On October 4-5, the UNC Music Department and student group Yole!Africa U.S. hosted an arts festival at The Sonya Hayes Stone Center. Celebrating Congo 2013 featured guests from across the world and across the spectrum of creative backgrounds. By bringing together world-renowned musicians, filmmakers, artists, and intellectuals, “Celebrating Congo 2013 sought to engage the Carolina community in meaningful discussion about both the cultural power and conflict of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” as stated on the festival website.
Celebrating Congo 2013 welcomed guests such as - Kanda Bongo Man, the premier Congolese soukous musician and an international superstar - Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, an internationally acclaimed filmmaker and activist whose provocative film style poses various questions on the state of Africa today - Ndungi Githuku, a filmmaker, poet, musician, and actor who is inspired by the MauMau Freedom Fighters to use his talent to fight for social justice and freedom. The festival featured many more guests, including scholars from various departments at UNC and Duke University, activists from the east of Congo, and advocacy organizations from across the United States. Of these guests, there were: Dr. V.Y. Mudimbe is a Newman Ivey White Professor of Literature at Duke University whose interests are in phenomenology and structuralism, with a focus on the practice of everyday language. Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is a Professor in the African and Afro-American Studies Department at UNC who has served as president of several African Studies associations and has written several books and numerous articles on African politics. Dr. Bob White is an Associate Professor of social anthropology at the University of Montreal whose research interests include popular music in Africa, especially in Congo-Kinshasa, and theory of cross-cultural understanding. Muadi Mukenge is the Sub- Saharan Africa program director for the Global Fund for Women. She has contributed to several articles on women's rights and African development and regularly writes opinions pieces. Yole!Africa U.S. is a student led, non-profit organization at UNC-Chapel Hill advised by Dr. Chérie Rivers Ndaliko of the music department. The goal of Yole!Africa U.S. is to foster cultural exchange between Congolese youth and their peers at Carolina. The organization seeks to do this through sharing and co-creating cultural pieces, in particular music and film. Yole!Africa U.S. is the American sister organization of Yole!Africa, “a center for artistic creation and cultural exchange based in Goma, east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kampala, Uganda,” founded by Petna Ndaliko. In a conversation with Petna Ndaliko, he stated that he felt the dialogue between the youth of both the Congo and the U.S. was fantastic. “I have been asking myself, how will we get Congolese to also be able to express what they are feeling about how they are being represented in the U.S. This is an opportunity to create a bridge online and offline. Because Congolese will be able to engage with Americans and vice versa." Celebrating Congo 2013 wass the culmination of these efforts. However, Yole!Africa U.S.’s goal is not simply communication for communication’s sake. Yole!Africa U.S. wishes to spread awareness about the ongoing conflict occurring in Congo today. Since 1998, over six million people have died in Congo as a direct result of the ongoing conflict. The conflict is economically motivated. Militant groups, competing for Western alliances and markets, commit atrocities over natural resources – including a mineral called coltan – in order to reap profits. “We all carry a piece of Congo in our pockets, through our cell phones, laptops, and all these devices,” Ndaliko said. “The world needs to know that the coltan that facilitates that comes from Congo.” Coltan is an important resource for Congo due to its abundance – more than half of the world’s coltan is located in Congo. The mineral is used in cell phones, laptops, cameras, automobiles, etc. Without coltan, most modern electronics would be unable to operate. Ndaliko stated that he wished Westerners could understand the conflict from a Congolese perspective. “A better understanding of the current conflict going on in Congo is what I am dreaming of. To see people here trying to start understanding that. So far, most of the people that have been talking about the conflict in Congo will only engage in one way, with an American understanding.” To understand the conflict from a Congolese perspective, here is a short history lesson. Formed in 1885, the Congo Free State was neither free nor was it a state – it was the personal private property of Belgium’s King Leopold II. The Congo is a region rich in resources. Under King Leopold II, the tradition of plunder was firmly established in the Congo, a tradition that includes massacre on a massive scale and that continues today. This is where Yole!Africa U.S. believes it can make a difference through cultural exchange. While King Leopold II no longer rules the Congo, his regime has been succeeded by the ongoing conflict fueled by global markets and Western demand for personal electronics. Therefore, Yole!Africa U.S. states that it is the West’s responsibility to understand it’s role in the Congo conflict. Ndaliko explained that he feels the Congo conflict needs to be solved collaboratively. “Today’s world, in so many ways, needs Congo. Needs what is in Congo. For that, no matter what Congolese do, the outside will have a say, or will need to have a say in what is going on in Congo, right? No matter what the outside wants to do in Congo, the Congolese will have a say in what is happening in their own country. So this solution should be an inclusive solution, whereby Congolese themselves have to find a way of inviting the outside.” For this reason, Yole!Africa U.S. organized Celebrating Congo 2013 as a forum for discussing these issues. Most importantly, the festival showcased celebratory elements of Congolese culture as a means of helping Westerners understand both the vibrancy and the conflict that co-exist in Congo. Ndaliko stated, “My expectation is to get the voice from the ground, from Congo, to be part of the advocacy that is already going on in America.” The goal of Yole!Africa U.S. and Celebrating Congo 2013 is to help UNC students see Congolese as people, people with a distinguished and nuanced culture, people with a story to tell. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a long and distinguished history as a public forum. From the steps of Wilson to the Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the FedEx Global Education Center, the campus of UNC lies beneath a deluge of conversation. Celebrating Congo 2013 is an excellent continuation of that tradition. ––John Reardon
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