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| Africa: Subsaharan | |
| Statue of Leopold restored in Kinshasa | |
| 2005-02-03 | |
| A statue of former Belgian colonial king Leopold II has been re-erected in the centre of the Democratic Republic of Congo capital, Kinshasa. The statue of Leopold riding his horse is still dirty after spending 40 years in an open-air dump. Can they make a statue of a gallows and hang the Leopold statue on it? The Congolese culture minister said DR Congo's history should be revived. Leopold II set up the Congo Free State in 1885 as his personal possession and left arguably the worst legacy of all the European colonial regimes. Holocaust Former BBC Kinshasa correspondent Mark Dummett says King Leopold II turned the country into a massive labour camp, made a fortune for himself from the harvest of its wild rubber, and contributed in a large way to the death of perhaps 10 million innocent people. Now, what punishment did Vachel Lindsay say he faced? In front of the statue outside the central station, one man told the BBC: "He left us in poverty. He exploited our raw materials and left us with nothing." Another said: "It's important for us to remember our past, like the Jewish people remember the Holocaust." Former President Mobutu Sese Seko had the statue removed in 1967, saying it was a constant and unwelcome reminder of colonial rule. Culture Minister Christophe Muzungu said people should not just see the negative side of the king - they should also look at the positive aspects. "We are restoring the history of our country because a people without history is a people without a soul," he said.
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| Posted by:Steve from Relto |
| #4 "Listen to the yell of Leopold's ghost Burning in Hell for his hand-maimed host Hear how the demons chuckle and yell Cutting his hands off, down in Hell." Vachel Lindsay |
| Posted by: James 2005-02-03 4:14:33 PM |
| #3 The sad part is that, with all that Leopold and his minions did, by the 1950's the Belgian Congo was a relatively well-run colony - i.e., the people in general had a much higher standard of living than they ever did afterwards, and certainly they are much worse off today than they were then. So it is not true that the colony was "left in poverty". Its biggest problem was that the managerial/technical and even clerical middle class was almost purely Belgian/expat, to a greater degree than in nearly any African colony. When they were mostly driven out the place went to hell. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2005-02-03 3:14:26 PM |
| #2 I want the ajoining sledgehammer concession. A dollar a whack. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-02-03 1:17:00 PM |
| #1 Wasn't Kinshasa called "Leopoldville" in the past? I kinda remember seeing it on the wall map in high school. (a long, long time ago, to be sure) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-02-03 1:13:23 PM |