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Chapter 17-19
Chapter 19:
Various stories were written by the number of missionaries and observers who visited the Congo. It was unedited testimony which brought the real face of Leopold in front of the whole world. The commission of inquiry collected different evidence and personal experiences of the people. However many lives risked by communicating the commissioners. For instance, two Africans got seized and tortured when they tried to meet commissioners and wanted them to give the report regarding king Leopold brutally. Later, testimony was given before the commission where the number of witnesses appeared to tell the true stories. The statement continued, and witnesses increased. Hundreds of stories were collected by the commissions. It was the firsthand testimony of African which was not collected before. Most of the stories were recorded was from white people who visited Congo. However African witnesses were not directly quoted, and the critical conclusion was generalized. Also, stories were not published for the general public before the 1980s. After 1980s people were able to read the stories after getting permission to read and copy the stories.
Leopold did not want to give Congo, but commissioner report and Morel's report created the hurdles. Leopold understood the fact that he could only control the land if it became a colony or Belgium. This choice was known as the Belgian solution. Leopold thought Congo as its private property that is why he tried not to give it to anyone else. Even before his death, he decided that instead of bequeathing the Congo it would be better to sell it. His opinion n the difficult situation was that if he really had to give up his beloved land, then it would be better not to give t away instead he should sell it. Belgium who was going to acquire Congo on Leopold's death would be the buyer of Congo.
William Sheppard story about the death of the Africans when their hands were cut and smoked highlighted the fact that the difference between Leopold's state and Belgian colony would not be the same as reformer thought. Morrison, a white officer, also played a vital role in identifying the real face of Leopold. Morrison and Sheppard both were straight forward and outspoken missionaries of the American Congo. Morrison was a fearless missionary who recorded his protest through the letter. Therefore Sheppard and Morrison were most hated by the Congo regime. In 1908, Sheppard's story appeared in which he wrote about the Kasai trip which the British wanted him to change. They forced Sheppard and Morrison to edit the story in return Morrison edit it by adding a picture in which laborers were tied from the neck. This was how both Sheppard and Morrison speak the truth in their country by ignoring pressure and life threats and worked for the Congo people.
Roger comment, “It was only because I was an Irishman that I could understand fully, I think, the whole scheme of wrongdoings in the Congo” indicates his personal view that indicates the similarities between Ireland and Congo. Roger thought that same happened with Ireland where core injustice has happened just like Congo was facing racism and white privilege. His view about Ireland being a colony which was taken away by the conqueror after doing injustice with the Irish people. Roger compared both countries and found that the situation in the same country was the same. For instance, both countries faced the power of outsiders, their injustice and pressure over the native people. The conqueror destroyed their land and lives of people. This whole scenario made him write the comment which indicated that he understood the condition and injustice of Congo.
Roger Casement got another chance to continue his investigation and reporting. Casement set their focus on the rubber export issue. He tried to carry the rubber lad of Congo. People were locked in the stocks to be flogged; Casement measured those stocks which was similar to Chicotte. Through reporting, casement did not present the bad side of white men; instead, he focused the Indians. He presented the romantic idealization of the Congo people. He claimed that Indians are superior to the white men on the basis or morality. They were socialist by temperament. Casement did his job done despite the succumbing his own version of the Noble Savage myth.
Belgium government continued the system of forced labor in Congo because Congo was not given to Belgium. Leopold made a deal with Belgium, and he did not want to give up on his land; however, he knew that after his death Belgium would acquire Congo. Therefore he created Belgian solution and sold his beloved land to Belgium. Belgium found self-interest by investing in the land hence got agreed to pay 45.5 million francs. In November 1908 solemn ceremonies were conducted, and ownership was given to Belgium. The bargaining of the land showed the fact that the Belgium government was not much different from the Leopold regime. Both used land for personal interest and profit.
Morel was concerned about land ownership. He suggested his fellow focus on this topic as it was important for him. He was agreed that the issue of land ownership is less dramatic than Leopold's power. However, according to him, it was not possible to get to the root of the issue until the native people get power over their land. British tried to make him quiet over the issue, but Morel did not get the pressure and presented reports. For a reason, he locked in a double race against time, firstly for reporting against British and secondly for the favor of his supporters.
Chapter 18:
In 1913, the final meeting of the Congo Reform Association happened which raised the question that whether association did any lasting good or not. The conventional answer was yes for many years because of the glare of publicity adjacent to the inquiry investigation and casement. It raised the spark of rebellions in some areas. Oblique testimony took away the Congo from Leopold, and many reporters thought that if Leopold got ten more years to govern the land there would be no rubber in the country and there would be no native people for saving his land or people.
Wild rubber was replaced by the cultivating rubber. This was because excessive export of the rubber by the Leopold took almost all the wild rubber from the Congo and if Leopold knew that if all the wild rubber would be exported the mean of trade will be ended therefore there was a need for cultivating rubber. He forced the native people for cultivation and to make his order more effective he applied high taxes on the people. In results, people had to work to pay the taxes. Also, the increase in mining increased the burden over the native who in return got nothing. Most of the profit from cultivation, taxes, and mining flowed out of the territory
Conrad wrote "All Europe contributed in the making of Kurtz" because he thought that the condition of the Congo was not because of one Leopold, all the white men who went to Africa for work or who visited Africa but did not raise their voice against the brutality and forced power of the king. Congo faced vast murder, torture and power enforcement. Conrad found it a sad and bitter truth that all the people involved in the Leopold regime were also murderer like Leopold as they did not do anything for the rights of the native people.
