If a person has four walls and is hungry, but wears a famous brand every day to flaunt the market, this kind of person is commonly known as a street skater in China, which is a model of not doing business in society.
And if in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is full of war, crime, and extreme social poverty, there is a group of fashionistas who have to worry about food and clothing for the next day every day, but wear thousands of dollars worth of second-hand brands, how should we evaluate them?
There is no doubt that most people will not give them any good evaluation, after all, in the case of this almost no food, but also wear such a famous brand to go out to show off, it is absolutely impossible to be a good person, either to commit adultery, or to be idle.
Yes, based on our social perceptions and universal rationality, it's only natural that we label these DRC fashionistas as street skaters.
But if we know something about the past and present of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and take a closer look at the "Yashi Association" of fashionistas known as "Sap", we will find that they are not the street skates in our cognition.
On the contrary, they are decent people in a country shrouded in war, poverty and death, who still have hope for tomorrow's life and seek to bring order to society.
Colonists, costumes and the budding of independence
The democratic Republic of the Congo is a country with a low presence, and it belongs to the kind of place where not many people know about asking questions online.
The country used to be part of the Kingdom of congo, a confederation of tribes in Africa that came into contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century. At that time, the Portuguese were not harmless and good people, infiltrating the Kingdom of Congo in the name of missionary work, turning it into a Catholic state, and then began to infiltrate and control the Kingdom of Congo in all directions.
The kingdom of Congo was so weak that it was impossible to fight the Portuguese alone, but to draw the Dutch to help fight the Portuguese. Unfortunately, the Dutch were unable to defeat the Portuguese, and in the end the Dutch left "decently" according to European rules, and the Congo became the plaything of the European colonists.
Like the tragic history of most African countries, the Kingdom of Congo was eventually carved up by France, Belgium, and Portugal, and disappeared into the long river of history, and the Congo (DRC) we are talking about is a colony occupied by the Belgians.
Belgian rule can only be described as brutal, in order to exploit the rich mineral and forest resources here, the colonists used leather whips and butcher knives to force the locals to work day and night, under the brutal rule of the Belgians, three million people were killed from 1885 to 1908 alone.
Under the rule of the colonizers, the Congolese were guided by the colonizers to Westernize, first and foremost by accepting European clothing and etiquette. These were first encountered by the servants of the European colonists, and then expanded among the highly educated Congolese.
The Western colonizers guided the Westernization of the Congolese people not for the benefit of Congolese society, but only to have better and more obedient slaves. But this approach has played a positive role in some ways, with locals wearing Western costumes as a symbol of their quest for independence and dignity. Of course, in the eyes of the colonists, these people are just a bunch of bitter haha, just trying to imitate them and become good people.
From our historical experience, the Congolese approach may be childish and ridiculous, but it is already a very progressive idea for the poor black Africa of that year.
In the wave of colonial independence after World War II, these seemingly naïve people supported congolese independence. Among them were intellectuals, artists, and many servants and servants of the colonizers, dressed in Western costumes who did everything in their power to hope for independence and self-determination and the establishment of a Congolese state of their own.
Eventually they succeeded in 1960, and the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was born as an independent state, and the country finally ushered in their own dawn.
Suffering and lights
However, the price of this momentary power is decades of darkness, and Africa is too far away from wealth and power, but too close to Europe and the United States.
Lumumba, the father of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was eager to drive away the European and American forces, which angered the European and American forces, and the result was a coup d'état in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that had just become independent, and Mobutu, one of the three major tyrants in Africa, seized state power, and Lumumba, an independence fighter, was also brutally killed by rebels.
At this point, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ushered in an even darker day, and the dawn that belonged to them came and went, leaving only despair and disaster.
What was Mobutu's rule like? Simply put, the Belgian colonists compared themselves to this one-man thief, and their rule seemed so moderate.
Under Mobutu's leadership, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) retreated at a high speed like a train, and the Congo with rich resources not only failed to become a rich and powerful country, but fell into endless poverty, money was put into his own pocket by Mobutu, and the people were poor.
Not only that, but Mobutu also wanted to bring the whole country back to the feudal tribal era, Western clothing became a taboo, the people could only wear clothes he designed almost primitive, and the whole country reversed backwards at high speed, almost difficult to turn back.
We have no way of knowing why Mobutu did this, perhaps he wanted to keep the whole country ignorant and facilitate his dictatorship.
So does this work? Truth be told, under Mobutu's brutal rule and bloody tactics, the Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot take a step forward, even if it is to maintain its old life.
