Hey, it's Jen here. I suppose y'all might like to read my reflection after Rosanne mentioned it in one of our previous posts, so I decided to upload it! Some of it is just me ranting about life, so I apologize in advance. Oh and I did throw in a couple of insults directed towards Chibiko... only because she knows that I love her guts and am insanely jealous of her.
Anyways, enjoy!
Social Activism Reflection
Social Studies 10-1, Mrs. Shepherd
By Jennifer Taylor
The Democratic Republic
of the Congo is home to over 71 million people, and is found in Central Africa.
Its area totals to over 2.345 million square kilometres, with 77% being forests
and woodlands. Although French is the official language, there are estimated to
be over 242 languages spoken in the country. Fifty-five percent of women and
seventy-six percent of men are literate, leaving approximately 35% of the
population without sufficient education. Health care in the Congo is very poor,
and some of the major infectious diseases include Hepatitis A, typhoid fever,
and malaria. Due to such diseases as well as large amounts of violence, the
life expectancy rate is only 51 years. The Congo is considered to be very rich
in exports, as they export approximately $7.5 billion worth of products,
including diamonds, gold, cobalt, copper, coffee, petroleum, and wood.
The Belgium Congo
King Leopold
II is to some remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State,
a project in which he undertook on his own behalf. To others, he is simply
known as the mercenary man who used brutal force for his own personal gain.
Leopold strongly believed that overseas colonies were the key to a country’s
greatness, and worked to acquire colonial territory for Belgium. However, due
to the lack of interest from the Belgian government, he chose to undertake the
act of privately colonializing for his own benefit. In 1884, he set off to the
Berlin Conference, which was held amongst the powerful European leaders in
order to superimpose their domains over African land. During this conference,
fourteen countries divided Africa into fifty irregular colonies. Leopold did
not want to miss the chance of getting a good slice of what he called the
“magnifique gâteau africain”. Although Leopold was considered a neutral
ambassador, he acclaimed a part of the Congo Basin, an area 76 times larger
than Belgium, which became his personal kingdom.
Leopold
began to civilize the Congo. He first sent missionaries and explorers, like he
promised the European community he would. But, as Wesseling pointed out in his
research book Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa 1880-1914,
Leopold’s original idea of the Congo was a “national philanthropic
association”. Unfortunately for the Congolese, these ideals soon changed to
“private commercial enterprise”, which then became a political reality. It was
at this point in history in which the innocence of the Congo was lost. Endless
atrocities were committed as King Leopold attempted to colonize within the
heart of Africa. Whilst many Europeans looked upon Leopold as a benevolent man,
building schools and hospitals and arranging countless missions within the
Congo, the truth was anything but. During the twenty-four years Leopold was in
control, it is estimated that the Congo lost between five and eight million
native people. Although he himself never stepped foot in the Congo, he gained
enormous amounts of wealth from exporting Congolese resources. During this time
the Congo became the leader in exporting ivory and rubber. Forcefully abused by
Leopold’s personal army, each village was expected to achieve a set quota of
locally collected these resources, which would then be sold for Belgian’s
benefit. If this quota was not met, or if the villagers showed signs of rebelling,
the results were brutal and inhumane. Workers were chained together, whipped,
kidnapped, and held hostage. The women were raped again and again, and the
death count was high. Whenever a bullet was fired, a soldier
was required to in
return show a Congolese hand in proof of the death. The currency of the severed
hand was developed when soldiers would instead use these bullets to hunt
wildlife, and brutally take the hands of innocent Congolese villagers to prove
they were causing the fear and violence in the people that Leopold knew would
lead to greater exports. These are just a few examples of the cruelties that
the Congo has endured throughout history.
Social Activism
As our
social class was being informed of these brutalities, I could not help but
wonder how social activism could relate to something that happened such a long
time ago. To my dismay, I soon learned of the legacies of King Leopold; along
with ongoing conflicts over things such as resources continue to affect Congolese
people. Poor media coverage has kept the issue unnoticed by developed
countries, and little help is being provided. Over the course of project week,
we gathered knowledge of the gender-based violence, youth in conflict, and
conflict minerals in order to prepare for our video conferencing session with
Kambale Musavuli, a human rights activist and member of the Friends of the
Congo organization. One of the things he said that stood out in my mind was, “I
want to touch your heart”. Once the act of inspiring begins, it causes change.
