a. The news story, The war on women in Congo, which is a CNN special feature written by a known woman activist and playwright Eve Ensler, is all about what Ensler calls as femicide, which she believes is basically a political and economic strategy to destroy the entire Congolese female population in order to cause long-term and irreparable damage to the whole Congolese society, which will ultimately lead them to leave the area open for plunder and exploitation of its precious resources, especially of the mineral coltan that is widely used as an essential material for cellphones and computers to work. Further, Ensler believes that the alarming prevalence and proliferation of such femicide since twelve years ago can be attributed to the international communitys racial discrimination against black people, most especially against black females, so that even the supposedly powerful and responsible United Nations (UN) does not intervene, leaving these poor black females perpetually victimized helplessly.
b. In the article, Enslers overarching assumption is that humans can go as far as kill one another out of greed, in this case, for the resources (e.g., coltan mineral) that the Congolese have in their land. I believe that such an assumption seems justified because there can be no other reason for humans to do such barbaric acts against the helpless ones if not for attractive rewards, material or otherwise, which are most possibly offered by the greedy and powerful ones who have orchestrated the entire violent plot that is still ongoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
c. If I were an applied anthropologist and have been asked to provide assistance on resolving the conflict in Congo, I would agree with Eve Enslers main assumption that the conflict and violence against the Congolese females are mainly driven by the outside forces the powerful, moneyed and have vested interest in the precious resources that the Congolese people have in their land. To resolve the issue peacefully, the main force behind the conflict, who is undoubtedly an outside influence to the leaders of the Congolese society, must be found out. This task of finding out the main force behind is the most difficult task, primarily because heshe they isare hiding behind and well-concealed and protected by the Congolese forces who serve as the main actors causing the conflict. Parallel to the efforts of tracing the main forces behind will be peaceful peace processes (e.g., dialogues, negotiations, informational and educational campaigns, provision of alternative economic activities, etc.) within the Congolese tribe. I will never recommend military intervention to resolve the conflict.
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