Podcasts about Belgian Congo

Neo-imperialism is marching, loud and proud, straight into the heart of global politics. Between Trump's quiet dealmaking in Riyadh, to his open musings about annexing Canada, the last few weeks have shattered the illusion that the age of empire is behind us. The world order of the last 70 years is crumbling, replaced by raw, transactional power. Trump and Putin are set to carve up Ukraine, billionaires are circling mineral-rich territories like vultures, and Washington's foreign policy has been reduced to a simple equation: If you have resources, we'll take them. This episode draws an eerie parallel between Trump's tactics and one of the most brutal imperial heists in history; King Leopold's reign of terror in the Belgian Congo. Just as European powers once justified plunder with the rhetoric of “civilization,” today's resource grabs are wrapped in the language of “economic deals.” And at the heart of exposing that brutality was Roger Casement, a man who paid with his life for revealing the truth. Join the gang! https://plus.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.We hear about the moment Dr Max Perutz discovered the haemoglobin structure.Our expert is Professor Sir Alan Fersht, who is a chemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology and knew Dr Perutz personally.We also hear about 22 Inuit children from Greenland's indigenous population who were sent to Denmark as part of a social experiment in 1951.Also, when mixed-raced children from the then Belgian Congo known as ‘métis', were forcibly taken from their homes in 1953.When an eruption of violence in Assam led to an estimated 3,000 being killed in the Nellie massacre of 1983.Finally, the devastating impact of the 2010 tsunami in Chile and a woman who survived it.This programme contains outdated language which some people might find offensive.Contributors: Lectures and programmes from the BBC archive Professor Sir Alan Fersht - chemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Helen Thiesen - a child in Denmark's Inuit children social experiment. Marie-José Loshi - one of the mixed-race ‘métis' who was forcibly removed from her home in the then Belgian Congo. Bedabrata Lahkar - a journalist for the Assam Tribune newspaper at the time of the Nellie massacre. Alison Campbell - a survivor of Chile's 2010 tsunami.(Photo: Dr Max Perutz and Dr Paul Kedrew. Credit: Hulton Deutsch/Contributor via Getty Images)

In 1953, in what was then the Belgian Congo, four-year-old Marie-José Loshi was forcibly removed from her family's village and taken more than 600km away to live in a Catholic institute. The cause of her kidnapping was the colour of her skin. Under Belgium's colonial rule, thousands of mixed-race children were taken from their homes and separated from their families. The state hoped the actions would quash any sense of revolt against the colony. More than 70 years later, Marie-José and four other women took on the former colonial power, seeking justice for themselves and the many other mixed-race children that suffered the same fate. She speaks to Kaine Pieri.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic' and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy's Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they've had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America's occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo: Marie-José Loshi. Credit: Marie-José Loshi)

Helen Roseveare was a medical missionary who worked in the Belgian Congo before, during and after the tumultuous independence movement. Listen now to hear the story of her 20 year ministry to the Congolese people. For advertising requests or just to reach out:Contact UsORrevivedthoughts@gmail.comGive Me This MountainHe Gave Us a ValleyMaria FearingHenry M. Stanley *For more info on the Belgian Congo*C.T. StuddAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

My reflections and review of the film Soundtrack To A Coup d'Etat, by director Johan Grimonperez, a powerful documentary about U.S. espionage in the Belgian Congo to secure Uranium for winning the race to build the bomb against the Nazis. This film beautifully portrays the complexity and intensity of the times and the role the jazz world played in the CIA's pursuits to hide our interests and role in murdering Patrice Lumumba to secure our control on uranium reserves discovered there by the Belgians. I also read from Adam Hochschild's essential history book King Leopold's Ghost and Susan Williams Spies In The Congo. Subscribe to to my youtube channel here-https://www.youtube.com/@andrewfaust2091 and contribute to me on Patreon here-https://www.patreon.com/c/andrewfaustpermaculture

This week, the guys get into ... nothing at all! It's New Year's Eve, and we're tired. 2024 ran us through the meat grinder, and we're currently trapped in the casing of a 3am hotdog. But in all seriousness, we've been doing this for 182 weeks without missing an episode, and we'll be damned if we break that streak! Chris is on a strange soul-searching pilgrimage in the Belgian Congo, we haven't been able to locate Bob since his last ether frolic, and Rob... he's probably just sitting in the corner of a dark room and flashing a light intermittently at a picture of Neil Breen. Stay tuned later this week (probably Thursday) for our special one-off roundtable discussion of Steven Seagal: Lawman. You're not gonna want to miss this one. Thanks for listening! Also, Chris really, really loves Tears for Fears. www.theworstmovieevermade.com

The music festival promoters hustle hard to secure a plane to Zaire. Finally on board, all the artists are nearly killed by James Brown and his oversized ego. Despite the high drama, the flight is a magical experience for all aboard when the musicians turn the plane into an epic jam session. This shared joy carries the crew through to Zaire. Upon arrival, they are greeted by the drums and voices of The Motherland. Meanwhile, fight promoters scramble to rearrange the weekend after Foreman’s cut and, in doing so, find out who President Mobutu really is. LITERARY REFERENCES “The Greatest, My Own Story”by Muhammad Ali (autobiography) “By George” by George Foreman (autobiography) “Hit Me, Fred” by Fred Wesley (autobiography) “LATIN NY” (Magazine, Issue No. 20, Nov 1974 Editor-in-Chief, Diane Weathers) Courtesy of Lola! Love OTHER MEDIA US State Department cables (available online in the US State Dept Archives and Wikileaks: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974KINSHA07638_b.html) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Daybreak Africa: Namibia's ruling SWAPO party was declared winner Tuesday of last week's disputed elections. The announcement ushers in the southern African country's first woman president after a disputed vote that the main opposition has already said it does not recognize. Plus, President Joe Biden continues his visit to Angola Wednesday. The Democratic Republic of Congo announces its intent to sue Rwanda at the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. Kenyan banks are urged to employ more people with disabilities to boost inclusion and service delivery. Spain plans to regularize 900,000 undocumented migrants as new arrivals surge. A Brussels Court of Appeals ruled this week that Belgium committed crimes against humanity in the Belgian Congo during the colonial period. A declaration of martial law in South Korea comes as a surprise to Washington. For these and more, tune in to Daybreak Africa!

A Brussels Court of Appeals this week ruled that the Belgium government committed crimes against humanity during colonization for its treatment of Métis, or mixed-race children, during colonial rule in Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The case was brought by five Metis women born in the then colony between 1948 and 1952. Like thousands of Métis children born to European fathers and African mothers, they were taken from their Congolese mothers, forcibly placed in religious institutions and later abandoned. Geneviève Kaninda, Advocacy & Policy Officer for African Futures Lab which has been tackling global racial injustices across Africa and Europe, tells VOA's James Butty, the court ruling highlights the importance of the right to reparations.

Fight promoter Don King and his business partner Hank Schwartz join forces with African strong man, President Mobutu of Zaire to put on an epic boxing event. To up the star power of this international affair, Don King joins forces with Hugh Masekela and Stuart Levine to build the three-day music festival, Zaire ‘74. It will serve as the lead-in to the next great superfight. As Ali and Foreman get into fighting shape, jazzman Hugh Masekela pushes both musical and social boundaries, strengthening the bond between Black Americans and their roots. REFERENCE BOOKS: “The Rumble in the Jungle” by Lewis Erenberg “Ali: A Life” by Jonathan Eig “Only in America” by Don King (autobiography) “The Fight” by Norman Mailer “The Harder They Fall: Celebrities Tell Their Real Life Stories of Addiction and Recovery” by Gary Stromberg “Hit Me, Fred” by Fred Wesley (autobiography) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Within 30 years in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Europe went from controlling 20% of Africa to 90%. It was called "the Scramble for Africa". Find out why Europeans colonized the Americas easily through unintentional germ warfare, but Africa was "the White Man's Grave". Discover how Europe finally conquered Africa; the horrors of the Congo; and the residual problems in Africa which exist today. 

It's been 3 years, 4 months, 27 days under the Biden Crime Family, who have taken exactly zero steps in preventing the Right-Wing Anti-Gun lobby from prosecuting Hunter Biden to the fullest extent of a questionably-enforceable ATF memo. Other Titles Considered Plan 1857 Water into Piss Make Slide Rules Great Again Todd's Chosen One Special Show Links: A5 things to know about the EU election results https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-election-results-2024-things-to-know/ Can Trump Eliminate The Income Tax? Maybe With An 85% Tariff https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewleahey/2024/06/14/can-trump-eliminate-the-income-tax/ Jaws, but Trump https://www.threads.net/@kst8wildcat01/post/C8R1JxVRgjk Unrealized Gain Tax—A Coming Sea Change in FY2025 Budget Proposal? https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewleahey/2024/04/30/unrealized-gain-tax-a-coming-sea-change-in-fy2025-budget-proposal/ Trad-Wife TikToker Who Dropped N-Word Digs Herself Even Deeper https://www.thedailybeast.com/slur-dropping-trad-wife-tiktoker-lilly-gaddis-is-somehow-even-worse-than-you-think

