brings sudan to the top of the watchlist. fighting has more than doubled humanitarian needs in less than a year and displaced 6.6 million people- bringing the country to the brink of collapse. more people are internally displaced within sudan than in any other country on earth. in darfur, human rights groups have reported mass killings and forced displacement along ethnic lines.

2. PALESTINE

3.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid (gaza and the west bank). gaza enters 2024 as the deadliest place for civilians in the world. i*****i airstrikes and fighting have had a direct and devastating impact on civilians that will continue to grow as hostilities persist into early 2024, at least. with more than 18,700 palestinians killed, 85% of the population displaced, and over 60% of gaza's housing units destroyed, people living in gaza will struggle to recover and rebuild their lives long after the fighting ends.

3. SOUTH SUDAN

9 million people in need of humanitarian aid. the war across the border in sudan threatens to undermine south sudan's fragile economy and could add to political tensions in the run-up to the country's first-ever elections. meanwhile, an economic crisis and increased flooding have impacted families' ability to put food on the table. a predicted fifth year of flooding could also damage livelihoods and drive displacement.

4. BURKINA FASO

6.3 million people in need of humanitarian aid. as the burkinabè military struggles to contain armed groups, violence is rapidly growing and spreading across the country. roughly 50% of the country is now outside government control.

5. MYANMAR

18.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid. the conflict in myanmar has spread significantly since the military retook political power in 2021. 18.6 million people in myanmar are now in need of humanitarian assistance - nearly 19 times more than before the military takeover. myanmar has seen decades of conflict, but in oct. 2023, three major armed groups resumed clashes with the government. over 335,000 people have been newly displaced since the latest escalation began.

7. MALI

6.2 million people in need of humanitarian aid. dual security and economic crises are driving up civilian harm and humanitarian needs. conflict between the military government and armed groups will likely escalate.

8. SOMALIA

6.9 million people in need of humanitarian aid. somalia faces heightened conflict and climate risks after a record drought. more recently, widespread flooding has displaced more than 700,000 people and will likely continue into early 2024.

9. NIGER

4.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid. a coup in july 2023 triggered massive instability that risks a rapid worsening of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country.

10. ETHIOPIA

20 million people in need of humanitarian aid. communities across the country are facing the twin threats of multiple conflicts and the likelihood of el niño-induced flooding. the nov. 2022 ceasefire between the government of ethiopia and the tigray people's liberation front (TPLF) continues to hold in northern ethiopia, but other conflicts, particularly in the central oromia region and in amhara in the northwest, are fueling humanitarian needs and raising the risk of a return to large-scale fighting.

11. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

25.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid. weak state capacity has exposed many congolese to one of the world's most protracted crises, driven by conflict, economic pressures, climate shocks and persistent disease outbreaks. now, a resumed offensive by the M23 armed group is driving up conflict and humanitarian needs. the country enters 2024 with 25.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance - more than any other country on earth. the magnitude of the crisis has strained services, created high levels of food insecurity and fueled the spread of disease.

— via my.linda__ on instagram

[pumpacti0n]

Reading the room

"A prevailing sentiment is that now is not the time to criticize Biden because SCOTUS & the Heritage Foundation have declared war on the left & Project 2025 - the White male Christian Evangelist mission - which was, in part, tested on a few African regimes in exchange for "aid" - is finally coming home to roost, so "vote blue no matter who!"

We should seemingly ignore every lie, every 2000 lb. bomb, every weapon shipment, and the literal piles of dead & obliterated bodies we've seen every day for the past nine months because if we criticize Biden or point out the Dem party's complicity in genocide, it will complicate what we must defend against in November.

Nevermind the illegal settlements and land grabs in the West Bank, the torture and abuse of Palestinian hostages, nevermind the under-counted death toll, the expanding war, the disdain for international law, the ceasefire ploys to continue the genocide, the lies direct from the president's mouth, nevermind the added funds that Biden and democratic mayors across the country are giving to militarize the police and build Cop Cities because November is just around the corner.

Now is not the time to point out what Dr. King, Assata Shakur, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture and so many of our revered elders have told us about "liberals", or to bring up Fannie Lou Hamer's "Nobody is free until everybody is free", or to point out that Biden is opposed to expanding the court, or that the Dem Party elite endorsed candidates to run against Black progressives that called for a ceasefire, or that actual climate defenders have abandoned Biden, or that he has "green-lit" more oil drilling than his right-wing predecessor...

The prevailing sentiment is that we should forgo any leverage we may have as voters, that this is no time to demand more from our handlers, we should let them kill or exploit as many Palestinians, Congolese, Haitians, South & Central Americans and Asians as they want because we got an election coming up in November and if we don't ignore what these same blue folks are doing in our names outside of the country and vote blue, the red ones are gonna take away our rights at home.

Now is not the time to educate voters on the Dem Party's center right policies or to point out how a coalition of progressive 3rd party candidates could carve a path for citizens to actually achieve the policies they dream of and break the corporate hegemony, or to point out how a mass social movement, already underway, could be mobilized to force the power out of the hands of those who hold it over our heads, pointing to what we should fear from the other side, while making zero concessions to our demands.

Now is not the time to make demands or correlations between the fight against the gender binary & the readily accepted political party binary. Now is not the time to educate, push, or think, now is the time to fear!

Now is not the time to point out that Black Americans comprise 25% of the world's prison population and that the policies that imprisoned them were drawn up by Biden and imposed by Clinton. Now is not the time to bring up the Clinton's involvement in Haiti, or Obama's war crimes in the Middle East. Now is not the time to bring up the Middle East or America's imperial agenda readily endorsed by both parties or to acknowledge it as part of white supremacist ideology.

Now is not the time to learn any lessons from the "mask-off" moment that would align anti-Zionism with antisemitism, or to question the US military's role as the world's largest fossil fuel consumer, or to question what game the Biden administration is playing with Israeli billionaires to facilitate greater mineral extraction in the Congo. Now is not the time to think globally or to connect the dots between what its imposed on the global majority for our so-called comforts at home.

