Congo genocide

[Chavi]

Anyone interested on learning more about this 'forgotten' genocide carrying on as we speak, check out this article by Johann Hari:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/congos-tragedy-the-war-the-world-forgot-476929.html
I read this article a few years ago, but I make sure to re-read it every once in a while to get me motivated again to raise awareness.

Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot

In a country the size of Western Europe, a war rages that has lasted eight years and cost four million lives. Rival militias inflict appalling suffering on the civilian population, and what passes for political leadership is powerless to stop it. This is Congo, and the reason for the conflict - control of minerals essential to the electronic gadgetry on which the developed world depends - is what makes our blindness to the horror doubly shaming. Johann Hari reports from the killing fields of central Africa

It's a long read, but it's well worth it.
Also, if you're interested in taking action, check out this charity endorsed by Oprah called "heal Africa". I saw it one of her programs, it looks like they're doing a good job.
http://www.healafrica.org/oprah-registry-items-p-69.html

[gfb]

Ok I've completed my laps . Smart move on 'masking' the effect of the ultra orthodox jew thread.. i'll read it anyway .

[TrueLight]

i havent read the article yet

but i was skimming over the congo crisis....wikipedia

and why am i not surprised about this whole conflict...

the cia overthrew kasa-vabu and installed a dictator mobutu and basically the countries economy sank like crap
and i will just guess it was for the good and stability of the country...
and now hes gone and the countries in crap?

anyway i will read about it more later...

really looks like a big tragedy

[Hutchoo]

I feel for these people.. but there are other forgotten genocides (Armenians/Greeks etc)

I hate war.
I hate violence.

[MuggedByReality]

  Isn't there some metal, used to make ipods, over which a lot of blood has been spilled, in much the same way as with "blood diamonds"?

  Johann Hari is very thought-provoking, even if I often very much disagree with him


   see his piece on the unseemliness of idolising Che Guevara:

   http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-should-che-be-an-icon-no-394336.html

[Chavi]

I feel for these people.. but there are other forgotten genocides (Armenians/Greeks etc)

I hate war.
I hate violence.

The Armenian Genocide is fairly well known - in fact the term 'genocide' was coined in the aftermath of the Ottoman massacres.
When was the Greek Genocide?

  Isn't there some metal, used to make ipods, over which a lot of blood has been spilled, in much the same way as with "blood diamonds"?

  Johann Hari is very thought-provoking, even if I often very much disagree with him


   see his piece on the unseemliness of idolising Che Guevara:

   http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-should-che-be-an-icon-no-394336.html

Johann Hari is what I would consider a 'real' journalist - although i disagree with him at times as well.
On a side note - this article reminded me of this picture:

i havent read the article yet

but i was skimming over the congo crisis....wikipedia

and why am i not surprised about this whole conflict...

the cia overthrew kasa-vabu and installed a dictator mobutu and basically the countries economy sank like crap
and i will just guess it was for the good and stability of the country...
and now hes gone and the countries in crap?

anyway i will read about it more later...

really looks like a big tragedy

Many of the conflicts in Africa have their roots in Colonialism. I'm not sure if you can attribute the killings to CIA, any more than you can attribute the Rwandan Genocide to the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana

[TrueLight]

but it can contribute and it leads to other problems down the road...

[Hutchoo]

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

@Chavi- Yeah.. I forget these things Sorry, my head is a bit confused at the moment.

[Chavi]

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

@Chavi- Yeah.. I forget these things Sorry, my head is a bit confused at the moment.

Very interesting. Given that the Greek genocide was perpetrated at the same time as the Armenian Genocide - and by the Ottomans too, I would say that the Turks had a systematic policy at the time of massacring all foreign nations within the empire. . .

No-wonder Greece and Armenia still hold animosity toward Turkey

[Cianyx]

Fucking destroy them all
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/central-africa/dr-congo/rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-congo.aspx

If you have to go to war, at least do it with honour

[Hutchoo]

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

@Chavi- Yeah.. I forget these things Sorry, my head is a bit confused at the moment.

Very interesting. Given that the Greek genocide was perpetrated at the same time as the Armenian Genocide - and by the Ottomans too, I would say that the Turks had a systematic policy at the time of massacring all foreign nations within the empire. . .

No-wonder Greece and Armenia still hold animosity toward Turkey

Yeah I think the worst part about it is the fact they don't recognise history -.-

[Chavi]

Fucking destroy them all
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/central-africa/dr-congo/rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-congo.aspx

If you have to go to war, at least do it with honour

This is common in other places and conflicts as well.
The Japanese occupation of Manchuria and the 'rape of Nanking' instantly comes to mind as one of the worst examples of this in history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre

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

@Chavi- Yeah.. I forget these things Sorry, my head is a bit confused at the moment.

Very interesting. Given that the Greek genocide was perpetrated at the same time as the Armenian Genocide - and by the Ottomans too, I would say that the Turks had a systematic policy at the time of massacring all foreign nations within the empire. . .

No-wonder Greece and Armenia still hold animosity toward Turkey

Yeah I think the worst part about it is the fact they don't recognise history -.-

100% agreed. Luckily these days though, history is not only written by the victors

[Cianyx]

Nanjing wasn't the only city to have suffered such massacres. Just about every city colonised by the Japanese suffered brutal tortures. It is regrettable that the Japanese especially have to resort to these crimes considering that they come from a lineage of proud and noble warriors.  

[Chavi]

Nanjing wasn't the only city to have suffered such massacres. Just about every city colonised by the Japanese suffered brutal tortures. It is regrettable that the Japanese especially have to resort to these crimes considering that they come from a lineage of proud and noble warriors. 

Even the most civilized peoples can sink to the depths of barbarity. Who would've though that Weimar Germans - the epitome of culture, scientiffic discovery and democracy could sink to the depths of Nazism?