The Black Man's Burden: The Exploitation of the Congo (due Sun. Dec 21)

[freemanjud]

For Friday, you read Adam Hochschild’s disturbing and unsettling account of what happened to the Congolese people when they were ruled by King Leopold of Belgium. So much of what happened occurred to benefit Leopold personally. Moreover, he was the master of propaganda and clearly was able to hide what he was doing from most of the rest of the world.

In tonight’s post, I’d like you to comment on what you read from the perspective of a person concerned about the obvious human rights violations that occurred in the Congo in the last decade of the 19th- first decade of the 20th century. I ask that you address what you would have done about this, as fellow human citizen, at the time. Remember: no United Nations, no Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International. There’s only you.

Before you dismiss this request as ridiculous or unrealistic, remember what Edmund Morel—a shipping clerk!—did. And then post your thoughts!

[manachild]

I had read about Belgium's "colonization" of the Congo, a while back. I also knew that the king at that time was Leopold. I was even aware of the mistreatment of the native people. However, I was surprised to find how disturbing the truth was. It made me thing how undocumented and unknown history is.

First, I'm quite unclear if I am to take the perspective of someone who is involved with human rights as of then, or as of now; the distinction being the idea of colonization, since it was more accepted in the early 20th century. I will, however take that into consideration into my post. So, I find out that the Congo has been colonized; that's quite commonplace, especially since the colonization was done by a European country. However, as Morel did, I become aware that something strange is happening there and I become aware of the atrocious things occuring in the Congo.

Slavery has been condemned throughout Europe, however in many cases it goes on by a different name and in the guise of colonization. I for one am against that. The way I see it, there are really 3 options I can make if I want change, approach the problem through poitics, through society, or by myself. Sadly, the only option that could possibly work the best is to take action by myself: that would be to actually visit the Congo. Documentation would be the purpose of my journey, and most importantly I would have access to a camera. It's a rather simple idea, but I can use words and especially pictures for my cause. Then I would proceed to bring these documents back in secret to either Belgium or any other European nation at that period. While I'm not sure people would listen to me, I'm sure they would be horrified at the sight of a baby thrown into a field, left to die, or the horrific end result of rubber harvesting. That is the best I can hope for; that the people around me, especially those with some political or religious influence will feel the same way I do. This is basically the only realstic means by which I could change the current situation, to reach as many people I can through other people.

[walkingstick]

In response to manachild's question, I think we're supposed to answer the question with respect to the time the colonization in the Congo was occurring. The post prompt was a bit confusing in the wording. But I really liked the idea of traveling to the Congo for a sort of expose and show the world the true "charities" of Leopold. It's a simple idea that is actually feasible for someone who had some money and time to spare.

Well, first since most Europeans didn't have a clue what Leopold was doing until much later, I suppose this answer will take place after Leopold's actions are more well-known to the Europeans after some people like Edmund Morel start telling others about the things he saw.

So, there's no organization for human rights set up at that time and there hopefully is a group of people who are infuriated at Leopold's inhumane actions and were willing to do something about it. The best thing I can think of is compensation for those who were not paid what they deserved and for those who died needlessly like the poor rubber-tappers, the compensation could be given to either surviving relatives or the village they came from. This method of compensation might be far more simpler to do in theory, but time and money-consuming in reality. It is an idealistic one which probably many people would have balked from due to the massive amount of money and research necessary to find out who died and who they were.

The other thing that would probably be more practical is a way to prevent this tragedy from occurring again or at least creating a buffer to lessen further exploitations, by creating some sort of organization that has global consent to monitor the activities of each nation and have the authority to do something if something suspicious occurrs. I know, it sounds a lot like the UN.

The problem would be, who would head such an organization? It would be nice to have each nation that agreed to allow this org. to monitor their activities to have an equal share in the org.'s actions. Again, very idealistic.

Another idea, inspired by manachild, would be to get a group of thinkers and liberals to go to the Congo and see what happens after they experience life in a world that was so distant and see the sufferings of fellow human beings.

[chocoholic]

Sorry, to be a little off topic at first, but I think the most disturbing part of what I read in regards to human nature and our acceptance was the quote by Georges Bricusse from 1895:

The gallows is set up. The rope is attached, too high. They lift up the nigger and put the noose around him. The rope twists for a few moments, then crack, the man is wriggling on the ground. A shot in the back of the neck and the game is up. It didn't make the least impression on me this time!!! And to think that the first time I saw the chicotte administered, I was pale with fright. Africa has some use after all. I could now walk into fire as if to a wedding.

