tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post7340386957384442077..comments2024-02-24T06:10:42.255-08:00Comments on Congo Siasa: UNC members arrested, regional military meetJason Stearnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11454449854081540397noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-79028356578126365392011-01-24T07:04:44.531-08:002011-01-24T07:04:44.531-08:00Thanks Melissa,
I can relate to this on more than...Thanks Melissa,<br /><br />I can relate to this on more than one levels and I’m sure Jason knows what I am referring to. So my discontent with what is going on is just as immense.<br /><br />However, I still think the current institutional matrix should be the only place whereby any change must be operated from (if ever there is to be one). <br /><br />I am saying this only because calling for any change outside the current institutional matrix may constitute a major setback.Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01301460106025447019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-19073446101413849262011-01-24T05:35:28.631-08:002011-01-24T05:35:28.631-08:00Thanks for sharing, Melissa.Thanks for sharing, Melissa.Jason Stearnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454449854081540397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-53005931426476497242011-01-23T19:39:36.111-08:002011-01-23T19:39:36.111-08:00It is simply beyond amazing how cynical and vision...It is simply beyond amazing how cynical and vision-less Kabila’s clique behaves. And what makes all this worse is that it feeds the into the cynicism of the nation’s best and brightest. <br /><br />I was talking today to a good friend who lives in Mbuji Mayi who, in addition to being a minister at his church, runs a electronics distribution business that employs 5 people. The man is the very picture of a good man. His daughter attends college in DC, his oldest son attends university in Tanzania, and he faithfully contributes 20% or more of his income to maintaining various institutions that serve his fellow city residents- the High School, the Hospital, the Park, the water system, and even church’s he doesn’t attend or subscribe to. By himself, he raised nearly $3,000 from the church’s in his town for Haiti relief. His only education was at the primary levels and a certificate in business and accounting. He recently returned from a trip to Singapore- basically an authoritarian state- and this is my paraphrasing of what he thinks of his country’s political class:<br /><br />“They are just so useless and bring us into so many problems. It would be fine if they controlled everything and didn’t even give us rights. People in Singapore have no rights but they can make money freely. If they would just build and upkeep the roads, the rails, the electricity, the water, the telecoms, the schools, and hospitals we would be fine. Use the money from the minerals to invest in the small farmer to raise his income. Then, we could make more money and employ more people which means more money for them from taxes. But no, they just eat off us like rats and never return anything back to us. They just want to enrich themselves and keep our people poor and stupid so we don’t revolt” <br /><br />His cynicism has grown to the point that he is willing to give up his “rights” just so that he can make a living? <br /><br />I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of people in this man’s position. And, as has been the case throughout history, these people are going to snap. They are going to say “I have had enough”. And when they do there is nothing Kabila, whoever replaces him, Rwanda, Uganda or anyone else can do to stop them. <br /><br />MelissaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com