Samstag, 2. März 2013

Kongo - Suffering of a nation


These days I read a book about historical development of the state Congo during the last 150 years. It written by a Belgian documentary author and it shows again how European imperialism can ruin a country by the years.

In the years starting from 1870 the Congo was the property of the Belgian King Leopold II. The main reason why he got the country, was that he had promised, that trading is free for all without taxes. Main thing they traded was ebony against some pointless objects. After the traders came nearly at the same time the church which has sent out her missionaries.  

Missionaries weren't the big problem - they just broke up family life and traditions and owned young black people to work for their benefit. The main problem is (until now) that the Congo is the wealth of plants and mineral resources.

First the invention of the tyre and then the India rubber required for this. When these resources were nearly ruined, one rushed at the nearly inexhaustible raw materials which lay underground. Therefor they pressed a lot of Africans in them so called Force publique. They built a very brutal regime to pour out everything from the natives. After the end of the rubber area it quickly turned into mining with the only difference that the mining companies didn't use soldiers to treat the people. That's how capitalism works. The result of bringing western standards to foreign nations is mostly the chance of some warlords to built a dictatorship on terror against their own people.

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