₦airaland Forum

Katsumoto: You are correct with regards to Indians; first they sought economic independence. After, they started to send their kids to school. Whilst Black people were complaining about racism and opportunities, Indians were building their economic foundations. So they didn't really experience racism and when they did, they just kept quiet. All that changed after Indian kids started going to school in huge numbers and were equally expecting to be given opportunities in the workforce. The first Asian riots in the UK was in 2001 (Bradford) several decades after several black riots.

Someone made a comment about black role models earlier. The fact is that there aren't too many noticeable black role models. The few role models are either footballers or in so solid crew. So naturally every 14 year old boy either wants to play footie or become a rapper. Where are the black role models in Business? The caucasians do not owe anyone anything; if you want something, you have to grab it. You also have the option of returning to your home country but as we all know, opportunities are even fewer.

ebere1712: Yes I agree with you.I will also add one thing, which is; we must trade in our local currency.We must come back to mama Africa (Metu), if we want to forge ahead as a sane people. You can't beat the devil (colonialist and neo colonialists)in his own game, you must make him play yours.

Rossikk: How will you not feel inferior? You sat here and the white man and the Arab came in with their armies and weapons, conquered you, and then ''dashed'' you their white gods to worship, after condemning yours as 'evil and savage'. You accepted. So today when you think of God, you imagine in your subconscious, a white man!! When you see a white man, he registers in your subconscious as a being of God, before yourself.

You go to your church, and the image of a white man stares you in the face, as ''The Son of God''.

How will you not feel inferior

When it's time to trade or engage in any serious activity, why will you not go to the white man first before your African brother?

You have no faith in your own society, so the minute you get into public office, you steal money and go and deposit it in the white man's country.

Do you realise that some Igbo 'born again christians' recently took it upon themselves to go rampaging through their villages, destroying traditional artefacts, including ancient village gongs after denouncing them as 'heathen' and 'of the devil'?? The old men had to go round collecting the artefacts to hide them from the rampaging lunatic christian mobs of cursed dunderheads.

I mean, we have serious problems as a people.

It might need divine intervention to cure us of our sickness.

ebere1712: Nigerian leaders have inferiority complex because they are a subset of Nigerian people, whose inferiority complex is arguably the grandest in the world. Nigerian leaders are corrupt because the Nigerian culture is corrupt (or more appropriately, has been corrupted). Nigerians, lets listen and be truthful to ourselves. Our leaders are a direct reflection of ourselves. There are more than 20 million people => the IBBs, Abachas, Iboris, Iwealas, Atikus, Buhari, Sanusis etc; in psychopathy, lust and wickedness; waiting to take over from them as soon as they can. Nigerians are corrupt, that is why every institution in Nigeria is corrupt, sparing none. From PHCN, SCHOOLS, NPN, NPA, ARMY; to the senate, house of representatives, and the Nigerian justice system. So before you condemn the likes of IBB and co, look at yourself, and the little corruption you contribute to the Corruption den called Nigeria.

afam4eva: The OP is spot on but some us will never see the truth in his assertion. How will you become a world power if you keep going outside to get help. is that how China, USA and Germany became world powers? We have to look inwards and help Nigeria owned businesses like Innoson, Zinox, Reltel and Glo. I just don't understand where we think we're heading as a country. We need a serious re-orientation in this country because the inferiority that's been displayed by Nigerian is mind bugling.

Nebeuwa: Enough with your tripe. That is your argument for everything from what I have seen from your post. I understand you are Afrocentric, but your views are way too extreme.

And if you want to argue from an economic point of view, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala was correct to push for the oil subsidy removal. I do not understand why Nigerians were so upset doing that saga. It made economic sense, but I feel it would have taken ages to explain the wisdom about ending the oil subsidy.

Private corporations work better than government ran corporations. I would hope you realize that by now. Governments are not efficient in running a business and should only play a part in regulating industries.

yinchar: [b]BREAKING: World Bank chooses U.S. nominee Kim as its new president | http://bloomberg.com[/size][size=8pt][size=8pt][/size]/b]

koruji: Why are you so self-contradictory? You don't like BBC, CNN etc for news, but YouTube is your source?

