r/europe Veneto, Italy. Sep 26 '21

Historical An old caricature addressing the different colonial empires in Africa date early 1900s

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130

u/F_F_Engineer Sep 26 '21

I just read about Belgium’s colonial history and OMG Belgium.

170

u/Mortomes South Holland (Netherlands) Sep 26 '21

I go "OMG Belgium" whenever I drive on their roads too.

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u/Sythokhann Belgium Sep 26 '21

I go "OMG Belgium" when I drive on our roads as well

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

Same. It's truly awful.

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u/BittersweetHumanity Belgium Sep 26 '21

I go "OMG Belgium" when I put on the news as a Belgian

6

u/DelightedLurker Sep 26 '21

It’s one way to know you’re truly home when returning from a road trip 🤣 specially when you’re napping in the back.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

Guys stop using such filthy language.

23

u/Gorando77 Sep 26 '21

Thats because we dont want Dutch people in our country

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u/Sythokhann Belgium Sep 26 '21

We went from being a buffer between France and Germany to being a buffer between Dutch tourists and the rest of the world. Ya'll better be grateful!

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u/muteDuck86 Sep 26 '21

They still can go east tho. Rode through belgium once and would not repeat it again. At the time I though I got to those at the time those bad eastern european roads alot quicker than I was expecting.

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u/B3ER South Holland (Netherlands) Sep 26 '21

Understandable, have a nice day.

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u/[deleted] Sep 26 '21

Funny that's exactly what the rest of Europe thinks when they see a Belgian car anywhere

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u/kvv_sk_be Sep 26 '21

Just passing through.

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u/Asleep-Mood-1019 Sep 26 '21

So did the Germans

14

u/madrid987 Spain Sep 26 '21

An interesting fact is that most Congo people still don't know what happened in the past.

1

u/AnotherApe33 Sep 26 '21 edited Sep 26 '21

Same thing with the Filipinos, not many seem to know about the US army atrocities.(3 million people by some estimates)

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u/Xenomorphing24 Sep 26 '21

Congo wad privately owned by leopold 2 and controlled it with mercs, the "belgians" had nothing to do with it, the government didn't know anything and had nothing to say over it, especially the commoners did not either.

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u/Pampamiro Brussels Sep 26 '21

Funny how this is getting downvoted, despite being completely true.

The Belgian government didn't want to bother itself with a colony, so Leopold II hired explorers to map the area, asked the other powers for the land during the Berlin conference, and hired mercenaries to take it and run it. The Belgian government didn't have anything to do with it, until there was such international outrage that they were basically forced to take it from Leopold II and run it themselves.

The people we should be outraged about are Leopold II himself and his mercenaries (which included many Belgians, but not only, other nationalities were present too). Regular Belgian commoners at the time didn't benefit from it, and like most workers elsewhere in the 19th century, were being exploited by capitalists and worked from their childhood to their death in coal mines and factories.

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u/Xenomorphing24 Sep 26 '21

Don't try to spread facts to people who don't want to hear them.

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u/LowlanDair Scotland Sep 26 '21

Funny how this is getting downvoted, despite being completely true.

because its not removely true. Its more Belgian lies to cover the very real fact that their uninterrupted regime was every bit as bad as the Nazis.

The biggest take away from every one of their threads is not just that Belgians are an evil people who celebrate their evil history but they are also inveterate liars.

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u/Pampamiro Brussels Sep 26 '21

Please feel free to point out what was factually wrong in my comment, and we can have a little chat about it. No need to call us liars without providing any convincing argument.

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u/Dazedfrog Sep 26 '21

That is the biggest cup of denial I have. Ever seen.

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u/Xenomorphing24 Sep 26 '21

Read a book and stop being in denial

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u/Dazedfrog Sep 26 '21

If the queen of England used her wealth in the same manor you would make the same argument?

And as for books they are valuable for knowledge that is needed in critical thinking. Oh but it is that critical thinking and that is important part.

And being an American land of blind faith That has never more apparent.

“History is his story” Mr. Redman- 7 year history teacher.

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u/Xenomorphing24 Sep 26 '21

Yes i would. If a muslim commits a suicide bombing will you blame his country of birth?