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random-krab · 25 days

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Just a genuine reminder, simply liking and reblogging posts or just paying attention to what's happening in places like Palestine, The Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, etc. Does help!

If you can't donate or boycott because you're a minor or in a situation where you can't afford to try signing petitions and spreading awareness so others who can afford to can have information

Edit: there are a lot of good suggestions for what to do in the reblogs that I forgot to mention

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nappingpaperclip · 3 months

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Be loud!!! Be annoying!!!

Never apologize for speaking up against injustice! Never back down!

KEEP SPEAKING ABOUT THE PALESTINIAN GENOCIDE

KEEP TALKING ABOUT THE CONGO GENOCIDE

KEEP TALKING ABOUT THE SUDANESE GENOCIDE

We the people of the world will fight until the very end, until every single person can return to grieve and rebuild what has been ripped from them! Until the very end!

We hear the cries of the innocent and we will cry with you! We will scream until our voices give out, and then some more still! We will never stop fighting, for our love of justice and human rights is whole and unconditional

We will never back down and never forget the cruel injustice of the world

We will never, ever forget those who stood by and watched silently!

Silence is complicity and escapism is a privilege!

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womenaremypriority · 2 months

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Article about gang rape in the DRC.

💔

Please don’t forget about women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the worst places for gang rape in the world right now.

#TW rape #tw murder #my post #DRC #free the congo #congo genocide #dr congo #the congo #Rape culture #anti war

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marymagdalenegf · 27 days

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This Easter Sunday, I am thinking about all the horrors I have seen out of Palestine since October, out of Sudan and the Congo ; the way what I thought were the lines no human beings would ever cross have had to be redrawn further and further and further. I refuse not to love this world, but to love it properly we must always remember Jesus came to liberate the suffering and the oppressed and that we must continue His work how we can- through education, through extending kindness, through charity, etc.

consider donating to UNRWA. Consider buying an esim. consider donating to save the children. When you pray today, please remember to pray for Gaza, for Sudan, for the Congo.

Le doy gracias a mi dios por la vida que tengo, y le ruego por paz y por la libertad de todos. amén.

#easter #pascuas.#palestine #sudan #the congo

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miawashere · 5 months

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FREE CONGO

after trying to research what was going on in congo, i could barely find any information. news sources and media are barely covering the mass genocide and war going on in congo right now, and we need to speak up and spread awareness about it. free congo.

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bfpnola · 1 year

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Hey. It's @reaux07. If you remember my last angry history rant on Paul Robeson, I'm back for Part 2. This time? King Leopold II and his relationship to the Congo. I just finished writing a 5-page, single-spaced essay on this for class, so I'll do my best to summarize in bullet points this time rather than chunky paragraphs. This will still be long though, as a warning, but it's a necessary read. Please let me get through this, because y'all know this hurts to write.

Trigger warnings for... just about everything typically associated with mass colonization (e.g. rape, murder, torture, etc.). Tiktok below as a brief introduction first:

King Leopold II of Belgium, due to his personal unpopularity and lack of love from his parents, had low self-esteem. As his father had already made 50 attempts to colonize foreign lands to no avail, Leopold felt the only way to uplift both himself and his country was to take take control of his own colony.

He checked Sarawak, the New Hebrides, the Fiji Islands, and the Philippines. Nothing. But what was left? The Congo.

How did he learn of the Congo? Leopold hired Henry Morton Stanley, a famous Welsh explorer of the time, to cross Africa from east to west, walking and canoeing 7,000 miles.

Upon the Congo's discovery, Leopold turned his palace into a luxury hotel for the delegates of a new conference to discuss Africa's colonization, supervising every detail. He successfully lied to the major powers of Europe, making claims of charitable and philanthropic aims, and that there would be free trade amongst the African colonies. (And yes, he did give every single attendee a painting of his face... Because he could.)

Meanwhile, back in the Congo, Stanley (the explorer I just mentioned) used bribes and trickery to provide official treaties with the various chiefs of the land in case Leopold ever needed legal proof of land ownership. (Ex of said trickery: One report noted that a village assumed "the white man controlled the sun.")

In 1891 and 1892, Leopold released decrees stating that both vacant land and produce of the forests exclusively belonged to Belgium and that natives could only harvest for the state.

Enforcing Leopold’s rule were 16,000 Africans equipped with modern Belgian-made automatic rifles.

Outing Attempt #1: One African American man, George Washington Williams, during his trip compiled a report to be sent to the American secretary of state. In this letter, Williams remembers bets being taken on who could shoot the native people in the head first, among other instances of vile treatment. While the document never made it back to Williams’ home country, it was eventually found in Europe where he later died.

By this point, the Congo was actually ruining Leopold’s finances and he was growing desperate. But to his surprise, he happened to pick the one spot where rubber grew in abundance, just as the demand for cars and bicycles rose internationally, John Dunlop, a Scottish veteran, having just invented the first pneumatic tire.

Because of this, rubber-prominent areas were the targets of mass exploitation and punishment if daily and weekly rubber quotas were not met.