I know a method for creating oil from water. You can find it on YouTube - any TDH can post video to YouTube!!!

Yeah, Ghaddafi was liberating Libya for 42 years with his warped mind - don't get me wrong, he was a revolutionary much hailed in his heydays, but in his latter years he went mad. Leave it to Africa to think a man with a country of 5 million & $150 billion in foreign reserves is what will make the continent an ElDorado. What does Libya make other than the oil they take from God's good earth?

Mugabe is another one, who did well for his country during the war of liberation, but now is just sleeping and having his diapers changed yet will not leave the seat for someone else.

Kabilla cheated, and so did GEJ with is 99% vote "allocations" - he should be challenged according to the law.

Gbagbo did not win the election - even he did not claim that. His real claim was that many of those who voted were not Ivorians - so when he did the math on the back of his envelope he could throw away 2 million or so votes. The problem: he should have dealt with that before the elections not, after the loss.

alj harem: No because we cannot afford it !

koruji: It is easy to categorize, but can you honestly say that Ghaddafi did not deserve what he got? As for Syria, it was bad calculation for the rebels. Obama is not going to go to another war this close to the elections. Wait till Nov. 5 2012 then they will all hear wen from Iran to Syria!!!

Gbagbo lost an election, refused to quit and then started killing his own people - removing him was the best thing that happened to Ivory Coast, he had no legitimate claim to the seat. Do you know how long the LRA have being terrorizing Uganda? What is wrong in Obama, an African descent president of the most powerful nation in the world, using some of his powers to help find and eliminate this nightmare. I don't know what you mean by he supports Kabilla - did Kabilla not win a legitimate election - probably freer than President GEJ's election. Obama was a strong supporter of President GEJ too, until the latter showed he was all hat (no pun intended) and no cattle.

It is not always an US-AGAINST-THEM world, but a matter of finding the middle road - a no small feat. However, it is the height of fallacy to think that the "American" is the one that will give us hope - they can help, but they can never be the source of fundamental change that we need. Also, this flies completely in the face of your almost complete condemnation of Obama's intervention in Africa - do you not see it? At the end of all that rejection, you now hope that Obama's nominee would win because he will give African's hope!!!!

ifyalways: Let's pretend that the white/ Arab man didn't come with their religions, were there really a point in history when we did appreciate our articrafts? Has it not always been linked with one god or the other, something to be revrenced?

My few visits to Nike art center and terra culture lagos have made me to sort of believe that our arts, heritage would continue to find its way to the western world where its appreciated cos our people, you and I don't give a damn. Black US evil. . . Self hate. Much.

Darui: So,france evil like this! Haiti paying for its own liberation is shocking to me. That was no liberation. It wasn't even subtle exploitation.
But,most of these African presidents were bad people,western propaganda or not. Gbagbo losing an election and not leaving comes to mind. It seems by their actions,they are bringing misery to us,Africans.

cap28: Thank u bro . In addition 65 % of the foreign reserves of all franco fone countries is held by the french treasury and the reinvest this money and use it to develop france while the francofone countries are not allowed access to their own foreign reserves! The francofone cntries must make do wth an allowance gvn to them by france each financial year and if its not enough they have to borrow their own money frm france with interest attached!france=racist poisonous demons, read up on how they destroyed haiti by forcing the first black republic to pay france compensation for freeing themselves frm slavery!

afam4eva: Masters...I will be studying any business related course.

afam4eva: I'm really not sure. I'm still in the process of selecting. I'm looking at a public Ivy-league college.

afam4eva: Escape to America? So says a beast of no nation. I'm going to American to further my education and not to be an American slave. Don't worry, i'm not coming to take your job as a dish washer. Mkpi.

