I found the REAL LIFE WAKANDA

Some places for more info on how to support

[plamedi]

absolutely love this but for future reference, us Congolese don't say "The Congo" because it is reminiscent of our horrific colonial history. it's DRC or just Congo :)

[sunnyhibiscus]

let's not forget Elon Musk tweeted, in response to criticism that his Tesla battery manufacturing created the environment that led to the coup in Bolivia (where lithium is an abundant, protected resource), "I don't care, we'll coup whoever we want!" racial capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism, continuing to be forces that affect us globally.

[sonichasdiabetes]

As a congolese person it's genuinely heartbreaking that the western media ignores or just pretends that there isn't genocide happening there as if we didn't matter to them. Our people have already suffered enough since the colonial era 😔

[jezzac]

FD! My wife is Congolese! This hit home and i’m so glad you touched on this. It shocked me how many ppl didn’t know about this particular crisis. My only critique is please address it as “Democratic of Congo” and not “the congo”. There are 2 places with this name, so you gotta be specific on which place we’re speaking of. Also saying the congo is like saying the atlanta lol

[cgumxfymry]

i am a Motswana(i come from Botswana a southern african country that transports most of the diamonds and beef to other countries).When i first watched black panther and the beginning scene talked abt how they hid their resources from the world
it kinda made me yearn to really be in that world because becozthe fact that they lived in a world like meant they had no brutal history of what the colonizers did when they found out they could profit from us

[jamillawebb]

This was a great overview FD. My mom had me watch a documentary years ago called “Congo: Red rubber, white wealth, black death” and it centers the barbarism and exploits of King Leopold. The entire economy of Belgium was built on Congolese resources. There is a luxury chocolatier in Belgium that sells cocoa treats shaped like hands and it was a savage tribute to all the limbs that were sacrificed in Congo to tap the rubber trees. I hope they receive justice one day!

[Lu_Williams]

So sad how Congo is cursed with beauty and resources! As an African who lives in a country (Lesotho) where we don’t own right to any of our diamond mines I just sympathise my heart bleeds for Congo.

[ablackgirlscommentary]

Not only is the Congo one of the richest countries in the world in terms of natural resources but the conflict in the Congo has also had more causualites than the Holocaust over the past five years. This conflict is a result of the African Civil war in the late 80's and 90's and the leftover residue of conflict between nations backed by europe.

[theLetterDoubleYou]

And here i thought fiq was going to talk about Sudan moving off the system of financial intrest and conseqently being subjected to western funded civil war.

[Asrahn]

“We are asked to believe that it always existed, that poor countries are poor because their lands have always been infertile or their people unproductive. In fact, the lands of Asia, Africa, and Latin America have long produced great treasures of foods, minerals, and other natural resources. That is why Europeans went through so much trouble to steal and plunder them. One does not go to poor places for self-enrichment. The Third World is rich. Only its people are poor—and it is because of the pillage they have endured.”

- Michael Parenti

[Nkanyiso_K]

I'm glad people are starting to be aware of Congo 🇨🇩 & Sudan 🇸🇩

[PaigeWylderOwO]

It still boggles my mind how the obsession over cobalt is so rampant in the battery market when several cobalt free alternatives are either safer, cheaper, similarly energy dense, have more charging cycles or some combination of those. Some lithium ion battery variations like lithium iron phosphate batteries don't need additional scarce elements aside from lithium itself. This is especially important for stationary applications where weight or volume don't matter like 'power walls' in homes or replacing 'peaker' power plants. These stationary battery applications can also be proving grounds for even safer alternatives currently under experimentation like sodium-ion batteries.

[jmoney]

As a Congolese I want to thank you FD for spreading awareness of Congo keep it up and if you want to know more I got you.

[DungeonMusings]

As a further bit of Congo trivia (and in support of the connection between Congo and Wakanda, both as a source of a natural resource that is weaponized by colonizers), the majority of the uranium used in the Manhattan Project came from a single mine in the Congo.

[mina.colada_]

First gen Congolese, living in America. Thank you 🇨🇩 viva del congo

[dre_withwithout]

Belgium 🇧🇪 still has cobalt mines in the Congo.

The Congo is the second largest land mass in Africa with so many national resources.

The Congo gives this society everything from Cobalt to Diamonds(ask Israel 😂)

M23 is one of the most publicized rebel group

[kikwabyebye]

The importance of Pan-African Unity in subverting the still-present effects of colonialism cannot be overstated. Muammar Gaddafi, for all his flaws, was pushing for a United States of Africa (and, conspiracy hat on, I think this played a major factor in his downfall).

As a Zambian, who is adjacent to the DRC, and also sees our own resource-based economic export (copper) play it's role in the divisions in my own country, I pray they'll come a day when Ubuntu (Pan-African principal of humanity for others) starts to dominate African consciousness and we move away from the colonialist, capitalist ideologies that are becoming even more deeply embedded in African society. Not hopeful though, capitalism got hands.

[begonia]

I live in Berlin and I just found out a couple of weeks ago about the Berlin conference (isn't it fitting that Germans call it "die Kongokonferenz") while doing a walking tour about German colonialism and anti colonialism (it's one of the walking tours on the book Revolutionary Berlin, I really recommend it). I can tell you one thing few Europeans in general know about the crucial role Germany played in creating the circumstances that later would cause unimaginable devastation and continue to do so .

[matthewlister]

I thought you were going to talk about Haiti. I work with a bunch of Haitian refugees and I've been learning Kreyol so I can speak to everyone. One of my coworkers actually has a sister that fled to the Congo---that's how rough Haiti has gotten. I spoke to her for a bit on the phone and one of the reasons behind her decision was the fact that she speaks French, and that's one of the official languages of the Congo. I feel like all this turmoil is by design so western governments can control these countries once they've fallen into complete chaos. The more I think about it the madder I get. The way the US behaves on the world stage in regard to these countries is deeply shameful.

[tessy]

Hi Fiq, I’m from the region (Mom’s Burundian and Rwandan, Dad’s Congolese Tutsi). If you’re planning a video on this, happy to help.