Patrice Lumumba - Secrets of the CIA TV - Dan Snow TV - Maurice Carney - Noam Chomsky - Adam Curtis TV - The Power Principle 2011 - Castro vs The World TV - Storyville TV -
Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.
It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.
That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten.
We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones.
Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were Negroes. Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as tu, not because he was a friend, but because the polite vous was reserved for the white man?
We have seen our lands seized in the name of ostensibly just laws, which gave recognition only to the right of might.
We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others.
We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.
We have not forgotten that in the cities the mansions were for the whites and the tumbledown huts for the blacks; that a black was not admitted to the cinemas, restaurants and shops set aside for ‘Europeans’; that a black travelled in the holds, under the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins.
Who will ever forget the shootings which killed so many of our brothers, or the cells into which were mercilessly thrown those who no longer wished to submit to the regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation used by the colonialists as a tool of their domination?
All that, my brothers, brought us untold suffering ...
We shall stop the persecution of free thought. We shall see to it that all citizens enjoy to the fullest extent the basic freedoms provided for by the Declaration of Human Rights.
We shall eradicate all discrimination, whatever its origin, and we shall ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour and his loyalty to the country.
We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill. Patrice Lumumba, Independence speech 30th June 1960, ‘The Truth about a Monstrous Crime of the Colonialists’
Lumumba’s behaviour was completely unacceptable to the CIA, so the agents in the Congo began to look for a replacement and they found one in a young man called Mobutu. On January 17th 1961 Lumumba was dragged into the jungle, beaten and the murdered by troops loyal to Mobutu. The CIA had got its way. Their man Mobutu was now in charge of the Congo and the Soviets were no longer welcome there. Secrets of the CIA, 2006
Mobutu’s greed was matched only by his cruelty. And it was the people of the Congo who paid a high price during his thirty-two years in power. ibid.
What Belgium did in 1960 in Congo is one of the worst crimes of the 20th Century. Noam Chomsky
The murder of Lumumba, in which the US was involved, in the Congo destroyed Africa’s major hope for development. Congo is now total horror story, for years. Noam Chomsky
In 1961 the CIA decided to overthrow a government in the heart of Africa: in the Congo. 200 years before, the Congo had been at the centre of the slave trade. Millions of Africans had been forcibly taken down the river and shipped to America where their forced labour fuelled America’s rise to economic power. Now, the country had been given independence by its old colonial rulers, the Belgiums. But it was completely unprepared and had collapsed into violence. The CIA were frightened that the new prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, was about to turn for help to the Soviet Union … and they helped install a dictator in his place: he was called Colonel Mobutu whose brutal regime the Americans would support for the next 30 years. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head V: The Lordly Ones ***** BBC 2021
‘Under the United Nations flag Lumumba was killed in the Congo.’ The Power Principle, 2011
Under the auspices of the UN, the Belgiums insisted on retaining a strong military presence in the country. ibid.
After six months of ineffectual fighting, Che and his fighters lost their international backing and were forced to retreat from the Congo. The CIA chalked up another Cold War victory. It was a debacle for Castro but it didn’t stop him from pursuing his grand strategy. Castro vs The World I: The Armed Struggle, BBC 2020
Fidel Castro and 500,000 Cubans took part in the African wars which ultimately ended colonialism. This little-known story began in 1960. Storyville: Cuba! Africa! Revolution! BBC 2007
African revolutionaries were looked to the Cubans as a model for their own independence. ibid.
The case of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo was symbolic of how African independence would be crushed by Cold War strategic interests. ibid.
A new era of African revolutionaries, and with it started the epic of Cuba and Africa. ibid.
The Congo, one of the largest and richest countries on the continent. The Belgian colony was demanding immediate independence. Patrice Lumumba the young articulate clerk, led the movement that negotiated a peaceful solution to end Belgian rule. ibid.
‘Who can forget the shootings, the deaths of so many brothers who would not be cowed by a regime based on oppression and exploitation?’ ibid.
‘The mission of the United Nations troops was misused to topple the regime of the government of Lumumba.’ ibid. Vladimir Shubin
Lumumba’s assassination resonated throught the world. ibid.