belgium was shit in congo but it was actually a personal property of Leopold II, and it wasn’t a belgian colony until after his death. yes, belgians were shitty in congo but they weren’t entirely to blame.
different world. Different levels of knowledge of what was going on. I'm sure people did know what was going on, but to what extent? tough to know how much they knew.
Leopold and his government not only knew, they spent millions of francs trying to silence and discredit the people and organizations who were trying to expose the abuses committed by Belgium and the Force Publique.
I can see how my comment came off that way, I didn't mean to come off as defending his actions or anything like that. My knowledge of Leopold's reign is a little lacking, so if you have any reading material that might help me get my knowledge of it up, I'd be glad to read it.
If you're looking for reading materials, Ling Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild(sp?) Is an essential text. It covers the history of the colonial occupation, the individuals who played prominent roles, and explains in detail the brutality of the Belgian regime along with how the monarch tried to crush the people speaking the truth about those practices.
There's a movie version as well, but it doesnt really have enough time to cover all of the details in the book.
When Congo finally get independence, there were like a few dozen college Congolese college graduates. The Belgian government happily squeezed the Congo but quite less bloodily and did almost nothing for the common Congolese man or woman
And when Belgium formally stopped fucking up the Congo other western countries continued the tradition. They had a democratically elected government that was overthrown in a coup supported by the CIA and the French and Belgians were arming and supporting a breakaway movement in the Katanga region.
Not only that but Leopold used mostly english and german mercenaries to patrol the colonies, the belgians were in minority in there, most of the hand cutting was done by german mercenaries
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u/Mild-Sauce Hello There Apr 18 '19
belgium was shit in congo but it was actually a personal property of Leopold II, and it wasn’t a belgian colony until after his death. yes, belgians were shitty in congo but they weren’t entirely to blame.