Content warning for discussion of genocide, torture, mutilation, rape, and slavery Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 11 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 10 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. This week we're going to be talking about the currently ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the long history of capitalist exploitation, western imperialism, and systemic racism that led to it. But first, as is tradition, let's take a trip over to the Alchemists Table to see what potion we've got for today. Today's libation has a lot going on in it, it's called Underworld Vacation. It starts by adding some strawberries and blueberries to the bottom of your shaker with .75 of an ounce of rose simple syrup before muddling the fruit. Then add one ounce each of pomegranate and elderflower liquor followed by 2 oz of Hendricks Lunar gin, add ice to your shaker and then stir for about 30 seconds before straining into a highball glass and topping with about 4 oz of prosecco. With that out of the way it's time to talk, once again, about the most important part of history. The proverbial devil in the literal details, context. Because to understand what is happening in the DRC today you need to understand the Kivu Conflict, and to understand that you need to understand the Second Congo War, and to understand that you need to understand the First Congo War, and to understand that you need to understand the end of the Rwandan Genocide and the Congo Crisis of the 1960s, and to understand that you need to understand the Scramble for Africa, The Berlin Conference and King Leopold !! of Belgium. So, we've got a lot to cover, and we're going to be doing it in fairly broad strokes, but it might still take us a while, so let's get started with the Berlin Conference. Near the end of the 19th century there was very little European colonial and mercantile presence in Africa. There were some port towns, to be sure, and there was trade, but very little of the African continent was under the control of European powers at this time. But, European greed for gold and, especially, ivory wouldn't allow them to ignore African riches for much longer. The Berlin Conference was organized in 1885 at the request of King Leopold II of Belgium and was organized by Otto von Bismarck of Germany.   Leopold had been using the explorations of Henry Morgan Stanley, and his own organization, the International African Association to quietly try and create his own private colony in central Africa that would be called the Congo Free State, but France found out and started making moves, and then Britain and Portugal found out and began trying to grab land which led Germany to do the same. War was brewing quickly as these various European powerhouses all sought as much land, wealth, and power as they could grab. This, ultimately, would be why the Berlin Conference was called and why it was so successful. These European powers decided, instead of going to war and killing each other over Africa they'd just all meet and carve it up like a pecan pie and settle it all peaceful like. There were 14 nations/empires in attendance at the Berlin Conference, Germany, Austria Hungary, the International Congo Society (this really means King Leopold II of Belgium), Spain, Denmark, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden-Norway, and the Ottoman Empire. And while all 14 of those countries were in attendance at the Berlin Conference and had a say in the final decisions that were made, only 7 countries were actually going to colonize Africa once it was over. Those countries were Belgium (really just King Leopold II, this would be his own private colony), Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain, Portugal, and Italy. At the time of the Berlin Conference less than 10% of the African continent was under European control, but by the time World War 1 broke out only Liberia and Ethiopia were still independent. Although, Liberia certainly only existed because of US colonial power, and so doesn't REALLY count as independent.  This period of New Imperialism is what we tend to call The Scramble for Africa. Sof ar we've been talking about this all in fairly clinical terms, as if these European countries simply sat around a table and calmly decided who would get what land in the second largest continent on the planet and then it just happened, with no additional muss or fuss. Anyone who has studied even the barest amount of human history knows that nothing happens without muss or fuss. There were wars, and battles, and massacres that led to Europe gaining control of African territory, but that's not the topic of today's podcast. We now need to talk a bit about the Congo Free State, and how King Leopold of Belgium, a frail weakling (compared to the other European powers) managed to worm his way into the conference and into one of the most lucrative colonies in Africa. The Congo Free State was a truly massive colony that was owned personally by Leopold. It was NOT, at least between the years 1885 and 1908, part of the Belgian Empire, it was not owned by the Belgian government and was ruled entirely separately, it just happened to be ruled by the King of Belgium. Leopold was able to gain this massive colony by convincing the monarchs of Europe that he was engaged in humanitarian and philanthropic work, and that the Congo Free State would be an area of free trade in Africa.  Leopold maintained a guise that he was not trying to use the Congo Basin to increase his own wealth and economic and political power. He maintained that his presence in the region was, as was a huge part of the ethos of New Imperialism, to civilize the savages of the Congo Basin and to bring them closer to God and good European cultural supremacy.  Of course, all of that was a lie, and that lie would reveal itself over the intervening years. The Congo was home to something that would become one of the most important natural resources in the entire world, rubber. There are only two sources of natural rubber in the world. The sap of the Hevea brasiliensis, or rubber tree that grows in the Amazon River Basin, and the sap of Landolphia owariensis, a species of woody vines that grow in the Congo. I mean, technically there are 2500 species of plants that produce natural latex and rubber, but those two are the big ones. Today 99% of natural latex and rubber comes from the Amazon, but Leopold was able to make massive profit off of his colony. The economic system in the Congo Free State was known as the red rubber system. It was a slave economy that Leopold enforced through the use of his armed forces known as the Force Publique. Each slave in the Congo Free State was required to harvest a regular quota of rubber sap. What that quota was was often arbitrarily decided based purely on profit based concerns. Workers who refused to supply their labour were coerced with "constraint and repression". Dissenters were beaten or whipped with the chicotte, hostages were taken to ensure prompt collection and punitive expeditions were sent to destroy villages which refused. The policy led to a collapse of Congolese economic and cultural life, as well as farming in some areas. Failure to meet the rubber collection quotas was punishable by death. Meanwhile, the Force Publique were required to provide the hand of their victims as proof when they had shot and killed someone, as it was believed that they would otherwise use the munitions (imported from Europe at considerable cost) for hunting or to stockpile them for mutiny. As a consequence, the rubber quotas were in part paid off in cut-off hands. A Catholic priest quotes a man, Tswambe, speaking of the hated state official Léon Fiévez, who ran a district along the river 300 mi north of Stanley Pool: “All blacks saw this man as the devil of the Equator ... From all the bodies killed in the field, you had to cut off the hands. He wanted to see the number of hands cut off by each soldier, who had to bring them in baskets ... A village which refused to provide rubber would be completely swept clean. As a young man, I saw [Fiévez's] soldier Molili, then guarding the village of Boyeka, take a net, put ten arrested natives in it, attach big stones to the net, and make it tumble into the river ... Rubber causes these torments; that's why we no longer want to hear its name spoken. Soldiers made young men kill or rape their own mothers and sisters.” One junior officer in the Force Publique had this to say about the quota system: The baskets of severed hands, set down at the feet of the European post commanders, became the symbol of the Congo Free State. ... The collection of hands became an end in itself. Force Publique soldiers brought them to the stations in place of rubber; they even went out to harvest them instead of rubber ... They became a sort of currency. They came to be used to make up for shortfalls in rubber quotas, to replace ... the people who were demanded for the forced labour gangs; and the Force Publique soldiers were paid their bonuses on the basis of how many hands they collected. Within the Congo Free State there was also rampant famine and disease that killed hundreds of thousands of people, a type of residential school where children were sent to learn to be either workers or soldiers. About 50% of the children who entered these schools died. There were also several reputable reports of Congolese people turning to cannibalism in the face of their lack of food resources. With everyone being forced to harvest rubber there was no one to farm or gather or hunt for food. It is generally accepted that over the course of Leopold's rule in the Congo Free State, between 1885 and 1908 that at least 10 million Congolese people were killed. Eventually word got out of what was happening in the Congo Free State and a conclave of the European powers of the Berlin Conference was called as, even they, decided that Leopold was going too far. Leopold offered to reform his government and economic system in the Congo, but no one would give him the chance, but also, no one wanted to take on the responsibility of rebuilding the Congo. Eventually, after two years of debate, the Belgian Parliament took over control of the Congo. Leopold would die about a year later in 1909. The Congo would remain under under Belgian control for another 50+ years, and while the abuses and overwhelming violence of King Leopold's rule were curbed. They even added a clause to the new Colonial Charter to outlaw slavery. Article 3 of the new Colonial Charter of 18 October 1908 stated that: "Nobody can be forced to work on behalf of and for the profit of companies or privates", but this was not enforced, and the Belgian government continued to impose forced labour on the indigenous people of the area, albeit by less obvious methods. So, even without King Leopold, the Belgian Congo was still a European colony, which means it was still exploited for profit. African independence movements existed throughout the entirety of European colonialism and imperialism in Africa, excepting Liberia the first country in Africa to gain independence from direct European control would be South Africa which would nominally gain its independence in 1910 after the creation of the Union of South Africa and would formally gain official independence when the last vestiges of British parliamentary control would leave the country in 1931 with the Statute of Westminster, and while there would be other successful independence movements after World War 1, such as Egypt, most African decolonization would come after World War 2, including the Congo's.  Nationalist movements popping up in various African nations and agitating for Independence is, generally speaking, what would eventually cause all of African independence, and this would be no different for the Congo. Though, something that is often also common in the case of independence movements that emerged between the end of World War 2 and the early 1990s is that they would become proxy wars for the US and the USSR during the Cold War. To make a long, complex story very short, the US came out on top in this war. The nationalist movements within the Congo largely emerged amongst a class of people called the évolués, which is a term that was used in French and Belgian colonies for “evolved ones”, people of African descent who had become somewhat Europanized through education.  One of the deciding moments in Congolese independence came in the form of the Leopoldville Riots of 1959. Joseph Kasa-Vubu, who would become the first President of an independent Democratic Republic of the Congo, was the leader of the ABAKO political party, the Alliance of Bakongo. The riots began because many young folks and members or sympathizers of the ABAKO party felt that the government was forbidding them from organizing and protesting. The riots broke out on the 4th of January, 1959. The crowd began throwing rocks at police and attacking white motorists. The initial group of protesters were soon joined by 20,000 Congolese leaving a nearby soccer stadium. At the time press accounts estimated that 35,000 Africans were involved in the violence, which quickly spread as the rioters attempted to enter the European section of the capital. Rioters allegedly smashed and looted storefronts, burned Catholic missions and beat Catholic priests. Many demonstrators chanted "indépendance immédiate" The Belgian Parliament established a commission of inquiry to investigate the cause of the riots. The commission found the disturbances to be the culmination of discontent with racial discrimination, overcrowding, and unemployment. It also concluded that external political events, such as France's decision to grant self-governance to the neighboring French Congo, to be a contributing factor, and criticized the colonial administration's response to the riot. On 13 January the administration went forward with its scheduled announcement of reforms, including new local elections in December, the institution of a new civil service statue that made no racial distinctions, and the appointment of more Africans to advisory bodies. The Belgian King, Baudouin, also declared for the first time that independence would be granted to the Congo in the future. January 4th is still celebrated as an auspicious day in the DRC, it's the Day of the Martyrs and denotes a turning point in the independence movement. Congolese independence was officially declared, as planned, on the 30th of June, 1960, with Kasa-Vubu of the ABAKO elected as president and Patrice Lumumba of the Congolese National Movement appointed as the Prime Minister. Now, despite the DRC formally being declared as independent at this day, they still relied heavily on Belgian colonial institutions that had been in place previously, like the Force Publique and various white technical experts who couldn't be replaced in the face of a lack of ready replacements available amongst the Congolese people. The fact that this lack of available peoples being a result of European colonialism forbidding Congolese people from higher education wound up being somewhat irrelevant, but absolutely caused greater levels of resentment among the newly independent Congolese. In the face of this lack of change and in the face of an address given by Lieutenant General of the Force Publique Émile Janssens, many of the Congolese troops mutinied. The address went as follows: "Independence brings changes to politicians and to civilians. But for you, nothing will be changed ... none of your new masters can change the structure of an army which, throughout its history, has been the most organized, the most victorious in Africa. The politicians have lied to you." Instead of sending in Belgian troops to put down the mutiny, as Janssens wanted, Lumumba fired him and began to institute some reforms, including immediately remaining the Force Publique to the Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) and promoting all black soldier by at least one rank. While this had success in Leopoldville and Thysville, it failed in the rest of the country and the mutiny intensified. The government attempted to stop the revolt—Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu intervened personally at Léopoldville and Thysville and persuaded the mutineers to lay down their arms—but in most of the country the mutiny intensified. White officers and civilians were attacked, white-owned properties were looted and white women were raped. The Belgian government became deeply concerned by the situation, particularly when white civilians began entering neighbouring countries as refugees. The international press expressed shock at the apparent sudden collapse of order in the Congo, as the world view of the Congolese situation prior to independence—due largely to Belgian propaganda—was one of peace, stability, and strong control by the authorities. The Congo Crisis would run for 5 years and would end with the torture and assassination of Patrice Lumumba, with Joesph Kasa-Vubu dying while under house arrest, and with the military dictator Mobuto Sese Seko “elected” as the president of the Republic of Congo-Leopoldville. This would note just one in the long string of times that the US helped to install a military dictator in order to overthrow a democratically elected left wing government, just because they had support from the USSR and the US feared (and fears) any threat to their capitalist hegemony. Between 1965 and 1971 Mobutu consolidated his hold on power as much as he could, removing all provincial control over anything and bringing every scrap of infrastructure he could under the control of himself and his central government. In 1971, with his hold on power relatively secure and as part of his policy of Africanization of the Congo's culture and government Mobutu renamed the Republic of Congo Leopoldville to Zaire, a name that was derived from the Kikongo wore nzere, meaning “river that swallows all rivers”. Mobutu would remain as “president” of Zaire all the way until 1997, but his hold on power would begin to crumble with the First Congo War that began in 1993. Now comes the time for more context. What started the First Congo War? Honestly, to a certain extent we can view the First Congo War as an extension of the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide began in 1994 as a final culmination of ethnic tensions that were exacerbated by, first, German and the Belgian colonialism. See, Rwanda used to be a German colony, Rwanda was one of the nations that Germany got as part of the Scramble for Africa, but after World War 1, with the signing of the treaty of Versailles Germany was forced to give up all of its overseas colonies. Belgium gained control of Rwanda. Belgium maintained many of the systems of power and oppression that Germany had put into place, most notably the fact that they put the Tutsi ethnic group in positions of authority and disenfranchised the Hutu and Twa ethnic group. The Twa are the indigenous ethnic group of Rwanda, but by the time the Rwandan genocide occurred they were only about 1% of the population, about 85% were Hutu and the remaining 14% were Tutsi. Still, based on the indicators of European scientific racism and phrenology the Tutsi had more “European features” and so were considered superior to the Hutu ethnic group and placed, exclusively, in positions of authority. The sudden shift in power dynamics after Rwandan independence is what would lead to the Rwandan Genocide as Hutu supremacists decided to vent their fury on the Tutsi people. We won't go into any more detail than that for the Rwandan genocide. Suffice it to say that when it ended hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsi people had fled the nation of Rwanda to neighboring African countries, such as Zaire. Roughly 1.5 million ethnic Tutsi people wound up settling in Zaire. There were also about 1 million Hutu extremists in eastern Zaire who had fled the retaliation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front at the end of the Rwandan Civil War and the Rwandan Genocide. As mentioned previously, the First Congo War, also known as Africa's First World War can most simply be seen as an extension of the Rwandan Genocide. Zaire had been in decline since Mobutu gained power in 1965. He was a terrible leader and the average GDP of Zaire dropped by about 65% during his reign. Eastern Zaire was a region of massive instability that was only made worse by the number of Hutu extremists who fled to the region following the Rwandan Genocide. Rwanda, just fully, invaded Zaire in 1996 in order to put down various Hutu rebel groups that were extant in the region. These rebel groups were actively funded and supported by Mobutu's government leading to this war that lasted for some 6 months. It involved several African nations including Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Burundi, Zambia, ZImbabwe, South Sudan, Tanzania, South Africa, Ethiopia, Chad, China, Israel, and Kuwait. Following the war Mobutu went into exile in the nation of Togo where he eventually died of prostate cancer in 1997. Zaire came under the rule of the communist aligned Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Kabila had heavy support from Rwandan, Burundian, and Ugandan forces during his rise to power in the form of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire. Kabila also came to be seen as an instrument of the foreign regimes that put him in power. To counter this image and increase domestic support, he began to turn against his allies abroad. This culminated in the expulsion of all foreign forces from the DRC on 26 July 1998. The states with armed forces still in the DRC begrudgingly complied although some of them saw this as undermining their interests, particularly Rwanda, which had hoped to install a proxy-regime in Kinshasa. Several factors that led to the First Congo War remained in place after Kabila's accession to power. Prominent among these were ethnic tensions in eastern DRC, where the government still had little control. There the historical animosities remained and the opinion that Banyamulenge, as well as all Tutsi, were foreigners was reinforced by the foreign occupation in their defence. Furthermore, Rwanda had not been able to satisfactorily address its security concerns. By forcibly repatriating refugees, Rwanda had imported the conflict. This manifested itself in the form of a predominantly Hutu insurgency in Rwanda's western provinces that was supported by extremist elements in eastern DRC. Without troops in the DRC, Rwanda was unable to successfully combat the insurgents. In the first days of August 1998, two brigades of the new Congolese army rebelled against the government and formed rebel groups that worked closely with Kigali and Kampala. This marked the beginning of the Second Congo War. The Second Congo War is generally considered to be the deadliest war since World War 2. Over the course of this war some 5.4 million excess deaths took place.  Now comes the time where I need to define what an excess death is. In epidemiology, the excess deaths or excess mortality is a measure of the increase in the number deaths during a time period and/or in a certain group, as compared to the expected value or statistical trend during a reference period (typically of five years) or in a reference population. It may typically be measured in percentage points, or in number of deaths per time unit. To put it more simply, disease, depravation, and starvation were so rampant during the Second Congo War that the overwhelming majority of deaths weren't caused directly by the fighting, but were caused by the residual damage of the fighting. The Second Congo War involved many of the same issues of the First Congo War. It would end with Laurent-Désiré Kabila assassinated in 2001 in his office by an 18 year old former child soldier. Laurent would be replaced as president by his son Joseph Kabila, who was elected unanimously by the Congolese parliament. To further highlight the complexity of the Congolese Wars, In April 2001, a UN panel of experts investigated the illegal exploitation of diamonds, cobalt, coltan, gold and other lucrative resources in the Congo. The report accused Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe of systematically exploiting Congolese resources and recommended the Security Council impose sanctions. All conflicts within Congolese territory will ultimately go back to economic exploitation and capitalist overreach. The Congo Basin is full of some of the most valuable natural resources that exist on the planet, and people will always be fighting over them. This leads us into the Kivu conflict. The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which have occurred since the end of the Second Congo War. This includes, but is not limited to Effacer le tableau, which was a genocidal extermination campaign against the Mbuti Pygmy ethnic group. The Bambuti were targeted specifically as the rebels considered them "subhuman", and it was believed by the rebels that the flesh of the Bambuti held "magical powers". There were also reports of cannibalism being widespread. It is estimated 60,000 to 70,000 Pygmy were killed in the campaign, and over 100,000 more were displaced. There are more than 120 distinct rebel groups involved in the Kivu Conflict, including the March 23 Movement, which a UN report indicates was created by the Rwandan government in order to potentially take over the Congolese government. Conflict began in 2004 in the eastern Congo as an armed conflict between the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Hutu Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) has played a large role in the conflict. With 21,000 soldiers in the force, the Kivu conflict constitutes the largest peacekeeping mission currently in operation. In total, 93 peacekeepers have died in the region, with 15 dying in a large-scale attack by the Allied Democratic Forces, in North Kivu in December 2017. The peacekeeping force seeks to prevent escalation of force in the conflict, and minimise human rights abuses like sexual assault and the use of child soldiers in the conflict. In 2007 and 2008, in several news and TV reports, the BBC published own evidence about Pakistani MONUC peacekeepers in Mongbwalu had entered in a gold-for-guns trading relationship with Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) militia leaders, eventually drawing Congolese army officers and Indian traders from Kenya into the deal. Following its own investigations, the UN concluded that there was no involvement of Pakistani peacekeeper in any such trade relationship. Namely Human Rights Watch harshly criticized the UN for the way it handled the investigation, providing detailed information from several UN documents, arguing that serious allegations of wrongdoing by Pakistani peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo were ignored, minimized or shelved by the UN's Organization of Internal Oversight Services. MONUC officials say nothing of substance about mining in Congo, which proceeds in parallel with the bloodletting, arms trading and extortion. For example, Anvil Mining has been involved in massacres in DRC. Anvil directors include former U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Brown, who served at U.S. embassies in Brussels, Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville and South Africa. Brown was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa (1987–1989) under George Shultz and George H.W. Bush and Director of Central African Affairs (1980–1981). Interestingly, Brown succeeded William Lacy Swing—head of MONUC in DRC—as Ambassador to the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). Meanwhile, the former top internal intelligence and security chief of the United Nations Observer's Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) has been worked for Anvil mining in Katanga since 2006. There have been numerous cases of sexual misconduct by UN peacekeeping forces in the Congo. This has been acknowledged by the UN itself (such as the letter of 24 March 2005 from the Secretary-General to the President of the General Assembly). So, basically foreign powers both within Africa and outside of it are actively fighting within the Congo Basin in order to secure control of the vast amount of natural resources that exist within the nation. The DRC currently produces about 70% of the world's cobalt, and 80% of the cobalt mines in the DRC are owned by China. The leading use of cobalt in modern technology is in rechargeable batteries. So your cell phone battery, your laptop batteries, any kind of rechargeable battery you have is likely created using Congolese cobalt, which is a direct cause of the millions of deaths and displacements that are occuring in the DRC.  The DRC is, effectively, the site of a capitalist proxy war as the region is fought over by foreign governments and local rebel groups for control over Congolese natural resources. No one in Europe or the US would even begin to care about an African country if it wasn't for the battery technology resources that are so abundant in the region. Between 1885 and today it is, very easy, to say that roughly 20 million people have been killed by capitalist excess and exploitation.  We can, absolutely call what is happening in the DRC a genocide, though it can be difficult to always pinpoint who, exactly are the victims. Broadly speaking the victims are the Congolese people, all of them, who are being killed over a desire to control the cobalt mines. This has gone far beyond simple ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi, though that conflict, which is still ongoing, definitely added to the fire. This is a genocide of the people of the DRC by capitalism itself. Capitalism has always been, and will always be an inherently genocidal institution. It craves the acquisition of individual wealth at the expense of the working class. You cannot have a system predicated on infinite growth within a closed system. Capitalism will always require that resources and wealth be stolen from people who need them. And when so much of our wealth is tied up in food, water, and housing, the theft of those resources from the working class will lead to our deaths. For the past century and a half the Congo Basin has been subjected to genocide after genocide in the name of capitalism. What is happening right now is only an extension of that, though made far more complicated by the literal hundreds of competing groups and the lack of any international will to see peace achieved. That's it for this week folks. No new reviews, so let's get right into the outro. Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. If you want to see/hear more of me you can find me on Tiktok @thehistorywizard or on Instagram @the_history_wizard. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you  for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day, and Free Congo.    

