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45-541: Early political career Presidency Authenticité , sometimes Zairisation or Zairianisation in English, was an official state ideology of the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko that originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s in what was first the Democratic Republic of Congo , later renamed Zaire . The authenticity campaign was an effort to rid the country of the lingering vestiges of colonialism and

90-423: A god in a monotheistic belief system. Sidney and Beatrice Webb used the term ideocracy in 1936, and it was given added currency by Nicholas Berdyaev in 1947. An ideocracy may take a totalitarian form, reliant on force, or a populist form, reliant on the voluntary support of true believers. The totalitarian form contains six components; 1) ideology , 2) a single party typically with one leader, 3)

135-640: A Prophet, but is now deified. There is a purge of followers, and bureaucratization of the state and party. The economy is nationalized, and totally mobilized in support of the ideocracy. There will be scapegoating of enemies and terrorizing of dissidents . Piekalkiewicz and Penn described Pharaonic Egypt , ancient Babylon , the Aztec and Inca empires, Sparta , the Islamic empire , Imperial Russia and Imperial China as ideocracies and cite Tito 's Yugoslavia , Peronist Argentina , Iraq under Saddam ,

180-421: A community, within which all individuals are dependent and subsumed, as the fingers belong to the body), or mechanical/pragmatic (an artificial concept in which individuals have rights against the state and are co-equal). As Adlai Stevenson II has said, "Since the beginning of time governments have been engaged in kicking people around. The astonishing achievement in modern times is the idea that citizens should do

225-905: A dinner in June 1967 attended by Mobutu's economic adviser Jacques de Groote , the governor of the Central Bank Albert Ndele , and Belgian historian Jan Vansina ; where the latter came up with the name as it believably designates, in different local languages including Kikongo , the "river which swallows all rivers". Four years later Mobutu also renamed the country and the Congo River "Zaire", and referred to them as " Les Trois Z—Notre Pays, Notre Fleuve, Notre Monnaie " ("The Three Zs: Our Country, Our River, Our Money"). In addition, cities and provinces were renamed (Léopoldville as Kinshasa , while Katanga Province became Shaba). Streets, bridges, and other geographic features, as well as

270-508: A dogma or a religion, but a manner of action...It leads away from borrowed ideas and aspirations towards an increased consciousness of indigenous cultural values." Though continually glorified by Mobutu and his statesmen, the authenticity campaign was the means through which the dictator intended to vindicate his own brand of leadership. He attempted to link his ideology and his political dominance before proclaiming authenticité by saying: "in our African tradition there are never two chiefs... That

315-494: A product of Western influence, as could the emphasis on African culture as an alternative to widespread continuing Westernization. Also, the banning of Christian names was a measure that particularly offended the church. As part of his re-organization of Zairian life, Mobutu banned all outside Christian religious groups, requiring those who would function in Zaire to become part of one of four recognized umbrella groups. The four were:

360-423: A terroristic police, 4) a monopoly of communications, 5) a monopoly of weaponry, 6) a centrally directed or planned economy . According to Piekalkiewicz and Penn, in addition, an ideocracy such as a strict religious state or Nazi Germany, will suppress scientific research and knowledge if it conflicts with the ideology, Piekalkiewicz and Penn, argue that every state is either organic (the organized expression of

405-457: Is believed Mobutu wanted to control these, as well as the churches in general. Under the state and party ideology of authenticity, all citizens were equal and the appropriate term of address among all Zairians became citoyen , or citizen. The term was mandated for public use in order to do away with the perceived hierarchical distinctions of monsieur and madame . Visiting heads of state were greeted with African drumming and singing as opposed to

450-557: Is diverted away from the ideocrats onto the scapegoats, who are subjected to mob attacks, terrorism, show trials , and stylized punishments. In Hitler's Germany the drive to exterminate the Jews eventually took priority over every other goal. Citizens of pluralist states may emigrate freely, but those who leave an ideocracy may be branded as traitors. Individuals within ideocracies develop an authoritarian personality , say Piekalkiewicz and Penn, in order to succeed or survive. Long after

