In attempting to assess the events which have come to pass in Africa, or to judge what has been done or what has not been done there, we must keep in mind that Africa and its black people must be viewed in a completely different light than that in which we regard the people of Europe, North America or even of Asia.
There is much talk about rising nationalism in Africa. You cannot have nationalism without nations. But there are no nations in Black Africa. There are only tribes. So we are dealing with tribalism, or of elemental racism, when we treat of the rising of the black people against the whites who brought to them the first blessings of civilization.
Black Africa was colonized by European nations. However the colonies which formed there were not bounded by limits determined according to nations, which, in fact, existed nowhere there. The African colonies were geographical areas arbitrarily set by the European nations during the course of explorations which took place by different European powers especially during the course of the nineteenth century.
Thus, there is no Congolese nation. There are dozens of tribes, speaking different languages, often in conflict with one another, dwelling in that area which was named, the Congo, by the power colonizing it. The same is true for the land areas occupied by France and Great Britain. These small tribes of black people often have nothing in common between them except the English or French language which was taught them by the Europeans who came to colonize their continent.
It was King Leopold II who became interested in exploring Africa and engaged Stanley and other explorers to make a thorough study of the immense Congo basin. An international conference in 1885 recognized his claims to this territory and he was granted full personal sovereignty over it. In 1908 the territory became a Belgian colony.
So this was a relatively young colony. But in the few decades of its rule Belgium did such a magnificent job that the Congo came to be known as a model colony.
Only fifty years before, leprosy, malaria, sleeping sickness and other diseases were rampant in the Congo. There was absolutely no knowledge of hygiene. The sorcerers reigned supreme everywhere. The Belgians built towns, roads, schools, hospitals and drained the swamps. Missionaries brought the light of Christianity to tribes plunged into the darkness of fetishism and other forms of superstition.
Obviously, justice in all its purity was not always observed in these works undertaken by human beings. There were others besides missionaries, nurses and educators. There were those whose primary interest was the exploitation of the vast untapped wealth of the Congo. But even they, for the most part, brought more benefits than evils to the natives of the land.
It is a mistake to generalize particular abuses and to seek to condemn all colonialism. In fact, those enlightened and advanced have a solemn duty to seek to lift the backward from their ignorance and material misery.
Would anyone condemn the French and English and other Europeans for having come to North America and established colonies, even though we must deplore the numerous abuses committed against the redskins who were native to this continent? In the Congo, as in the other colonies of black Africa, the standard of living of the black people is immeasurably higher now than it was before the coming of the European.
Now this is not to say that a particular political and social regime should not develop. The whole justification for colonization is precisely this, that the native populations be introduced to civilization, be led to political maturity, to social awareness and knowledge, rather than be left to live under the autocratic rule of more highly developed nations. But again, it is necessary that the particular grouping attain a certain level of political and social experience before being granted independence, otherwise, under its new freedom, it is very likely to fall back into chaos and the savage state in which it existed before the coming of the colonizers.
Unfortunately such a precaution was brushed aside as the fierce wind of independence swept across Africa after the second World War. It was an ill wind which blew no one any good, for it took no account of the state of unpreparedness which existed. Furthermore, this wind was fanned by agitators from within, filled with personal ambition rather than wisdom; likewise by agitators from without who coveted the possessions of those they wished to drive out.
The Congo is a perfect example of what happens when such a wind prevails; a prime example of the disorders and chaos which follow.
Let one solitary voice be raised in some African country demanding independence and at once numerous voices are raised from among us, echoing this demand and blaming the European masters for not granting this independence immediately. These, perhaps, well-intentioned souls forget that a child has need of parents or guardian for just as long as it is incapable of looking after its own affairs. There is no question but that every nation has a right to its independence. But a group of tribes which have not as yet the cement of a common ideal and which are still warring among themselves can hardly be called a nation. To grant independence before the state of nationhood has been achieved is to open the doors to internal conflict and anarchy, and to risk losing all the progress that might previously have been achieved.
The Congo most certainly was not ripe for independence. The Belgians had done much for the Congo, materially and spiritually. But you cannot, in a half a century, bring a heterogeneous population made up of a number of different tribes, some still existing in a state of cannibalism, to the status of a homogeneous state civilized and capable of governing itself. The Congo is 80 times bigger than Belgium with a population of 13 million of which only 100,000 were whites counting men, women and children, for the Belgians never emigrated in large numbers to their colony.
Up until last year peace and quiet reigned in the Belgian Congo. The Congolese seemed to be satisfied with the paternalistic regime of the government and the companies which had been established in the colony. Then, suddenly, in January 1959, came the violent riots in Leopoldville, the beautiful capital in the very heart of Africa.
