This week, a journalist from the Global Post reached out to Falling Whistles' founder, Sean Carasso, to talk about the downfall of the M23 rebels. Here's the text of the full interview:
Global Post: How did you first come to travel to eastern Congo and with whom/in what capacity, and once there what was it about the conflict that really grabbed you, personally, and therefore inspired the Falling Whistles campaign?
Sean: It was late in 2007. A friend of mine who worked on peace projects in Uganda said that the world’s deadliest war was happening in Congo and that very few people understood anything about it. I was 26 and looking for adventure, so I decided to walk over the border and see for myself. The day before I was supposed to leave, I met 5 young boys. They were former child soldiers from the FDLR & CNDP. The army was holding them in a military camp and beating them at night - treating them as enemies of the state. The stories they told me about, the things they had seen, done, and survived made me furious. I wrote a blog about it that night called “Falling Whistles,” sent it to some of my friends and family, and they forwarded it on. Thousands of people wrote back essentially asking me - why is this happening? Who’s behind this? What can we do? I think, in one way or another, I’ve been trying to answer those questions ever since.
GP: How many people have so far got involved in the campaign since it's launch and can you give some idea of the demographics of supporters (e.g. occupation, age range, location)?
Sean: Ours is an extremely diverse coalition of 100,000 whistleblowers, a hundred retail partners, and 25 Whistler Societies (local chapters) - including in Seoul, Miami, Stockholm, and Bowling Green. We receive volunteer inquiries from Bahrain, Berlin, Maputo, etc. We are writers, artists, lawyers, engineers, designers, club promoters, writers, chefs, venture capitalists, surgeons, journalists, musicians and so forth. One of the youngest (and most effective) whistleblowers is a 9 year old girl who sells lemonade for peace in Congo alongside her own collection of painted whistles, and one of the oldest (and most inspiring) is a former anti-apartheid activist approaching his 70s, who was brought from South Africa to the U.S. by Bobby Kennedy after his “Day of Affirmation” speech. If there’s one thing that defines us, it’s a common sense that what has been happening in Congo cannot continue unchallenged.
GP: Clearly you believe that the Falling Whistles campaign contributed to the ending of the M23 rebellion in eastern Congo. Can you explain how?
Sean: In the spring of 2011, nine organizations and 24,634 activists emailed the White House and State Department demanding the appointment of a Special Envoy with a mandate to end the war in Congo. The State Department initially ignored the mass petition, keeping in place a failing team and a failed strategy - until Congo’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections were blatantly rigged that November.
In reaction to the rigged elections, the State Department appointed Ambassador Barrie Walkley as a “Special Advisor” for Congo in December 2011. That very week, FW joined dozens of organizations to meet him and ask that he secure the arrest of Bosco Ntaganda, an ICC-indicted war criminal who was a General in Congo’s army at the time.
In April 2012, President Kabila called for Bosco’s arrest. In response, Bosco mutinied and formed the M23 rebel group. One of their first moves was to attack an FW-funded rehabilitation center in Mweso, killing 2 children, raping 12 girls, and abducting 6 boys in the process.
Two months later, FW joined 18 technology companies, mining companies, and NGOs in another meeting with Advisor Walkley. This time, we demanded review of a leaked UN Report exposing Rwanda for funding and commanding M23. Under Public Law 109-456, written by Senator Barack Obama, the United States is required to cut funding to any person or entity acting to destabilize the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Together, we asked the U.S. to cut funding to M23’s backers in the Rwandan government. Walkley traveled to the region a few weeks later, and held a press conference in Congo condemning Rwanda’s support for the rebels.
On July 21st, 2012, the US became the first country to cut aid to Rwanda as a result of its support for M23. The $200,000 was a small cut and mostly symbolic, but it marked the first time since the Rwandan genocide that the US had publicly taken negative action toward the Rwandan government. The American aid cut set off a chain reaction in Europe. The UK, Germany, Sweden, Holland, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and others made much more sweeping cuts to their aid for Rwanda.
When the rebels invaded Goma in November of 2012, we built the stopm23.com microsite in 48 hours and invited everyone we knew to join us in asking our leaders to sanction Rwandan officials supporting M23, and get them to stop supporting the rebels. Thousands of activists from around the world participated and the topic trended on Twitter. Congress held emergency hearings on the issue, and we saw world leaders get more and more comfortable speaking the truth about Rwanda’s role in the conflict. A few weeks later, the aid cuts totaled $400M. The very same day that the aid cuts would have jeopardized Kigali’s ability to pay salaries to government officials, the rebels pulled out of Goma. Obama called Kagame to followup on the rebels’ retreat and make clear that he believed the reports of Rwandan involvement.
