I’m reading a harrowing account of colonialism in the Congo called King Leopold’s Ghost. I seem to be enjoying genocidal histories right now, having recently read The Earth Shall Weep, about the genocide against the Native Americans in the United States, and Enemy at the Gates, about the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II.
King Leopold’s Ghost is a horrendous tale of one of the worst genocides perpetrated by humanity, an esimated 10 million people killed in a state that was the personal fiefdom of one man, King Leopold II of Belgium. What’s worse is that he purportedly ran it on humanitarian grounds, having got funding from all sorts of well-intentioned people, for purposes as diverse as ending Arab slavery, education, supporting Christian missionaries etc. Of course the effects are still visible today.
Somehow I’m seeing it in a remarkably positive light, as indicative of the progress humanity has made in only 100 years. 100 years ago the world was a disaster. World War I was about to break out, Europe dominated the world with an iron fist, and the people of Europe supported the impending war, and their countrie’s conquests. There’s a passage in the book quoting from a European’s account of shooting a local. He takes a bet with a colleague that he can shoot a man in a canoe a fair distance away. The bet is accepted, he shoots, and the man falls dead into the river. The account, from his diary, is one of pride in his prowess. The predominant European view of the time was racist, seeing anyone not from Europe as below them, as animals. But what made me see the positive light is that most people today wouldn’t even treat an animal in the same way. Not only has treatment of people vastly improved, so has treatment of animals. As Walton pointed out, millions marched for War before World War I, while millions marched against war before the US invasion of Iraq.
I’m not wearing rose-tinted glasses about today – atrocities still occur, but compared with then, citizens seem less inclined to support them – the governments committing them are more and more out of touch with their people.
In the period convered by the book, the only concern for the Congo by most governments was whether they could trade freely (read steal all they can without bureaucratic). We’ve just seen the cancellation of a substantial portion of debt.
I was an interminable pessimist as a child, but I can’t help being an optimist now.
came upon your piece by accident… I wrote about this too, recently, see link. Leopold was one heartless ruler, thats for sure, and his murderous legacy lives on, unfortunately.