On this day, 30 June 1960, Congo achieved independence from Belgium following decades of brutal colonial rule which killed 8-10 million people – half its population.
Belgian authorities used men for forced labour in the rubber industry, having the wives and children of workers who didn’t meet their daily quotas dismembered, killed and even eaten.
Following independence, Belgium and other Western powers continued to maintain power and rob the country’s rich natural resources. The first democratically elected Prime Minister, socialist Patrice Lumumba was arrested, tortured and murdered on the instructions of Belgium and the CIA, who then installed a brutal dictator.
This book gives a detailed history of colonialism in Congo: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/products/lord-leverhulme-s-ghosts-colonial-exploitation-in-the-congo-jules-marchal
Pictured: a survivor of colonial brutality, c1900 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1750726271779182/?type=3
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