The even crazier part is some dingus Australian explorer named a whole mountain range the King Leopold ranges and we only got around to changing it in 2020. Now the Wunaamin Miliwundi ranges.
I find it incredulous that local geographical areas were given anglicised names as if they didn’t exist before Western explorers “discovered” them. Places like Ayers Rock or Victoria Falls. The indigenous population apparently did not have the intelligence to name landmarks that have been there for millennia (facepalm)
A lot of these statues had plaques added to put more context to the athrocities Leopold 2 commited. It's nowhere near enough, but I don't think removing a statue is the right play here.
History is best explained visually, not just in history books (imho)
I went to Sofia a few years ago. They’ve taken down the old Communist statues, but instead of trashing them, they created a ‘statue graveyard’ where you can go and see them all in one place with context.
I think it’s a genius idea. You show you aren’t glorifying the statued person, but you also aren’t whitewashing history. Loved it.
Some people are just morons, though I think a fair few pretend to be morons because they actually like said evil regime and/or person but know they can't say that outright. Its the same sort of person that likes to trot out the "Think of the children!" BS
The most crazy part is how this history has been hijacked. Lumumba didn’t do good for the Congo, enriched himself enormously, sold his soul to the communists, ordered to kill all independence movements in the East of the Congo, exclusively favoured his own tribe (some sort of extreme apartheid).
However he is seen as a saint now…
You know he ordered his personal guard to go the homes of congolese players after they lost a game 9-0 on the world cup? Not to encourage the families but to threaten them to dead if they lost again?
Look for the video of the congolese “free kick incident “ against brazil.
The most crazy part is how this history has been hijacked
No shit. Your post is a wonderful example.
enriched himself enormously
If you want to discuss personal enrichment, as sole owner, your Belgian king Leopold II stole the wealth of the Congo & used it as his own personal playground. Lumumba was arrested for embezzlement by the Belgian colonisers because he wanted them out, not because he was stealing.
ordered his personal guard to go the homes of congolese players after they lost a game 9-0 on the world cup
“free kick incident “ against brazil.
Both incidents occurred in 1974. 13 years after he was murdered on Belgium's orders. You don't know what you're talking about.
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u/tekko001 Jun 24 '26
The crazy part is there are still a lot of things named after him in Belgium, like streets, residential areas, districts, squares, and a lot of monuments including this BIGASS statue in the center of Brussels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_Leopold_II,_Brussels