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Note: This month marks the 60th anniversary of the Congo Crisis, which began shortly after the country achieved independence on July 15, 1960. It culminated in the death of the country's first post-independence leader Patrice Lumumba (1925-1960). Not unlike our current struggles around police brutuality, structural racism, white supremacy and understanding how the injustices of the past inform the inequities of the present, Lumumba's life and death provides an important window into these realities. It helps us to understand the connectons between the past and the present and the global implications of racism and white supremacy as well as the connection to the lived conditions and realities of Black people around the world. This extended blog is designed to provide historical context and spark discussion related to the connections between the historical past and our present realities.
Iconic revolutionary figures permeate the landscapes of history. Black leaders such as Nzinga, Toussaint L’ Overture, Nat Turner, Henry McNeal Turner and Ida B. Wells represent the foundational struggles for Black freedom, equality and personhood across the long arc of slavery and freedom. The late nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought systemic and endemic systems of injustice in the forms of imperialism colonialism and Jim Crow. These hydra headed systems grew full blown from the injustices of slavery. They not only influenced the trajectory of the nineteenth century but shaped the twentieth century as well. These realities informed the nature of the oppressive systems of the period but also informed the freedom dreams of generations of ordinary people, activists and political leaders. These individuals embodied the hopes and dreams of their people for new realities unfettered by the oppressive chains of the past. One such revolutionary was Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba’s realities were shaped in the mythical cauldron of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and against the long shadow of Leopold’s ghost. Lumumba’s story was shaped by the cold and heartless colonial machinations of the Belgians and the unquenchable spirit of a colonized people to assume the mantle of self-determined citizens. Patrice Lumumba’s life and legacy is a story which weaves together the indelible legacies of the past, the hope and possibility of the present providing lessons for untold tomorrows.
Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, the Congo loomed large on Europe’s radar screen as a potential site for exploitation in the run up to the colonial era. First explored by Henry Morton Stanley, the region proved rich in natural resources including rubber and diamonds. Stanley, after being rebuffed by other European powers, interested the Belgians in the area. In 1876, Leopold II established the International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of Central Africa. This association was subsequently recognized by the United States. Leopold’s claims to the region were rubberstamped by competing European powers including the United States at the Berlin Conference, 1884-1885. Leopold also inaugurated the civilizing mission, the idea that the introduction of European civilization would lead to the moral and intellectual elevation of the inhabitants. Rather than civilization, Leopold’s administration of the region represented the heart of evil. He engaged in a brutal regime of forced labor to extract rubber, ivory and diamonds Those persons who were unable to maintain often superhuman quotas were subject to dismemberment or death. The military force, The Force Publique, ruled with an iron hand and perpetrated all manners of atrocities including rape, cannibalism, murder, destruction of villages, and expropriation or communal land. Observers estimated that the population of the Congo decreased by between 3 and 6 million people all in the name of profit, raw exploitation and the civilizing mission.
From the outset, American financiers invested in the Congo. Ryan and David Guggenheim’s American Congo Company played an active role in development. The American Congo Company obtained a ninety-nine year option on rubber, vegetable products on 4,000 square miles and a ten year option to buy 2,000 square miles. More important, Americans organized the Société Internationale Forestière et Miniere du Congo also known as Forminiere. Forminiereobtained a ninety-nine-year monopoly on all mines discovered in six years covering half the Congo Free State.
The capricious and brutal nature of the Congo Free State could not remain hidden. As outside observers from Europe and the United States began to criticize and critique Leopold’s personal fiefdom, the horrors and brutality of Leopold’s Congo Free State caused the world to cringe. It set off one of the world’s first human rights crises. The Congo Free State was transferred from Leopold to the Belgian Government and became the Belgian Congo In 1908. The new political configuration privileged the state, missionaries, and private business interests.
It was into this rapidly evolving post World I Belgian Congo that Patrice Lumumba was born. Patrice Émery Lumumba was born in 1925 in Onalua in the Kasai province. He received his education at Protestant and Catholic primary schools. He worked for a time as a traveling beer salesman He successfully passed government examinations for postal clerk and worked as a clerk for twelve years from 1944-1956.