Now is not the time to understand what LandBack means in relation to climate, colonialism, genocide or to make any amends, right any wrongs, redirect our agendas, beat down corporate or foreign lobbies...No, no, no! Now is the time to fear.

Now is not the time to hear how you sound, to point out how you got got, to remind you that you could actually transform society if you decided to hold a meeting tonight, to call your friends and family, to organize, create think tanks, food banks, community policing organizations* that force out the men in blue (the silent partners in your ..."no matter who" slogans).

Now is not the time to point out that the bloodbath you're avoiding is already overflowing with blood, that your self-centered focus is exactly what the bloodthirsty expect from you so that they can carry on with business as usual, or that you've allowed fear to diminish your concerns to the point of voting for business as usual."

[source]

[ptseti]

ZIONISTS IN HAITI & AFRICA!

Zionism, a political ideology that many say has hijacked Judaism to pursue settler-colonialism in occupied Palestine, does not end at the borders of the state of Israel. Zionist businessmen Gilbert Bigio and Dan Gertler cast a shadow over the economies of Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and occupied Palestine.

Bigio’s business in Haiti, the GB Group, has been involved in ‘infrastructure development’ projects, telecommunications services, oil and gas, and real estate ventures. That has raised questions about Zionist interests in a predominantly African country struggling to overcome the legacies of colonialism and foreign intervention. Bigio, born in 1935 to a Sephardic Jewish family in what is now Syria, is considered a de facto leader of Haiti’s Jewish community and is an honorary consul to Israel. Like many other Zionists, Bigio is reportedly not religious but participates in Jewish cultural activities.

Similarly, human rights activists have criticised Gertler for disregarding environmental and human rights standards as he does business in the DRC. The United States imposed sanctions on Gertler in 2017 for human rights abuses and corruption. However, Israeli financial media outlet @TheMarker claims to have a recent recording of Gertler admitting he skirted those sanctions to pursue a $1.5 billion mine in the DRC. Gertler was born in 1973 in Tel Aviv, learned the diamond trade through his father and grandfather, and started a diamond business after completing mandatory military service.

Since the late 1800s, foreign forces have collaborated with Congolese leaders to exploit the heart of Africa, worsening existing socio-economic disparities and fueling violence. More than 7 million people are internally displaced in the DRC while conflict rages in the country’s eastern provinces.

In this video, TikTok creators iamlaurachung (of @theslowfactory) and @kevin.ug make the connection between Zionist entrepreneurs like Bigio and Gertler and our liberation struggle.

[jyndor]

we as us american voters need to stop obfuscating about whether or not we think kamala harris will be materially different from joe biden on palestine. we must acknowledge that a vote for kamala is a vote for a genocidal administration, while of course a vote for trump is a vote for another genocidal administration - but one that is not actively committing genocide. whether or not a trump administration will hypothetically be more genocidal is important but needs to be contextualized by the very real and current genocide being committed by the biden administration. hypothetical or reality? that's what we must contend with, and what liberals and democrats are yelling at palestinian americans and their allies to ignore.

the dnc wouldn't even let a palestinian american speak - not even one of their choosing. not even a TOKEN. they do not care about palestinians, they won't even say their names. they and congolese people, sudanese people, haitian people etc barely even got a MENTION from most speakers. delegates and attendees stuck their fingers in their ears literally to keep from hearing the protesters. these people may even have sympathies - statistically speaking they do - but what do they do with their relative access? nothing.

don't get it twisted, I know in my gut that trump will not stop the genocide, and I know that he will commit genocidal mass deportation which absolutely IS genocidal. there are very legitimate reasons to not want trump to win if we care about genocide. obviously I do not want him to win which is why I have been begging the dems to appeal to the broad demographics of their own base of voters who do not support the genocide in gaza.

but I am tired of seeing americans act as if we have to vote for kamala to defend palestinian lives - for which there is no tangible evidence. go ahead, vote for kamala - I believe in strategic voting. but all my life I have seen democrats drag themselves right. I have no reason to believe that kamala harris will be any different, not just because I don't believe she wouldn't actually be able to be any different than obama or even biden, but because democratic voters have given me absolutely no reason to believe WE as a collective will behave any differently during a kamala harris presidency than we did during joe biden's or barack obama's, etc.

we will lie to ourselves and get defensive and punch left as always. we will feel safe to go to brunch and take our eyes off of the government because they're dressed in our team colors.

the truth is we value our civil liberties more than we value the lives of others. because voting alone isn't going to do much at all - but if we have ever shown any history of backing our votes up with direct action and mass mobilization, I would feel a lot more confident in our ability to push kamala left. I think she is susceptible to pressure. but I don't think that pressure is coming.

the problem is that we will not do that. and we will be back in 2009, and it's really maddening but I also do not see a good alternative because if I do not want to vote to enable genocide then that means trump too. we have to be ready to work within our communities to push back against deflection and obfuscation from liberals.

I am not an accelerationist, I think trump would be a grave disaster for the world. I also am not deluding myself about who kamala is. she will be president of the united states and that means she will be the most powerful person in the world. memeing about her girl bossing or whatever is distasteful when she is currently second in command of a genocidal administration.

there cannot be no honeymoon period if she wins. but there will be - and we will have to deal with OBVIOUS PSYOPS trying to sow discord between marginalized groups globally and domestically while our government continues committing genocide in multiple places in the world.

but also... just remember that none of us started out with the politics we have now. don't accept liberal nonsense but also don't engage with it if it's just online dunking shit. that's something I've learned over the past year or so. they're really scared and they should be. if you're in real life community with them, that's very different- but we have to learn to communicate better (this is what fd signifier talks about in a video recently).

[ryn-holt]

So I’ve been trying to make a clearer statement about how I feel about liberals who stay silent on the multiple genocides happening, but then will try shame you into voting for Biden.

One thing that makes me extremely emotional about it is the willful ignorance of it all? The acting like this is a small party disagreement, like student loans or tax reform. This is bodies, this is genocide plain and simple, so if you don’t want to seem like a privileged asshole you need to admit that. And I’ve noticed that the vast majority of posts don’t. They don’t admit what they are asking what you are voting for.

