Politics
Patrice Lumumba’s legacy 51 years later
Patrice Lumumba. PHOTO/File
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 is the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba allegedly by the United States and Belgium (Belgium apologized in 2002), in cahoots with select Congolese elites.
Why is life so difficult in today’s Congo? Why is there not enough food in that beleaguered country? Here’s a short history lesson: The policies of the U.S. and other European powers were responsible for setting up this country, which is rich in natural resources, to be a long-term failed state.
Under Belgian rule starting in the 1800s, the Congolese were brutally pressed into developing a rubber industry to enrich their colonial masters. Hundreds of thousands of men were literally worked to death: The population was reduced by half between 1880 and 1920. Then a ray of light: Congo became independent in 1960, and democratic elections produced one of the most dynamic and committed prime ministers that Africa has known, Patrice Lumumba.
To learn more about this great man, visit, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba
