Why there has not been a revolution in the DR Congo in the 21st Century?
Introduction and analysis of Dr. Kabamba’s article
“Revolution” is such a strong concept that many thinkers currently believe is needed in many societies. Well, there are also a lot of other thinkers who either affirm that there is no need for a revolution or state that there cannot be a revolution anymore. I try to put myself in the first category, that of people who acknowledge that the current system of the world, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for instance, which is capitalistic, imperialist, racist, and neo-colonialist, is rotten and that a new one is needed. I have to say that is not the most popular thinking among my people.
For instance, lately, I came across an article by Dr Patience Kabamba, from the National Pedagogic University (UPN) named “Pourquoi les Congolais sont résilients, faibles et apathiques”(translated “Why are the Congolese resilient, weak and apathetic?”) (Kabamba, 2023). The article aims to give the reason why Congolese people are still in such a barely liveable condition. The analysis sounds very good and Dr Kabamba starts with a solid presentation of his experience in Kinshasa both as a citizen and as a hired professor. He developed the arguments around his constant astonishment about the resilience of Congolese people while there were so many inequalities and disparities between individuals and classes. For credibility, the article presents a payslip from the INPP illustrating those incredible inequalities.
Dr Kabamba suggests a possible reason for the absence of a revolution in a country where everything should cry revolution. His approach is physiological, explaining that the reason for the apathy or the condition of the Congolese people is to be found in their biology, in the way they use their brains. He makes the connection between the stress and anxiety from daily that experience Congolese people and the health conditions that affect them. His analysis led to show that Congolese people use their brains less to think logically or critically than to act promptly out of “daily life fear” or survival, therefore with less “professional creativity” (Kabamba, 2023). He concludes by stating that since Congolese people have come to use more their limbic brain (which helps to survive and adapt to states of anxiety from society) than the cortical brain (which helps to think), there will never be a revolution for Congolese people. Ending with a somehow ironic note, he says that the people in power don’t have to worry about anything because the reasons that there is no revolution are “physiological, biological and clinical”.
This analysis is very well developed and I can understand the way of thinking of Dr Kabamba that has led him to such a dark conclusion. Nonetheless, my revolutionary self cannot agree with what he is saying. I was even irritated by the many comments online in favor of such reasoning. While it may be valid, I find it incomplete in the first place and non-productive, and I will explain why.
First of all, it is incomplete because it presents the “physiological, biological and clinical” reasons as absolute or unquestionable. This is the common mistake that happens with giving a “scientific” reason for a social issue because it gives little to no place for discussion since it is somehow common sense that science gives the truth. If we look at history, we can find many instances of that, namely: the so-called scientific racism, the biological argument to justify sexism or homophobia, evolutionism, and even more. These approaches fail to take into consideration the fact that science is not separate from culture, it is, culturally and socially constructed. I can go even further to add that the science used is mostly Western or “Euro-US centric”. So, no surprise that it tries to justify the oppression of Western People. But more importantly, these approaches don’t consider the different other factors (social, cultural, religious, personal, political, and economic). At best, they will acknowledge them, but still, they will over-emphasize the scientific facts. In the case of Dr. Kabamba’s article, he offers little to no acknowledgement of the external factors, but he presents the “physiological, biological and clinical” reasons are the “true reasons”.
Secondly, this analysis is not productive because it puts all the responsibility onto the “biology” of the Congolese people as if it is suggesting that to do a revolution the Congolese must literarily change their nature. This “victim-blaming” is not effective since it mostly justifies an injustice rather than explaining the situation. Moreover, its lack of nuances may easily lead to some form of racism, evolutionism, or hierarchization of the nature of people, in the sense that some groups of people are more biologically built to have a good life, therefore there is no need to try to make a change for other. Even worse, it can suggest that Congolese people should wait for a magical concoction or a therapy that will heal them from their “physiological, biological and clinician” condition. We all know how bad such an alternative can go, history has a lot to teach us. While Dr Kabamba does recognize that the stress comes from society in the first place, he fails to incorporate the bigger pressure the Congolese people and Afro people in general face from the global capitalistic, imperialist, colonialist, and racist system. Nevertheless, used properly and with more nuances, his approach can serve as part of a starter of conversation about the revolution that the Congolese people need so much.
