Belgian Denial

Comments

1. 

   January 16, 2006

   dearieme

   Just because Leopold slaughtered 10 million, it doesn’t necessarliy mean it was genocide, does it? Mao killed 60 million and no-one calls that a genocide. It’s presumably not the number of victims that counts, but the focus on one racial/ethnic group and the motivation.

   Reply
2. 

   January 16, 2006

   Mick H

   It’s a moot point whether the death toll in the Congo Free State should count as genocide, but yes, generally it seems not to be regarded as such – on the grounds, I suppose, that the deaths weren’t an aim in themselves, but were rather a side-effect of the appallingly exploitative system.
   I was amused to see that reference to the Congo in a paper put out by the supposedly far-right Vlaams Belang. I suppose for them it’s another opportunity to knock the Belgian state.

   Reply
3. 

   January 17, 2006

   J.Cassian

   Yes, it’s arguable whether it was a true genocide but even by twentieth century standards, it was quite an achievement as a crime against humanity. The Congo Free State was also a blatantly hypocritical enterprise, claiming to liberate the Congolese from the attentions of the slave trade. Since this slave trade was run by Arabs for the Middle Eastern market, I doubt whether Kir and his fellow Muslims will be too eager to bring the subject up. But who knows?

   Reply
4. 

   January 18, 2006

   dearieme

   “a crime against humanity” – not a phrase I like. It was a crime against the 10 million.

   Reply
5. 

   June 8, 2006

   Cenk Tanik

   I think all the Belgian people should support the motion put forward in the British Parliament, to face their dark past. It is a bit embarrassing, I accept, but it is a milestone towards a more mature approach to their past.
   Isn’t this what humanity is all about? Continous progress?
   At
   http://btcd.turkish-network.org/class/pressrelease/prelease.asp?pressreleaseid=614254434262545C545142556142
   BTCD supports the proposed motion in the British Parliament recognising the Colonial genocide of the black people of Congo by Belgium.
   British Turkish Committee for Dialogue (BTCD) supports the Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by Labour MP Andrew Dismore calling on the Belgian Government to recognise the genocide it perpetuated in what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo.
   LONDON – British Turkish Committee for Dialogue (BTCD) supports the Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by Labour MP Andrew Dismore calling on the Belgian Government to recognise the genocide it perpetuated in what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo.
   Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon and chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights in British Parliament, has stated that the incidents between 1884 and 1907 that resulted in the deaths of millions of ethnic Congolese, under the rule of King Leopold II of Belgium, constituted genocide. The EDM tabled by Mr Dismore calls upon Belgium to recognise the Congolese Genocide and notes that Belgium has so far failed to do so.
   The events that took place in Congo were brought to the attention of Mr Dismore by BTCD representatives at a public meeting in London, on the 27th of April 2006. In the meeting, Mr Dismore stated that Belgium had to apologise for the genocide of the Congolese people it perpetuated. Having received confirmation from the Library of Parliament that Belgium has indeed so far not apologised for the genocide, Mr Dismore has kindly taken the step of tabling the EDM to this effect at the British Parliament. This EDM has so far been signed and supported by 13 Members of the British Parliament.
   BTCD would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Dismore for the compassion he has shown for the victims of this tragedy.
   The Belgian Parliament has passed resolutions in the past calling on other nations to face the dark pages of their history. Therefore, we call upon the Belgian Parliament to face the dark pages of its own history in the same way that it has suggested to other nations, by recognising the tragedy Belgium has caused during this period, as genocide.
   Notes to Editor:
   Tasari metni:
   http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=30788&SESSION=875
   EDM 2251
   COLONIAL GENOCIDE AND THE CONGO
   24.05.2006
   Dismore, Andrew
   That this House notes that in 2002 the Belgian Royal Museum of Africa commissioned a panel to investigate the nature and scale of atrocities committed by the then colonial authorities in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo; notes the commission was due to report in 2004, but no report seems to have been published; believes that many millions, estimated in 1919 at 50 per cent. of the population by official bodies of the Belgian Colonial government, died under the regime of King Leopold II between 1885 and 1908 in what was the world’s only privately controlled colony, exposed in part by activists such as Roger Casement, British journalist E.D. Morel and UK, US and Swedish missionaries; whilst recognising the sensitivity of these matters in Belgium, believes the full truth should be known; and calls upon the Belgian government to publish all the evidence that is available and to apologise to the people of the Congo for the tragedy of King Leopold’s regime, which can only be classed as genocide.
   Conservative Party
   Bottomley, Peter
   Labour Party
   Brown, Lyn
   Caton, Martin
   Chaytor, David
   Dismore, Andrew
   Drew, David
   Efford, Clive
   Grogan, John
   Jones, Helen
   McDonnell, John
   Meale, Alan
   Liberal Democrats
   George, Andrew
   Holmes, Paul

   Reply