Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup metatuning monz webpage: War In Congo

monz, ummm... are these pictures really necessary? We all know war is hell
and violence is ugly- I think I'm more disturbed by your desire to display
these photos on a webpage and invite people to it than I am by the photos
themselves.

Dante

> -----Original Message-----
> From: monz [mailto:monz@...]
> Sent: Friday, December 27, 2002 1:18 AM
> To: metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [metatuning] monz webpage: War In Congo
>
>
> i've mentioned the civil war in Congo (formerly Zaire,
> also known as DRC, DR Congo, and Democratic Republic
> of Congo) several times here, and have provided some
> links to info about it.
>
> since Americans (and, i'd bet, most people all over
> the world) are woefully uninformed about this war,
> as a public service, i've created a webpage showing
> some of the most disturbing photos i've seen of it.
>
> *this* is the sad legacy of European colonialism in Africa.
>
>
>
> WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!
>
>
> http://sonic-arts.org/monzo/congo/congo.htm
>
>
>
> -monz
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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🔗John Starrett <jstarret@...> <jstarret@...>

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

Dante!
Love your contributions to this list.
Personally i prefer images to text. Somehow more honest and encompasses more
info-that 1000 word thing you know.
Photojournalist also seem more capable of slipping into a true artistic
expression, its written counterpart more often comes out sounding like a
robot. There is something beautiful in the first shot that transends the
content
this also is a welcome change to what we are being beaten down daily with.

Dante Rosati wrote:

> monz, ummm... are these pictures really necessary? We all know war is hell
> and violence is ugly- I think I'm more disturbed by your desire to display
> these photos on a webpage and invite people to it than I am by the photos
> themselves.
>
> Dante
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: monz [mailto:monz@...]
> > Sent: Friday, December 27, 2002 1:18 AM
> > To: metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [metatuning] monz webpage: War In Congo
> >
> >
> > i've mentioned the civil war in Congo (formerly Zaire,
> > also known as DRC, DR Congo, and Democratic Republic
> > of Congo) several times here, and have provided some
> > links to info about it.
> >
> > since Americans (and, i'd bet, most people all over
> > the world) are woefully uninformed about this war,
> > as a public service, i've created a webpage showing
> > some of the most disturbing photos i've seen of it.
> >
> > *this* is the sad legacy of European colonialism in Africa.
> >
> >
> >
> > WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!
> >
> >
> > http://sonic-arts.org/monzo/congo/congo.htm
> >
> >
> >
> > -monz
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Meta Tuning meta-info:
> >
> > To unsubscribe, send an email to:
> > metatuning-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> > Web page is http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
> >
> > To post to the list, send to
> > metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> >
> > You don't have to be a member to post.
> >
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
>
> Meta Tuning meta-info:
>
> To unsubscribe, send an email to:
> metatuning-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> Web page is http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
>
> To post to the list, send to
> metatuning@yahoogroups.com
>
> You don't have to be a member to post.
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU 88.9 FM 8-9PM PST

🔗monz <monz@...>

----- Original Message -----
From: <jstarret@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2002 10:45 PM
Subject: [metatuning] Re: monz webpage: War In Congo

> --- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com,
> "Dante Rosati" <dante.interport@r...> wrote:
>
> > > From: monz [mailto:monz@...]
> > > Sent: Friday, December 27, 2002 1:18 AM
> > > To: metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: [metatuning] monz webpage: War In Congo
> > >
> > >
> > > i've mentioned the civil war in Congo (formerly Zaire,
> > > also known as DRC, DR Congo, and Democratic Republic
> > > of Congo) several times here, and have provided some
> > > links to info about it.
> > >
> > > since Americans (and, i'd bet, most people all over
> > > the world) are woefully uninformed about this war,
> > > as a public service, i've created a webpage showing
> > > some of the most disturbing photos i've seen of it.
> > >
> > > *this* is the sad legacy of European colonialism in Africa.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!
> > >
> > >
> > > http://sonic-arts.org/monzo/congo/congo.htm
> >
> >
> >
> > monz, ummm... are these pictures really necessary? We all
> > know war is hell and violence is ugly- I think I'm more
> > disturbed by your desire to display these photos on a
> > webpage and invite people to it than I am by the photos
> > themselves.
> >
> > Dante
> <snip>
>
> Well, there was a warning. Too often we forget the real
> brutality of war, and pictures of the real thing are a
> potent tonic. Personally, I am glad Monzo posted them.
> I cannot imagine Joe doing it without thought. I have
> only humg out with Joe for a total of maybe 10 hours, but
> from what I [know] of him, I imagine it made him miserable
> just to look at these things himself.
>
> John Starrett