I don't think I could ever grow that cold. That apathetic to any person. I read all the grusome images and I asked myself how could they live with themselves? How could they treat someone like that? How can they not care? I guess I'm not in the right mind frame of the time(i.e. considering Congolese inferior)

But say, if I witnessed these horrific acts in Leopold's Congo, and I was the same person as I am now. I think I would go back to Europe and spread the word. Or perhaps, I would make a point as to not take part in the brutality. I would protest the rubber industry. Who needs to ride a bicycle anyway? People are dying for my entertainment? No thank you. And it's not even like a few people(which would still be awful) There were hundreds upon hundreds of people.

1880-1920 The population of Congo was halved due to murder, starvation, exhaustion, exposure, disease, and a lowered birth rate due to the exploitation by King Leopold II.

(from http://timelines.ws/countries/CONGO.HTML)
I would follow Edmund Morel. I would help distribute "The West African Mail," a weekly journal used as a forum on West and Central African Questions in 1903.
Commitees were started and Britain decided to take action and investigate in the Congo. The US had pressure put on them to investigate too. I would be one of those who put pressure to make sure that the Congolese were treated humanely.

[Anbeca]

I think like Manachild stated and, as Morel seemed to find true, the best solution to this problem, at least initially, is to make the problem known to the public. In order to do one would need to go to the Congo, document, in graphic detail, the horrors going on there, and bring back as many tangible peaces of evidence as possible, pictures, or even Congolese people to tell their story. As Morel did I would have to approach anyone and everyone who was willing to listen and explain what was going on. It would be important to build a backing of common citizens who were opposed to the atrocities taking place, but it would also be equally important to gain the support of influencial politicians or people in the news media to spread the message.
Once the situation in the Congo was known publicly, it would be important to gainthe support of strong nations around Belgium to oppose King Leopold. During this time it would be quite easy to get surrounding nations to unite against Belgium because they were all competing through their colonies. Hopefully pressure by nations surrounding Belgium would be enough to stop the King from continuing his inhumane practices.

[BoricuaChic31]

Reading these clips from King Leopold's Ghost made me realize how horrible this world is. There are so many people who know so little if anything about what happened in the Congo under King Leopold's rule. I knew very little about what happened in the Congo, and reading about how bad it was hurt me a lot.

Like everyone else before me has posted I too would do what Edmund Morel did. I would visit the Congo and document everything that I saw or heard and then take it back to Europe. I would make sure that as many people as possible would know about what happened in the Congo. Writing reports through a popular paper about the situation in the Congo would allow people to see how horrible King Leopold treated his own people. Having actual interviews with people who was involved first hand with the situation in the Congo. Hopefully, after speaking up people would come together and prevent the matter from getting worse than it already is.

Then once people are on my side we can get the whole world involved and hopefully countries would get involved and prohibit the King from enslaving his own people. Although Europe said they were against slavery, no matter how you look at it they enslaved many Africans and took them away from their families to get what they wanted.

[TheIronGut]

First of all kudos to Edmund Morel. Not just for what he did but for the way that he realized something wrong was going on. That's some observant and analytical thinking for you.

So let's say I'm Morel's roomate and he tells me what he thinks is happening. First instinct is to say what a shame it is. After that, nothing. Why? Because I'm a bystander. The only way I would be compelled to try to change the situation would be if I saw what was going on first hand. So let's assume for now that I'm one of the very few number of Europeans with enough free funds and time to travel to Africa for liesure purposes.

So I go to the Congo and see all of this nasty, horrible stuff going on. Naturally I would have to document everything, but then who would I tell? I think approaching the wrong white person down there could get you imprisoned for treason, and judging from what Leopold did to the Africans there, I wouldn't want to be under his thumb in jail. So I probably wouldn't approach any of the whites. The second option is the Congolese. I'm assuming that most of them wouldn't speak English or French or whatever Belgians speak, so that's out of the question.

Man this hero thing seems kind of hopeless. I think the best way to get the job done without putting my neck on the line early on would be to put some of the horrific pictures on flyers and give them out etc etc. I'd then find myself a talented speaker and have him give stirring and compelling speeches about the plight of the Congolese people. There would have to be selective audiences however. Any rich person in Belgium or elsewhere who opposed King Leopold would be ideal. So basically just get the word out there, do some fund raising, and if enough people complain, Leopold might have to pull out.

