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19 October 2020 Towards Atonement and Reparations for Belgium's

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19 October 2020 Towards Atonement and Reparations for Belgium's 19 October 2020 Towards Atonement and Reparations for Belgium’s Plunder of the Congo On June 30, 1960, Patrice Emery Lumumba, Congo's first democratically-elected Prime Minister, delivered a scathing account of Belgian colonial rule. In the presence of then-King Baudouin of Belgium, Lumumba evoked the many atrocities of Belgium’s eighty years of colonial rule, including "humiliating slavery imposed by force," land seizure and racist laws. The "wounds are too fresh and too painful still for us to drive them from our memory," Lumumba lamented.1 Lumumba was excoriated and ridiculed by Western governments and media for his bold and lucid account of Congolese suffering under Belgium and the rule of King Leopold II. While the Belgian state offered an apology in 2002 for its role in Lumumba’s assassination, Belgians are still in deep denial about their colonial past. The atrocities committed under King Leopold II’s rule in the Congo (1885 – 1908) are well documented and represent some of the most heinous crimes committed in human history. Congolese were forced into labor to produce rubber, children were held as ransom, villages were razed, hands, feet and genitals were amputated - all in an effort to extract maximum labor, resources and profit from the Congolese people. In 1890, African American human rights activist and Civil War hero George Washington Williams said that what was unfolding in the Congo were crimes against humanity. An estimated 10 million Congolese perished under the King’s reign as he extracted ivory and rubber to enrich his Kingdom. The atrocities committed under the 23-year reign of King Leopold were such an offence to the conscience of humanity that it spurred an international movement that ultimately resulted in the King turning over the Congo to the Belgian state in 1908. This atrocious period was captured in Mark Twain’s “King Leopold’s Soliloquy” and Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” and inspired the formation of many modern human rights institutions at the turn of the 20th century. 1 See https://friendsofthecongo.org/speeches/ ​ 1 On June 30, 2020, sixty years after Lumumba’s famous speech, Belgian monarch King Philippe acknowledged the atrocities that Lumumba exquisitely articulated. In a letter to President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), King Philippe expressed his "deepest regrets for these injuries of the past." Although this letter stopped short of an apology and wanting to make amends, the acknowledgement by King Philippe is the first time a Belgian monarch has formally expressed remorse for the country's colonial rule. King Philippe's statement came after protestors, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, tore down monuments to King Leopold II. If the colonial sins in the Congo primarily were committed by Belgium, the neo-colonial sins in the country of the last sixty years have primarily been committed by the United States and transnational corporations that have profited from “conflict resources.” Through the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States mounted a covert action to overthrow Lumumba, which subsequently led to his assassination. According to declassified U.S. State Department documents , the United States influenced every leader in the DRC that followed Lumumba during the 1960s.2 The U.S. ultimately helped to install and maintain a brutal dictatorial regime headed by Joseph Desire Mobutu which lasted over three decades – a period in which the people were pauperized and the country was run into the ground. Along with Belgium, the United States should apologize to the Congolese people for its role in robbing the country of democratic leadership and sponsoring the kleptocratic Mobutu regime. However, neither mere apologies nor tearing down statues will repair the damage of hundreds of years of exploitation and predation. Black Lives Matter activists in Belgium, along with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister of Human Rights Andre Lite, have called for Belgium to pay reparations to the Congo. Belgians have demanded reparations from Germany for the atrocities committed by German soldiers in Belgium during World War I. Congolese are well within their rights to make similar demands on Belgium. There is also a call by youth activists from Black Lives Matter in Belgium and across Europe and by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent to reform school curriculum to include accurate education on enslavement and colonialism. Such reforms would be critical steps for Belgium and other European powers sincere about reckoning with their histories of exploitation. 2 See, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v23/d1 ​ 2 The people of the Congo should not have to wait for an apology nor reparations for Belgium, together with other EU Member States, to take immediate action towards dismantling the current predatory extraction of human and natural resources in Congo. Today 8 out of 10 Congolese are living on $2 a day in a country that houses trillions of dollars of natural wealth. Belgian and other transnational corporations continue to plunder the Congo and have, according to several studies by the United Nations, participated in illegal exploitation of Congo’s minerals. An immediate end to the pilfering of Congo’s riches would be an excellent point of departure in charting a new chapter in the relations between Belgium and Congo. We write this letter because the continued subjugation of the Congolese people forces us to examine its historical roots and initiate conversations and actions aimed at righting the wrongs of brutal histories and legacies of colonialism, enslavement and systemic racism. King Philippe’s acknowledgement of past atrocities is an important step in this process, but we must continue to push forward in the effort to end the exploitative relations, structures and systems that have been in place for more than 135 years. It is only when we #ReRightHistory, that we can start a new chapter of global relations, human dignity and sustainability for our planet. 3 .
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