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Please join viewers and activists across the country to watch the HBO premiere of The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo on Tuesday, April 8th at 10:00 pm EST. This documentary film is a shocking exposé of the kidnapping, rape and torture of women and girls in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.
ENOUGH, STAND, and Campus Progress have teamed up to organize screenings across the U.S. to view and discuss The Greatest Silence. Hosting a screening of The Greatest Silence can be a great, informal way for you to gather friends and community members to foster discussion around an important issue.
Four Steps to Host a Screening of The Greatest Silence:
1. Find a Location.You can host a screening in your classroom, living room, dorm lounge, church or anywhere else that you can comfortably see a screen and invite some viewers. It’s as simple as inviting some friends, getting some food, and watching HBO at 10:00 pm EST on Tuesday, April 8th. If you don’t have access to HBO, you can borrow a copy of the film to watch free of charge.
2. Register Your Party. E-mail your name and address to events@enoughproject.org. You can get materials, discussion questions, and tips on how to throw a screening - all you need to do is find the space and the people. Please email ASAP. To borrow the DVD by mail, please register by Monday, March 31st.
3. Host the Screening. Watch HBO at 10:00 pm EST on April 8th (or play the DVD). You can download these discussion questions to lead a conversation.
4. Join a Call the Next Day. The next day you have an opportunity to hear from the filmmaker and discover practical ways to help. Sign up here to join the call on April 9th.
Thanks for helping us to spread the word about this important film. Please tell your friends to watch the HBO premiere of The Greatest Silence with you on Tuesday, April 8th at 10:00 pm EST!
This week’s round-up of notable quotes from the news and the Web:
“He [George Clooney] presented himself and his father as journalists. He explained to the people who he met that he was there to hear their story, that he was concerned about their plight and that he wanted to retell their story back in the United States and around the world.”
“I’m here to see my children happy and laughing, I want them to drink orange juice in the morning. In Baghdad they smelled and drank smoke and rockets.”
“No post-conflict country can truly ‘recover’ or ‘develop’ while its women and children still suffer. After all, if women and children really counted, they’d have to count as the overwhelming majority of human beings on the planet. Most of the world’s children are in the care of women. As women fare, so fare children. As children fare, so fares the country in the future. That’s why GBV is so important. It’s not a ‘women’s issue’—not some incidental add-on to the ‘real’ business of relief and recovery. It’s the best possible investment in a better world.”
- Ann Jones blogging from Sierra Leone on an IRC gender-based violence (GBV) program that puts cameras in the hands of women in conflict zones and helps them make their voices heard.
“If we don’t make our best-faith efforts, with the best methods available, we’ll get back to the bad old days when someone makes up a number … and [the number] is going to get perpetuated.”
- Richard Brennan, IRC senior health director, speaking with The National Journal for an article about accurately counting refugee flows or deaths caused by war and famine. A new IRC survey has found that 5,400,000 people have died from war-related causes in Congo since 1998 – the world’s deadliest documented conflict since WW II.
“I don’t think I have ever worked so closely with the private sector.”
Former Secretary of State and International Rescue Committee Board of Overseers member Colin Powell recently visited the IRC’s resettlement program in Phoenix, AZ. There, Powell met with a small group of refugees resettled to the Phoenix area. Among them were families from Burma, Burundi and Iraq. “I want to personally welcome these families,” Powell told the group. “I know that they will become great Americans.”
In her report from Goma, Congo, on the TODAY Show this morning, NBC News anchor Ann Curry asked IRC’s Sarah Mosely about the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war. “It’s assault with bottles and sticks—you name it,” Sarah told her. “It’s brutal. It’s absolutely horrifying.” Video
Learn more about how the IRC is helping women in Congo heal here.
Take part in IRC’s campaign to end violence against women and girls here.
Conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken 5.4 million lives since 1998, according to a survey just released by the International Rescue Committee. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Denmark or the state of Colorado perishing within a decade. In fact, it’s the greatest loss of life in any conflict since World War II — and the numbers keep rising. As many as 45,000 people are dying each month.Last summer, IRC survey teams traveled across the vast country — by motorbike, canoe, 4-wheel-drive, and on foot — to research death in order to save lives. They visited 14,000 homes, talking to people about loved ones they lost: not just to violence, but to illnesses that no one dies from in the United States these days. People who died simply because they couldn’t access basic health care.
Dr. Rick Brennan, who conducted the study and manages the IRC’s health programs in more than 20 countries, hopes the research will raise awareness of this “forgotten” crisis and help people understand the dire circumstances of life in Congo. “We want people to give a damn,” he says. Watch this video to find out how you can get involved.