Long a vassal state to its much larger neighbors, Belgium only became independent in 1830, at which time it decided that what it really needed was a (constitutional) monarchy! Its first king, Leopold I, earned the gig by virtue of being born a Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld prince who had cultivated his relationships with Europe's royal houses during a distinguished military career. Like his son, he was not a paragon of family values, which prompted his second wife, Louise of Orleans, to lash out at their children. When Leopold II succeeded his father in 1865, he was hot to trot in acquiring colonial possessions, something that his father had attempted to achieve but never managed to. This led to a world-changing catastrophe and a crime of truly historic proportions. Leopold II engineered a private scheme by which he became the sole owner of the territory that is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he essentially enslaved the population and forced them to pillage their own land - rubber and ivory were especially valuable at the time - for his enrichment. Failure to meet quotas was punishable by death. Rape, mutilations, destruction of settlements, and taking workers' families as hostages to force them to work harder were all common. Leopold was savvy enough to recognize that this state of affairs wouldn't fly with the public in Belgium, so he invested heavily in a propaganda effort to mask the reality on the ground. For the average person in Belgium, the stories of the Christianization of the people of the Congo and the improving social and economic conditions there supported their king's enterprise entirely. Meanwhile, writers and journalists around the world began to realize through their own travels what was really going on. But even millions of deaths, a horrifying population-wide immiseration, and the slimy personal enrichment Leopold had attained through those practices didn't cause the Belgian Parliament to rush to correct the situation. It wasn't until 1908, a year before Leopold's death, and decades into his brutal domination of the Congolese people, that Belgium's elected government took control of what would become the Belgian Congo, and later, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His involvement with the Congo wasn't the only thing damaging Leopold's image at home. He was a terrible husband to his wife, Queen Marie Henriette, and at the age of 65, in 1899, very publicly took a 16-year-old mistress who he lavished with money and properties around Europe, including the famous Villa Leopolda. Listen ad-free at patreon.com/trashyroyalspodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How could the short life of one woman have such a sweeping impact on an entire nation? The life of Svea Flood is a remarkable story. In 1923, Svea Flood and her new husband, David, and their young son left their home in Sweden and went to the Belgian Congo (currently Zaire). They were accompanied by another couple from Sweden. After arriving at the mission station and seeking the Lord's guidance, the two couples were led to settle in a remote village. However, the village chief sent them away. They reluctantly built mud huts a half a mile from the village and prayed for a breakthrough. After two years of sickness and continual difficulties, they saw no fruit from their labors. Then Svea gave birth to a baby girl and everything changed. Decades later, Svea's daughter learned of how God had planted seeds in that village, and the harvest was abundant. Aggie Hurst: A Story of Eternal Perspective, https://www.epm.org/blog/2008/Nov/9/aggie-hurst-a-story-of-eternal-perspective Aggie: The Inspiring Story of a Girl Without a Country

Two + hours of DramaFirst a look at this day in History.Then Let George Do It starring Bob Bailey and Virginia Gregg, originally broadcast February 11, 1952, 72 years ago, Cortez Island. Alice Jensen hires George Valentine to find her missing husband. Mr. Jensen is after pirate treasure, but finds a gang of dope smugglers instead.Followed by Dangerous Assignment starring Brian Donlevy, originally broadcast February 11, 1953, 71 years ago, Belgian Congo. Steve is sent to the Belgian Congo to stop two women from fighting about "a strategic mineral" mine.Then The Adventures of the Saint starring Vincent Price, originally broadcast February 11, 1951, 73 years ago, The Missing Bridegroom. A very wealthy bride has been left at the altar. Simon Templar tries to find Jimmy Snider, a very elusive bridegroom!Followed by The Whistler, originally broadcast February 11, 1951, 73 years ago, Spell in Green. A newspaper columnist kills her boss while clawing her way to the top. Finally Suspense, originally broadcast February 11, 1962, 62 years ago, The Man Who Went Back To Save Lincoln starring Court Benson and Ian Martin. A time travel story about an attempt to alter the present by preventing an assassination in the past. We talk about how bad the final New York episodes of Suspense were. This is an exception. Thanks to Sean for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.stream

It started with a stamp from the Belgian Congo and took Professor Ed Williams around the world—along with hundreds of students, older adults, and college deans. “It” is the retired professor's passion for travel, and not just any travel. Learning Vacations. Ed shares his journey with host Lisa Champeau on how he made a career of travel education with a focus on China, the “sleeping giant” who sleeps no more.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To call what's happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo one of the worst humanitarian crises in the past decades is an understatement. What's happening in Congo it's not only a consequence of colonialism, but also still colonialism and exploitation of the global south in its maximum expression. In this special episode we do a deep dive into de situation of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We talk about the history, from colonial times, King Leopold II Free Congo State, Belgian Congo, Patrice Lumumba, Mobutu, the Congo Wars, and DR Congo recent event. Also, about cobalt and all the mineral riches in the DR Congo, which are the mining companies that are directly responsible for the aggressive exploitation and human rights abuses, what are the brutal conditions in which people who work in the mines are under, and how green washing is making this situation much worse.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSWYAclv2I8&t=0s  audio background   Links: https://www.instagram.com/congofriends/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AFR62/7009/2023/en/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BesbH5wRjlg https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/20/belgium-returns-patrice-lumumba-tooth-congolese-independence Report Amnesty international: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AFR62/7009/2023/en/ https://www.youtube.com/@APArchive/videos https://www.hrw.org/africa/democratic-republic-congo https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/26/un-report-rwanda-congo-hutus https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/16/dr-congo-electoral-violence-threatens-vote https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/05/what-is-glencore-who-is-dan-gertler-drc-mining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenke_Fungurume_Mine https://maps.congomines.org/#4.92/-8.26/27.33 https://panamapapers.investigativecenters.org/drc-copper-mining/ https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/09/drc-cobalt-and-copper-mining-for-batteries-leading-to-human-rights-abuses/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/africa/east-africa-the-horn-and-great-lakes/democratic-republic-of-the-congo/report-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/ www.youtube.com/@kmmedia8000 https://www.instagram.com/congofriends/