When the world is having a global movement of pain and suffering, and we are now deciding what is ok. If we are ok with our freedoms and safety at the very express oppression of others. Which of course is nothing new, of course this is America one of the biggest colonial powers in the world. A country built on the bodies of Native Americans and on the backs of black people. This country isn’t new to oppression of all types.

But we are seeing a mainstream agreement of ‘This is enough. I don’t want my comfort and safety at the expense of others.’ And when you come against that, you gotta know how you look.

I don’t want a Trump second term. I’m trans, I’m autistic, but I also understand that I’m white and I’m not the one who’d get screwed over the most.

I guess what I’m saying is, if you’re truly think that the best way to help Palestinian, Congolese and other peoples is by voting for Biden, then go vote. But blind support of a President doesn’t make him rethink any his policies. It gives him incentive to do whatever the fuck he wants because he knows he has supporters. By attempting to shut down any conversation (whether you mean to or not ) you’re uncritically supporting essentially a race to the bottom.

Because I hate to tell you guys this but, if Trump doesn’t win this, he’s going to try again. Any if he is by some chance dead or in jail, someone worse is going to run. Where do you draw the line? Where do you say, lesser of two evils is all fine and good but I can’t support this anymore. Or will you always follow the Democrats simply because at least they’re not Republicans?

Voting at this point is a stop gap it’s by no means the solution. Our government is headed becoming more fascist by the day and voting for Democrats doesn’t stop that. What are you doing outside of voting for Biden? Are you calling your representatives? Are you protesting? Are you organizing? Or is voting the only thing you have in your bag?

Because I’ve noticed that when people do talk about voting for Biden no matter what, they have no further ways to help. Which is something leftists get clowned on for all of the time. If you actually want people to vote for Biden you need more than shame and fear. People have completely lost hope for change, what are you doing to bring that hope back?

If you genuinely want people to vote for Biden you have to show some hope, some real proof that if they do their voices will be heard. What a lot of people see is a lose lose game, it’s no wonder that they want to break the game. You need to admit why people don’t want to or have conflicts about voting for Biden, and have an honest conversation with yourself and other people.

I want to believe that we can change the system, that we won’t always have to dread Election Day for the rest of my life. When you are asking people to vote for Biden, are you genuinely looking to change the system or just simply uphold it for your own convenience?

[communistconsumerist]

The S in S&M Stands for Surveillance: How #Girlboss Feminism Thrives Through the Sex-bot 

Sell your sex, doll—be dynamo! Encased in Thierry Mugler’s “superrealist” masterpiece—metallic in its conception, Hajime Sorayama-ified in its eroticization—Zendaya’s techno-Venus seems to scream just about that and nothing more. Blood diamonds, reaped and gathered by Congolese children, trickle down her plexiglass body, smudging all that is silvery about her skin with streaks of success. The actress seems to have superbly #girblossed her way into fame. Hence, she can embrace her sexuality now like never before! It is clear: She is the Standard—a fem-bot that has “made it”. Sans the stripper-bot facade that the model in Mugler’s ‘Cirque d’Hiver’ (as Thierry "Manfred" Mugler titled his couture collection) performed on the catwalk, however—wearing the same bodysuit underneath a dress, torn off in haste, plaguing peepshows through terrorizing binaries set between human and artifice—Zendaya’s 2024 reconstruction of the sex-bot falls into the consumable traps of conforming eroticism.

Traps Mugler’s winter circus refused to replicate.

Yet, times have changed since then, and sex dolls have become the new feminist sexy. Consent is king, and participatory pornography is liberating. Screening the hot and hustle of womanhood through fashioned surveillance has made of clothing new confinement. 

At first sight, Mugler’s clothed cyborg may not align with Donna Haraway’s—author of A Cyborg Manifesto—illegitimate robo-offsprings of papa patriarchy. These successors reject the marital exchange of bestiality in favor of hybridizing the machine and the organism, eliminating essentialist understandings of humanness, and mediating translations of sex into genetic engineering and reproductive technologies. Thus, they are removed from the sciences and technologies that thrive in their ardent reproductions. Ardent reproductions, in the sense that medicine is dependent on military power, which is dependent on the government, which is dependent on the media, which is dependent on fashion—all of which are controlled by papas (also: the phallus). Mugler’s robot has transparent windows—the flesh underneath being her nipples and breast fat, her stomach and legs. Her chest cherries are furthermore circled with metal, adding extra emphasis to the lactiferous ducts once necessary for breastfeeding, now simply sexy.  

Unlike Haraway’s genderless cyborg, the she-bot is a wearable prosthetic—a femmed up version of hypervisible femininity. A depiction of classic womanliness made shiny with Sorayama-varnished lac. A fetishized She, wearing windows for the scopophile.  

Yet Mugler’s she-bot moves. She poses.  

Where Sorayama’s sex-bots display themselves to be looked at—merely appearing, not acting—Mugler’s she-bot mimes the magnetism of the stripper next door, imbued with the intention to attract attention of the phallus while simultaneously policing it. Distinctly mechanical, her striptease unsettles the divide between artificial intelligence and “biological” desire, unsettling the papa and killing the boner. Instead of giving the she-bot a second, Mugler foregrounds her performance of the fashion piece instead. She disrobes herself—subjects herself to being ogled—and prostitutes her body to inorganic materialization. To the likes of Walter Benjamin, this has always marked fashion’s relation to the body, yet the she-bot's sex-appeal succumbs to that of a different inorganic than peters buoy up from. Her mechanical frame has another raison d’être, rendering visible the performance of fashion and its close kinship to materializing the female body and its various transformations—making the She an object, triumphing over Her death while actively defying Her mortality. She gazes in reflection and looks back.  

Much like feminist theorist Craig Owens sees the peep show to be an inversion of the patriarchal Panopticon, Thierry Mugler’s couture shifts “the gaze” and steers surveillance. The designer was known for transforming his women into insects and robots of various kinds, forging breast plates out of molded plastic, and creating stilettos out of steel. He would exaggerate the femaleness of his models with exoskeletons—similar to that of the she-bot—attaching handlebars to bustiers, and turning models into multitasking motorcycles and motorcyclists. As long as he had bodies to work with—those that could act out his grotesque imageries—the designer would play the role of a playwright. He would sculpt shapes that were infernal in their inauguration—consistently becoming, downgrading, and regenerating. His theatrics would embrace drag artists as well as “the overweight” and “elderly”. Individual identity is absorbed into cloth, after all!

