Podcast appearances and mentions of king leopold ii

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Feb 15, 2024 Passy and Maurice from Friends of the Congo join Breht to discuss the history and the present of the Congo. Together, they discuss their organization, Passy's on-the-ground organizing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the history of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba and his legacy, European and Belgian colonialism, King Leopold II, the brutal ongoing violence and displacement occuring in the Eastern DRC, US imperialism and the Kagame Regime in Rwanda, M23, Neo-Colonialism, Colbalt and rare-earth mineral mining, modern day slavery and the industries it serves, the so-called "green capitalist transition" and its rotting underbelly, and much more. Friends of the Congo (FOTC) is a Pan African solidarity organization raising global consciousness about the challenges and potential of the Congo. Become A Friend of the Congo: http://www.congoweek.org http://friendsofthecongo.org/https://twitter.com/congofriends https://www.facebook.com/congofriends   ---------------------------------------------------- Support Rev Left and get access to bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/revleftradio Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio HERE Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

Hey y'all! I'm excited to share that I'm doing a special podcast swap with Redacted History hosted by the brilliant Andre White. If you haven't tuned in yet, Redacted History is a powerful show that dives deep into the untold, erased, and overlooked stories from our past—shedding light on the narratives history tried to hide. I highly recommend giving it a listen, rating it 5 stars, and dropping a comment to show some love. Trust me, you don't want to miss it!The Redacted History Podcast Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/redacted-history/id1609909822"On this week's episode of the Redacted History Podcast, we are discussing the history of the colonization of Africa, mainly the Congo. We set the stage for how we got to the present day genocide in the Congo. And it all starts with Belgium, Berlin, King Leopold II, and the Berlin Conference of 1884. That leads us to the 20th century where the scramble for African resources intensifies leading to a genocide in present day Democratic Republic of Congo. A genocide that is still happening today." Love you all and miss you all be back soon!AID FOR CONGO: Friends of the Congo: https://friendsofthecongo.org/Embrace Relief: https://www.embracerelief.org/donation/foundation-galaxie-orphelinat-mer-ter-democratic-republic-of-congo-2022Action Against Hunger: https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/take-action/make-a-gift/?utm_medium=paid+search&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_adgroup=Brand&utm_term=action%20against%20hunger&gad_source=1Doctors Without Borders: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/psearch-monthly-tabbed?ms=ADD2310U1U89&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BRAND.DWB_CKMSF-BRAND.DWB-GS-GS-ALL-DWBBrand.E-BO-ALL-RSA-RSARefresh.1-ONETIMEUNDERSTANDING WHAT IS HAPPENINGhttps://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview#1https://www.unrefugees.org/news/democratic-republic-of-the-congo-refugee-crisis-explained/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Youtube Episode - https://youtu.be/fXVZCUR_RowCurious Worldview Newsletter - https://curiousworldview.beehiiv.com/subscribeTim Butcher Episode - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6QIQLYuwbA2cFLCzJc8TGl?si=nKU21dGrRX-Z-otWklpxgwKing Leopold's Ghost Book - https://www.amazon.com.au/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Adam-Hochshild/dp/0618001905From 1885, for 13 years, one man, King Leopold II, owned, as his personal property, one of the largest pieces of geography on earth. The Congo is four times larger than France, it's bigger than India, it's bigger than Texas, Alaska, California & Montana combined - the equator runs right through it's middle and makes it the second largest rainforest on the globe - it's impossibly rich in resources, and desperately poor in economics. In those 13 years of private ownership, Leopold oversaw potentially one of the most brutal regimes of extraction the world has ever known. The population was estimated to have halved in those 13 years, more than 10 million deaths. It was an exploit in mass slavery, mass death, bodily mutilation and mass extraction. Ivory and wild rubber were in high demand, and so under the guise of media manipulation and PR mastery, Leopold convinced the world that these goods were in fact being traded with, rather than extracted from, the Congo. The horror, however, could only be concealed for so long. A fella by the name of Ed Morell who worked for a shipping company in Liverpool noticed the bounty of ivory and rubber arriving from the Congo, with only men and arms making the journey back. His suspicion grew, he found accounts from missionaries and others who had been, and mounted a campaign to undermine the constant wall of propaganda Leopold had financed.In 1908, the Belgium state purchased the Congo off Leopold… where the country remained a colony of Belgium until 1960. And for a myriad of reasons, for which we address in the podcast, the Congo today is still on the back foot. Kinshasa, the capital city already has a bigger population than Paris, and is projected to be as much as 40,000,000 by 2050. The Congo today is among the most resource rich nations on earth, but among the least developed. It still attracts the same predation for extraction as it ever has, although all together less forceful and less violentThe man I speak with on the podcast today wrote the definitive history of this period. His name is Adam Hochschild, he's an author, journalist and historian and wrote in 1998, 'King Leopold's Ghost'. 00:00 Congo's Dark History & Adam Hochschild03:03 Leopold's Brutal Regime09:02 Modern Parallels of Exploitation12:11 The Unique Case of King Leopold14:58 The Mechanics of Control & Media Manipulation20:45 Campaigning Against Atrocities: The Legacy of Morrell34:22 Colonialism and Forced Labor: The Belgian Congo36:16 The Rubber Boom and Its Consequences38:09 Criticism Of The Book & Congolese Resistance42:57 Nationalism and Colonialism: Morel's Perspective44:48 The Impact of Colonialism on Modern Nations47:17 Geography and Development: The Congo's Challenges49:51 Natural Resources and Corruption52:27 The Future of the Congo: A Grim Outlook57:22 Serendipity(There was an technical difficulty right at the end of the conversation, which is why it cuts off) Consider leaving a review on whichever platform you're listening on!