Missionaries began to write not just to one another, but back home in disgust of these aforementioned “punishments,” one man’s writings put in missionary magazines and national newspapers in Europe. These punishments included rape, tying people up to trees, cutting off men's heads and genitals to be displayed along the fences of Congolese villages, cutting women’s breasts off, and most notably...

Attempt #2: The world, if only momentarily, saw BASKETS after BASKETS of right hands that had been cut off as proof that each of the cartridges given to the Africans had been fired and killed one of their own people. These hands were then smoked for preservation and brought back to their officers.

What did Leopold do once this information came out alongside photos of child mutilation? Acknowledge the abuses and moved on almost immediately.

In Europe, the rubber was processed in a city called Antwerp, ironically named after a mythological giant who also cut off hands. To this day, the connection between such a name and Belgian history has not been made by the general public as countless documents by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are kept secret to maintain an image of untouched royalty.

One commissioner in charge of a district in Congo, Leon Fievez, produced one ton of rubber a day, boasting of 1,000 people killed, 162 villages destroyed, burning gardens and plantations so people would starve, and having “only” used 3,000 cartridges. He was nicknamed the “Devil of the Equator” and rightly so.

Attempt #3: One day, a man named Charles Stokes, a British trader working for the Germans, entered the picture. Stokes was arrested for trading in state territory, despite those former claims of free trade, and sentenced to death. Leopold was forced to pay compensation to both Britain and Germany for his death, both countries now increasingly aware of the Congo’s dark reality.

To cover it up, Leopold made claims of the Congo opening up to new companies. Let's be real: His men were on the boards of all these new companies and he took 50% of the profits.

In particular were these "concession companies" where the "hostage system" was set up. Agencies, with official hostage licenses authorizing such, would take the wives of rubber collectors for up to 15 days until the quota was met.

On the 15th day, the men of the Congo either got their wives back or faced further punishment, often death. For the agents, the 15th day meant it was time to calculate commissions, and for the king? It was proof that this new hostage system worked.

These abusive concession companies lasted over 10 years until formal competition arose in South America and Asia.

Attempt #4: Then came Edmund Dene Morel, a half-French, self-taught shipping clerk turned investigative journalist who wrote in The Speaker of the abuses faced by the Congolese, backed up by evidence, not just speculations.

Due to Morel’s growing specialization in West African affairs, he was able to not only send out 15,000 brochures and 3,700 letters in six months after his move to Wales, but start his own newspaper, West African Mail.

By 1903, Roger Casement, an ally to Morel’s cause, spent two months traveling the upper Congo, recording African testimonies. He, too, realized that missionaries were key witnesses and went to visit Joseph Clark (a missionary of 20 years) for 17 days.

Through these reports, which grew to 50 pages in length, Casement and Morel were able to solidify Belgium as perpetuating the worst colonial system Africa had ever known. Punishments included Africans performing public incest for the colonists' entertainment, decapitation, women being stabbed with wooden spikes up their vaginas, and one woman tied up to a tree and slashed straight in half from her left shoulder through her abdomen and out the other side.

The West African Mail even reported on a part of Congo no one knew existed, private property within private property called the “Crown Domain” on the other side of Lake Tumba, which gained 231 million euros alone, all sent directly to King Leopold II. Crown Domain was 10x 5)3 size of Belgium.

Founded by Morel, Liverpool became the headquarters of a coalition called the Congo Reform Association. He also published a book called Red Rubber (1906). I think you’ll find the cover particularly striking! Check out the hand in the bottom right corner being weighed against King Leopold II on the left.

Leopold obviously not having this, commissioned a number of books and monthly magazines to clear up the mess. This didn't work. Obviously.

He even tried to send his own international commission to control what the Congolese said in 1904, to no avail. This was due to a missionary named John Harris who had taken the accounts of various people in the area and sent them back to Morel.

In one particularly heartbreaking moment, a chief brought to Leopold’s judges 110 twigs for each of the entire villages, not just people, killed by the Belgian state, naming every last one.

By the time they returned to Europe, the governor-general committed suicide and, upon being asked, Harris suggested Leopold should be sent to the gallows by the relatively new International Court of Justice.

The commission's report vindicated Casement and Morel. Leopold had tricked no one. EVERYONE in Belgium was calling him out.

Leopold ordered all of the Congo State Records to be burned.

In 1908, the Congo became a Belgian colony, not longer Leopold’s personal property. The state still made claims of "civilizing" the Africans after Leopold's death though, utilizing the leftover mineral exploitation industry with no guilt.

At least during his funeral, which he was denied of having privately, the entire city booed his body <3 well deserved. By this point, he had become Europe’s most hated man of the time.

And in case you were wondering, Casement and Morel were both accused to pro-German sympathies during WWI and executed.

I would like to add more detail but I think I’ve hit a character limit. Just know that Congo’s population was cut in HALF, in some places as much as 60-90%. Villages after villages were burned, as shown through so many soldiers’ and missionaries’ journals. This was a genocide of over 10 MILLION PEOPLE y’all. Hearing this story was truly SICKENING, but here’s the BBC 4 documentary we watched for class for more: Congo: White King, Red Rubber, and Black Death.

