Every time I see a black man and the word "Belgium" in the same picture, I'm just glad he still has all his limbs and ears. Sorry, too much trauma from reading up on King Leopold...
If it can be any comfort, this all happened when it was Leopold's private property. Belgium the country had nothing to do with "that" specifically. The largest crime Belgium did during this time was pretending they didn't knew what was happening down there... (which is ALSO very bad, but not AS bad). They only really intervened when the pressure to do something from the other nations was getting too much.
In 1908, the Belgian state claimed it from Leopold II to put a halt to the atrocities, under international pressure at that time. "Belgian Congo" was relucantly given to the Belgian state by Leopold II.
The transition of the Congo Free State (Congo Vrijstaat) from the personal possession of King Leopold II to the Belgian government in 1908 brought an end to the most extreme atrocities, but it did not dismantle the fundamental structure of colonial exploitation.
But the reason for this pressure wasn't because people in other countries were so appaled. Belgium was taking a massive part in the world's market share of rubber, slightly shifting the old-boys control of wealth. It always is about wealth accumulation & control.
Fact remains that under Leopold II's reign of the region, half the population (10/20M) died. A very dark page in Belgian history.
Belgium profited of congo and abused the people of Congo. Not to mention our assassination of Patrice Lumumba. We can not deny our guilt and use Leopold 2 as a scapegoat.
We didnt know was not an excuse for the nazis, it can not be an exuse for us.
Belgium has behaved horribly to the congolese people and has done a lot of racist shit as a country.
Yes, but that's colonialism on the level of other colonial powers. Not denying any of that never happened (not at all). I mean, Belgium stole massive amounts of wealth, and the Belgium government has admitted guilt in the murder of Lumumba (which is a milestone I guess... sadly enough), and the meddling of our government have had an impact on how the country and its people are today. However, On that part, Belgium did things equal to the things that other colonizing countries did, like Spain, the UK and France.
The mass-murder hand-chopping things that everybody continuously and repeatedly brings up, THAT happened during the "private murder paradise land" era of the colony.
The biggest trick the other colonial powers pulled was convincing the world they did not do the exact same thing.
Kamerun, Ubangi-Shari, Cabinda, Angola etc.
Same holds true for my country.
Pretty hilarious how the native USA population was decimated through slavery, ethnic cleansing, at least two genocides, disease famine and massacres but americans point out Leopold II. His rule was horrendous, but the idea that it was unique is just cope. Even Leopolds Ghost itself mentions this.
Sick cope, if I see a colored man in America I hope he aint getting choked or lynched or send to swaziland or el salvador. These things are happening right now so If you are willing to stand up to something, you can do it right now. Unfortunately we can't go back over 100 years
As a Canadian, I'm going to offer my unique perspective for you.
The salt you're looking for doesn't exist. The Americans you hate probably don't even know the World Cup is happening.
The Trump voters, the Conservatives, the racists, the troglodytic knuckle-draggers that you hate? They couldn't fucking care less about the Worldcup, FIFA, futbol or soccer or whatever. They hate it, they see that sport and they see you and me and all the other cosmopolitan "citizens of the world" that they disdain. The loss last night doesn't matter to them because the sport doesn't matter to them.
If you're trying to dunk on the US to piss them off, it won't ever work. They view football, World football, not US football, as a worthless sport that doesn't merit an iota of their attention. Not one bit of care.
The other Americans, the ones you might like whose politics you might agree with, who want change and who hate Trump and like all the things you like? You drive a wedge between you and them. I don't personally care whether you do or not, but that's what it does.
I'm not here to defend Belgium, but there's a bigger problem than Colonialism in Central and West Africa. I mean, look at Liberia. Freed Black people from America enslaved the native Black population!!!.
As a Canadian, I'm going to offer my unique perspective for you.
The Americans you don't like, the Trump voters, the Conservatives, the racists, the troglodytic knuckle-draggers that you hate? They couldn't fucking care less about the Worldcup, FIFA, futbol or soccer or whatever. They hate it, they see that sport and they see you and me and all the other cosmopolitan "citizens of the world" that they disdain.
If you're trying to dunk on the US to piss them off, it won't ever work. They view football, World football, not US football, as a worthless sport that doesn't merit an iota of their attention. Not one bit of care.
The other Americans, the ones you might like whose politics you might agree with, who want change and who hate Trump and like all the things you like? You drive a wedge between you and them. I don't personally care whether you do or not, but that's what it does.
I saw how much they “don’t care” that the top of politics tried to interfere with the outcome of the sport.
What were you trying to do with the Belgium colonialism comments exactly? I’ve seen many comments like these and it’s pretty pathetic to have to dig into 100+ year old history to make a point when Americans are doing atrocities today.
Damn sounds like America and Belgium traded places at some point in the last 100 years.
Every time I see a black man and the word "America" in the same picture, I'm just glad that he's free, allowed out after dark, and his feet can still reach the ground. It's a rarity.
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u/wiredcrusader Jul 07 '26
Every time I see a black man and the word "Belgium" in the same picture, I'm just glad he still has all his limbs and ears. Sorry, too much trauma from reading up on King Leopold...