As Dr. Kabamba’s article attempted a “scientific” approach, the following lines will aim to give a holistic approach that considers more factors that may explain the absence of a revolution in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this article, I will assume that the reader acknowledges that the current condition of Congolese people is less than viable, and they are aware of the politico-economic situation too. Of course, there is the chunk of rich people and well-paid individuals that keep the average income per person higher than it should be, there are a lot of people who live in horrendous conditions and who have to fight daily to merely survive. That is when there is no natural catastrophe (earthquake, flooding, or volcanic eruption) or conflicts (war, aggression, attacks, or insecurities). Without normalizing or romanticizing anything, I will assume that the reader is well-informed about the oppression that Congolese people face daily. When necessary, I will still give some context to clarify my arguments.
Why there has been no revolution yet?
In this article, I will first discuss the different factors I think are the reason for the lack of revolution. I will touch on hegemony, discuss the economic struggle for survival, criticize the culture of individualism linking it to capitalism and liberalism, and well as the many myths around revolution. Whenever we present this picture of our reality, we are faced with the question “So what?”, “what next?”, “What do you suggest as solutions?” I am not usually in favor of such a take on issues that have taken decades and centuries to be in place and that have been internalized, normalized, and naturalized (like Dr. Kabamba suggests) so much. Nonetheless, I will go out of my comfort zone and discuss some possible next steps. I will focus mostly on the liberation of the mind or, as Frantz Fannon would say, the decolonization of the mind. I will conclude with my strong take against individualism and an attempt to end on a positive note.
How is cultural hegemony preventing the revolution?
We started with the premise that the situations and conditions the Congolese people are living in are inhuman and nearly unbearable for any human being. What is even more astonishing is that people know that, Congolese people are aware that they are in a highly unjust system led by puppets and selfish sell-outs. So what are they waiting for to rise and rebel? Wouldn’t that be the height of the term “democratic” found in the country’s name? Even Karl Marx expected that due to the exploitative condition of the working class and the several contradictions of the capitalistic society, a revolution would eventually break up. I spare you with lines presenting the Marxist ideology, but still, there is a lot to learn from it, because it helps to understand the global capitalistic complex we are living in today (by analyzing history). So, a revolution should be expected, everything is set for it, but why there is none yet?
Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist intellectual suggested a reason for that phenomenon, and he referred to it as Cultural Hegemony. In his terms, cultural hegemony is the imposition of the world view (or Weltanschauung) of the ruling class to justify a given social, economic, political, or even cultural status quo (Wikipedia, 2023). To apply this to our context, it means the imposition of Western ideologies and thoughts that justify the fact that Congolese people are in such a terrible situation. I am trying not to give the use of scientific reasoning (as what Dr Kabamba did) as an example. What is interesting about cultural hegemony is that it makes the oppressed or exploited people unable to acknowledge that those world views or ideologies are mere tools or cultural/social constructs for the people in power, therefore quenching the revolutionary fire that could have sparked. So far it has been quite abstract, but I am going to break it down into pieces so that we can understand that concept better.
