kidogo

The Center of The Universe

Written in

by

kidogo_go

,

(8 min read + videos)

On October 28th, 1960, two years before the Cuban Missile Crisis and further escalations of the Cold War, the King of Jazz, Louis Armstrong made a visit to Leopoldville, now Kinshasa: The largest city in Africa and capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (“Louis Armstrong” 2008)1

This was part of a 3-month long tour throughout Africa which was sponsored by the US State Departments’ Goodwill Jazz Ambassador program: One of it’s many efforts to spread American Culture to the rest of the world by way of using Black music and art. Other famous acts included legendary musicians like Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, and Thelonious Monk to name a few. It’s reported that over 100,000 people showed up just to hear Armstrong and his band play that day (2008).

At the very same time, however, recently elected DRC Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba was being held under house arrest by a military coup group (Cushway 2024).2 Congo had only just become independent from Belgium five months before the visit and that immediately spurred internal conflicts between factions representing Lumumba and military Colonel Joseph Mobutu in addition to other forces.

It wouldn’t be until the early 2000s where declassified CIA documents revealed that Mobutu, who eventually became president, was being backed by Western governments to remove Lumumba. This was after several “U.S. attempts to kill him, including a plot to inject toxins into his food,” had failed (Weismann 2002).3 “Hundreds of thousands of dollars and military equipment were channeled to these officials, who informed their CIA paymasters three days in advance of their plan to send Lumumba into the clutches of his worst enemies” (2002). And on January 17th 1961, not even a full year after being elected, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated at the age of 35.

Before becoming Prime Minister, Lumumba had spent over a decade advocating for a better world for Congolese people and connecting disparate parts of the already massive country by crossing tribal divides. His message and conviction inspired The Congolese National Movement party he led which aimed at building coalition for a future Congo without Belgium’s overt control (TRT World 2020).4 It represented a change in attitude towards Western Europe that was growing in Africa and amongst contemporaries like Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah: Bold, Anti-colonial, and Pan-Africanist and his later election win helped in gaining Congo’s independence June 30th, 1960. He then capped off this victory with the gutsy speech tagged above which has gone down in history as what would seal his fate.

For Congo, the removal of Lumumba nearly erased their chances at dignity and human right to self determination. For the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, who issued one of the first orders to remove him in 1960, Lumumba was as an “African Fidel Castro” (Reid 2023).5

But to Black Civil Rights Revolutionary, Malcolm X, Lumumba was the greatest black man that “ever walked the African Continent” (BlackPast 2019). “They couldn’t buy him, they couldn’t frighten him, they couldn’t reach him (2019)” as he would later say in his 1964 speech for the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan.6 He also fulfilled a promise made in this speech by naming his next child after him, Gamilah Lumumba Shabazz.

The main issue here that has always made Congo such of conflict of interest is it’s abundance of important minerals. Copper, Gold, Diamonds, Tin, Lithium, Coltan (BGR).7 67% of the world’s Tantalum and 70% of it’s Cobalt which are both essential for lithium batteries in most of todays tech and transmission power lines (Brigham 2023) 8 On top of that, the majority of the Uranium used in WWII, and more specifically in the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were mined in Belgian Congo (Zahiga).9 The US International Trade Administration even estimates Congo’s wealth to be in the tens of trillions of dollars, boasting that “the DRC offers opportunities for American firms with a high tolerance for risk and familiarity operating in complex or fragile environments” (“Country Commercial Guide).10

Brief overview of Congo by @readinafricana on Instagram for Wear The Peace

So basically, it’s the real life Wakanda. Changes that Lumumba wanted also presented a threat to easy access of this wealth and would’ve changed Congo’s status-quo relationship with the West and with most of Africa. An oppressive establishment to extract wealth made during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and cemented in the Congo’s 75-year-long colonial era. This was major so, as Historian and Activist Walter Rodney puts it in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, “it would not have been in the interests of capitalism to develop Africa” (Rodney 1974). 11

