Monday 16 May 2016

Revolution Congolaise (RC) - Speech by Ms Pierrette Sukisa-Makasi at the Global Day of Citizen Action - Need for a New Beginning in DRC's event - 14 May 2016




Good morning ladies and gentlemen!

My name is Pierrette,

I am 9 years old and I am from the Democratic Republic of Congo.



















I am reading this message on behalf of Mr Pacifique Sukisa-Makasi, the President of the Revolution Congolaise or RC in short.

Mr Pacifique Sukisa-Makasi wrote:

Beloved compatriots and distinguished guests, 

I am happy to be with you today!

Allow me please, to start by thanking everyone present in this room because without your presence here this event could not be called an event at all.

Many thanks to CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the World Movement for Democracy, ARTICLE 19, the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law and the government of Sweden who made this event possible and for their vital commitment to the promotion of a viable civic space, democracy, human rights and good governance across the globe.
Many thanks to my compatriots and other Global citizens committed to the building of a peaceful, stable and prosperous DRC.

I, on behalf of the RC, deeply thank those who initiated and those who signed for the "Framework of hope". I mean, the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the region.

My name is Pacifique and means “tending to make or preserve peace”.

My surname is Sukisa-Makasi and can translate into English as Victorious.

I was born in a small village called Cagala in the eastern South-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I am a farming-lover villager pushed to a peaceful revolution.

My peaceful revolution's VISION is: a PEACEFUL, STABLE and PROSPEROUS DRC with future good governance; attractive economic management and a viable environment to the private sector, based on democracy, the universal declaration of human rights and other universal principles.

Yes, I have been trained by many formal and informal institutions and in various fields but, I have failed to acquire the academic qualifications I wished for.
All I have is an agricultural/veterinary diploma but I believe that I also special social, economic and political degrees from the University of life and the school of hard knocks.

I am, on today's Global Day of Citizen Action and on behalf of the Revolution  Congolaise, your host.

The aim of this event is mainly to support CIVICUS and partners across the Globe's campaign for a viable civic space, Democracy and good governance across the Globe.

The second aim of this event is to kick-start the RC's second project that is:
"An educational campaign for a Needed New Beginning in DRC and that requires us to put our differences aside and focus on building a NATION out of our divided societies through the understanding that a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous DRC are a responsibility of every DRC citizen (leaders and ordinary people)."

As most of you know, there is a worrying crackdown on pro-democracy activists that is currently taking place in the DRC.

That is why, the Revolution Congolaise team has refused to  sit - paralysed - simply watching and looking for someone to blame and hoping for the solutions to the DRC's social, political and economic problems to fall from the sky.

That's why, sooner after the flawed 2011 presidential elections, I, on behalf of the RC initiated the national and inclusive dialogue that has been gaining momentum in the DRC politics. Even though this national and inclusive dialogue that we initiated in the year January 2012 and that we have been advocating and lobbying for since that year seems to have already been hijacked by the very politicians we want to retire from our country's leadership, the RC believes to have successfully completed its first project:

"To Advocating for Africa’s sub regions, the African Union and the broader International community to assist the Congolese people to challenge the current political system, through an all-inclusive dialogue involving political actors, Grassroots/civic organizations and the Congolese diaspora. This dialogue must address the 2011 post-election problems and defining factors of the overdue deadlock in the DRC, as well as governance, social justice and cohesion to encourage political maturity and must address the post President Joseph Kabila’s current term".

Our advice to the International Community is:

We highly appreciate your good will and commitment to try and make our beloved country a better place. However, because of its sovereignty and being an unaligned country, we advise you to take a risk to try us as your new DRC partners and my promise to you is that we will positively surprise you.

We are the DRC potential reliable partners that you have been looking for.

Until Mr. Nelson Mandela was given a chance to put in practice his personal views, few people in his own country or in the World, expected from him the statesman and humanitarian who has become an inspiration to many across the Globe.

Yes, we have never been in government before, meaning that we have no governance skills but like Mahatma Gandhi, "I have a belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning"

That it is why one of our main objectives is to position our country on the Global arena so our beloved county can become part of the free world, a world family that we believe that, through an effective collaboration holds the master key to our country's social, economic and political improvement.

To my compatriots. 

Wherever they currently are on planet earth, I need you to understand that:
Our enemy is not that individual we do not share a tribe, or a province, or a language, or an opinion or a political party, or a religion or social class but poverty, unemployment, lack of access to basic needs such as clean drinking water, health care electricity, quantity and quality food, clean air. Our main enemies are: diversity intolerance, bad governance based on selfish ambitions and the finger on the trigger, poor management of our country's natural resource, poor environment for the private sector, weak and unethical state institutions such as the IEC, the Supreme Court, army, police and national security agencies.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a new beginning in our country.

However, this new beginning requires us to set aside our differences and focus on building a nation out of our divided societies. 

We are economically and militarily powerless against a heavily militarized and cruel systems but  through us, the people of DRC are soon to be victorious because:

1. We are not at war with individuals like many DRC opposition parties' leaders. One of our missions is to light up the candle able to pave a way to a new beginning toward a truly peaceful, stable and prosperous DRC that shall not only benefit its citizens but that shall also benefit the sub-regions that it belongs to, Africa and our interdependent world at large.

2. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, I believe that “right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
3. Like Nelson Mandela: "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities".

4. Like President Abraham Lincoln, I believe in the:  "government of the people, by the people, for the people...”

5. Like President Obama, I believe that: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

6. Like President Clinton, I believe that:  “We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.”

7. Like Archbishop Desmond Tutu on behalf of the Elders, I believe that: “the ones who ought to be held in high regard are not the ones who are militarily powerful, nor even economically prosperous. They are the ones who have a commitment to try and make the world a better place.”

8. Like Elder Kofi Annan, I believe that:  “... For generations, women have served as peace educators, both in their families and in their societies."

And most importantly, 

I am convinced that with God a mess can be turned into a message, a trial into a testimony, a victim into a victory and that God's power is made perfect in weakens. I believe in God's miracles.

Remember:

Joshua's ragtag Israelites army against a well-trained Canaanite army,
Joseph was betrayed for his pride by his brothers and was put in prison,
Moses was corned on the banks of the red sea with the powerful army in the world,
Gideon was three hundred against three hundred thousand, 
David against a blood thirsty giant,
Esther was a woman trying to gain a world with a pride of a king,
Daniel room met was a lion,
Daniel friends were thrown in an oven,
Jonah accepted his job and got stuck in a whale,
Peter was a coward,
Paul was imprisoned,
The five thousand people had no food,
Lazarus was dead,
Timothy was too young,
Abraham was too old,
The younger son was too stupid,
The wall of Jericho was too strong

And

Jesus was humiliated, hung on the cross and a buried in a tomb.

Seemingly, the message from the Bible is that when everything else has failed, get ready because that is where God shows up because:
Joseph became second in command,
The red sea departed,
Gideon won without lifting a weapon,
Goliath's head was on a plate,
Easter spoke and the king listened,
Daniel tamed the lions,
The oven felt like a room temperature,
Nineveh repented,
Peter became a rock,
Paul rejoiced,
Twelve basket s of bread were left over,
Lazarus was just kidding,
Timothy built a church,
Abraham built a family,
The younger son came home to party,
The wall of Jericho came trembling down
And
Jesus Christ resurrection defeated sin and death.
It is unfortunate that on our continent some traditions are unfair just as most DRC politicians are. 

However, as a grandson, a son, a nephew, a brother, a husband, a father and friend of inspiring women, not only men inspire me but women inspire me too:

“...each one of us is capable of being anything we want to be. It starts with individuals: each of us should go out and do more to support each other. And we have to hold each other accountable." – Dr. Scholastica Sylavan Kimaryo.

"We need to make sure everyone around the world knows that a girl has the same value as a boy" – Graça Machel,

Today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's conflicts. – Mary Robinson,

"If a country doesn't recognize minority rights and human rights, including women's rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible." – Hillary Clinton.
“For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect but to be elected.”— Michelle Bachelet,

“Neither the chains of dictatorship nor the fetters of oppression can keep down the forces of freedom for long.”— Angela Merkel,

“If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”— Margaret Thatcher,

“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” Aung San Suu Kyi,

“Education is transformational. It literally changes lives. That is why people work so hard to become educated, and that is why education has always been the key to the American Dream, the force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture and unlocks every person's God-given potential.”— Condoleezza Rice,

“Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product. Paradoxically, the one sure way not to be happy is deliberately to map out a way of life in which one would please oneself completely and exclusively.”— Eleanor Roosevelt,

“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.”— Michelle Obama,

“The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”— Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

IN CONCLUSION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Our future generations need to inherit a DRC that they shall call home with dignity regardless of whether they are descendants of those currently in power, or in opposition or of ordinary citizens.
The RC team remains committed to non-violent actions. The RC team is in support to constitutionally and timely elections and remain committed to a national and inclusive dialogue as dialogue remain one of the best means to finding durable and lasting solutions go any problem but, because of our government, IEC and Supreme Court's failure to perform their duties, the RC might be tempted to consider applying the recent events in Burkina Faso, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and even Cote d' Ivoire to our own country.

May God bless the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa and our interdependent World!

I thank you!

Events - Need for a New Beginning in DRC

www.youcanbethechange.com/gdca/events/event/0/210/84

On this day we intend to kick-start the RC current second project: An educational campaign for a Needed New Beginning in DRC and that requires us to put our ...


REVOLUTION CONGOLAISE PART 1 : NEED FOR A NEW BEG…: http://youtu.be/sDEBUT1nqEY
REVOLUTION CONGOLAISE PART 2 : NEED FOR A NEW BEG…: http://youtu.be/A2wOPk-rkWw
REVOLUTION CONGOLAISE PART 3: NEED FOR A NEW BEGI…: http://youtu.be/H6oXV15Uo4o
REVOLUTION CONGOLAISE PART 4 : NEED FOR A NEW BEG…: http://youtu.be/NfOzV-GnrfI