First, let’s look at history. I know that when we bring up history, people think that we are stuck in the past or we don’t want to move on. But the truth is that we cannot move on if we don’t know where are coming from, otherwise, we will be doomed to go back there. History teaches a lot, especially when it is not Eurocentric and doesn’t talk about our people as objects rather than as active subjects, even when it does so, we can still learn how Western European countries and societies have colonized, dominated, and exploited most of the world. Contemporary history allows us to include the United States among those Western Imperialists. During colonization and imperialism, as a way to dominate other parts of the world, cultural strategies were used, such as cultural imperialism which caused the negation of the value system of the colonized groups and undermined their cultural systems (Bush, 2014). This technique was overt and more “conscious” than the cultural hegemony (Bush, 2014) we mentioned earlier, but it served the same purpose, to present the Western worldview as natural, common sense, and the right way of doing things. As many countries got their independence (on paper for most of them), cultural imperialism gave way to a more subtle tactic which is cultural hegemony, in which the oppressed somehow give “consent” to be exploited because of how much they normalized and internalized the Western way of doing things, may it be socially, politically, cultural or economically.
One clear example is how Western languages like French, English, Spanish, or Portuguese became the lingua franca or even official languages in post-colonial societies. For instance, French is the official language in DRC, meaning that education, institutions, and economics are all operated mostly in French (even the national anthem!!!). I mean, there are national languages and several other tribal and unique ethnic languages, not to mention the hundreds of dialects for each of them that the Constitution qualifies as “Patrimony” while they are institutionally rejected, discriminated against, and even seen as backward, uncivilized, savage. That is exactly what cultural hegemony does, presenting the French language as the “right way of doing things”, as the key to success in the society (failing to see it as a reproduction of the colonial system), as the marker of the elite (“les intellectuels”), as the symbol of being civilized. Some scholars add that imposing a given language (as official) makes the domination less abstract and, thus more subtle (Mayr, 2008). This can be unconscious when people have been enculturated into it in the family or through the education system, but it can also be conscious when people put effort into mastering it since that is what society seems to promote.
As a result, in the case of the adoption of the French language, all the cultural richness and values of other languages are slowly getting erased and forgotten from one generation to another. I like to give a personal testimony regarding this: My parents are from two separate and very unique tribes, with distinct cultural values and beliefs. It would be expected for me to speak their tribal languages. But surprise, I don’t know more than four sentences in all of them combined (not to mention the cultural values and techniques I don’t know). I am even lucky to be able to speak Kingwana (the dialect for Swahili) because many other siblings and comrades were just raised in French with no contact with their actual mother tongues. We can conclude that in two generations, those languages will become part of history (if they are even mentioned).
Unlike colonization which was harsh and explicit, this erasure of culture is progressive and slow to the point that instead of feeling a distance from the oppressive capitalists, Congolese come to aim to become like them, closer to the European or White US American culture. The fault is not that of the Congolese, I will not fall into the victim-blaming scheme, the fault is that of the Western Imperialist countries that use other devil techniques to foster that like the OIF (Francophonie), fooling that it brings unity while it divides (but that is the subject of another article). This is the first manifestation of cultural hegemony that keeps Congolese people from the revolution.
Another example of the way cultural hegemony manifests can be found in the education system. Not to mention how many useless things kids get fed from primary school to secondary school that are not practical or relevant to their context. On top of that, there are a lot of lies that we have been fed in geography or history classes and I hope the reader is aware of things like the “explorations” and “discoveries” of Europeans. While some improvements are being made, it is still laughable that most of the time we are just objects of history and not subjects, because the truth is that if we don’t talk about our history, no one will. One has to go out of the country to realize that. When we realize that we understand events like the French Revolution, and the Middle Ages in Europe better than the several African kingdoms and pre-colonial nations, we should question if there is no cultural hegemony in action. Even when we mostly talk about how the slave trade was benefiting Europe and America, and only give the consequences on African society in bullet points before jumping to the eve of colonialism, we should sense a problem and realize how much of our history has been erased and is still unknown to many of us. Or when we talk about the “advancements” of humanity and only cite Western philosophers, thinkers, and people, we have to question why our people are never mentioned (now and even before). What I have just mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg, but I want to shift to a different subject that seems to be free of criticism, the same subject that Dr. Kabamba used with so much ease: natural and physical sciences.