495-4005: Is in the Ruwenzori Mountains , at an altitude of around 4,340 m (14,240 ft) above sea level. Distribution of the Congo basin area between countries: The most important hydrological stations along the Congo River are: Brazzaville The Congo River discharge at Kinshasa / Brazzaville stations since the start of measurements (1902 to 2021): 5°08′30.4″S 13°59′27.9″E  /  5.141778°S 13.991083°E  / -5.141778; 13.991083 5°02′57.3″S 13°59′28.2″E  /  5.049250°S 13.991167°E  / -5.049250; 13.991167 5°01′49.5″S 14°01′37.2″E  /  5.030417°S 14.027000°E  / -5.030417; 14.027000 5°2′20.6″S 14°02′09.2″E  /  5.039056°S 14.035889°E  / -5.039056; 14.035889 4°56′50.7″S 14°09′21.2″E  /  4.947417°S 14.155889°E  / -4.947417; 14.155889 4°55′38.5″S 14°15′16.5″E  /  4.927361°S 14.254583°E  / -4.927361; 14.254583 4°54′03.3″S 14°24′18.2″E  /  4.900917°S 14.405056°E  / -4.900917; 14.405056 Brazzaville 4°16′47.3″S 15°18′32.8″E  /  4.279806°S 15.309111°E  / -4.279806; 15.309111 4°05′24.4″S 15°30′39.1″E  /  4.090111°S 15.510861°E  / -4.090111; 15.510861 3°52′43.4″S 15°55′11.6″E  /  3.878722°S 15.919889°E  / -3.878722; 15.919889 3°33′18.7″S 16°05′32.2″E  /  3.555194°S 16.092278°E  / -3.555194; 16.092278 3°28′52.5″S 16°07′18.3″E  /  3.481250°S 16.121750°E  / -3.481250; 16.121750 3°11′23.7″S 16°11′09.6″E  /  3.189917°S 16.186000°E  / -3.189917; 16.186000 3°10′36.4″S 16°11′41.5″E  /  3.176778°S 16.194861°E  / -3.176778; 16.194861 3°09′59.7″S 16°10′51.7″E  /  3.166583°S 16.181028°E  / -3.166583; 16.181028 2°48′33.9″S 16°11′40.1″E  /  2.809417°S 16.194472°E  / -2.809417; 16.194472 2°12′22.9″S 16°10′49.0″E  /  2.206361°S 16.180278°E  / -2.206361; 16.180278 2°09′28.5″S 16°12′16.5″E  /  2.157917°S 16.204583°E  / -2.157917; 16.204583 1°52′15.5″S 16°30′43.4″E  /  1.870972°S 16.512056°E  / -1.870972; 16.512056 1°37′55.5″S 16°37′59.4″E  /  1.632083°S 16.633167°E  / -1.632083; 16.633167 1°14′22.2″S 16°47′44.5″E  /  1.239500°S 16.795694°E  / -1.239500; 16.795694 1°03′13.5″S 17°08′58.0″E  /  1.053750°S 17.149444°E  / -1.053750; 17.149444 0°54′39.2″S 17°23′27.1″E  /  0.910889°S 17.390861°E  / -0.910889; 17.390861 0°43′38.5″S 17°33′02.9″E  /  0.727361°S 17.550806°E  / -0.727361; 17.550806 0°41′00.4″S 17°36′43.7″E  /  0.683444°S 17.612139°E  / -0.683444; 17.612139 0°25′58.1″S 17°50′13.3″E  /  0.432806°S 17.837028°E  / -0.432806; 17.837028 0°01′17.4″N 18°13′10.9″E  /  0.021500°N 18.219694°E  / 0.021500; 18.219694 0°30′22.1″N 25°11′03.4″E  /  0.506139°N 25.184278°E  / 0.506139; 25.184278 The main river and tributaries are (sorted in order from

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540-531: Is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to Zahir or Zaire as the name used by the inhabitants remained common. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo are named after it, as was the previous Republic of the Congo which had gained independence in 1960 from the Belgian Congo . The Republic of Zaire during 1971–1997 was also named after

