Congo, Palestine, and Sudan: What You Need to Know
29th July 2024
By Ken Downs
There is so much going on in our world that we’re not fully aware of in our western bubble. Though we may be used to the “unprecedented” nature of our political climate (i.e. the recent UK General Election Labour win and the active US Presidential Campaigns littered with plot twists), there are millions of people across the world struggling with poverty, food insecurity, and violence. The DRC and Sudan are just a couple of places where civilians are uprooted from their daily lives into life-or-death circumstances vying for safety.
Congo
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), government troops have been battling rebel groups in the eastern part of the country that’s rich in minerals such as gold, with the most prominent being M23. M23 is thought to be responsible for decades of conflict in the Kivu region that have displaced over 7 million people. A million of those people have been displaced just over the past year alone. 21.3 million people are suffering from food insecurity. To put that number into context, the population of the DRC is 99 million. That means 1 in 5 people in Congo are malnourished. Congo alleged that Rwanda has been supporting the rebel groups and Rwanda inversely alleges the same against the DRC and Burundi, a neighboring country. The UN peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, has to withdraw out of the country at the request of the Congolese government who says the mission failed to keep civilians safe. Civilians uttered that neither organization aided their safety.
In addition to the terrorism caused by M23, Congo is at the center of a global labor crisis. Congo is the world’s leading exporter of cobalt. Cobalt is a rare mineral used in the manufacturing of virtually every electronic we use in our day to day lives, from the laptop I’m using to write this to the phone you’re reading this on, to the vape you bummed off your friend. Men, women, and children are mining the cobalt for long hours with no protection, causing them to become very ill for just less than $2 per day. Companies such as Apple, Samsung, and Tesla are all thought to have some responsibility for the cobalt mining and poor, offensive work conditions.
What Can You Do?
Post, post, POST! Post and repost to spread awareness about what’s happening in the Congo. There are numerous news outlets and individuals who are either on the ground or have direct connections to people on the ground who are actively reporting on the situation. @congofriends on Instagram and @pappyorion on TikTok have been providing coverage up to date on the situations in the DRC. Al Jazeera and AP News are very reputable organizations for many things, in addition to Congolese news coverage.
DONATE. You can donate to some of these organizations who are sending aid or organizing ways to send aid to the Eastern and Southern regions of the DRC. Organizations such as Give Directly and Focus Congo are good places to start. You can also donate to Friends of the Congo (friendsofthecongo.org) and support the Basandja Coalition. The coalition reaches about 2 million Congolese and provides food, reports food, and rescues children suffering the most from these crises.
BOYCOTT. The best and safest way to be sustainable and protest is to not buy anything at all. The best way to combat these companies is to hurt their money, which means to not buy new technology until change is made or you need to. If you do need to buy new tech, buy used and not brand new. This is also the time to drop the vape. Smoking battery fluid isn’t great for your health anyway ;)
Sudan
For over a year, Sudan has been in a bloody civil war between factions of the military; the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Prior to the war, the Sudanese government transitioned following the Sudanese Revolution when the former dictator Omar Al-Bashir was finally brought down. The SAF and RSF worked together however most Sudanese citizens disapproved of the military throughout and after the decades of corruption and civilian massacres they committed.
Over 20,000 people have been killed since the war began. More than 2 million people are projected to die within the next 3 months from starvation if they don’t receive aid. 8.6 million people have been displaced since the start of the war. Civilian aid has been blocked both by the RSF and SAF. The UN doesn’t have enough funding to send aid either. The UN needs $2.7 billion in funding but only has 17.4% of that funding. The RSF is allegedly getting weapons from the UAE and Russia, but Russia is seemingly supporting SAF for access to the Red Sea. Egypt also seems to back SAF diplomatically and Iran is allegedly supplying them with drones as well. Darfur and the Sennar State are the latest states to be invaded by the RSF after being safe havens since the start of the war. Civilians are fleeing however they can, by foot, by car until they run out of gas, by bus, and by hitchhiking. They are fleeing while food and water has been cut off by the RSF, crippling civilians. The humanitarian crisis is being regarded as a genocide on non-Arab groups by the Arab led RSF.
What Can You Do?
BE VOCAL. Attend and organize protests and demonstrations in solidarity with the Sudanese. Get in contact with local organizers and organizations to find out more information about how you can help spread awareness. Keep Eyes On Sudan (keepeyesonsudan.net) and the Sudan Diaspora Network (sdn.world) have plenty of resources on future protests and events.
CONTACT. Write and ring your local officials consistently and encourage them to divest money and weapons from the war. KEOS also has prewritten emails and templates to write to ministers, senators, Parliament members, etc. in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
DONATE. The SDN has a benefit fund that sends food relief and medical aid to families in Sudan and refugees displaced in Egypt and Chad.
Palestine
For 9 months (read 76 years), Palestine has been under attack by Israel. While many reduce the attack to be religion based, we must remember that Palestinian Christians, Jews, and
Muslims all exist. This is ethnic cleansing in the process of active displacement and destroying the livelihoods of indigenous people.
Israel ordered all civilians in Gaza City to leave despite having nowhere safe to go. Israeli snipers have even been shooting at Palestinians attempting to flee. Despite sanctions and condemnation from several countries, the UN, and other human rights organizations from
around the world, Israel doesn’t show any signs of letting up. According to the UN, nowhere is safe for Palestinian refugees to go to, especially along the designated routes Israel established or the refugee camps Israel continues to bomb. Israel has even been attacking aid and crisis workers on their way to the refugees. Palestinian homes have been bombed, and food and water have been scarce. Israel has killed over 38,000 people and wounded nearly 90,000 since October 7.
What can you do?
POST AND REPOST content in your support for Palestine. There are numerous pages and sources to follow to continue raising voices and share news regarding what’s happening in Gaza. Bisan Owda (@wizard_bisan1) and Hind Khoudary (@hindkhoudary) are just a couple of reliable Palestinian journalists with timely updates about Gaza. Operation Olive Branch is a worldwide grassroots movement with plenty of resources and information about how can you can help Gaza and the Palestinian diaspora.
PROTEST! In the safest way you can! Never attend protests alone. Bring snacks, water, masks and glasses, and take all necessary precautions to be safe when you protest. As mentioned before, if you don’t feel safe protesting or have the necessary means to protest, boycotting works. For example, McDonald’s has lost over $7 billion since people found out they were actively supporting the IDF.
DONATE! There are several verified sites and organizations to donate to that will directly use their funding to help gaza. There are also numerous GoFundMe’s you can donate directly to individuals and families that are displaced in Gaza to help them seek refuge in other countries. The World Food Programme makes it very easy to donate for aid for not just Gaza, but various other places with people in need such as the DRC and Sudan.
It may feel helpless to post on socials and donate, but you’re doing more good than you think. Spreading awareness may open eyes to people who aren’t in the know, possibly adding another voice that could spark a catalyst for progress. $5 may not be much to you, but it could mean so much to those struck by terror. Action is better than inaction at the end of the day.
Overall, it’s great to educate yourself. Google is free. So is TikTok and other social media. Reporters Without Borders is also a great site to start educating yourself with. They give easily digestible snapshots of many countries and regions and their most pressing crises at the moment. Other accounts to follow include @decolonizemyself and @so.informed.