The essence of Mugler body lies not in its surface, but in its heights and cavities—a body that is becoming, as Bakhtin would put it. In Thierry's collections, women's sexualites are performed rather than made innate. These performances are ones of “untrustworthiness” that stage the surveillance camera opposite to the sex-bot, capturing the peeping Tom instead of patriarchy’s prostitute.  

In ‘Cirque d’Hiver’ she emphasized the staged-ness of sold sex. Now, on the sand-covered red carpet, she swims upstream the patriarchy and sells her sex on the socking great stage.

Blood rushes through the penis once again. The women have won! 

So has Zendaya, clad in Mugler’s metallic robo-armor, whose sheer plexiglass inserts ever-so teasingly unveil another bodysuit. Stepping into the premiere of Dune: Part Two, re-engineered with prostheses, the actress is physically pruned into the role of sand warrior Chani, personifying the #girlboss said character represents. Because as much as she appears in the phantasies of the phallus, Paul—around whom the narrative of Dune is strap(ped)-on—she is a fighter, a strong independent woman, who happens to be perplexing and peculiar enough to the extent she can be desired, and made into a fellow’s porn-tasy. Such independence is interlaced within the actress' selfhood as well, who has now stepped out of the image Disney once set out for her, covering her bareness with concrete cotton and conflict diamonds she has worked her way up for to pay. She can finally take charge of her sexy! 

...We have yet to let go of the phallus.  

Next to her co-star Anya Taylor Joy—whose character is inspired by matriarchal cult leaders, as Catholic as they come—it becomes even more evident what image of womanhood is deemed to be congestible these days. Nobody desires a nun whose selfhood is pinched within the precincts of tradition (even if she is wearing archival Dior). Yet where Zendaya does not bare herself to mislead the phallic gaze into a performance of staged sex, she sells her sex as an individual act of liberation—one that does not operate against Owens’ Panopticon, but rather Sorayama-ifies itself to become a fetish. Her necklace, shimmering shinily against her silver frame, only highlights how alienated the superstar is from her erotic capital. One she has staged to be economic and social. Where being an individual has centered itself to be of most importance when it comes to self-formation—as opposed to Dior’s veiled marking of an agency that regulates itself within a collective conceptualization of devout femininity—sexual emancipation has reorganized the fashioned body into a consumer practice. A practice based on individual action, or so they say (the papas). Yet this “action” has sprung out in the minds of surveilled subjects who have disciplined themselves to internalize their own hypervisibilities. Minds that are ever-so aware of the gaze, ever-so traditional.

Where Zendaya’s sex operates around a type of self-branding—in which eroticized clots of cutis are framed within individual parcelization—she is ultimately hustling! Within this scopic regime, her tinman body is removed from its perfomative context and once again made to-be-looked-at. All she is, then, is plate pieces of metal—to be sold in a market that thrives on erotic evaluation, and to gain. The cracked chunks of children's cuticle, and the droplets of sweat within her diamonds may be as segregated from her sympathy as her girlbossism is, given her self-sexualization thrives on bodily competition and corporeal commodification. Both are situated in a consumer system where women’s difficulty to stabilize their symbolic and economic value is solved through sexual self-value—made individual, but catered to the cock. Objectifation, made feminist, only benefits the Shes that gain and are successful.

Ultimately, the only winner is the man.  

Startling as this is—Mugler’s she-bot has both defied and acquiescenced, shriveled the phallus and made it swell. Ultimately, she marks the template sadomasochist—both in her positionality within the panopticon, and with her sexed performances of the self (in all its organicity and artificiality). Time will tell if she manages to break out of her current surveilled confinement, but in the meantime she will continue to stage herself with all her silvery sheen. What Zendaya’s resignification of this boundary breaking She has come to show then, is what #girlbosses do best! To thrive within the patriarchy is to challenge the phallus—only when defiance sells.  

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Works referenced: 

Ekardt, P. (2020). Benjamin on Fashion. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350076013 

Greer, K., Kane, L., Leonard-Rose, M., Morrison, M., Staveski, C., Freeburg, R. S., Couch, N., & Bench, H. (n.d.). Spectacles of agency and desire: The grotesque body. Spectacles of Agency and Desire: Dance Histories and the Burlesque Stage. https://scalar.usc.edu/works/spectacles-of-agency-and-desire/the-grotesque-body.2 

Haraway, D. (2013). A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the late Twentieth Century. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203955055-16 

Owens, C., Bryson, S. S., & Watney, S. (1992). Beyond Recognition: Representation, Power, and Culture. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA21071736 

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Related readings: 

Illouz, E. (2021). The End of Love: A Sociology of Negative Relations. John Wiley & Sons. 

Morrison, E. (2016). Discipline and Desire: Surveillance Technologies in Performance. University of Michigan Press. 

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[votava-records]

Tikanga - - - Fulu Miziki Kinshasa Music Warriors

Fulu Miziki is a collective of artists who comes straight from a future where humans have reconciled with mother earth and with themselves. This multidisciplinary collective of artists is based in the heart of the Congolese capital city Kinshasa and was founded by Pisko Crane. For several years now, it’s founder Pisko has spent an amount of time conceptualizing an orchestra made from objects found in the trash, constantly changing instruments, always in search of new sounds. Couples of years ago, Pisko Crane joined efforts with performing artist Aicha Mena Kanieba who, with Le Meilleur, DeBoul, La Roche, Padou, Sekelembele, and Tche Tche formed the Eco-Afro-Futuristic punk ensemble Fulu Miziki. Making our own performance costumes, masks and instruments is essential to their approach of Fulu Miziki’s musical ideology. Their unique sound supports a pan-African message of artistic liberation, peace and a severe look at the ecological situation of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the whole world. For Fulu everything can be recovered and re-enchanted.