Post colonial trade with Africa maintained and favored Western Europe through what he refers to as a “multiplier effect.” Increasingly richer nations could benefit from their pre-established control over resources extracted abroad and then focus on processing and trading commodities with their rich developed neighbors who also had roots in colonialism and chattel slavery (Rodney). Together, they could maintain a dominant industrial lead on African nations, who would only become more dependent on this increased wealth, new technology, medicine/food access, and inequitable money loan systems like the IMF and The World Bank (“General Criticisms of the IMF and World Bank” 2022).12

Often too, many efforts from African nations to ‘catch up’ industrially with the West were either denied and or intercepted. In 1965 for example, many nations had refused to help build the Volta River Dam for Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah which would later be completed with help from Czechoslovakia (1974). Another time they denied helping to build the Aswan Dam in Egypt but then the Soviet Union stepped in 1960 (1974). During the construction of the largest Sub-Saharan railway, TAZARA, to bridge connections between Tanzania to Zambia, China would eventually help and even “expressed solidarity with African peasants and workers in a practical way” (1974).

Clip of Indiana Senator Todd Young during a hearing in July of 2024.

Many current world economic systems and policy we have today have evolved from this model of extraction. Despite being freed, colonies ‘ending’ did not necessarily mean The West finally became remorseful and saw what they were doing as bad. Things eventually just became inconvenient for them and they were pressured in a number of ways into pursuing something else. This sadly has long been an era in human history that normalizes Western (or Global North) attitudes in order to justify interventions in the Global South.

Because of this activity, people and nations in the Global South, whether it’s Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean, or Latin America, are often mostly characterized by what happens to their countries. Invasion. Colonization. Underdevelopment. Exploitation. Enslavement. Poverty. Military conflict. Terrorism. Intelligence operations. Natural and man-made disasters.

It’s become such that it’s main narrative we’re allowed to see or believe and it greatly affects much of our worldview until we have reason to believe otherwise. Without meaning to, we come into many international conversations with our expectations set pretty low. And even if you do get to visit, meet people, or see the beauty Global South nations have to offer, it may just be a fleeting bright spot in a already pretty dark overall perception. Worse, this perception leaves a debilitating effect on the self image of people who are from there, beyond just the material effects. I think the current conversation on immigration in the West as a whole is a glaring example of this dehumanization.

And it’s all mostly just narratives. Stuff we see in our movies, media, news and education that I believe are simply extensions of our foreign and domestic policy. It reflects how governments see and treat the rest of the people we share this planet with and manufactures consent for whatever they decide to do, and later not tell us about, ‘over there.’ There’s a reason, for instance, why they would run ASPCA commercials alongside UNICEF.

Words from UK Journalist and Author Matt Kennard

I bring this up because as of posting this, we are 413 days into the g∊nocid∊ in Gaza and the Palestinian people. The Lancet, one of the longest running reputable medical journals, estimated in July that at minimum 186,000 men, women and children are likely to have been killed (Khatib et al 2024).13 Millions of civilians displaced internally, starving, suffering psychological torture, malnutrition, widespread disease, and maimed by US funded weapons and military operations of the IDF. (“Situation in State of Palestine” 2024).14 Further, while a few words here can hardly do any justice to these atrocities, it’s important we acknowledge the human suffering still happening in Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Tigray, Yemen and all oppressed peoples across the world including Turtle Island (Hargett 2024).15

I can’t speak for most, but I often chose to focus these conversations around Palestine because like Palestinian-American Legal Scholar and Activist Noura Erakat has said, they are a canary in the coal mine (Hill 2024). 16 It’s an issue that directly involves and centers the US and has allowed Palestinians to communicate their struggle in ways most people here can understand. Not as just another ‘middle-eastern conflict’ but as a 76-year-long struggle that continually exposes who we see as people, who we don’t, and who controls that narrative. That narrative is integral to Palestinians and is part of why they are the most educated refugees in the world (Irfan 2023). 17 Truth and writing is their lifeblood.