Mercury Theater on the Air | Heart of Darkness, Life with Father | Broadcast date: November 3, 1938Heart of Darkness: an exciting adventure of danger and madness in the Belgian Congo (written by: Joseph Conrad)Life with Father: a series of well-done vignettes from the famous novel (written by: Clarence)Featuring: William Alland; Arthur Anderson; Ray Collins; Alice Frost; Mildred Natwick; Frank Readick; Alfred Shirley; Anna Stafford; Orson Welles; Mary Wickes: : : : :My other podcast channels include: MYSTERY x SUSPENSE -- DRAMA X THEATER -- SCI FI x HORROR -- COMEDY x FUNNY HA HA -- VARIETY X ARMED FORCES.Subscribing is free and you'll receive new post notifications. Also, if you have a moment, please give a 4-5 star rating and/or write a 1-2 sentence positive review on your preferred service -- that would help me a lot.Thank you for your support.https://otr.duane.media | Instagram @duane.otr

In this episode, Michael Frost and I have a great conversation around his book Mission is the Shape of Water. We hear how mission has taken different shapes throughout the centuries, but the principles of mission remain the same. We hear stories about The missionaries of the first few centuries after Christ, Boniface and the Celtic movement, Zinzindorf and the Moravians, Mary Slessor, and Alice Seely Harris. We then move into how all of this history impacts our world today. What we can learn, take from, and move on from as we join God in his mission to draw all peoples to Himself. Join us as we learn from past mission to inform our future mission as we join God in His work.Michael Frost is an internationally recognised Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. His books are required reading in colleges and seminaries around the world and he is much sought after as an international conference speaker.Since 1999, Dr Frost has been the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre located at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He has also been an adjunct lecturer at various seminaries in the United States.He is the author or editor of nineteen books, inclunding, The Shaping of Things to Come (2003), Exiles (2006), The Road to Missional (2011) and Surprise the World! (2016). Mike's latest book is Mission is the Shape of Water which is what we talk about in this conversation.He was one of the founders of the Forge Mission Training Network and the founder of the missional Christian community, smallboatbigsea, based in Manly in Sydney's north. He is also well known for his protests against Australia's treatment of refugees, some of which have resulted in his arrest, as well as his advocacy for racial reconciliation, foreign aid, and gender equality.Mike's Book:Mission is the Shape of WaterConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Threads at www.facebook.com/shiftingculturepodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/shiftingculturepodcast/https://twitter.com/shiftingcultur2https://www.threads.net/@shiftingculturepodcastConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below.Support the show

