Day 140: Congo - Children Torn from Families as we Speak to Fight as Soldiers in Civil War

After being a Belgian colony for over 5 decades, Congo gained independence in 1960. Elections were held and Patrice Lumumba was democratically elected president. He had the interests of his people at heart and was set on pursuing economic and political policies that would empower the population after years of subjugation, suffering and poverty - instead of being a puppet for the US and other major capitalistic powers to keep providing them with Congo's resources. This wasn't to the liking of the international community and if it weren't for the then chief of staff of the new Congo army - Joseph Mobutu - who, with the aid of the Belgian government organised a military coup and had Lumumba killed - the CIA would have poisoned him. From that moment onwards, the situation in Congo only became worse. Mobutu became a dictator and after him Laurent Kabila and his son Joseph Kabila didn't do any better. The country has experienced extreme violence and a 6-year civil war.

Today, a civil war is breaking out again. Robert Musinguzi, security manager of 'WorldVision1' says: "Like most of my Congolese, I feel humiliated by everything that we are forced to go through. I feel disgusted to leave everything behind and flee ... We had a normal life; we could face poverty and many other difficulties, we could manage all with the hope that everything will be fine one day. But now we must flee. Parents and children have to hide under the bed, in the bushes or wherever they would feel safe. Now thousands of parents can’t even protect their children ... this makes me very sad."

In their struggle for power, armed groups are recruiting children to fight as soldiers in their army. Children are abducted from their families and forced to join. Here's some of the horrors that's awaiting them:
"In some countries, like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda, a third or more of the child soldiers were reported to be girls. In some conflicts, girls may be raped, or given to military commanders as "wives."
Once recruited, child soldiers may serve as porters or cooks, guards, messengers or spies. Many are pressed into combat, where they may be forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops. Some children have been used for suicide missions.
Children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities against their own family or neighbors. Such practices help ensure that the child is "stigmatized" and unable to return to his or her home community."

While you sit in your warm home, imagine the terror of your child having such a faith - with at any moment the possibility existing that armed men enter your home and pull your child from your arms - probably the last time you'll ever see them.

There are parents experiencing this agony RIGHT NOW. And the reason for these atrocities lies within greed and the lust for power. I mean - that's where it all started. It all could have been prevented if they'd left Lumumba to take care of his people and set the country on a path of recovery, healing and peace - but instead, the 'big guys' decided this was irrelevant and that only THEIR interests were important enough to be protected.

The only way to prevent the abuse by the strong over the weak is to make everyone equally strong through equal economic power in an Equal Money system. It is fascinating how much people object to the principle of equality, considering that this is what all parents initially teach their children. The only reason the lessons don't 'stick' is because they don't see their parents practice what they preach. And eventually, instead of following the spoken word - they'll follow the living word as the living example of who the parents are. Still, we all have an understanding that it is unacceptable to treat another in a way you wouldn't want to be treated - yet, we simply ignore it because we feel we can. To stop war and prevent the possibility of any child to experience it once and for all - we have to make changes on two fronts: to change the economic system so that all have equal power - and to change ourselves so that we practice what we preach to our children - becoming the living word of equality instead of abuse. And to say - "yes, the world is fucked up", then sigh and resume your life as usual is NOT OKAY! and DOES NOT make you a better person. It makes you the evil of this world as you are in your inaction directly allowing gunned men to abduct young children from their homes, directly allowing them to be used as an instrument in war, directly allowing them to rape children, directly allowing them to maim and scar children for life, directly allowing a child to go through the worst hell imaginable, directly allowing a child to live out your worst nightmare.

It's time to stand up and take a stand. This has gone on for far too long. As the developments in Europe show: capitalism is not the answer and the ideal of democracy is currently just that - an ideal, a distant dream. We are here and we have a responsibility. Do you really want to die knowing that you did nothing to stop the suffering of the children of the world?

Visit: www.equalmoney.org and cast your vote for a better world - make a comment, join the forum - get involved. Sign up for the Free Desteni Lite course to re-educate yourself into a principled human being that can be trusted with the responsibility to protect and nurture Life. It's not a hard thing to do - just make two simple steps in the right direction.


http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-884685?hpt=hp_c4 

Related articles

• Day 112: Shame for Colonialist Past
• Day 113: Responsibility for Colonial Past
• Day 115: Like Father, Like Son
• Day 220: The Greatest Cult in History
• Day 105: Identity Crisis: What's the Use?

