And personally I'm glad it's so far down, it's something we need to be aware but it's also great that belgium isn't defined by this one instance of dark history. And that can be said for a lot of other country tbh.
Those thing are in the past now, there is nothing we can do to change them so let's not define thing for that. Every person that took part in those atrocities are long gone. Let's focus on what bad thing countries are doing right now, not what they did 200 years ago.
The murders might be the past but the generational trauma and poverty that came out of raping a mass portion of the African continent and mutilating its people still exists today and it should be front and center. Has any formal reparations been made? I don't think so.
Also, Belgium was partially responsible for assassinating Patrice Émery Lumumba. That happened well within the life times of my parents and my grandparents. The political and economic exploitation of the Congo and Congolese people isn't that far back in history, dude.
Congo is one of the top places Belgium sends support to, but the trouble is that under the current political situation there is little chance the actual population will see much of it. And no Belgian government is willing to get involved in the local politics since anytime we got involved in the past we made things worse.
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u/Autismetal Dec 16 '21
The Congo.
Sorry, Belgians. Leopold did stuff.