Congo s. r. o. - Bismarekova závěť – Bofane In Koli Jean (2020)

This Czech-language novel offers a bitter, cutting and sarcastic portrait, full of black humor, of life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the interests of those seeking an important role in global affairs have converged since the time of Bismarck. When the young Pygmy Isookanga discovers the internet and globalization in his Congolese village, he becomes fascinated by the online game Raging-Trade, whose aim is to extract minerals in the imaginary country of Gondavanaland and destroy competitors through overwhelming military force backed by international resolutions. He longs to leave behind the huts, traditions, ancestral legacies and thousand-year-old forest and travel to the megacity of Kinshasa to do business. There he is welcomed by street children, successfully starts a street-traded drinking-water business with a Chinese partner, and becomes an adviser to the director of a national park, the demobilized rebel commander Cobra Zulu. They share the same vision: what use is a forest when it conceals unimaginable riches such as oil, gold, diamonds and especially coltan, the most sought-after metal in the developed world? Gradually, however, Isookanga begins to realize that his virtual Gondavanaland is not so far removed from reality.