Dancing in the Glory of Monsters

Posted on 03 August 2018 by Jason Stearns

At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention In this deeply reported book, Jason Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it He depicts village pastors who survived massacres, the child soldier assassin of President Kabila, a female Hutu activist who relives the hunting and methodical extermination of fellow refugees, and key architects of the war that became as great a disaster as and was a direct consequence of the genocide in neighboring Rwanda Through their stories, he tries to understand why such mass violence made sense, and why stability has been so elusive.Through their voices, and an astonishing wealth of knowledge and research, Stearns chronicles the political, social, and moral decay of the Congolese State. Best Read eBook Dancing in the Glory of Monsters Author Jason Stearns – kino-fada.fr It s often claimed that the Congo Wars are too confusing for outsiders to understand Pshaw.It s really quite simple The RFP pushed into DRC in the guise of the AFDL, originally pursuing ex FAR Naturally with UNITA and FLEC in the area Angola had an interest in getting involved and Uganda was wrestling with the WNBLF, UMLA, the ADM and of course the NALU the Burundians, meanwhile, were contending with the FDD and FNL, all of whom were laden with RPGs and AKs OK After Kabila p re turned on t It s often claimed that the Congo Wars are too confusing for outsiders to understand Pshaw.It s really quite simple The RFP pushed into DRC in the guise of the AFDL, originally pursuing ex FAR Naturally with UNITA and FLEC in the area Angola had an interest in getting involved and Uganda was wrestling with the WNBLF, UMLA, the ADM and of course the NALU the Burundians, meanwhile, were contending with the FDD and FNL, all of whom were laden with RPGs and AKs OK After Kabila p re turned on them, Rwanda backed the RCD, until it splintered at which point the RCD A and RCD O went one way while the RCD N won support from Kampala on the QT Bemba, who was running the MLC like an IPO, was in the middle...If you want to understand the tragedy that is the Congo, put aside the mythology and read Dancing In The Glory of Monsters Jason Stearns has untangled the snarling mess that is the history of this sad nation As someone who s researched and written about the Congo myself Heart of Diamonds A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo , I found new insights into the interminable conflicts that have wracked the country for it s entire modern history Stearns delineates the players, putting th If you want to understand the tragedy that is the Congo, put aside the mythology and read Dancing In The Glory of Monsters Jason Stearns has untangled the snarling mess that is the history of this sad nation As someone who s researched and written about the Congo myself Heart of Diamonds A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo , I found new insights into the interminable conflicts that have wracked the country for it s entire modern history Stearns delineates the players, putting them into context and showing how they interacted to make the Congo what it is today He clearly explains the role of Rwanda s Paul Kagame and other outsiders in the turmoil, but also delineates the power hunger and shortcomings of the Congo s own leaders, including current President Joseph Kabila Most importantly, Stearns demon...This book has been called the best current nonfiction about the violence in the DRC which I think says farabout the dearth of good books on the subject than on this one s merits.While the book is a useful primer on the facts and political history of the violence in the DRC, I frankly disagree with most reviewers and the author himself that it somehow manages to achieve anuanced understanding of the country, ...Mass violence does not just affect the families of the dead It tears at the fabric of society and lodges in the minds of the witnesses and perpetrators alike A decade after the violence, it seemed the villagers were still living in its aftershocks They had all fled after the massacre no one wanted to stay in town They fled deep into the jungles, where they crossed the strong currents of the Luindi River It was only on the other side that they felt safe They lived in clearings, where they Mass violence does not just affect the families of the dead It tears at the fabric of society and lodges in the minds of the wi...Jason Stearns set a formidable task for himself in the Introduction to his excellent Dancing in the Glory of Monsters , taking Hannah Arendt memorable the banality of evil as the starting point for his investigation into the decades long war in the Congo He doesn t personalize the murderous violence and the evil behind it but tries to define the political system that allowed or encouraged such perversions of normal humanity Instead of the faceless bureaucratic machine of the Third Reich h Jason Stearns set a formidable task for himself in the Introduction to his excellent Dancing in the Glory of Monsters , taking Hannah Arendt memorable the banality of evil as the starting point for his investigation into the decades long war in the Congo He doesn t personalize the murderous violence and the evil behind it but tries to define the political system that allowed or encouraged such perversions of normal humanity Instead of the faceless bureaucratic machine of the Third Reich he compares the Congo to seventeenth century Europe during the Thirty Years War in which marauding armies fought back and forth across what is now Germany leaving privation, disease and death in their wake Dancing in the Glory of Monsters is a brilliant combination of reporting, current history, political advocacy and ethnography Jason Stearns has spent much of the past decade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has met many of the key actors in Africa s Great ...Easy recommendation to the govt put this author in charge somewhere in how western govt money is spent in the area.1st read the last chapter then set aside an evening to read the whole thing then give it to a friend to read.why because people matter their pain and suffering matter killing people is wrong, killing lots of people is evil and must to fought.it s first an examination of the history of the rwandan tutsi genocide and it s effects on the congo from 1990 to the present it s secon Easy recommendation to the govt put this author in charge somewhere in how western govt money is spent in the area.1st read the last chapter then set aside an evening to read the whole thing then give it to a friend to read.why because people matter their pain and suffering matter killing people is wrong, killing lots of people is evil and must to fought.it s first an examination of the history of the rwandan tutsi genocide and it s effects on the congo from 1990 to the present it s second a journalist interviews and talks to people involved, telling their stories and putting it all together into a narrative that the rest of us can identify with lastly it s a call to the world to engage with the issues because the world has a hand in caus...This book provides clarity to the quagmire of wars that have been happening in the Congo since the Rwandan genocide of 1994.Mr Stearns explains well the personalities involved and also brings us face to face with the brutality undergone by ordinary people in the many shattered villages and cities The Tutsi Hutu animosities are a recurring theme but in the Congo, nothing is so simple and Mr Stearns always qualifies his explanations.The Congo is a land blessed with many natural resources It This book provides clarity to the quagmire of wars that have been happening in the Congo since the Rwandan genocide of 1994.Mr Stearns explains well the personalities involved and also brings us face to face with the brutality undergone by ordinary people in the many shattered villages and cities The Tutsi Hutu animosities are a recurring theme but in the Congo, nothing is so simple and Mr Stearns always qualifies ...This is the book I chose for the 2016 world literature challenge March Sub Sahara.5 starsVery interesting book Also very enlightening Don t really hear what is happening in Africa They didn t make any sense, Nabyolwa remembered First they accused me of deserting which was strange coming from a bunch of deserters Then they said I wanted to kill them by going back Finally, an officer said, We think you are a traitor Every time you send us into battle, we get attacked But that This is the book I chose for the 2016 world lite...An important book, with some valuable insights but terribly and pointlessly over long Could have been, and should have been a 180 page monograph Still, a quick read if you know how to Review will follow if I get some time.About 10 years ago, Philip Gourevitch wrote We Regret to Inform You about the Rwandan massacre You read it and are filled with moral outrage about the horrible acts of the Hutus and the relatively innocent victims Tutsis This is the next chapter in that story and it is much a harder andcomplicated read, as the Rwanda massacre turned into a proxy war in Congo killing 5 million in which there are no heroes, every side has committed horrible atrocities, and it is hard to see anyone as About 10 years ago, Philip Gourevitch wrote We Regret to Inform You about the Rwandan massacre You read it and are filled with moral outrage about the horrible acts of the Hutus and the relatively innocent victims Tutsis This is the next chapter in that story and it is much a harder andcomplicated read, as the Rwanda massacre turned into a proxy war i...

English
03 August 2018

Jason Stearns