[beardedmrbean]

DR Congo has declared Rwanda's shooting of one of its fighter jets an "act of war", amid mounting tensions.

Rwanda's government said it took "defensive measures" against a plane that had violated its airspace - a claim denied by DR Congo.

Although the plane landed safely, this is a major escalation following months of conflict in DR Congo, which has forced 400,000 people from their homes.

DR Congo, the US and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel group.

Rwanda has denied this and blames the Congolese government for the unrest in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo.

In the 1990s, Rwanda twice sent troops into its much larger neighbour, sparking a huge conflict involving at least nine countries that led to the death of millions of people.

Africa Live: The latest updates from around the continent

Why Kenya's army is joining the DR Congo conflict

Images shared on social media show a Sukhoi-25 aircraft being shot at while flying at low altitude between the towns of Goma in DR Congo and Gisenyi in Rwanda, which straddle their common border.

Other images show water being used to put out a fire on the plane's right wing after it landed at Goma airport. DR Congo says the plane suffered no "major material damage".

In a statement, DR Congo's government accused Rwanda of "sabotaging" the implementation of a recent peace process agreed upon by the opposing sides in recent talks.

The Information Ministry went on to say that DR Congo "reserves the right to defend its national territory and will not be threatened".

"The government considers this umpteenth attack by Rwanda as a deliberate action," the ministry said.

However, Rwanda said this was the third incident involving a Congolese fighter jet in its airspace and asked its neighbour "to stop this aggression".

Last November, another Congolese Sukhoi-25 jet briefly landed at Gisenyi airport in Rwanda. Kinshasa said the fighter jet had "mistakenly landed" there.

Could this lead to war?

This is the closest the two countries have come to a direct confrontation in recent years.

The suspicions and tensions date back nearly three decades and are a spill-over of the 1994 Rwanda genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed - mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Some of those responsible fled into what is now DR Congo, as a largely Tutsi rebel group led by Paul Kagame, now Rwanda's president, took power.

Rwanda said it sent its troops into DR Congo to stop attacks by Hutu militias but its troops were also accused of looting the region's mineral riches, as were the forces of other countries which intervened.

Those tensions remain unresolved to date with sporadic escalations over the years, however in recent weeks, they have intensified significantly.

While denying allegations of backing the Tutsi-dominated M23, President Kagame has also questioned why no-one is talking about a separate rebel group it accuses DR Congo of backing - the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes some of the alleged leaders of the genocide.

The M23 has taken control of several towns and villages in the North Kivu province in the past year.

The forces of several east African countries have joined the Congolese army, with the support of UN peacekeepers, in fighting against the group.

Earlier this month, its leaders agreed to a ceasefire and to withdraw from territory it had taken but fighting broke out once again on Tuesday morning, hours before the Congolese fighter jet was shot at.

[tacticalhimbo]

i really wanna know what the queer liberals who keep shoving vote blue no matter who think of us in the red states. of us who have not benefited a single bit from this blue presidency. from one that has done fuck all to actually protect us.

what has biden done for us queers in florida? for my siblings in tennessee. for those in alabama, oklahoma, texas? what has biden, or any democrat on the national level, done about this

because if they did give a shit, they'd use executive power. they'd try to help establish initiatives to prevent these states from going guns blazing. they wouldn't work in tandem with the heritage foundation to begin laying the financial pathways for project 2025 to become more of a reality than it already is.

if they gave a shit about anyone other than rich white folk, they wouldn't have funded cop city. they wouldn't have removed accessible covid testing and healthcare. they wouldn't have allowed roe v. wade to be repealed by actually using their power to veto a bill. they wouldn't begin laying the financial pathways for project 2025 to become more of a reality than it already is.

so tell me... how the fuck is a blue president, who can supposedly appoint two people to an arbitrary legal system, going to help me? protect me? protect my bipoc siblings? how, then, when they can't even veto the most fundamental shit now?

and why should i be forced to sacrifice the well-being of palestinians, congolese, sudanese, and so many more... for a false promise?

[boricuacherry-blog]

A Brief history of Joseph Mobutu's kleptocracy

In 1965, the country that is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo underwent a coup d'etat after which Mobutu Sese Seko assumed the presidency. A dictator aligned with the western interests, he established a predatory state. The state machinery was used to serve his personal will and those of his allies. While the dictator grew his wealth, the Zairean government was unable to provide basic public services, writes Felipe Honorato and Guilherme Freitas.

In May 1960, Congo held its first national election. Patrice Emory Lumumba was elected the country's first prime minister just a month before the Congo gained independence from Belgium. Lumumba, who was one of the biggest figures of pan-Africanism, was a nationalist and always defended the self-administration of the Congo's mineral wealth by the Congolese. The western powers, in the context of the Cold War, feared that Lumumba, Congo, and its strategic mineral resources would join the soviet sphere of influence.

Less than a month after the Congolese independence from Belgium, the state of Katanga declared independence from Congo, a move that could have driven the country into bankruptcy. Katanga contained most of the Congolese mineral wealth and was responsible for 45 per cent of the national GDP at the time. Katanga was soon followed by South Kasai, the biggest producer of diamonds in the world, sparking a crisis in the newly independent country.

Just a few months later, in January 1961, Patrice Lumumba was captured, tortured and murdered by Katanguese forces. After Lumumba's death, Congo erupted in provincial rebellions, fueled by mercenaries and Belgian troops. The situation only stabilized in 1965, after a coup established a dictatorship.

As early as the end of the 1970s, the difficulties facing the country was beginning to generate a growing dissatisfaction with Mobutu. In 1977 and 1978, opponents of the dictator tried to take control of the country in the 80-day War and the Shaba War. International support for the regime was decisive in defeating both attempts.

The End

The First Congo War took place between 1996 and 1997. The Alliance des Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Congo, an anti-Mobutu group backed by the military alliance headed by Rwanda, reached Kinshasa on May 17, 1997.

[stevishabitat]

DW (English): Congo: Is Rwanda behind the attacks on displaced people?

