Lisa Jackson writes:

Dear Friends,

We know that many of you have been waiting for an account of the recent screening in the Congolese National Assembly of "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo", the culminating event in the film's 2008 round-the world tour and one that those in attendance will not soon forget.

On December 11th, in the Palais de Peuple, an audience of more than 600 politicians, diplomats and dignitaries was punched in the gut by the reality of rape as they listened to the testimony of a diminutive woman who spoke with outsized anger and emotion about the suffering of hundreds of thousands of raped women and girls who seem to have been forgotten by their government. Pumping her fist and speaking in a surprisingly loud and forceful voice Marie Jeanne M'bweshe implored other rape survivors to break their silence and come forward, and speaking on their behalf she exhorted President "Papa Kabila" to "get rid of the bandits" that were making life hell for women in eastern Congo.

This extraordinary confrontation took place in the National Assembly Hall in front of an audience that included Vital Kamerhe, president of the National Assembly, Kengo Wa Dondo, the president of the Senate, deputy prime minister Nzanga Mobutu, the new gender minister Marie Ange Lukiana Mufankolo and hundreds of other parliamentarians, ministers, dignitaries and members of the international community. The event was organized under the auspices the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Marie Jeanne is from Kabare in South Kivu and she spoke just before the DRC premiere of the film "The Greatest Silence" in which her story is featured. Standing at her side was Major Honorine Munyole of the Congolese National Police who also appears in the film.

Most people in the audience had never met a rape survivor, let alone seen one stand up in front of 600 people and point to the machete scar on her forehead, to the teeth bashed out by her rapists and describe her husband's murder, and her own torture and rape. The audience reacted to her story with shock and a sharp collective intact of breath. Madame M'Bweshe told them that she had never traveled so from Kabare and that the night before she had driven around Kinshasa and was surprised to see people walking freely on the streets after dark. Come to the East, she said, and you will never see such things: "when the sun goes down in my village women retreat into their huts, praying that they will make it through the night."

National Assembly President Vital Kamerhe congratulated Marie Jeanne for standing up and being so forceful and brave, adding "the title of this film 'The Greatest Silence' is quite evocative because I am sure that at the end of its screening the conscience of each of us will be touched and we will decide to stand together, particularly we men, in order to put an end to sexual violence against women. From this very moment, we ought to be able to say, 'Never again!'"

Marie Jeanne was living proof of the horror of the war raging 1500 miles away, a war with which few in the audience had any direct knowledge or connection. Her words pierced the bubble of distance and deniability that isolates those in Congo's capital from that reality, and the film itself reduced many to tears: sobs and murmurs of disbelief could be heard throughout the screening and afterwards the most common comment was "we have really no idea here in Kinshasa how women are suffering in the East".

On December 13th, the Kinshasa newspaper L'Avenir ran an article under the caption Screened in front of Congolese political actors, the film "The Greatest Silence" lays out the situation of sexual violence in Eastern Congo, and went on to comment:

"It was also an opportunity to bring Congolese political authorities to reflect on their country's recent history, and if they cannot confess to the collective fault caused by their silence, then they must finally recognize that they have not paid enough attention to this tragedy."

"The Greatest Silence" is scheduled to air on RTNC, Congolese National Television, throughout January 2009, a total of 4 broadcasts in three different languages.