A hundred years ago, an Anglican priest delivered a sermon in which he identified seven social sins (or “evils”). He believed that these sins were the ultimate threat to societies across the world, warning of their destructive impact on the communities that both perpetuated and endured them. The list is as follows: Wealth without work. Pleasure without conscience. Knowledge without character. Commerce without morality. Science without humanity. Religion without sacrifice. Politics without principle. Consider this the first in a series examining these sins in regional conflict and global power dynamics, from a (my) Rwandan standpoint. This piece specifically addresses the acquisition of unjust wealth, and the mythical pillage of Congolese minerals by its neighbour(s). 1. Greed lies, greed kills The proliferation of lies against Rwanda has recently surged, despite having been on a steady rise in previous years. This rise unfolded in tandem with the emergence of a global phenomenon: the decline of attention spans among the digitally attuned, and the erosion of intellectual rigor in public discourse. Social media has proven to be both a gift and a curse. During this period, the spread of these false narratives has also paralleled a growing global interest in resources beneath the region that spreads across the border of Rwanda with the DR Congo. As the resources buried in North Kivu's soil grew in value on the international market, the Rwandan leader who overthrew a genocidal regime—one that enabled chaos and the exploitation of its people by foreign interests—increasingly came to be seen as problematic. Meanwhile, the sticky-fingered West, historically reputed for a profound regard for the well-being of Africa and Africans, also repeatedly labeled Rwanda’s President as authoritarian and repressive. In a regrettable article published on the repository of the University of Texas, our President is described as “stubborn” (quote) “arrogant” (quote) and [difficult to manage] (paraphrase). Time will teach you that as an African, it is often a good sign when those invested in your subservience attempt to qualify you in this manner—but that is a story for another day. I will also spare you the details of how certain systems have historically treated stubborn and difficult (read: determined and unyielding) politically influential people of black skin, but various forms of literal and/or character assassination were involved. The legacy of these systems now controls the majority of the platforms used to demonize Rwanda and its President, and with lamentable irony, the former victims of these very systems have chosen to believe their narrative. 2. Knowledge scarcity in the time of excessive information Misinformation thrives in the age of social media, despite its role in causing millions of deaths during COVID, because we are too distracted for long-term reflection. Still, when used to elevate public discourse, social media can serve as a powerful archive—preserving information that modern media would rather erase or lock away, to comfortably contradict itself as interests and stakes shift over time. For instance, as has been hyperlinked, foreign heroes and overall esteemed champions of peace on our continent like President Mandela of South Africa, his successor, Thabo Mbeki and President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania have repeatedly attested to the very things Rwandans have been stating: Congolese Rwandophones are and have been persecuted in Congo (for over 100 years). Genocidaires that killed over a million Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 fled to Congo to unite with these persecuting ethnicist forces in Eastern DR Congo. Their manifesto is to return to Rwanda to “finish the job” of “wiping off” all those presumed to be Tutsi. The mischaracterisation of what the Banyamulenge people of Congo are enduring—burned alive by fellow Congolese citizens on video, to the sound of ethnicist chants—reflects a manipulation so gross and inhumane that it can only go unnoticed, let alone sanctioned, when the victims are African. These Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese became part of what is now Congo after the Berlin Conference, where western powers further wounded the continent with arbitrary slashes they called borders. Indigenous cultures and historical ties were first disregarded in the process, only to be later politically exploited. While speaking a derivative of Kinyarwanda, this population has been Congolese by recognised identity, land occupation and consequent ownership, since the 1800s. What a horrific farce that they should be deemed “the Rwandan enemy” when it comes to burning them alive, but “Congolese victims” of Rwanda’s entirely made-up bloodthirst, when it’s time to make stupid hashtags to distract us all, while the Congolese leadership robs their own country blind. An average mid-level Congolese politician’s village mansion will rival in size (although certainly not in taste) with the Champs Elysee or Downing Street, yet somehow it remains a question where the minerals are going. To address the misguided among our neighbours, with love: Congolese leadership feasts on your people’s food while assuring you they are only in your kitchen to cook for you and your family. You watch their bellies swell as your children’s shrink. And yet, in a strange act of committed foolishness, you blame the neighbor’s household when you eventually starve. You’ve grown complicit in your own exploitation, and I truthfully wish you better, for all Africans deserve it. 3. Funny, yet no joking matter Many claim that the west loves Rwanda, is backing our fictional heist of Congo, and that this is the only viable explanation for our development. A truly saddening scar of colonialism is skepticism as to the cleanliness of any progress secured by an African leader. You were lied to all along. Soft power, strategy, accountability and a 0 tolerance for corruption policy can deliver encouraging results, when your President doesn’t embody the type of greed Holy scriptures warned against. Come on now. Much of the west only pretends to celebrate Rwandan growth to appear divorced from the racists that fanned genocidal flames three decades ago. Meanwhile, many of its prominent leaders work against the people and system that has brought this growth about. The very institutions that have been deeming Rwanda a dictatorship, since the day this Nation dared to survive a Genocide that world leaders of the time at the very least allowed to happen? This west is our eternal ally, bestie and partner in robbing notoriously uncorrupt and self-empowering DRC? This is the darkest, most morbid comedy. The problems in Congo are internal, and Rwanda will continue to welcome and care for its refugees if these problems persist, as it has thus far, despite our scapegoating, despite threats against “tiny, poor” Rwanda’s security. “Small” and “poor”—I laugh! Sure. So, according to you...a nation dozens of times smaller than yours, often condemned and abandoned by the most powerful, has been bullying and whooping you so thoroughly, that you must beg those who once tortured your children for help? The only thing more pathetic than this blatant lie would be the absolute disgrace of it being true. I’ll never understand the appeal of consistently emasculating one’s self on the global stage, but for a neighborly President, this seems to be a kink at this point. The youth on TikTok said we mustn’t kink-shame but I am afraid that I very much do. Felix Tshilembo Tshisekedi seek help from a licensed psychologist instead of inciting your children to die for your perversions, and for your greed! But I don’t only blame that deplorable individual. Why are we falling for it? How is it that those who claim to seek or support African emancipation so routinely reject logic and careful analysis on issues critical to that very goal? I will attempt to untangle this in the next few pieces, particularly by deconstructing the narratives that have transformed Paul Kagame and Rwanda into global bogeymen. However, this conversation must go beyond Rwanda and Congo—it must address the real forces at play, for those that fuel these tensions, the places where the coveted minerals eventually end up, ultimately care little for either of us. The next article of this (attempted) seven-piece series will address the social sin that makes up “politics of fear, hate, or exclusion”. The writer is a socio-political commentator based in Kigali.