What happened last week in the IDP camps? According to witnesses to Friday's shellings, government forces positioned near the camps had been bombarding the rebels on hills further west since early morning, and, according to one activist, "the M23 retaliated by throwing bombs indiscriminately." Kambale Kiyoma, a displaced Congolese, described what happened when the IDP camp where he lives with his family came under attack. "We woke up in the morning to find that shells were being fired from here at M23 positions. After a while, the M23 retaliated," Kambale said, adding that several shells fell at camps in the area. Kambale said that he feels abandoned and wants the government to restore peace.

Safi Kasembe, another IDP, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that the Congolese government has installed artillery weaponry in the camp — which puts their lives in danger. "I'm here because of the war. We fled our villages, and now we've taken refuge in this camp for displaced persons, but unfortunately, even here, we're hit by bombs from rebel positions." There are also artilleries installed in the camp, and it's these exchanges of fire that put us in danger and cause the death of some of us. The situation is unbearable, and we are suffering enormously." Bombing victims remembered Meanwhile, at a ceremony to commemorate the victims of the bombing, members of several citizens' movements denounced the upsurge in violence in eastern DRC and called for justice for the people killed in last week's IDP camp shellings. "The people who fled the war, the people who today find themselves in displaced person camps, where they should be finding refuge and safety," said Christophe Muyisa, a member of Filimbi, a Congolese political movement that seeks increased youth participation. "Unfortunately, the bombs pursue them right into their places of refuge."  "They don't need aid or assistance. They need peace and security to return to their homes. So, all the aid today, which is a mockery, a hypocrisy on the part of the international community, we ask the government not to give a damn," Muyisa added. Josue Wallay, an activist from Fight for Change, a civil society movement that advocates for social justice, said that eastern Congo had become uninhabitable. "The people who have fled their villages and have sought refuge are unfortunately dying of hunger and being inflicted with yet another atrocious death, bombed and killed," Wallay said. US demands accountability The United States has condemned the attack and called on Rwanda to punish forces behind it, not backing down from charges that Kigali is meddling in its neighbor's affairs. Asked if the United States stood by its claim, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, "We absolutely do." "The government of Rwanda must investigate this heinous act and hold all those responsible accountable. And we have made that clear to them." Rwanda denies involvement Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo retorted that the US accusation was "ridiculous," writing on social media platform X that Rwanda had a "professional army" that would "never attack" a camp for displaced people. Look to the lawless FDLR and Wazalendo supported by the FARDC for this kind of atrocity." The tweet refers to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu group founded by Hutu officials who fled Rwanda after orchestrating the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, while Wazalendo is a Christian sect. In a separate statement on Sunday, Rwanda said that the attempt by the US Department of State to immediately and without any investigation place blame on Rwanda for the loss of lives in the refugee camps was unjustified. "Rwanda will not shoulder responsibility for the bombing of the IDP camps around Goma or the security and governance failures of the government of the DRC," the statement said.

[apexart-journal]

Mvelo Mahlangu in NYC, Day 11

This morning I made my way over to Sara D. RooseveltPark in the lower east side for a Chinese new year cultural festival. It was my first time taking the F train. When I made it out the subway and got to the park, the feeling that overcame me was one of sensory overload. There were so many people packed around the whole park, firecrackers going off, bright pops of colours and visuals of dragons moving through the crowd. What amazed me was seeing so many people outside of the Chinese community coming together for the event. JP from the day before had also come with his friend and we all admired the festivities from afar. Because it was his first month in NYC, like myself, this was new to him. Sadly we were not able to see much because of how packed it was but also, the ceremony itself hadn’t actually started. Before I left for my next activity in the Bronx, I got a cup of coffee with JP. It was lovely being able to make a friend as fleeting as it was and share the notion of both being newcomers in such a new environment. 

Once I got to the Bronx, I knew exactly where to go without the use of my map. Its definitely liberating, memorising a route and being able to walk without feeling lost, simultaneously its easier to take in the surrounding spaces a lot more. As I walked towards the library, on one corner I heard Spanish music playing and then on the next corner heard Congolese music playing. 

I got to the library and saw that there were only 6 other people in the auditorium listening to Carlos Jimenez and his band play some latin jazz live for us. It was so lovely being able to immerse myself into a different sphere of music, but a thought popped into my head “Do people outside know that this free performance is happening right now in here?”. It definitely made me wonder about how many local and accessible activities happen back home, but I miss them. 

My last activity for the day was going to a Bhakti centre and engaging in something called soul talks. This was definitely all new to me even though I’ve heard snippets in the past about the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna through some Hindu friends. I did not know what I was expecting. But WOW! I was blown away. We all were given a piece of paper with lyrics to sing along to something called a Kirtan. Essentially Kirtan is an active form of meditation through chanting with the purpose of awakening or nurturing ones devotion for the Devine. As we all sang together, there was this crazy feeling of connection, relaxation and “enchantment” that washed over me. And it took me by surprise because I was not at all expecting anything. Throughout the whole Kirtan, I made sure to capture some audio recordings to keep with me to play even after I’m gone. After the Kirtan session, we were provided some food by a local Indian restaurant. Being allergic to Peanuts, I had a scare as some of the food contained nuts. Luckily someone had Benadryl on them and everything was fine. If you have an allergy, I urge you to not forget your allergy medication unlike me, hahaha.  

Another surprising experience from coming to the Bhakti centre was that there were a couple of South African people deeply involved in that specific community near the Lower East Side. What was even more shocking was that I actually know one of them from a photography job we did together back home a while ago. Oh what a small world we live in!

I definitely had a wonderful day today just being surrounded by so much music. 

[horsesolder12th]

WHAT DO NY LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS THINK OF OPEN BORDERS AND ILLEGAL ALIENS NOW?

[murai5i]

My First Trip to Africa: Sierra Leone, Freetown - Kono

AFRICA

I constantly needed to go to Africa. Like most Afro-Americans, I experienced childhood in a situation adoring everything, Africa. When I arrived, I understand I Knew nothing about Africa. My maternal grandma clarified that everything Africa is ideal. Granny didn't, nonetheless, invest energy trashing the achievements of different societies.