[BLUEMONSTER]

Ok, so I'm an average person and I find out about what's going on in the Congo. I realize that it's the 19-20th century, and I dont have alot of resources. It's hard to report what's going on in the masses. I don't have the internet, like what was used for hate.com to get their message out. What can I do to make a difference for the Congolese people?
I know that this is going to sound stupid, but I saw something on the news the other day. There is an animal activist group that is protesting outside the Nutcracker, giving handouts to kids whose mothers were wearing fur. There was a picture with a woman killing a rabbit and it said something like, "your mother kills rabbits" or something like that. I would probably do the same thing to get the message out. Stand outside a store that sells bikes or something and give a horrible hand out of how they are killing people by purchasing rubber-made products.
But when I was thinking about this, I mean, if I was to do that, I would probably get myself into alot of trouble. This is why Morel was so good with this. I mean, he told other leaders so they could do the dirty work. If I want to continue living and not get in the way of Leopold, I would tell leaders who would have a field day with this. Leaders live for this kind of stuff to make a huge stink about. It would be easier to get the message out to the public then actually doing something.

[Dullshine]

Like chocoholic, I would like to go off topic for a moment and just say that I don't understand. I don't understand how anyone could treat another human being like that. Not even a human being, even to do that to an animal or just anything is so horrible. To cause so much pain just to get some rubber or some ivory? To make someone rape their mother or their sister against their will...just because you have the power to do it...it's just so horrible. And I don't think I'll ever understand how anyone could inflict so much hurt upon so many innocent people. It kind of makes you wonder about that Milgrom experiment...I guess people really do simply take orders. To me, this is the kind of stuff that really makes you hate. If I could, I would make the people who did this to the congloese suffer the most painful death I could think of. I just don't understand why some people are just so ignorant of others.

Having said all of that, I don't know what I would have done as one person to try and stop Leopold...assuming I knew what was going on in the Congo. Obviously, I would be completely outraged and I would try to do something to help the situation. Like manachild said, I think it is very important to first get solid eveidence of what is going on in the Congo, but I would not do that on my own. I would try to recruit people and try to do it in a way that would be the least risky to getting caught. I mean, I want to save lives but I don't want to lose my own either.

Once I had factual evidence, I would spread it like wildfire in Belgium! Hopefully, once everyone discovered the truth they would begin by boycotting ivory and rubber, and start to rise up against King Leopold. Once I had enough "followers", maybe we could get enough support to bring the issue to other countries and try to raise some kind of revolt against King Leopold. Once we had overcome him, we could go to the Congo and try to rebuild what Leopold had destroyed. We couldn't bring back lives, but we could free the remaining slaves and maybe help them out by helping them to replenish their crops and give them some general supplies to help build their society back up.

[Tiny]

So i'm a common citizen just anyone back in the early 20th century who falls upon the horrific actions that are taking place in the Congo. Everyone esle who has post have thought of going out like Edmund Morel did and start telling other people so that they could be aware of these actions taking place. I saw why tell when i can try and get an actual person who has been living through the horrors in Congo. I would try to sneak out an Congonisn and let him tell me about the story of what was going on in the Congo. I would take the congonisn and his story to different countries in Europe. If any of the countries believed the story i would ask them to join me to create a group who's objective was to totally uncover what was going on in the Congo and make King Leopold take responsiblity. I would then take another trip to the Congo to get photos, and more evidence like all the dead bodies of rubber workers, the little children and how they suffer, to help increase the amount of proof and help persuade other nations with the more evidence. After hat i would hope that more members would join with the increase in evidence, so i on a mini tour around Europe to get people more aware of the trouble in the Congo. From there if there were enough support i would lead a protest and ask the other courties to pressure Beligium to notice what was going on in the Congo. Then after that i would lead an major march into King Leopold Palace and make him let go of the Congo so the horrific actions that were taking place could end.