Read More

Day 99: Money Votes

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise – that the way the IMF and World Bank operate in terms of their voting policies – is in fact how voting all over the world operates – where an individual is not respected within their individual right – but where this respect/power to vote is based on money – where those who have money are able to vote and the more money they have the more their vote counts in comparison to others

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that we do not have an actual democracy anywhere in the world – but only work with ‘virtual democracies’ which only exist in the minds of men – where we believe and perceive ourselves to live in a ‘just’ and ‘fair’ society because ‘our political system is based on democracy – power of the people!!’ – without ever for a moment stopping and questioning/checking out whether this virtual democracy which we’ve constructed in our minds actually matches physical reality and the real political process in the world

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to actually investigate/study the true economic and political process within the world – where if one does it becomes obvious that the elite as a minority plays a major role in influence economic and political policies – where these are manipulated/lobbied to suit their own personal interest rather than the interest / benefit of the public as a whole

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to look beyond the idea I have created in my mind about ‘democracy’ where I was taught as a child that we are great and that our sense of civilisation is so amazing because we implemented ‘democracy’ which implies ‘power to the people’ / ‘rule by the people’ – while this ‘educational lesson’ was nothing but propaganda to feel good about ourselves as a human race while in reality we are the most fucked up beings in the world which the Daily News and current state of Affairs in the world CLEARLY indicate

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have been chuffed with the idea that ‘we live in a democracy’ and that this is ‘so cool’ because everyone counts, every person’s vote matters – but where when we are grown up and living life in the system we do not care to bother ourselves with politics because we are too busy/occupied in our minds playing out our consumerism lifestyles and do not care to be part of decision making processes, thinking it’s someone else’s job – I just want to have fun and live my life – and so I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to abdicate my self-responsibility within not being bothered with politics because I do not care about how the world/people are managed as long as I am taken care off


I commit myself to the establishment of an ACTUAL DEMOCRACY as One Man One Vote as the Equal Money System where we for the first time in the whole of human history will have an operational democracy

I commit myself to educate those willing to hear on the importance of politics and economics – and to show each one’s individual and collective responsibility – where One Man One Vote is not just a right one consider exerting, but a point of responsibility each one must consider within being Here on Earth and thus having to be part of the decision making of how things function / get managed in the world

I commit myself to show that all democracies until now have only ever existed as democracies within the minds of people – but have never been real, actual democracies – since the only power / voting power which ever existed has always been intrinsically linked to money

I commit myself to show provide everyone with Equal Voting Power through supporting an Equal Money System which will re-distribute money and so power so we can have an actual democracy for the first time

I commit myself to show that how the IMF and World Bank operate in terms of voting – where voting is based on one’s share of money as being a ‘shareholder’ / ‘investor’ – is exactly how other smaller voting processes take place expect that it is not stated as blatantly

I commit myself to a world where All people have Equal Value as Life and to put an end to our current world system where Value as the Right to Life is being hogged by a few and used as leverage against the majority in the quest for Power

Related articles

• Day 120: True Activist Politics
• Day 88: Capitalism vs Socialism?
• Day 98: The Unholy Trinity
• Day 128: Economic Slavery and True Activism
• Day 137: FREE Choice and True Activism
• Day 145: Labor and Slavery
• Day 132: Politics and True Activism

Read More

Day 70: Feedback on Inflation and Purpose of This Blog

Below is a cool discussion that took place in the comments section of the blogs:

Day 64: Inflation - Part 1
Day 65: Inflation - Part 2
Day 66: Inflation - Part 3

Nina said...

1. Moderate inflation does not necessarily cause loss of competitiveness in international markets. Usually inflation occurs when there is an increase in money supply. Exchange rates adjust to changes in money supply faster then prices do. Prices are relatively sticky.

2. Higher demand does not always come inflation. In fact, the level of demand which is significantly below production capacity pushes
costs up, because it makes per unit fixed production costs and marketing costs to increase. Therefore a very low demand is just as likely to cause increase in prices as very high demand.

3. Demand depends on the population structure. Young population demands a lot of goods and services. Older population is conservative with spending and has high propensity to save.

4. Although it is true that hyprinflation is destabilizing for the economy, a moderate inflation is believed to help job creation and promote economic growth.

August 12, 2012 5:04 PM 

Maite Zamora Moreno said...

