Meanwhile, in the Congo....

[Sherry Darling]

This is, of course, a country (if I can call it that) which has been at war with itself for, what, like 40 years?

And one of the main reasons that I am amazed when I hear some folks try to argue that colonial imperialism may have sucked, sure, but doesn't really have much to do with what's going on in the world today.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5235752.stm

DR Congo candidate rejects poll
Democratic Republic of Congo opposition presidential candidate Azarias Ruberwa says he will reject the result of Sunday's historic election.

Mr Ruberwa - a former rebel leader who became a vice-president in terms of a 2002 peace deal - said he would use all legal means to anul the results.

He demanded a re-run of elections in some areas. Official election results are not expected for several weeks.

The United Nations hailed the poll as a milestone in DR Congo's peace process.

Mr Ruberwa said he had witness accounts of poll fraud, though he has not yet produced any evidence, the BBC's Arnaud Zajtman reports from Kinshasa.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Leopold the Second ran the Congo as a private enterprise, it was an abberation even by colonialist standards.

 

[verte76]

Leopold the Second ran the Congo as a private enterprise, it was an abberation even by colonialist standards.

Horrors! I can only imagine what the place must have been like.

 

[Sherry Darling]

Absolutely--it was brutal even by the standards of imperial colonialism.

 

[U2democrat]

Yeah, Leopold was certifiable. The things he had done...disgusting.


ETA: Good to see you back, SD

 

[verte76]

I need to read a book about this. I've read bits and pieces but not a book about the Congo as a colony.

 

[ImOuttaControl]

I need to read a book about this. I've read bits and pieces but not a book about the Congo as a colony.

I read this for my African History class in college. Fantastic book--very sad and sickening at points though.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618001905/102-1404679-1562524?v=glance&n=283155

 

[guill]

This is, of course, a country (if I can call it that)

I am amazed when I hear some folks try to argue that colonial imperialism may have sucked, sure, but doesn't really have much to do with what's going on in the world today.

You are jocking, right ?

 

[Sherry Darling]

No, I am not jocking. Nor am I joking.

 

[silja]

This is, of course, a country (if I can call it that) which has been at war with itself for, what, like 40 years?

And one of the main reasons that I am amazed when I hear some folks try to argue that colonial imperialism may have sucked, sure, but doesn't really have much to do with what's going on in the world today.

Of course it didn’t help that centuries of exceptionally brutal colonial oppression was followed by 30 years or so of Cold War inspired, US sponsored dictatorship that devastated what little infrastructure, health care, education system, etc. and so on that Congo possessed when the Belgians buggered of.

 

[Sherry Darling]

Silja--precisely. Colonialism simply became neo-colonialism, rather than democracy.

 

[Teta040]

If you folks want a comprehensive report on recent Congolese history, I refer you to the book I talked about in the Lebanon thread...."The World's Most Dangerous Places" by Robert Young Pelton....excellent for understanding recent global conflicts. He's had people on the ground there too. I esp like his denoucedment of the world's indifference.."We can't possibly expaling this colassal case of international amnesia..it can't possibly be because all the particapants in this colassal drama are black."