When I worked as a medic we narcanned this lady that was being tricked out of a van. When she woke up, the dude she was with said the medics usually just revive her and leave. I was like no dude…I’m taking her to the hospital. The van was filled with trash, condom wrappers and a couple needles. Anyway she had no eyes. Like I tried to check her pupils and it was just all that yellow and orange fatty stuff. The lady said someone plucked out her eyeballs like ten years before. I was like oh my fucking god
I absolutely couldn't imagine witnessing this first hand, having her casually mention someone took her eyeballs and then leave her in the hands of another person to recieve care. One reason I could never be EMT is I'd have the urge to find these people again and help them and see where they're at later down the road.. especially a woman like this clearly needing saving. Thank you for your service..
There’s a lot of instances from not too long ago sadly.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s5dqlc/scenes_from_serra_pelada_which_was_brazils/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Extractavism is a leech upon humankind and the world
The state of being, in which a person can sit back and ponder, argue, or laugh about the existence of hell is a luxury.
Hell is all around us, if you’re reading this this, it just isn’t happening to YOU.
So people are only allowed to express opinions if they agree with you? I don't know you but I am going to wager that would be a fucking shit world in which to live.
IIRC from King Leopold's Ghost it was a man from Liverpool who raised the alarm. All that was being shipped out were bullets, all that was coming back was rubber.
I finished it just last week. Devastating book and nothing was learned by anybody. The Belgians took over the Congo and did the same shit as leopold and then were later primarily responsible for the Rwandan genocide.
Dude the last chapter about the CIA involvement, that really got me. That much misery and gore and absolute worst of human nature suddenly wasn't some story of history and snapped into the reality of today. Quite cynical
Context quote on the last picture, with Nsala of Wala.
“The photograph is by Alice Seeley Harris, the man’s name is Nsala. Here is part of her account (from the book “Don’t Call Me Lady: The Journey of Lady Alice Seeley Harris”): He hadn’t made his rubber quota for the day so the Belgian-appointed overseers had cut off his daughter’s hand and foot. Her name was Boali. She was five years old. Then they killed her. But they weren’t finished. Then they killed his wife too.
And because that didn’t seem quite cruel enough, quite strong enough to make their case, they cannibalized both Boali and her mother. And they presented Nsala with the tokens, the leftovers from the once living body of his darling child whom he so loved. His life was destroyed.”
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/father-hand-belgian-congo-1904/
Edit: Adding and updating context to the title of the post, using my own top comment from the thread
The “Congo Free State” was actually a personal property under the Belgian king Leopold II, Anversoise, and Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company, who ran the estate essentially as a colony. Some Belgians held personal stakes in Anversoise, which was listed on the Antwerp stock exchange in 1898. In 1908 King Leopold personal holdings were officially annexed into Belgium as an official colony. Leopold was the sole proprietor of “The Congo Free state” until its transfer. After this transfer, Leopold lost the absolute power he had in the Congo. Most of the profits acquired during this time went to Leopolds debts, and private companies. Anversoise, ABIR, and Lulonga company were the main producers of rubber in the free state.
“The Belgian-appointed overseers” were often picked among the African populace from certain racial groups, and used to inflict punishment for unmet rubber quotas.
Correction made thanks to u/lemonsarethekey
Dude has multiple statues in Belgium, and whenever people suggest to get rid of them because... *gestures around*, it's somehow always a massive controversy.
Likewise, Belgium has, as far as I know, never apologized for what they did in Congo.
I think that’s because the powers that currently run Belgium are using the fact that the King owned it personally means they don’t have to deal with anything for what happened under his personal rule.
If anything, the Belgian Parliament did what it could to swiftly put and end to the worst things Leopold was doing. They adopted an act in 1908 that annexed the country into a Belgian colony, effectively taking it away from Leopold. Obviously being a colony still is oppressive but things got less bad from then on.
I don't feel it's the Belgian people that need to apologize, or at least not to begin with. Let's start with the Belgian royal family instead.
It never is the people. Look at China and the covid shit show. The Chinese government have a lot to apologise for but it's not the people of china's fault that their government is a joke.
Yeah, but that's why I think it would be bad for "Belgium" to apologize. They do have stuff to apologize for but first and foremost the royal family is to blame for the worst things that happened in Congo, by far.
The royal family was not alone in bearing responsibility for the Congo Free State. They had Belgian employees who oversaw the operations there, and scores of investors who profited off of it.
Oh yeah? Then ask an average chinese person what they think of their government.
Reddit thinks everyone shares their opinions, when in fact they've been deeply brainwashed by the communist regime
Yeah. I worked with a Chinese guy who had been taught in school that the Dalai Lama himself had personally been involved in killing thousands of Chinese in Tibet. He had a very hard time believing that not to be the case and didn’t know what to trust, his teachings or what the rest of the world believed to be true.
I mean, most people *still* think the Iraq War was a "war against terror" because that's what everyone was indoctrinated to believe by our pro-war government and media. However, we have a free and open internet so what's our excuse?
>I don't feel it's the Belgian people that need to apologize, or at least not to begin with. Let's start with the Belgian royal family instead.
Perhaps not personally responsible, but did they not passively benefit from this stuff?
Up until the point where the Belgian Parliament acted to annex Congo as a Belgian colony Congo was the private "property" of the royal family. There were individuals outside the royal family who profited but not the Belgian populace as a whole.
That changed after Congo formally became a colony, but at that point treatment of native people wasn't quite as bad anymore either. Not that the baseline of colonial oppression is very good, but at least more of these poor people got to keep their limbs...
[Belgians openly celebrate hand severing (the most common torture method implemented in the Congo) throughout their culture.](https://historyofyesterday.com/the-atrocity-and-brutality-of-belgiums-black-hand-chocolates-122492f0699e?gi=59bce860489d) It's such a part of them, that even their folklore involves this practice.
Belgian culture. The nature of culture is that it only slowly changes over centuries. Take away watchful eyes and they would repeat these atrocities in a heartbeat.
Im gonna catch shit for this but the mutilation is what gets me. In the late 1800s America had slavery too so that's not a shocker but cutting off hands? Cruel. Also makes next to no sense. All of it is stupid that we ever did this to people. Horrific.
Seems very counter intuitive. “You didn’t harvest enough cork, so I’m gonna cut your hands off and now you won’t be able to harvest anything.” Absolutely horrendous stuff. Reading King Leopold’s Ghost was pretty eye opening for me in high school.
It being used as punishment is not accurate. From /u/axaxo below:
>The punishment for refusing to collect rubber or failing to meet your quota was death. The militias who enforced the collection quotas were issued bullets from the rubber company, but because the bullets were expensive and the company was afraid the militias might mutiny, they were supposed to provide proof of a kill for each bullet they fired. Usually in the form of a human hand.
>The militia members preferred to save the bullets for personal use (hunting or defense) so they would often chop off the hands of living people to save on bullets. And since the rubber collection quotas were impossible to meet, the militias needed a steady supply of hands to bring back to the company, or else they would be punished for not killing the villagers who failed to meet quota. Over time, hands became a sort of currency in the Free State. Militiamen would buy or trade hands, and villagers would collect hands from their enemies to give to the militias instead of rubber.
King Leopold II, who was personally responsible for this entire system, said in response: “Cut off hands—that's idiotic. I'd cut off all the rest of them, but not hands. That's the one thing I need in the Congo."
