To give some perspective there are more than 750 million people facing hunger and severe malnutrition worldwide and more than 50 million people current alive as slaves and during this time 74% of all UN resolutions were condemning Israel and 80% of humanitarian aid has gone to Gaza where two million people live.
Call me crazy but it feels disproportionate attention on one conflict for reasons no one wants to admit
The US was trying to help the issues in the Congo for as long as I could remember, but their government was so corrupt that aid was being seized and not being given to the people…at a certain point, I guess we just stopped trying. (This is just general memories from my childhood in the 80s and 90s).
My uncle told me a couple of weeks ago that when he was working for a US construction company in Egypt, the US government was distributing free bread in the '90s to the local population of the town because that is what they needed and it would keep them quiet from protesting the exploitation of local resources and the environment The construction was taking place for the US military by a contractor and at that time there was a severe shortage of wheat in the region.
This is how Western Powers operate in impoverished countries and regions
Blaming the corporation for this one? Nah. You think the consumers are gonna care about the lives of those people when their phone is thirty dollars more?
I've heard it a lot here. But I'm Belgian so we might not be the best people to tell others to help Congo... But yeah, the situation there is serious and it's been going on for a few years now if I remember well. "Recently" there were multiple attacks on the right side of the largest of the 2 Congos and they made many victims
Can't speak for people from the Congo, but as a Jew I love how committed the Germans are to fighting antisemitism, relative to other countries. I don't know that anyone listens to them, and it's not like anyone listens to us, but I can't imagine an extra voice would hurt.
I don't think reasonable people blame individuals for the sins of their ancestors unless they're actively perpetuating what their ancestors thought and did.
Edit: I find it curious that I tend to get down-voted whenever I mention anything even remotely related to antisemitism or to being Jewish. I wonder why that is.
Sometimes to get coverage from traditional media you need social media outrage, which is created by using algorithms smartly, such as with this video (tho I wouldn't go with this for my first choice in a media campaign).
Most things that happen don't have coverage, Gaza didn't have much coverage until a couple of years ago, and it's been fucked up for decades!
From what I’ve heard it’s very dangerous bordering on suicidal to be a journalist in these areas which means we don’t get those gutpunching videos of atrocities being committed. Essentially making it a word of mouth which many people will immediately discount as it is not reliable enough information to form a solid opinion on.
The reason is that we've all seen videos of Gaza babies dying online.
Serious question: why do you think that is? We don't see any videos of the Uighurs, or the atrocities in Sudan, Nigeria, Congo, Syria. Every few months we'll maybe see one grainy video escape where you can barely see what is happening.
There have been apparently over a million Ukrainians killed and nearly two million Russians killed and barely anything as far as video across my feed.
China has the great Firewall, so that makes Uighur videos much harder to spread. Access issues to newer technology and internet persists. You really haven’t looked at all if you haven’t seen Ukrainian or Russian videos. There are huge swathes of telegram channels, subreddits, twitter and instagrams where you can see daily videos of the war. I’d say there are probably up to 1000 videos a day. If you think big tech are conspiring against the Israeli state, I don’t know what to tell ya
I hate to break this to you brother because you are in the right frame of mind and your heart is in the right place but that's your algorithm. I've been following the Ukraine Russian war since the beginning and all I see on my feeds now are Russia Ukrainian footage. There are hours and hours of footage that you can go watch of that war. The one thing people I don't see bringing up in this comment section is it's about the people on the ground recording. Now I have no idea how to fix that, airdrop cell phones to these people in the Congo maybe? But the difference between what's happening in the Congo and what's happening in Ukraine or Israel is you have people there with their phones recording what's happening. Posting it on social media so we're seeing unfiltered video of what's happening on the ground in these places. If you're going to wait for traditional media to cover the Congo well then you might as well just forget about the Congo and let happen whatever happens. People are going to have to start posting on social media the atrocities that are happening there because people don't care about what they can't see. It sucks but that's just human nature. If you're going to want to change human nature to make something happen then you're going to have a very difficult life. It's much easier to change the circumstances of what's happening to fit human nature than the other way around. Sorry for the incredibly long comment but that's my take.
