The Terror of War: What the State does in our Name Saturday 7 th April 2018

1. The Terror of War: What the State does in our NameSaturday 7th April 2018 We Welcome You

2. BarlyKoyangbwa from: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)and and

3. I will explore 3 key areas • What is the British State’s connection to DRC? • What’s happening in DRC and how is the British State complicit? • What are the links between • the invasion of DRC • AND • the 9/11 attacks, Guatanamo Bay and the invasion of Iraq in 2003?

4. Firstly, what is the British State’s • connection to DRC? (1) • Like many other African countries, DRC was colonised by Europeans during the later part of the 1800’s. • The British man, Henry Morton Stanley, tried to tell the King of England about the Congo but the King of England was not interested because he had so many other colonies by then! • So, at the conference of Berlin in 1885, the Belgian King became the official owner of what was called the Independent State of Congo

5. What is the British State’s connection to DRC? (2) • From 1908 to 1960 the Belgian State colonized the Congo • In 1960 the DRC people finally won our independence from Belgium • In 1996, armies from Rwanda and Uganda that were backed by government and businesses from Britain, the USA and Canada, invaded DRC • This was done to monopolize the natural resources of DRC and put in place a power of occupation led by foreigners in order to divide the country and better exploit its wealth

6. What’s happening in DRC and how is the British State complicit? (1) 1993-2003: Report mapping from United Nations (ohchr.org) reported 6 million people killed 2003 – present: No official count – the UN stopped the enquiry with the support of a number of African leaders APARECO and the Independence Group both say that a further 6 million people have been killed since 2003 12 million people killed in total …and ongoing

7. What’s happening in DRC and how is the British State complicit? (2) • All major Western powers, including Britain, have hidden the reality of these murders • British multinationals are complicit in imposing HypoliteKanambe ( Joseph Kabila) as the DRC’s President who allows their diabolical business, without interfering • These same multinationals extract DRC natural resources and use the minerals in the products they sell – most notably Coltan for all our mobile phones

8. What’s happening in DRC and how is the British State complicit? (3) • People in the West do not benefit from the ongoing theft of primary materials from DRC • The politics of austerity is still in place in Western countries and poverty is increasing while the richest see their fortunes rise each year • Despite these realities, the multinationals get away with paying little or no tax in the countries where their products are sold most

9. What’s happening in DRC and how is the British State complicit? (4) • The NHS and our schools and housing estates do not see the vastness of wealth amassed by the multinationals • Meanwhile, the chaos in the DRC means millions forced to flee their homes and lands and live in forests without roofs, clean water or food • DRC has become the rape capital of the world and it is a human abbatoir • Children are used to extract the Coltan for mobile phones

11. What’s happening in DRC and how is the British State complicit? (5) • The biggest companies take advantage of the free movement of capital • Their profits from this child labour and slaughter are hidden in tax havens - often former British colonies themselves • And the British State allows this to happen • And the British State allows it in our name!

12. Finally, what are the links between the invasion of DRCANDthe 9/11 attacks, Guatanamo Bay and the invasion of Iraq in 2003? (1) • In both cases: • Mobutu of DRC, ally during the Cold War, then Dictator • Saddam Hussein of Iraq, ally during the Cold War, then Dictator • Britain complicit in ‘liberating’ both countries • Western powers have then concealed the realities in these countries and created chaos • Multinationals have benefitted with massive profits

13. What are the links between the invasion of DRCANDthe 9/11 attacks, Guatanamo Bay and the invasion of Iraq in 2003? (2) • When 9/11 happened the American Government was exposed in its failure to protect its own people • They embarked on arrest campaigns that were not based on facts but on suspicions that, in turn, were based on the accused person’s religion • Guatanamo Bay has blurred the lines between Islam and terrorism and provoked an increase in Islamaphobia in the world

14. In conclusion International media controlled by big business has carried out the 'dirty work' of manipulation, demonization, misinformation and stigmatization of both Muslim people and the refugees who have fled from the places that Britain has invaded, occupied and exploited Then they scapegoat us All human rights activists and humanitarians must abandon any passivity – we must stop waiting while they create chaos We must come together to repair the wounds and ensure that the scars cannot become permanent. Thank you