On this week's episode of the Redacted History Podcast, we are discussing the history of the colonization of Africa, mainly the Congo. We set the stage for how we got to the present day genocide in the Congo. And it all starts with Belgium, Berlin, King Leopold II, and the Berlin Conference of 1884. That leads us to the 20th century where the scramble for African resources intensifies leading to a genocide in present day Democratic Republic of Congo. A genocide that is still happening today. NEW YOUTUBE VIDEOS: Civil War Widows in the 21st Century - https://youtu.be/jSbHRboYCY8?si=SbCkKv7qOuR2moHW What Does "WOKE" Mean: https://youtu.be/eMV4YCkjurc?si=0YKf1gyKTJvypAyX Stay Connected with Me: PATREON: patreon.com/redactedhistory https://www.tiktok.com/@Blackkout___ https://www.instagram.com/redactedhistory_ Contact: thisisredactedhistory@gmail.com Episode Script Writer and Researcher: Jordyn Howard Episode Editor and Narrator: André White AID FOR CONGO: Friends of the Congo: https://friendsofthecongo.org/ Embrace Relief: https://www.embracerelief.org/donation/foundation-galaxie-orphelinat-mer-ter-democratic-republic-of-congo-2022 Action Against Hunger: https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/take-action/make-a-gift/?utm_medium=paid+search&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_adgroup=Brand&utm_term=action%20against%20hunger&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4Y-sBhC6ARIsAGXF1g7PJ_ZDlfx7Jo1PAiW_zCuXWCWQpi6tghD0C1ph5vEQLP2EOXqj_nkaAt8HEALw_wcB Doctors Without Borders: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/psearch-monthly-tabbed?ms=ADD2310U1U89&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BRAND.DWB_CKMSF-BRAND.DWB-GS-GS-ALL-DWBBrand.E-BO-ALL-RSA-RSARefresh.1-ONETIME&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4Y-sBhC6ARIsAGXF1g5zGdH3Lgqxc1S4vYSe7T7jnmJjllQEJKuUWabW0B-eoH51PvP09EoaAv18EALw_wcB UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS HAPPENING https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview#1 https://www.unrefugees.org/news/democratic-republic-of-the-congo-refugee-crisis-explained/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 18 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 17 2 weeks ago, 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 as well. This week we're going to be diving back into learning about historic genocides as we learn about the Congolese genocide committed by King Leopold II of Belgium. We've talked about the Congolese Genocide previously on Day 11, Free Congo. But for today's episode we're going to go into much greater detail about this particular genocide and not just discuss it within the context of a current conflict. Now, before we get to The Alchemist's Table I wanted to apologize that there wasn't a new episode last week. Sometimes you just don't have the energy, the motivation, the spoons or the spell slots. So, I took a week off. It might happen again. And now on to the booze! Today's libation is called Cherries Jubilee. It's 2 oz of Islay scotch. I'd recommend a Bowmore if you're not a huge fan of the peat. Then 1 oz of creme de cacao. 1 oz of frangelico. Add .75 oz of cherry syrup. Shake and pour overice. Top with ginger beer or a hard cider. Garnish with luxardo cherries and enjoy. Now, with that out of the way let's get into the Congolese Rubber Genocide. In order to understand this genocide we first need to understand European colonialism during this time. Colonialism has taken many forms over the years and in the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century it transitioned from the classic form of American colonialism into what we would consider New Colonialism. New Colonialism would rely less on direct military control of an area and would rely more on having governmental institutions in power that would directly benefit those pre existing colonial power structures. So, 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 between November 1884 and February 1885 at the request of King Leopold II of Belgium and was organized by Otto von Bismarck of Germany.   The primary purpose of the Berlin Conference was regulating European colonization and trade during the New Imperialism period. It might seem strange to need to differentiate New Imperialism from the forms of empire building that came before. Afterall, the methodology was largely the same. Conquest. And the reasoning was, mostly the same. Resources and land acquisition. But New Imperialism also came with a good deal of “civilizing” flavor. You might be familiar with the poem White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling. If you're not. You can fully understand the entire mindset of 19th and 20th century colonialism simply by reading that poem. Now, 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, in 1885, 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.  Wanna know one of the most buckwild things about the Berlin Conference? I ask knowing that there is no way for you to answer or to stop me from telling you short of skipping forward by about 30 seconds. Part of the General Act, the document that was signed and ratified at the conclusion of the Berlin Conference was a commitment from the European powers involved to END AFRICAN AND ISLAMIC SLAVERY. Most of those European powers would go on to enslave the populations they conquered and colonized. This period of New Imperialism is what we tend to call The Scramble for Africa. So far 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. 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. He also then proceeded to lie to the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, and the US telling them all that he would give them special trade status. 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.  Leopold pledged to suppress the east African slave trade; promote humanitarian policies; guarantee free trade within the colony; impose no import duties for twenty years; and encourage philanthropic and scientific enterprises. Beginning in the mid-1880s, Leopold first decreed that the state asserted rights of proprietorship over all vacant lands throughout the Congo territory. In three successive decrees, Leopold promised the rights of the Congolese in their land to native villages and farms, essentially making nearly all of the CFS terres domaniales (state-owned land). Leopold further decreed that merchants should limit their commercial operations in rubber trade with the natives. Additionally, the colonial administration liberated thousands of slaves. Four main problems presented themselves over the next few years. Leopold II ran up huge debts to finance his colonial endeavour and risked losing his colony to Belgium. Much of the Free State was unmapped jungle, which offered little fiscal and commercial return. Cecil Rhodes, Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (part of modern South Africa), was expanding his British South Africa Company's charter lands from the south and threatened to occupy Katanga (southern Congo) by exploiting the "Principle of Effectivity" loophole in the Berlin Treaty. In this he was supported by Harry Johnston, the British Commissioner for Central Africa, who was London's representative in the region. The Congolese interior was ruled by Arab Zanzibari slavers and sultans, powerful kings and warlords who had to be coerced or defeated by use of force. For example, the slaving gangs of Zanzibar trader Tippu Tip had a strong presence in the eastern part of the territory in the modern-day Maniema, Tanganyika and Ituri regions. They were linked to the Swahili coast via Uganda and Tanzania and had established independent slave states. So very quickly Leopold began to renege on his promises. The first concession he made to his greed and desire for power was to establish a policy of terres vacantes. Vacant land, which was defined as any land that did not have a house or cultivated garden plot. This was, of course, most of the country. Any terres vacantes was now automatically property of the state to be portioned out to Leopold's cronies and supporters. Next Leopold would decree that any locals harvesting rubber or ivory were only allowed to sell to the state. This was doubly enforced because most of the rubber or ivory harvesting was happening on “state owned land” and so it “mae sense” that they could only sell to the state, which now had a monopoly on those products and could set the prices at whatever they wanted. Trading companies were, obviously, pissed by this as part of the General Act of the Berlin Conference was a promise of Free Trade in Belgium. Now, what made The Congo so special in the history of capitalist exploitation was that it 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. By the final decade of the 19th century, John Boyd Dunlop's 1887 invention of inflatable, rubber bicycle tubes and the growing usage of the automobile dramatically increased global demand for rubber. Now, as mentioned previously the rubber in the Congo came from vines. So while the trees in the Amazon basin could be tapped much in the same way we get Maple syrup, the Congolese workers would slash the vines and lather their bodies with the rubber latex. When the latex hardened, it would be scraped off the skin in a quite painful manner, ripping off the workers hair. 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. The officer corp of the Force Publique was made up entirely of White Europeans, and much of their rank and file was made up of slaves captured by Arabic slavers in the Upper Congo. Many of the other soldiers were children who had been kidnapped from their villages and raised in Roman Catholic missions in conditions very similar to slavery. 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, a bullship made of hippo hide, 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. One refugee from these horrors described the process: We were always in the forest to find the rubber vines, to go without food, and our women had to give up cultivating the fields and gardens. Then we starved ... When we failed and our rubber was short, the soldiers came to our towns and killed us. Many were shot, some had their ears cut off; others were tied up with ropes round their necks and taken away. 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. The peak year for the cost of rubber was 1903, with rubber fetching the highest price and concessionary companies raking in the highest profits. However, the boom sparked efforts to find lower-cost producers. Congolese concessionary companies started facing competition from rubber cultivation in Southeast Asia and Latin America. As plantations were begun in other tropical regions around the world, the global price of rubber started to dip. Competition heightened the drive to exploit forced labour in the Congo in order to lower production costs. Meanwhile, the cost of enforcement was eating away at profit margins, along with the toll taken by the increasingly unsustainable harvesting methods. As competition from other areas of rubber cultivation mounted, Leopold's private rule was left increasingly vulnerable to international scrutiny. Missionaries carefully and meticulously documented the many abuses of the Congolese Red Rubber system. This would finally be noted by the international community and by the Belgian government itself as a violation of the 1885 Berlin Act which gave Leopold authority and control of the Congo as long as he: "care[d] for the improvements of their conditions of their moral and material well-being" and "help[ed] in suppressing slavery." After 2 years of international pressure the Belgian government agreed to annex the Congo Free State and make it an official part of the Belgian Empire. The reason the debate lasted 2 years was that no one wanted to take on the responsibility of fixing everything Leopold had fucked up so royally (pun intended). But what happened to Leopold you ask? Did he go to jail? Did he get a slap on the wrist? Was he deposed as king and sent into exile on a small island in the Pacific where he eventually died of stomach cancer? Nah, he did die though, but he died as King of Belgium. He had surgery on December 17, 1909. He had a coronary bridging performed, aiming at correcting insufficient irrigation of the myocardium. ''A few hours after the operation, a failure of the myocardium occurred leading to death the same day''. Leopold had ruled Belgium for 44 years, which makes him, to this day, the longest reigning Belgian monarch. You also might be please to know that his funeral procession was booed by every crowd he passed. His people fucking hated him. Exciting news y'all! We actually DO have some reviews this week! So let's read em! And now for 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.        