[vanillaicecream]

Well, everyone seems to have some good ideas. I agree with TheIronGut that if someone were to just tell me what was going on, it would probably disturb me but since i would really only know a little about it and not realize the severeness of i probably would just express some sympathy and not do much else. I would like to say that i would but i mean i know theres terrible stuff going on in other places right now and i'm not out there trying to stop it, so i can't say that i would have a century ago either. But so if i was someone who happened to witness it first hand, i would probably be much less apathetic. I agree with a bunch of you that the best idea is to jsut try to spreading the information a bit. i would also probably try writing some letters to influencial people in the government and anyone who seemed to be concerned about human rights. I would definately try starting a boycott on rubber, as some people mentioned. The more pictures and evidence of what is actually taking place, the better because it seems that people need to really see it in order to be moved by it.

[runningforyou]

To me, one of the most disturbing parts of the story of King Leopold and the Belgian Congo is the fact that the people of Belgium were completely oblivious to these happenings before the publication of King Leopold's Ghost . As a European of the time, this would have been my first step. I would have informed the citizens of Belgium of the horrific acts which THEIR king was commiting upon the helpless citizens of the Congo.

As BLUEMONSTER said, I'd love to protest in front of a rubber factory or bicycle shop. But in an age of a strong king and a dedicated constituency that probably wouldn't be my best bet. Given that, I'd try as hard as possible to slowly expose the atrocities of the Congo without pushing the people of Belgium too hard to react.

Once I had completed this task, I would have moved on to international awareness, much as Morel did. It would have been very important to notify the important political leaders, at the same time urging them to share with THEIR citizens the happenings in Africa. The mass spread of information, in my mind, would promote the quickest and most effective change in the actions of King Leopold in the Congo.

[FonduePot]

Were I a late nineteenth century citizen who knew of the atrocities being commited in the Congo, I can only hope I would have done something. I am quite sure that there were many who did not. If I had the courage, the will to seperate mysel from the others, I probably would have gone to the church. The pope held a considerable amount of power, and if I could have gotten him to realize what was being done to the people of Congo, Leopold may have though twice about his actions. But why would the pope, or anyone for that matter, listen to the accusations of one man? I have no good reply to that question. If I had political influence, then it would be one thing, but if I were just an average blue-collar citizen, it would be rather hard to get anyone to listen. I could distribute pamphlets to people walking down the street, but most who do that aren't taken seriously. I could get a soapbox and yell at people as they passed me on a streetcorner, but again, they would all consider me crazy. I could lead a slave revolution a la John Brown, but that would probably result in death and failure. Would I have been willing to die for that cause, to become a martyr? I could mail petitions to the pope and various churches, but would they respond? Unfortunately, I feel that there is not much a lower class citizen could do about the injustices that took place, even if he/she felt inclined to do something. The options I put forth are possible, but hardly viable.

[BlackburnRovers]

Like manachild, I did also find out about the Congo atrocities from awhile back. I read it in Volume 1 of "A History of the Twentieth Century" by Sir Martin Gilbert, a great book that deals not only with the important wars and social changes of the last century, but also the atrocities committed as well.

First of all, I was not shocked about the Belgian treatment of the "Congolese." It's eerily similar in the way they died to the Middle Passage or the Holocaust in that there was no real attempt by the slavemasters to care for the well-being of the blacks. It is also similar to all atrocities in that it had a cover too; the Belgians were doing this to "civilize" the Africans and make them part of the European Industrial Revolution and make them just as prosperous as the Europeans were. Of course, that was not the intent of the Belgians, like all of the European colonizers; all they wanted to do was to brand their own mercantilism into Africa where they would attempt to rob Africa of all of their resources.

As for what I would do if I was a "human-rights" protester, I would first of all gather intelligence about this, such as pictures, victim accounts and/or other means of attaining evidence and publish them. Then, I would set up a rally and continue to put pressure on the government until it would bend. However, considering the harsh nature in which governments back then would crush such movements, it would have to make a concerted effort with great commitment by many individuals and groups to have a chance for making it succeed, much like Edmund Borel did

[hobbes88]

I think that if people just knew something of what was happening in the Congo on account of King Leopold's personal mission to gain influence and money, there might have been more protest and opposition to these atrocities against others humans. It is important to consider these people of late 19th/early 20th century probably thought that slavery and colonization was okay. However with that said, these acts were beyond cruel and horrific that they would have gained attention from regular working class people. Maybe international awareness would help to get King Leopold out of there. I agree with manachild that this situation should have been more thoroughly documented and evidence would have probably gained more support from people. Also as Bluemonster and runningforyou have said, it might be productive to protest rubber factories or shops because if the product isn't selling then King Leopold will have to compromise to continue making his money. If he will treat people that badly then he will most likely do anything else in order to continue making his fortunes. As for resistance within the Congo, It has been tried and failed but with help from other possibly European countries, they might be able to battle King Leopold's forces.