Kambale Musavuli, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a human rights activist, Student Coordinator and National Spokesperson for the Friends of the Congo. Mr. Musavuli’s professional activities, publications, and public engagements reflect his unflagging commitment to realizing peace and justice in the Congo. Mr. Musavuli has written for The Washington Post, Foreign Policy in Focus, The Huffington Post and numerous other academic and news publications. He has also been interviewed on National Public Radio, Democracy Now, ABC News, Al Jazeera English Television, Radio France International and a number of other radio and television programs. He has been profiled in publications such as “Christianity,” “News and Record,” and a few other newspapers around the world. His film appearances in Iara Lee’s “Cultures of Resistance,” Martin Scorsese’s “Surviving Progress,” and “Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering the Truth” reflect his astute understanding of the economical, ecological, and political dynamics of the global age. His expertise in issues ranging from labor rights, to corporate accountability, international financial institutions, environmental justice, and social justice has qualified him to serve as a research consultant for a number of film projects, socially responsible investor groups, and government agencies at their request. While studying Civil Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, he developed a deep sense of community service and commitment to justice for all peoples. This experience strengthened his organizing skills by working with local activists on issues ranging from raising minimum wage, to ending police brutality and improving immigrant experience. This work taught him the importance of enabling youth to become change-makers in their communities. He continues such work by supporting organizations, like "Congo Leadership Initiative," an organization that empowers young leaders in the Congo and provides avenues for them to succeed and to ultimately remove the barriers preventing Congo from reaching its potential. He also engages students and communities worldwide in “breaking the silence” about the ongoing crisis in the Congo by encouraging them to organize Congo Week, an annual global initiative that commemorates the lives lost in the Congo during the conflict and elevates the profile of the Congo. Mr. Musavuli has received awards and acknowledgments affirming the essential nature of his work and the energy and impact of his voice. In 2008, he was appointed by Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson as a member of the International Advisory Committee for the City of Greensboro, a committee that assist the mayor in elaborating policy and procedures that reduce gaps between United States Citizens and immigrants in Guilford County and its peripheries. In 2009, he received a Congolese Hero Award from the Congolese Development Center National Awards Program, an award given to Congolese citizens for exceptionally successful initiatives or achievements benefiting the community. In 2011, the United States Army awarded him a Commander's Coin for the educational workshop he conducted for military and government attorneys at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum profiled him in “Community in Action,” a campaign to bring public awareness to individuals who “take action to confront genocide and related crimes against humanity today." Mr. Musavuli tours the United States, Canada, and Africa speaking to university students, religious groups, global leaders, community organizers and many others, educating and mobilizing them to work as partners with a Congolese civil society that strives to end the country’s conflict, control its enormous natural wealth, and build lasting peace and stability in the heart of Africa.

Transcript
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Washington.

