I was reading a thread in /r/Belgium on the UN advising the state to apologise for its colonial past earlier on and various posters were discussing the extent of the massacre/genocide in congo, whether it was even a genocide and the usual nonsense that goes with negationism.
Now, what I noticed in the thread is various people saying we should remember the bad things Belgium did in Congo, but we should also not brush over or distort the good.
Now, since 'good' and 'bad' are ethical/moral concepts, I realise that it's unfair to ask a historian to take a stance on this as such, but various redditors were also discussing whether the net effect of colonialism was of any benefit to Congo despite intentions.
Now, since neither of the two sides claims to be a historian and my expertise lies more in medieval history than Colonial and post-colonial africa I'm not remotely qualified to argue properly.
So, I have a few questions for you today:
What is the consensus view on the extent of the genocide in congo and can it be called a genocide?
Is the Belgian government responsible for atrocities since decolonisation?
Was infrastructure in congo built for the benefit of locals at all?
Did this supposedly well developed infrastructure (hospitals, roads, canals, schools, churches) benefit the congolese at all in a post-colonial era compared to its neighbours?
I wrote a fairly lengthy paper on the Congo following decolonization recently, but obviously I’m not flaired so I’m not sure if this will be accepted.
Anyway, I believe most scholars are of the consensus that what occurred in the Congo under Leopoldo was assuredly a genocide. Although maybe not done for traditional reasons, killing several million Congolese puts it under that category.
Since decolonization, the Congo has been an absolute mess. My area of focus is 1960’s Congo, and I can state pretty confidently that Belgium played a heavy role in keeping the Congo in perpetual chaos and weakening whatever bureaucracy may have arisen. The first prime minister, Patrice lumumba, was a pan-Africanist, and sought to bring some sense of “Africanization” to the Congo. However, he was also a bit of a socialist, and the west (notable the Belgians and the USA) were wary of whatever relations he may wish to foster with the soviets. The Belgians sought to undermine his authority by advocating for the secession of Katanga, a mineral rich province on the southern fringe of the Congo, supporting general tshombe. In effect, this was also a move to ensure that union miniere, a Belgian mining company, would not have its property seized by the Congolese government. The Belgians wanted these mines open.
Lumumba was quickly “deposed” and assassinated in Katanga in January of 1961, by the CIA/Belgians, depending on your source. This action, the assassination of a democratically elected prime minister that had ambitions of unifying the Congo into a coherent, semi-centralized state, lead to the next decade of turmoil, after which mobutu would rise to power.
The infrastructure in the Congo was solely for the purpose of resource extraction, as is the case in almost every other post-colonial state. The ports on the Atlantic (or I guess just the one) we’re connected by rail to either rubber plantations in the north and center of the country or to mines in the south and east. There was no infrastructure dedicated to inter-city commerce. Granted, the cities in the Congo do mostly sit on the banks of the Congo river, but there were no attempts by the Belgians to integrate different parts of the Congo.
I can’t really speak too much on the last question, as the only other states I’ve looked at are Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The Congo is not a great country, geographic-wise, to build an economy in. It essentially sits in a massive basin, and the lifeline of the country, the Congo River, has two massive rapids that prevent going to far up or down river, and effectively isolate the country from the Atlantic Ocean.
If anyone reads this and knows more than I do and could correct me, I would really appreciate that! But I think for this most part this a pretty succinct answer. If you would like more details, I’d be willing to go further in detail when I get off work.