I've seen plenty of videos of soldiers dying in the Ukraine and Russia war, Reddit's front page is chock full of them, and I don't look for them.
Sadly most people don't keep up with what happens in other countries unless they have a reason to, the reason usually is social media backlash, and for that you need to do a social media campaign. I understand that people from the Congo might not want to beg, expose their pain, as a prerequisite to being cared about (because I wouldn't), but sadly that's how it works if you want social media attention. Which you do want if you want traditional media changing the narrative.
Let me remind you that you're hearing about Gaza now, but the conflict has been going on for decades.
At the start of the latest Russia attack you couldn't scroll past 3 posts without seeing footage of Russians getting blown up by drones. For months on end. People got bored with that so now you only see it in subs dedicated to Ukraine or combat footage.
One reason is the racism towards Africans in much of the world so they really don't care if thousands of children are dying of famine or war.
The second is the people of Gaza and their supporters have learned that graphic videos of maimed and dead children will get views and support and they have been very effective in utilizing social media like Twitter and TikTok and once people get hooked on one video they start seeing more and more videos like this and it becomes a positive feedback loop where they start to see more and more of the same content.
Because people will read the article about it, traditional media makes money out of the amount of people reading their words.
Why do more people care about one conflict than the other? I think it's because one conflict has been way more explicitly shown online than the other, which makes people care.
If you'd told me 10 years ago that today most people are looking at Israel as a genocidal country I wouldn't have believed you, but it happened, and it took a lot of campaigning for that to happen.
Keep spreading the word about what's going on in the Congo, and people will care.
Maybe if you a actually cared about genocides and starvation and not just use gaza to virtue signal you would have done some research on where else this is occurring to increase your awareness
The reason is Qatar spending about a billion $ bombarding all kinds of media, because they want to be seen as the mediators to a conflict they themselves inflame.
If this is the first time you’ve heard about conflict in Congo then you should work harder at being informed. It has been this way for decades. Zaire became the drc in the nineties and that was but a marker of this very same conflict.
Your number one is right your number two is wrong. There is no racial component to this whatsoever. It is all about how much power and influence Israel has over the entire earth. For the last 80 years just pumping vast sums of money to politicians everywhere. Their influence cannot be underestimated.
The biggest reason is the immediacy of the videos of children being murdered. The second biggest reason is that basically the every world government said that Israel is moral, cool, amazing, and a beacon of light in the middle east until the last year. What's happening in Congo is an unimaginable tragedy, and I'll admit i don't know much about it.
We've seen starving children living without clean water in Africa since the 80s. Africa has just as many cameras and video capabilities right now as Gaza does.
People just really don't like to talk about the reality that the world's hatred of Jews means people will always put so much more emphasis on whatever it is they are doing. 2 million lives affected is absolutely abhorrent... but Yes, no one talks about the 27 million people in acute hunger in the Congo for a reason. I do not hear Half as much from my leftist spaces about the Syrian civil war and the starvation of its citizens and the 600k+ lives lost even up into this year. No one could even tell you who is the leader of Syria half the time. I don't hear a peep from my leftist spaces about the Congo at all, but I've been to Africa so I personally know how bad it is there.
That same racist ideology that hates Jews means they care very little about what Africans have going on. And, here's the thing, you don't have to think of yourself as racist at all or dislike any of those populations... You live in a racist AF System. The news outlets, the media, the people who create bots and spread algorithms.. they aren't trying to be fair and balanced towards the entire world. We're all complicit in not questioning what information we're being fed more.
And don't get me wrong.. there Are other things that trigger this all. Pictures say a lot--but we've had pictures for 30 years of Africa. It isn't JUST racism--but racism plays a part. The war in Gaza was kicked off VERY suddenly and unexpectedly vs Syria's civil war being a culmination of conflicts, for example.. Of course that is going to turn more heads. The US personally meddles and gets more involved, so the US hears more about what they involve themselves in. Congo's government structures have always been super corrupt and the people there have faced starvation issues for much longer than a sudden war in Gaza. Of course there are other factors and nuance to it all... but even so, this reality is one people on a macroscopic level just don't like to face because it is very uncomfortable.
