#DRC 's Citizen activists - LUCHA (Fight for Change)

LUCHA (Fight for Change) is a citizen movement, non-violent and non-partisan, Composed of young Congolese (DR Congo) from all backgrounds, origins, religions ... who share the desire for a New Congo, truly independent, united , democratic, peaceful and prosperous, and Who militate for ict advent, through non-violent actions.

Foreign Affairs states:

LUCHA remains small, with 1,500 members nationwide, and has yet to prove that it can turn out the broader population en masse. Even so, the government has rushed to brand it a criminal enterprise. In part, Kinshasa may fear that such groups represent early signs of youth discontent in a country with a median age of just 18. But it may also simply be groping in the dark. Kabila’s regime has never met a threat it couldn’t co-opt or kill. LUCHA and other similar groups are stubbornly immune to the first strategy, having chosen to remain outside the political system. (LUCHA makes a point of taking no external money whatsoever, and none of its members has run for political office.) And adopting the second strategy would only provoke more furor, because of these groups’ strict refusal to take up arms. At LUCHA’s initiation ceremonies, new members stand before existing ones, Congolese flag in hand, and swear an oath committing themselves to nonviolence...[more]