Pin, " Zaire Convention"

1972

This pin served as a press pass for journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), who traveled to Zaire to report on the First Ordinary Congress of the Popular Revolution Movement in May 1972. The plastic pin replicated the flag of the country known at the time as Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). On a field of green, an arm bears a flaming torch encircled by yellow. The Popular Revolution Movement, or, in French, Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (M.P.R.), was the sole political party permitted by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The Congress took place in N’Sele, about 25 miles from the country’s capital, Kinshasa. The rural area-turned-political outpost would become the site for the legendary boxing match, Rumble in the Jungle, in 1974.