Selling the Congo for 30 Pieces of Silver

All quotes and citations are from IIP Digital Article “State’s Carson Calls for Global Effort to Help DRC” accessed from http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2013/02/20130212142470.html#axzz2LNMf7V99 on February 21, 2013

On February 12, 2013, FINALLY, it was reported that SOMEONE in the US Government said that the international community has a “’moral imperative…to break the cycle of death and suffering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.’”

The person who made that statement was US Assistant Secretary of African Affairs Johnnie Carson.  “No other conflict or act of violence since World War II has come close to taking so many lives” as in the DRC, Carson said in Washington February 11.

I wish I could stop right there and give the people of the Congo some hope.  I wish this person with a resumé builder title Johnnie Carson was actually speaking about true peace for the human population that has suffered horrific losses and yet continued to go on because they had no choice.  I wish I could say to the Congolese that their suffering was not in vain and that the international community (meaning international governments) do care and that a meaningful peace process is on the way.

Unfortunately, people with resumé builder international positions often make grand statements while being victims of the Idolatry of Power.  They are so caught up in what title they can obtain next that they forget that they hold real power now.  Instead, the powers of this world overtake them to where they gain a type of “tunnel vision” that can only see one worldview – that is some artificially constructed worldview by which the realities of this world are only determined by the way things are now, not the way things can or should be, because such a view would be too time consuming and too risky.

Carson said that the Democratic Republic of the Congo should go through a stabilization program similar to the processes that ended the wars in Yugoslavia and Sudan.  I’m not a geography expert, but the last time I checked, Yugoslavia ceases to exist, and Sudan is now divided into two separate nations – and even that division is still contentious at best.  And if I’m not mistaken, the leader of Sudan is a wanted war criminal by the International Criminal Court.  Mr. Carson – In the future, please check your RECENT history before making such statements.

Carson did make one very true statement.  “The Congolese people are courageous and resilient.” In this statement, I find no error.  Of course, the Congolese have no choice but to be that way.  They have survived as a people through corrupt dictatorships, inadequate rule, low food security, bloody and devastating wars, foreign nations invading their territory through military or corporate means, militias attempting coups, and so forth.  And I should note that this is only in the past 10-20 years.  I haven’t even discussed times before that.

Finally, Carson ends with a very disturbing, but telling narrative of WHY the world should come together to help stabilize the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Is it because the people have suffered so long?  No!  Is it because they are human like the rest of us and have a God-Given Right to live? No!  Is it out of compassion for one’s neighbor? No!  Carson says the world should care because the Democratic Republic of the Congo could become a “leading exporter of natural resources, agricultural products, and scientific research that could attract substantial U.S. and other foreign investment.”  Yes, my friends, the world should care about the Congo because of money.

Judas again has sold Jesus for 30 silver coins.  Carson is not suggesting that anyone should care about the humanity or people of the Congo.  He is suggesting that people care about the Congo because there is something for the rest of us to gain.  And out of the world’s gain, hopefully the people there will find some peace. 

The Colonial period of history is over.  Except for the very real secret slave trade, the overt slave trade is over.  We have now entered the Neo-Colonial period and the Neo-Slave period.  Essentially, Carson is suggesting that the Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes a Neo-Colony to the corporations of the world and the people become Neo-Slaves.

Is this peace?  I think not!