KING LEOPOLD II: THE BADASS OF ALL COLONISERS IN AFRICA

Most, if not all, have at one time or another heard the name ADOLF HITLER while only a few, microscopic few, have ever heard the name LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM. The reason for this, as far as I'm concerned is the colonial brainwashing done to us in Africa by the Europeans. 

I recently saw a meme that read "the reason why little is known about king Leopold II and much is known about Adolf Hitler is because the victims of the former were black and the latter were whites". Truth is, I agree with the meme hence my digging to find out as much as I can about the atrocities committed by king Leopold II. Although, I know about some of his atrocities in Congo, searching about him and reading a lot about him opened my eyes to the fact that king Leopold II was the devil in human skin.

Leopold II of Belgium was born on 9th of April, 1835 and was the second but eldest surviving son of Leopold I. He succeeded his father to the Belgian throne in 1865 (at the age of 30). He reigned for 44 years until his death on December 17th, 1909 (he died at the age of 74). He was the "owner and absolute ruler" of Congo Free State from 1885 (after the Berlin conference) to 1908 (a year before his death). He was the "sole owner, emperor, and imperial majesty" of Congo, a land in central Africa. His official title in the Congo was "His Serene Majesty, The Sovereign of the Congo Free State" 

To start with, how a man became the "owner and absolute ruler" of a land hundred of miles away from his home and continent is beyond anyone's imagination. To make matters worse, the way and manner with which he ruled the people of Congo Free State (now known as Democratic Republic of Congo) is worse than brutal. 

According to various estimates and accounts, Leopold II was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of between 10 and 12 million Congolese and also the amputation of over 5 million Congolese. All the killings and amputations were within 23 years. To understand the magnitude of his killings, he killed an average of 522,000 (five hundred and twenty two thousand) Congolese every year for 23years; that is, 43,500 (forty three thousand, five hundred) every month, 10,875 (ten thousand, eight hundred and five) every week and 1,554 (one thousand, five hundred and fifty four) every day.

To put in perspective, Adolf Hitler killed some six million Jews across Europe. Meaning Leopold II killed over 6 million more people than Adolf Hitler yet Adolf Hitler was seen as a bigger devil just because his victims were whites Europeans while King Leopold II was seen as a liberator because his victims were all black Africans. King Leopold was so bad that the popular phrase "crimes against humanity" was coined to describe his atrocities. 

Until we Africans learn to tell our stories, it will continue to glorify the European colonisers who have tried every means possible to cover their monstrous activities on the African continent during the colonial era.

© Shola E Ojelade
      ES OH JAY®™
      07 July, 2021

Reach him via: ojelade2003@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

YALI NETWORK KWARA ESSAY COMPETITION

Image
As part of preparations towards their End of the Year Project, The YALI NETWORK KWARA hub will be hosting an Essay competition titled:  COVID-19: IMPACTS ON EDUCATION, FOOD SECURITY AND THE ECONOMY.  Applicants must be either an undergraduate  or a Senior Secondary School Student in SSS2/3 and should be resident in Kwara State.  Top 15 applicants will get different mouth watering prizes and empowerment trainings.  Check attached flyer for more details. 
Read more

Your Emotional Health,Is As Important As the Physical.

Image
Healthiness is not merely about physical health, but also social, and emotional health. Only few of us as humans are concerned about our emotional healthiness because most times we only feel that we are unhealthy when we are physically sick, and get better with the help of drugs and injections. Although unlike physical health, being emotionally unhealthy is not obvious for all to see and even the person that is emotionally unhealthy can only get to be aware of his/her unhealthiness by being cognizance of change in emotional state and also being concerned about mental stability.  Just like the physical health, there are happenings that can be detrimental to our emotional health and mental stability, these include; breakup, jealousy, anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, as well as the feeling of sadness. Being emotionally healthy is one’s ability to control one’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Emotional health is the ability to cope with both positive and negative emotions.  Someone that i
Read more

Novelty

Image
The term novelty pertains to the quest of newness, the quality or state of newness. It also refers to the quality or appeal of being new.  In our daily lives it is widely seen how people go on to fulfill the quest of novelty in purchasing material items such as the latest phones, latest designer items which include clothes, shoes, bags, watches, cars, gadgets and so on. This happens not as a result of need but to fit into the societal class where newness is considered to bring respect and self-deceiving prestige.  Social engineering is widely utilized by the manufacturers of this items. This is evident in the employment of creative minds which channel the thoughts of individuals by releasing new models of items that does not necessarily improve its functionality neither its efficiency but just seeks to get the attention of customers by tweaking mostly its outer design, changing its shape, adding a few more colours or basically changing the previous colours. This in fact is a big proble
Read more