Democratic Republic of Congo- A Country Destroyed by Nationalism

    Nationalism, identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nation. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has a rich history of Nationalism. The start of Nationalism goes back to the late 1950s where the people of the DRC wanted independence from Belgium. The people after wanting independence wrote up the ABAKO manifesto under Joseph Kasavubu. He turned the ABAKO into an anti-colonial nationalist sediment. A nationalist wave then swept over the region leading to militant leadership and eventually independence from Belgium in 1960 (Dennis Cordell). After becoming independent the newly independent DRC looked to the Soviet Union for support cause the Congo Crisis of the Cold War. Since the 1960s the DRC has showed a patten of clientelism and has seen many leaders rise and fall as an ongoing war between over 250 ethnic groups allied together have been fighting each other for decades. These groups have been reported to have committed violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws. They are also known to target and attack people based on their ethnicity. Zakaria told us that it is difficult to unify different ideas and interests. He reminded us that with a nation divided it is easy for nationalism to emerge and that is what is occurring the the DRC. Today, the DRC is ruled by a president who was elected in 2016 after the president before, Kabila had managed to stay in office since 2011.     

   

    

                            

    The main issues today in the DRC is gender inequality and ethnic inequality. The DRC has a very big rape problem with over an estimated 1 million women who have been raped. Up to 52% of women are also domestic violence survivors. Women also make up only 7.2 of positions at the highest level of parliament (UN Women). A lot of women are sexually assaulted when the various armed ethnic groups raid towns and loot the cities. Not very much is being done to resolve the issue because the DRC is very politically unstable. The DRC has a GINI index of 42.1% which is the 53rd highest country(C.I.A). The lower the GINI score the better.The DRC has a very unequal income index and as a result the lower 50% of the country possesses 17% of the total wealth of the country. It's also important to note that 48% of the population is under the age of 15 and there's over 250 different ethnic groups that speak 700 different languages and dialects. The DRC also ranks 186th out of 187 on the Human Development ranking and their education is severely lacking. The economic cost of years of civil war and armed rebels causing unrest in the nation has forced 70% of the population below the poverty line.

                                                                     Work Cited

Cordell, D., & Wiese, B. (2020, February 28). Belgian paternalism and the politics of decolonization. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/Belgian-paternalism-and-the-politics-of-decolonization

COUNTRY COMPARISON :: DISTRIBUTION OF FAMILY INCOME - GINI INDEX. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html

Where we are : Eastern and Southern Africa : Democratic Republic of Congo. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://africa.unwomen.org/en/where-we-are/west-and-central-africa/democratic-republic-of-congo