As Lumumba fulfilled his postal duties and deepened his understanding of the colonial state, changes were afoot in the Belgian Congo’s social, political, and economic structure. These changes privileged the primacy of the private sector, urbanization and the subsequent development of a Europeanized African middle class known as evolues.It is from among their ranks that the nationalists of the post WWII period and the post-colonial leaders would be drawn. The twisted tentacles of Belgian and Western capital tied to the control of rubber, ivory and precious metals, the civilizing mission and the yearning among Congolese to throw off the chains of colonialism would prove to be an explosive mix in the postwar moment.
The post-World War II period witnessed the rising tide of decolonization and self-determination. The rising wind” of change swept across the African continent. The Sudan achieved independence in 1956 and in 1957, Ghana led by Pan Africanist Kwame Nkrumah became the first Sub-Saharan African state to achieve independence. Not unlike its predecessors, the Congo followed a similar path to decolonization. Beginning in the 1950s, significant agitation for change materialized in the nation. Nationalist movements developed along ethnic and regional lines. The four most prominent groups in the Congo were the Mouvement National Conglais (MNC), Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO), Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA) and The Confederacion des Associations Tribales du Katanga ( CONAKAT). The MNC functioned as a united front group calling for independence in a timely manner. Its leaders included Lumumba, Cyrile Adoula, and Joseph Ileo. ABAKO was more nationalist and organized along ethnic lines. It’s members believed the Bakongo, a prominent precolonial nation, were the preordained leaders of an independent Congo. PSA, led by Antoine Gizengo and Cleophas Kamitafu. It drew its political membership from rural communities in the Kwango and Kwilu districts of the country, in the southern part of the country bordering Angola. CONKATI, led by Moise Tshombe supported federalism and represented the southern province of Katanga.
The largest of the four nationalist parties was the MNC. Its membership was estimated at 58,000 members by 1959. In the same year, it split into two ideological faction: MNC-L, a more moderate group led by Lumumba and MNC-Katonji, led by Ileo and Albert Katongi. MNC-L supporters were centered in the Stanleyville (present day Kisangani) region in the Northeast. MNC-K members were popular in the southern city of Elisabethville (present day Lubumbashi) and among the Luba ethnic groups.
The increasing strength of nationalist parties and the eruption of major rioting throughout the Congo in 1959 precipitated independence talks. The defining event of these disturbances was the Leopoldville Massacre. The massacre occurred in Leopoldville (present day Kinshasa) in early 1959. It occurred because of the refusal of Belgian authorities to allow ABAKO led by Joseph Kasavubuto stage a protest rally. Members of the group gathered at the local YMCA and refused to disperse. The Force Publique attacked the crowd killing between 49 and 500 people. The massacre highlighted the rift between colonial authorities and nationalist groups determined to achieve immediate independence.
In 1960, due to the fallout from the Leopoldville massacre, the Belgians convened a Round Table Conference in Brussels, Belgium. The conference featured representatives from the major political groups in the Congo. Lumumba was released from custody to attend the gathering. Although the Belgians were reluctant to concede independence even going so far as to state that the process should be delayed for thirty years, the parties agreed on June 30, 1960.
The Congo’s independence was contested from the outset. Not only were several important questions left unresolved including federalism, ethnicity and the role of Belgium in Congolese affairs, but the nature of what independence meant proved challenging. The differing visions of independence came into full view during the independence celebrations. King Baudouin, the Belgian king, presented the end of colonialism as the conclusion of the Belgian civilizing mission. Lumumba’s speech, in stark contrast urged Congolese to never forget “that independence was won in struggle, a preserving and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle in which we undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood. It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.”
Lumumba went on to call for social justice, land benefits, free expression of thought, and eradication all discrimination. The benefits of the Congo’s independence were not local or national, they pertained to the entire continent: The Congo’s independence,” Lumumba said “is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent.”