This week we talk about HIV, AIDS, and ART.We also discuss HAART, the Berlin Patient, and potential future cures.Recommended Book: Allergic by Theresa MacPhailShow Notes* https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet* https://hivinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv/fact-sheets/hiv-treatment-basics* https://clinicalinfo.hiv.gov/en/glossary/antiretroviral-therapy-art* https://www.paho.org/en/topics/antiretroviral-therapy* https://journals.lww.com/jaids/fulltext/2010/01010/declines_in_mortality_rates_and_changes_in_causes.13.aspx* https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13181-013-0325-8* https://academic.oup.com/jac/article/73/11/3148/5055837?login=false* https://journals.lww.com/jaids/fulltext/2016/09010/narrowing_the_gap_in_life_expectancy_between.6.aspx* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenofovir_disoproxil* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_of_HIV/AIDS* https://www.verywellhealth.com/cart-hiv-combination-antiretroviral-therapy-48921* https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/art/index.html* https://www.freethink.com/health/cured-of-hiv* https://www.jstor.org/stable/3397566?origin=crossref* https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/11/science/new-homosexual-disorder-worries-health-officials.html* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23444290/* https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4251-hiv-aids* https://web.archive.org/web/20080527201701/http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/2007_epiupdate_en.pdf* https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(23)00028-0/fulltextTranscriptIn mid-May of 1981, the queer community-focused newspaper, the New York Native, published what would become the first-ever article on a strange disease that seemed to be afflicting community members in the city.What eventually became known as AIDS, but which was at the time discussed by medical professionals primarily in terms of its associated diseases, was clinically reported upon for the first time less than a month later, five official cases having been documented in an interconnected group of gay men and users of injectable drugs, who came to the attention of doctors for not being inherently immunocompromised, but still somehow contracting a rare type of pneumonia that only really impacted folks with severely impaired immune systems.In subsequent years, doctors started using a range of different terms for HIV and AIDS, calling them at different times and in different contexts the lymphotophic retrovirus, Kaposi's sarcoma and opportunistic infections, and the 4H disease, referring to heroine users, hemophiliacs, homosexuals, and Haitians, the four groups that seemed to make up almost all of the confirmed afflicted patients.The acronym GRID, for gay-related immune deficiency was also used for a time, but that one was fairly rapidly phased out when it became clear that this condition wasn't limited to the gay community—though those earlier assumptions and the terminology associated with them did manage to lock that bias into mainstream conversation and understanding of AIDS and HIV for a long time, and in some cases and in some locations, to this day.By the mid-80s, two research groups had identified different viruses that seemed to be associated with or responsible for cases of this mysterious condition, and it was eventually determined (in 1986) that they were actually the same virus, and that virus was designated HIV.HIV, short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a retrovirus that, if left untreated, leads to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, in about 50% of patients within ten years of infection.So HIV is the virus, AIDS is a condition someone with HIV can develop after their immune system is severely damaged by the infection, and there are a bunch of diagnostic differentiations that determine when someone has transitioned from one category to the other, but in general folks with HIV will experience moderate flu- or mono-like symptoms, alongside swollen lymph nodes and rashes and throat problems and sores across their bodies in the early stages of infection, and as things progress, they develop opportunistic infections of the kind that can only really latch onto a human when their immune system is weakened or shut down. While AIDS, arriving after the immune system is well and truly damaged, brings with it a slew of opportunistic infections and associated issues, the afflicted person potentially developing all sorts of cancers, sarcomas, persistent infections, and extreme versions of the flu-like, mono-like symptoms they may have suffered earlier on.We don't know for certain how and where HIV originated—and that's true of both kinds, as there's an HIV-1 and HIV-2 virus, the former of which accounts for most infections, the latter of which is less common, and less overall infectious—but both HIV types seem to have been transmitted to humans from non-human primates somewhere in West-central Africa in the early 20th century, possibly from chimpanzees in southern Cameroon, but that's pretty speculative, and there's some evidence that these diseases may have made the leap several times; so while there's a pretty good chance, based on what we know now, that the disease made it into humans and mutated approximately somewhere in that vicinity, sometime in the early 20th century, possibly via chimps hunted and eaten by locals as bushmeat, we really don't know for certain.There are reports of what were probably HIV as far back as 1959 in the Belgian Congo, but that's a bit speculative, too, and based on imperfect notes from the time.Back then, though, and through the 1980s, folks who contracted HIV and who were not treated would typically die within 11 years of being infected, and more than half of those diagnosed with AIDS in the US from 1981 through 1992 died within 2 years of their diagnosis; such a diagnosis was a death sentence, basically; it was a really horrible and scary time.Today, the outlook for folks who contract HIV is substantially better: the life expectancy of someone who contracts the virus and who is able to get treatment is about the same as someone who is not infected; the disease isn't cured, but the level of HIV virus in the blood of a person receiving treatment is so small that it's no longer transmissible, or even detectable.What I'd like to talk about today is a new therapy that's making those sorts of outcomes possible, how some few people have now been cured of HIV entirely, and what's on the horizon in this space.—Antiretroviral therapy, or ART, typically consists of a combination of drugs based on those that were originally combined in this way in 1996 by researchers who announced their findings at the International AIDS Conference in Vancouver—they called their approach highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, and this combo was based on findings from earlier drugs that addressed one of HIV's seven stages of development—but because they all hit that same, single stage, the virus was rapidly developing an immunity to them, and they were universally pretty toxic, with horrible side-effects.What's more, this drug cocktail increased patients' life expectancy by about 24 months, on average—which is a lot, about two years, but considering all those side effects, which included severe liver problems and anemia, the extra months of life generally weren't very pleasant extra months.In 1995, a class of drugs called protease inhibitors were introduced, which prevented HIV from making copies of itself using the body's structural proteins.That, combined with the effects of other, existing retrovirals, which hindered the virus's ability to hijack the body's cells to make more of itself, turned out to be a substantial improvement over just one or the other approach.The announcement in 1996 was notable because the researchers involved were able to knock the viral load in their patients down to an undetectable level, and then keep it there, by using three drugs from each of those two antiviral classes, those two different approaches.So HAART was a major improvement over what came before, but it was still imperfect; deaths tied to HIV plummeted by 50% in the US and Europe in just three years, but the life expectancy of folks using this therapy was still low compared to other people; someone who contracted HIV in their 20s and went on this therapy was still only expected to live till their early 50s; way better than a two-year increase, but still plenty of room for improvement.In addition to that lifespan duration limitation, the HAART bundle of therapies was just really difficult to maintain.Some people experienced a dramatic redistribution of body fat, some developed heart arrhythmias or insulin resistance or peripheral neuropathy or lactic acidosis—which is basically a toxic buildup of the acid that results from metabolism, which is usually cleared naturally, but when it doesn't, it's potentially deadly.Anything less than absolutely perfect adherence to the treatment schedule was also potentially deleterious to the desired outcomes; it wasn't a forgiving regimen, with some of the drugs requiring three capsules be taken every 8 hours, and there was a chance that if a portion of a dose of one drug was missed, or not administered on time, the virus could develop an immunity to it and the whole thing would fall apart.Consequently, the HAART regimen was generally reserved until things got really bad, and that meant it didn't have a very large effect on the infected population, and those who did benefit from it suffered consequences, alongside those benefits.The change in terminology from HAART to ART arrived in 2001 when a drug called Viread, the brand name for tenofovir disoproxil, was released and added into the mix, replacing some of the most toxic and cumbersome of the previous therapies with a single pill per day, and one that came with far fewer, and far less extreme, side effects.In 2005 it was finally demonstrable, with a bunch of data, that beginning this type of therapy early rather than waiting until things get really bad was worth the trade-offs—researchers showed that if folks received access to ART upon diagnosis, severe HIV associated and non HIV associated illnesses  were reduced by 61%.As of 2016 there was still an average life expectancy gap between folks with HIV who received early care and people who were not infected of about 8 years, but that gap has been steadily closing with the introduction of new, easier to use, less side effect prone drugs—drugs that tend to attack the virus at different stages, and which take different approaches to hindering and blocking it—alongside innovations in how the drugs are delivered, like introducing substances that are converted by the body into the desired drug, which massively cuts the requisite dosage, in turn lessening the strain on the body's organs and the potential side effects associated with taking a higher dose of the drug, itself.We've also seen the advent of fixed-dose combination drugs, which are exactly what they sound like: a single pill containing the entire combination of drugs one must take each day, which makes a combination therapy much easier to administration and stick with, which in turn has substantially reduced the risk of severe side effects, and prevented mutations that might otherwise make a patient's virus more immune to some component of the drug cocktail.Some newer options just use two drugs, too, compared to the previous three-or-more, and most of these have been shown to be just as effective as the earlier, more bodily stressful combinations, and a recent, 2021 drug is injectable, rather than deliverable in pill-form, and can be administered just once a month—though a version of this drug, sold under the name Cabenuva, has been approved for administration every other month.So things in this corner of the medical world are looking pretty good, due new approaches and innovations to existing therapy models.These models remain imperfect, but they're getting better every year, and contracting HIV is no longer a death sentence, nor does it mean you'll always be infectious, or even detectably infected: the amount of HIV virus in one's blood can be kept undetectably low for essentially one's entire life, so long as one is able to get on the right therapy or combination of therapies and stick with it.That said, the global HIV pandemic is far from over, and access to these drugs–many of which are pricy, if you don't have insurance that will cover them—is not equally distributed.As of late-2022, the UN's official numbers indicate that about 39 million people, globally, have HIV, about 1.3 million were infected in 2022, and about 630,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses that year.That said, of those 39 million or so who are infected, nearly 30 million are receiving some kind of antiretroviral therapy, and about 86% of people who are estimated to be infected know their status, so they can seek such therapies, and/or take other precautious to protect themselves and others; though that also means about 5.5 million people, globally, have HIV and don't realize it.Here's a really remarkable figure, though: among people who are infected and know they are infected, about 93% of them were virally suppressed as of 2022.That's astonishing; 93% of people who have HIV and are aware of it are on some kind of therapy that has allowed them to suppress the virus so that it's nearly undetectable—the difference between the two, by the way, is that suppressed means 200 copies of the HIV virus per milliliter of blood, while undetectable is generally considered to be less than 50 copies per milliliter.So huge leaps in a relatively short period of time, and a massive improvement in both duration and quality of life for folks who might otherwise suffer mightily, and then die early, because of this virus and its associated symptoms.That said, there are some interesting, new approaches to dealing with HIV on the horizon, and some of them might prove to be even more impactful than this current batch of incredibly impactful ART options.As of September 2023, five people have been confirmed cured of HIV; not suppressed and not with viral loads at undetectable levels: cured.The first of these cured people, often referred to as the Berlin Patient, received a stem cell transplant from a bone marrow donation database that contained a genetic mutation called CCR5 Delta 32, which makes those who have it essentially immune to HIV infection.Three months after he received the transplant and stopped taking ART, doctors were unable to find any trace of the virus in his blood.He died from cancer in 2020, but there didn't seem to be any HIV in his blood from when he received the stem cell transplant, onward, and that happened in the early 2000s, and was formally announced to the medical community in 2008.At least two other people—two that we know about, anyway—have been cured of HIV using the same method; though at the moment at least, this option is severely limited as it requires that patients have a bone marrow match in donor databases, and that one of those donors have that specific, relatively rare mutation; so with existing science and techniques, at least, this is unlikely to be a widespread solution to this problem—though a 2017 experiment used stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood from a baby with that mutation to treat a woman' leukemia and cure her HIV, so there's a chance other approaches that make use of the same basic concept might be developed, opening this up to more people.Cancer drugs may also help some people with HIV: a drug that's been approved to treat several cancers called Venetoclax seems to also bind to a protein that helps HIV-infected T cells dodge the body's immune system and survive, and that realization has led to a series of experiments that showed HIV was suppressed in mice receiving this drug—though it bounced back a week later, and two weeks later in mice receiving both this drug and ART.This is unlikely to be a solution unto itself, then, but there's a chance either an adjusted version of this drug, or this drug in combination with other therapies, might be effective; and there's a clinical trial testing the efficacy of Venetoclax in human HIV patients at the end of this year, and another in 2024, so we may soon know if its safe and desirable to use this drug alongside ART, and that may, in turn, lead to a better understanding of how to amplify the drug's effects, or apply this method of hindering HIV from a different angle.CRISPR, the gene-editing technology borrowed from bacteria that allows for the cutting and removing and adding of genetic information, has enabled the development of several new potential HIV cures, one of which, called EBT-101, basically enters the body, finds helper T cells, and then cuts out chunks of the HIV virus's DNA, which prevents it from being able to replicate itself or hide away, reemerging later after another treatment has suppressed it.The benefit of this approach is that it could kill the viral reservoirs that otherwise allow HIV to persist in people who have undergone treatments, and a version of it that targets SIV, which is similar to HIV, but found in non-human primates—performed exactly as they hoped it would, finding and editing the targeted DNA, raising hopes than an HIV-targeting variation may manage similar wonders in human patients.This would be great if it ends up working, as one injection would theoretically clear all HIV from a person's system in relatively short-order, but the trials done so far have been small and on monkeys, and because of the nature of the research, it's not clear the monkeys were cured of HIV—just that the treatment got where it was supposed to go and made some DNA edits.A human trial of EBT-101 will finish up in March of 2025, though the researchers plan to follow up with their subjects for up to 15 years following the trial, to assess any long-term effects from their treatment, since CRISPR and this approach to messing with genes is still such a new thing.So while this may be a solution at some point, there's a good chance it won't be a real-deal, available option for another decade, minimum.So we've come a long way in a very short period of time with HIV and AIDS treatments, and the future is looking pretty good, with even more options and approaches on the horizon, including some actual cures, alongside high-quality, actually useable treatments.But there's still room to grow in terms of infection awareness, there are still distribution issues for some of these drugs, and there's still a fair bit of prejudice, the consequence of ignorance and historical misunderstandings and biases, keeping folks and institutions from doing as much as they otherwise could in many parts of the world; so a lot to be proud of, a lot to look forward to, but still plenty of room for improvement across the board. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes and Transcript New York Times bestselling author and award winning journalist Richard Poe always gives great context and depth to news stories so he returns to Hearts of Oak for a leftfield conversation concerning Britain and Africa.  Last year, Italy's Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni suddenly started denouncing French neo-colonialism, blaming them for keeping Africa poor and forcing the inhabitants to flee to Europe.  Richard asks if she is focussing in the right direction, is it not the British who are destabilising Africa through economic levers and intelligence operations?  We have seen African governments falling like dominoes with 7 coups in just three years.  What lies behind these and are they connected or just purely random? Richard Poe is a New York Times-bestselling author and award-winning journalist. He has written widely on business, science, history and politics. His books include The Shadow Party, co-written with David Horowitz; The Einstein Factor, co-written with Win Wenger; Perfect Fear: Four Tales of Terror; Black Spark, White Fire; the WAVE series of network marketing books; and many more. Richard was formerly editor of David Horowitz's FrontPageMag, contributing editor of NewsMax, senior editor of SUCCESS magazine, reporter for the New York Post, and managing editor of the East Village Eye. Connect with Richard... WEBSITE: https://www.richardpoe.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RealRichardPoe?s=20 SUBSTACK: https://richardpoe.substack.com/ BOOKS: https://amzn.eu/d/18lNMtp Interview recorded 8.9.23 *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art https://theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com/ and follow him on GETTR https://gettr.com/user/BoschFawstin and Twitter https://twitter.com/TheBoschFawstin?s=20  To sign up for our weekly email, find our social media, podcasts, video, livestreaming platforms and more...https://heartsofoak.org/connect/ Please subscribe, like and share!   Subscribe now Transcript (Hearts of Oak) Hello, Hearts of Oak, and welcome to another interview coming up in a moment with Richard Poe, who re-joined us. He was last with us when we looked at his book, The Shadow Party, looking at George Soros and his control, power, and influence. And today we look at something completely different, and that is a thread that he put up on Twitter titled, Are the British Destabilizing Africa? And this is from a video that Giorgia Meloni, the Italian PM, put up denouncing French neo-colonialism and I often think well the Brits did good in Africa but maybe the French and the Belgians and the Germans and they were a bit naughty. But Richard brings his deep understanding, his delves deep into this subject and, exposes maybe why that thinking is not necessarily correct, how the British have been closely involved, look an economic side of it but also the intelligence services and how they operate and look in some of the recent coups, maybe what lies behind that a little bit. So much to pack into this huge subject. Richard Poe, it is wonderful to have you back with us again. Thank you so much for joining us again today. (Richard Poe) Thanks, Peter, it's great to be here.  Great, and we're going to go through quite a bit. Just before we jump in, I'll just say to the viewers, that Richard is well worth following because his tweets actually bring something quite different. Bring the historical side to a lot of what happens and I think the conservatives movement can often be guilty of kind of in your face what's happened that morning and by the afternoon it's old news and just for our viewers and listeners I think Richard brings context often to stories that are happening but whenever Richard is last on we look through his book The Shadow Party. How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and the 60s radicals seize control of the Democratic Party. That is in the description for you to go back and have a look at and delve deeper into that topic. But he is a bestseller on many other books but that's what we stuck on and of course former editor of Front Page Magazine and we've had David Horowitz on with us before. But Richard there, people can obviously find you @RealRichardPoe, richardpoe.com, the website, and Richard Poe on Substack. Everything is in there for the viewer and listeners to take advantage of. Richard, one tweet that caught my eye, and we will delve a little bit into that, is on Africa and the Brits. And as much as I like blaming the French for everything as a Brit, that is our national pastime, sometimes the British have been at fault over history for a few things. If it hasn't been the French, it's probably been the Brits or the Belgians maybe. But there was a statement I think by Georgia Meloni, the Premier of Italy, and she had started denouncing French neo-colonialism and you had put up about the British destabilizing Africa. Do you want to maybe just begin with that and set out why we can't point the fingers solely at the French? Right. Well, basically, I knew something about, let's call it the neo-colonial infrastructure of Africa, because I was actually hired by a think tank, oh, more than 10 years ago to do a paper on that subject. And for various reasons, it was never published, but it was extremely eye-opening. What I basically discovered, to my astonishment, was that the EU, and in particular Great Britain, France as well, but really Great Britain more than anyone else, had essentially continued their colonial relationship beyond the date when these various African countries supposedly became independent, that what they actually did, they being the various European colonial powers, is they simply set up alternate structures through various kinds of diplomatic channels and the UN system as it was being set up. So that the UN today. Really is a neo-colonial structure. And that's really what I discovered in this research, which again, never saw the light of day. A topic I may write about someday in my memoirs. But so I had studied this in some detail, these NGOs and international treaties and such that had been set up for the very purpose of making sure that those European countries which had formerly owned colonies in Africa continued to maintain that relationship. So specifically the Anglophone colonies that were English speaking, maintained their relationship with Great Britain. The Francophone colonies maintained their relationship with France and so on. And in the 1957 Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Commission, or community. This relationship was actually formalized, whereas the countries which had been former colonies, and I think the way they put it in the treaty, they didn't call them colonies, but they said countries in Africa having a special relationship to members of the EEC, would have a certain kind of membership in the EEC. I think they were called associated members. And they would have a special diplomatic and economic relationship with the EEC, trade privileges and so forth. So maybe because I researched this so deeply, I don't want to bore your viewers with so many details, but the bottom line is, so in the last few weeks on Twitter, we've suddenly seen an uproar from, especially from certain influencers with these coups that have been happening in Africa. In particular, there have been six coups in three years. In a number of countries, most of which are former French colonies. In fact, all of which are former French colonies except Sudan, and the cry has gone out that at last the freedom-loving people of Africa are getting on their feet and overthrowing the yoke of French colonialism. This map has been getting wide circulation and all this enthusiasm from people on Twitter about overthrowing French colonialism. So I thought this was remarkable for a couple of different reasons. First of all, I thought French colonialism was overthrown a long time ago, or at least that's the official story. I remember as a kid, you know, in the 1960s, that was the big thing. The end of colonialism. It's all over. And, you know, these nationalist leaders in Africa who had become, you know, the first presidents of the newly independent countries. These were big pop culture heroes in the 60s. And so now so many decades later to say, finally at last French colonialism is being overthrown. So on the one hand I thought that was interesting because it broke with the pop culture narrative that we were all brought up with that colonialism ended decades ago. All of a sudden it's here, it's now, and it's being overthrown in the year 2023. But the other thing that caught my attention is that they were specifically referring to French colonialism, when in fact there were several colonial powers, in Africa. There was Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, the list goes on. And in the case of Italy and Germany, their colonies were taken away because of world wars. But still, there were several colonial powers that remained, which still considered themselves officially, quote unquote, responsible for their former colonies, which meant, especially in the case of France, that they would intervene militarily in those countries when they felt there was some need to do so. And the French in particular have done this probably more than any other quote unquote former colonial power, but the British do it too. They just have a more subtle way of doing it. And so this is what I discovered that think tank research had done more than 10 years ago. So that was the second reason that I was, or the third reason that I was surprised by this sudden enthusiasm for throwing off the yoke of French colonialism, because I knew that in fact there was such a thing as French colonialism, and there was in fact such a thing as EU colonialism. The EU itself as a bureaucratic entity has directly involved itself in the management and admin of the African continent. And so I knew all these things, but most people don't. And it just was surprising to me to suddenly see this acknowledgment of that colonial relationship which in the past had been very controversial and hushed up and denied. Can I ask, because I've been reading a book on tax havens and delving into that world, understanding about money flows, and the book basically starts with the French, takes Gabon as an example of how the French set up the president there, and the coup has supposedly removed his son Ali Bongo and they use this as an example of how the French control large parts of Africa and I read that as a Brit thinking you see France have been really bad we're actually Africa should be thanking the Brits for what we've done for education roads and is is that a very simplistic view of Africa.  