Science subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology are the embodiment of how we “consent” to be controlled by the Western worldview. Indeed, in science, what is taught is sometimes presented as absolute as if European or Western concepts they carry have some sort of universal validity (Dubois, 2005), and we are not able to see them as cultural constructs because over time we have come to reject the science from our culture. And just like with language, the more we gain Western scientific knowledge, the more we alienate from our cultures and relate ourselves to the very system that is keeping us in this terrible condition. Therefore we are blind and cannot think about the revolution because we fail to consider that there are other ways of “scientifically” explaining the world, our ancestors have been doing so for centuries. Of course, religion as Christianism has played a role in fostering the cultural hegemony of the West over us even long after the independence (but that is another discussion).
The list of the manifestations of cultural hegemony goes on and on, even on how we see and value each other. For instance, what we perceive as being beautiful is a result of how the Western media have influenced us or how we have replicated their techniques; what we perceive as being successful in life is the capitalistic image that the West and its “philanthropes” keep suggesting us; even what we consider as the best system (Democracy) that, in reality, has never been made for our people but rather is a tool to select the best puppet for the West; the most laughable is what we sometimes claim as “African Values” (mostly to discriminate our people or to divide ourselves) failing to see that they originate mostly or partially from Christianism (which itself has been mostly appropriated by the West) or from what the West say about our culture(therefore Western ideologies). This last one is even more shocking because it shows how little we know about the pre-colonial nations and their ways of living which were very diverse and complex. I can go on and on forever, just to show how much there are subtle things that have polluted our societies and cultures to the point that a revolution never comes to our mind even when everything should draw us to it. Once again, I have to acknowledge that this is just the tip of the iceberg, things are more profound, subtle, and deeper than just a “physiological, biological, and clinical” reason.
The constant economic struggle for survival
Now that I have talked enough about cultural hegemony, I will develop in brief about the way the constant economic struggle for survival makes it difficult to think about a revolution. There is one theory that could help us to grasp that (even if it comes from a Western point of view), Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs (Mcleod PhD, 2023) which gives a model for human needs. These needs are physiological (the basic needs like food, air, and water), the need for safety, the need for love, the need for esteem, and self-actualization (Barnes, 2000). While this model doesn’t fully apply to our context in DRC it can still tell us that the needs for proper food, drinkable water, and a secure shelter are what any human beings have to primary care about before other things. Therefore when a Congolese woman decides to focus her energy on getting at least something to eat for her family, we cannot blame her for not fighting for a revolution. When a young Congolese man has to spend the whole day wandering in the city to find where he could help carry stuff just to get enough francs to pay the rent, we cannot blame him for not starting a revolutionary group.
Without romanticizing anything, this shows that the situation is just too tense to think about something that is not presented as urgent. Of course, I do believe that a revolution is also a struggle for survival and that it should be our problem number one, but that idea won’t prevent a brother or sister from dying from starvation or a given disease. So, we find ourselves trapped in a system where we have to keep working or trying to work because there is no viable alternative outside that, and the small chunk of people with power or the big capitalistic and imperialist system can sleep with no problem. But the truth is that with a true revolution (on which I will elaborate more as we continue the article) where we are united and share resources, those needs will be met and we will break the system to put in place a new one, where survival will not prevent us from enjoying the richness of our motherland.
The impact of individualism
Now that I mentioned that, I have to also talk about one of the things that I have started to despise heavily, individualism. Individualism implies that the individual thinks first and mostly about themselves before the group. It sounds common sense that everyone should first prioritize themselves before the group they may affiliate with, but it gets messier when everyone is doing it, destroying the sense of community. I need to stress that Congolese people, just like all Afro people all around the globe have one thing that characterizes them the best, and it is the feeling of community. Since the beginning of time, they have lived in a Community and all the cultures and values revolved around that Community.