Still though, it’s clear the current energy about this polycrisis is twisted. Through words and then actions, many institutions continue to sanitize and normalize the situation exactly the same way they have historically for Lumumba and the Congo and continue to do for oppressed groups here and abroad today. We then follow suit and ‘maintain normalcy’ with our day to day habits still intact despite there literally being a war happening in Ba Sing Se. Gaza is just one of the first times erasure has been conducted to this scale, with this much impunity, and then livestreamed daily by the people being erased. Being able to avoid this conversation is a designed privilege that little by little people are choosing to concede and they are doing this by accepting the fact that we’re all complicit.

They say that, back in the day, it took over a century for most people to agree with the Copernicus model; that the Sun was the center of the ‘then known universe’ and not Earth. We can look back in disbelief at how silly people were to believe such a thing mostly thanks to scientific efforts, but also because of collective changes in public consciousness. It was regular people who, when presented with the new idea, and some proof, had to work to re-evaluate their place in the world. Personally, this year has forced me to acknowledge the fact that I actually don’t know shit about my own neighbors, let alone the rest of the planet. I’m lucky that I still have time to learn and to encourage anybody else to consider believing in something different.

I’ll always emphasize that I’m not an activist or revolutionary, nor should these ideas be seen as that. Titles like those should be respected and reserved for people who do the unattractive and hard work here and aboard. They are humans just like you and me who are sacrificing something to achieve change. Many do it knowing they may not live to benefit from those changes.

If you’re looking for answers and honestly don’t know what to do next, please look to them. Read about and follow them living or not. I’m just a guy with very poor time management skills who likes sharing music and ideas but I’m also just as scared and concerned as y’all are.

I’ll be linking some items below for anyone interested in learning and doing more, but in the meantime, I believe we should all do our best to move in spite of the fear and uncertainty. Practice decentering by thinking globally and acting locally. Things will continue happening so the worst thing we can be doing right now is nothing at all. They lose if they don’t win; we lose if we don’t try.

Peace

What Next:

some Social Media I follow to stay informed on current world issues (primarily insta but many have tiktok, twitter, threads, yt, etc)

Informative Conversations I liked:

Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again | The Nation

This isn’t how we fix our problems

Developing Africa Will SOLVE The Climate Crisis

On the Election of a Fascist President

Citations

BGR. “Mineral Commodities – DR Congo.” Bundesanstalt Für Geowissenschaften Und Rohstoffe (BGR), 2021, www.bgr.bund.de/EN/Themen/Min_rohstoffe/CTC/Mineral-Certification-DRC/CTC_DRC_node_en.html.

BlackPast. “(1964) Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity •.” (1964) Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity •, 23 Sept. 2019, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1964-malcolm-x-s-speech-founding-rally-organization-afro-american-unity/.

Brigham, Katie. “How Conflict Minerals Make It into Our Phones.” CNBC, 15 Feb. 2023, www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/how-conflict-minerals-make-it-into-our-phones.html.

“Congo, the Democratic Republic of the – Country Commercial Guide.” International Trade Administration | Trade.Gov, International Trade Administration, 14 Mar. 2024, www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/democratic-republic-congo-energy#:~:text=Despite%20millions%20of%20dollars%20of,to%2032%20percent%20by%202030.

Cushway, Rebecca. “Louis Armstrong Was Sent to the Congo as a Jazz Ambassador. His Concert Was Used as Cover for a Coup.” ABC News, ABC News, 20 Sept. 2024, www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-21/louis-armstrong-congo-soundtrack-to-a-coup-jazz-us/104338658.

“General Criticisms of the IMF and World Bank – IWRAW Asia Pacific.” IWRAW Asia Pacific – International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific, 29 Apr. 2022, www.iwraw-ap.org/gem/general-criticisms-imf-world-bank/.

Hargett, Nadia. “No One Is Free Until We’re All Free.” The Nubian Message, 25 Apr. 2024, thenubianmessage.com/13839/opinion/no-one-is-free-until-were-all-free/.

