Módulo profesional: formación en centros de traballo

Besides education, another outcome of Mobutu’s corruption and plunder has been manifested in the various ways that the Congolese have invented in order to make a living for themselves in a situation where the state exists merely to steal from the citizens and to intimidate them. Faced with a situation where you could not rely on the state to provide for anything, people have developed alternative means to reach a livelihood. This section describes briefly those alternative means, and how they have become to influence Congolese’ idea of making paths for themselves in the near absence of the state. One of those paths for thousands of young Congolese has been joining armed groups.

As the state had become virtually extinct structure in the everyday lives of the Congolese citizens, existing merely to fill the pockets of those holding the power in the system and to further the interests of the political elite, the grey, or the ‘second economy’ took over the official one (MacGaffey,

Bazenguissa-Ganga 2000, 32). According to anthropologist Janet MacGaffey, who has studied

unofficial financial networks in Congo, “the second economy consists of activities that are unmeasured, unrecorded, and in varying degrees, outside or on the margins of the law” (MacGaffey, Bazenguissa- Ganga 2000, 4). In one of his most famous speeches, Mobutu urged everyone to deal with the

worsening financial and social conditions by ‘Dèbrouillez-vous’, which means ‘fending for yourself’, or ‘every man for himself’ (Raeymaekers 2009, 61). The declining economic, social, and political values that the La Dèbrouille brought along became known as the ‘Zairian sickness’, Nzongola-Ntalaja have indicated. The end result, reversal of values, illegality and worsening corruption, destroyed the collective cohesion of the country (2002, 7). Besides Nzongola-Ntalaja, also Raeymaekers has brought up how these alternative means of securing for yourself, La Dèbrouille, has ended up validating

corruption, stealing, and looting as a way to secure your existence (Raeymaekers 2009, 61). That sickness must have left its’ mark in the country over the decades that it was eating up the country from inside, and it was visible during my brief encounter with Congolese system as well. An example of

participating in the corruption happened upon leaving the country. The border between Uganda and Congo was closed because of an Ebola outbreak near the border. That left planes being fully booked, but 20 dollars for the airline employee made room in the plane, so that I could reach home by

Christmas. If it’s hard for a wealthy foreign visitor to avoid getting mixed up with the corrupt

economy, it must be really hard for the local people who are trying to make their ends meet in order to get the food to the table.

The Congolese state near total incompetence to act like legitimate states are thought to act is nothing new in the African context. African researchers Patrick Chabal and Jean-Pascal Daloz (1999) have shown that after the end of colonization many states in Africa have developed into inefficient constructs as a result of falling apart socially and economically, that in itself is the result from

conflicting interests. They have argued that many states in Africa have failed to secure the validity and capability that are the trademarks of the modern state. Acknowledging the power of the institutions over individuals residing at those institutions, and the limited scope of their constitutional authority are the first victims of personalized way of doing politics, Chabal and Daloz have maintained. As a result, the power is personalized instead of residing at the political system and on the positions it entails. The people holding the power in an informal system are liable to their extended families, patrons, religions, and to their own localities. The validity of their power is the result of their capability to keep their personal constituencies satisfied. As a consequence, the state apparatus and its’ means are being used for tribal purposes according to Chabal and Daloz (Ibid, 14-15). It is hard to think of any leader who would have exemplified the personalized way of doing politics more acutely than Mobutu. He did not even try to conceal his habit of treating the Congolese Bank and natural resources as his personal assets, because he had no reason to do so. So absolute was Mobutu’s power at its height that he could change the name of the country at a whim. As Mobutu set the example to follow, the corruption and the theft was carried out by other people working in the system as well. Political scientist Denis Tull has observed how no one in Congo could have failed to notice that the state system was oppressive,

because the numbers of public proxies from different sections of the state apparatus created a dominant and pervasive organization of political repression (Tull 2003, 432).

La Dèbrouille, together with the near total inactivity of the state, has left the Congolese citizens to find their own ways for their personal survival. Sometimes those ways are on the margins of more

almost always resourceful. Political scientist Theodore Trefon, who has specialized on Congolese issues for over 25 years, has concluded (2004) that the people of Kinshasa are remodeling the system. With that Trefon means the new and ever changing ways that people have for creating new social relations and contracts. By remodeling the system, residents of Kinshasa get the chance to continue their lives despite the problems (Ibid., 2). Kinshasa is different in some ways from the other cities and regions in Congo, but in this regard the situation is probably similar all around the country, because the failings of the state have been nationwide, not just restricted to the capital.

People have had to learn how to cope and make their ends meet in ways that have required

inventiveness and flexibility, always reacting to the changing surroundings. In this system of fending for yourself, people need to rely on one another, but it has also made them skilled in the La Dèbrouille. Trefon has observed that the concept has become ingrained into the Congolese reality to such an extent that when Laurent Kabila took over the presidency in 1997, he said that his regime does not have power to change the situation, and parents say the same for their children. There are programs on the national radio where people get to voice their grievances against the state, but at the same time these programs encourage people to come up with their own resolutions, saying that those in power are not able to solve everything (Trefon 2004, 32). When you can only rely on yourself and on those closest to you, people get through by being inventive and active. Anthropologists Anne-Maria Makhulu and Beth Buggenhagen have noticed how fending for yourself has not only became a necessity for one’s

endurance, but also an ethic. Consequently, having and creating different statuses, obligations and relations has become a constant routine (Makhulu, Buggenhagen et al. 2010, 52-53). A change from one identity to another is an indication of communal, political, or financial aspirations. The growing numbers of identities has assisted the citizens of Kinshasa to compensate the failures of the state, because their net of communal ties has expanded as a result of the increasing identities (Trefon 2004, 17).

To what extent has La Dèbrouille altered the very notions of morality is hard to estimate. Mobutu’s administration’s example must have had an impact on the nation, and when poverty and crises abound, the grey areas of La Dèbrouille are probably easier to paint white in moral terms. To me, and for the purpose of this study, La Dèbrouille should not be seen from the negative angle. Instead, it is a testimony of the resourcefulness and efforts that the citizens of Congo are showing when faced with adversities. Trefon has noted that the problems of the Congolese state have led to new splits, clashes

and deceptions that people use in their efforts to remodel the country and their communities (Trefon 2004, 19). It is these efforts to remodel that child soldiers have taken on when they have decided to become involved in the conflict. In the next section, the war and the different parties will be introduced.