Oliver Stone TV - Patrice Lumumba - Secrets of the CIA TV - Justin Rowlatt TV - Dan Snow TV - Maurice Carney - Noam Chomsky - Blood in the Mobile TV - Misha Glenny - Adam Curtis TV - The Power Principle 2011 - Congo, My Precious 2017 - Stacey Dooley TV - Storyville: Murder in the Bush: Cold Case Hammarskjold TV - Castro vs The World TV - Exterminate All the Brutes TV - Kwame Nhrumah - Panorama TV - Abby Martin & The Empire Files - The Mysterious Death of a UN Secretary-General 2020 - Simon Reeve TV -
Mobutu ruled for three decades as a billionaire dictator and as the CIA’s most trusted ally in Africa. Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States V: The 50s: Eisenhower, The Bomb & The Third World, Showtime 2012-2013
Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.
It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.
That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten.
We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones.
Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were Negroes. Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as tu, not because he was a friend, but because the polite vous was reserved for the white man?
We have seen our lands seized in the name of ostensibly just laws, which gave recognition only to the right of might.
We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others.
We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.
We have not forgotten that in the cities the mansions were for the whites and the tumbledown huts for the blacks; that a black was not admitted to the cinemas, restaurants and shops set aside for ‘Europeans’; that a black travelled in the holds, under the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins.
Who will ever forget the shootings which killed so many of our brothers, or the cells into which were mercilessly thrown those who no longer wished to submit to the regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation used by the colonialists as a tool of their domination?
All that, my brothers, brought us untold suffering ...
We shall stop the persecution of free thought. We shall see to it that all citizens enjoy to the fullest extent the basic freedoms provided for by the Declaration of Human Rights.
We shall eradicate all discrimination, whatever its origin, and we shall ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour and his loyalty to the country.
We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill. Patrice Lumumba, Independence speech 30th June 1960, ‘The Truth about a Monstrous Crime of the Colonialists’
Lumumba’s behaviour was completely unacceptable to the CIA, so the agents in the Congo began to look for a replacement and they found one in a young man called Mobutu. On January 17th 1961 Lumumba was dragged into the jungle, beaten and the murdered by troops loyal to Mobutu. The CIA had got its way. Their man Mobutu was now in charge of the Congo and the Soviets were no longer welcome there. Secrets of the CIA, 2006
Mobutu’s greed was matched only by his cruelty. And it was the people of the Congo who paid a high price during his thirty-two years in power. ibid.
The Democratic Republic has vast reserves of copper, diamond, cobalt and other rare metals. But the struggle for that incredible wealth has left a history of violence. The civil war that ended seven years ago killed millions of people. This is the wild west of the mining world, and the Chinese are major players here too. Justin Rowlatt, The Chinese are Coming, BBC 2011
It is estimated that about 90% of Katanga’s minerals go to China. ibid.
The legacy of foreigners in the Congo has all too often been exploitation and abuse of human rights. Sadly, it seems that tradition is continuing. ibid.
One of the wildest, most colourful and anarchic countries on our planet ... Congo’s troubles today are rooted in the past. Dan Snow’s History of Congo, BBC 2013
The start of European involvement, and much of that would be predatory. ibid.
They destroyed a complex African society, and decimated the population. ibid.
Rubber: The Congo became one vast labour camp. ibid.
One of the greatest atrocities of the twentieth century. ibid.
The Congo provided key minerals for the development of the West’s industrial economies. ibid.
1960: The Congolese finally enjoyed their independence. ibid.
A series of wars here that have killed millions of people. ibid.
This country which should be so rich thanks to its natural resources is one of the poorest on the planet. ibid.
Congo as the United Nations said is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II. Congo is a geological scandal because of the enormous mineral wealth that’s in its soil. Maurice Carney, Friends of the Congo
There are two rapes taking place – the rape of the land and the rape of the people. Kambale Musavuli, Congo Global Movement
What Belgium did in 1960 in Congo is one of the worst crimes of the 20th Century. Noam Chomsky
The murder of Lumumba, in which the US was involved, in the Congo destroyed Africa’s major hope for development. Congo is now total horror story, for years. Noam Chomsky
Minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo are used in mobile phones. In the past fifteen years five million people have died as a consequence of civil war in DR Congo. The UN have for years reported links between the minerals trade and the war. Blood in the Mobile, 2010
Why is it they won’t talk to me? ibid.
Today the Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world even though the country is so rich on natural resources. ibid.
It is estimated that not less than 300,000 women have been raped. ibid.
There is no other place in the world where the UN has so many peace-keeping troops. ibid.
High ranking officers are making a lot of money from the minerals. ibid.
These carriers have walked ninety kilometres in the last two days with fifty kilos on their back. Every day six hundred carriers come out of the woods with thirty tons of minerals. ibid.
They let the local population do the hard work. And then they impose taxes on everyone. ibid.
Isn’t this almost the same as slavery? ibid.
Every third phone on the planet is a Nokia. ibid.
It is technically possible to trace the raw materials. ibid.
By 1998, a conflict had broken out that, in terms of participating armies and numbers killed, is comparable with the Great War in Europe – up to four million deaths in a five-year period. Misha Glenny, McMafia
The Dam was now a hostage in the vicious confrontations of the Cold War. A year before, the Congo had been torn apart by a brutal civil war. America and the Soviet Union backed opposite sides. The policy of the new Kennedy administration was to fight the spread of communism in Africa. In 1960 Brezhnev, the President of the Soviet Union, had visited Ghana. It frightened America’s leaders. They were determined that Nkrumah, despite his brand of African socialism, would be their man. Nkrumah though wanted to keep Ghana and Africa out of the Cold War. Adam Curtis, Pandora’s Box, BBC 1992
Cobalt: it was an essential component in all new digital machines … and its price around the world was soaring … All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace III: The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine, BBC 2011
For almost eighty years the Congo had been ruled by Belgium. But in 1960 it became independent. Its first prime minister was Patrice Lamumba. He held out a heroic vision of a new independent Africa. But the country was completely unprepared for self-government. Within weeks it collapsed into chaos. The Congo was central to the modern world, because hidden in its forests were an extraordinary range of minerals … The old colonial towns now became battleground where rebels and soldiers loyal to Lamumba fought for control of the mines. ibid.
In 1967 a new war broke out in the Congo. White mercenaries who supported a rival of president Mobutu were leading a rebellion. Their aim was to create a separate state out of the mineral-rich area in the eastern part of the country … But the rebellion turned into horror. ibid.