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    January 17, 2012

Occupy Protesters Join Lumumba Commemorations

   Nico Colombant
   Emira Woods was one of the pro-Lumumba protesters outside the White
   House, Jan 17, 2012
   Photo: VOA - N. Colombant
   Emira Woods was one of the pro-Lumumba protesters outside the White
   House, Jan 17, 2012

   Activists around the world have celebrated the legacy of the
   assassinated former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, on the
   day of his killing 51 years ago.
   In Washington, members of the so-called Occupy movement joined
   pan-Africa militants in honoring a former leader who they say also
   tried to take a stand against big corporations.
   Protesters gathered around a "Free Congo, Patrice Lumumba" sign outside
   the White House Tuesday, chanting the rallying cry that has come to
   characterize the U.S. Occupy movement: "We are the 99 percent."
   The movement says it represents people fighting against elites of the
   U.S economic and political structure, those they call the "1 percent."
   Tuesday's demonstration was called "Fulfilling the Legacy of Patrice
   Lumumba," in honor of the leader of Congo's anti-colonial struggle. The
   former postal clerk and independence activist in the Belgian Congo rose
   to become the country's first elected prime minister in 1960, before
   being deposed in an army-led coup, imprisoned and executed by firing
   squad.
   Speakers at the protest accused multi-national corporations of
   colluding with elites in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
   They said corporations and Congolese leaders have for decades plundered
   natural resources without benefiting local populations, something they
   say Lumumba tried to stop.
   One of the speakers, from the Friends of the Congo organization,
   Maurice Carney, said there also is growing interest for Lumumba's
   legacy among opposition activists in Africa, who believe elections are
   being rigged in favor of candidates who do not question existing
   economic and security arrangements.
   "There is just a new global sense of activism and within that
   environment people search for figures that can best exemplify that so,
   Lumumba is one such figure, particularly among people who are looking
   at the question of independence on the African continent or activism on
   the African continent," said Carney. "Lumumba is the quintessential
   example in that he gave his life in such a brutal fashion to fulfill
   that pursuit."
   Another speaker, Netfa Freeman, from the Washington-based Institute for
   Policy Studies, said he sees similarities between Lumumba and the slain
   civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whose U.S. holiday was
   celebrated Monday.
   "One I think was being able to speak to the masses of the people and
   also having the courage to stand up to the powers that be and not only
   say what is comfortable for them to hear or to accommodate the powers
   that be but just be honest and say what needs to be said no matter what
   setting," said Freeman.
   U.S. events to celebrate Patrice Lumumba also took place in the
   southern city of Atlanta and culminated in New York City, with a
   late-night concert.