Operating under a semi-presidential or dual executive system constitution (Loi Fondiamentale), executive power was shared between the President and Prime Minister. Joseph Kasavubu. was named President and Lumumba was named Prime Minister. The constitution was centralist with power concentrated in Léopoldville. Establishing a government proved easier than building a nation. Belgians remained deeply committed to paternalism regarding their role in post-colonial Congo. Many believed independence changed little. Colonial institutions such as the Force Publique continued to reflect the deep divisions in Congolese society. The leadership remained largely white with no change despite the presence of noncommissioned black soldiers. Its leader Lieutenant General Émile Janssens refused to concede that independence meant any change in the status quo. Black soldiers responded to this state of affairs by mutinying against white officers beginning on July 5, 1960. The collective event was known as the Force Publique Mutiny. The revolt began at Camp Hardy near Thysville (present day Mbanza-Ngungu) and then to Leopoldville the next day and subsequently throughout the country.
Janessens appealed to Lumumba to quell the rebellion by calling for Belgian assistance. Instead, Lumumba fired Janessens. He renamed the Force Publique, the Armee Nationale Conglaise. He placed Victor Lundula in charge of the armed force. Joseph Desire Mobutu was named Deputy and Army Chief of Staff. The mutiny intensified and civil unrest and looting was widespread in the Congo.
Citing a deterioration in conditions and the necessity to protect property and the white citizenry, Belgium on June 9th, without notification or permission, deployed paratroopers in Kibalo and elsewhere in the Congo. The Belgians bombarded the port city of Matadi killing 19. Belgian troops entered other cities and towns including Léopoldville and clashed with Congolese troops. The Belgians also announced provisions for civil servants in the metropole. This led to a mass resignation and exodus of more than 10,000 civil servants from the country. This intervention divided Kasavubu and Lumumba. Kasavubu favored Belgian intervention but Lumumba opposed it on the pretext that it was staging for reasserting control in the country.
The Belgian intervention fomented unrest along ethnic and geographical lines. On July 11. 1960, Katanga,a southern mineral rich province, declared independence from the Congo. Moise Tshombe, also the leader of CONAKAT, claiming Katangese ethnic distinctions and general unrest and anarchy in the country. Major Belgian mining operations such as the Union Minerale du Haut Katanga supported CONAKAT and was owned by the Société Générale de Belgium, which was closely linked to the Belgium government. Unlike the central government, the Belgians provided military support and ensured civil servants remained in place. Tshombe also hired mercenaries from South Africa and Rhodesia to bolster his military forces.
Katanga’ s succession was followed by the region of Kasai. Another mining region, which was diamond rich, Kasai declared autonomy from the Congo and renamed itself The Mining State of South Kasai. Led by Albert Kalonji, the state blamed ethnic violence against Baluba peoples as the justification for succession. Like Katanga, Kasai was indebted to Belgian mining interests. The Forminiere Mining Company received concessions from the state in exchange for financial support. The succession of Katanga and Kasai severely weakened the Congo’ economic position. More than 40% of the nation’s revenue came from these two regions.
The deteriorating situation in the country, regional succession, and Belgian occupation drew the attention of the international community. Convinced the Congo crisis could serve as an example of the importance of the UN as a peacekeeping and stabilizing force, the UN sprang into action. The UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld advocated sending a multinational peacekeeping force to the region under UN control. On July 14th, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 143. The resolution called for the complete withdrawal of Belgian troops and its replacement by a UN force.
The United Nations Operations in the Congo ( ONUC) were initially welcomed by Lumumba. He hoped the force could be utilized to put down the rebellion in the successionist states. Hammarskjöld, however, objected to the use of UN forces to quell an internal rebellion. He felt such action would represent a loss of impartiality and breach of Congolese sovereignty. Lumumba turned to the United States but received no support. He then turned to the Soviet Union. The Soviets sent 1,000 military advisors.
The presence of Soviet troops allowed for an opportunity to address the sectional succession. With the help of the Soviets, ANC troops launched s successful attack on South Kasai. Infighting however between the Balba and Bena ethnic groups led to massacres of Luba people and a mass exodus of Baluba citizens. Soviet involvement drove an even deeper rift between Lumumba and Kasavubu. It also strengthened the sentiment that Lumumba was a communist. The CIA , operating from a Cold War playbook, concluded Lumumba was trying to bring the Congo into the Soviet orbit.