Well, when you say simplistic you mean the view that Africa was actually better off under colonialism?  Yes, because I know I've seen stuff and I've seen even you retweeted the thought that actually what Africa needs is for those colonial powers to go back and to fix it once again. That obviously would not be a popular view in many parts of Africa with the whole conversation about payments, colonial payments, repatriations, all of that. But my simplistic view is, well, Britain could actually fix that, build a few more roads, a few more hospitals, a few more schools, and life would be good again. Is that view extremely simplistic? Well, I would simply have to confess that I don't know, in answer to that question. The fact is, what I'm learning now, excuse me, the research that I'm doing now about the American Revolution and the economic and financial reasons for, the reasons why our founding fathers wanted independence from England in the first place, I'm really learning a lot about the colonial system and how it works. And you know, there are people in America who say essentially the same thing. We're not quite in as bad of a fix as Africa yet, although we seem to be headed that direction pretty quickly. There are people in America who are monarchists and who are questioning whether we were better off under the British, as strange as that might seem to you. And you're seeing that more and more. I think it's being pushed a little bit on social media in some quarters as a kind of PSYOP, and the fact is, you really have to dig to some extent to try to figure out, you know, why did the founding fathers feel so strongly that they needed to get away from England? And there actually were some really compelling reasons, most of which had to do with an extremely oppressive economic system that was enforced by law, in particular by the so-called Navigation Act, whose effect was basically to keep the colonies by force of law in a situation where we had to produce raw materials, food, crops, tobacco, cotton, things like that, and to sell them very cheaply in England and then to get all of our manufacturers from England, where they were beginning to have their industrial revolution and we had to buy them more expensively. And this is the heart and soul of the colonial relationship. The colony produces raw materials and food and sells them to the, very cheaply. The mother country then sells us, the colony, everything that we need in terms of manufactured goods, but they sell them quite expensively. And so there is a permanently enforced balance of trade, which is wildly disadvantageous to the colonized state. And this system is enforced by local corruption, because in order to make such a system work, you have to get local people to support the colonial relationship, and you make them very, very rich, but at the expense of the majority of people. And the best illustration for that in the United States is the pre-Civil War South, the Antebellum South, where you had a cotton-producing economy, which was almost entirely run for Britain. Almost all the cotton was sold, I think more than 80 percent, was sold to Great Britain, which was, of course, at that time the leading producer of cotton textiles in the world. And so some people, like our little Harris family in Gone with the Wind, got very, very rich selling cotton to England. But the way they did it was by enslaving people and making them work for free as slaves. And it was argued at the time of the American Civil War and in the years leading up to it that this colonial system, that essentially the American South had been recolonized by England and that slavery was the result of that. This was argued by certain economists at the time who were sympathetic to the Northern position. They were saying that the institution of slavery in the South was a direct result of the elite southern planters whose livelihood depended on Great Britain, on trading with them. Always having to try to please their British buyers by keeping the price low because the British did have other places where they could go. They were constantly trying to develop other sources of high-quality cotton in Brazil, in India, in Egypt, in other places. And so the southern planters who were what modern scholars would call a colonial elite, they were a small portion of the population who enforced essentially a British colonial system because it made them rich personally, but it was at the cost of everyone else, where the black slaves and the poor whites as well, essentially there wasn't much left for them at the end. And they weren't allowed to develop an industrial economy because that's not what the British wanted. They wanted the South to remain an agrarian society that devoted itself to selling cotton. So this situation actually led directly to the American Civil War, which was the most terrible episode in our history. And I wrote an article about this called How the British caused the American Civil War. What happened is the North started to, trying to impose tariffs on overseas trade for the specific purpose of discouraging the southern planters from selling to England and the British did what they do when their colonial interests are threatened. They sent in their secret agents and their provocateurs and one in particular named Thomas Cooper, who was a British, apparently, intelligence agent. He had first gotten his start going to France and helping to stir up the French Revolution. Then he moved to South Carolina. He became a very prominent, respected person. He was a judge. And in 1828, he delivered a speech calling for secession of the South. And this speech is widely recognized by historians as having been the beginning of the Southern secession movement. So because of that and various other manoeuvres, including material assistance, which Great Britain gave to the South during the Civil War. It is very clear and in fact undeniable, although it's been scrubbed pretty much from our history books. It is undeniable that Great Britain caused and instigated the American Civil War and did everything in their power to help the South win. And you can see British newspapers and political speeches by British statesmen. There was no question that they were on the side of the South and they wanted the South to win and they tried very hard to intervene, including having the French put a very large army into Mexico, putting a lot of British troops into Canada. So, what I'm saying by this, Peter, is that when you look behind the scenes, when you look at the surface, you might think that colonialism, or British colonialism, is seemingly benign, and that it actually helps people who are in a lower phase of development to develop infrastructure and trade and education and health and all these things, that it brings in money, it brings in expertise, and all of that. But when you look a a little deeper, you realize that the intention of the colonializers or the colonizers, whatever. Is not fundamentally a good intention. That what they want is to set up economic relationships that are actually disadvantageous to the colonized country in the long run. And to maintain those relationships, even if it means tearing apart a country in civil war, and in our case a country of people of European and British and Irish stock, especially at that time. It wasn't even a matter of race, you know. It's just when those economic interests are threatened, the colonizing power becomes very ruthless and the colonial elites become loyal to a foreign country instead of to their own country, which is what happened in our South. So, on the one hand, yes, I would agree that this question of were certain parts of the world under colonialism, I don't want to answer with a knee-jerk response to say, oh, out with the colonizers, it's racist, it's sexist, it's homophobic, it's whatever. Yeah, I just threw in homophobic just for the heck of it. Actually, I don't even say that. But I mean, what I'm saying is I hear what you're saying, I hear your question and I absolutely don't go with the knee jerk. Woke or politically correct, autumn idea that colonialism was totally bad. I don't go with it. I think it's a complicated question. But I also think that my research into the colonial past of my own country, the United States shows that our relationship with England was in fact terribly damaging to our country. Even though there were good aspects to it as well, because our own industrialization of the building of the Great American Railroads, all of that was funded by British capital. So it's two sides of the same coin. But if you have a foreign country meddling in your affairs and doing things like causing secessions and civil wars, that's a very serious matter. So what would, what would Africa really be like? The narrative now is, well, look, it's in a hopeless condition. The dictators, genocides, wars, constant military coups, and so forth. And if the colonizing powers came back, maybe everything would be better and nicer. But it's not always in the interests of the colonizing powers to make everything nicer and better. And I guess that's what I'm saying. And I also would raise the question as to what extent, these troubles that we're having today are actually caused by covert interference, by the West and by the former colonial powers. And, I think in this case that we're talking about now with these former French colonies, there's some kind of psy-op going on where, for reasons, let's say reasons unknown. Whoever controls the political discourse on Twitter is pretending to be all excited about these military coups and pretending that it all has to do with some mass movement from the ground level of people who want to throw off the yoke of French colonialism. But the fact is, first of all, these countries, most of them have had many, many coups. It's not at all unusual. They're showing this map, they're saying, oh my gosh, six coups in three years. That's actually not so unusual, for those countries or others in Africa. And the other thing that's kind of weird about it is, are these really French colonies or former French colonies, or are they just nominally French colonies and actually some other countries among whom is Great Britain are actually calling the shots there. And so it gets into this, and so I guess on one level I'm saying yes it is it is simplistic if we assume that whatever the news tells us is correct that once upon a time there was colonial Africa then the colonial powers all left for some unstated reason, which is never really adequately explained. And then supposedly these African countries were on their own and then supposedly all hell broke loose and they all started killing and massacring each other. I think it probably is a little naïve to accept that narrative at face value. I am not at all convinced that that's exactly what happened. And what instead appears to have happened is that the old colonial system was replaced by a new colonial system, basically run by the United Nations system, and that these disorders were allowed to go on. And in fact, in some cases, encouraged to go on for all kinds of reasons. I'll give you one example.  Yeah, give me an example and then I'll bring up another piece you had up, so go with your example. One famous example, of course, was the Rwandan genocide in 1994, where now Rwanda was a French colony and, in fact, while the genocide was happening, there were French troops there who were supposedly trying to stop it, and they were very sharply criticized for being strangely ineffective in not being able to stop it, especially since they were modern troops with modern weaponry and these people who were committing the genocide were supposedly armed with only machetes. So there were questions about the French handling of it. But even beyond that, the result of this genocide was that Rwanda, was subsequently taken into the British Commonwealth. Whereas before it had been in the French sphere of influence. And the normal traditional rule of the Commonwealth is that countries who are admitted to it are supposed to be former British colonies, but Rwanda wasn't. It was taken as a special case because the French had supposedly done such a terrible job of not protecting their people that it passed into the proprietorship of Great Britain. And so, I'm not the only person who has to raise an eyebrow and ask the question, qui bono? I mean, if Rwanda passed from French control to British control, and if the pretext for that passage, was the Rwanda genocide, would it be out of line to ask, what caused the genocide in the first place? And to what extent was it possibly even instigated by some foreign power, as was the American Civil War, as we're now learning more than 150 years after the fact. So that's one example. I could give others, but you said you had a point you wanted to make. Well, because you obviously, in a lot of the information you put out, you're talking about the intelligence services of the West and how they work behind the scenes. But then also there's the economic side. And this was, this is kind of the article I was touching on, let me bring up, this was a Daily Mail article, Recolonize Africa. And you said that it seems to be saying, and this is an old article, 2005, but it gives historical context once again, says it appears to say that Africa's become so violent and lawless that most African countries will welcome, kind of the West, colonial powers coming back in again. But then you mentioned the kind of colonial economic side, I think, when you look at the EU and how the EU keeps a lot of the countries poor through their tax and tariff systems is, yeah. I'm wondering where does, again, the fault lies at the economic side? Is it still the intelligence services working very much within those countries? Is it a mixture of those two? Yeah, what are your thoughts on that?  Well, I would go so far as to say that I don't believe that the colonial powers of Europe specifically, ever let go of their colonies, especially France and Britain. I think they simply found a different way to administer them and actually a cheaper and more efficient way where they didn't have to physically occupy these countries anymore and they didn't have to be held responsible for things like mass murders and genocides and coups and so forth, that they could have a more rough and ready kind of environment and they didn't have to worry about looking good in the face of world opinion. So in some ways it's actually a better situation for them than the situation they had before where they really had to make everything look good because their flag was flying over these various countries and if they committed terrible atrocities or allowed atrocities to be committed there would be consequences. Other European countries would criticize them and would take advantage. And we see that, for example, in the ruckus that the British propagandists made at the turn of the century over the Belgian Congo, where terrible atrocities were committed by King Leopold II in the push to harvest rubber, and he basically enslaved the whole people of the Congo and subjected them to terrible, inhumane practices. And the British, for their own reasons, made a huge, big deal about that. This was back in the turn of the century, of the 20th century, in the 1900s. And they made a huge ruckus about it and said, oh, how terrible, look how badly he's treating these people. The part of that story you never hear about is that the British themselves, British interests were heavily involved in the rubber trade in the Belgian Congo and were taking part in all of it. That part is never mentioned. Likewise, there was a similar ruckus in Peru, again over rubber harvesting. Now Peru was officially never anyone's colony since its independence from Spain, but in fact a lot of people don't know that the British basically exercised an informal control of Peru and some say that they still do to this day. And there was another big public relations ruckus over cruelties related to the rubber trade in Peru, which again British missionaries and human rights activists were leading. And it was somehow effectively concealed that the British themselves were deeply involved in committing these atrocities. So it's really a world of smoke and mirrors, where propaganda and psychological operations have really been part of the whole toolkit of colonialism really since the very beginning, and I believe that the reason the British became the greatest and most successful colonizers in the world is specifically because they are the best propagandists and the best at psychological operations. They basically invented modern psyops, and they're the very best in that field to this day, and that's really what it's all about. It's all about how to do things in foreign countries without seeming to be doing them, or to blame other people for doing them, such as blaming King Leopold II of Belgium for all these atrocities, and he certainly was guilty of them, but leaving out the part that British financial interests were in there very heavily, helping him to commit them. So this continues to go on today, where we have now a very fluid situation, a neo-colonial situation, as the left, as the Marxists named it decades ago, where the colonial colonizing countries are still there, and they're still probably just as much in control as ever were, but no longer held responsible to keep order in the same way they used to be. So it's really kind of a better situation for them. They can get away with a lot more. Now in these, the interesting thing in that article by Andrew Roberts, the British historian, he wrote that article in 2005. A lot of people in our, as you pointed out, in our social media culture think 2005 was, you know, like the last millennium or something. But actually, it's very important to understand what was happening then because, what actually happened is that the EU was in the process then of setting up an elaborate neo-colonial structure which basically controls Africa to this day. And now I mentioned that in the original treaty of Rome setting up the EEC back in 1957, they already had a formal relationship with past and present colonies in Africa which they recognized in that treaty. They call it a special relationship. And in the 1990s, some strange things started to happen. Which is that as the EU became activated and the Maastricht Treaty and the Eurozone, and it started becoming a reality, this thing that people have been talking about since the 1890s and before, It started becoming a reality in the 90s and immediately the cry went up to form an African union. And there was a strategy developed called the Joint EU Africa Strategy. And the motto of this EU Africa group was one Europe, one Africa. And what they wanted was a United Europe dealing one-on-one with the United Africa. So they wouldn't, that is so the European countries would not have to negotiate separately with each little country in Africa. They would have one authority controlling the entire continent with whom they could make their deals and their treaties, whatever those were. So interestingly, Muammar Gaddafi, the late dictator or president of Libya. He came out in, I forget what year it was. It could have been, it was around 19, in the late 1990s, I think. He made a very controversial speech in Libya where he said that the Arab Maghreb Union was a farce. That now the Maghreb is basically all of North Africa except Egypt. And in 1989, I think they had come together to form a regional economic structure called the Arab Maghreb Union. And Gaddafi had been one of the leading people pushing that. It was actually his brainchild, supposedly. But then, I think it was 15 years later, he gave this speech saying, let me tell you the truth. The reason we formed this Maghreb Union was because the EU forced us to do it. They said, we're not going to do business with you anymore because it's too burdensome dealing with each country unless you, unless all the Maghreb countries of North Africa come together in a union, we're not going to even talk to you. So on that basis, Gaddafi got up in circa 1989, and using the language of third world-ism and the non-aligned movement and Arab nationalism. Said that what we need to do is form this union so we can all be strong, all us Arab-speaking countries in Africa together. But then 15 years later, he openly and publicly confessed actually the EU is the one who wanted us to get together, had nothing to do with Arab nationalism, and they basically forced us to do it. And so then he said, let's dissolve this union, let's get out of it. Oh, it was in 2003, I just remembered. It was in 2003, so this was post 9-1-1, it was after Afghanistan and Iraq had been invaded, so things weren't looking too good for Arab nationalism at that moment. And so Gaddafi, getting with the spirit of the time, said the Arabs are finished, they're a laughingstock, and we want nothing to do with Arabs anymore, even though we're Arab speaking. We are now African. And then he came up with a new idea. Let's have an African union, he said. Now, actually, he had already proposed the African Union. It came into being in the year 2000, and supposedly Gaddafi was the one who thought of it and was the founding father of this African Union. But, you know, in 2003, he confessed that the last time he pulled that manoeuvre with the Arab Maghreb Union, it was the EU forcing him to do it. Should we imagine that on the second go-round with the African, that he suddenly became the third world Nationalist that he always claimed to be or was he simply like Scarlett O'Hara and all those southern planters in the United States in the antebellum South, was he simply, lining his own pockets by doing business with the colonizers and going where he thought the power was. Well, it looks like the latter. And that's how colonial elites work. You know, people are not that idealistic, unfortunately. I wish they were, but let's face it, they're not. You know, people will go where the money is, and that's just how it is. And so they formed this African Union to the cries from the EU of one Europe, one Africa, And they started signing all kinds of treaties and putting forth all kinds of policies that were completely mysterious and unknown to the African people who have enough of a struggle trying to get democratic government as it is. But now all of a sudden, whatever democratic structures had been set up at a national level in the individual countries had suddenly become obsolete because now the EU was talking directly to these officials in charge of this thing called the African Union. And the African Union was empowered to make treaties that could be enforced on all African countries. Imagine that. So, now that we've had the African Union since the year 2000. And one of its rules, supposedly, is that you're supposed to have free elections which are monitored by international authorities and absolutely no military coups. Military coups are strictly not allowed. And yet, since then, we've had the Arab Spring. These colour revolutions and civil wars in the Western powers, and now we're having these, continuing to have these coups, which everybody is cheering about on Twitter. All of this is supposedly, supposed to be impossible and illegal under the African Union and should trigger military interventions by the African Union. I think they call it the African Union Peace and Security, something or other, which basically mobilizes peacekeeping troops and also arranges to have European troops to come in, in order to fix problems, whatever they are. And so the mechanism actually exists in Africa probably better than anywhere else in the world where you have a transnational authority, the African Union, which actually has the real power and the real willingness to bring in heavy military force whenever they like, to stop things like military coups from happening, and yet they're still happening. Why is that? Why is that? I'll pick up on one thing as we finish. Realizing the Gaddafi started African Union changes my whole concept of it. That blows me away. But the fact that when you look at the EU, the EU, European Union, has been hugely successful at control within Europe economically. There are lots of questions that the EU has never been able to rise above and be a economic bloc, I guess, to rival the US, which was always the dream, probably, of the EU and the European Economic Community before that. But it's full control of EU members and if the EU can punish and has done with those in Eastern Europe for many violations on tax, on faith, on immigration. But the African Union, you don't hear of it as having that much say or power. It hasn't brought together those countries. Can we just finish just maybe touching on that, that kind of comparison between one bloc in Europe that has worked certainly for control, the African Union, is that by design or are there other reasons behind that? Well, I think it's by design that the African Union is weak. Is that what you're saying? That it really doesn't exercise the authority it's supposed to. I think it's by design. I think it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do, which is to create a central authority for European powers, especially Great Britain, which really masterminded the whole thing, in my opinion. And if you, I would just like to leave your audience with one point, which, is that article you showed by Andrew Roberts, where he said it's time to to recolonize Africa. That was in 2005. That was right after Tony Blair had done his African, Africa commission and they had mapped out this whole plan for basically re-colonizing Africa through the African Union and through other regional structures. Now in that article, Andrews actually says, he actually states that the French and the Germans will not be allowed to re-colonize Africa, that only English speaking countries. He actually says the United States and Great Britain, and with the support of New Zealand, Canada, and Australia, will be the ones to make this happen. The French, because of their cruelty in the past and their mishandling of all kinds of colonial situations, will not be allowed to have anything to do with it, nor will the Germans, because look what they did when they were colonialists back before World War I. You think 2005 was a long, long time ago, but he, Roberts actually evoked what the Germans did before World War I as a reason why they will not be allowed to take part in this great project of colonizing Africa. So now all of a sudden we're getting all this propaganda from Giorgia Meloni of Italy and from big influencers like Ian Miles Cheong. I don't mean to single him out, but he wrote this extraordinary tweet saying, yes, the people of West Africa are rising up against French colonialism. We're going towards a multipolar world. Hooray. Some words to that effect. He linked it to the whole idea of multi-polarism. And what is that all about? That's about overthrowing the global hegemon, the USA, which is supposedly the cause of all evil in the world. Overthrowing the USA, stripping us of our power, so then power can be decentralized among various countries. And so certain influencers such as Ian Miles Cheong is out there celebrating and saying, yes, out with the French, out with the French. Is it just a coincidence that Andrew Roberts, when he first publicized this recolonization plan, he expressly said the French are out. We will not allow the French to take part in this now, all of a sudden, so many years later we're hearing that cry again that the French are out. And some of these French countries, French colonies, so-called, one of them Guinea, maybe on another, we don't have time to talk about it now, but I have massive evidence that the British are really effectively in control in that country, Guinea, and running things in an extraordinary way, quite openly, including Rio Tinto, the mining company, the Anglo-Australian mining company, and Guinea has more than one half of the world's bauxite deposits, aluminium ore. And Rio Tinto has been trying to get in control of that, working with the Chinese. And it's interesting that, you know, the cry goes out, you know, from all the usual sources, the US State Department and what have you, oh the Chinese are taking over in Africa, that's one of the reasons why we have to go back in there and otherwise the Chinese are going to take over everything. But I notice whenever the British get involved with something, they somehow bring the Chinese with them. I'm not sure why they do that, but it's a little strange, what can I say? Well, we'll leave it on a cliff-hanger, that, about the British involvement there, and we'll pick up on that. Richard, I really do appreciate coming on. As I said at the beginning, I love reading your tweets and how you expand on so much. So thank you for joining us today and going through that Africa tweet, which is one of your latest ones. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Peter. Always a pleasure.