With all the controversy about the viral video Kony 2012, which calls for U.S. military intervention in Uganda and support for the Ugandan military, there's another piece of context that's not being talked about very much, and that's U.S. support for the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, who was elected in what most people think was a very fraudulent election, but recognized by the United States.
Now joining us to talk about that election and current situation in the Congo is Kambale Musavuli. He's a human rights activist originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He's also the national spokesman for Friends of the Congo. And he joins us now from Washington. Thanks for joining us.
KAMBALE MUSAVULI, SPOKESMAN, FRIENDS OF THE CONGO: Thank you, Paul.
JAY: So talk about what happened during the elections and the whole U.S.-Congolese relationship.
MUSAVULI: Yes. November 28, the Congo held its presidential and legislative elections. And this election—these elections were marred with a lot of what the Carter Center calls "irregularities". But all know it was very fraudulent. We had places that voted that had more than 100 percent voting. We had polling stations who were not counted. You know, in example, one of the key city, Kinshasa, 2,000 polling stations were not counted. And there was very oppressive push to stop the people from speaking up. You know, I'm—and I'm speaking about the Congolese police actually, you know, shooting at civilians who were protesting peacefully without any guns.
So, unfortunately, the Congolese institutions, you know, the commission for the electoral process, announced that Kabila, the current president, won the election. And that has created a situation where, on the ground, the people do not believe that the government represent them, and they have literally checked out of the democratic process, and they have been protesting.
Now, what is very interesting to know is, unfortunately, the United States is supporting that government. And they did it in a very shady way. You know, after the elections, when we had the provisional results, the world was watching, trying to find out what the U.S. position is going to be toward the elections. Hillary Clinton put out a very soft statement online about how they were concerned with the elections on the ground, which was not similar even to what happened in Russia, and she put out a statement. The world's trying to watch what the U.S. will do. They never even said it publicly. They actually went into hiding—that's how I portray it—that the ambassador, the U.S. ambassador to the Congo, James Entwistle, had a press conference in Kinshasa where not many media were there. You know, we did get the information, what he stated. Let me be clear. The U.S. position toward the Congo is that the United States recognize President Kabila as the president of the Congo for the next five years. And that's very dangerous, because the people on the ground have called for some sort of a truth of the poll to be known. So they are organizing to get the truth of the polls, while the United States is supporting an oppressive regime which is using the support we're giving them to oppress the people.
So let me get some context for you. On November 15, 2011, which is actually on the U.S. Embassy's website, the United States provided $500 million worth of police equipment to the Congolese police. On November 26, in front of the international media, the Congolese police shot at civilians and killed them, shot. And the video can be found online where you're seeing unarmed civilians running away from the police shooting at them, almost looking like the killing in Soweto. No international condemnation, no one has been held accountable.
And one will ask: where did the Congolese police get these weapons? But the embassy said it already: we're providing you with the equipment to crush your population if they ever rise up against the result of the election. And that's unfortunate.
And this is [incompr.] Congolese, because Congolese and people around the world look to America. Why? Because of the American principles of democracy. Not only that, in the case of the Congo we have a law to support democracy in the Congo. So whenever we look at the U.S. steering away from democratic principles and supporting oppressive regime, that's very concerning to us [crosstalk] to the American people.
JAY: Well, I guess U.S. policy essentially is, if there's a pro-American government, the objective is stability, and if it's not a pro-American government, then there's some talk about democracy.
MUSAVULI: But the American people do not know that, unfortunately. You know, this is why whenever we were discussing "Kony 2012" in a previous segment, we have millions of people, without any context, realizing actually the situation within that region is because of U.S. foreign policy. I mean, that's very serious to see that.
When the Congolese are organizing, they took it to the street. A good example: Congolese women went to the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa in December. They staged a sit-in for two days. They took over the U.S. Embassy. The ambassador met with them. They gave their demands, and one of the demanders say that do you—America does not need to support strongmen in the Congo. That was in the letter they gave to the ambassador. Two days later, while they were at the U.S. Embassy, the Congolese police came, beat the women, arrested some of them, and removed them from the embassy, which is considered an international territory. Do you know what the U.S. Embassy did? Nothing. No statement notsoever. The only way we got information from the State Department about what happened at the embassy is to get the congressmen to send them a letter, say, what happened to the Congolese women while they were at the embassy. And their response was that they were removed with some form of force.
So when you see, even to that extent, that the Congolese women have been raped, some have said, in millions, they have been mistreated, they saw how the elections in the country were stolen from them, and decided, we are going to plead to America and go to the U.S. Embassy, and even on U.S. soil, the U.S. Embassy, they are being mistreated, and the U.S. does not even address it, the American people do not know that. This is the message [incompr.] bring to the American people, for them to know what United States government is doing overseas, because there is a difference between the United States government and the American people. The American people are not aware. When they are aware, they will hold the government accountable, as they held them accountable when the U.S. government was supporting apartheid in South Africa.
So that's the challenge Congolese are facing right now. They have an illegitimate government that's ruling them, that, since they've been in power in December, have been signing contracts, you know, gave Total, a French company, gave them a oil block. And Total was very happy. You know, SOCO oil now getting into the Virunga Park, very happy as well. And we've seen more and more [incompr.] giving away the assets to Chinese. And we've seen that the support to that regime is for the resources the Congo has as long as it's giving unfettered access to Congo's resources. The United States say, good boy, we want you to be our president so that Freeport-McMoRan, an American company, can get copper out of the Congo regardless of what the Congolese people are doing.
And the will of the Congolese people right now is they want the truth of the polls, they want the person they voted for to be the winner, rather than having a sham election, as they witnessed on November 28.
JAY: Alright. Thanks very much for joining us, Kambale.
MUSAVULI: Thank you.

Darui: I wonder why African political leaders allow themselves to be used like this. They forget that in the long run,they lose. We lose.