Hill, Marc Lamont. “NIGHT SCHOOL: Noura Erakat Talks Green Party, International Law, and Black-Palestinian Solidarity.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Aug. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au5Hfx86MMA.

Irfan, Anne. “Why Palestinians Are Known as the World’s ‘Best Educated Refugees.’” Columbia University Press Blog, 3 Aug. 2023, cupblog.org/2023/08/23/why-palestinians-are-known-as-the-worlds-best-educated-refugeesanne-irfan/.

Khatib, Rasha, et al. “Counting the Dead in Gaza: Difficult but Essential.” The Lancet, The Lancet, 20 July 2024, www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext. Volume 404, Issue 10449

“Louis Armstrong.” JAM SESSION, Meridian International Center, 2008, meridian.org/jazzambassadors/louis_armstrong/louis_armstrong.php#:~:text=In%20October%20of%201960%20Armstrong,sides%20could%20hear%20them%20perform.

Reid, Stuart A. “How the U.S. Issued Its First Ever Order To Assassinate a Foreign Leader – Politico.” How the U.S. Issued Its First Ever Order to Assassinate a Foreign Leader, 17 Oct. 2023, www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/17/patrice-lumumba-congo-washington-00121755.

Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Howard University Press, 1974. Wayback Machine – Internet Archive, https://ia902306.us.archive.org/33/items/how-europe-underdeveloped-africa-by-walter-rodney-2018/How%20Europe%20Underdeveloped%20Africa%20by%20Walter%20Rodney%20%282018%29.pdf. Accessed 2024.

“Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I Rejects the State of Israel’s Challenges to Jurisdiction and Issues Warrants of Arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.” International Criminal Court, International Criminal Court, 21 Nov. 2024, www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges.

TRT World. “Who Is Patrice Lumumba? Congo’s Independence Hero | I Gotta Story to Tell | Episode 17.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Nov. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSyEnnGR4ec&t=231s.

Weissman, Stephen R. “Opening the Secret Files on Lumumba’s Murder.” Washingtonpost.Com: Opening the Secret Files on Lumumba’s Murder, 21 July 2002, www1.udel.edu/globalagenda/2003/student/readings/CIAlumumba.html. Page B03

Zahiga, Remy, and Benetick Kabua Maddison. “Uranium, Cobalt, Copper: The Painful Legacy of the Shinkolobwe Mines in the DRC.” Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 9 Oct. 2023, www.boell.de/en/2023/10/09/uranium-cobalt-copper-painful-legacy-shinkolobwe-mines-drc.

in Footnotes

  1. JAM SESSION – Louis Armstrong ↩︎
  2. Louis Armstrong was sent to the Congo to promote US values. His concert was used as a smokescreen for a coup ↩︎
  3. Opening the Secret Files on Lumumba’s Murder ↩︎
  4. Who is Patrice Lumumba? Congo’s independence hero | I Gotta Story to Tell | Episode 17 ↩︎
  5. How the U.S. Issued its First Ever Order to Assassinate a Foreign Leader ↩︎
  6. (1964) Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity ↩︎
  7. BGR – DR CONGO ↩︎
  8. How conflict minerals make it into our phones ↩︎
  9. Uranium, cobalt, copper: The painful legacy of the Shinkolobwe mines in the DRC ↩︎
  10. Congo, the Democratic Republic of the – Country Commercial Guide ↩︎
  11. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney (2018).pdf ↩︎
  12. General criticisms of the IMF and World Bank ↩︎
  13. Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential – The Lancet ↩︎
  14. Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant ↩︎
  15. No One is Free Until We’re All Free ↩︎
  16. NIGHT SCHOOL: Noura Erakat Talks Green Party, International Law, and Black-Palestinian Solidarity ↩︎
  17. Why Palestinians Are Known as the World’s “Best Educated Refugees” ↩︎

Tags