[liberal]

Like dullshine and chocoholic, I too just want to mention something that struck me about the article. It was when he alluded to the holocaust. He said that a Nazi during that time didn't feel as guilty about watching them inject people with lethal poison for "experimentation" because he was never the one to inject it. It reminded me of the Milgrom experiment, and definetely goes to show how shocking and sad the "bystander" mentality is.

Well, I think pretty much everyone before has had similar ideas. Going to the Congo and documenting the atrocities is definetely key, or atleast interviewing people that have been there. If you want people to believe in your cause, you always have to back it up with facts. I also agree that photos could be very useful, but I don't know how realistic it would be to hope for that. If you look at successful protests of the past, I think after spreading the word there are many things you can do. So maybe there's no Amnesty International, but you could still group together people who also believe in helping the Conogolese. Together, you could organize a march, spread pamphelets, send information to newspapers, hold speeches, and simplest of all have as many people as possible write letters to King Leopold arguing for a change.

[banana8688]

King Leopold totally sucks. It really was sickening and scary that soo many people fell into this huge trap. Personally I would have been a little skeptical in the firt place if the head of my country had his country. That's just reeks of corruption. I think liberal mentioned the allusions to Hitler and the Holocaust a connection which really drove home the point that this was beyond what is typically thought about colonization. Everyone else had really good ideas as to what to do and I have to say that many of mine were taken. I thought protesting the rubber factory was a good idea seeing as Leopold already felt threatened by competition in that market. I think the best way to expose an atrocity is to do just that, expose it. Pictures, graphic pictures, or even detailed accounts from the Congo. People react more strongly to something if it is truly shocking and disgusting. The way to get people angry is to give them hard material to get angry about. Morel did the smart thing by going to a popular writer because it accredited the accounts. Somehow I would make sure that Leopold was tried or something to show those that were involved that it was wrong. By making an example of Leopold it snaps those people who were involved back into reality, in the reality where what they did wasn't okay.

[mistercheese]

During this time, it is especially hard to address such issues of human rights without some sort of foundation or organization to back you up. However, as manachild said, propaganda would probably be the best way. Refering back to the issue of lynching, there was a post on how we would address such issues and make others aware of its horrid existence. I remember saying that by showing pictures of the situation and emphasizing the details that seem to trigger the most intended emotions, one might actually be able to change a person's point of view. In this case, there could be simple yet powerful messages and images of Leopold's people being forced against their will to get rubber while their loved ones are held hostage. Maybe through these depictions, the audience as a whole can make a difference.

[cunning1]

What happened to the Congolese people was a horrible thing and, frankly, I don't know how the perpetrators were able to live with themselves afterwards. To just use and abuse people like that...wow, just reading that was...I don't even know what to say.
I applaud Edmund Morel for what he did: it took courage. As a fellow human citizen, I would spread the news too just like manachild and others have said. But that's just not enough. We've come along way in Facing History to know that people can become moved by what they see but not do anything about it. So, rallying up people to show the pure insanity and inhumanity is a start. Really, nothing can't be done if people don't work together. Alo, I'm tinking that some powerful beings at the time should be part of the groups because more than anything they need authority so that people would actually LISTEN. People tend not to care much for those who don't have significant authority. So organizing groups would definitely be a good step: to see how far it would go would be left up to the people in it and how far they are willing to go to help.

[EmeraldSG]

I see exactly what cunning1 is saying about how we have learned about a lot of stuff in FHAO and how people were bystanders and didnt do anything about it. That happens all the time: the lack of motivation from people to do anything! its frustrating....in this instance which is obviously very serious, i think that yes, telling everyone and anyone about what is going on is a valid suggestion, however, im not sure how effective it would be. There needs to be something elsel a few people mentioned how a powerful person would move people, and i agree with this. A charismatic and confident leader can persuade people (Hitler did it), especially when people are in a desparate situation like the Congolese people were. With the right drive and motivation behind a group, i truly believe things can get accomplished, but once again, this would take a great deal of effort from everyone.