Break the Silence

Break the Silence Congo Week, which will take place from October 18-24, 2009, is a global initiative led by students and community organizers around the world, in association with Congo Global Action and Friends of the Congo, to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in the Congo. Students from the US, Canada, England, Belgium, Germany, France, Brazil, Jamaica, Norway, Korea, Ghana, Mali, South Africa, Columbia, etc. will organize events about the Congo (films, lectures, demonstrations, and more) on their respective campuses.

The purpose of the Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise awareness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. It will take place from Sunday October 19th to Saturday October 25th.

The University of Toronto chapter of Friends of the Congo is proud to present a number of excellent speakers and films. See below for the full schedule.

The Congo is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today where nearly 6 million people have died since 1996, half of them children under 5 yrs old and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped all as a result of the scramble for Congo’s wealth. The United Nations said it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War Two. However, hardly anything is said about it in the media. Can you imagine 45,000 people dying each month and hardly a peep from anyone in the age of the Internet? This is literally what has happened and continue to happen in the Congo. There is a media blackout about Congo and no worldwide resolution to end the conflict and carnage there.

Visit the Friends of the Congo – University of Toronto Chapter for a full schedule of events

http://friendsofthecongouoft.wordpress.com/

Visit the Congo Week website for more background information:

http://www.congoweek.org/english/

Produced by the Pulitzer Center, “Congo’s Bloody Coltan” is a quick glimpse at coltan’s role in Congo’s civil war. It was featured on “Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria” in the Fall of 2006. For photographs, resources and additional reporting by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele on the DRC visit:
http://www.pulitzercenter.org/showpro…