July 1, 1885. King Leopold II of Belgium founds the Congo Free State and installs a regime that will become infamous for its brutality.Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more.History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.    

King Leopold II consolidates his control over the Congo. In his efforts to make the colony profitable, he oversees the establishment of a coercive regime of exploitation and moves to ruthlessly eliminate all resistance. Email me: perspectivesinhistorypod@gmail.com Podcast Website Follow me on Twitter Facebook Page Buy Some Used Books Bibliography Ascherson, Neal. The King Incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo. Granta Books, 1963.  O'Siochain, Seamas and O'Sullivan, Michael. The Eyes of Another Race: Roger Casement's Congo Report and 1903 Diary. University College Dublin Press, 2003. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Penguin Books, 2007.  Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Mariner Books, 2020.  Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. Perennial, 2003. Rutz, Michael. King Leopold's Congo and the ‘Scramble for Africa:' a Short History with Documents. Hackett Publishing Co. Inc, 2018 Cover Image: Satirical cartoon appearing in a November 1906 edition of the British magazine "Punch" depicting Leopold II as a snake attacking a Congolese man. Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák Closing Theme: Central African tribal chant, date of recording unknown.

In the latest episode of Generous Impact, our hosts, Bret and Amanda Brummitt, welcome Dr. Amy Goddard, a seasoned physical therapist and devoted board member of Transform DRC. Spanning from Webb City, Missouri to Texas and making significant strides in healthcare, Dr. Goddard shares her inspiring journey, engaging endeavors, and how her life experiences have fueled her passion to transform lives beyond the physical therapy landscape. Amy details her first mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya, and her subsequent volunteer work in several African countries such as the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, and South Sudan. It was during these travels that she met two extraordinary individuals, Marie Jeanne and Theo, whose selfless contributions to their community left an everlasting impact on Amy and her 60-year old mother who accompanied her on one of these life-altering trips. The episode also delves into the troubling history and present-day challenges of the Democratic Republic of Congo, covering chapters from being colonized by King Leopold II of Belgium to the ongoing modern-day slavery and exploitation related to cobalt mining. Throughout the profound conversation, listeners gain an enlightening perspective on Transform DRC's mission and the inspirational stories of resilience and transformation. Providing a compassionate narrative attached to Transform DRC's formation and progress, the episode highlights the pivotal contributions of their many programs. The episode ends on a hopeful note, emphasizing the immense value of empathetic involvement, individual efforts, and every act of goodwill. It underscores the necessity to continue shedding light on the under-reported humanitarian crisis in the DRC, as we collectively strive for significant, lasting change. Learn more at TransformDRC.org.

This week we are joined by comedian, actor and author, Sean Cullen to discuss truly one of the most horrific people of all time, Leopold II of Belgium.  Plus we chat about Virtual Joan Rivers, the Just For Laughs festival, dystopian novels and much more! Brought to you By: The Sonar Network https://thesonarnetwork.com/

The old adage that 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' was never truer than when faithful Christians told stories of injustices, not with words, but through photos. At a time when photography was new technology used more for entertainment, Alice Seeley Harris, an English missionary, documented the horrors of human rights abuses in the Congo under the regime of King Leopold II of the Belgians. Children and adults with limbs cut off as punishment. Thousands of miles away, Jacob August Riis, a Denmark native, was exposing the squalid conditions of New York City neighborhoods. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, best-selling author Christina Stanton delves deeper into their stories that she first told in an article published last year, "Capture This: How Christians Used Cameras To Expose Injustice." What's disheartening about Riis and Harris' stories is how over the years secular media has ignored their Christian faith, even while honoring their work. Yet, it was their faith that compelled them to expose grave injustices at the turn of the century in parts of the globe that had been forgotten by Western culture, even when it was in their own backyards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Our Discord Community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email Us: TheDayAfter@THENEWBLXCK.com WhatsAPP: 07564841073 Join us in our twitter community - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe NOW to The Day After: shorturl.at/brKOX The Day After, (00:00) Intro: (17:44) Headlines: Rishi Sunak facing pressure over UK arms sales to Israel, Israel will pay compensation to dead aid workers' families, NHS waiting list could be 2 million higher than thought (22:14) What You Saying: Black Celebrities & Influencers: Should we have a line drawn or should our love & support be unconditional??

