John Prendergast, co-founder of an organization that works against genocide in Africa, will speak at 7 p.m. March 30th at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
John Prendergast, co-founder of an organization that works against genocide in Africa, will speak at 7 p.m. March 30th at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Prendergast, also former director of African Affairs at the National Security Council and special adviser at the Department of State, will give a lecture titled “Techno War: The Scramble for the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Minerals.”
The free public lecture will be in the FedEx Global Education Center at the corner of Pittsboro and McCauley streets, with a reception afterward. Parking may be available in the deck under the building. Most campus lots are not ticketed after 5 p.m.
Launched in 2007, the Enough Project that Prendergast co-founded is part of the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Enough conducts field research in countries plagued by genocide and crimes against humanity, develops policies to address the crises and shares tools to help empower citizens and groups working for change. Its work has focused on Sudan, eastern Congo, northern Uganda, Somalia, Chad and Zimbabwe.
More than 5.5 million people have died in the Congo’s war, which has been sustained by the country’s abundant mineral resources.
“I have been working on conflict and in conflict zones for 25 years now,” Prendergast has said. “I’ve never seen anything like the human devastation in Eastern Congo. The violence there is worse than anywhere else in the world; the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II and the highest rates of sexual violence in the entire world. It is the most dangerous place to be a woman or a girl. There is a direct connection between our consumer appetites and the violence in Eastern Congo.”
The Congo provides minerals found in virtually every electronic item: gold, tin, tantalum, tungsten and coltan. One of Enough’s goals is to create consumer demand for what it calls conflict-free electronics, including cell phones, computers and cameras.
Prendergast has spent his career educating his peers about genocide and mass atrocity. He co-founded the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program, which connects school in Darfurian refugee camps with American schools. Prendergast also helped create the Raise Hope for Congo Campaign designed to end violence against women and girls in the Congo.
Prendergast has written eight books on Africa, including the New York Times best-seller and NAACP non-fiction book of the year “Not on Our Watch.” He also has helped create documentaries about Africa including Don Cheadle’s “Darfur Now,” George Clooney’s “Sand and Sorrow” and Tracy McGrady’s “3 Points.” He co-produced the film “Journey into Sunset,” about Ugandan children seeking to avoid being kidnapped and forced to fight against their country’s government by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army.
Prendergast’s lecture is hosted by the UNC units Advocates for Human Rights, Campus Y, African Studies Center, Diversity Incentive Fund and Residence Hall Association. It is funded in part by student fees allocated by Student Government.
For more information, visit www.global.unc.edu
Office of International Affairs contact: Laura Griest (919) 962-0318, lauragriest@unc.edu
Advocates for Human Rights contact: Marjorie Betubiza, mtbetubiza@gmail.com
News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589