The retreat from Goma sent M23 into a tailspin. After months of infighting, Bosco Ntaganda showed up at the American embassy in Rwanda asking to be flown to the Hague to face prosecution. John Kerry took the helm of the State Department, and immediately appointed Russ Feingold as the US Envoy for Congo. Both Kerry & Feingold took a hands-on approach, and the consistent and direct pressure they have put on Rwanda’s government was critically important to the success of the joint military operation against M23 last week.
In short, the Envoy, the aid cuts, and the public pressure on Rwanda were all important aspects to the events of the last few weeks. Those were things we promoted in public and in private, and we’re relieved to see that they contributed to the downfall of M23.
GP: How do you answer critics who say your campaign is claiming credit for the achievements of others?
Sean: I think Monique said it well in her blog post on Monday. Here’s the link: http://blog.fallingwhistles.com/post/66012898986/who-stopped-m23
GP: Do you worry that there is a growing tendency to believe that sending a Tweet (or similar) is the same as taking action? Or do you see it as one and the same thing?
Sean: I think the lesson of history is that all change begins with a whistleblower - someone with the courage to say what needs to be said. It doesn’t matter whether they say it on a button or lapel pin, a pamphlet or press release, a petition or a tweet. What matters is that someone speaks up, giving others around them the courage to follow suit.
There are masses of people, in every corner of the world, who have always, and will always, wish for peace. Our contention is that those people are far more numerous and far more powerful than they have been told. And that if given the proper tools, resources and —at times—leadership, there is very little "we" could not do.
When the team at FW built the stopm23.com site, it was to give those people a tool. Just like a whistle or a Whistler Society (local chapters), these tools give people the power to push forward our most treasured values. Among them, peace.
Look, I know as well as anyone else that 140 characters from a single person isn’t going to change anything immediately. But thousands (or millions) of people saying the same thing, in unison, on a single week? That’s powerful.
GP: What happens to the money that you raise by selling whistles (i.e. what proportion goes to your partners in Congo, what proportion to running the operation, what proportion to other activities - rough estimates are fine)?
Sean: Falling Whistles is a campaign for peace in Congo. We sell the whistle as a symbol of protest, and are building a coalition of whistleblowers who want to see an end to the deadliest war of our time. When people buy a whistle, that’s what they are funding - a campaign. So our operations are integrated into everything we do. We take a holistic approach and work to respond to the situation in real-time, as dynamically as possible. So for example, at the end of 2010, HEAL Africa had a desperate need for funding to perform surgery on 250 or so kids. No one would cover it. We were able to write them a $60,000 check in a matter of days. But we’d never been able to do a grant like that before, and likely won’t do it again. Today we are investing smaller amounts of money, in long-term, sustainable projects.
The same was true for the StopM23 campaign. It was a significant expense in web development that we would never have accounted for. Thankfully, we had a model that allowed us to be adaptable.
Also, you can see a link to our financials: http://www.fallingwhistles.com/financials/
GP: Clearly the end of the M23 rebellion is a very good thing, but in itself it won't bring peace to eastern Congo, so what is the next phase of the Falling Whistles campaign?
Sean: Step 1 is to celebrate. Last year, when M23 left Goma, our partner Sekombi threw a huge party. Over 2000 kids came out in Goma to dance the night away. He’s doing it again this year, and we’re doing it with him. On December 10th, Human Rights Day, we’re gathering in cities around the world for a global moment of unity for peace in Congo.
Step 2 is to continue to promote 3 solutions for lasting peace:
The first is an end to impunity. All of the other rebel groups in eastern Congo need to meet the same fate as M23, and their top commanders should be tried in hybrid tribunals and held to account. The same should be said for war criminals in the national army, as well.
The second is free and fair elections in 2016.
And the third is the development of a conflict-free export economy - finding ways to put the resource wealth of Congo to work for the benefit of the Congolese people.
GP: In the spectrum of advocacy how important a role does/can online activism play?
Sean: If you had asked the abolitionists about the significance of the printing press, what do you think they would say?
The same internet that makes it easier than ever to show 500 people a photo of your breakfast also facilitates direct, face-to-face, real-time interaction with people our ancestors had strange misconceptions about. The internet helped young Americans put a black man in the Oval Office, and helped young Arabs and Africans unseat 4 dictators. I think it’s far too early to say what the internet is and isn’t good for when it comes to advocacy. In the arc of human history, we’re simply touching the very beginning of understanding the impact the internet will have on our politics, economies, religions, and convictions.