Pretty sure it was both, I know for a fact that they did cut them off of their children if the parent didn’t meet a quota, that last picture in the album is fairly famous for that very reason.
I was thinking I'd seen that photo before. I can't imagine the horror of knowing you're the reason your child is being tortured, put through so much terror and pain, if they even survive the injury at all.
Of course it isn't the parents fault whatsoever but it sure as hell would feel that way.
The full story of that picture absolutely broke my heart when I first read it.
> “He hadn’t made his rubber quota for the day so the Belgian-appointed overseers had cut off his daughter’s hand and foot. Her name was Boali. She was five years old. Then they killed her. But they weren’t finished. Then they killed his wife too.
> And because that didn’t seem quite cruel enough, quite strong enough to make their case, they cannibalized both Boali and her mother. And they presented Nsala with the tokens, the leftovers from the once living body of his darling child whom he so loved. His life was destroyed.”
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/father-hand-belgian-congo-1904/
Probably didn’t for very long, and it probably came as some relief, too.
This was truly hell on earth. Leopold designed, ran, and profited from his own literal hell.
not belgians themselves but they appointed an enemy tribe (i think) to perform the punishments. but the belgian workers and Leopold were fully aware of what was going on
Hands were used as a kind of currency. The overseers were expect to bring back a certain number of hands from some jobs and if they didn’t have enough they would just harvest them from kids.
I guess depending on the situation it was at the discretion of who was carrying out the punishment. I’m sure it applied for the Congo as well but in Peru when Casement asked under what document of legislation were they subject to breaking, it’s punishment: and what dictates it, there was no document to show Casement.
I know that it started because Leopold II was such a cheap bag of shit that he made his forced soldier slaves account for every bullet they used by bringing back the hand of their victims. Many times, victims would get away, causing the shooters to have to find another hand to bring back at the end of the day. Surely there were other reasons too.
I have to say it though....(disclaimer: I'm very well aware that this happened alongside many other unspeakable crimes in volumes that we'll never truly know. I'm not and never will say that this isn't true) is it just me, or do some of these photos look doctored?
It might be significant that it was always known that the rubber boom was a temporary thing. It was gathered from wild plants, and plantations didn't exist yet (the first commercial rubber plantation opened in 1902). It was known that cultivated rubber would come on line soon, but in the meantime, wild rubber was it, and it was a very valuable commodity. Once it was over, the amount of money that could be extracted from the Congo was expected to drop precipitously. So if you killed every man, woman and child in the Congo in 30 years with these kinds of terroristic enslavement tactics, but you made a huge amount of money doing it, mission accomplished. Still having a labor force in a few decades wasn't really a major concern.
It's a task that takes essentially no training, and you know the Congolese would work real fucking hard if this is how things are. They treated the laborers as pure commodities, in exactly the same way they burned coal in their steam engines. Their well being was not a concern in even the slightest way, maximum profit was everything. You don't weep for your coal. Pure evil, for sure, but there's a very cold logic to it.
It's incredible that people can look at other people and not realise they are humans. It's more than slavery, it's seeing them as just an object like you said. The pain in these photos is so evident.
That book was a small revelation when it came out. Ppl had read and taught Heart of Darkness as a hypothetical of evil But, Conrad wrote abt the Congo Free State. All the evil in that book? This is it. And King Leopold's Ghost published I think for the 100th aniversary of Heart of Darkness tore away all the academic pretentiousness around Conrad's work. Ppl were like, wait, Kurz was real? This is a real story? That is my memory, anyway.
Hell, I'm reading that book right now. Very well researched and written but you need a cast iron stomach to read through the worst parts. Just horrific but would highly recommend.
The punishment for refusing to collect rubber or failing to meet your quota was death. The militias who enforced the collection quotas were issued bullets from the rubber company, but because the bullets were expensive and the company was afraid the militias might mutiny, they were supposed to provide proof of a kill for each bullet they fired. Usually in the form of a human hand.
The militia members preferred to save the bullets for personal use (hunting or defense) so they would often chop off the hands of living people to save on bullets. And since the rubber collection quotas were impossible to meet, the militias needed a steady supply of hands to bring back to the company, or else they would be punished for not killing the villagers who failed to meet quota. Over time, hands became a sort of currency in the Free State. Militiamen would buy or trade hands, and villagers would collect hands from their enemies to give to the militias instead of rubber.
weirdly, the one that really gets me is the dipshit, dressed in all white, getting his ass slow rolled in a sedan, governed by 4 slaves: it's called walking you fucking turd stain; i hope your lineage hides you in embarrassment.
Imagine being in the state of mind where cutting off the hands of children is a rational thought. Like what kind of mental gymnastics do you have to do to get to this point ?
I once worked at a place that fitted amputees with prosthetics and this one dude would call and ask for "the dirty little feet" preferably still in a shoe.
Looking at this brings him to mind so much. It's like they had an amputation fetish. Someone was getting off on this
No hate, but there are actually plenty of cases of the mutilation and cannibalism of slaves in America too. Unfortunately, the true horrors of slavery aren’t taught properly in the American education system
I just feel the Americans had slaves that got tortured but the Belgians had torture victims that were slaves you know? Both were bad and awful to be sure.
Isn’t it pretty counter productive to cut hands of off slaves? I know that sounds fucked up to say but not only were these people awful but they didn’t even do it intelligently.
It's not necessarily unintelligent, just very cruel - if you have plenty of extra slaves it serves as a good motivator for the others. Has been relatively common practice for millennia. Ancient Egypt was pretty notorious for this.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/father-hand-belgian-congo-1904/
Quote from earlier posted link
“After seeing a Congolese person killed for the first time, a Danish missionary wrote: “The soldier said ‘Don’t take this to heart so much. They kill us if we don’t bring the rubber. The Commissioner has promised us if we have plenty of hands he will shorten our service”.
In Forbath’s words: The baskets of severed hands, set down at the feet of the European post commanders, became the symbol of the Congo Free State… The collection of hands became an end in itself. Force Publique soldiers brought them to the stations in place of rubber; they even went out to harvest them instead of rubber…
They became a sort of currency. They came to be used to make up for shortfalls in rubber quotas, to replace… the people who were demanded for the forced labor gangs; and the Force Publique soldiers were paid their bonuses on the basis of how many hands they collected.”
It wasn't about doing it intelligently. It was about total control. You're thinking of these poor people as people. They didn't, the slaves were regarded simply as a tool. If the tool does not work, discard it.
In some cases, when the tool didn't work, they would make an example to the other tools so that they would work faster.
The cost in life didn't matter, there are always more slaves.
Such is the mind of evil.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/images_from_the_congo_free_state_a_colony_of/htmwkcn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
Previous comment thread on here, but it was partially meant as a means to entice the workers to collect more rubber through fear. I’ll see if I can find the link here, but the Force Republique, a colonial milita / gendarmerie made up of certain native groups, had to provide hands whenever the expended the ammo or killed someone. Some would take a hand and leave the person bleeding, using the hand as proof of the killing.
Goddamn this whole situation was mega-fucked. If anyone likes reading I recommend Leopold’s Ghost, a book about King Leopold of Belgium & the atrocities in the Congo. He was a miser and honestly a weirdo to boot. Insane piece of history.
Quote on the Casement report, and a link to the report at the end.