Experiencing childhood in Nicaragua's Latino and dark societies. What's more, for me, there is no separating between these two ethnicities. Latinos are blacks, and dark are Latinos. Be that as it may, this can't for everybody who discovers favor with one gathering.

In Africa, these differentiations will amplify. Making a dreamlike reality where a tip top minority will treat other with aloof. Once in a while generalization can clarify things If it was simple as highly contrasting. In any case, things are only from time to time dark or white.

Generalizations

The typical generalization can't clarify Africa's ethnic contrasts; most society's look dim to me, however they're contrasts; contrasts that return for quite a long time. The Sierra Leoneans asked me frequently, "are you Nigerian," "American" or "Hausa," those typically came up. Boss Morsay characterized Biko and me as "white." He disclosed to us that we are outsiders simply like individuals with white skin. His forefinger was scouring the highest point of his hand for accentuation. At the point when Afro-Americans do this in a discussion, we realize that it's a hindrance similar to "Whites Only." "No doubt about it," he said. In Africa, it is important where you originate from, or from what side of the stream; on account of the Congo's Bushong and the Lele ethnic gathering; what side of the waterway has any kind of effect socially strategically and monetarily.

Yet, none of that was at the forefront of my thoughts. I was eager to go to Africa. Identifying with my grandma's Afrocentric convictions; I needed to see with my own eyes the magnificence of the landmass that propelled human advancement and everything that makes us lovely: The melanin, the bends, mood, the nourishment Loose Diamonds. A rundown of protection instrument, my confidence used to battle the consistent flood of American bigot publicity, where everything is about shading, and dark is the shade that blacks out all hues.

Prejudice

Thusly, prejudice is the focal point through which most Afro-Americans see the world. It is anything but a contorting focal point; generally, the focal point is precise; albeit constraining. Concentrating just on the one view. In our current reality where individuals discover heap of approaches to isolate each other, bigotry makes this division conceivable.

Obviously the Belgians of King Leopold II acted in the most supremacist, cruel path towards the individuals of the Congo. In any case Mobutu Sese Seko of the Ngbandi ethnic gathering captured Patrice Lumumba of the Tetela ethnic gathering. I don't imagine that ethnicity was the reason for Mobutu Sese Seko offense towards Lumumba. Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré, both are from the Mossi ethnic gathering of Burkina Faso. Be that as it may, much the same as King Leopold II, ravenousness was the explanation behind Mobutu's bad form towards Patrice Lumumba and the obliteration of innumerable Congolese lives. Compaoré did likewise in Burkina Faso making sure about benefits for a decision minority; keeping power to the detriment of Thomas Sankara and the individuals of Burkina Faso. Utilizing debasement, seizure even remote help to look after force. With no state to reply to, these men were the same than King Leopold II in the uncaring treatment of their compatriots.

In Sierra Leone, the (RUF) will actualize the equivalent, cutting off appendages and promotion orderly assault and murder; scattering thousands and oppressing the populace to separate precious stones for their own riches.

Destitution

Be that as it may, neediness is a relative thing. Having experienced childhood in the Caribbean and Latin America. I was familiar with third world reality. Yet, none of this readied me for Africa.

THE TRIP

The volume on discussions goes up the closer you get to the African takeoff relax. Things are immediate. Chuckling reinforced; the sucking of the teeth is noisy, the grins huge.

The plane arrived in Lungi International air terminal to an incredible melody of cheers and commendations. Like a Hollywood liberation scene, Africans are cheerful and thankful to be home. You can feel their fervor. I excessively was energized, to welcome the African air. Venturing out of the plane, I found the stickiness natural. What was extraordinary, was to investigate a group and seeing one shade of dark individuals. I made an effort not to look astounded; I imagine I've been here previously. The Africans saw me like on the off chance that I've been here before as well.

The landing area and runway are gigantic, similar to all air terminals. In any case, at Lungi you don't see the transports, trucks or the strolling burrow shielding you from severe climate. Everything is open and wide as the sky. I didn't see business planes or business airplane; simply void landing area with a far away blue-green woods skyline without any structures in sight.

Strolling into the slight migration building was an amazement, no groups! I thought this unusual for a worldwide air terminal. By one way or another, I figured they may be corresponding flights to the next piece of Africa. Just the individuals who will load up on a similar plane in course to Liberia. Immediately as you enter the structure, you see some old design desk areas with present day unique mark acknowledgment machines. Movement officials were simple and fast. They request visa and yellow immunization card. Welcome to Sierra Leone!

The individuals of Sierra Leone are cordial; they are liberal with their usual range of familiarity. They welcome you, contact you delicately with a typical custom.

Hanging tight for our baggage, I was pulled in to two enormous, great, standing wooden figures. Two activity figures cut from a solitary tree trunk. Nobody paid these any brain. They stroll by them like disturbance African gift. I constantly valued the tender loving care of African craftsmanship; there is a thought for the watcher, the wearer, and treatment of antiquities. This relationship of inviting aesthetically with move, surface, nourishment and hues was for me African expressions usefulness.

Albeit exceptionally amazing, I didn't know at that point; those two wooden models will speak to the zenith of my African aesthetic impression.

Leaving the air terminal, we see a sign with our names. Our host Chernor, we call him Cherry, orchestrate to have Lamin welcome us and mastermind the transport tickets that will take us to the sea shore and the ship to Freetown. Lamin works for an organization that helps explorers to Sierra Leonne. Having somebody on the ground that speaks, Krio was quieting. Krio is a superior haggling language; trading cash is forceful, a few notes have inclinations. So there's space for sparing in the event that you can deal in Krio.

Outside, they're youngsters selling transport tickets alongside Sim Cards. They're serious, however not pushy. There's heaps of money in sight persistently trading hands. We hang tight for the cool smaller than normal transports to load up with travelers. The ship can't away, about a mile. Be that as it may, it takes around ten minutes drive to arrive. The street isn't right; I believed this being the route to the air terminal it may be in better consideration, yet no. It was only the asking of the numerous instances of disregard and defilement that the individuals of Sierra Leone live with everyday.