George Washington Williams was one of the first people to publicly describe the atrocities being carried out in the Congo Free State under King Leopold II of Belgium. But so much happened in his life before that. Research: Berry, Dorothy. “George Washington Williams' History of the Negro Race in America (1882–83).” The Public Domain Review. 9/12/2023. https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/history-of-the-negro-race-in-america/ BlackPast, B. (2009, August 20). (1890) George Washington Williams's Open Letter to King Leopold on the Congo. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/primary-documents-global-african-history/george-washington-williams-open-letter-king-leopold-congo-1890/ Book, Todd. “What Tarzan Taught Me about Ohio History.” 10/1/2017. https://www.ohiobar.org/member-tools-benefits/practice-resources/practice-library-search/practice-library/2017-ohio-lawyer/what-tarzan-taught-me-about-ohio-history/ Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "John Hope Franklin". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Hope-Franklin. Accessed 31 January 2024. Elnaiem, Mohammed. “George Washington Williams and the Origins of Anti-Imperialism.” JSTOR Daily. 6/10/2021. https://daily.jstor.org/george-washington-williams-and-the-origins-of-anti-imperialism/ Franklin, John Hope. "Williams, George Washington." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, edited by Colin A. Palmer, 2nd ed., vol. 5, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, pp. 2303-2304. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3444701308/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f3d8c89e. Accessed 30 Jan. 2024. Franklin, John Hope. “Afro-American Biography: The Case of George Washington Williams.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , Jun. 18, 1979. https://www.jstor.org/stable/986218 Franklin, John Hope. “George Washington Williams and the Beginnings of Afro-American Historiography.” Critical Inquiry , Summer, 1978, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Summer, 1978). https://www.jstor.org/stable/1342950 Franklin, John Hope. “George Washington Williams, Historian.” The Journal of Negro History , Jan., 1946, Vol. 31, No. 1. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2714968 Franklin, John Hope. “George Washington Williams: A Biography.” University of Chicago Press. 1985. "George Washington Williams." Notable Black American Men, Book II, edited by Jessie Carney Smith, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1622000481/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=718fd3c3. Accessed 30 Jan. 2024. Hawkins, Hunt. “Conrad and Congolese Exploitation.” Conradiana , 1981, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1981). https://www.jstor.org/stable/24634105 John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. “Dr. Franklin & Lea Fridman: George Washington Williams.” Via YouTube. 10/10/2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8WC5l2unNA McConarty, Colin. “George Washington Williams: A Historian Ahead of His Time.” We're History. February 26, 2016. https://werehistory.org/williams/ O'Reilly, Ted. “In Search of George Washington Williams, Historian.” New York Historical Society Museum and Library.” 2/24/2021. https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/in-search-of-george-washington-williams-historian O'Connor, A. (2008, January 23). George Washington Williams (1849-1891). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/williams-george-washington-1849-1891/ Ohio Statehouse. “George Washington Williams.” https://www.ohiostatehouse.org/museum/george-washington-williams-room/george-washington-williams Simmons, Willam J. and Henry McNeal Turner. “Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising.” Geo. M. Rewell & Company, 1887. https://books.google.com/books?id=2QUJ419VR4AC& See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Passy and Maurice from Friends of the Congo join Breht to discuss the history and the present of the Congo. Together, they discuss their organization, Passy's on-the-ground organizing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the history of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba and his legacy, European and Belgian colonialism, King Leopold II, the brutal ongoing violence and displacement occuring in the Eastern DRC, US imperialism and the Kagame Regime in Rwanda, M23, Neo-Colonialism, Colbalt and rare-earth mineral mining, modern day slavery and the industries it serves, the so-called "green capitalist transition" and its rotting underbelly, and much more. Friends of the Congo (FOTC) is a Pan African solidarity organization raising global consciousness about the challenges and potential of the Congo. Become A Friend of the Congo: http://www.congoweek.org http://friendsofthecongo.org/https://twitter.com/congofriends https://www.facebook.com/congofriends   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Rev Left on Insta Support Rev Left Radio and get access to multiple bonus episodes a month

On this episode of The AUXORO Podcast, Stuart A. Reid and Zach discuss the rise of Patrice Lumumba as the first Prime Minister of the newly independent Congo, the US-sanctioned CIA plot to assassinate Lumumba, the carnage in the Congo that occurred under Belgian Rule and King Leopold II, the divide and mutinies in the Congo that occurred after independence, the buildup to the murder and torture of Patrice Lumumba, how the anti-communist lens through which the US operated during the Cold War sealed the fate of Lumumba, and more. Guest bio: Stuart A. Reid is the executive editor at Foreign Affairs magazine and the author of The Lumumba Plot. He's written for publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, Politico Magazine, and Slate. SUPPORT THE AUXORO PODCAST BY SUBSCRIBING TO AUXORO PREMIUM (BONUS EPISODES & EXCLUSIVE CONTENT): https://auxoro.supercast.com/ STUART A. REID LINKS:The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination: https://www.stuartareid.com/the-lumumba-plotArticles: https://www.stuartareid.com/articlesWebsite: https://www.stuartareid.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/stuartareid THE AUXORO PODCAST LINKS:Apple: https://apple.co/3B4fYju Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3zaS6sPOvercast: https://bit.ly/3rgw70DYoutube: https://bit.ly/3lTpJdjAUXORO Premium: https://auxoro.supercast.com/Website: https://www.auxoro.com/ AUXORO SOCIAL LINKS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auxoroYouTube: https://bit.ly/3CLjEqFFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/auxoromagNewsletter: https://www.auxoro.com/thesourceYouTube: https://bit.ly/3CLjEqF To support the show, please leave a review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This nudges the algorithm to show The AUXORO Podcast to more new listeners and is the best way to help the show grow. It takes 30 seconds and the importance of getting good reviews cannot be overstated. Thank you for your support:Review us on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/458nbhaReview us on Spotify: https://bit.ly/43ZLrAt

rWotD Episode 2455: Order of Leopold II Welcome to random Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a random Wikipedia page every day.The random article for Tuesday, 23 January 2024 is Order of Leopold II.The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgium, incorporated into the Belgian awards system. The order is awarded for meritorious service to the sovereign of Belgium, and as a token of his personal goodwill. It can be awarded to both Belgians and foreigners, and is seen as diplomatic gift of merit. The order has become a long service order for people in the civil service and is awarded alternatively with the Order of the Crown, as the Order of Leopold is awarded under rarer circumstances. The order currently stands third after the Order of Leopold (1st) and the Order of the Crown (2nd) in the Belgian honors hierarchy. The Order of Leopold II is awarded by royal decree.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:56 UTC on Tuesday, 23 January 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Order of Leopold II on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Raveena Standard.