Hi Nina,

Cool that you're following this blog and adding your input. Though your statements are accurate (and btw don't contradict anything that was written), they are irrelevant to the purpose of this blog - which is to give readers a basic understanding of economic concepts so that they may gain insight into economics and how economics affects their lives. We're working here with simplified models so that the essence of the information can be grasped. The reality of economics is never this clear-cut and in practice contains many shades of grey - but the essence of the concepts remains and the understanding of them is really all that's necessary to gain a clearer understanding of what makes this world go 'round.

Now, Nina - I challenge you to look further than your schooling and merely entertain yourself with the extent of your knowledge - but to really question the implications of this economic system. Instead of regurgitating the general opinions and beliefs about it as how you've been presented with them in your education, investigate it for yourself in common sense. Our economic system has become far more than some 'fascinating object of study' - it is the one thing that controls people's lives. So - wake up and smell the coffee. Time to take responsibility within the knowledge that you have.

Enjoy.

August 12, 2012 10:31 PM 

Nina said...

Ah, sure, I already woke up a few years ago, in 2007, to be precise, when I wrote a letter to CFA institute, saying that with economic theory such as we have and teach we are headed streight towards the next Great Depression. I have explained back then why. I did not get a reply from them. I am not sure if you are interested either. The truth is, our economuc theory IS a mess. The reality is, we need this screwed up system to manage the screwed up people we have. If all people were 100% mature, 100% conscientious, 100% hard working and 100% willing to share we could have a much better system. But people are the way they are. Most of them lazy, irresponsible and greedy. This is why despite all the theoretical considerations the current fkd up system is the only one that works despite all odds with a little help from the governments, religious, charitable and various regulatory organizations. Ah, yes, andone more problem. We have 9 billion people on Earth and counting. Some believe it is too much. So we need a system that can help us reduce the numbers, no matter how faulty it may seem.

Not sure how this article is helping readers to understand the flaws of the current system. What I see is the concept tgat inflation is way too dangerous. And since it is sooo frkng dangerous let us make sure most people do not get access to money, because once theyget money they aregoing to demand goods and services, which will drive prices up. There are a couple of problems with this vision of inflation, which I have mentioned in my previous comment.

August 13, 2012 8:01 AM 

 

Maite Zamora Moreno said...

Hi Nina,

There is a different way, I suggest investigating www.equalmoney.org.

In terms of the purpose of the blog - it's not to look at this one blog-post in isolation. In this post we're merely explaining the concept of inflation so that people may develop their vocabulary and more easily engage in/understand economic discussions and call out the bullshit.

August 13, 2012 3:49 PM 

 

Nina said...

I think I finally get the point. In a market economy the problem ofscarcity is resolved through a price increase. Suchway of a probkem resolution is in favor of the rich (who can still afford it at higher prices) and against the poor (who can not). Definitely this is unfair and causes numerous economic problems. I believe the 2008 crisis was to a large extend caused by that principle. First, the housing becomes sarce. Then we deal with the problem mainly by charging higher prices for real estate property. However, higher prices do not make scarcity disappear. They just make it less painful for people with sufficient money to pay themselves out of it.

This certainly goes against the rest of the people, who do not have enough financial resources to deal with scarcity by simply paying more then others do. One way they try to deal with it though is by borrowing more then normal, and for peope already struggling financially such borrowed money is almost impossible to repay, which leads to the credit crisis.

Becides, since scarcity can lead to higher prices and more profits it makes a lot of sense for some business groups to create it artificially! One fatal example of it I see when senior employees are purposefully sabotaging training and developement of junior employees withing the corporations. With more and better trained junior employees corporaions could produce more goods and services, which would be for everyones good. However out of fear of competition, or being replaced, or lising one's job, or having to accept pay cuts senior employees do their best to get rid of the juniors. That makes them more scarce and more valuable to their prospective employers! So juniors are punished into years of fruitless university studies and tens of thousands dollars of student loans that they can never repay, because they can not get jobs and acquire real skills necessary to do them. This way we have a waisted youth and a waisted economic system, capable of producing almost nothing at a reasonable cost. A better approach todealing with scarcity is certainly
needed and was previously concidered through planned economies. The concept was good. However implementation was tricky, especially with the leaders, who are not 100% trustworthy."

August 14, 2012 11:59 AM 

 

Maite Zamora Moreno said...

Cool Nina - you should consider starting a blog of your own ;)

August 16, 2012 3:30 PM 

Read More