THE WORST CRIME OF OUR TIME: Internal and External Exploitation of Congo

The word "rape," in my opinion, shouldn't be used in its old-fashioned sense meaning exploitation and destruction of a country, people, or land. It should be reserved for that horrible crime perpetrated almost exclusively by men against women, children and other men.

In all wars, some soldiers commit rape. They may rape as an act of personal depravity rather than military or state policy, but nonetheless, some soldiers rape. Given the physical, social and psychological damage it creates, rape is one of the worst crimes in human society.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, rape has been a daily reality of war for more than a decade. I have nothing but contempt for our enemies abroad who exploit and manipulate and destroy us. Therefore I have even greater contempt for those among us who do so.

On today's Democracy Now!, host Amy Goodman speaks with:

• Alexis Motunda. National Secretary for the Union for Democracy and Social Progress which is the main oppoistion party in Congo,
• Johann Hari. Journalist, UK Independent, and
• Tshimanga John Metzel. Country Conditions expert with Human Rights First. He also works with the Congo Educational Council.

Journalist Johann Hari says:

"This is the deadliest war since Adolf Hitler's armies marched across Europe. And it's a war that has still not ended. But what I think is really important for people to understand is, this is not a distant tribal war that has nothing do with you.

"It's a war whose trail of blood leads absolutely directly to London, to New York, to Paris, to the laptop people will be listening to this on, to their remote controls, the mobile phone, and indeed to the diamond necklace, if they're fortunate enough to spend their money on one....























"Just to give people a sense of the scale of the suffering there, I’ve covered -- I’ve been to Iraq, Palestine, some of the poorest parts of South America -- the sheer quantity and quality of suffering in Congo is markedly worse than anything I had seen in those countries.

"Going to hospitals full of women who had been gang-raped and then shot in the vagina, a common practice; going to villages where child soldiers had been made to kill their own father so they couldn't run away back to their family -- unimaginably extreme violence is happening there."

Complete audio/video/text is here.