Stories about Republic of Congo from October, 2006
Congo-Brazzaville: Should a Colonizer Be Honored Like a Founding Father?
For me, this De Brazza business is like someone telling you: “We got the crap beaten out of us, but at least De Brazza put on some vaseline while the others let our wounds dry. So let's give thanks to De Brazza.” (Fr) – From a reader at Mwinda.org This...
Let's Go Save the Poor Congolese
At his blog, Alain Mabanckou, a Congolese writer living in California, gives a rather comic account of a conversation he had with his landlady after she sees a story on television about “the poor Congolese” (or maybe they were Africans from some other country whose “president has a long name”)...
Congolese Writer Alain Mabanckou on André Schwarz-Bart
Alain Mabanckou, a novelist and poet from Congo-Brazzaville now living in California, pays tribute (Fr) to Polish-Jewish writer André Schwarz-Bart, author of Le Dernier de justes who passed away last weekend. Schwarz-Bart, who grew up in France during the German occupation, lived in Guadeloupe with his wife, writer Simone Schwarz-Bart.
Congo-Brazzaville: Corruption Wall of Shame
Les Nouveaux Riches Congolais (Fr), part critique, part satire, uses its blog as a wall of shame for those in Congo-Brazzaville who have allegedly gotten rich through unscrupulous or illegal means. The site also includes a creative reinterpration of key articles of the constitution: “ARTICLE 47: Public goods are sacred...
Republic of the Congo: In Search of Political Heroes
Congo-Brazzaville is repatriating the remains of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the French-Italian colonialist, and interring them in a mausoleum built at the government's expense. Togolese blogger, Kangni Alem, rebukes those would defend de Brazza and call him a “good colonizer,” quoting one historian's take on why Brazzaville would decide to...