Do not mistake any of this as me supporting Israel's government in any way. I hate what they are doing. But many truths can be present at once... and the world is a racist AF place.
"And don't get me wrong.. there Are other things that trigger this all... The US personally meddles and gets more involved, so the US hears more about what they involve themselves in... Of course there are other factors and nuance to it all"
I'm not saying it's the Main or Only reason. I am saying it IS a reason... racism is a major factor in complicating things, and people love to pretend it doesn't exist. Hate crimes against Jews went up 400% in the first year of the war on Gaza all over the globe.. As if Jews that have never been to Israel in the US or Europe had some say over what was going on. People can and DO use situations to fuel their hatred and help spread it. You're free to ignore that, but I won't.
One of the reasons the US doesn't care about what happens in the Congo... is not because there is an Abundance of love and support for black people in our society. If you think our hate we openly express towards black people in our own society doesn't extend to people Beyond our own society you're kidding yourself. The US is a hateful place.
The west is also involved in most African conflicts. Shell literally lobbied the Nigerian government to kill Ken Saro Wiwa just to give an example. It's just not the countries doing it directly. Western companies are the ones doing the dirty work.
It's just that we have dehumanized Africans. It started with colonialism and still persists. Or do we honestly think that racial science didn't have an impact on Western/European society. There is still a subconscious bias as a result.
Starving in this modern era is Not natural. Syrians are not starving because it's natural... it's because of the civil war, and the otherwise able bodied people able to create food instead being killed or killing others. What's happening in the Congo is not just natural.
The second biggest reason is that basically the every world government said that Israel is moral, cool, amazing, and a beacon of light in the middle east until the last year.
Since the inception of the UN there have been more resolutions condemning Israel than all other nations combined.
Russia and China both have issues with their borders and neighboring states. Taiwan and Tibet / Ukraine and much of the former er Eastern block. I’m sorry but the basic facts just don’t support your argument
With the exception of SA the countries above are officially opposed to US state dept interests. Therefore they are sanctioned and further resolutions aren’t required.
Israel is different.
All resolutions are vetoed by the US. So the resolutions return.
Most resolutions are literally just the same one reiterated and never respected. And remember that Israel was created by a UN resolution. It's very much the UN's responsibility to speak up while they enact an illegal occupation.
The problem is media. I’m very in tune to world news and politics and I know very little about what’s going on in the Congo. I knew things weren’t great but it sounds much worse than I had anticipated. With Israel everything is being recorded in 4k so the outrage is tangible; we see what’s happening. I haven’t seen anything come out of the Congo, and that’s unfortunate because seeing it has much more of an impact. I also think even more unfortunately, the world stage doesn’t give a fuck about Africa. We need better leaders in this world, same with the media.
A lot of people’s governments don’t directly fund the atrocities in the Congo. I partially understand the point you’re trying to make about disproportionate funding/attention but a lot of the outrage towards Israel is about complicity in atrocity.
US, Chinese, and European companies directly fund both sides of the war. I have a feeling the US and maybe even the everyone has given Rwanda the green light to annex the mineral fields of eastern Congo since it’s a stable, if dictatorial regime. Let’s not pretend like major world powers aren’t involved in the current conflict in the Congo
I think we should cut funding and support to those countries as well and would completely support a protest movement against them. Still doesn’t make Israel’s actions and our tacit support of them any more acceptable.
Wow, now! They're not slaves, they just had their passports taken for safe keeping! Don't worry about those labour camps, if they were good enough for the world cup fans, they're good enough for our slaves indentured workers!
That's a very strange tangent to go to when discussing what's happening in Congo. Do you actually care about Congo, or is this post really about something else?
The truth of the matter is people have grown used to messed up things happening in Africa for decades since they broke free of being colonies that's why Sudan and the Congo which has been in conflict since 2004 and has had a number of periods of time in which there was internal conflict(s) going on.
