PeaceJam | Violence in east Congo

Violence in east Congo

Posted 2/9/2010 at 12:42 PM by Kate P in Community Blog

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most war-torn countries in the world. According to a recent report by NYT's Nicholas Kristof:

"So far the brutal war here in eastern Congo has not only lasted longer than the Holocaust but also appears to have claimed more lives. A peer- reviewed study put the Congo war’s death toll at 5.4 million as of April 2007 and rising at 45,000 a month. That would leave the total today, after a dozen years, at 6.9 million."

In the past few days, several posts regarding the brutality in east Congo have appeared on PeaceJam.org. While it's heartbreaking to read about the atrocities being committed by the Hutu militia, it's a very good thing to see this issue being brought to the forefront of people's minds.

Below are some links (from peacejam.org and outside sites) to help further discussion of this issue and to broaden awareness. The first link is a comprehensive page put together by NYT that includes the history of Congo and some key players in the issues that are happening, as we speak.

For the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, click here.

For PeaceJam discussion, click here.

To read columnist Nicholas Kristof and his coverage of east Congo, click here.

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Bradlee A wrote:
I am seriously stunned by this. I had no idea that the number of deaths was so high. I'm so glad some have made me aware so I can help in any way possible.
posted 2/9/2010 at 2:24 PM

Andy S wrote:
So true, exactly the problem, NO ONE knows about this! This is one very unfortunate side of our pop-culture society. No one pays attention to these conflicts or tragedies on a continuing basis. An issue will bring a brief and hellacious storm of media attention and then seemingly vanish from the face of the earth, along with peoples support and concern. We need to find a way to engage people long term, not just while "Congo" or "Haiti" is the popular buzz word.
posted 2/9/2010 at 4:42 PM

Dawn E wrote:
Thank you SO very, very much for educating us on this extremely important issue!
posted 2/9/2010 at 4:43 PM

Kate P wrote:
Andy, I completely agree with what you're saying. And I think, when we talk about sustainability, we should include continued awareness of the issues we're trying to impact. Affecting true change includes staying informed of progress...or in some cases, regression.
posted 2/10/2010 at 11:41 AM

Pantea B wrote:
I appreciate this Kate. Because now that WE the PEOPLE have the SOCIAL MEDIA tools that we do today, we can CHANGE what is mentioned and not mentioned in the media! We can DECIDE what's important. And we are doing so right here right now! Everyday people everywhere are dying of hunger, war, global disease...etc. And sadly I never see their names anywhere. But billions of dollars are spent on the coverage of the Olympics(which I'm not bashing in anyway just pointing out a fact)and highlighting names/athletes who already have recognition/privilege. Meanwhile I think of the four year old girl who's photo I saw on the New York Times a couple years ago, sitting in her parents pool of blood and screaming as she was trying to understand what she just saw right before her eyes! I wonder what her name is, I wonder where she is now as a 9 or 10 year old, and if she is even alive! Who is deciding what's important in our world? How is that decided? Why is it decided by the people that it is right now and not by the people who really need to be the decision makers! Such as that little girl and millions of others who are suffering conditions that they never chose for themselves! I bet you anything if they were to decide, they would end war, they would end hunger, they would end suffering because they ARE war, they are hunger, and they are suffering! We never stop to care until it hits home for us and then we care. Then it will be all over our news and media like it was on 9/11. One of the things I loved hearing Shirin Ebadi and Betty Williams say about 9/11 was that on the same day that we lost those precious 3,000 lives in NY city, we also lost 15,000 children to hunger! I never saw any of those children's names in the papers, how sad!
posted 2/12/2010 at 12:49 PM