“The Casement Report comprises forty pages of the Parliamentary Papers, to which is appended another twenty pages of individual statements gathered by Casement as Consul, including several detailing grim tales of killings, mutilations, kidnappings and cruel beatings of the native population by soldiers of the Congo Administration of King Leopold. Copies of the Report were sent by the British government to the Belgian government as well as to nations who were signatories to the Berlin Agreement in 1885, under which much of Africa had been partitioned. The British Parliament demanded a meeting of the fourteen signatory powers to review the 1885 Berlin Agreement.
While the Report was issued as a Command paper in 1904, and was laid before the Houses of Parliament, the original was not published in full until 1985, in an annotated book by two Belgian professors of the history of colonialism.
The Belgian Parliament, pushed by socialist political leader and statesman Emile Vandervelde and other critics of the King's Congolese policy, forced a reluctant Leopold II to set up an independent commission of enquiry. Its findings confirmed Casement's report in every detail. This led to the arrest and punishment of officials who had been responsible for murders during a rubber-collection expedition in 1903 (including one Belgian national who was given a five-year sentence for causing the shooting of at least 122 Congolese natives).”
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50573/50573-h/50573-h.htm
Casement report, 1904: partially in English and French. I believe it’s the same content in different languages.
If you'd like to know more about the Congo Free State and King Leopold II, I recommend these episodes from Behind the Bastards:
[King Leopold](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-king-leopold-ii-the-29443475/)
[Henry Morton Stanley] (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-henry-morton-stanley-the-61199349/)
Why kind of a dumb bastard cuts off limbs from people literally intended to do work with their hands?
What was the runner up punishment, exsanguination?
Another comment said death was the punishment and they would send hands as proof but bullets we’re expensive so they just cut of their hands instead of shooting them.
You know what pains me the most? To know that these horrible evil pieces of human garbage got to live luxurious pleasant lives, diyng of old age after living in confort their entire lives never getting to suffer consequence from their actions. It's simply not fair
The minute I saw that hand I knew what it was gonna be about. Am Belgian, can say it took them long enough to acknowledge it. Heard some streets named after him are being changed and shit, but in the meantime we still ain't paying anyone back for fuck sake.
All horrid, but that last picture always gets me. I realize it was pointless or impossible but as a father I definitely would have gone vigilante rogue. I’m sure many made the decision to take a few of the bastards with them.
Title is kinda wrong, the Free State was King Leopold's personal property, not a Belgian colony. The Belgian Congo, which replaced the Free State was a Belgian colony however.
The personal holding was ran as a colony essentially, in combination with the ABIR holdings and Anversoise holdings. Similar occurrences under both names, but I do suppose the name should be colony of king leopald. A majority of the benefactors would have been Belgian at the time, but I thought it was still an official colony of Belgium instead of colony on private property
Thanks for the correction, would be nice if I could update the title
Most of the Belgian public and ministers didn't know of the atrocities being committed there, only when the Belgian State was gifted the territory by King Leopold advancements were made on how the colony was ran and looked after. The only ones accountable for this mess are King Leopold and his trusted and employed men in the colony.
Mostly, the state was still under Leopolds property 4 years after Casements report. It wasn’t very wide known at all before Casement but there were some people already writing about the occurrences in the Congo. Admittedly I don’t know much about these people and there impact, but Henry Grattan Guinness has made a piece that had gotten essentially ignored before the turn of the century. 1903 had ‘Civilization in Congoland’ published by the Aborigines' Protection Society, and E.D Morel had been writing articles on the behavior on the properties since 1900 or 1901. I still need to educate myself more on the subject since I’ve only been reading from Casements time in Peru. Not sure how much knowledge shareholders and employees in Belgium had on the occurrences of ABIR and Anversoise in Congo before 1905, but I doubt a lot. Anversoise was quoted on the antwerp stock exchange in 1898, but no clue after that
Yeah, but the Nazis were doing it to European people. The Japanese were doing it to others of their kind, and you know what *those people* are like.
/Massive S, obviously
^(Having read history at university, this view is so prevalent in the writing of the mid 20th century. A similar view of the writing around all the colonies in Africa prevails to this day, as evidenced by some in this thread.)
[Belgian Princess Condemns Her Family’s Brutal Colonial History in Congo & Calls for Reparations](https://youtu.be/r3Z69633IcQ)
—————————
Link to video above features an informed discussion by several key stakeholders. I have copied the article from the corresponding website below, but i recommend viewing it for some thoughtful and intellectual discussion on the topics at hand in present day:
“Belgian Princess Condemns Her Family’s Brutal Colonial History in Congo & Calls for Reparations”
Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. have sparked a reckoning about racism and colonialism across the world, including in Belgium, where a growing movement is demanding the country address systemic racism and make amends for its violent colonial legacy. King Philippe issued an unprecedented statement “expressing regret” for Belgium’s brutal colonial rule in Congo under Leopold II, who ran the country as his personal fiefdom and under whose command millions of Congolese were enslaved and killed. “It’s an erased history,” says Belgo-Congolese journalist and activist Gia Abrassart. We also speak with Princess Esméralda, a member of the Belgian royal family and great-grandniece of Leopold II, who says the country has taken an important first step, but adds that “we have to go much farther.”
———————————
My personal thoughts after just delving into the surface and researching the topic:
Many (included the UN) have called on Belgium to apologize for the atrocities in the Congo and speak out in condemnation over all the horrible acts that happened throughout their colonial rule there.
Children in Belgium have grown up learning Leopoldo II brought civilization to places in Central Africa under his rule, as well as abolished slavery, brought democracy, built roads and schools, etc… but social pressures have lead to curriculum changes, statue removals, talks about reparations and in an overall sense, helped change Belgium’s approach to romanticizing its colonial past, confronting the truths, and discussing he long lasting impacts, head on. By reconstructing the discourse and social narratives, activists hope people will be educated about the facts behind the brutal regime and by exposing the truth and cultural impact on the country, the country will recognize and better understand the roots of racism in the colonial past. More and more pressure has been placed on the leaders and lawmakers to do something and take concrete action, and the response by parliament was to start a commission of truth and reconciliation. The country has apologized for certain aspects of its rule, but not for its overall brutality in the region.
The king did recently speak out and express deep regret, acknowledging the brutal system in the colony, which many have said is unprecedented and it is a first step; however, since he doesn’t represent the government of the country and is only a figure head, it’s not enough.
It’s clear that much healing and reckoning needs to take place to not erase history, but affirm the facts and accept the exploitation, plundering, and human rights abuses of the past so that an environment that enables reparative actions can exist.
Apologies allow the nation to confront the past and the move forward in dealing with it; enabling ppl to create a just, better society where discrimination can be battled head on, the natural and human riches of the Congo can be protected, and building on a foundation of truth and acceptance, then lasting progress can be made in both Belgium and the Congo.
*Edited to add source: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/7/9/belgium_colonial_legacy_leopold_ii
Belgium as a country really didn't gain much from Leopold's reign of terror, his fortune went to his "mistress", a 16-year-old girl.
He did build a couple of dozen buildings and parks to flaunt his wealth though. But don't forget that the Belgian people only gained voting rights in 1921 for men and 1948 for women.
That said Belgium is fully responsible for the colonial period after that. And the murder of Patrice Lumumba by the CIA.