585-486: Is why we Congolese, in the desire to conform to the traditions of our continent, have resolved to group all the energies of the citizens of our country under the banner of a single national party" despite the necessity of a lessening of tribal identity in order to promote national unity. The most widely recognized result of authenticité was no doubt the renaming of the nation from the Democratic Republic of

630-611: The Amazon and Ganges rivers. It is the world's deepest recorded river, with measured depths of around 220 m (720 ft). The Congo– Lualaba – Luvua – Luapula – Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km (2,900 mi), which makes it the world's ninth- longest river . The Chambeshi is a tributary of the Lualaba River , and Lualaba is the name of the Congo River upstream of Boyoma Falls , extending for 1,800 km (1,100 mi). Measured along with

675-635: The Atlantic Ocean and an additional 6% of bedload . The river and its tributaries flow through the Congo rainforest , the second largest rainforest area in the world, after the Amazon rainforest in South America. The river also has the second-largest flow in the world, behind the Amazon ; the second-largest drainage basin of any river, behind the Amazon; and is one of the deepest rivers in

720-568: The Inga dams , about 200 kilometres (120 mi) southwest of Kinshasa. The project was launched in the early 1970s, when the first dam was completed. The plan (as originally conceived) called for the construction of five dams that would have had a total generating capacity of 34,500 megawatts (MW). To date only the Inga I and Inga II dams have been built, generating 1,776 MW. In February 2005, South Africa 's state-owned power company, Eskom , announced

765-803: The Kimbanguist Church (a syncretic church of Zairian origin), the Catholic Church , the Eastern Orthodox Churches , and Les Églises du Christ au Zaire (ECZ, now Church of Christ in Congo ), which covered most of the Protestant confessions. All others were declared illegal. The various Protestant churches had to affiliate with the last of these as communities within the ECZ in Zaire. At the time there were numerous local sects and church groups which had sprung up, and it

810-628: The Mao-style tunic that he named the " abacost ", a word derived from the pronunciation of the French à bas le costume ("down with the suit"). A female equivalent of the national attire was also created. The Catholic hierarchy quickly came to view the retour à l'authenticité as a threat to Christianity in Zaire (in the early 1990s almost half of the population was Catholic). The regime's stress on "mental decolonization " and "cultural disalienation" could be interpreted as an attack on Christianity as

855-578: The Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool). Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) and Brazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool, where the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons (collectively known as the Livingstone Falls ), running by Matadi and Boma , and into the sea at Muanda . Lower Congo constitutes the "lower" parts of the great river; that is

900-517: The Uíge Province in Angola to the confluence with the Congo at Zongo some 80 km (50 mi) downstream from the twin capitals. Because of the vast number of rapids, in particular the Livingstone Falls , this section of the river is not operated continuously by riverboats. The Congo basin covers ten countries and accounts for about 13% of Africa . The highest point in the Congo basin

945-608: The 20th century. The populist form of ideocracy has been an important force in Latin American political history, where many charismatic leaders have emerged since the beginning of the 20th century. Uwe Backes lists China , North Korea and Cuba as regimes currently showing ideocratic tendencies. Willfried Spohn states that China is an ideocracy. Gordon White said in 1999 China had ceased to be one. Piekalkiewicz and Penn cite Syria , Iran , North Korea , and Sudan as still extant ideocracies. In Israel, only

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990-511: The 21-gun salute, traditional in Western practice. The state urged that all traditional works of art be returned to the country so as to inspire Zairian artists and ensure the incorporation of traditional styles into contemporary artwork. Although many of the changes instituted as part of authenticité lasted nearly to the end of the Mobutu regime or beyond it, the ideology had begun to wane by

1035-533: The Atlantic Ocean. Opportunities for the Congo River and its tributaries to generate hydropower are therefore enormous. Scientists have calculated that the entire Congo Basin accounts for 13 percent of global hydropower potential. This would provide sufficient power for all of Sub-Saharan Africa 's electricity needs. Currently, there are about 40 hydropower plants in the Congo Basin. The largest are