miserable, sad, disgusted, horrified, angry, frustrated ...
i could probably make this a very long list of adjectives
describing how those photos made me feel.

and yes, not only did i put a warning before the link, but
i also put it in CAPITAL LETTERS.

i've been trying hard to follow all the war activity
in Africa, but it's difficult because there's so much
of it.

now, a country i've always wanted to visit, Cote d'Ivoire,
has in the short space of a couple of years gone from
the showpiece of West Africa to yet another rebels-versus-
government-while-ordinary-citizens-starve-and-die scenario.
it looks to me like this is another manifestation of
Muslims-vs.-Christians, but there's probably all kinds
of inter-tribal feuding involved as well, which is usually
what complicates these situations in Africa.

for personal reasons, the war in Congo has special
significance to me. Islam is not a factor in this country,
so here it's simply a matter of a situation that went from
bad (Mobuto's decades of dictatorship) to terrible (further
government decline after Mobuto was deposed) to even worse
(displaced Rwandan soldiers taking over whatever Congolese
lands they could, once they saw that they had the opportunity).

at the root of it all is the same thing that's always
ultimately the cause of war: greed. Congo is a country
which has vast reserves of wealth in the form of minerals
and forest resources, and ever since King Leopold of Belgium
stole the area from the people who live there more than 120
years ago, it's been an unending game of who-can-take-what.
it's sickening.

sure, eventually the whole world will know about this
and it will be in the history books. but my feeling was
that directing those who are interested to these photos
gives much more of a sense of the brutality that the ordinary
people there are being forced to endure (or flee if they can),
as opposed to just reading the dry facts. and even those
dry facts have been scarce in the world press:
http://www.geocities.com/cut2thechase_ca/congo.htm

i believe that war is the most horrible and senseless activity
that humans can choose to become involved in, and i felt
that uploading those photos helps to drive that point home.

the eastern Congo is probably the most fertile breeding
ground for terrorism in the world today ... and i'm not
the only person who thinks so.
http://www.help-for-you.com/news/Jan2002/Jan24/PRT24-239Article.html

if the American government is so damn concerned about
the threat of terrorism, why hasn't it lifted a finger
to help the people of Congo?

(here's the official bullshit American government line
on the Congo war)
http://www.state.gov/p/af/rls/rm/9313.htm

... is it simply because American-based corporations are
greedy for the coltan used in our computers and cell phones?
80% of the world's coltan supply comes from Congo; see
the grey sidebar in the help-for-you.com article, and this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/08/09/wcong09.xml

the price of coltan skyrocketed during the high-tech
economic boom of the late 1990s, and then crashed along
with other high-tech commodities more recently. while
its value was rising, Rwanda obviously made tons of money
from its theft of coltan from Congolese mines. now that
it's not worth so much, Rwanda may not be able to recoup
the cost of keeping troops in Congo, and so is more eager
to pull out. like i said: greed.

... or is it because America is so palpably responsible
for what is now happening in Congo? take time to read these:

http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm

http://www.house.gov/international_relations/mads0517.htm

Dante, i apologize for causing you to be disturbed.

but please put the blame not only on me, but also on the
other webmasters who posted those photos first, on the
photographers who took them, (more importantly) on the
soldiers who caused the violence, and (most importantly)
on the assholes who incited the war in the first place.

most of all, don't forget my main point in all this:
sympathy, and hopefully ultimately help, for the millions
of suffering Congolese people.

those disturbing images were intended as a wake-up call.

-monz

monz webpage: War In Congo

🔗monz <monz@...>

🔗Dante Rosati <dante.interport@...>

🔗John Starrett <jstarret@...> <jstarret@...>

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

🔗monz <monz@...>