Recommendations of the Editorial team
US Vice President JD Vance, who had previously spread conspiracy theories about the Black Lives Matter Movement, said on Saturday that President Donald Trump was supposed to celebrate. Because he “did more to save black life than any other guide in our country”.
Peace agreement with economic interests
Trump had described Black Lives Matter as the “symbol of hate” and his supporters as a “racket”. In 2020, Trump used the national guards against demonstrators in Washington, DC, who protested the police murder of George Floyd. He is also said to have said: “Can’t you just shoot them?”
Vance’s statement fell in connection with the peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was mediated by the USA and Qatar on Friday. “Yesterday’s signing of the peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Rwanda was truly historical,” he wrote on Bluesky, where he is the most blocked account. “This war has demanded more lives than any other since World War II, almost all of them black.” (Apparently he refers to the second Congo ranks that ended in 2003.)
He continued: “I am sure that the leaders and supporters of the Black-Lives-Matter movement will join me today to celebrate President Trump, who has done more to save black life than every guide in our country.”
He then marked the New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie. Bouie had been targeted by Trump and Vance after he had written about Vances “Blood-and-Floating Nationalism”-a Nazi slogan.
Interests in raw materials and consequences for Africa
The Trump government helped mediate the peace agreement to gain access to the region’s minerals. The value of the mineral resources in the Congo is estimated at up to $ 24 trillion.
“They fought against each other for many years, with machetes – it was one of the worst, one of the worst wars that someone has ever seen. And I just happened to have someone who could enclose it,” said Trump on Friday.
“For the United States, we receive many of the Schürbungo in the Congo as part of the agreement. They are honored to be here. They never thought they would come here.”
The Congo is a source of important raw materials such as cobalt, copper and Coltan as well as diamonds and gold. Last year the Congo submitted criminal charges in France and Belgium and accused Apple subsidiaries to use so-called “blood minerals” in their products.
“These activities have promoted a cycle of violence and conflicts by financing militias and terrorist groups, and contributed to forced labor for children and environmental degradation,” said the DR Congo’s lawyers.
Reasons with fatal consequences
The Trump government has significantly harm Africa by closing the US development aid authority (USAI) and reducing more than 90 percent of its foreign contracts.
In response to the cuts of USAID, the poverty organization Oxfam explained: “The health of up to one million people could be at risk from the effects of this decision on the work of humanitarian organizations in the DR Congo. We will be forced to reduce vital services for clean water and sanitary facilities, which increases the risk of spreading cholera, grazes and MPOX.”
Trump’s reductions in foreign aid have massively weakened the president’s emergency plan for the AIDS fight (Pepper), through which millions of human life were saved. According to a current study, millions of people will die as a result of these cuts in countries supported by Pepfar – including the Congo.
Vance had previously spread the conspiracy theory that insurance companies and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos supported the Black-Lives-Matter movement because they benefited from it. In an article from 2021 in The American Mind, with the title “Fighting Woke Capital”, he explained, “Woke Capital is when companies invest more in a movement like BLM than in traditional American principles – and they do.”
He claimed that insurance companies had financed the Black-Lives-Matter movement with the theory that BLM damage business and property. And the insurance companies then refused to cover the damage. (Why that should be lucrative is unclear. Even if it were true.)
Bezos, “Woke Capital” and unfounded allegations
“Who benefits the most when small companies in the city center are destroyed?” He asked. “Who wants the competition to no longer deliver goods and services. So the people get it in the Amazon cardboard? Jeff Bezos. There is a direct connection between Woke Capital and the looting that takes place in our society today. The people who want to destroy America through our company elite are also rich. This is an important piece of the puzz.”
In 2020, Amazon donated $ 10 million to organizations for social justice. Including Black Lives Matter. But vances alleged reason for these donations and its representation of the protests as a destructive campaign lacks any reality.