Five Cs of History. Change Over Time #1 of 4. Roger Casement has been a subject of fascination - and controversy - for over a century. During his lifetime, he was an internationally-recognized champion for human rights, and was instrumental in exposing the horrors surrounding the rubber industry in the Belgian Congo and Peruvian Putumayo. Significantly, he spent his life striving to do more than just expose the injustices of the Congo and Putumayo - he built a network of activists and leaders willing to intercede, push for reform, and demand change for the indigenous peoples who suffered under European occupation. After years working within the British Empire, he was radicalized in his Irish nationalist beliefs, and spent the last two years of his life working to fight for Ireland's independence from Britain. After his execution, some held on to the memory of him as a humanitarian hero, others claimed he was another martyr of the Irish nationalist cause, and still others distanced themselves from his evident homosexuality. The question of his sexuality determined whether or not he could be counted among the ‘real' Irish heroes. Find the transcript and show notes at www.digpodcast.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the author's introduction to this chilling true story: Carl Ethan Akeley is considered the “Father of Modern Taxidermy, a title not lightly earned. I first saw his work in New York's American Museum of Natural History in 1947, a small boy in hot flannel, dripping ice cream over his Buster Browns in the July heat. His bronzes of lion spearing, taken from his adventures with the Nandi of British East Africa, are still my favorite sculptures on earth. Perhaps I always related to Akeley because he was an American who proved that my own dreams of going to Africa were not in vain. Akeley, at heart a sculptor, caught better than anyone else the action and reality of his still-unspoiled Africa. Yet he paid a very high admission fee for his exposure, killing a wounded leopard with his bare hands and being left for dead in the icy heights of equatorial mountains after being savaged by an elephant. At last, in 1926, Carl Akeley paid his final dues for his lifestyle, dying of pneumonia on the high, chillingly wet slopes of the remote Virunga volcanoes of what was then the Belgian Congo, where he had collected specimens of the mountain gorilla for the museum. Should you walk into the Museum of Natural History in New York City, you will see a magnificent diorama of the mountain gorilla, which actually is more than a memory to Akeley. It is an exact depiction of his grave, in the saddle between Mount Karasimbi and Mount Mikeno. The peaks in the background, behind the spot where his wife laid his tired and African-worn bones, are the volcanoes of Nyamlagira and Nyiragongo. In creating his works for the museum, Akeley was the most generous of men, naming the display area after his close friend Theodore Roosevelt. He also dedicated his only book, In Brightest Africa (1920), to the ex-president. The years have a way of saying thanks in kind: the Roosevelt Hall is now the Akeley Hall, and small boys like me from around the world still thank him." -- Peter Hathaway Capstick, Death in a Lonely Land. My website: https://catholic-mens-podcast.pinecast.co/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090924548838 The following music was used for this media project: Music: The Fragility Of Tenderness by MusicLFiles Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/6723-the-fragility-of-tenderness License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Born in Yorkshire to a working-class mining family – Lived in the Belgian Congo as a child his father was involved in the tobacco industry. Mick joined the City of London Police 1972 as a cadet and lived in the City Of London Section House at Bishopsgate. In march 1973 the IRA set a bomb at the Old Bailey Mick was used with the other cadets in the casualty bureau.In 1975 the Moorgate tube disaster took place- Cadet Margaret Lyles was in the carriage and had to be cut from the wreckage and sadly lost her leg. He was one of the first on the scene of the Daily Mirror shooting and witnessed the fallout of Operation CountrymanIn a fit of pique decided that he and 2 others would resign from the police, and drive to Australia in a VW Camper. They managed to get to Iran as the revolution was about to take place and had to fly back to the UK.After returning to the UK Mick applied to re-join the police but this time it was Essex. Mick discusses his time at Rochford and the impact of the Miners strike on him and his family.Mick continued his service with Essex Police and concluded his service as a temporary ACC.It was the diagnosis of his wife having breast cancer that was the motivator to retire from Essex Police. He attempted to become the Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex Police and narrowly missed winning the popular vote..Mick is now a key decision maker with Stockvale who own Southend leisure icons such as Adventure Island and the Sea life centre.Listen to Micks brilliant story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Belgian WWII pilot Remy Van Lierde spends his post-war life in the Belgian Congo, where he sees a giant motherfucking snake from a motherfucking plane.