On this week's episode of the Redacted History Podcast, we are discussing the history of the colonization of Africa, mainly the Congo. We are setting the stage for how we got to the present day genocide in the Congo. And it all starts with Belgium, Berlin, and King Leopold II. NEW YOUTUBE VIDEOS: Civil War Widows in the 21st Century - https://youtu.be/jSbHRboYCY8?si=SbCkKv7qOuR2moHW What Does "WOKE" Mean: https://youtu.be/eMV4YCkjurc?si=0YKf1gyKTJvypAyX PATREON: patreon.com/redactedhistory Stay Connected with Me: https://www.tiktok.com/@Blackkout___ https://www.instagram.com/redactedhistory_ Contact: thisisredactedhistory@gmail.com Episode Script Writer and Researcher: Jordyn Howard Episode Editor and Narrator: André White AID FOR CONGO: Friends of the Congo: https://friendsofthecongo.org/ Embrace Relief: https://www.embracerelief.org/donation/foundation-galaxie-orphelinat-mer-ter-democratic-republic-of-congo-2022 Action Against Hunger: https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/take-action/make-a-gift/?utm_medium=paid+search&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_adgroup=Brand&utm_term=action%20against%20hunger&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4Y-sBhC6ARIsAGXF1g7PJ_ZDlfx7Jo1PAiW_zCuXWCWQpi6tghD0C1ph5vEQLP2EOXqj_nkaAt8HEALw_wcB Doctors Without Borders: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/psearch-monthly-tabbed?ms=ADD2310U1U89&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BRAND.DWB_CKMSF-BRAND.DWB-GS-GS-ALL-DWBBrand.E-BO-ALL-RSA-RSARefresh.1-ONETIME&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4Y-sBhC6ARIsAGXF1g5zGdH3Lgqxc1S4vYSe7T7jnmJjllQEJKuUWabW0B-eoH51PvP09EoaAv18EALw_wcB UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS HAPPENING https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview#1 https://www.unrefugees.org/news/democratic-republic-of-the-congo-refugee-crisis-explained/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Democratic Republic of Congo and its citizens should, by rights, be among the richest in the world. Congo is a country with vast and rich natural resources, abundant  potential energy and a strategic place in the heart of Africa. And yet, Congo is currently home to one fo the worst humanitarian crises on earth, and its history is littered with genocides and wars that rival the scale of Europe's World Wars. The vast majority of Congo's people are not rich -- and many face brutality we cannot imagine.  Since 1998, more than six million people have been killed in Congo, and the killing continues. And yet most of us have never seen a headline about it.  In this episode, we talk to Maurice Carney, head and co-founder of Friends of the Congo, which seeks to raise awareness not only of the crisis in Congo, but of Congo's many great contributions to global life and the inspiring people who are doing amazing work there.  Maurice talks to us about Congo's history, from the brutal period under Belgium's King Leopold II to the moment Western powers destroyed Congo's democracy and the current crisis, where Congo's neighbours continue to destabilise the East of DRC.  We also talk about the connections between the Congolese situation and other crises around the world - like Palestine. And about the solidarity being shown between activists for all these causes.  Covering topics like Reparations, Chinese involvement in Africa and how our own Governments might be facilitating violence in Congo, this is a fascinating episode. We learned a lot! We hope you doo, too.  You can find out more about Friends of the Congo here and connect with their socials here: FotC Facebook,  @CongoFriends on Twitter and their presence on Insta. You can find more about this episode at beerchristianity.co.uk New to Beer Christianity? Welcome! Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, anti-imperialist, post-post-post-evangelical (and apparently republican) podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, to be helpful and entertaining. Follow Beer Christianity on Twitter: @beerxianity and find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Stitcher.  If you leave us a voicenote at speakpipe.com/beerchristianity we might air your question on an episode. Beer Christianity also has a newsletter in which Jonty and guest authors comment on the news, theological issues and stuff that matters.  Sign up to the Beer Christianity newsletter on Substack.  There's a connected Show With Music on Spotify called New Old Music. Check it out if you like eclectic music and weird chat. It's not terribly serious.  Jonty's novel, Incredulous Moshoeshoe and the Lightning Bird, is not available in all good bookshops, but if you bought it and left a review that would probably make that more likely.  We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice. 

Original Air Date: June 14th, 2018 Robert is joined again by Andrew Ti (Yo, Is This Racist?) and they continue discuss the evil actions of King Leopold II of Belgium. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Original Air Date: June 12th, 2018Have you ever heard of King Leopold II? In Episode 7, Robert is joined by Andrew Ti (Yo, Is This Racist?) and they discuss the King of Belgium, who was the first world leader to be crappy in the true modern sense of the word. His life's work was the blueprint for being the kind of terrible that we recognize in modern leaders like Dick Cheney or Vladimir Putin. He pioneered screwing over tens of millions of people for petty personal gainSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1903 publication, it appeared as a three-part series (1899) in Blackwood's Magazine. It was classified by the Modern Library website editors as one of the "100 best novels" and part of the Western canon. The story centres on Charles Marlow, who narrates most of the book. He is an Englishman who takes a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a river-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the dark side of European colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters: the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the Europeans' cruel treatment of the African natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. In the story, Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization, in a cover-up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region. (Summary by Wikipedia) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/librivox1/support

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.

Guest: Siddharth Kara is Associate Professor of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at Nottingham University, and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.  He is the author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives. The post From King Leopold II To Big Teach: The Plundering of The Congo & The Invention of Modern Day Slavery appeared first on KPFA.

