For Wednesday’s Wisdom this week, we remember the words of great Congolese pan-African revolutionary Patrice Lumumba (1925-61). They’re as relevant as ever, with his home country hooking up to the so-called Lobito Corridor – a rail road, backed by US and EU investments, that will facilitate the transportation of minerals out of DRC to Western markets.
Concerns have been raised over whether the rail road will improve the conditions of Congolese people. It’s feared things could actually get worse for them – while the West continues to benefit from the nation’s resources and cheap, slave-like labour.
The Congo is the world’s richest country in terms of natural resources, with its vast untapped raw minerals valued at $24 trillion. Despite this, one out of every six people living in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa lives in Congo, where 73.5% of the population earns less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.
Lumumba, who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo before he was assassinated in a US-backed plot is famous for saying that independence is only symbolic if it does not translate into actual economic prosperity.
Sources:
https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/lumumba/1960/08/31.htm
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/patrice-lumumba-executed/