In short living in a Community means being there for each other, doing everything for the good of the Community, and sharing everything with the Community (even children). Some African societies use the concept of “Ubuntu”, which has many synonyms all across the continent, and it relates to bonding with other members of the Community (Mugumbate & Nyanguru, 2013). Beautifully said, Ubuntu is explained through maxims like “I am because we are, and I am human because I belong” (Mugumbate & Nyanguru, 2013). While we can be a bit critical about the philosophy of Ubuntu (especially regarding its patriarchal roots and misogynist implications), it shows how the Community is an essential part of the life of Afro people. Brothers and sisters in the US have understood that and didn’t hesitate to stress it (Carmichael, 1971, pp. 373-77).
As expected, imperialism and colonialism didn’t spare that aspect of our cultures and brainwashed our people with individualism. Again a bit of a historical element: the classic strategy of conquest has always been “divide and conquer”, but how could White colonialists divide such people whose entire cultures evolved around a community? Answer: By favoring some and not others. We saw how the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi had its material roots in the inequalities created by Europeans. Similarly, by promoting some colonized, giving them responsibilities, giving their brainwashing educations, and making them good puppets, they put the mistrust and the division in the community. Moreover, since that brought competition, there was no more sharing in the Community.
When we look at the DRC, the events of the Independence exemplify that well: how there was a division between the Congolese leaders (a division created by the Belgians we have to specify), and that led to the political instabilities that the country faces and is still facing. Later on, Mobutu with his personality cult reinforced the idea that the individual can be above the community, which is not a surprise coming from a neo-colonialist puppet. For the other people, since the system seemed to favor individuals who “succeed”, everyone started to care more about themselves. The educational system embedded individualism and competition and manifested them through rankings in class and the lies of meritocracy. As a result, most people as they grow older focus on themselves, their families (mostly only the nuclear family), and how they will maintain their position in the competition. It gets more complicated when people start to witch others because of jealousy, which increases fear and mistrust, therefore reducing the sense of community and increasing individualism.
Well, I have to acknowledge that we are strong people and there are still some elements of that sense of community among us. One can only experience it and feel it if one decides to think beyond the corrupted way of life we are living (the carbon copies of Western societies). If we actively decide to nourish that feeling and come closer to each other, we can surely enlighten the fire of the revolution. If we start loving each other as part of the same community, that implies all the Afro people around the globe because we need to acknowledge that it was colonialism that put physical, mental, and spiritual borders between us. And once we find that unity, respect, and care for each member of the Community, then we will be able to make a change. But for now, the current system keeps us divided and even turned against each other, in the name of individualism and “freedom”.
As you can see, in this argument, I didn’t mention a lot about capitalism, it was intentional, but the truth is that there are many links to it. Since capitalism is a system that values competition, profit through exploitation, and free initiatives, it is very incompatible with our understanding of community. When we look at the global scale and how individual capitalists (and the “philanthropes”) are praised, we can conclude that the capitalistic system is not suited for our cultures, so we must get rid of it.
Myths and fallacies about the revolution
It is also important to mention some of the lies or myths this system is feeding us with. For example in history, we are taught that there has always been an individual (mostly a man, which makes us think about the sexism and misogyny of the system) who stands out and makes a great difference, a sort of hero or messiah that the people needed. That myth makes people patient and not willing to go on the front line unless there is some sort of leader before them. But of course, when everyone is waiting for someone to do something, no one does. The matter of fact is that that myth is not true in the first place, or let’s say it is incomplete, because in history the mass of people has done everything, and the individuals are oftentimes just opportunists or even strategically chosen by the system to create confusion.
