#Kongohistory

[kongowetu]

[kongowetu]

IF YOU'RE IN NYC YOU SHOULD COME OUT!

Friends of the Congo in collaboration with Maysles Cinema will screen "Lumumba" by Raoul Peck on Friday, January 17, 2014 in New York City. A post Film Discussion on the current situation in the Congo and the global movement in support of the Congo will follow the screening. A special focus will be placed on the recently published declassified documents by the U.S. State Department on U.S. covert action in the Congo from 1960 to 1968.

The film "Lumumba" documents the true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the legendary leader of independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Made in the tradition of such true-life political thrillers as Malcolm X and JFK, Raoul Peck's award-winning Lumumba is a gripping epic that dramatizes for the first time Lumumba's life. When the Congo declared its independence from Belgium in 1960, the 36-year-old, self-educated Lumumba became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the newly independent state. Friday, January 17, 2014 Lumumba: A Commemoration Time: 7:30 PM - 12:00 Midnight Location: Maysles Cinema 343 Lenox Ave New York, NY 10027 Cost: $10 - Click here to purchase tickets! In addition to the screening and discussion, there will be music, food, beverages and entertainment.

Learn more about the life and ideas of Patrice Lumumba Support  the work of Friends of the Congo. Join the global movement in support of the Congo. Participate  in the Dear John Postcard Campaign. Sign-up  for the Breaking The Silence Speakers Tour. Visit our events calendar for upcoming events. Keep abreast of the latest updates via Twitter @congofriends.

[kongowetu]

On July 2, 1706, Kimpa Vita was captured near her hometown and burned at stake with her baby (in some accounts) in Evululu as a heretic in 1706 by forces loyal to Nusamu a Mvemba, one of the kings of the Kongo Kingdom. She was tried under Kongo law as a witch and a heretic, with the consent and counsel of the Capuchin friars Bernardo da Gallo and Lorenzo da Lucca. What is her story? Kimpa Vita was born in 1684 in the Kongo kingdom during the time of trade and partnership with Portugal. Note that after 1492, Kongo even had embassies in Portugal. Kimpa Vita, later baptized Beatriz, was a Congolese prophet and leader who created her own Christian movement, Antonianism, which taught that Jesus and other early Christian figures were from the Kongo Empire. Her teaching grew out of the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo, and caused her to upbraid the Portuguese Catholic priests living in the Kongo Kingdom for not believing as she did. What is commendable about Kimpa Vita is that she was able to mobilize a large number of Kongo to reclaim their faith and make it what they'd like it to be... All of this while she was a teenager. She died when she was 21. Justin "Justkas" Kasereka