Brutal Past
How can I tell a story we already know too well? Her name was Africa. His was France. He colonized her, exploited her, silenced her, and even decades after it was supposed to have ended, still acted with a high hand in resolving her affairs in places like Côte d’Ivoire, a name she had been given because of her export products, not her own identity.
Her name was Asia. His was Europe. Her name was silence. His was power. Her name was poverty. His was wealth. Her name was Her, but what was hers? His name was His, and he presumed everything was his, including her, and he thought be could take her without asking and without consequences. It was a very old story, though its outcome had been changing a little in recent decades. And this time around the consequences are shaking a lot of foundations, all of which clearly needed shaking.
Who would ever write a fable as obvious, as heavy-handed as the story we’ve been given?
― Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me
To build future, and to understand present, we must understand history of nations. It is hard to believe that the world has become more or less free from colonization only for the last fifty to seventy years. In late 1600s, natural resources of some countries inspired centuries of colonization and brutal rules. United nations has overseen over 80 countries attain sovereignty since 1945, the colonies still have not recovered from trauma of years of slavery. Colonization has shaped economic, political, linguistic issues that we see at least in Asia and Africa. The wounds of colonial legacy are so raw that they start to bleed with even a little bit of friction. The unrest we see all around in these continents has deep roots in the colonial past. As Nation in these continents try to propel forwards, past demons continue to haunt and hold them backwards.
India was one of the first colonies to attain freedom and was relatively fortunate compared to colonies in Africa if we talk about severity and blatant brutality of colonizers. It is no surprise that many countries in Africa are dealing with worst poverty, civil wars and domestic terrorism. Congo was one such country which underwent worst suppression by colonizers. The country was colonized by Belgium under the pretext of “civilizing “it. Decades after freedom from Belgium, Congo is still in a pathetic state of affairs in every regard. Congo is very rich in natural resources- ivory, rubber plants, oil, gold, diamonds and many others. This blessing has been a curse for this Nation historically.
In 1884-85, European leaders had various meetings to divide up colonies. Africa was up for grabs by this time since rich and big countries like India and many in Latin America were already taken up by European colonizers .This rush to grab Africa’s resources later became known as “scramble for Africa”. Leopold ll, then the king of Belgium joined this Berlin conference and promised a philanthropic mission to improve the lives of millions of Africans. He was a young cousin of Queen Victoria. His mother was the daughter of France’s King Louis Philippe. He was thought to be a noble Catholic. The international colonizers’ community in Berlin assigned him about 800,000 square miles as his personal colony to “civilize”. He called it Congo Free State.
As soon as Leopold took over this land, he started to show his true colors instead of telling lies of civility and religion. He created a Force publique’ to enforce his will across this colony. District headquarters were given quotas to produce Ivory gold, diamonds, rubber, or whatever Congo’s land could produce . Each officer was on commission and these hand-picked governors put native Congolese into agricultural labor. Every aspect of natural resources was looted. Elephants were slaughtered to produce ivory, and Rainforests were destroyed.
Rubber is an expensive and essential commodity in modern world. During late 1800s, there was a boom in the world for demand for natural rubber and they were lot of rubber trees in Congo. In 1891 -1906, forced labor in Congo had to gather red rubber for the king. Every single worker had to meet a “Rubber Quota”. If quota was not met, workers were killed and their hands were chopped off. These amputated Right hands were collected by the soldiers in a basket to document the killing. Sometimes hands of wife or children were chopped to punish the laborer. Several survivors later said that they lived through a massacre by acting dead by not moving even when their hands were severed. A German newspaper reported 1308 hands chopped in one day in 1896 in one single district.
Leopold did not stop here and sanctioned the creation of “child colonies” where Congolese children would be kidnapped and sent to schools operated by Catholic missionaries. They would learn to work as Belgian soldiers in such schools .
In addition, the local indigenous populations, started to die of sleeping sickness an epidemics of smallpox and swine influenza. They were not exposed to these diseases previously. . About 75% of the population of Congo was decimated in the 23 years of rule by Leopold to all of the above causes.
Eventually, the reports from British and Swedish missionaries working in Congo started to report this to international community. E. D. Morel’s book “Red rubber” was written in 1906 which reached a large audience. Intellectuals like Mark twain, Joseph Conrad, Arthur Conan Doyle and many others joined a mass campaign. There are famous books from that time written, like Conrad’s – heart of darkness which were written over few days.
In 1908, Leopold’s own parliament in Belgium asked him to give up the control of his personal colony. State of Belgium took over the colony in 1908 and ruled Republic of Congo until 1960. . This country became officially free in 1960. However, the new Democratic Republic of Congo is still in turmoil trying to find itself a new mirror. DR Congo continues to suffer from poverty, dictatorships and exploitations. We hear about this country only in terms of turmoil or Ebola like outbreaks. We hope that words of assassinated Congo’s idealistic first President Patrice Lumumba come true and offer a hopeful ending to this long nightmare.
“The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations…Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity”.
― Letter from Thys Ville Prison to Mrs. Lumumba.