1080-646: The Congo below Boyoma Falls . The Chambeshi River in Zambia is generally taken as the source of the Congo in line with the accepted practice worldwide of using the longest tributary, as with the Nile River. The Congo flows generally toward the northwest from Kisangani just below the Boyoma Falls, then gradually bends southwestward, passing by Mbandaka , joining with the Ubangi River and running into

1125-474: The Congo to Zaire, a Portuguese mispronunciation of the Kikongo word nzere or nzadi , which translates as "the river that swallows all rivers". It is not known for certain why President Mobutu chose a Portuguese colonial name instead of an authentic Congolese name. A biography about Mobutu by Le Monde journalist Jean-Pierre Langellier , however, traces the naming of the currency zaire back to

1170-452: The Kongo people or Bakongo was introduced in the early 20th century. The name Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word, nzere ("river"), a truncation of nzadi o nzere ("river swallowing rivers"). The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries; Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and Congo

1215-585: The Lualaba, the main tributary, the Congo River has a total length of 4,370 km (2,720 mi). It is the only major river to cross the Equator twice. The Congo Basin has a total area of about 4,000,000 km (1,500,000 sq mi), or 13% of the entire African landmass. The name Congo/Kongo originates from the Kingdom of Kongo once located on the southern bank of the river. The kingdom in turn

1260-617: The Mao-style tunic labeled the " abacost " and its female equivalent. The policy began to wane in the late 1970s and had mostly been abandoned by 1990. Not long after Mobutu Sese Seko 's declaration of the beginning of the Second Republic following his successful coup against the failing democratic government of President Joseph Kasa-Vubu , he declared his new nationalistic ideology in the Manifesto of N'sele of May 1967. Over

1305-772: The USSR, Salazar 's Portugal, Albania, the Warsaw pact countries, and Imperial Japan as among those that rose and fell in the 20th century. Both Catholic and Protestant extremists in Northern Ireland sought ideocratic solutions, but were thwarted by British troops. According to Uwe Backes and Steffan Kailitz , the USSR , Italy under Fascism , Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) all rose and fell as ideocracies during

1350-480: The armed forces, received name changes. Zaireans were required to drop their Western or Christian names (often those of European saints) in favor of authentic "Zairean" names. Mobutu changed his own name from "Joseph-Désiré Mobutu" to "Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga" (more commonly abbreviated to "Mobutu Sese Seko"). Greatly a result of Mobutu’s 1973 visit to Beijing, Zairian males were strongly urged, and then required, to abandon Western suits and ties for

1395-460: The collapse of the ideocracy, these individuals remain resistant to democratization . They develop a closed mind in which their self-realization within the ideocracy overrides the hostility of the 'heretical' outside world. Simple slogans are adopted and repeated as signs of conformity and loyalty. Those who disbelieve the ideology are fatalistic , supporting the system because they feel powerless to change it, or Machiavellian, cynically exploiting

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1440-427: The continuing influence of Western culture and to create a more centralized and singular national identity. The policy, as implemented, included numerous changes to the state and to private life, including the renaming of the Congo and its cities, as well as an eventual mandate that Zairians were to abandon their Christian names for more "authentic" ones. In addition, Western-style attire was banned and replaced with

1485-690: The country in the First Congo War in 1997, President Laurent Kabila officially abolished Zaire's authenticité policy and renamed the country back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo . State ideology Every government has ideological bases from which assumptions and policies are drawn; ideocracies are governments wherein one dominant ideology has become deeply ingrained into politics and generally politics has become deeply ingrained into all or most aspects of society. The ideology of an ideocracy presents itself as an absolute, universal, and supreme system for understanding social life, much as

1530-552: The ideology as follows: Authenticité has made us discover our personality by reaching into the depths of our past for the rich cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors. We have no intention of blindly returning to all ancestral customs; rather. We would like to choose those that adapt themselves well to modern life, those that encourage progress, and those that create a way of life and thought that are essentially ours. Zairian party theorist Kangafu-Kutumbagana described authenticité as "...a metaphysical and abstract concept...not