To quote a very great fighter, sister Angela Y. Davis, “It is essential to resist the depiction of history as the work of heroic individuals for people today to recognize their potential agency as a part of an ever-expanding community of struggle.” (Davis & Barat, 2016, p. 25). She makes an interesting point. For example, many people see Dr. Martin Luther King as the embodiment of a black leader (although some may disagree with that), and of course, I acknowledge that he was a strong person (it is just sad how people have misused his words of non-violence to invalidate and oppose the cry for freedom for Black people), and we have a lot to learn from Dr King. But what people fail to recognize, or let’s phrase it better, what the system doesn’t want us to know is that the Protests and boycotts that followed the refusal of Rosa Parks to let her seat to a white man in Montgomery were mostly initiated by Black women, and Dr King happened to give a good speech and that what made him more visible (Davis & Barat, 2016, pp. 215-17). And even the action of Rosa Parks was not original, many other Black women refused to let their seats on the bus, but the system just presented the individual as an isolated case, to distance her from the mass of people. As the sister Angela Y. Davis puts it: “All of this (the importance of the mass of people) gets erased when you obsessively focus on single individuals” (Davis & Barat, 2016, p. 217).
Now, don’t get me wrong, I acknowledge the fights of Rosa Parks, they impacted and inspired a lot of Black movements. What I am against is that theory of the “great man (and of course, it is mostly men) history”. When it comes to the independence fights, we are mostly taught about the individual leaders, but I know that the mass of people were in constant action. I suspect that since our strength resides in our community and throughout history we have demonstrated that strength in times of crisis, all is put in action to prevent us from using that force again in our current struggles. A revolution doesn’t necessarily need an individual leader or chief, we are all comrades in arms and it is our love for our people and our cry for freedom and life that lead us.
From this analysis, we can see how individualism is just as impactful as cultural hegemony, they work together since they both reinforce the exploitative status quo. Other fallacies contribute to that status quo and prevent the revolution from happening, For example, that “there has been some progress”, “there is no more racism because even the US got a Black president”, “we have got the independence, so colonialism is just history”, “we need to move on, we should not stay in the past”, “life has gotten better, we have more road, cars, electricity than before”. Well, I will spare you more paragraphs trying to show how wrong each one of these statements is from A to Z. One thing, we should know is that the oppression is not as visible and overt as it was in colonial times (that is the marker of neo-colonialism), so if there is no manifestation, it doesn’t mean there is no oppression. We need to be aware of how much propaganda from the system we are fed daily, and sometimes one just needs to do some research to see what people are experiencing. This individualism makes people so insensitive to the realities of others to the point that we can invalidate a given experience just because it never happens to us (well, actually we might just have been too blind or brainwashed to notice that we share those experiences, on different or similar extents). We simply need to look at our neighbors to witness how our people are suffering. One more thing to mention regarding these fallacies is that they don’t want confrontation and aim to close a conversation, while we need confrontation and feel uncomfortable to move on. The wars of revolution that happened throughout history (in Algeria, Kenya, Vietnam, and Cuba) can testify to that. Of course, those who benefit from the status quo, namely the big capitalistic, imperialist, and racist complex and their puppets, don’t want confrontation, therefore they keep the people, the Congolese people from having revolutionary thoughts by any means.
So what’s next?
Now, I have given some reasons (nuanced when I could) for why I think there has not been a revolution yet in DRC. And we can see that it is very deep and very complex, almost all the reasons are intertwined so it is very difficult to imagine a way out. This is, in fact, another reason why people don’t want to talk about the revolution because it feels so complicated (of course it is and will be complicated, even impossible, if the person expects themselves to be the “savior” or “leader” of the revolution, no revolution has ever worked that way). All these factors have taken decades to be in place, so they may also require decades to be addressed. But the reader may ask “What can I do?”, “what next, now you have told me all of this?”. I will go with a classic answer because I am also exploring the solutions and growing my revolutionary self. My answer is that being aware is already a very good step, and it is good that you have already a desire to go on the revolutionary journey.
