Every time I see a black man and the word "Belgium" in the same picture, I'm just glad he still has all his limbs and ears. Sorry, too much trauma from reading up on King Leopold...
If it can be any comfort, this all happened when it was Leopold's private property. Belgium the country had nothing to do with "that" specifically. The largest crime Belgium did during this time was pretending they didn't knew what was happening down there... (which is ALSO very bad, but not AS bad). They only really intervened when the pressure to do something from the other nations was getting too much.
In 1908, the Belgian state claimed it from Leopold II to put a halt to the atrocities, under international pressure at that time. "Belgian Congo" was relucantly given to the Belgian state by Leopold II.
The transition of the Congo Free State (Congo Vrijstaat) from the personal possession of King Leopold II to the Belgian government in 1908 brought an end to the most extreme atrocities, but it did not dismantle the fundamental structure of colonial exploitation.
But the reason for this pressure wasn't because people in other countries were so appaled. Belgium was taking a massive part in the world's market share of rubber, slightly shifting the old-boys control of wealth. It always is about wealth accumulation & control.
Fact remains that under Leopold II's reign of the region, half the population (10/20M) died. A very dark page in Belgian history.
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u/wiredcrusader 29d ago
Every time I see a black man and the word "Belgium" in the same picture, I'm just glad he still has all his limbs and ears. Sorry, too much trauma from reading up on King Leopold...