The 19th century colonization of the Congo basin did, indeed, lead to the establishment of a series of Belgian colonies, "countries" on a map drawn by King Leopold. The area of the Congo basin, if placed on the map of the United States, would cover the area east of the Mississippi River.
Across that large expanse, two power-hungry men -- a king and his conniving journalist-explorer partner -- established the groundwork for "a confederation of free negro republics" along the Congo River.
The use of the term "free," of course, as Hochschild writes, was "merely a prop to be removed as soon as the curtain closed." The deceit and deception were easily employed during a period when racism and ignorance shaped the public's understanding of the mysterious continent of Africa.
As one of Leopold's subordinates wrote Stanley:
"There is no question of granting the slightest political power to negroes. That would be absurd, the white men, heads of the stations, retain all the powers."
In a final message to Stanley, King Leopold (left) confirmed the true narrative behind Stanley's journey. He wrote:
"I take advantage of a safe opportunity to send you a few lines in my bad english ... It is indispensable you should purchase ... as much as you will be able to obtain, and that you should place successively under ... suzerainty ... as soon as possible and without losing one minute all the chiefs from the mouth of the Congo to the Stanley Falls ... If you let know you are going to execute these instructions without delay I will send you more people and more material. Perhaps Chinese coolies."
Deception is an essential ingredient in the steady march of conquerers. As he wrote his "suzerainty" note to Stanley, Leopold "piously" assured the British minister in Brussels that his venture in Africa "had no commercial character; it did not carry on trade."
In an ominous precursor to the current success of the Zionist invasion of Palestine, the King concluded his message to Stanley:
"I also recommend you to establish barriers and tolls on the parts of the road you have opened. It is but fair and in accordance with the customs of every country."
The evil that men do lives after them in the actions of those who follow knowingly, or unknowingly, a formula of conquest that has worked in other centuries and in other lands.
Which brings me to the ongoing work of a modern prophet, Chas Freeman (above), whose books and lectures provide a rare voice against Zionism's unrestrained conquest of Palestine.
Freeman was an early Obama administration appointee whose forced withdrawal from a post for which he was clearly highly qualified, was an early indication that President Obama would be overly sensitive to Zionists in his administration when he made appointments and considered plans deemed unacceptable to Israel and its American AiPAC-led agents.
I wrote about that early period of disappointment with Obama and the Zionist influence in his administration, for Link, a publication of Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU). A pdf of that essay is available here.
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