2008 Woodie Awards
Congo Crisis examined by LC students
Cait Rohan
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: News
The Congo, a country torn by civil war, 200,000 women and girls have been kidnapped raped, murdered, mutilated and tortured by foreign soldiers or their own army. This past Thursday, Loyola showed Lisa F. Jackson's documentary "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo," to hear the stories of these women.
The documentary opens with images of a peaceful sunset and a lush jungle. Then, the camera focuses on a group of raggedly dressed soldiers with machine guns. These soldiers are all rapists.
"If she's strong I'll call some of my friends to hold her down," says one soldier of raping his country's women.
Jackson, who is a victim of gang rape in the U.S., went to the Congo to give victims a voice and to ask rapists why they rape. Throughout the documentary the rapists react to the violence they commit with straightforward frankness.
"There is no time to negotiate, there is no time to love them…" says another soldier of his victims.
In the Congo's civil war, which has been raging since 1999, women are used as pawns.
"The bodies of women became the playground," says one Congolese woman.
Women are threatened with death as they are raped. Rapists often use guns, sticks or sharp objects to humiliate and mutilate the women. The men have multiple victims and often rape in gangs sometimes as large as seven.
"It's hard to keep track but…I'd say about 25," a rapist says when asked how many women he has raped.
Rape victims, who range in age from 4 to 80, tell a different tale.
"My heart is broken," says Marie Jeanne, one of the documentary's countless victims. "Wherever I go people will say, 'That woman was raped.' I hated myself."
Loyola students watched the documentary in shock.
"…Living in America, I couldn't understand how it was possible for things to get that bad," said John Dougherty. "The film made a great point of showing the many social justice issues facing the Congo-constant war, poverty, political corruption and a seriously troubled infrastructure for social services-and how they create an environment where atrocities like these are not only possible, but common."
The documentary opens with images of a peaceful sunset and a lush jungle. Then, the camera focuses on a group of raggedly dressed soldiers with machine guns. These soldiers are all rapists.
"If she's strong I'll call some of my friends to hold her down," says one soldier of raping his country's women.
Jackson, who is a victim of gang rape in the U.S., went to the Congo to give victims a voice and to ask rapists why they rape. Throughout the documentary the rapists react to the violence they commit with straightforward frankness.
"There is no time to negotiate, there is no time to love them…" says another soldier of his victims.
In the Congo's civil war, which has been raging since 1999, women are used as pawns.
"The bodies of women became the playground," says one Congolese woman.
Women are threatened with death as they are raped. Rapists often use guns, sticks or sharp objects to humiliate and mutilate the women. The men have multiple victims and often rape in gangs sometimes as large as seven.
"It's hard to keep track but…I'd say about 25," a rapist says when asked how many women he has raped.
Rape victims, who range in age from 4 to 80, tell a different tale.
"My heart is broken," says Marie Jeanne, one of the documentary's countless victims. "Wherever I go people will say, 'That woman was raped.' I hated myself."
Loyola students watched the documentary in shock.
"…Living in America, I couldn't understand how it was possible for things to get that bad," said John Dougherty. "The film made a great point of showing the many social justice issues facing the Congo-constant war, poverty, political corruption and a seriously troubled infrastructure for social services-and how they create an environment where atrocities like these are not only possible, but common."
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