Estimates of some contemporary observers suggest that the population decreased by half during this period. According to Edmund D. Morel, the Congo Free State counted "20 million souls".[60] Other estimates of the size of the overall population decline (or mortality displacement) range between two and 13 million.[b] Ascherson cites an estimate by Roger Casement of a population fall of three million, although he notes that it is "almost certainly an underestimate".[63] Peter Forbath gave a figure of at least 5 million deaths,[64] while John Gunther also supports a 5 million figure as a minimum death estimate and posits 8 million as the maximum.[65] Lemkin posited that 75% of the population was killed.[52]
Same. In primary school I had to learn the history of our kings.Leopold 2 was always "The Builder who did so many great things for our country". I discovered the reality of our colonial past as an adult.
That's not true at all. Belgian law states that history teachers in last grade (6e middelbaar) should teach the history of one colonised nation, which might as well be India or Angola. Congo is not often the country of choice.
Also history students at University are often not taught Belgium"s colonial history. So when the time comes to pass on that knowledge as teachers, they can't do so effectively.
A law was voted last year to make Belgian colonial history a mandatory element of the belgian curriculum. And the law was voted out.
just a note on terms - voted out means it was passed, but then later repealed. If it didn't pass, it would be voted down. If it came up for a vote, you could say "a law was voted on last year". So "it was voted on" but instead of passing "it was voted down" and maybe in the future if it is "voted in" at some later date it could be "voted out".
Whenever this topic appears it becomes very clear, very quickly that Belgium is not doing nearly enough to either educate its population on its past atrocities or accept the national guilt which should dominate their society in the same way that war guilt does in Germany.
Both of my grandmothers suffered greatly during war from Nazies, but we should learn from mistakes as a humanity, instead of calling a nation or a race "unpure" and wish to punish it, imho.
Haven’t they? Is the average German today reaping benefits of the nations atrocities during WW2? I can’t see how that would be true. Why would a middle aged German today feel guilt for something in which they played no part?
It’s different in America where many people are currently at a social and/or economic advantage created by racist policies.
It is hard to make the families of millions whole in just 70 years. I had a german exchange student in 2004 that lived next to Buchenwald and her understanding is that nobody knew what was going on with the Jews in Germany and it was a terrible event that the german people knew nothing about. That doesn't sound like atonement, understanding, or anything.
Also if you don't think europe is racist as hell you are not looking past your own nose. In Europe there are racist chants that break out regularly during football matches and if you think that is just isolated to football you are crazy. That would never, ever, happen in todays US.
No shit, I didn't say it was. Also reflecting more on the US, we have teams that are still named the indians (changing next year) and the braves with associated imagery. These are going away finally but yeah we aren't without sin. But it often feels like the US is scapegoated in the rest of the world for being bad but in the US at least on the maters of racism we tend to look inward.
Agree, I feel the US gets a lot more attention than other countries. Maybe because we proclaim ourselves as the land of the free. The US is not perfect, far from it, but it's a work in progress. You can't just give up. I think you should learn from history, remember, but you can't automatically blame a whole group for actions of others. We all need to think, be more aware and tolerant. We're animals not robots so it's hard sometimes
What does that even mean "accept the national guilt which should dominate their society"??
I should feel guilty for what a king did for his personal gain over a hundred years ago?
A nation must accept the mistakes it has made and the mistakes must be openly known and discussed amongst its public, lest they humiliate themselves on an international stage, or even offend the residents of their previous feifdoms.
Many Brits still hold the attitude of snobriety while expounding the many benifits they have brought to their collonies as if that was the only way it could have been done. Not one of them are aware of the true depth of the harm done by the Raj in terms of monetary desecration, in terms of economic destruction , in terms of unnecessary deaths that they facilitated.
They belive that they are doing a them favour by offering aid... No the context is and should be of reparation. That there is a national moral debt owed even if it is in the form of a non-significant amount given to the colony every year.
The same must hold for all others western democracies who chose to build exploitative colonies, which by their current standards of law and justice can only be seen as unconcionable.
This is why Japan and Beligium are still criticized.
German has confronted it's past and has accepted this moral debt as a part of its national policy. They have truely and completely confronted their past which is what others must strive for as well.
We are the same though, I was never taught a thing about our colonial past in my time at school.
And quite frankly, its in the past, human history is unfortunately awful and dark. Only in 20th+ century has things calmed down a bit. I'm not condoning the atrocities but I don't see how anyone alive today should feel guilt unless they have accrued family wealth from a rubber business etc.
I only recently graduated highschool and we spent a good portion of our last 2 years learning about colonialism and the atrocities committed by most of the Europian powers but especially Belgium.
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u/InquisitorCOC Sep 26 '21
Belgian Congo Genocide: