Violence at a protest is never something anyone wants to hear, but a part of me thinks it falls on deaf ears in the United States because we have rights that protects us from this kind of thing. However, in countries that aren’t fully developed, the citizens don’t share the same luxury we do. There are constant protests going on outside the White House, but you don’t see the Secret Service running outside to scare them off in whatever way they see fit. Whereas in the DR Congo, armed guards were blocking the streets so protesters couldn’t pass, and even using gunfire and teargas to scare them away. What has happened in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a classic case of political corruption and rulers getting power hungry. Their ruler, Joseph Kabila, has already overran his term limit. He shouldn’t even be in office anymore. Unfortunately for the citizens against him, there was a backdoor deal between Kabila and his opposition to leave him in power even after his term expired. I think the protesters are asking for something very reasonable by asking for elections to be organized and for Kabila not to be part of them, but it doesn’t appear that those will be happening any time in the near future. As of right now, so many deadlines have been missed and rules disregarded that I think it’s going to be hard for anyone to go against Kabila successfully. Even the main opposition group who organized the original deal is going to have a hard time backtracking and trying to reel Kabila back in so that proper elections can be held.