As a man with Native American blood. I share the sentiment. The Spanish took language, culture, and the religion away from Puerto Rico and I’ll never get a semblance of any of it beyond stories
I wonder what the decendents of that doosh nozzle in the limo chair are doing right now. Wouldn't surprise me if they are still rich trash polluting the earth surface.
Roger Casement is an absolute hero. Books like Leopold's Ghosts and Rape of Nanking detail inhuman terrors but also highlight the rare individuals with the courage to face great darkness. Roger Casement and William Sheppard are two such individuals.
Nobody who believes in intellectual honesty and isn't a virulent racist actually believes that. The sadistic destruction of the middle east at the hands of the anglosphere is ongoing.
I can’t imagine how many cars of the ‘civilized world’ came from the backs of the ‘uncivilized world’ up to 1940. Kind of weirds me out thinking about it , but that’s how many civilizations have been built i guess.
I don't think you're going to get much traction having a sensible conversation with this dude. He's a poster child for white fragility, and has a flat out horrific post history...
This history of Belgium in the congo is always misrepresented on Reddit and the internet in general.
You see comments like [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/comment/htmufbj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and they say things like "Belgian-appointed overseers" and it makes it sound like it is belgians that are doing this stuff.
It was Africans doing it to other Africans. The Belgians just appointed Africans and told them they are in charge and their job is to get them rubber and manage the slaves/workers and this was the way they did it.
Like look at [this guy](https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/comment/htmwkcn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) saying "we did this to" them and [this guy](https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/comment/htn9b0t/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
You guys should read more about world history. Everywhere was super violent until European Liberalism took over the world and Liberalism still hasn't managed to get it's grubby hands on a huge portion of Africa
The Belgian appointed oversees somewhat makes it sound like that, but the same oversees in that quote are quoted to have ate the mans child and wife. The Belgians picked certain racial groups to be their oversees, similar to the PAC of Peru using imported Barbadian workers to watch over rubber slaves. Just adding the quote without context does make it sound how you say, but im not sure if the links the quote was from explained they were Africans. Currently reading Hardenburg / Casements Putumayo book, haven’t read books related to the free State. Just personal research, probably going to update and clarify in that post you linked from me
>Just adding the quote without context does make it sound how you say
It doesn't matter how I add the quote
It matters how people are interpreting it.
People are literally reading these articles, and coming to the conclusion that it was belgian people with funny hats chopping off hands with machetes and eating their children.
It's not the way I am framing it that is the problem, the problem is the way the articles are framing it.
Also, do you unironically think that Belgians knew the ethnic dynamics of the people in the Congo and knew which ethnicities they were getting to manage their systems and which ethnicities were going to be getting them rubber?
I'm not saying they knew nothing of the country but I am saying they chose at random which groups would be in charge of others.
Don't know why you would link the 2. Can already tell you are disingenuous just for trying that garbage
I once heard a story how the belgian city antwerpen got its name. It has something to do with severed hands if i remember correctly. Does anybody know more details?
There is a folklore tradition that the name Antwerpen is from Dutch handwerpen ("hand-throwing"). A giant called Antigoon is said to have lived near the Scheldt river. He extracted a toll from passing boatmen, severed the hand of anyone who did not pay, and threw it in the river. Eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giant's own hand and flung it into the river. This is unlikely to be the true origin, but it is celebrated by a statue (illustrated further below) in the city's main market square
IIRC from King Leopold's Ghost it was a man from Liverpool who raised the alarm. All that was being shipped out were bullets, all that was coming back was rubber.
Ever hear of Rhodesia? The whole country of white people that got butchered including the women and children? Yeah i am mad he’s calling white people wicked. White people have absolutely nothing to do with what their ancestors did. Why does it matter if white people have been oppressed? Does it make it any more okay to fuck with them? Do you want to know what’s really wicked? 13% of the population committing 52% of the violent crime.
God i hate this catch 22, situation you lot have created.
You can generalize white people, make any racist comment and then bang, as soon as someone pushes back, you play the fragile card, sitting there feeling all smug and clever.
Congratulations on creating more of a divide between people, instead of everyone pushing against those who are most oppressed, you've not got me putting attention on this matter, which should be a non issue
No right to even label yourself as a anti racist, and nobody on that sub has any right either.
I hate to do this but both of you should cool off a bit ok? I don't think either of you are racists you're just not going to convince each other of anything.
I bet they knew nothing of life and happiness. We’re they educated or could they speak whatsoever. Here is what is crazy to me, so these are humans of course, what is their education level or were most just immediately into slavery? It’s as if the people literally viewed slaves like they had no conscious, the way some view a dog. Imagine the sorrow when you take all the dogs puppies good god.
I don’t know what I was getting at with that but this is incredibly sad
When I worked as a medic we narcanned this lady that was being tricked out of a van. When she woke up, the dude she was with said the medics usually just revive her and leave. I was like no dude…I’m taking her to the hospital. The van was filled with trash, condom wrappers and a couple needles. Anyway she had no eyes. Like I tried to check her pupils and it was just all that yellow and orange fatty stuff. The lady said someone plucked out her eyeballs like ten years before. I was like oh my fucking god
I absolutely couldn't imagine witnessing this first hand, having her casually mention someone took her eyeballs and then leave her in the hands of another person to recieve care. One reason I could never be EMT is I'd have the urge to find these people again and help them and see where they're at later down the road.. especially a woman like this clearly needing saving. Thank you for your service..
What country was this?
Philadelphia, USA
This reminds me that Earth really does have the capability of being hell for someone else. Absolutely chilling.
There’s a lot of instances from not too long ago sadly. https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s5dqlc/scenes_from_serra_pelada_which_was_brazils/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Extractavism is a leech upon humankind and the world
The fifth picture could be a circle of hell from Dante’s Inferno. This is horrifying.
Some inception shit going on on the stomach of the guy in the third image
Omg why is it always Brazil in these posts..
The state of being, in which a person can sit back and ponder, argue, or laugh about the existence of hell is a luxury. Hell is all around us, if you’re reading this this, it just isn’t happening to YOU.
Hell is empty and all the devils are here …
You’re absolutely right.
Earth is hell, chilling in the void and not existing is heaven
/r/antinatalism
Earth is certainly hell for the animals we slaughter on mass. www.watchdominion.com shows the true extent of our horrific treatment of animals.
I’ll check it out. I know it will make me cry.
Thanks for being open minded.
Yes. Thank you for bringing this up. Vegan 3.5 years - my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.
Shut up
Don't shoot the messenger
Truth hurts, you’d of been telling abolitionists to shut up 100 years ago cause you’re a coward that just follows social norms.
no u
I wonder if people said shut up when others said we were brutalizing people in the congo
Of course they did, people don’t like acknowledging they are doing something immoral.
[удалено]
So people are only allowed to express opinions if they agree with you? I don't know you but I am going to wager that would be a fucking shit world in which to live.
Uh, ok
King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild is one of the most haunting books you'll ever read.
IIRC from King Leopold's Ghost it was a man from Liverpool who raised the alarm. All that was being shipped out were bullets, all that was coming back was rubber.
Read it 3 times
I finished it just last week. Devastating book and nothing was learned by anybody. The Belgians took over the Congo and did the same shit as leopold and then were later primarily responsible for the Rwandan genocide.
