House of Wisdom reposted this
140 years ago, on November 15, 1884, the Berlin Conference kicked off. The leaders of fourteen European countries and the United States came together to discuss control of Africa’s resources. They sought to discuss the partitioning of Africa, establishing rules to amicably divide resources among the Western countries at the expense of the African people. Of these fourteen nations at the Berlin Conference, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal were the major players. Notably missing were any representatives from Africa. It was a grim declaration that all of Africa could be claimed by anyone who had the military power to seize it. Under the guise of humanitarianism, King Leopold II of Belgium took control of the Congo, branding it the “Congo Free State” with the false promise of ending slavery. His infamous quote, "I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake," reveals the exploitative mindset that drove European colonization. Leopold's reign in the Congo was marked by unimaginable brutality. While the world remembers the Hol*caust, where 6 million people were killed, it’s crucial to acknowledge that Leopold's regime was responsible for the deaths of over 10 million Africans. His administration enforced a ruthless rubber collection system, where failure to meet quotas often resulted in murder or horrific mutilation. Villagers were forced to work on their own land as if they were slaves, all to satisfy the booming rubber market in Europe. The suffering didn’t stop there. Villages were burned to the ground if they failed to meet imposed quotas, and the brutality extended beyond the Congo. The Naz!s were not the only ones who operated concentration camps. Britain used them in South Africa and Kenya. In Kenya, the camps were sites for random executions and Interrogation involved stuffing detainees mouth with mud and stomping their throats till they passed out. The legacy of colonialism is also evident in the artifacts housed in museums around the world, many of which were taken from Africa. The Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever found, was stolen from South Africa and now adorns the British crown jewels, a symbol of the exploitation that occurred during colonial rule. German colonizers in Namibia, due to their interest in evolutionary theory & missing links executed inmates and decapitated them. Herero women were required to remove all flesh from the heads to create clean skulls suitable for shipment for study in German Institutes. These are just some of the horrors that a group of western world leaders agreed upon. It seems the same mindset still exists today..
And we are expecting these western "civilizations" to stop a massacre in Gaza? Their global agenda continues...
Leopold's reign in the Congo was marked by unimaginable brutality. While the world remembers the Hol*caust, where 6 million people were killed, it’s crucial to acknowledge that Leopold's regime was responsible for the deaths of over 10 million Africans. His administration enforced a ruthless rubber collection system, where failure to meet quotas often resulted in murder or horrific mutilation. Villagers were forced to work on their own land as if they were slaves, all to satisfy the booming rubber market in Europe
Not forgetting France and what they did to Algerians, to some extent the current leader of those countries do inherited the brutality of their ancestors, look how they are supporting unquestionably the Geno cide of Palestinhians committed by the Israelibeings in Gaza.
I wasn't taught any of this in my history lessons.
This is news for me. Its not in any history lesson in my school. 🥶🤢
The so-called civilized West has much to be ashamed of!
And let's not forget the concentration camps in Algeria and Morocco under the Vichy regime! These camps, established during a dark chapter of history, were used to imprison resistance fighters and political figures, all under the guise of enforcing 'justice.'
Thank you for sharing, Miral Askar. It’s truly painful to understand the policy that was behind those massacres in the recent history of our countries. But it’s extraordinary important to know and understand modern history, if we want to build a better future (and if we want freedom and peace with ourselves). While I agree that many tend to ignore and avoid talking about these events (see eg history teaching plans at school), I would disagree that the same mindset exists today. Certainly not by the majority. Racism still exists and is whidely spread but in different structures and forms. One major issue is that colonialism had a lot of consequences. Some mindsets and systems are still in place. Dismantling and replacing them need time.
It did not change either. Colonialism got replaced by neocolonialism seeking to maintain a grip on the resources and strategic importance of the former colonies, sometimes at the expense of democracy, human rights, and national sovereignty. The example are numerous including France’s who’s said to have been unloved in 20 to 30 coups in Africa, UK in 10 to 15 and of course USA with a similar number.
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2wHow can anyone not be deeply disturbed by the racist, greedy, genocidal history of “western civilization”. Yet so many decades later, in the year 2024, many of these same western “civilized” countries, including our country, seem to have not learned from our cruel and dishonest pasts. Many European, and most of our American “leaders”, have been vilifying Arabs and Muslims, by lying to us and hiding the cruel injustices that our governments have committed in the Middle East — portraying Arabs and Muslims as evil monsters who hate us for our freedom and only understand the language of violence. All as they supply Israel with free weapons, paid for with OUR tax dollars, to continue expanding its genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid against innocent families in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. My fellow Americans, please wake up and demand that our government stop enabling Israel’s racist crimes.