In this episode of Long Story Short, host Liwa delves into the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State during the reign of King Leopold II of Belgium. The episode begins with a reflection on the saying "If you throw a stone in a river, you don't know where the ripples would reach or end," emphasizing the far-reaching consequences of actions.Liwa takes us back to the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, where European powers divided Africa for their own interests. The Congo Free State was established during this conference and granted to King Leopold II as his personal possession. The vast territory, exceeding 2.6 million square kilometers, became a source of exploitation, particularly for rubber.However, the labor policies implemented to extract rubber were brutal, involving forced labor and violent coercion by the state's military force, the Force Publique. Workers who refused to collect rubber were killed, and entire villages were destroyed. The soldiers accounted for each bullet fired by severing the hands of workers. These policies had a devastating impact on the Congolese population, leading to a decline estimated between 1.5 million to 13 million due to disease, famine, violence, and social disruption.Christian missionaries working in the region exposed the atrocities to the international community, causing outrage. The campaign against the Congo Free State gained momentum under the leadership of British activist E. D. Morel. Eventually, in 1908, under international pressure, the Belgian government annexed the Congo Free State and put an end to many of the abusive systems.The episode highlights the ongoing effects of Belgian colonization in the Congo. Decades of dictatorship, civil war, and economic decline have left the region struggling with extreme poverty, political instability, and conflict. Liwa mentions that while King Philippe of Belgium expressed regret for the "acts of violence and cruelty" during the Congo Free State's rule in 2020, some activists argue that a full and proper apology has not been made to the Congolese people.In conclusion, the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State under King Leopold II's reign were a dark chapter in Congolese history, with long-lasting effects. The legacy of Belgian colonization continues to impact the country today, and it is crucial to acknowledge and address the ongoing issues faced by the Congolese people.

The story becomes crazy today... We look at the Belgian colonisation of the Congo all the way up to the CIA backed dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MrMitchellHistory Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's episode, we'll explore the incredible story of Alice Harris, a Victorian missionary whose chilling photographs and relentless advocacy work took down the king of the Congo, King Leopold II. For this episode, I had the privilege of interviewing Judy Smith, Author of 'Don't Call Me Lady: The Journey of Lady Alice Seeley Harris'.  We'll discuss the horrific ways King Leopold extorted labor from the Congolese people, how Alice's photos turned the hearts of even King Leopold's appointed friends, and ultimately how Alice left a legacy of reform and cultural understanding. I hope you enjoy today's episode. To purchase 'Don't Call Me Lady: The Journey of Lady Alice Seeley Harris', visit:https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Call-Me-Lady-Journey/dp/1458212890To learn more about the show, view transcripts, and more visit:https://www.actsofimpact.comSpecial thanks to Jack for his time and insight. Voiceover acting by Mattie.  Music by Alex Grohls.

Unwind with "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad's classic tale of imperialism, race, and the darkness of the human psyche. This Chillbook is narrated by Bob Neufeld, accompanied by relaxing music and captivating visuals to help you stay engaged. Whether you're a fan of classic literature or just looking for something new to listen to, this Chillbook is the perfect way to experience "Heart of Darkness" in a fresh and engaging way. #audiobook #reading #relaxing About Joseph Conrad: Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he came to be regarded a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. (Wikipedia) About Heart of Darkness: Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgian company in the African interior. The novel is widely regarded as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining the themes of power dynamics and morality. Although Conrad does not name the river on which most of the narrative takes place, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and economically important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is given a text by Kurtz, an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" and is the object of Marlow's expedition. Chapters: 00:00 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 00:12 Chapter 1 1:40:30 Chapter 2 3:07:30 Chapter 3 More Relaxing Audiobooks: - Chillbooks Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wZrAjRwk7dVtEMejaRJpmeHdFuVoy52 Special thanks to Bob Neufeld and Librivox.org: https://librivox.org/reader/3912 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chillbooks/support

#IDKMYDE... 1884 -1885 INTERNATIONALLY for EUROPE was about splitting up Africa ... What left the continent wide open for robberyA Congo legend? Mixed with regional pride. A treat that will make you cringe like halloween.... King Leopold II & more... World wide facts, wars and legends” Symbolism that matters! B Daht explains more about this sweet international fact.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Siddharth Kara is Associate Professor of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at Nottingham University, and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.  He is the author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives. The post From King Leopold II To Big Teach: The Plundering of The Congo & The Invention of Modern Day Slavery appeared first on KPFA.

Fire up that Tarzan pack because we're smoking that Legend of Tarzan on this weeks episode.  Where do you even start with this one? Their idea to modernize and update Tarzan from his racists roots is to...have him end slavery in Africa? And use the real life genocide in the Congo by King Leopold II as a backdrop? And have Samuel L. Jackson portray a real life historical figure who has to *checks notes* convince Tarzan he wasn't going to lick a gorilla's scrotum?  Yeeeaaaahhhhh, this one is on the third level for sure. And as far as rebooting Tarzan, we got thoughts on that too.  We got two more episodes this year for y'all! Our holiday episode and our year end culture wrap up so stay tuned for those! Also, be sure to hit us up with any movies or thoughts for what you'd like to see in 2023! You can find us as always at @white_pod on Twitter and send us your thoughts at whitepeoplewontsaveyoupod@gmail.com 

This week we are joined by friend and comedian Chris from Brooklyn to discuss perhaps the worst genocide in history. The Congo Free State was an open air labor camp with horrific conditions that existed between 1885 and 1908, was a wholly owned possession of the King of Belgium and was home to some of the most vicious human suffering in all of human memory. We get to the bottom of it in signature History Homos fashion. Follow Chris across social media @chrisfrombklyn and check out his podcasts Notes of a Goon and High Society Radio wherever podcasts are found. Don't forget to join our Telegram channel at T.me/historyhomos and to join our group chat at T.me/historyhomoschat The video version of the show is available on Youtube, bitchute, odysee. For weekly premium episodes or to contribute to the show subscribe to our channel at www.rokfin.com/historyhomos Any questions comments concerns or T-shirt/sticker requests can be leveled at historyhomos@gmail.com Later homos --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/historyhomos/support