What one can do is, first, to keep educating themselves. As you have read so far, it is difficult to realize what I have just mentioned without researching it because it is taught nowhere. We cannot expect to learn that from school, we have to put an effort into unlearning all the propaganda we have been fed with. Books are a good start because the truth is that we are not alone, a lot of our brothers and sisters and ancestors have realized too the flaws in the system and they have written about it. One needs just to look for them. There is a lot to learn out there from books, even suggestions for way-outs. And again, we should not expect to truly understand revolutionary texts from going to school, we need to put an effort into analyzing them. After that, we need to educate each other. Even if it may not be the most comfortable thing to do if a brother or sister is still brainwashed, it is our duty as a community to bring them home (Carmichael, 1971, p. 433). While it may be difficult to go through a confrontation with people who have internalized the situation in which we are, it is still worth it to address them, I believe that people can change, especially if we ignite their love and sense of community. Most of all, we must listen to each other and learn from each other. My revolutionary thoughts started to grow after rich, deep, and respectful conversations (sometimes confrontations) with people.
Decolonizing the mind as a preparation for the revolution
These are some starter points on the revolutionary journey. In my approach to revolution, I focus mostly on the mind, since that is where all things start. So as one is educating themselves, they need eventually to go through a process of decolonization of the mind which means they need to deconstruct and alienate themselves from all the lies and myths they have internalized, normalized, or naturalized regarding their position as oppressed or exploited. On their journey to the revolution, the Congolese people need to unlearn all the residue from colonialism that is still in the Congolese society. Then they will reconnect with their Afro cultures, identity, and other Afro people, reaching the sense of community we had previously lost. When the community will be restored and the unity regained, we will have enough power to attack the current system and its puppets. I believe in how strong our people are (we have managed to survive until now while everything was against our existence), and united we shall overthrow this capitalistic, imperialist, and racist system, and put in place a new one that has at heart the love for the community and values life.
The process of decolonization of the mind is very difficult and there is a lot of pressure one may face from the surroundings because decolonization will result in a habitus that is against most of the social expectations (social expectations resulting from the cultural hegemony as we said earlier). The emphasis in the process is put on the mind, the way of thinking (developing a revolutionary way of thinking, in our case, through a true Pan-African ideology), and the feeling of community. Decolonizing our minds will suppress the self-hatred that most of us have developed as a way of survival (i.e. denying our identities as a means to fit in), giving place to a love for our Afro identities and our people. I don’t say “Congolese” identity because I think we should think beyond nationalism and resonate with our brothers and sisters all around the world and share our struggles. Moreover “Afro” is a richer term than “Congolese” and has its beginning way before colonialism, way before slavery, unlike “Congolese” which still reflects how we have internalized the fact that our history starts when the Europeans recognize it (but that is another article). I say “identities” because “Afro” is not a monolith, it is fluid, dynamic, and complex, and we love that, the diversity makes it even richer.
The love for our Afro identities can also manifest outwards by different factors such as the valorization of an African name, the love for our hair (breaking up with the Western beauty standard for hair), seeing the beauty of our skin color, reconnecting with our cultural values (the true ones, the one that values humanity, nature and the community, not the sexist and oppressive ones), and referring to ourselves as part of a community.
Regarding the name, since it carries the richness and the wisdom of our cultures, promoting them is both an active and symbolic action of breaking up with the current system that wants us all to have Western names. This is mostly relevant to our brothers and sisters in the diaspora or overseas, but it also applies to us. While I acknowledge that tribalism may find its way, I strongly believe that the love for the community is stronger than individual interests. I elaborate more on the topic of the name in my article “Why I decided to change my first name?” (Sabwanda, 2023, p. 6).
Afro hair is beautiful and it is a key feature of our Afro identity, and it is the one that has been diabolized the most. But through the process of decolonizing our mind, we come to see our hair as alive (Carmichael, 1971, p. 371) and part of ourselves, therefore we take care of it properly and promote it. And that applies to all our people regardless of what the current system defines as gender roles and expectations. I am pretty radical regarding Afro hair, and I would suggest leaving it natural, but I know that our people are very creative, so I think as long as we don’t replicate what the Western society presents as good hairstyle (or even as hairstyle suited for our hair type), let’s us love our hair.