The sea shore is enormous and clean; I notice this on the grounds that wherever else is by all accounts litter with garbage. I see some humble hurriedly built shanties. I was searching for beautiful angling vessels yet didn't perceive any. They're little kids, playing with torn and messy western garments. They paid us no psyche. As of now the little wharf was brimming with the traveler from the plane, sitting tight for the ship; baggage and individuals under a wooden cottage, with an equipped watchman. We hung tight for a few hours. It will be nightfall before they called our numbered tickets, the little ship made a few outings moving us securely to Freetown.

The vessel ride takes not exactly an hour to cross the ocean estuary showing up in Freetown around evening time. The view was dull with no recognizing highlights to see. Inside, our host Cherry and his driver Mohamed are there pausing. They selected us from the group preceding anybody offers to help. Lamin had sent photographs. Cherry ensured that Mohamed gets our gear. Cherry welcomed us with a major grin, shimmering eyes, on a splendid round well disposed face. He promptly got some information about the flight and are we hungry. He said he has cook nourishment home, "it may be unreasonably zesty for us," he said. So in the event that we like, we can go out to get some nourishment. We settle on the fiery nourishment; it was late for our jetlag bodies to go out. The lanes in Freetown, at evening, are stuck pressed with merchants selling everything. None of it looks engaging me. Freetown simply doesn't look clean. What's more, this is an amazement. A Big amazement!

We left the wharf on a two-path cleared street lit with periodic road lights. Mohamed is centered around his assignment while Cherry does the talking. I'm happy he is. The street continues becoming busy the closer you reach town. They're heaps of little kids out selling stuff, anything. I see loads of prepare great and organic products. Everything looks lease. Things feel weird, chronologically misguided, somewhat strange, as in the event that I've gone back in time. The individuals don't appear to be stressed over the traffic. The road is buzzing with African music. Also, the individuals are simply moving with reason in what appears to be a clamorous request.

GODRICH

We travel on cleared streets as far as possible up to College Road in Godrich. At that point we turn right. Also, Mohamed eases back to a slither; the street now unpaved turns into a progression of slopes and gorges gradually paving the way to the following turns, similar to the transport ride from Lungi to the sea shore. There will be more minutes like this. Mohamed is making an effort not to have the base of the vehicle delay a slope, persistently he turns. Like in the event that he has done this bunches of time.

CHERNOR'S HOME

The vehicle ground to a halt at an enormous metal entryway, around 10 feet high. Encompassed by fencing similarly as high with broken containers established on the top. We're three turns off the primary street, a portion of the houses have this hindrance. A ton don't; a few houses are simply boxes of cor

[creepingsharia]

Changing America by Changing the People - from Manassas, Virginia to Missoula, Montana

In short, our ruling globalists are determined that there be no corner of America left untouched by Third World immigration. h/t Refugee Resettlement Watch

Many in Big Sky Country protested ‘invasion’ of Congolese, Eritreans, Iraqis and Syrians 

 By Joe Schaeffer

Last week we focused on how the former red bastion of Virginia has been flipped to blue thanks in large part to demographic change spurred by massive Third World immigration.

Having lived in Northern Virginia for some 20-odd years in the 1990s through the Oughts, I watched with my own eyes as respectable middle-class neighborhoods in Falls Church, Fairfax and abutting towns were transformed into decrepit crime-plagued eyesores due to the “enrichment” that comes with Third World immigration.

There really was little left to do but find a way to earn well over $100,000 a year and join the “tolerant” white liberals and privileged career federal employees in their upscale Leesburg and McLean zip codes or leave. I never did make it to McLean.

So it is sad to see the process repeating itself all over again in, of all places, the natural beauty of Big Sky Country.

Establishment media titan The New York Times caused a bit of a stir with an Oct. 30 article revealing ongoing efforts to settle Congolese refugees in Missoula, Montana. The article openly explained that such an obviously incongruous location for dark-skinned Africans is no coincidence. “To supporters… the Congolese are filling a void of cultural diversity in a town that is nearly 90 percent white,” the Times bluntly reports.

[….]

In short, our ruling globalists are determined that there be no corner of America left untouched by Third World immigration. A powerful global NGO called the International Rescue Committee helped settle Hmong refugees in Missoula in the 1980s. The IRC was able to successfully re-open its refugee resettlement operations in this city of 74,000 inhabitants in 2016 thanks to the emotional distress felt by a group of Missoula female book club members upon seeing the infamous photo of a drowned Syrian boy on a Turkish beach in 2015.

“Syrians aren’t the only refugees – you have to be open to anyone,” Poole told The Missoulian newspaper in 2015. “Everyone agreed that a person in need is a person in need.”

Poole went on to found an organization called Soft Landing Missoula that is dedicated to helping Third World refugees resettle in the city. The group partners with IRC and openly boasts of bringing refugees from Syria, the Congo, Iraq and Eritrea to Missoula. “Once refugees arrive in Missoula through the International Rescue Committee (IRC), we work alongside incredible partners and community members to provide ongoing support to our new neighbors as they settle into our community,” Soft Landing says of its work.

“We will show that Missoula is the kind of place where diverse people feel valued and want to put down roots,” the group’s website declares. “Don’t speak 24 languages? Neither do we, so here’s a little help,” it blithely states before listing all the different languages that are now being spoken in this Big Sky community.

Montanans protested. “This is an invasion. It’s a government-sponsored invasion,” Brad Trun of Seeley Lake told The Missoulian in 2016. Rallies were held. But Soft Landing was able to button up the support of local elected officials and the refugees came.

[….]

If you want to know how Virginia was lost, this is how it begins. Beyond all the virtue signaling about diversity and openness there of course lie very genuine concerns about importing foreigners who do not share the traditional American values that buttress our Constitutional freedoms.

This is especially prevalent with Muslims from the Middle East and Africa. Then there are the shocking health fears. The Ebola plague is currently raging in the Congo. Also underreported are the high financial costs to struggling U.S. taxpayers that come with resettling refugees.

[….]

This is the brave new world globalist organizations have in mind for formerly stable American neighborhoods from Manassas, Virginia to Missoula, Montana. If their work continues, Democrat majorities will hardly be the only distinguishing feature of these sullen heterogeneous, multilingual locales.

Read it all.