Girl's Camp! We talk about the history of how it came to be, the experiences of many folks who attended, and discuss the evolution of the program since its inception. What happens there? Who gets (has) to attend? Why don't young women get to do the same kind of stuff Scouts do? Tune in and all answers shall be revealed! After that we review the most recent Tarzan movie and wrap the show with a new paper proposed as forthcoming EU legislation to reduce slave labor.   Show links:    History of LDS Youth Programs: https://juvenileinstructor.org/history-of-lds-youth-programs/    Changes made in 1993: https://www.thechurchnews.com/1993/2/20/23258666/new-young-women-camp-manual-written-for-today     Young Women of Zion: An Organizational History: https://rsc.byu.edu/firm-foundation/young-women-zion-organizational-history    Young Women Organization Timeline: https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/training/library/young-women-organization/young-women-organization-timeline    A Century and Counting: How Girl's Camp Has (and Hasn't) changed Since 1912: https://utahvalley360.com/2016/07/15/century-counting-girls-camp-changed-since-1912/    Changes made in 2018: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/changes-to-young-women-camp-detailed-in-new-guide?lang=eng    Camp Dress codes: https://www.the-exponent.com/oh-those-girls-camp-dress-codes/   Camp (1972 article in New era) https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1972/05/camp?lang=eng    True Stories of Girl's Camp: https://bycommonconsent.com/2006/05/23/true-stories-of-girls-camp/  Facebook post w/camp songs https://www.facebook.com/lindsay.park.7/posts/pfbid02UMwoYTduaZrNMLbit3bYykYYFErwBZaGueiSueioseUGwafvidXo54vEdDL6z4wpl?notif_id=1662764709416934 MOGP:    The Legend of Tarzan: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918940/?ref_=hm_rvi_tt_i_1    King Leopold II of Belgium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium    Force Publique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Publique    Congo Free State: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State     George Washington Williams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Williams    Happy News: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/exclusive-eu-seeks-ban-products-made-with-forced-labour-document-2022-09-09/   Come see us on Aron Ra's YouTube channel! He's doing a series titled Reading Joseph's Myth BoM. Bryce showed up for episode 7 and Shannon was added in on Episode 8. They will be on Sunday's. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf    Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/exmoapparel/shop Or find the merch store by clicking on “Store” here: https://glassboxpodcast.com/index.html

With vocal impressions of famous Black historical leaders and the fusion of history, spoken word and hip-hop, author, scholar and orator Maurice Miles Martinez (MC Brotha Miles) speaks about King Leopold II and the colonization of the Congo. He concludes with a powerful poem. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/maurice-miles-martinez/support

His name is #King_Leopold_II of Belgium and the living incarnation of evil killed over 10 million innocent people in what is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gaf/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gaf/support

Adam Hochschild's Ghosts of Rapacity and ResistanceDiscussion with Adam Hochschild on the historical movements and moments throughout Adam's books. We discuss the First World War, the Spanish Civil War, the turmoil and anti-immigrant and anti-labour purges in the United States during and after the First World War, apartheid, the Stalinist purges and the Russian people's attempt to reconcile with this rapacity, the British emancipation movement and King Leopold II's genocide in the Congo.For More Info:https://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/https://www.amazon.com/Bury-Chains-Prophets-Rebels-Empires/https://www.amazon.com/End-All-Wars-Patriotism-Hochschild/https://www.amazon.com/Spain-Our-Hearts-Americans-1936-1939/https://www.amazon.com/Unquiet-Ghost-Russians-Remember-Stalin/https://www.amazon.com/Half-Way-Home-Memoir-Father/https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Cinderella-Riches-Radical-Journey/https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Midnight-South-African-Journey/https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Dark-Time-Other-Essays/https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Trapdoor-Essays-Portraits-Travels/

In 2020, statues across the world were pulled down in an extraordinary wave of global iconoclasm. From the United States and the United Kingdom to Canada, South Africa, the Caribbean, India, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, Black Lives Matter protests defaced and hauled down statues of slaveholders, Confederates, and imperialists.Edward Colston was hurled into the harbour in Bristol, England. Robert E. Lee was covered in graffiti in Richmond, Virginia. Christopher Columbus was toppled in Minnesota, beheaded in Massachusetts, and thrown into a lake in Virginia. King Leopold II of the Belgians was set on fire in Antwerp and doused in red paint in Ghent. Winston Churchill was daubed with the word ‘racist' in London.Statues are one of the most visible – and controversial – forms of historical storytelling. The stories we tell about history are vital to how we, as societies, understand our past and create our future. Fallen Idols looks at twelve statues in modern history. It looks at why they were put up; the stories they were supposed to tell; why those stories were challenged; and how they came down.Alex von Tunzelmann is a historian and screenwriter. She is the author of five books on Cold War politics and cultural history, most recently Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History.Hugh Linehan is Culture Editor with the Irish Times.The Dublin Festival of History is brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries, in partnership with Dublin City Council Culture Company. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, Africains ahurissants and Hot Tops from Around the Globe are back! The hostess is also in conversation with award- winning author Joey O'Connor and his book Among Kings and its premise about an African American missionary William Shepard and his encounters with the Congolese people and King Leopold II. CONNECT WITH ME! INSTAGRAM: @muyumbakalubi, @tcrlrcpodcastofficial FACEBOOK: The Congo Report EMAIL: thecongoreport@gmail.com WEBSITE: https://www.patreon.com/thecongoreport?fan_landing=true FOLLOW THE GUEST! INSTAGRAM: @joeyoconnor3 WEBSITE: https://www.amazon.com/Among-Kings-Adventures-Livingstone-Courageous/dp/B084YY2QS1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1R31QCL1I0GQD&keywords=among+kings&qid=1645494791&s=books&sprefix=among+kings%2Cstripbooks%2C151&sr=1-1 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thecongoreport/message

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

International pressure forced the Belgian government to succeed King Leopold II, and The Belgian Congo was born.  The Belgian people were not unanimously behind colonialism, although the colony was supported by the socialist government on the grounds of developmental support.  But the companies who were developing were also exploiting, although now under international scrutiny their actions The peoples of the Congo entered the 20th Century in the midst of these tensions.   

Welcome to the sixth episode of “We Effed Up!” On this episode, we try to untangle the mess that is King Leopold II's pursuit of the Congo and why reading the fine print is so important.SourcesHochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost: A Study of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Mariner Books, New York, 1998.Jeal, Tim. Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer. Yale U. Press, Cambridge, 2007.Packenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa. Abacus History, New York, 1991.Reeves, Thomas C. Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester A. Arthur. Alfred Knopf, New York, 1975.Van Reybrouck, David. Congo: The Epic History of a People (Sam Collins, Trans.). Harper Collins, New York, 2014. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here we find the people of the Congo living for the first time under one ruler in todays DRC borders. This man was King Leopold II of Belgium, and he called his territory The Congo Free State. The land people and people were ruthlessly exploited for ivory and rubber with scant regards to their own interests. Under this regime brutality and control new depths of humanity were reached ... This is often referred to as the age of Red Rubber.