Responding to international pressure and Cold War machinations, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba as Prime Minister on Sept 5, 1960. Steps were taken by the American representative to the UN to block communication between Lumumba and the MNC-L. Kasavubu’s actions were denounced by both Houses of Parliament. Lumumba attempted to dismiss him, but could not get adequate support. Under the pretext of settling the situation, Joseph Mobutu staged a bloodless coup and replace Kasavubu and Lumumba with a College of Commissionaires-Generalled by Justin Bamboko. Mobutu sided with Kasavubu and later reinstated him. Lumumba was placed under house arrest guarded Ghanaian UN Troops and an outer ring of ANC troops.
Lumumba escaped house arrest and fled to Stanleyville to gather support. He was pursued by Mobutu’s troops. He was captured at Lodi on December 1st and flown to Léopoldville. Meanwhile the UN appealed to Kasavubu for due process. The UN Security Council met to consider a Soviet resolution to secure his immediate release. The preliminary resolution was defeated by 8-2 on December 14, 1960.
Lumumba was tortured and transported to Thysville and then Katanga where he was handed over to forces loyal to Tshombe. The assassination was overseen by Belgian Captain Julian Gat and Belgian Police Commissioner Frans Verschurre. Lumumba was shot and throw into a shallow grave. Subsequently the body were exhumed and doused in acid to destroy the evidence.
Lumumba’s assassination was decried the world over. Protestors in Belgrade sacked the Belgian embassy. In London, a large group of protestors marched from Trafalgar Square to the Belgian Embassy and presented a letter of protest. The most raucous demonstration occurred at the UN. The protest took place before the UN Security Council, during a speech by American Ambassador Adlai Stevenson. It turned violent and spilled into the street.
In death, Lummuba became a larger than life figure. A representative of the never ending struggle for Black self-determination and dignity the world over. He quickly joined the pantheon of iconic leaders of his age. As the Civil Rights Movement intensified in the United States and the decolonization continued to transform African and Asian societies, Lumumba’s stock rose. His Pan-Africanism vision, belief in a federal system, control of natural resources and continental unity and liberation found voice in the cries for freedom and liberation reverberating across the world. As early as 1966, Lumumba was declared a national hero in the Congo. In 2002, Belgium officially admitted participating in Lumumba’s assassination and apologized for it. Today, a statue, honors him in Kinhasa, the DRC’s capital. He is depicted with a raised hand. It is located on Lumumba Boulevard, which serves as a major thoroughfare leading in and out of the city from the airport. In Bamako, Mali, a central square named after him and a statute attest to his influence. Streets are named for him in Gaborone, Bostswana; Luska, Zambia; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Accra, Ghana and Algier, Algeria. Similar trends exist in Warsaw, Poland; Donetsk, Ukraine; Leipzig, Germany and in many other cities.
In literature and film, Lumumba looms large. The critically acclaimed film, Lumumba was released in 2000 starring actor Eriq Ebouaney. Aime Cesaire’s “A Season in the Congo”(1968) recently featured on the stage in London at the Young Vic in 2013. Critically acclaimed actor Chiwetel Ejiofor starred as Lumumba. Countless musicians have mentioned Lumumba is their work ranging from Miriam Makemba to Neil Diamond to Nas. Nas dedicated his song, “My Country” to Lumumba stating “just trying to fight for what’s real and destroyed by his own people.”
Iconic Black revolutionaries permeate the landscapes of history. None has proven more enduring and powerful than Patrice Lumumba. A permanent fixture in the pantheon of Black Revolutionary leaders of the twentieth century, Lumumba provides a visionary blueprint for African liberation and Pan-African solidarity. Determined to harness the mineral wealth of his country for its inhabitants, Lumumba waged a titantic struggle in his life against the imperialist and Cold War machinations of the Belgian and US governments. Although he ultimately succumbed to the overwhelming force and treachery of these forces in life, in death his legacy, integrity and vision has outlived and transcended the limits of his mortal body. His legacy continues to inform the quest for self-determination, freedom, and dignity the world over. Lumumba’s parting words written to his wife while imprisoned in 1961 are particularly instructive in this regard: “The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United States. It will be the history which will be taught in the countries which have won freedom from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity.”