After watching the documentary Crisis in the Congo, on the DRC, and then attending “Big Man Rule”, at the Quick Center on campus, I was once again opened up to some of the issues in the Congo, as a snapshot of African Politics. The director of the play took an interesting spin on the traditional Shakespearian play Macbeth, he made the setting the Democratic Republic of Congo to illustrate the issues that were faced by the Congo.

In Macbeth, there was a similar use of the issues of power and wealth that can be seen in “Big Man Rule”. The linkage between wealth and power are undeniable in both of the features. For example, the influence of the corporations, which we saw in the production on the situation in the Congo. The cooperation’s are the “Big Men” in the production. As well, once again we can draw the parallels of the cooperation’s their taking advantage of the country’s raw materials, we see other countries in the real world taking advantage of their materials as well. Rwanda and Uganda, have continued to violently gain access to the materials that the Congo has to offer.

Thus, like the “Big Men” cooperation’s that we viewed in the play, we can see how powerful people and nations can take advantage of struggling nations. And, this exertion of power can cause lives to be lost and create a broad humanitarian crisis, like we see in the DRC today.