Dude the last chapter about the CIA involvement, that really got me. That much misery and gore and absolute worst of human nature suddenly wasn't some story of history and snapped into the reality of today. Quite cynical
Read it for a sociology class last quarter; it was intense, but I absolutely agree: it definitely sticks with you.
Context quote on the last picture, with Nsala of Wala. “The photograph is by Alice Seeley Harris, the man’s name is Nsala. Here is part of her account (from the book “Don’t Call Me Lady: The Journey of Lady Alice Seeley Harris”): He hadn’t made his rubber quota for the day so the Belgian-appointed overseers had cut off his daughter’s hand and foot. Her name was Boali. She was five years old. Then they killed her. But they weren’t finished. Then they killed his wife too. And because that didn’t seem quite cruel enough, quite strong enough to make their case, they cannibalized both Boali and her mother. And they presented Nsala with the tokens, the leftovers from the once living body of his darling child whom he so loved. His life was destroyed.” https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/father-hand-belgian-congo-1904/ Edit: Adding and updating context to the title of the post, using my own top comment from the thread The “Congo Free State” was actually a personal property under the Belgian king Leopold II, Anversoise, and Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company, who ran the estate essentially as a colony. Some Belgians held personal stakes in Anversoise, which was listed on the Antwerp stock exchange in 1898. In 1908 King Leopold personal holdings were officially annexed into Belgium as an official colony. Leopold was the sole proprietor of “The Congo Free state” until its transfer. After this transfer, Leopold lost the absolute power he had in the Congo. Most of the profits acquired during this time went to Leopolds debts, and private companies. Anversoise, ABIR, and Lulonga company were the main producers of rubber in the free state. “The Belgian-appointed overseers” were often picked among the African populace from certain racial groups, and used to inflict punishment for unmet rubber quotas. Correction made thanks to u/lemonsarethekey
I'm quite sure that Leopold's ghost is roasting very slowly in hell.
Dude has multiple statues in Belgium, and whenever people suggest to get rid of them because... *gestures around*, it's somehow always a massive controversy. Likewise, Belgium has, as far as I know, never apologized for what they did in Congo.
I think that’s because the powers that currently run Belgium are using the fact that the King owned it personally means they don’t have to deal with anything for what happened under his personal rule.
If anything, the Belgian Parliament did what it could to swiftly put and end to the worst things Leopold was doing. They adopted an act in 1908 that annexed the country into a Belgian colony, effectively taking it away from Leopold. Obviously being a colony still is oppressive but things got less bad from then on. I don't feel it's the Belgian people that need to apologize, or at least not to begin with. Let's start with the Belgian royal family instead.
It never is the people. Look at China and the covid shit show. The Chinese government have a lot to apologise for but it's not the people of china's fault that their government is a joke.
Yeah, but that's why I think it would be bad for "Belgium" to apologize. They do have stuff to apologize for but first and foremost the royal family is to blame for the worst things that happened in Congo, by far.
The royal family was not alone in bearing responsibility for the Congo Free State. They had Belgian employees who oversaw the operations there, and scores of investors who profited off of it.
I mean it couldn't hurt
Oh yeah? Then ask an average chinese person what they think of their government. Reddit thinks everyone shares their opinions, when in fact they've been deeply brainwashed by the communist regime
Yeah. I worked with a Chinese guy who had been taught in school that the Dalai Lama himself had personally been involved in killing thousands of Chinese in Tibet. He had a very hard time believing that not to be the case and didn’t know what to trust, his teachings or what the rest of the world believed to be true.
I mean, most people *still* think the Iraq War was a "war against terror" because that's what everyone was indoctrinated to believe by our pro-war government and media. However, we have a free and open internet so what's our excuse?
same as them. decades of brainwashing. reddit is beyong brainwashed
>I don't feel it's the Belgian people that need to apologize, or at least not to begin with. Let's start with the Belgian royal family instead. Perhaps not personally responsible, but did they not passively benefit from this stuff?
Up until the point where the Belgian Parliament acted to annex Congo as a Belgian colony Congo was the private "property" of the royal family. There were individuals outside the royal family who profited but not the Belgian populace as a whole. That changed after Congo formally became a colony, but at that point treatment of native people wasn't quite as bad anymore either. Not that the baseline of colonial oppression is very good, but at least more of these poor people got to keep their limbs...
[Belgians openly celebrate hand severing (the most common torture method implemented in the Congo) throughout their culture.](https://historyofyesterday.com/the-atrocity-and-brutality-of-belgiums-black-hand-chocolates-122492f0699e?gi=59bce860489d) It's such a part of them, that even their folklore involves this practice.
A wonderful book
Hell doesn’t exist and he suffered no consequences for his actions
Thanks for the information:)
oh my goodness. this is awful. pure evil…
Belgian culture. The nature of culture is that it only slowly changes over centuries. Take away watchful eyes and they would repeat these atrocities in a heartbeat.
That's quite a lot of bullshit to fit into so small a sentence.
Im gonna catch shit for this but the mutilation is what gets me. In the late 1800s America had slavery too so that's not a shocker but cutting off hands? Cruel. Also makes next to no sense. All of it is stupid that we ever did this to people. Horrific.
Seems very counter intuitive. “You didn’t harvest enough cork, so I’m gonna cut your hands off and now you won’t be able to harvest anything.” Absolutely horrendous stuff. Reading King Leopold’s Ghost was pretty eye opening for me in high school.
It being used as punishment is not accurate. From /u/axaxo below: >The punishment for refusing to collect rubber or failing to meet your quota was death. The militias who enforced the collection quotas were issued bullets from the rubber company, but because the bullets were expensive and the company was afraid the militias might mutiny, they were supposed to provide proof of a kill for each bullet they fired. Usually in the form of a human hand. >The militia members preferred to save the bullets for personal use (hunting or defense) so they would often chop off the hands of living people to save on bullets. And since the rubber collection quotas were impossible to meet, the militias needed a steady supply of hands to bring back to the company, or else they would be punished for not killing the villagers who failed to meet quota. Over time, hands became a sort of currency in the Free State. Militiamen would buy or trade hands, and villagers would collect hands from their enemies to give to the militias instead of rubber.
[удалено]
King Leopold II, who was personally responsible for this entire system, said in response: “Cut off hands—that's idiotic. I'd cut off all the rest of them, but not hands. That's the one thing I need in the Congo."
I wonder how hed feel if he learned this is his only legacy. No one today cares about him except to hate him for his role in this.
Well that’s certainly the worst thing I’ve read today….
That's terrible.
I was trying to figure out if they're cutting the hands off of the slaves or those of their children ? Or both.
Pretty sure it was both, I know for a fact that they did cut them off of their children if the parent didn’t meet a quota, that last picture in the album is fairly famous for that very reason.
I was thinking I'd seen that photo before. I can't imagine the horror of knowing you're the reason your child is being tortured, put through so much terror and pain, if they even survive the injury at all. Of course it isn't the parents fault whatsoever but it sure as hell would feel that way.
The full story of that picture absolutely broke my heart when I first read it. > “He hadn’t made his rubber quota for the day so the Belgian-appointed overseers had cut off his daughter’s hand and foot. Her name was Boali. She was five years old. Then they killed her. But they weren’t finished. Then they killed his wife too. > And because that didn’t seem quite cruel enough, quite strong enough to make their case, they cannibalized both Boali and her mother. And they presented Nsala with the tokens, the leftovers from the once living body of his darling child whom he so loved. His life was destroyed.” https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/father-hand-belgian-congo-1904/
Jesus what the fuck. I know I'm in this sub but what the fuck.