1575-476: The kicking". Ideocracies derive political legitimacy , in the view of Piekalkiewicz and Penn, from one of the following ideological sources: nation, race, class, or culture. They also believe that ideocrats will project their own feelings of guilt onto groups of people —Jews, communists, capitalists, heretics—as forces undermining the ideocracy. These scapegoats symbolize the forces that true believers must combat within themselves. Blame for failures of policy

1620-469: The late 1970s as it could do little more to benefit Mobutu's kleptocratic regime. Mobutu's announcement of the transition to the Third Republic in 1990, which included most notably a three-party system , came with the freedom to return to more universal forms of address and to wear a suit and tie. Also, by the 1990s many Zairians had resumed use of their given names. After Mobutu was forced to flee

1665-611: The mouth heading upstream): Lower Congo (river mouth to Kinshasa ) Downstream of Kinshasa, from the river mouth at Banana , there are a few major tributaries. Middle Congo ( Kinshasa to the Boyoma Falls ) Upper Congo ( Lualaba ; upstream from the Boyoma Falls ) Although the Livingstone Falls prevent access from the sea, nearly the entire Congo above them is readily navigable in sections, especially between Kinshasa and Kisangani. Large river steamers worked

1710-432: The next several years, Mobutu gradually instituted the policy measures that would come to define the campaign. More than anything, the retour à l’authenticité ("return to authenticity") was an effort on behalf of the self-declared "father of the nation" to create a national identity that could take precedence over regionalism and tribalism while reconciling those claims with the exigencies of modernization . He described

1755-589: The religious Jewish settlers and ultranationalists seek ideocratic solutions. Peter Bernholz asserts that Saudi Arabia , with its Wahhabist ideology, has been an ideocracy since 1924. Congo River The Congo River , formerly also known as the Zaire River , is the second-longest river in Africa , shorter only than the Nile , as well as the third-largest river in the world by discharge volume, following

1800-510: The river until quite recently. The Congo River still is a lifeline in a land with few roads or railways. Railways now bypass the three major falls, and much of the trade of Central Africa passes along the river, including copper , palm oil (as kernels), sugar , coffee , and cotton . The Congo River is the most powerful river in Africa. During the rainy season over 50,000 cubic metres (1,800,000 cu ft) of water per second flows into

1845-563: The river's name in French and Portuguese . The Congo's drainage basin covers 4,014,500 km (1,550,000 sq mi), an area nearly equal to that of the European Union . The Congo's discharge at its mouth ranges from 23,000 to 75,000 m /s (810,000 to 2,650,000 cu ft/s), with an average of 41,000 m /s (1,400,000 cu ft/s). The river transports annually 86 million tonnes of suspended sediment to

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1890-592: The section of the river from the river mouth at the Atlantic coast to the twin capitals of Brazzaville and Kinshasa. In this section of the river, there are two significant tributaries, both on the left or south side. The Kwilu River originates in the hills near the Angolan border and enters the Congo some 100 km upstream from Matadi . The other is the Inkisi River , that flows in a northerly direction from

1935-404: The system for their own ends. Both groups develop a form of doublethink . A small minority of self-actualisers , tolerant of ambiguity, are able to resist the monistic belief system and continue to search long-term for new ideas and complex answers. According to Piekalkiewicz and Penn, ideocracies rise and fall in the following manner: This usually takes 10–15 years. The leader is no longer

1980-499: The world, at depths greater than 220 m (720 ft). Because its drainage basin includes areas both north and south of the Equator , its flow is stable, as there is always at least one part of the river experiencing a rainy season . The sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of the East African Rift , as well as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru , which feed the Lualaba River , which then becomes

2025-522: Was named after the indigenous Bantu Kongo people , known in the 17th century as "Esikongo". South of the Kingdom of Kongo proper lay the similarly named Kakongo kingdom, mentioned in 1535. Abraham Ortelius labelled "Manicongo" as the city at the mouth of the river in his world map of 1564. The tribal names in Kongo possibly derive from a word for a public gathering or tribal assembly. The modern name of

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