Belgium was in no way opposed to the idea of the Congo attaining independence. But it wanted the Congo to be prepared and to this end had a four-year plan drawn up.
However the tension increased, heightened by the work of agitators and the influence of articles by theoreticians appearing in European and American publications. Belgium did not resist the tide. Last June 30 King Beaudoin himself visited Leopoldville to proclaim with all solemnity the independence of the Congo. It was a Congo practically without engineers, doctors and without nationals trained in the difficult science of administration.
But the word, "independence", had come to have an almost mystical meaning for the excited and ignorant masses, a word meaning abundance free for all, the possession of all the goods of the whites, including even their women and daughters. An explosion of disorder and savagery was to follow. In the words of Lucien Rebatet in the publication, Rivarol:
"In less than a month we saw a black country of 14 million inhabitants, magnificently equiped (for the Belgiums, selfishly or otherwise, had endowed the country with a magnificent technical capital) fall back, almost as soon as it had been left to itself, into anarchy, tribal warfare, the promotion of illiterate generals, while unemployment, want and disease threatened..."
Who is this Lumumba whose name, yesterday unknown, today fills the pages of every newspaper which is reporting the disaster in the Congo?
Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the ex-Belgian Congo, is 34 year old. As a student he was completely undisciplined and irreverent and was expelled from numerous schools run by the Belgians. However, he managed to complete his education and was employed by the post office. He remained in this post for eleven years, working with apparent honesty. One day it was discovered that he was diverting sums of money into his own pocket. The treasury was short the pretty sum of 2 million Belgian francs. Tried and judged, he was condemned to a year in prison. Some months after he got out of jail he found a job in a brewery. Either through his competence as a beer salesman, or because of the skill he acquired while working in the post office, he was soon the proud owner of a beautiful villa.
Helped by money and position, he entered a political movement founded by negroes, called the National Congolese Movement. Once the movement began to spread, he worked his way into the presidency of the organization, undertook widespread political agitation, persuaded or bullied the other negroes, willy-nilly, to bow before his titles and directives.
But another figure was becoming increasingly prominent among the negroes: Kasavubu. He was older than Lumumba and had a better education. He had been brought up by the White Fathers and had even studied in the seminary with a view to becoming a priest. But at the age of 28 he renounced these plans and after a short period as a teacher he entered into the ranks of the country's administrators. In 1955 he became the chief of a tribe and a director of the Akabo party.
Kasavubu seemed better equiped than Lumumba to take over the administration of his country once it had become independent. But this was not in accord with the plans of the ambitious Lumumba. He managed to have himself appointed Prime Minister while Kasavubu was relegated to the purely honorary post of President.
The disorders which burst upon the Congo during the days immediately following the declaration of independence are by now well known to the entire world; mutiny among the soldiers of the Congo's republican force, the unleashing of "liberated" negroes against the Whites; the seizure of Whites'property; the violation of white women and girls, of nuns, even. During this time, Lumumba, strutting cockily, gave contradictory press conferences, insulted the Belgians, denied facts which were going on under his very eyes, threatened to call in military aid from the Russians, and accused Belgium of violating the newly-won sovereignty of the Congo by calling in the United Nations.
In accordance with the terms governing the granting of independence to its colony, Belgium had withdrawn its troops from the Congo, with the exception of two military bases which had been agreed upon by both sides. But in the face of the onslaught of the blacks upon the property of the Whites, in the face of the violation of the wives and daughters of Belgian settlers, the Belgians could not remain indifferent. They sent in a force of 1,500 parachutists. And it was only doing its sacred duty. This is what the demoniac Lumumba called a violation of territory. He brought his accusations against Belgium before the United Nations.
Was he believed? In the Security Council of the United Nations, the conduct of Belgium was censured - save by France. Belgium was ordered to withdraw its troops from the Congo where they would be replaced by a police force, to maintain order, made up of troops from secondary powers. Humiliated and embittered by this slap in the face after all that it had done for this most central of all the African territories, Belgium bowed before the order of the United Nations. But since its soldiers were there only to hold in check an uprising against its nationals, its troops were withdrawn only in the measure that the force sent by the United Nations was able to replace them.
While Belgium was thus being humiliated, the unbalanced Lumumba was being received in America with all the honors reserved for the head of a civilized nation. In Washington he was received with a 21-gun-salute, and the Secretary of State of the most powerful nation in the world, Christian Herter, went to greet his plane at the airport. Lumumba was also received by the Prime Minister of Canada. He was invited, in Montreal, to appear on the French television network of the CBC, where he was interviewed by Leftists only, thus making it doubly easy for Lumumba to make his case. What a shame! What a scandal!