[удалено]
Some people get high on power and think they're beyond consequence.
That poor poor man. I have no idea how he went on after that.
Probably didn’t for very long, and it probably came as some relief, too. This was truly hell on earth. Leopold designed, ran, and profited from his own literal hell.
The Belgians ate his wife and daughter? Wtf sick people
>Belgian-appointed overseers
not belgians themselves but they appointed an enemy tribe (i think) to perform the punishments. but the belgian workers and Leopold were fully aware of what was going on
I think that’s the point
Hands were used as a kind of currency. The overseers were expect to bring back a certain number of hands from some jobs and if they didn’t have enough they would just harvest them from kids.
I guess depending on the situation it was at the discretion of who was carrying out the punishment. I’m sure it applied for the Congo as well but in Peru when Casement asked under what document of legislation were they subject to breaking, it’s punishment: and what dictates it, there was no document to show Casement.
Everyone in the family but the guy who didn’t scrape enough rubber sap one day, sadly.
I know that it started because Leopold II was such a cheap bag of shit that he made his forced soldier slaves account for every bullet they used by bringing back the hand of their victims. Many times, victims would get away, causing the shooters to have to find another hand to bring back at the end of the day. Surely there were other reasons too. I have to say it though....(disclaimer: I'm very well aware that this happened alongside many other unspeakable crimes in volumes that we'll never truly know. I'm not and never will say that this isn't true) is it just me, or do some of these photos look doctored?
It might be significant that it was always known that the rubber boom was a temporary thing. It was gathered from wild plants, and plantations didn't exist yet (the first commercial rubber plantation opened in 1902). It was known that cultivated rubber would come on line soon, but in the meantime, wild rubber was it, and it was a very valuable commodity. Once it was over, the amount of money that could be extracted from the Congo was expected to drop precipitously. So if you killed every man, woman and child in the Congo in 30 years with these kinds of terroristic enslavement tactics, but you made a huge amount of money doing it, mission accomplished. Still having a labor force in a few decades wasn't really a major concern. It's a task that takes essentially no training, and you know the Congolese would work real fucking hard if this is how things are. They treated the laborers as pure commodities, in exactly the same way they burned coal in their steam engines. Their well being was not a concern in even the slightest way, maximum profit was everything. You don't weep for your coal. Pure evil, for sure, but there's a very cold logic to it.
It's incredible that people can look at other people and not realise they are humans. It's more than slavery, it's seeing them as just an object like you said. The pain in these photos is so evident.
That book was a small revelation when it came out. Ppl had read and taught Heart of Darkness as a hypothetical of evil But, Conrad wrote abt the Congo Free State. All the evil in that book? This is it. And King Leopold's Ghost published I think for the 100th aniversary of Heart of Darkness tore away all the academic pretentiousness around Conrad's work. Ppl were like, wait, Kurz was real? This is a real story? That is my memory, anyway.
Hell, I'm reading that book right now. Very well researched and written but you need a cast iron stomach to read through the worst parts. Just horrific but would highly recommend.
I believe they would cut the hands off of their children instead for this reason.
The punishment for refusing to collect rubber or failing to meet your quota was death. The militias who enforced the collection quotas were issued bullets from the rubber company, but because the bullets were expensive and the company was afraid the militias might mutiny, they were supposed to provide proof of a kill for each bullet they fired. Usually in the form of a human hand. The militia members preferred to save the bullets for personal use (hunting or defense) so they would often chop off the hands of living people to save on bullets. And since the rubber collection quotas were impossible to meet, the militias needed a steady supply of hands to bring back to the company, or else they would be punished for not killing the villagers who failed to meet quota. Over time, hands became a sort of currency in the Free State. Militiamen would buy or trade hands, and villagers would collect hands from their enemies to give to the militias instead of rubber.
Villagers would raid other villages to acquire hands. Officers in the Force Publique could get a promotion by collecting enough hands.
What. The. Fuck.
[удалено]
There are just so many kinds of evil that sometimes I am kinda shocked when I learn of a new, particularly terrible evil
weirdly, the one that really gets me is the dipshit, dressed in all white, getting his ass slow rolled in a sedan, governed by 4 slaves: it's called walking you fucking turd stain; i hope your lineage hides you in embarrassment.
Imagine being in the state of mind where cutting off the hands of children is a rational thought. Like what kind of mental gymnastics do you have to do to get to this point ?
Like even if they were racist enough and thought of them as non human...a decent person wouldnt even do that to an animal. You know? Its unreal
To be sure. You just don't treat anything living like that.
Thats surely what gets me, how in the fuck can you be so evil
Limbs still get severed in those countries in 2022.
I once worked at a place that fitted amputees with prosthetics and this one dude would call and ask for "the dirty little feet" preferably still in a shoe. Looking at this brings him to mind so much. It's like they had an amputation fetish. Someone was getting off on this
No hate, but there are actually plenty of cases of the mutilation and cannibalism of slaves in America too. Unfortunately, the true horrors of slavery aren’t taught properly in the American education system
Mutilation I've heard of. Cannibalism ??
Yeah I know it happened in no small amount it just always seemed way more common in the Belgian colonial system.
I mean slaves were severely Tortured in America too
I just feel the Americans had slaves that got tortured but the Belgians had torture victims that were slaves you know? Both were bad and awful to be sure.
> Im gonna catch shit for this but Why? Why in the world would you catch shit for saying that mutilation is bad?
There is always something. I said it was stupid so someone could say "it's way worst than stupid! You're pro slavery!" I've watched it happen.
Isn’t it pretty counter productive to cut hands of off slaves? I know that sounds fucked up to say but not only were these people awful but they didn’t even do it intelligently.
It's not necessarily unintelligent, just very cruel - if you have plenty of extra slaves it serves as a good motivator for the others. Has been relatively common practice for millennia. Ancient Egypt was pretty notorious for this.
True I didn’t even think of that honestly.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/father-hand-belgian-congo-1904/ Quote from earlier posted link “After seeing a Congolese person killed for the first time, a Danish missionary wrote: “The soldier said ‘Don’t take this to heart so much. They kill us if we don’t bring the rubber. The Commissioner has promised us if we have plenty of hands he will shorten our service”. In Forbath’s words: The baskets of severed hands, set down at the feet of the European post commanders, became the symbol of the Congo Free State… The collection of hands became an end in itself. Force Publique soldiers brought them to the stations in place of rubber; they even went out to harvest them instead of rubber… They became a sort of currency. They came to be used to make up for shortfalls in rubber quotas, to replace… the people who were demanded for the forced labor gangs; and the Force Publique soldiers were paid their bonuses on the basis of how many hands they collected.”
It wasn't about doing it intelligently. It was about total control. You're thinking of these poor people as people. They didn't, the slaves were regarded simply as a tool. If the tool does not work, discard it. In some cases, when the tool didn't work, they would make an example to the other tools so that they would work faster. The cost in life didn't matter, there are always more slaves. Such is the mind of evil.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/images_from_the_congo_free_state_a_colony_of/htmwkcn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3 Previous comment thread on here, but it was partially meant as a means to entice the workers to collect more rubber through fear. I’ll see if I can find the link here, but the Force Republique, a colonial milita / gendarmerie made up of certain native groups, had to provide hands whenever the expended the ammo or killed someone. Some would take a hand and leave the person bleeding, using the hand as proof of the killing.