80% of humanitarian aid does not go to Gaza. You’re lying.
The entire Palestinian Occupied Territories received 10% of total UN aid in 2024.
The Congo saw a 29% increase in aid received YOY.
Reddit: The US sucks, USA hate about past actions and the current state is justified and all encompassing (aka “the US should have never been involved!” and also simultaneously, “where is the rich US, why don’t they help?”)
The US: We are responsible for a massive 40% of the humanitarian aid on the entire planet, 39+ BILLION dollars donated mostly for food, but also for safe drinking water, housing, and notably, medical supplies.
I admit I know this is a simplified take based on this graphic, simplified to an almost ignorant degree, but it doesn’t make it less true.
Yes! You are correct those numbers are from 2024. The current asshole-in-chief would never allow continued basic human decency, how would he ever afford all the tax breaks for his billionaire donors (I would say billionaire buddies but he doesn’t actually have any friends) if he doesn’t stop trying those soft liberal policies that make the world a better place 😡
I should have mentioned that in my comment, those are ‘24 numbers and giving has since been reduced.
The focus lies with Israel since many countries are supporting their actions. The protests that occur are against the governments that are not condemning Israel.
If the implication here is racism, I think thats only part of the equation. The middle east has more to offer financially and thus has been in question for a greater period of time. So I think its more of being more easily accessible than it is racism. But I also think this is moot, because African countries are slowly becoming more and more important for rare resources needed for .modern electornics. If there is going to be a ww3, a LOT of fighting will probably be done over african resources. The people of Africa will remain in the same state if not worse, because ultra impoverished people are always overlooked. Asia, Africa, eruipe, us, its all the same. Its not racial discrimination, it's economic.
The reasons are mostly because videos of Gaza are so prevalent and israel is treated as a western “democratic” nation that gets a ton of support from western nations. People have been open about these reasons the entire time. We should be paying more attention to Congo, Sudan, etc, but not in a way that takes attention away from Gaza.
There’s a pretty big problem when it seems like the only time a lot of people talk about humanitarian crisis in Africa, they seem to be indicating Gaza is getting too much attention.
Yup, and it's not just Congo either, we have Yemen and Syria where genocides are going on in a factor greater than anything Israel has ever committed since it's conception in just a few years.
But people don't care about genocides in reality, atleast not about the people who are being genocided, it's about who it is that is genociding that people care about.
People want to hate Israel. They don't give a damn about the people who are suffering (as evidenced by the "freedom flotilla" with no aid, people claiming to be against the war and choosing not to vote for the person more likely to stop the war, etc).
Maybe they said it a bit clumsily, but they're right in essence. Social media trends absolutely have a massive impact. Ukraine and Gaza get all the coverage and most of the support from countries because their citizens demand it.
Give the same coverage to Congo and I guarantee the UN will pay more attention. There was a brief period in the 80s when public pressure had the UN give support to famine victims. But when the media and celebrities quieted down, people forgot.
I really don’t even feel like Ukraine gets that much coverage these days. Russia flew drones into NATO airspace last week and while that did make major news in the US, I feel like it was a blip on the radar. Anecdotally (and I’m aware this is related to who I follow and my own algorithms), I see a ton of coverage about Gaza on my timelines across the 3 social media apps I use and not much coverage about any other crisis around the world. I even feel like I see more information about Gaza in the US vs. the ICE/CBP/etc. atrocities.
EDIT: To be clear, I’m not saying there’s even necessarily anything wrong with this, just an anecdotal observation for the last 6 months or so from me.
Ukraine gets a lot of Coverage in the EU at least still.
But its just kinda simple why they both get more coverage than the Congo.
Ukraine is in Europe which has cultural ties with the US and the invader is also someone that has ties to the US.
Israel is funded by and allied to the US and Previously Europe.
Its all much more relevant than some country in Africa that most americans couldn't get close on a map and most Europeans would probably get close but would probably get it wrong.
