Anti-War? The Republic of Congo 1999 -2011.

[denem]

The greatest war since WWII: 6.2 million dead (officially); Eight African nations involved; Rape (2 million+) a ubiquitous weapon; Thousands of little girls crying then dying every day; Countless $$$ of flawless blue-white blood diamonds off to the Netherlands; UN 'Peacekeepers look on Sebrenza style.

No predator drones, no sexy TV, no troops on the ground, no "Tyrant" nor Oil? - Kay?

You want an end to war? As long as the definition is do nothing, you sure do. The deepest darkest heart of Africa might just be your own.

[Starry Messenger]

1. The Congo 1960-1964

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Congo_KH.html

The assassination of Patrice Lumumba
excerpted from the book
Killing Hope
by William Blum

<snip>

Successive American administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson, looking through cold-war binoculars perceived an East-West battleground. The CIA station in the Congo cabled Washington in August that "Embassy and station believe Congo experiencing classic communist effort takeover government." CIA Director Allen Dulles warned of a "communist takeover of the Congo with disastrous consequences ... for the interests of the free world". At the same time, Dulles authorized a crash-program fund of up to $100,000 to replace the existing government of Patrice Lumumba with a "pro-western group''.

<snip>

Patrice Lumumba became the Congo's first prime minister after his party received a plurality of the votes in national elections. He called for the nation's economic as well as political liberation and did not shy away from contact with socialist countries. At the Independence Day ceremonies he probably managed to alienate all the attending foreign dignitaries with his speech, which read in part:

"Our lot was eighty years of colonial rule ... We have known tiring labor exacted in exchange for salary which did not allow us to satisfy our hunger ... We have known ironies, insults, blows which we had to endure morning, noon, and night because we were "Negroes" ... We have known that the law was never the same depending on whether it concerned a white or a Negro ... We have known the atrocious sufferings of those banished for political opinions or religious beliefs ... We have known that there were magnificent houses for the whites in the cities and tumble-down straw huts for the Negroes."

<snip>

The UN force entered Katanga province and replaced the Belgian troops, but made no effort to end the secession. Unable to put down this uprising on his own, as well as one in another province, Lumumba had appealed to the United Nations as well as the United States to supply him with transport for his troops. When they both refused, he turned to the Soviet Union for aid, and received it, though military success still eluded him.

The Congo was in turmoil in many places. In the midst of it, on 5 September, president Joseph Kasavubu suddenly dismissed Lumumba as prime minister-a step of very debatable legality, taken with much American encouragement and assistance, as Kasavubu "sat at the feet of the CIA men". The action was taken, said the Church committee later, "despite the strong support for Lumumba in the Congolese Parliament.

During the early 1960s, according to a highly-placed CIA executive, the Agency "regularly bought and sold Congolese politicians''. US diplomatic sources subsequently confirmed that Kasavubu was amongst the recipients.

Often, the UN "doing something" is the source of the strife.

[denem]

2. OK. It a USA problem - we caused it (30 + years ago)

so butt out.. Gotcha ya', as some thirty something year old thug says to an nine year old girl.

We caused it. Do nothing.

Forget the UN resolutions.

Do nothing,

(This is not a a way to put an end to war).

[Starry Messenger]

3. We aren't going to "do something"

as long as there are our economic interests to harbor in the region. The system is working just the way the corporations want it too. The Congo doesn't just supply diamonds, it is also the main source for Coltan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan

Coltan is the industrial name for columbite–tantalite, a dull black metallic mineral from which the elements niobium (formerly "columbium") and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral is columbite, hence the "col" half of the term. The mineral concentrates dominated by tantalum are referred to as tantalite.<1>

Tantalum from coltan is used to manufacture electronic capacitors, used in consumer electronics products such as cell phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers. Export of coltan from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to European and American markets has been cited by experts<2><3> as helping to finance the present-day conflict in the Congo, with the DanChurchAid agency asserting that "much of the finance sustaining the civil wars in Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is directly connected to coltan profits."<4> An estimated 5.4 million people have died since 1998 in the war in the Congo.<5>

I'll bet that if the Congolese make any move to nationalize Coltan, you'll get that "humanitarian" war you are looking for.

[denem]

4. And we don't care!

John Lydon, Sex Pistols: (Pretty Vacant).

[Starry Messenger]

5. Who is we?

As long as capitalism exists, this shitty and brutal system of naked exploitation is going to grind on under our noses. Of course it is terrible there. But acknowledging that the UN's history in the area helped lead to the conditions there now is not the same as not wanting this to change. Another stupid UN "operation" is not going to do anything though. The UN is the mall cop of the shopping districts of the world's resources. The only fight wars for the ruling classes, not for the working stiff shoveling coltan out of the ground.

[denem]

6. "It's not that simple"

Forget the Internationale, and Robert Mugabe for that matter

Thatcher: "It's not that simple" Geldof "Yes it is Prime Minister. One minute you are alive; The next you are dead."

Yes it's tempting to reduce homicidal sadism and greed to it's embodiment in an economic system. It's the system stupid? Think Neapolitan, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao, Pinochet, and Uribe . Say cheese: Smile sadists before before returning to your day jobs.

Waiting for a world order while global capital swirls around any vulnerable nation state and labour gets it in the neck is not excuse for turning away from bullets, today, in hundreds of hearts.

dong nothing is as easy as saying 'Come the Revolution ...' . But Liybah - Hey 'Ho.

[Starry Messenger]

7. Well, what is your proposal then?

And yes, it is always "the economy, stupid". It's not "tempting", it is reality. Any other motivation is gaslighting. You are writing without the least understanding of a historical footing. So you want the cowboys to charge in and save the day? What do you see as the outcome? And keep in mind, the UN is *not* doing anything now but reporting what I have told you here. They absolutely know what the conditions are, so why are they not doing anything now? Because they are aiding and abetting it. But go and stand outside the UN and tell them you want them to "help". Tell us how that goes.


And Neopolitan is an ice cream.

edit: that last bit you edited in after my reply about Libya isn't making sense to me. But we just sent in Predators there. Happy now?

[denem]

8. A sense of proportion.

A couple of thousand dead in Misrata is so much more sexy than millions in the Congo. If the UN is really establishing a duty of National Governments to protect their people, something I support as the bottom line of the Charter of Human Rights, then it does no one any credit to turn away form the most costly war since WWII.

The only wars that matter are not the ones in which the United States is taking one side any more than than restrictions on expression and trade in Venezuela are comparable to the carnage in Columbia. If one takes an internationalist view of human rights, the silence about WW 2.5 in the Congo is deafening, and gives the lie to whatever chest thumping is in fashion..

[Starry Messenger]

10. We certainly agree here:

If one takes an internationalist view of human rights, the silence about WW 2.5 in The Congo is deafening, and gives the lie to whatever chest thumping is in fashion..

And I believe that is the heart of the matter, despite the Charter of Human Rights. It is important to separate the stated aims of the UN from its actual actions. Watch what they do, not what they say.

[FLPanhandle]

9. How about we downsize the military and don't get involved in any war?

Forget trying to justify another one.