In this week’s ‘Wednesday Wisdom,’ Argentina-born Cuban revolutionary and ally to the African struggle for liberation, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-67), reminds us that the Congo problem is a collective problem.
With the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) only worsening following ongoing escalations and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels recently seizing parts of Goma city, Guevara’s words couldn’t be more timely.
Between 1998 and 2010, over 6 million Congolese died in the DRC, considered the world’s most resource-rich country. While foreign companies, the West, African elites and other individuals benefit from its riches, the DRC’s people remain impoverished, with 73 per cent of its population living on less than $2.15 a day.
Seeing the Congo exploited for decades reminds us that the global systems of oppression and imperialism have made human life in the Global South dispensable. However, if we do not act collectively, our silence, which normalises imperialism in the Congo, will have far reaching consequences for all people of the Global South.
Sources:
https://syracuse.ecampus.com/african-dream-diaries-revolutionary-war/bk/9780802138347
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/1/27/photo-residents-flee-goma-as-m23-rebels-enter-drcs-largest-eastern-city