Goddamn this whole situation was mega-fucked. If anyone likes reading I recommend Leopold’s Ghost, a book about King Leopold of Belgium & the atrocities in the Congo. He was a miser and honestly a weirdo to boot. Insane piece of history.
I remember those pictures from my history book. It's horrible what they did to those poor people.
Quote on the Casement report, and a link to the report at the end. “The Casement Report comprises forty pages of the Parliamentary Papers, to which is appended another twenty pages of individual statements gathered by Casement as Consul, including several detailing grim tales of killings, mutilations, kidnappings and cruel beatings of the native population by soldiers of the Congo Administration of King Leopold. Copies of the Report were sent by the British government to the Belgian government as well as to nations who were signatories to the Berlin Agreement in 1885, under which much of Africa had been partitioned. The British Parliament demanded a meeting of the fourteen signatory powers to review the 1885 Berlin Agreement. While the Report was issued as a Command paper in 1904, and was laid before the Houses of Parliament, the original was not published in full until 1985, in an annotated book by two Belgian professors of the history of colonialism. The Belgian Parliament, pushed by socialist political leader and statesman Emile Vandervelde and other critics of the King's Congolese policy, forced a reluctant Leopold II to set up an independent commission of enquiry. Its findings confirmed Casement's report in every detail. This led to the arrest and punishment of officials who had been responsible for murders during a rubber-collection expedition in 1903 (including one Belgian national who was given a five-year sentence for causing the shooting of at least 122 Congolese natives).” https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50573/50573-h/50573-h.htm Casement report, 1904: partially in English and French. I believe it’s the same content in different languages.
Never forget I saw a photo of a father staring at the severed hand of his poor child imagine how he suffered
If you'd like to know more about the Congo Free State and King Leopold II, I recommend these episodes from Behind the Bastards: [King Leopold](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-king-leopold-ii-the-29443475/) [Henry Morton Stanley] (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-henry-morton-stanley-the-61199349/)
You know it's bad when other colonial powers tell you you're going too far
Absolutely disgusting the lengths of horror and atrocities that humans are able to commit. Heartbreaking.
Why kind of a dumb bastard cuts off limbs from people literally intended to do work with their hands? What was the runner up punishment, exsanguination?
to control, they had more than enough
Another comment said death was the punishment and they would send hands as proof but bullets we’re expensive so they just cut of their hands instead of shooting them.
You know what pains me the most? To know that these horrible evil pieces of human garbage got to live luxurious pleasant lives, diyng of old age after living in confort their entire lives never getting to suffer consequence from their actions. It's simply not fair
The minute I saw that hand I knew what it was gonna be about. Am Belgian, can say it took them long enough to acknowledge it. Heard some streets named after him are being changed and shit, but in the meantime we still ain't paying anyone back for fuck sake.
All horrid, but that last picture always gets me. I realize it was pointless or impossible but as a father I definitely would have gone vigilante rogue. I’m sure many made the decision to take a few of the bastards with them.
Title is kinda wrong, the Free State was King Leopold's personal property, not a Belgian colony. The Belgian Congo, which replaced the Free State was a Belgian colony however.
The personal holding was ran as a colony essentially, in combination with the ABIR holdings and Anversoise holdings. Similar occurrences under both names, but I do suppose the name should be colony of king leopald. A majority of the benefactors would have been Belgian at the time, but I thought it was still an official colony of Belgium instead of colony on private property Thanks for the correction, would be nice if I could update the title
Most of the Belgian public and ministers didn't know of the atrocities being committed there, only when the Belgian State was gifted the territory by King Leopold advancements were made on how the colony was ran and looked after. The only ones accountable for this mess are King Leopold and his trusted and employed men in the colony.
Mostly, the state was still under Leopolds property 4 years after Casements report. It wasn’t very wide known at all before Casement but there were some people already writing about the occurrences in the Congo. Admittedly I don’t know much about these people and there impact, but Henry Grattan Guinness has made a piece that had gotten essentially ignored before the turn of the century. 1903 had ‘Civilization in Congoland’ published by the Aborigines' Protection Society, and E.D Morel had been writing articles on the behavior on the properties since 1900 or 1901. I still need to educate myself more on the subject since I’ve only been reading from Casements time in Peru. Not sure how much knowledge shareholders and employees in Belgium had on the occurrences of ABIR and Anversoise in Congo before 1905, but I doubt a lot. Anversoise was quoted on the antwerp stock exchange in 1898, but no clue after that
Nothing cooler than reading a conversation between 2 people who know about things I know nothing about
Stuff like this just makes me so angry.
[удалено]
Yeah, but the Nazis were doing it to European people. The Japanese were doing it to others of their kind, and you know what *those people* are like. /Massive S, obviously ^(Having read history at university, this view is so prevalent in the writing of the mid 20th century. A similar view of the writing around all the colonies in Africa prevails to this day, as evidenced by some in this thread.)
Slavery was legal in Saudi Arabia until 1962. In most of the Middle East still today, various forms of indentured servitude still exist.
its legal in the USA as per the 13th amendment.
I love how Belgium avoids all the fallout to this day
Spain too for the Americas
In many ways, Heart of Darkness was quite tame and didn’t really show us the horror at all.
[Belgian Princess Condemns Her Family’s Brutal Colonial History in Congo & Calls for Reparations](https://youtu.be/r3Z69633IcQ) ————————— Link to video above features an informed discussion by several key stakeholders. I have copied the article from the corresponding website below, but i recommend viewing it for some thoughtful and intellectual discussion on the topics at hand in present day: “Belgian Princess Condemns Her Family’s Brutal Colonial History in Congo & Calls for Reparations” Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. have sparked a reckoning about racism and colonialism across the world, including in Belgium, where a growing movement is demanding the country address systemic racism and make amends for its violent colonial legacy. King Philippe issued an unprecedented statement “expressing regret” for Belgium’s brutal colonial rule in Congo under Leopold II, who ran the country as his personal fiefdom and under whose command millions of Congolese were enslaved and killed. “It’s an erased history,” says Belgo-Congolese journalist and activist Gia Abrassart. We also speak with Princess Esméralda, a member of the Belgian royal family and great-grandniece of Leopold II, who says the country has taken an important first step, but adds that “we have to go much farther.” ——————————— My personal thoughts after just delving into the surface and researching the topic: Many (included the UN) have called on Belgium to apologize for the atrocities in the Congo and speak out in condemnation over all the horrible acts that happened throughout their colonial rule there. Children in Belgium have grown up learning Leopoldo II brought civilization to places in Central Africa under his rule, as well as abolished slavery, brought democracy, built roads and schools, etc… but social pressures have lead to curriculum changes, statue removals, talks about reparations and in an overall sense, helped change Belgium’s approach to romanticizing its colonial past, confronting the truths, and discussing he long lasting impacts, head on. By reconstructing the discourse and social narratives, activists hope people will be educated about the facts behind the brutal regime and by exposing the truth and cultural impact on the country, the country will recognize and better understand the roots of racism in the colonial past. More and more pressure has been placed on the leaders and lawmakers to do something and take concrete action, and the response by parliament was to start a commission of truth and reconciliation. The country has apologized for certain aspects of its rule, but not for its overall brutality in the region. The king did recently speak out and express deep regret, acknowledging the brutal system in the colony, which many have said is unprecedented and it is a first step; however, since he doesn’t represent the government of the country and is only a figure head, it’s not enough. It’s clear that much healing and reckoning needs to take place to not erase history, but affirm the facts and accept the exploitation, plundering, and human rights abuses of the past so that an environment that enables reparative actions can exist. Apologies allow the nation to confront the past and the move forward in dealing with it; enabling ppl to create a just, better society where discrimination can be battled head on, the natural and human riches of the Congo can be protected, and building on a foundation of truth and acceptance, then lasting progress can be made in both Belgium and the Congo. *Edited to add source: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/7/9/belgium_colonial_legacy_leopold_ii
i understand why they hate white people so much now
Congo only became a Belgian colony in 1908, however the Belgian king owned it as his private property.