During the last years of William Sheppard, he was forced to resign from his missionary post. It was because he returned to the United States in 1910 and caught for having extramarital affairs with African women. However, he resumed his work as a minister. The health of Sheppard was no good by time. He did not stop his speech and writing in favor of African people. He got the offer for the speaker platform to spread the words about African people. Sheppard was a good darky. He died in 1927 at the age of sixty-two. Thousands of people came to his funeral.
Sir Roger Casement reporting sparked some rebellions. In 1913, he got retired from his service. He worked for the British consular service. After retirement, he returned to Ireland. He helped for finding the Irish Volunteers and armed militia. He traveled the country to attend the meetings as a speaker. He wanted his people not to be a part of any war. They should not contribute to their honor and blood. His dream got some sympathy from the Irish prisoners of war. He was captured by the German army who was uneasy with his views and speeches. Casement trial was also rejected, and he was sentenced to death. On his death, he recalled his life and claimed that the best thing that had happened in his life was Congo.
E.D. Morel life transformed like his friend Roger Casement during the struggle over the Congo. He spent the last few years of his life battling alone. He was alone but brave. He had no bishops and lords cheering for him. In his last few years of work for Congo, he noticed the causes that were hindered between London and Paris by Entente Cordiale. He along with his friend showed his support for the war. When the war started, Morel came under a heightened attack. It was a blast in the Daily Sketch against the British antiwar movement. Morel got Nobel Peace Prize as a Britain's candidate. On November 12, 1924, Morel leaned against the tree to take rest and never got up.
Chapter 19
In the eighth century, the patron saint of hunters and Hubert lived in the land and pursued game in the woods. This land was transformed into the Royal Museum for Central Asia. The museum one was the palace of King Leopold II. Hundreds of visitors came to see the museum every day. Schoolchildren and tourists are the main visitors. Royal Museum has the largest collection of Africana. It includes Stanley's cap, Leopold's cane, weapons and uniforms, slave manacles, dugout canoe, and many more things. Names of hundreds of Palique officers are written in the memorial hall. Other gallery presents the culture of Africa through their art, pounding drums, animals, Kuba king's court, and other statues presenting their norms and rituals.
The statement, “The world we live in…is shaped far less by what we celebrate & mythologize than by the painful events we try to forget." representing the contemporary condition of the world. In the American South, lots of preserved plantation manor houses and monuments are built. People condemn what happened in the Congo while on the other side problems like racism, white privilege, inequality; discrimination is a constant part of society. People remember what had happened in Congo, but they forget why it has happened.
Lots of people raised their voice to tell the world about the Congo. They represented the real face of Leopold and his brutal force. Still, it becomes an example of the politics of forgetting. People did not get the lesson from history. Stalin and Hitler both left the same example behind. Their act was similar to the Leopold where victims were different. In all of Africa, the colonizers wrote the course book with biases. They banned and pressed censorship over the history of Congo. The steps were taken to make African people forget about the written record.
Textbook in Congo was replaced from reality. It showed the good side of the Leopold. Throughout the half-century of Belgian rule schoolchildren learn that Leopold was a hero. He raised the country, helped people to be civilized. Rubber company agents and district commissioners were portrayed as the villain in Congo history. They were presented as the oppressor who forced Congo people to harvest rubber. Relatively, little collected become part of the book related to the rubber era to make people forget about the event. It was shown that rulers made rapid urbanization possible in Africa.
History of Congo lied heavy on the people of the land; the long period of colonialism, trade of slave, and rubber cultivation all were often ignored. From the colonial era, the main legacy that Europe left to Africa was not the democracy. Democracy which is running in America, England, and Belgium. The left authoritarian rule and plunder which was left for the people of Congo. There is no other country on the continent which has a harsh and hard history like Congo. Congo people faced a harder time to come out from the shadow of their past.
King Baudouin of Belgium grants the freedom to Congo patronizingly and officially. He said to the Congo people to show their confidence which showed that they were worthy of Belgium ruler's confidence. On this statement, an angry speech was presented by the Patrice Lumumba. His speech caught the attention of the world. He told about the harsh reality of Leopold and Belgium. Through his message, the Western government got feared. They tried to stop him from his work, but Lumumba was successfully got attention outside the country border. His speech and rejection to be quiet on the problem made the government think to make him quiet. It resulted in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.
Joseph Desire Mobutu was a young man who helped the Congolese forces to arrange the Lumumba's murder. Congolese forces tried to make Lumumba quiet to speak against the Leopold and Belgium. When Lumumba did not stop from his mission Congolese made a plan for his murder. The young boy Joseph Desire Mobutu along with the chief of army staff and a former NCO become the key figure behind the murder plan of Lumumba.
Yes, “the idea of full human rights, political, social, & economic, was [& remains] a profound threat to the established order of most countries on earth” because what happened in Congo became the past. People do not want to talk about it. White men present their positive sides while African raises their voice against the harsh history. Still, no one wants to change contemporary time. White privilege is still a big issue in America. On the other side, African political and economic instability shows the impact of their past over the present. However, it is not important that both countries will face the issue in the past as well. Both are working for the betterment for their country. They can definitely achieve well socialized economic progress.
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