Tuesday, February 22, 2005

The Ghosts of Belgium's history in Congo finally come home to roost

Belgium's history in Congo moves to horror
TERVUREN, Belgium -- In the massive Colonial Palace King Leopold
II built as a propaganda tool for his African adventure, a new
blockbuster show finally starts to lift the veil on the horror
the monarch spawned in his Congo a century ago.

http://p-i.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Belgium+Colonial+Congo
It's about time. Though it is done in the ever over-justifying way the Belgians have accustomed us to, it is a good step, in the right direction. Central Africa as a whole is still facing the consequences of the brutality of Leopold II and his goons, and the healing process can only begin when mistakes are fully acknowledge. It seems our "uncles" - as us Congolese sarcastically call the Belgians - have finally understood. Good fo them.

2 comments:

LouisAntoine said...

Too little, too late? Maybe this will help finish off the last colonial nostalgia-- or maybe just drive it deeper underground. Older generations are especially hard to convince (the history books were rosy until very recently).

Belgium said...

yes, it's probably too late, the history will remember everything about what happened...

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