Even if it is only a single thought that crosses someone’s mind for a
half-second, or an idea that occupies their mind for an entire day. This is
evidence of change.
“Once social change
begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned
to read. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen
the future, and the future is ours.” –Cesar Chavez
The seeds of activism were planted in
our minds more than four months ago. Not only have they rooted and thrived
within our own souls, but have branched out into the hearts of others because
of the action we have taken. The first step was to divide into groups, and
developed goals amongst ourselves.
Students for the Congo
I am a part of a group called
“Students for the Congo”. Made up of five high school aged students, we set off
to raise awareness of the tragedies occurring in the Congo nowadays. As Kambale
suggested, we wanted to choose ways of spreading the word that relate to our
lives here in Canada. Rosanne and I are
interested in blogging, her specifically the writing of posts and me connecting
the web address to other social media sites and search engines. Alex wanted to
attract attention by putting up posters, and Amy and Elly looked to establish a
Korean blog, as well as set up donation boxes in local stores. Beginning in
March, we created a blog address (http://www.studentsforthecongo.blogspot.com), as well as placed our boxes in
stores such as Stop n Go, Esso, Dairy Queen, and Grandview Store. In less than
two months, we acquired more than $720 in donations. As par to my
responsibilities, I “spammed” our blog, entering the web address into various
search engine and “pinging” sites. This helped to boost our views, and we began
seeing traffic from all over the world, including countries such as United
Kingdom, Morocco, Ukraine, and Italy. Inspired by the success of the blog, I
continued to brainstorm for ways to spread the word. On a spur of the moment
idea, I presented the intent of setting up music at the local Art Walk, and
busk for donations to the group. We gathered up some of our musical friends,
and handed out informational brochures on Main Street for the afternoon while
playing artists such as Adele and Green Day. Many people were drawn to the
music, and we used this to our advantage. Our theme was “Music to Empower”,
just as Kambale and Congolese youth are using to share their stories. Playing
off of each member of the groups’ individual strengths is what I believe is
what led this project to be so successful.
Like every
activism group, we had our struggles. Four months is a long time to stay
motivated, especially when we can’t see the results while we are working
towards them. We have no way of seeing the joy on a child’s face as he sees
artificial light for the first time because our money provided his village with
a generator. Some days, it’s hard to find the will to write a blog post that
might not even get any views. But what I have realized, is even just the
knowledge that someone cares can bring comfort to the Congolese people. Another
struggle that we faced was not everything we had planned was able to be a
success. For example, Amy and Elly spent more time making and maintaining
donations boxes than they did on the Korean blog. Rosanne and I were not able
to make an informational page and rather left the blog unorganized through
various postings. Learning to set realistic goals is a valuable lesson to havve,
and also to realize that not everything we brainstorm we have to attain. “Success is sweet: the sweeter if long
delayed and attained through manifold struggles and defeats” –A. Branson Alcott
Although
some of my group members may disagree, I feel the distribution of work was very
efficient. We unintentionally chose our own parts of the project to work on
independently, therefore eliminating the need for continuous group work. Due to
the fact that we all possess strong leadership qualities we were able to
concentrate on our own segment of the project, occasionally checking up on the
group progress. Unfortunately, our lack of regular group meetings left some
members out of the loop, and therefore they were not able to contribute as much
as they could have. If we were to do this project again, a valuable tip would
be to make sure everyone knew what they were expected to do, rather than
leaving it up to the individual to choose something to do. This would have ensured full participation
from all members, and a better sense of collaboration. A risk of allowing less
individual work would be that things such as the blog might not have been as
well developed if we attempted to involve all group members in the process. It
is easier to find an hour within your day without have to make sure that hour
coincides with theirs as well.
As the world
becomes increasingly globalized, the role of social media grows in importance.
To possess the power to spread your opinion with society by simple typing it
online is a major advancement in civilization. Like many other social activism
groups, we used this to our advantage. Having already been established in the
blogging community, this gave us access to influence regular Blogger readers.
Simply having a Facebook account also allows the immediate attention of
hundreds of friends. Now, instead of repeating yourself in countless conversations
to have your opinion heard, you can effortlessly tweet about it. People, who
may never have bothered to listen to a social studies lecture, will now have
“accidently” read a short Facebook status, which could cause another seed to be
sown. A Youtube video that appears in the related videos column, even if never
watched, may be a piece of information that hides in the back of someone’s mind
until brought forth in conscious conversation. Consequently, a news article
about the conflict in the Congo might remind an individual of a
tweet/status/video seen months ago, even if they had simply glanced at it. This
is the power of social media, harnessed by the ordinary people of first world
countries.
