On December 23, 2011, Etienne Tshisekedi, the opposition leader from the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social, UDPS) boldly swore himself in as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in defiance of what opposition parties argue were elections rigged in favor of the current neocolonial president, Joseph Kabila.
Africans in Congo had mobilized for the previous two weeks to end Kabila’s neocolonial government and establish UDPS’s leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, as the new president.
Kabila took office as the official president, whilst imperial forces surrounded the capital with soldiers and tanks, two days prior to Tshisekedi swearing himself in as president.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was the only head of state to attend Kabila’s ceremony.
The U.S. government warned against any resistance, despite recognizing massive election fraud.
Africans had mobilized despite the government unleashing violence and terror in front of the world’s media, which has been relatively silent on all of this.
The government murdered over one thousand people so far. Reports declare that the government is kidnapping bodies to hide evidence of mass killings.
The neocolonial government of José Eduardo dos Santos in Angola has sent troops to prop up the government (and thus protect his business interests in Congo).
Jacob Zuma, the current neocolonial president of South Africa, has delivered ballot boxes filled with thousands of fake votes for the president and 7,000 mercenaries to join Kabila’s army and police.
Local and international resistance
In Congo, one UDPS supporter self-immolated in anger and desperation against Kabila’s neocolonial government, whilst African women protested outside the U.S. embassy.
Africans protested internationally on December 24, calling on Kabila to step down.
Elected politicians from Congo went on tour to join demonstrators worldwide to state their positions. The Western imperialist governments will turn their backs on Kabila’s government if they can steal our resources and end the mass protests with any other puppet politician.
It is reported that African youth have begun attacks against Chinese businesses located in Congo.
Africans from the Congo have been organizing protests and meeting in various Western capitals, including Paris, Brussels, Canada and Germany.
While they have begun to develop a concept of internationalism, the leadership within these movements exclude imperialism as the main problem.
These movements have focused on Rwanda as the cause of the situation in Congo and on Kabila as the main leadership problem.
Africans continue to protest in mass outside of Congo. People are participating less, however due to lack of leadership, planning, mass meetings, discussions on tactics or political education.
UPDS is a dead political force; bring Lumumba’s vision to life
The UDPS has been a dead political force since 2005.
They have remained silent on most issues facing Africans, including imperialist wars, rape, genocide and UN occupation. They have offered no leadership to the masses who have sought escape from imperialist-imposed, miserable conditions.
Tshisekedi himself was a member of Mobutu’s regime that worked with the imperialists to assassinate Patrice Lumumba, the only democratic leader the DRC has had, and imposed decades of misery on the people as they handed over all of the Congo’s resources to the imperialists.
What should be clear though, is that the election itself does not represent the means to freedom and attaining control of our own futures. In Congo, there has not been a legitimate election since Patrice Lumumba was elected representing the people’s future and shortly after assassinated by the imperialists.
The future of Congo is in completing Lumumba’s vision of a united Africa in the hands of the African masses, free from control by the imperialist powers or their puppets.