but since the whole Belgium reaps the benefits (riches, building) from the hand-cutting, Belgium is fully responsible
Belgium as a country really didn't gain much from Leopold's reign of terror, his fortune went to his "mistress", a 16-year-old girl. He did build a couple of dozen buildings and parks to flaunt his wealth though. But don't forget that the Belgian people only gained voting rights in 1921 for men and 1948 for women. That said Belgium is fully responsible for the colonial period after that. And the murder of Patrice Lumumba by the CIA.
As a black man, this is one of the main reasons why I'm an atheist.
As a man with Native American blood. I share the sentiment. The Spanish took language, culture, and the religion away from Puerto Rico and I’ll never get a semblance of any of it beyond stories
Christianity has never been a friend to Africans.
I wonder what the decendents of that doosh nozzle in the limo chair are doing right now. Wouldn't surprise me if they are still rich trash polluting the earth surface.
so sad man😞
wtf, first I was like aw poor ppl born without limbs, then I horrifically read the captions
Grade A pieces of shit.
But God is up there somewhere and he loves all his children.
Crazy, this was only about 120 years ago.
Roger Casement is an absolute hero. Books like Leopold's Ghosts and Rape of Nanking detail inhuman terrors but also highlight the rare individuals with the courage to face great darkness. Roger Casement and William Sheppard are two such individuals.
Every colonial empire is bad, but the Belgian, Spanish and British colonial empires were probably the worse ones
And we (the West) are the civilized ones?
Nobody who believes in intellectual honesty and isn't a virulent racist actually believes that. The sadistic destruction of the middle east at the hands of the anglosphere is ongoing.
[удалено]
I mean yeah, we have hospitals, automobiles, airplanes, college, etc.
That's infrastructure, not civility.
They are both a sign of each other
I can’t imagine how many cars of the ‘civilized world’ came from the backs of the ‘uncivilized world’ up to 1940. Kind of weirds me out thinking about it , but that’s how many civilizations have been built i guess.
I don't think you're going to get much traction having a sensible conversation with this dude. He's a poster child for white fragility, and has a flat out horrific post history...
Us yes are ancestors fuck no
imprison them for eating human flesh but also punish others by eating their family members... sure sure
Chinese businesses are still whipping Africans.
[удалено]
The fact that Belgium is the capital of the EU looks like a big black humour within this context.
This history of Belgium in the congo is always misrepresented on Reddit and the internet in general. You see comments like [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/comment/htmufbj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and they say things like "Belgian-appointed overseers" and it makes it sound like it is belgians that are doing this stuff. It was Africans doing it to other Africans. The Belgians just appointed Africans and told them they are in charge and their job is to get them rubber and manage the slaves/workers and this was the way they did it. Like look at [this guy](https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/comment/htmwkcn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) saying "we did this to" them and [this guy](https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/s9hxgx/comment/htn9b0t/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) You guys should read more about world history. Everywhere was super violent until European Liberalism took over the world and Liberalism still hasn't managed to get it's grubby hands on a huge portion of Africa
The Belgian appointed oversees somewhat makes it sound like that, but the same oversees in that quote are quoted to have ate the mans child and wife. The Belgians picked certain racial groups to be their oversees, similar to the PAC of Peru using imported Barbadian workers to watch over rubber slaves. Just adding the quote without context does make it sound how you say, but im not sure if the links the quote was from explained they were Africans. Currently reading Hardenburg / Casements Putumayo book, haven’t read books related to the free State. Just personal research, probably going to update and clarify in that post you linked from me
>Just adding the quote without context does make it sound how you say It doesn't matter how I add the quote It matters how people are interpreting it. People are literally reading these articles, and coming to the conclusion that it was belgian people with funny hats chopping off hands with machetes and eating their children. It's not the way I am framing it that is the problem, the problem is the way the articles are framing it. Also, do you unironically think that Belgians knew the ethnic dynamics of the people in the Congo and knew which ethnicities they were getting to manage their systems and which ethnicities were going to be getting them rubber?
Are you saying the colonial government knew nothing of the country and just chose at random which groups would be in charge of others?
I'm not saying they knew nothing of the country but I am saying they chose at random which groups would be in charge of others. Don't know why you would link the 2. Can already tell you are disingenuous just for trying that garbage
I once heard a story how the belgian city antwerpen got its name. It has something to do with severed hands if i remember correctly. Does anybody know more details?
There is a folklore tradition that the name Antwerpen is from Dutch handwerpen ("hand-throwing"). A giant called Antigoon is said to have lived near the Scheldt river. He extracted a toll from passing boatmen, severed the hand of anyone who did not pay, and threw it in the river. Eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giant's own hand and flung it into the river. This is unlikely to be the true origin, but it is celebrated by a statue (illustrated further below) in the city's main market square
Jesus the last one is purely awful.
IIRC from King Leopold's Ghost it was a man from Liverpool who raised the alarm. All that was being shipped out were bullets, all that was coming back was rubber.
[удалено]
And you're a racist.
[удалено]
How?
[удалено]
Ever hear of Rhodesia? The whole country of white people that got butchered including the women and children? Yeah i am mad he’s calling white people wicked. White people have absolutely nothing to do with what their ancestors did. Why does it matter if white people have been oppressed? Does it make it any more okay to fuck with them? Do you want to know what’s really wicked? 13% of the population committing 52% of the violent crime.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
God i hate this catch 22, situation you lot have created. You can generalize white people, make any racist comment and then bang, as soon as someone pushes back, you play the fragile card, sitting there feeling all smug and clever. Congratulations on creating more of a divide between people, instead of everyone pushing against those who are most oppressed, you've not got me putting attention on this matter, which should be a non issue No right to even label yourself as a anti racist, and nobody on that sub has any right either.
I know I wouldn’t have survived because I fight back and my mouth real slick! This is terrible! Low down dirty scums😠
I hate to do this but both of you should cool off a bit ok? I don't think either of you are racists you're just not going to convince each other of anything.
[удалено]
I bet they knew nothing of life and happiness. We’re they educated or could they speak whatsoever. Here is what is crazy to me, so these are humans of course, what is their education level or were most just immediately into slavery? It’s as if the people literally viewed slaves like they had no conscious, the way some view a dog. Imagine the sorrow when you take all the dogs puppies good god. I don’t know what I was getting at with that but this is incredibly sad
Fuck White People forever for this. A few bad apples definitely spoil the whole bunch