And then
there are the not so ordinary people. Youth in the Congo, social activists,
good Samaritans, who desperately want to be heard, but are second to talking
dog videos and rants on the cost of gas. Why is the attention of educated
people being given to fifteen year old Manga blog authors and that guy on
Youtube that makes lame jokes, when social activism projects are struggling to
reach enough views to make their efforts worthwhile?
“The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of
tomorrow” –Bill Gates
Globalization
has greatly affected people in the DRC. The demand for minerals has grown
higher, and many of the materials need to make modern day devices such as
laptops and cell phones are mined within the Congo. As large companies look for
cheaper labour and raw materials, the Congo suffers the cost difference. But
globalization has also affected the Congo from a positive perspective. Today,
more people know more about the atrocities being committed than they did ten or
fifteen years ago. The spread of information has multiplied in speed, as has
the demand for knowledge. If someone from your local community died, you would
want to know the why’s and how’s. In my opinion, this form of thought
processing is being added to a larger scale. Some people are asking why people
in the Congo are dying, and want to change that. “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then
there’d be peace.” –John Lennon. Unfortunately, as Joseph Stalin once said,
“One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic. Coincidently, he also said
that death is the solution to all problems, if there is no man, there is no
problem. But on the subject of social change, he mentioned that education is a
weapon whose effects depend on who holds is in his hands and at whom it is
aimed. A very wise man he was indeed.
We, as
globalized citizens, hold the power to make a difference. It is our choice
whether or not we want to. As I see it, you can work hard all of your life, and
one of two things will happen. If you solely work for your own personal gain,
you will end up living in a big house; never have to worry about your money
running out, and a feeling of accomplishment. But, if you work solely for
others, you may live your life not knowing where your next meal is coming from;
have a roof with a leak, and a feeling of accomplishment. Most people live
somewhere between these extremities. One of the decisions that haunts my future
is where I am going to sit on the scale. I can’t help but worry that wherever I
chose to fall, the grass on the other side will remain greener. I am constantly
in fear of regrets. Living as a globalized citizen effects everyday choices as
well. Should I use my weeks’ worth of hard earned money to help a child without
shoes or to pay for my cell phone bill? If asked the question of which is more
important, I would then question why I continue to spend money on my own wants.
I feel that I cannot commit myself to both individual success and change within
the world, because I do not see them as a common achievement. Whether this
choice haunts others as much as it does me I have yet to understand.
Social
activism is a key to being a globalized citizen. To bring about positive change
within another’s life is what I feel to be a continuous life goal. Over the
course of this project, I have accumulated some words of wisdom to share with future
activists. Developing a network is priority if you wish to be heard. Whether this
occurs in real life or through social media, many people are willing to lend an
ear to a great cause. Also, a strong group of co-workers can energize and
motivate, sharing common vibes and successes. Finally, always think about the
outcomes. Constant reminders of why you are choosing to make a difference can
assist when the moods and energies are low. Because in a world with so much
pain and suffering, giving up is simply not an option.
Conclusion
Although our social studies class has
come to a conclusion, our activism project has not. Why stop at $700 when we
could raise another hundred by simply setting out one donation box? Even since
our last write up of our project, we have accumulated another 500 views on the
blog, totaling to almost 1500 since March. We cannot measure exactly how our
group as well as our classmates made a difference in the DRC, but we know that
it has happened. Various generators will allow communities access to
electricity, and Congolese youth will be given devices they can use to share
their story. It shocked me to find out that they could not use the fibre optic
cable which would allow them access to the internet. Canadians take advantage
of this, using Facebook accounts and blogs to share unimportant, annoying
information, degrading the meaning and strength of their words. If we give this
power to the people who desperately crave it, the possibilities are
unimaginable. As a class, we have raised a total of $2458.65 and counting. There
is no doubt in my mind that more people know about the Congo now than they did
four months ago. We are making a difference. It may be a small step in bringing
peace to the Congolese people, but that does not diminish its importance. Even
if it was not the passion of my peers, I hope that they will be able to take
the same lessons that I have, as well as use and apply them to bring forth
future change within the world. From a teacher, to a class of high school aged
students, to the world,
Change is happening.