Similarly, let’s love and appreciate our skin color or complexion. We need to stop colorism from dividing us and turning us against each other, which is what the system wants and has always wanted. A good look into the history of the creation of colorism during Slavery in the US would confirm that, for example through the Paper bag principle (Kerr, 2005). Through the process of decolonization of the mind, we understand that only self-hatred can make us bleach our skin, use cosmetics that change our complexion, or use filters whenever we take a picture to look brighter. Then we come to love each other and see the beauty in the skin color of our people.
These elements I mentioned should not be regarded as checkboxes to tick off, because it would reduce the decolonization process to a mere performance, and that is even worse than being brainwashed because it would undermine the revolution. There is no one way of decolonization, I mentioned those examples because they are the one that mostly applies to my personal experience through decolonization of the mind, and I know that my brothers and sisters out there have a variety of experiences. Thus the way decolonization of the mind will manifest in them may not be the same as mine, for example, it can include the reconnection to our African languages and religious beliefs, and so on. The time it takes to decolonize the mind is also dependent on each person’s experience and it is impacted by the clashes they may eventually face. It is important to stress that some of the failures of “authenticity politics” and other suggestions to “return to the true self” come from their one-sidedness. Those ideologies usually imply that there is only one way to be, for example, a “true” Pan-African or a “true” Black person. The truth is that we are a diverse group and that is our richness, nothing should take it away from us, our Community is based on that unity in diversity, and that is why we are stronger together. Nevertheless, in either way or the other, the decolonization of the mind should result in the love for our land, our people, our identities, our cultures, and our history. The decolonization of the mind should prepare us morally, politically, physically, and mentally for the fight for revolution.
Some words to conclude
In conclusion, this article (which has become a long essay) has discussed the reason why there has not been yet a revolution in DRC in recent years, while it is clear that the field is well set for it. After analyzing critically some of the factors that may explain why there is no revolution, this article also attempted to give the first step everyone can take as they go on the road of revolution. Throughout the article, we have stressed the importance of the Community as a way to unite us for an effective revolution. As we conclude, we need to acknowledge that there are already some brothers and sisters who have taken weapons (symbolically or literarily), in militias and other groups, we need to keep them in our minds and support them whenever and whatever we can, especially those who fight for revolutionary goals and not for being part of (integrated in) the system.
This article was mostly addressed to Congolese people, but it can also speak to any other Afro or other people who are oppressed and exploited by the capitalistic, imperialist, and racist Western system and its puppets. The revolution, I think will eventually include (at a different and later stage though) other oppressed and exploited people, because we need to maximize our resources and attack on all fronts to make sure to overthrow this system that has taken decades and centuries to be in place. But at the first stage, we need to foster the bonds between us as Africans, as Afro people from all around the globe, and as sons and daughters (children) of Alkebulan, through the Community.
I also didn’t mention the potential allies from within the system. We may consider them in our revolutionary fight later in the process, and they will have the role not in our ranks on the front, but inside the system, among their people, destabilizing the system from where it came from. That will be a crucial part of the revolution because as long as we don’t have those kinds of ally or allies who are truly in action (and don’t try to take space or to earn a medal for a “good person”, or worse to school us how to fight), it will be difficult to reach the final stage of our revolution. We must stress that it will be up to us to decide who will be our allies and when they will be in action, and from my perspective, it is not yet the time.
I would like to finish with a quote from a very good friend of mine, who has inspired me a lot and who is a brother on the journey of the revolution.
“Like in everything, our ppl have been doing things
we need to empower our minds our hearts and our souls, you might think you’re powerless as an individual but accepting that makes it true
the power lies in the masses of people, especially an educated masses of people, and the masses are made up of everyday individuals like you and I (…) Because revolution is a process, not an event and it’s collective” (Antunga T. C.)
Awake, O Beautiful fighter, the Revolution is coming, and we shall triumph.
B.S.P.
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