“So there was a decent system which reacted to these abuses. There were three investigative commissions for the abuses in the Congo under King Leopold II. Why do we know so little about the atrocities in the Congo in the nineties? Because the Congolese government didn’t give a damn about them!” CongoLeopold IiBelgiumCongo Free StateBelgian CongoKing Leopold Ii Author:Bruce Gilley
“The reader is lured into believing that every conflict he documents is about the drive for rubber, not the drive against slavery (or inter-tribal vendettas). One of many egregious examples will have to suffice.” SlaveryCongoCongo Free StateBelgian CongoAdam HochschildRed Rubber Book:King Hochschild’s Hoax: An absurdly deceptive book on Congolese rubber production is better described as historical fiction. Source: King Hochschild’s Hoax: An absurdly deceptive book on Congolese rubber production is better described as historical fiction.
“As someone celebrated as an anti-colonial hero in the contemporary academy, it is often forgotten that Patrice Lumumba was an active “collaborator” in Belgian colonial rule by any measure: a postal clerk, the head of a local trade federation, and an insider in colonial society as head of Stanleyville’s Association des Évolués.” ColonialismCongoBelgian CongoBruce GilleyPatrice Lumumba Book:The Case for Colonialism: A Response to My Critics Source: The Case for Colonialism: A Response to My Critics
“Of course colonial governance can only return with the consent of the country in question. The nationalist leaders in developing countries are probably not eager to see this happen. But the people- given those decades of ‘anti-colonial disaster’- possibly are.” ColonialismCongoBelgian CongoKinshasa Author:Bruce Gilley
“The Belgian period was the beginning of the most successful era in the history of the Congo. It was the only period in which it had an effective police force and army. The country was being run orderly, was relatively incorrupt and capable of maintaining internal order and of protecting its sovereignty. Only then, under the Belgians, was that the case.” ColonialismCongoLeopold IiCongo Free StateBelgian CongoBelgian Colonialism Author:Bruce Gilley