The colonialists care nothing for Africa for her own sake. They are attracted by African riches and their actions are guided by the desire to preserve their interests in Africa against the wishes of the African people. For the colonialists all means are good if they help them to possess these riches.
– Patrice Lumumba, Speech at the All-African Conference in Leopoldville August, 1960.
Congo was described as the “heart of Africa” by Kwame Nkrumah, a leading figure in decolonial struggle and Pan-Afrikanism. Nkrumah was closely aligned with Patrice Lumumba and his dedication to Congolese independence, decolonization, and repatriation of resources and autonomy from western colonial violence and control. The current strain most consider to be on the “heart of Africa” is the mineral crisis which has existed since the imperialist scramble for pieces of the African continent. Monetarily, Congo is projected to have approximately $24 trillion in mineral wealth from natural resources including cobalt, uranium, coltan, copper, and the ecological richness that sustains earth’s carbon sink.
There lies the myth of Green Technology, drenched in the exploitation, blood, and sweat of Congolese laborers. Approximately 7 million people have been uprooted from their communities by Rwandan and Western backed Congolese militias under the guise of putting an end to any remnants of the Rwandan genocide that seeped into Congo. The needs of mass production and technological consumption have in turn created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. A crisis that, though sensationalized, is treated almost as an afterthought precisely because its victims are Afrikan people. Against the longstanding colonial legacy of dehumanization, the people of Congo have been left with no other choice but to survive and righteously struggle against the conditions induced by rapid capitalist and globalized needs. This is not a passive acceptance of colonial dispossession and structural genocide, but rather an internal resistance effort that has made its way into the continent and global sphere, and has generated solidarity movements and mutual efforts to materially support the displaced.
The problem in the Congo should not even be considered – “as a problem” ; it is a colonial and capitalist development by the imperial and colonial cores. The foreign hands in Congo are from the United States, South Africa, Belgium, the broader EU, China, Taiwan, and many other countries, contributing to the loss of wealth and autonomy for the Congolese people. This project of foreign extraction is built upon an establishment of Afrikan subjugation, violence, and chattelization, corroding any sense of humanity. Thinking of the mines of the Congo and the millions displaced, we must support the independence, nationalization, and ownership of resources and decisionmaking in the hands of governance reflective of the people of Congo, to fulfill its suppressed and stolen economic presence as the heart of Afrika and continue to struggle toward a liberated and unified continent.
Resources
URGENT Support Needed in Goma, DR Congo
Documentary: Lumumba: Death of a Prophet
Documentary: LWANZO (Cobalt) (paywalled)