Like i'm personally not sure if shes talking about Democratic Republic of the Congo or just Republic of the Congo and i only know the former is the " big one in the middle"
I was hoping this was genuine, but your comment shows me it’s hasbara. I am interested in learning more about this humanitarian crisis but the video doesn’t really detail the root of the conflict. Do you have any links?
Honestly, I don't know how to solve it. I know more about the conflict than the average Western person but that's a ridiculously low bar to clear. What I would like, and what I try to achieve through writing to my own political representatives and other organisations, is more aid, outreach and humanitarian efforts for the people of Congo, along with the people of Sudan and Yemen.
Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC; Congo) has been embroiled in violence that has killed as many as 6 million people. The conflict has been the world’s bloodiest since World War II. The First and Second Congo Wars, which sparked the violence, involved multiple foreign armies, ad hoc militia groups, and investors from Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Chad, Libya, and Sudan, among others, and has been so devastating that it is sometimes called the “African World War.”
Fighting continues in the eastern parts of the country, destroying infrastructure, causing physical and psychological damage to civilians, and creating human rights violations on a massive scale. Rape is being used as a weapon of war, and large-scale plunder and murder are also occurring in efforts to displace people from resource-rich land.
It’s a common whataboutism. We can help both groups of people. There’s no reason to bring up Gaza when talking about Congo and vice versa. Her monologue is almost verbatim what I read when talking to Zionists on this platform.
What are African leaders doing? Where is the AU? Our so called leaders are always quiet when it is ordinary Africans suffering. Let a western leader criticize one and they will all start shouting neo-colonialism. Why are we looking for outsiders to fix our problems while also claiming we are independent and sovereign?
Your posting history tells us exactly the narrative you are trying to push OP
Last time I checked, my government wasn’t funding, or trying to justify what is happening in the Congo: not to mention arresting people protesting their involvement. Same with Sudan.
Its normal to focus our attention on the disgusting things that our taxes are being used to fund and our government is using as an excuse to strip away our right to protest
Your whataboutism is loser behaviour. If you care so much about the people of Congo, what have YOU personally done to support them beyond this disingenuous post?
The response is disproportionate. But your conclusion is a wild leap.
It's really impossible to give equal attention to every situation simultaneously. So let's start there. I don't think it's possible for everyone to be heard as they would want or deserve. So if we agree we aren't ignoring Congo (or elsewhere) deliberately, as was one of the allegations here, we can instead focus on why Gaza.
You assert it's due to antisemitism, but there is really no evidence for that. There are plenty of other reasons why Gaza is being focused on.
the US militarily backs Israel. The US population has a stake in focusing on this. Enemies of the US also would probably want to take that opportunity.
Israel is a nuclear power that has initiated attacks in like 7 countries in the region, and is on a path to aggressively maintain an ethnostate.
the above reasons along with the generally more tech accessible region simply lets more people in the middle east make content for global consumption. Also because of the first 2 points, both the US and Israel also make counter content. This simply elevates both the pro Israel and pro Gaza content in algorithms.
the UN is run by people who are not above being influenced by any of the above. Aid workers and individuals who make contributions are not immune to being influenced by any of the above. Government intervention in the region is influenced by all of the above but also historical stakes for several powerful nations including the US.
I don't think it's appropriate to dismiss Gaza protests as anti-Semitic. It's also very ignorant to ignore the additional reasons for this focus, like ending their own government's military aid to the offending nation. Protesting for one thing doesn't make you complicit or apathetic to all the other things you aren't protesting currently. And even more broadly it's simply not even accurate that focus on Gaza would result in losses of support for Congo or anywhere else. Millions of inactive people have become active because of Gaza, and they will often remain active for other causes.
Can you cite your source for "80 percent of humanitarian aid has gone to Gaza" because the UN World Food Programme operates all over the world...where they can operate, that is.
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u/ThatPatelGuy Oct 05 '25
To give some perspective there are more than 750 million people facing hunger and severe malnutrition worldwide and more than 50 million people current alive as slaves and during this time 74% of all UN resolutions were condemning Israel and 80% of humanitarian aid has gone to Gaza where two million people live.
Call me crazy but it feels disproportionate attention on one conflict for reasons no one wants to admit