Breaking the Silence Congo Week is a week of activities that commemorates the millions of lives lost in the Congo conflict while celebrating the enormous human and natural potential that exists in the country.

Since 2008, Congo Week has galvanized the participation of people in over 70 countries and 500 university campuses and communities. The purpose of Congo Week is to raise global consciousness about the situation in the Congo and advocate for peace, justice and human dignity in partnership with the Congolese people. Congo Week 2020 will take place from Sunday, October 18 to Saturday, October 24, 2020.

This year IPS joins with Friends of the Congo will host professor Justin Podur for an in depth discussion on the US role in dismantling democracy in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. The exchange will focus on Professor Podur’s recent book America’s Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and DR Congo.

Justin Podur is the author of America’s Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo (Palgrave Macmillan 2020) and Haiti’s New Dictatorship (Pluto Press 2012). He has contributed chapters to Empire’s Ally: Canada and the War in Afghanistan (University of Toronto Press 2013) and Real Utopia (AK Press 2008). He is an Associate Professor at York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies.

Register in advance.

Co-sponsors: Friends of the Congo, Black Alliance for Peace, Pan-African Community Action (PACA), and the Institute for Policy Studies.