On February 16, 2012, Africans from the Congo continued the year the same way they started it, with a mass protest in central London.
The protesters commemorated those massacred on February 16, 1992 by Congo's previous neocolonial president Mobutu Sese Seko.
The protest was also in response to the theft of the 2011 election by Joseph Kabila's neocolonial government, which represents the interests of imperialism, as Mobutu’s regime did.
The protest was part of a worldwide event organized by Africans from the Congo across the world, notably in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Morocco, South Africa, Israel and Congo itself.
This historic date reminds us of the bravery of those who protested against Mobutu's neocolonial genocidal regime.
The people were demonstrating for their democratic rights, the right to vote, the right to work and against the imposed International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank genocidal policies.
The masses demand democratic rights and ending the theft of resources by the IMF
The IMF and the World Bank forced Structural Adjustment Policies onto the Congolese people, which led to many teachers, nurses and doctors losing their jobs, as state funds went to pay IMF/World Bank interest and imposed debt.
These policies contributed to making Congo the fifth poorest country in the world. Today, Congo is the poorest country in the world, and the suffering has further intensified.
Many self-proclaimed Congolese leaders argue that Kabila is killing Africans in Congo because he was not born in Congo.
The most prominent of this backward idea is Ngbanda, who was head of internal security and gave orders to security forces to shoot unarmed protesters. After 1992, Ngbanda was nick named ‘The Terminator.’
The protest was organized by Christian church leaders. By 1995, thirty-five neocolonial regimes were removed either by mass protest, elections, strikes or by other means.
The protest saw over 400 people picket Downing Street. After attending the Church service in Leicester Square, most people were making the same demands, calling for the UK and other imperialist governments to recognize opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi as the president.
Many however, look beyond the elections and personalities competing for control of a neocolonial state.
In the protest, there were people with messages exposing the genocide, rape and looting of the Congo by imperialist countries and their corporations.
In response to this protest movement, the UK government has legalized the status of many asylum seekers from Congo as one attempt to silence our movement, because many Africans use their participation in the protest against Kabila as new evidence for their asylum appeal.
They have also used the Labour MP Eric Joyce, in two public meetings Uhuru Movement attended, to persuade us to wait another five years till next elections.
Our response to the Congo crisis was to launch the Lumumba Coalition to organize to build our capacity to take Congo back for ourselves.
As part of the We are Patrice Lumumba Coalition demands: ‘We want all high and seniors officials and army officers involved in murdering and torturing of all freedom fighters …and organisers involved in the …struggle, to be prosecuted for human rights abuse and treasons’.
We remind Africans that we have voted for Lumumba’s government that was attacked and overthrown within six months of the election.
The problem is not just Kabila. Imperialism itself must end to halt the rape, looting and genocide. We need national liberation to bring Congo under control of the masses of people.
Lumumba Coalition is calling on all honest freedom loving people to join the We are Patrice Lumumba Coalition.