It was at this time that the group of men in Western costumes stood up again, and since Mobutu would not allow such clothes to be worn, they had to wear them firmly, a move they regarded at the time as a silent rebellion against Mobutu.
Such a revolt may be seen as minimal, but it has unparalleled symbolic significance for the Dr. Congo. Because it means that in a country full of poverty, death, and tyranny, in a country where dragon slayers will eventually become dragons, there are still a group of people who are trying to maintain dignity and dignity and fight violence in a civilized manner.
There is no shortage of resources in the fertile land of Africa, but there is hardly a real change-maker in the rich land, and all kinds of warlords, tyrants and dictators have sung and appeared, darkness and despair have never left, and this group of well-dressed and penniless gentlemen has become the last light.
Optimistic gentlemen
In fact, these people can do too little, because their country is so devastated that it is almost irreparable. Mobutu was overthrown by rebel leader Kabila in 1997, Mobutu died shortly after, and the country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the dawn of peace still did not shine on the land.
Soon the second Congolese War broke out, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Dr. Congo), Rwanda, Libya, Chad, Sudan, Uganda and other countries have participated in the war, the war from 1998 all the way to 2003, at least 4.5 million deaths, the wounded are countless, at least 5,000 people die every day.
Will there be hope in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the war is over? Unfortunately, Kabila's successor was his son, Kabila The Younger, and he ruled in a completely replica of Mobutu, a country that still struggles with poverty, a country that seems labeled poverty and crime.
In Kinsasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there are dilapidated slums everywhere, and how glamorous the rich areas are, how poor the slums are.
Ironically, in this city of 12 million people, the slums are the real thing about the city and the truest thing about the country. Most people who live here don't even know where their next meal is, and crime and violence are the norm here to survive.
At this time, the gentlemen of the Sapp Society once again stood up, and they used their actions to convey hope to those around them, telling people what it is to live with dignity and dignity. Perhaps many people feel that these gentlemen are full of their own food, and those who have money cannot live with dignity and dignity.
But the truth is that these gentlemen themselves actually do not have enough to eat, their second-hand brand names are genuine, but none of them are obtained by illegal means, many of them are engaged in the lowest level of work, relying on their meager legal income to save that brand, packaging themselves as real fashionistas, and optimistically walking the streets with the most courteous gentlemanly behavior.
These gentlemen have clear rules that they cannot commit crimes, they cannot fight with others, they cannot have any illegal income, and every penny they spend must be earned by their own hands.
They are highly respected, wearing the cleanest and most appropriate clothes when the fight breaks out, using the most civilized demeanor and moral conduct to regulate the fight, and using practical actions to stop the violence.
You can't see the confusion and pain on the faces of these gentlemen, they always have a confident and cheerful smile, they teach the people around them what decency and dignity are, and tell people to face tomorrow with hope.
A forerunner of hope
Some may think that the Sapp Society's gentlemen are nothing more than a bunch of vanity-loving idiots whose second-hand brands have drained their years of savings, and that it is pointless to dress up and eat.
But have you ever thought about the value and significance of the dignity and dignity, optimism and cheerfulness of these gentlemen in a country like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the government cannot assume any responsibility and whose people have no hope for tomorrow?
The answer is that their value and significance are incomparable, perhaps even surpassing the United Nations' palliatives. And when the suffering of a country has made the people bow their heads and no longer look up at the sky with hopes and expectations for tomorrow, there is always a need for some people to stand up and inspire those around them with those seemingly unrealistic, even somewhat comical, to inspire those around them to have hope.
These people would tell people, "Hey, friend, look up at this sky, hopefully there will always be, tomorrow will always be better than today, right?" ”
Hope gives people the confidence to get through suffering, gives people the meaning of embracing tomorrow and fighting, and in a country that is deteriorating because of poverty and violence, those who can bring hope are the most precious treasure.
As long as a country still has people who do not give up hope, then it will always have a day to stand up. These gentlemen are such people, they will tell more and more people, what is hope, what is dignity, what is a decent life. They are proud forerunners and warriors who dare to face the harsh reality.
In the Western view, the yakuza from the Dr. Congo were nothing more than a bunch of clumsy imitators, and their colonists saw it this way, and they saw it this way. After all, in the eyes of those Westerners who claim to be "noble", their attention to these people is like watching a monkey show.
But if one day, the Democratic Republic of the Congo can truly rise from the rubble, build its country into a prosperous and strong country, and give the people real dignity and dignity, then these gentlemen will be indispensable. For in the darkest and most difficult times, it was they who brought the few hopes to the people.
References: Chronicles of nations – Democratic Republic of the Congo, Shocking Tailor Culture: Congo Sapur