But there is no satisfying Mr. Lumumba. He wants a centralized form of government in the Congo, with himself as the chief. On the other hand, certain provinces of the Congo, specifically Katanga, Kasai and Kivu, are opposed to this, seeking rather a Congolese confederation in which each of the six provinces will have a large measure of autonomy. Lumumba wanted United Nation troops, not so much to maintain order as to help him subdue Katanga, the richest part of the former Belgian Congo. Hammarskjold rejected such an idea. The problem of Katanga pertains to the domestic politics of the country and as such cannot be the subject of intervention by the United Nations.
This refusal sent Lumumba into a towering rage. He spoke of expelling the United Nations forces from the Congo and of calling in purely African forces. He set himself up as the Messiah of all of Black Africa. The following are a sample of his ranting:
"The troops of the United Nations spend their time parading about in the Congo instead of helping us to rid ourselves of hostile Belgian soldiers.
"We will settle the problem of Katanga ourselves... We have been assured of direct military aid from African countries. I have been carrying on negotiations towards this end and have been assured of help...
"The complete liberty of the African continent has become the responsibility of African soldiers. We will push the colonists outside the boundaries of Africa. And we shall liberate the other African countries beginning with Algeria and South Africa and going on to the other countries under foreign domination."
In New York Lumumba declared before a gathering of 200 newsmen whose curiosity drove them to accord this swashbuckler the honor of a press conference:
"We are following the noble fight being waged by Algeria and we tell France, that she must recognize the right of Algeria to manage its own affairs according to the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of man."
And what are the Congolese doing to manage their own affairs according to these rights under the rule of Lumumba? How are they respecting the rights of men? Well here are a few grisly examples of how these men of Lumumba respected the rights of other men.
On July 5, at Kisantu, a woman was violated by 16 men, one after the other, in a house in the presence of her mother and four children.
On July 6, at Jukisi, two women and two girls were assaulted in their common dwelling by soldiers and an African sergeant.
On July 11, a woman who had left the station at Malaga with her husband, was carried off and beaten by civilians at Lakabo, then taken to Thysville, thrown into a cell and violated by soldiers for several hours in the presence of her children.
On July 12, in the Nbjoly district, a Catholic mission was invaded by black soldiers. The priest was beaten. Two women who had taken refuge there, and two nuns were thrown into a dark room and violated. All those who had been seized at the mission were stripped, their hands were tied behind their backs and they were driven off to jail, then transferred to Nonpono, suffering all the while the ill treatment of the onlookers.
Ninety five Belgian women who were in Camp Hardy were violated.
Numerous women were torn apart from their husbands and violated before the eyes of their children. Often their husbands were forced to look on, bound and held at bay by a machine gun. One such poor creature was violated 17 times before the eyes of her husband who was unable to defend her from these brutes.
* * *
Among the white refugees from the Congo. was a little girl whose hands had been lopped off at the wrists, and men whose ears has been cut and notched by the mutinous Congolese soldiers.
And yet there was a great outcry against the Belgians sending troops to protect their compatriots from the savagery unleashed upon them! And in New York, Washington, Ottawa, and on the CBC, an official welcome was given this Lumumba who by his attacks against the Belgians encouraged these atrocities, and who in place of remaining at home and restoring order, was flitting about from capital to capital!
But in this disaster which has overtaken the Congo there is more than simply the uprising of semi-civilized blacks, the flowing over of the jungle passions of tribes incapable of shouldering the responsibilities of independence. There was on the one hand the zealous machinations of the Communists, anxious to draw raw, new nations into the Soviet orbit; and on the other hand was the cupidity of international financiers, all-too anxious to lay their hands upon the wealth of the Dark Continent.
Both sides prepare their moves by opening with a display of generosity.
A Communist party was hard at work long before the riots of January 1959. Consider this excerpt from a communiqué published by the party itself some weeks ago following a reunion of the party at Leopoldville under the presidency of Mumamba-Mukanya:
"Considering the existence of the Congolese Communist party for more than ten years in the Congo territory;
"Considering the role played by Communism in the fight of the Congolese people for its liberty and independence;
"Considering that the Communist party is armed to organize the proletariat and all oppressed peoples in view of the class warfare."
What could be clearer? The resolution of the Communist party demands not only the withdrawal of the Belgian parachutists who came to protect their countrymen, but likewise of all forces, even those who, by the convention of independence, were to be permitted to remain in the country. This resolution also demands the breaking of all diplomatic ties with Belgium and the withdrawal of the latter's ambassador and consuls. The resolution came out against an embassy representing Nationalist China (Formosa) and opted for representation from the Red China of Mao Tse Tsung.
