Alex Hellmuth and JD Stier's blog

As thousands of protesters stand up to big business and show their solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, another movement of the same constitution is sparking momentum in Durham, NC at Duke University.  In response to student activism, the office of Duke purchasing published a statement on their website that commits the university to buy conflict-free products when available, and give preference to companies that have made significant progress in freeing their supply chains of Congo’s conflict minerals. This is a huge success in the conflict-free movement that aims to bring peace to the Congo, and one that can be attributed to the power of student activism.  Read More »

This past weekend, the Raise Hope for Congo campaign team attended an international summit hosted at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, focused on the crisis in Congo, and how activists and academics can bring about change. The summit, aptly titled “Informed Activism: Armed Conflict, Scarce Resources, and Congo,” attracted close to 400 people, with participants representing students from 39 universities, 17 NGOs, Congolese civil society, media outlets, and the U.S. government.  Read More »