What truly gets me is just how OTHER colonizers were calling this man out after finding out the full truth… For me, that feels like extra proof of how truly messed up this was if THEY were disturbed too.

And what feels truly insidious was how Leopold made sure to institutionalize all of his wrongdoings and was so… obviously knowing about every wrongdoing, I mean writing in letters to make sure no one else found out. Please…

Linking my angry history rant on Paul Robeson from last semester here.

Happy Black History Month.

#belgium #king leopold ii #democratic republic of congo #history #black history month #colonialism #tw genocide #tw rape #tw torture #tw massacre #the congo #tw incest #resources #bipoc #undescribed #reaux speaks #black lives matter

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countriesgame · 4 months

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Please reblog for a bigger sample size!

If you have any fun fact about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, please tell us and I'll reblog it!

Be respectful in your comments. You can criticize a government without offending its people.

Edit: It was supposed to say RESOURCES and not researchers (polls are not editable)

#democratic republic of the congo #drc #the congo #congo #africa #country polls #polls #im laughing at natural researchers #i mean maybe? i dont know probably not rich in them but they exist #but that's not what i meant

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someone---who---cares · 25 days

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Really concerned by how ignored all the posts about Congo and Sudan get all the time. I don't know what to do anymore. Do I have to set myself on fire too? As invisible as I am, I doubt anyone would notice...

Since this is getting a bit of traction: please click on the tags, I have several posts about it on my blog. Thank you!

#congo #congo genocide #free congo #democratic republic of the congo #people's republic of the congo #the congo #free sudan #sudan crisis #eyes on sudan #eyes on congo #sudan genocide #keep eyes on sudan #keep eyes on congo #sudan

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anarchywoofwoof · 3 months

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on january 17th, 1961, the first parliamentary and democratically elected leader of The Congo was assassinated with the assistance of the Governments of the United States and Belgium. six months before being executed by firing squad, Patrice Lumumba said on Independence Day 1960:

We are going to show the world what the Black man [and woman] can do when he works in freedom, and we are going to make of the Congo the center of the sun’s radiance for all of Africa. We are going to keep watch over the lands of our country so that they truly profit her children.

prior to his execution and after a lengthy torture, Lumumba would be made to literally eat his words; he was forced to eat the paper that the Independence Day speech was written on.

Under Belgian colonial rule, Lumumba had been a postal clerk and then a beer salesman. he believed strongly in African unity and independence from the colonial world, and was a fierce freedom fighter for The Congo. his remains would not be returned to the country and buried until last year in a ceremony. although a nationalist and flawed as many others have been, his lasting influence on the region cannot be overstated.

this is just one example of many that are available from the archives of CIA interference in other countries affairs since it is an obvious hot topic today, on the 63rd anniversary of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination.

#the congo #history #african history #africa #colonialism #colonization

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wettomatodude · 5 months

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FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Just my thoughts.

The westerners want a white state in the arab world. (Echoing the thoughts of many who have said the same sentiment). A white state in the middle east just above the resources.

(correct me if I'm wrong in any way of saying this, thank you)

#free gaza #palestine #free palestine #gaza #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #gaza strip #ethnic cleansing #current events #important #dr congo #congo #free congo #democratic republic of the congo #neocolonialism #sudan #drc #congolese #the congo

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momiji-kitsune · 2 months

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I want to celebrate Aromantic Awareness Week, I really do. I want to reblog text posts and images and videos and anything related to aromance.

But I can't do that. I can't do that, because Palestinians are being slaughtered in a genocide perpetrated by Israel and funded by the USA. Because innocent people in the Congo, Sudan, and so many more countries are dying by the thousands.

So here I am, instead of sharing posts about how much I love being aromantic, begging for anyone who sees this post to join in on the strike that is happening this week. The strike that starts on the 18th of February and ends on the 25th.

The strike is not just about the genocide Palestinians are facing, but all genocides currently occurring. The goals of this strike are to: stand up against genocide worldwide, spread info and resources for countries in need, and impact the sales of companies profiting off genocide.

So, how can you help?

Join local protests.

Contact your local representatives.

Buy only what's necessary and limit your shopping for the week. Boycott brands that are helping to fund the genocides (McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, Coca Cola, etc.).

Use social media to spread awareness (only post/reblog posts about the genocides happening worldwide).

There are many other ways to strike and show your support for the innocent people who are experiencing genocide, but these are a few ways to start.

Genocide begins with the silence of the world. Do not let your silence last any longer.

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ladycarissa · 3 months

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The Legend of Tarzan (2016) should have ended by mentioning Belgium colonized the Congo until 1960, and when they left, they intentionally ripped out and destroyed all the infrostructure possible. It didn't end with the tribes winning a battle.

I am now going to not be able to sleep thinking about all the people who now believe that was when belgium left.

#tarzan #margot robbie #the legend od Tarzan #alexander skarsgard #Netflix #belgium #free congo #congo genocide #the congo #colonization #colonialism

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sgtgrunt0331-3 · 6 months

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