It was to Khrushchev that Lumumba first turned in demanding the expulsion of the Belgian troops who came to the rescue of murdered men and violated women. And Khrushchev, quite naturally, raised a loud voice to demand the immediate expulsion of the parachutists by the United Nations or he, so he said, would see to it himself.
Khrushchev wasn't remotely interested in protecting innocent individuals. What he was looking for was another satellite to draw into the Moscow orbit.
A dispatch by Associated Press, dated in Leopoldville just at the beginning of the trouble, mentioned the following facts:
The Communists are arriving in great numbers in Leopoldville.
"The Soviet ambassador, Mr. Yakolev, has rented an embassy a short distance from the Czech embassy (also Communist) which has been operating here now as a consulate for some months.
"If, as he has threatened to do, Patrice Lumumba turns to the Communist states for aid, he will not have far to go.
"The correspondents of the Soviet Communist newspapers are arriving here in surprisingly large numbers, as if they expected some occurence of unusual importance.
"One of the most recently arrived journalists showed a pamphlet entitled, Don't touch the Congo. This pamphlet, presumably distributed among the population, contained practically all the talks delivered by Khrushchev about the Congo right up to last August 8.
"Yesterday, 25 Czechs arrived to swell the personnel of the Czech embassy. It is said that Czechs are prepared to furnish to the Congo hundreds of French-speaking teachers in order to open the schools next month (September)."
It has been said that the purpose in treating Belgium as aggressor, in the United Nations, was to prevent Anrushchev from intervening in the Congo.
But there was anxiety not only to hold Communism in check, Communism which has not allowed itself to be checked elsewhere, always having another trick up its sleeve when one failed. The other principal motive, not declared but quite obvious, was to replace Belgian capital with international capital tied to the great American banks.
After the spadework by the Belgians, the harvesting by the vultures of finance!
For this it was necessary that the Belgians give up the ship.
The action of the United Nations and its police force served magnificently to this end. Another case of learning after the deed has been done as is so often the case.
For six months that is, well before the declaration of independence by the Congo, American financier, Edgar Detwiller, had gone to the Congo to negotiate with Lumumba. Two months before independence, the "Congo International Management Corporation" was set up with a view to taking over from the Belgian industrialists.
Thus the eviction of the Belgians had already been decided upon, decided upon by Lumumba and Detwiller.
Detwiller promised an investment going as high as 2 billion dollars, double the Congo budget. He was to obtain the money from an association of financiers. He had, so he said, the agreement of the American government, statement which was never denied. Which can only lead us to believe that both Washington and New York knew what was in store for the Belgians though nothing was done to warn the Belgians.
Now that the Belgians have been obliged to flee before the violence unleashed upon them, let loose perhaps by design and certainly without giving the innocent victims a chance to defend themselves, now that under pretext of protecting the Congo from a Russian invasion, the Belgians have been thrown out, and given a certificate of bad conduct, the place is ready for Detwiller and his associates.
Aspects de la France, of last July 28, quotes a dispatch from Reuter's France-Presse which speaks eloquently of this double-dealing. The dispatch quotes Detwiller as saying:
"It has happened that here the slaves have succeeded the masters and the masters have fled. We think we have acted in the best interests of the Belgians. Had we not acted so quickly someone else would have acted more quickly than we."
What glibness! To speak of flight by those who have been driven out!
Detwiller, very quietly, went to Leopoldville with a lawyer of Parisian descent, but now a naturalized American, a certain Lucien Lelièvre. With him also was a secretary, a smiling young woman who spoke fluent French, Miss Dawn Collins.
Lucien Lelièvre stated that "the Congo International company" had the support of the World Bank and of a number of national institutions, and that it represented the nucleus of the international banks.
Detwiller himself remarked that his organization would welcome western technicians, who might wish to collaborate with it. But he pointed out that it seemed to him that Belgium would not be able to play a very large role in this affair. As for any proposals from Soviet Russia, these would be welcomed if they seemed reasonable and would conduce to the economic development of the Congo.
Who can believe that capitalism has any scruples about bedding down with Communism!
The whole picture is one distressing example of the most revolting hypocrisy to expel the creators of the Congo and to install in their place the vultures of High Finance; and all in the name of the high-sounding principles of the United Nations!
The final insult thrown at the Belgians is contained in the reply of Detwiller to the question of a newspaper man, asking what might be the future of existing companies in the Congo.
"I'm somewhat hesitant to say what might or might not happen to existing companies. The climate perhaps is not favorable to their continuing to operate here. After all they quitted the country, they deserted the ship. Can they return to it?"
Which raises the question as to whether or not capitalism of this sort is not every bit as brutal and revolting as Communism.