It started with a stamp from the Belgian Congo and took Professor Ed Williams around the world—along with hundreds of students, older adults, and college deans. “It” is the retired professor's passion for travel, and not just any travel. Learning Vacations. Ed shares his journey with host Lisa Champeau on how he made a career of travel education with a focus on China, the “sleeping giant” who sleeps no more.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hellooo, this week we had our friend Gary White on to tell us about the Baloobas tribe and the Niemba ambush in the Belgian Congo, enjoy!@shitetalkhistoryThe Ha'penny Comedy Club

The Lucasville Ohio prison riot, Matt's close call while hitchhiking, and other tales of true crime. Sources and References: **Trigger Warning: Graphic Photos** Father stares at the hand and foot of his five-year-old, severed as a punishment for failing to make the daily rubber quota, Belgian Congo, 1904 - Rare Historical Photos What happened in the Lucasville prison riot in 1993? (cincinnati.com) The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science , Kean, Sam - Amazon.com Netflix Series: Captive --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thewyrdkidspodcast/support

Coop tries to teach us about King Leopold the Second, the Belgian Congo, and how slave labor is still used to make cars today, but Joel just wants to talk about the movie Congo and laser guns.

Escape, originally broadcast October 20, 1950, The Power of Hammer starring Harry Bartell. A mad expedition into the Belgian Congo to arrest a white king in his jungle fortress. Also Captain Midnight, originally broadcast October 20, 1939, The Opened Door. Visit my web page - http://www.classicradio.streamWe receive no revenue from YouTube. If you enjoy our shows, listen via the links on our web page or if you're so inclined, Buy me a coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wyattcoxelAHeard on almost 100 radio stations from coast to coast. Classic Radio Theater features great radio programs that warmed the hearts of millions for the better part of the 20th century. Host Wyatt Cox brings the best of radio classics back to life with both the passion of a long-time (as in more than half a century) fan and the heart of a forty-year newsman. But more than just “playing the hits”, Wyatt supplements the first hour of each day's show with historical information on the day and date in history including audio that takes you back to World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, LBJ. It's a true slice of life from not just radio's past, but America's past.Wyatt produces 21 hours a week of freshly minted Classic Radio Theater presentations each week, and each day's broadcast is timely and entertaining!

Madeleine gives us a glimpse of her interactions with Nature through recalling her time as a child loving horses, taking adventures as a college student, and reflecting on the gifts of her father from that she treasures.At the end of the episode, Madeleine's Great Pyrenees does a trick that causes her to speak to him.  If you want to learn more about The Artwork of the Congo and the complicated implications of the European Gaze try these links: Art Nouveau, Art of Darkness: African Lineages of Belgian Modernism, Part I by Debora L. Silvermanhttps://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/662515?journalCode=wes The Trouble with “Heart of Darkness”Is Joseph Conrad's novel a critique of colonialism, or an example of it? by David Denbyhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/11/06/the-trouble-with-heart-of-darkness Governing economic interests: Interwar road construction in Belgian Congo by Lawrence Heindryckx https://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/43202

Choice Classic Radio presents to you Dangerous Assignment, which aired from 1949 to 1953. Today we bring to you the episode titled “Family Squabble (Belgian Congo).” We hope you enjoy the show! Please consider supporting our show by becoming a patron at http://choiceclassicradio.com

This week we return to an interview David did with the late Dr Helen Roseveare. Helen was a Christian missionary who served in the Belgian Congo (later Zaire, now DRC). Have a listen to her amazing story.  Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/   #healthygospelchurch #christianity #faith

We start with a complete lack of intro this week but don't worry it won't be too long before we settle into our usual bland patter as we discuss the Top 5 Hitchhikers. Expect a few stories from seasoned traveller Dan, having somehow once found himself in the Belgian Congo after draft dodging, or perhaps some other stuff that he did actually say. LION (2016) is a biography of Indian-Australian entrepreneur Saroo Brierley which tells the amazing journey of his reunification with his family, 25 years after having become separated from them in a train station in rural India. Accidentally journeying 1600km to Kolkata (Calcutta) where his native Hindi makes him incomprehensible to the Bengali speaking locals, newcomer Sunny Pawar gives an astonishing performance in the harrowing first 40 minutes as five-year old Sheru, who finds himself homeless and almost the victim of sex crimes before he is eventually adopted by an Australian couple. Dev Patel plays the adult Saroo searching improbably for his home, Rooney Mara does as much as she can with the thankless task of obligatory composite girlfriend but it's Nicole Kidman and David Wenham's benevolent parents Sue and John who warm your soul in the movies second half, made all the more affecting by Kidman's personal situation as mother to adopted children, before a simultaneously uplifting and heart-breaking ending draws this emotional gut-wringer to a close. A complete lack of any real lion content and an extended cameo from Google Earth forces me to take a star off.  It's summer vacation and PHINEAS AND FERB find themselves challenged to a thumb wrestling competition by local bully Buford after an accidental public humiliation with an ice-cream. Meanwhile, probable Nazi Dr Doofenshmirtz is attempting to mind-rape people into attending his birthday party and only the brother's pet platypus Perry can stop him. With Phineas undergoing a rigorous training regime masterminded by former world heavyweight champion boxer Evander Holyfield, and thousands of tickets sold to the forthcoming bout, sister Candace has the chance she needs to finally obtain undisputable proof of the boys' shenanigans. Sharp writing and consistent wittiness mean this Disney offering was a firm favourite in one Dads house.We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. Try us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads 

In this Episode we turn to The Congo in the late 1950s.   The world is changing and on the African continent independence is coming to many countries as the age of colonialism comes to an end.  In this context old identities are rediscovered as pre-colonial empires come to the fore once again.  People coalesce around parties in anticipation of local elections that have come to mean so much more.  As old friends are discovered so are old enemies and Belgium considers its options as The World, and The Belgian Congo changes around it.      

The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are littleknown today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators. Readers interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are littleknown today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators. Readers interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are littleknown today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators. Readers interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are littleknown today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators. Readers interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are littleknown today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators. Readers interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/archaeology

The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are littleknown today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators. Readers interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are littleknown today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators. Readers interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As broadcast March 2, 2022 with plenty of extra heat for your podcast dish.  Tonight we travel to a country often confused with it's neighbor right across the mighty Central African river they're both named after.  The Democratic People's Republic of the Congo is often confused with the nation that called Brazzaville its capital, but we head to Kinshasa tonight to hear the sounds of one of Africa's truly gifted countries when it comes to musical expression.  From the older artists like Grand Kalle and TPOK Jazz to the newer sounds and artists like Gaz Mawete and Fall Ipupa, the nation formerly known as Zaire is one of diversity, and the sounds it creates are truly remarkable.  #feelthegravityTracklisting:Part I (00:00)Method Man & Mary J. Blige – I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get ByIsis Kingue & Gaz Mawete – NdoloKoffi Olomide – SelfieFally Ipupa – Canne a sucreVerckys & l'Orchestre Veve – Bassala Hot Part II (34:43)Grand Kalle et l'African Jazz – KelyaGrand Kalle et l'African Jazz – Jamais KolongaFranco et le TP OK Jazz – LiberteSouzy Kasseya – Le telephone sonne (original version 1983)Wendo Kolosoy – Kinshasa Part III (63:17)Madilu System - Blessure d'amourWendo Kolosoy - Botyiaki NtembeTshala Muana - TshibolaRay Lema - KotejaLokua Kanza - MutotoTabu Ley Rochereau - Pitie Part IV (96:39)Fally Ipupa - Eloko OyoGaz Mawete - Olingi NiniDadju - Bob MarleyYa Levis - KatchuaFlash Flood Darlings - FewchieAseul - Always with You 

In this episode we how the rulers if the Belgian Congo adapted to the German conquest of Belgian in World War II.  Set against conflicting loyalties of the Belgian King, Parliament and Industry the Belgian Congo emerged as powerful part of the Allied cause.  The Congolese achieved the first allied victory in the War, and its resources were fundamental to the last battle.   The pivotal role of The Congolese in World War II is not afforded much airtime, but this diminish their huge impact!

BOHICA is the new rule set released by Paul Eaglestone of Empress Miniatures fame; and, in this episode we talk to him about his rules, the miniatures he has made for the period, and where to get them. His ruleset does not just cover the period of the war most Americans think about, but are applicable to all three Into-China Wars. The rules do not come with a point system, instead the games are balanced by the scenarios you choose, with more expansions on the way to cover all the nuances of the different time periods, specific environments (it was not all delta and jungles), and forces. That means that with some home brewed scenarios you could use these rules to cover other conflicts such as the Malayan Emergency, La Violencia, or Belgian Congo with a little imagination.

After World War 1 the Belgian Congo's place in the world was settled internationally.   The authorities, with private backers, invested in the wealth opportunities presented by copper, diamond and other minerals to increase revenues.  Infrastructure projects were completed to connect these mining areas to the Atlantic, and some Congolese were able to seize opportunities within the system.  But for the majority this was not the case, and rising tensions were palpable.

In 1914 the Nations of Europe went to war. The African colonies of these powers had differing views on the conflict, but the Belgian Congo was drawn into war in the face of German colonial aggression. The peoples of the Congo were once again asked or coerced to support their new leaders.  Combined they created a mighty powerhouse of military might and raw materials which would help on a global stage. The strength of the Congolese was starting to be visible to all, not least of all themselves.......  

Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending rule over peoples and other countries,[2] for extending political and economic access, power and control, often through employing hard power, especially military force, but also soft power. While related to the concepts of colonialism and empire, imperialism is a distinct concept that can apply to other forms of expansion and many forms of government. Looking at the empires, profitability was mixed. At first, planners expected that colonies would provide an excellent captive market for manufactured items. Apart from the Indian subcontinent, this was seldom true. By the 1890s, imperialists saw the economic benefit primarily in the production of inexpensive raw materials to feed the domestic manufacturing sector. Overall, Great Britain did very well in terms of profits from India, especially Mughal Bengal, but not from most of the rest of its empire. To understand the scale of the wealth transfer from India from 1765 to 1938 an estimated $45 Trillion was taken. [17] This is 15-times the $3 Trillion (2019) annual GNI of the UK. The Netherlands did very well in the East Indies. Germany and Italy got very little trade or raw materials from their empires. France did slightly better. The Belgian Congo was notoriously profitable when it was a capitalistic rubber plantation owned and operated by King Leopold II as a private enterprise. However, scandal after scandal regarding very badly mistreated labour led the international community to force the government of Belgium to take it over in 1908, and it became much less profitable. Imperialism was a policy that changed the very nature of relations and politics between the different regions of the Earth. It interconnected many economies with each other, but it also resulted in the occupation and suppression of other nations, exploitation of labor and resources, and deadly mistakes. However, especially the British, spent a lot of money propping up the economies of her colonies and making sure that their was good infrastructure to move around the materials. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Want to discuss this further, or just want to contact us? Reach us on our socials, or join the community on Kloka! Twitter: @BackToThePastP1 https://bit.ly/39ts3CG Instagram: @backtothepastp1 https://bit.ly/34lcwBD Rate this podcast! https://ratethispodcast.com/althistory Check out our website! https://kloka.org/backtothepast Email us if you have any questions or comments! back2thepastpodcast@gmail.com Or if you have any ideas for Kloka, including potential future podcasts, coverage, or even a book review, email contact@kloka.org Podcast Transcripts: https://kloka.org/go/althistranscripts --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rohan-parikh7/message

The Hake Report, Wednesday, March 31, 2021: George Floyd hype: Derek Chauvin faces a kangaroo court of emotional witnesses who are into black victimhood. Teenage Darnella Frazier got her mom over half a million in GoFundMe dollars for her "bravery" in recording the viral video. GREAT CALLERS! There's an attack on Christianity with the LGBT agenda and more.  Also check out Hake News from today.  CALLERS Earl - Michigan - yells about James for limiting his time. He slanders Rick!  Bobby - Texas - talks about the George Floyd witnesses.  Tony - California - has Joel's back and slanders cops.  Maze - Dayton, OH - "Pharaoh"(?), Rush vs George, Opioids vs Crack.  Zach - Columbus, OH - calls Joel's IG "FIRE." Great points.  Rick - Michigan - Flint went down the tubes. Hunting licenses up!  Rick - Hampton, VA - Urges Earl to think for himself. He wishes Joel well.  Conner - Atlanta, GA - Queen Key and Tiffany Pollard (aka "New York") on The Fallen State both shamelessly admitted they cheated on guys.  Art - Ohio - Joel is alpha after all!  TIME STAMPS 0:00 Weds, Mar 31, 2021 0:19 Belgian Congo, Frodus 3:16 Hey, guys! 3:52 George Floyd DRAMA 20:55 Bobby in TX 26:07 Earl in MI 34:45 Rick in MI 43:52 Tony in CA 48:00 False Culture! 53:17 Stop AAPI Hate 57:13 Belgian Congo ending 59:38 Maze, Dayton, OH 1:07:05 Super Chats for Joel 1:09:48 Zach, Columbus, OH 1:17:02 What is a cypher 1:19:07 Christianity subverted 1:28:14 Rick, Hampton, VA 1:38:56 More Super Chats 1:39:52 Conner, Atlanta, GA 1:52:52 Voter Integrity 1:55:11 Art in OH 1:57:59 Thanks, all!   HAKE LINKS VIDEO ARCHIVE: Facebook | Periscope/Twitter | YouTube | Audio podcast links below LIVE VIDEO: Trovo | DLive | Periscope | Facebook | YouTube* | Twitch*  PODCAST: Apple | Podcast Addict | Castbox | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon | PodBean | Google  SUPPORT: SubscribeStar | Patreon | Teespring | SUPER CHAT: Streamlabs | Trovo   Call in! 888-775-3773, live Monday through Friday 9 AM (Los Angeles) https://thehakereport.com/show  Also see Hake News from JLP's show today.  *NOTE: YouTube and Twitch have both censored James's content on their platforms lately, over fake "Community Guidelines" violations.  BLOG POST: https://www.thehakereport.com/blog/2021/3/31/033121-wed-brave-teen-gets-half-million-for-filming-viral-george-floyd-video