Authenticité (Zaire) in different local languages including Kikongo, the "river which swallows all streams". Mobutu also renamed the Congo river and the national currency "Zaire", and referred to them as ""Les Trois Z—Notre Pays, Notre Fleuve, Notre Monnaie"" ("The Three Zs—Our Country, Our River, Our Money"). In addition, cities were renamed appropriately (Léopoldville as Kinshasa and Stanleyville as Kisangani). Streets, bridges, and other geographic features, as well as the armed forces, received name changes. Zairians were urged to drop their Western or Christian names in favor of Zairian names. Mobutu changed his own name from Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku
What Was Before how we choose to tell stories." What Was Before What Was Before () is a 2010 novel by the German writer Martin Mosebach. Through a series of vignettes, it tells the story of a man from the affluent suburbs of Frankfurt, who is asked by his girlfriend what his life was like before they met. An English translation by Kári Driscoll was published in 2014. "Publishers Weekly" wrote: "Mosebach's charming, exuberant narrator is not be trusted, and the novel calls into question our notions of memory. Mosebach's writing is florid, tinged with a biting wit. ... Irreverent, playful, and intricate,