The history of Congo is not known to many people. The story is one of exploitation, corruption and political instability. This is the first of a six part series. PartContinue readingEpisode 18 – The History of Congo – Part 1 of 6: King Leopold II to Congo's Independence – 9-18-21

A hugely entertaining and informative narrative on one of the key arguments raging across the globe - how does one honestly celebrate a country's past without knocking down celebrated heroes? In 2020, statues across the world were pulled down in an extraordinary wave of global iconoclasm. From the United States and the United Kingdom to Canada, South Africa, the Caribbean, India, Bangladesh and New Zealand, Black Lives Matter protests defaced and hauled down statues of slaveholders, Confederates and imperialists. Edward Colston was hurled into the harbour in Bristol, England. Robert E. Lee was covered in graffiti in Richmond, Virginia. Christopher Columbus was toppled in Minnesota, beheaded in Massachusetts and thrown into a lake in Virginia. King Leopold II of the Belgians was set on fire in Antwerp and doused in red paint in Ghent. Winston Churchill was daubed with the word racist in London. Statues are one of the most visible - and controversial - forms of historical storytelling. The stories we tell about history are vital to how we, as societies, understand our past and create our future. So whose stories do we tell? Who or what defines us? What if we don't all agree? How is history made, and why? Fallen Idols looks at 12 statues in modern history. It looks at why they were put up; the stories they were supposed to tell; why those stories were challenged; and how they came down. History is not erased when statues are pulled down. If anything, it is made.

In this Episode we see the various facades of King Leopold II's philanthropy as he jostles to claim the central African lands he has just become aware of.  He maintains a three prong strategy: escalating aggressiveness in the Congo, appeasement of the European powers and an image of benevolence to the United States.  Tensions lead to the 1885 Berlin Conference and Leopold positions himself as the benign and neutral power in the Congo... 

Learn more about a not-so-well-known colonizer, Belgium Show notes: A BBC article on King Leopold II and his legacy | The scramble for Africa (Wikipedia) | Prisoners of geography by Tim Marshall (Amazon) | A profile of Edmund Morel, an abolitionist who exposed slavery in the Congo | How Janssen, J&J's pharma arm with a Covid-19 vaccine, is connected to Belgium's colonization of the Congo (YouTube)

The scramble for Africa accelerated after the 1884 partition of the continent where European nations agreed to divvy up Africa in a meeting arranged by the Germans. Soon afterwards, King Leopold II of Belgium became frustrated by Belgium's lack of international power and prestige. He tried to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin. But Brussels was ambivalent so Leopold created the colony on his own setting up the Congo Free State in 1885. Eventually by the early 19th Century, the violence of Congo colonial officials against indigenous Congolese and the ruthless system of economic extraction had led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgiums government to take official control of the country, which it did in 1908, creating the Belgian Congo. What these privateers had done in the Congo features in Joseph Conrads’ great work – Heart of Darkness. The large scale mistreatment of the locals included mutilations and the mass murder of men women and children on rubber plantations. Entire villages were razed to the ground. But the most notorious method used by these privateers was chopping off the hands of those who refused to work. We also hear about the formation of Angolan nationalist and separatist groups would be important in in the coming Border War.

The scramble for Africa accelerated after the 1884 partition of the continent where European nations agreed to divvy up Africa in a meeting arranged by the Germans. Soon afterwards, King Leopold II of Belgium became frustrated by Belgium's lack of international power and prestige. He tried to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin. But Brussels was ambivalent so Leopold created the colony on his own setting up the Congo Free State in 1885. Eventually by the early 19th Century, the violence of Congo colonial officials against indigenous Congolese and the ruthless system of economic extraction had led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgiums government to take official control of the country, which it did in 1908, creating the Belgian Congo. What these privateers had done in the Congo features in Joseph Conrads’ great work – Heart of Darkness. The large scale mistreatment of the locals included mutilations and the mass murder of men women and children on rubber plantations. Entire villages were razed to the ground. But the most notorious method used by these privateers was chopping off the hands of those who refused to work. We also hear about the formation of Angolan nationalist and separatist groups would be important in in the coming Border War.

In this episode, we go into some hard facts give, Proof that not the B.i.b.le. but YAH scriptures are talking about diaspora African descendants and a select group of African that remain in Africa. These recordings line up to the heinous act that has been done to our people.  First off, we experience the things to come and pass that were record in the book of Shemot what most call the Exodus. Although most people talk about Genocidal people such as Stalin, Hitler, and Mao Zedong causing the murder of many millions. It is odd that most dispersed African descendants rarely bring up who can be arguably one of the worst King Leopold II who was directly responsible for the deaths of an estimated 15 million Africans in the land of Congo within Central Africa.  We hope this was helpful and edifying let us just say any scriptures that are provided are based on the content of the whole chapter and book(s) that is used. Please take the time to know the whole matter and do your research.  Please subscribe, download, and check us out on our social media platforms or our website to be in the know on what we are planning next.  YAH Not Religion invites you to have an open discussion on our website  https://yahnotreligion.life/podcast/Akpe (Thank You) for listening Have a day guide by YAH. We hope you enjoy and as always:  MAN IS A LIAR (Psalms 146:3-10) Resource:Microphone used https://amzn.to/2I7Ke5SNotebook  https://amzn.to/35Wh4ipBooks mentioned in the podcast: The CepherThe Stone edition Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3KPMSZMJVANGA)

Genocide In The Belgian Congo (Part 1)Getting into the deep, multi-part series talking about central African colonial history. In episode 1 we'll talk about the Kongo Kingdom prior to European contact, the transatlantic slave trade and delve into the background of King Leopold II. Follow for more episodes in this series because we're picking apart every detail. Some additional reading and sources: King Leopold's Ghost & The Looting Machine

The Society Show with Christian Patterson, bringing you international news you may have missed, mixed with a barrage of soundboard clips, and propaganda. On today's episode: - The history of law enforcement, all the way back to the beginning of civilization, with the Sumerians and Mayas - CHAZ - Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone / CHOP - Capitol Hill Occupied Protest - Cops cancelled! (the show) - Philadelphia police stands in solidarity with alleged assailant and coworker: Joey Balogna - Columbus, King Leopold II, and Louis XVI statues go bye-bye! - the Libyan Civil War report - former friend of the US, Argentinian president Macri accused of spying on 400 journalists - North and South Korea feud over propaganda pamphlet balloons - Indian forces killed nine rebels, leads to protests - Iran sentences spy for CIA and Mossad to death - Riots and protests in Lebanon - The EU set to file antitrust laws against Amazon - QAnon follower set to become a member of congress - Prince Andrew wanted by Feds regarding Jeffrey Epstein All of that and much more, this is the Society Show!