Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke? [Isaiah 58:6, NRSV]
[L] A father looking at the remains of his children. [R] Mutilated children in Congo under Leopold II.
This picture shows a Congolese man, named Nsala, photographed by English missionary Alice Seeley Harris. The man had arrived at her mission quarters clutching a parcel that contained what was left of his five-year-old daughter who had been killed and dismembered as a punishment when his village failed to meet the rubber quotas demanded by the imperial regime of Leopold II, the King of Belgium.
Having “formally” acquired rights to the Congo territory at the “Conference of Berlin” in 1885, Leopold II made the land his private property. History would have been kinder to him had he been a more decent human being towards the Congolese people. But history does not forget. During his mad reign over Congo, his campaign of terror had millions murdered and countless thousands mutilated, many of whom were children. He has been labeled the butcher of Congo, the deranged master of a horrendous genocide, the architect of the African holocaust in Congo. In King Leopold’s Ghost, Adam Hochschild estimates that over ten million Congolese died during the years that Leopold and subsequently the Belgian Government controlled the country. It is also estimated that perhaps this Belgian holocaust claimed more lives than the Nazi’s, but no one was ever brought to book and the crime is largely unknown now. In fact, Hitler himself was encouraged by the fact that “nobody” was talking about the Congo genocide by the time he came onto the world stage.
Newspaper cartoon depicting King Leopold II as a snake twisting off the arm of a Congo slave
But history does not forget.
At the level of the human person, the truth is even more biting: No one is free if others are not.
Freedom fighters and social activists know that well.
Christianity might have brought some surface civilization to the Caucasians in Europe and North America, but their records of extreme racism and slavery, rape and murder, topped by horrendous genocides, testify to their own ultimate enslavement. No parade of nice linen and jewelry, high teas and genteel banquets, or impressive titles and crowns can hide the darkness of the heart of ruthless colonizers. History never tires of uncovering colossal abuse of humanity by self-proclaimed gentlemen of high society the darkness of whose hearts qualified them as megalomaniacs. The infamous King Leopold II of Belgium, the personal colonizer of Congo, was one such pathetic and ultimate slave of a dark heart.
River Congo is a monstrously deep and long river in Africa, by which the country is named. A Bantu word, “Congo” means “mountains” as the river flows through elevated terrain covered by rich rainforests and jungle heavily laden with rubber trees, minerals, gold and diamonds. The immense richness of the land has been an endless source of avarice for the modern industrial world of Europe and thus a curse to the millions of local inhabitants living there at the time. The European need for minerals and agricultural commodities fired a great surge of European colonialism in the race to carve up and subjugate the vast continent of Africa in the 19th Century. At the time, the Europeans knew no better than to bleed every colony dry. As the ends justified the means, slavery and inhumanity ruled the day. In schemes of short-term folly, colonial powers slaughtered and plundered the multitudes. King Leopold II of Belgium belonged to that class of inhuman European colonizers who carved up Africa for mob-looting legitimated by an international club.
In 1908, after an international outcry, Leopold was forced to hand over his territory to the Belgian Government. They controlled the Congo until independence in 1959, and left it in utter ruin.
George Washington Williams, a one-time American Civil War soldier was among the first in 1890 to expose Leopold II’s atrocities in the Congo to the outside world. You may like to google the full letter he wrote to King Leopold titled “An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo By Colonel, The Honorable Geo. W. Williams, of the United States of America.”
At the end of a list of ten charges against Leopold II and his government, the lengthy letter concluded on the following:
- Against the deceit, fraud, robberies, arson, murder, slave-raiding, and general policy of cruelty of your Majesty’s Government to the natives, stands their record of unexampled patience, long-suffering and forgiving spirit, which put the boasted civilisation and professed religion of your Majesty’s Government to the blush…
- All the crimes perpetrated in the Congo have been done in your name, and you must answer at the bar of Public Sentiment for the misgovernment of a people, whose lives and fortunes were entrusted to you by the august Conference of Berlin, 1884—1 885.
- I now appeal to the Powers which committed this infant State to your Majesty’s charge, and to the great States which gave it international being; and whose majestic law you have scorned and trampled upon, to call and create an International Commission to investigate the charges herein preferred in the name of Humanity, Commerce, Constitutional Government and Christian Civilisation.
- I appeal to the Belgian people and to their Constitutional Government, so proud of its traditions, replete with the song and story of its champions of human liberty, and so jealous of its present position in the sisterhood of European States — to cleanse itself from the imputation of the crimes with which your Majesty’s personal State of Congo is polluted.
- I appeal to Anti-Slavery Societies in all parts of Christendom, to Philanthropists, Christians, Statesmen, and to the great mass of people everywhere, to call upon the Governments of Europe, to hasten the close of the tragedy your Majesty’s unlimited Monarchy is enacting in the Congo.
- I appeal to our Heavenly Father, whose service is perfect love, in witness of the purity of my motives and the integrity of my aims; and to history and mankind I appeal for the demonstration and vindication of the truthfulness of the charge I have herein briefly outlined.
A man who enslaves others is himself the ultimate slave. He may enjoy appearances of nobility and dignity as a member of high society, but if he subjects others to abuse and atrocities, he has got to be a monster no different from a wild gorilla in fine linen and ostentatious attire. For lesser crimes committed against His helpless people, the God of heaven and earth has warned through prophet Amos that He will not forget (Amos 8:4-7). On this World Day of Peace, adherents of the Christian faith must be convinced that, ultimately, peace of the soul eludes one who applies unspeakable violence on fellow human beings. So in his Message for the 50th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis points to the human heart as the source of violence and makes a plea:
- “I wish peace to every man, woman and child, and I pray that the image and likeness of God in each person will enable us to acknowledge one another as sacred gifts endowed with immense dignity. Especially in situations of conflict, let us respect this, our “deepest dignity”, and make active nonviolence our way of life.”
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, January 2017. All rights reserved.
You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to jeffangiegoh@gmail.com. You can also be dialogue partners in this Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry by sending us questions for discussion.