Leopold II (King of Belgians)

Volgens professor Frank Gerits moet Leopold II niet uit het straatbeeld verdwijnen omdat hij een verschrikkelijk figuur was, maar omdat hij het hart vormde van de Belgisch koloniale propaganda. Het weghalen van standbeelden of het installeren van Afrikaanse kunst in de publieke ruimte gaat minder over het uitwissen van geschiedenis en meer over het definitief beëindigen van een oud propagandaverhaal.

This paper analyses  King Leopold’s Antwerp network and which people from that network were involved in the organization of the World Fair 1885 as well as in the Congo Free State. How was Congo Free State marketed during the Antwerp World Fair of 1885 and what was the public reaction on the presentation of the Congo pavilion including the ‘life’ hut village? (in Dutch)

Plunderde een meedogenloze Leopold Congo met geweld leeg om zijn honger naar macht, prestige en geld te stillen? Of is enige nuance aan de orde? Hoe werd Congo in de praktijk bestuurd en geëxploiteerd? Werd er echt zoveel geweld gebruikt en zo ja, waarom? En wat was de impact hiervan op de bevolking? Welke rol speelden Congolezen in dit koloniale systeem? En hoe wist een Belgische koning eigenlijk een koloniale staat uit te bouwen in het midden van Afrika?

The afterlives of a monstrous colonial monument are being contested in the heart of Belgium. Engaging in a visual analysis of the PeoPL happening, facilitated by artivist Laura Nsengiyumva, I will argue that this visual proposition is witness to a renewed wave of revolt, altering a still very present colonial order, its vibrant properties of space and possibilities of time. By melting down an ice-reproduction of the equestrian statue of Leopold II, Nsengiyumva renders visible the lingering possibility to restructure the shared division of the sensible proper to the colonial present of Belgium and beyond. This wave of revolt opened a discursive space that altered the conditions through which difference was historically thematised. From (failed) multiculturalism, diversity, superdiversity and the present turn in securitisation through the misnomer of radicalisation, processes of inclusion/exclusion are for the first time in history being discussed on the conditions of the primary concerned

The monument for Congo (1912-1921 - officially called "the monument built for the first Belgian pioneers") is an edifice located in the Parc du Cinquantenaire (Brussels) built and decorated by the Belgian leading sculptor of his time, Thomas Vinçotte (1850-). A biography of the artist is given (mirrored by the biography of Jef Lambeaux), as well as the genesis of the monument (1912-May 11, 1921). It is argued that the reception of such a group is inverse to the other ambitious piece of sculpture located not even 100 m far in the same corner of the park of the Cinquantenaire, the Passions humaines of Jef Lambeaux. While the Monument du Congo was inaugurated with great national pride, its colonial and paternalistic iconography are no more accepted as political correct meanwhile the Passions humaines of Jef Lambeaux, which was immediately closed as to licentious to be shown, is no more a matter of scandal by our modern standards.

Volgens historicus Gert Huskens draait het debat rond het koloniale verleden van België in Congo te veel rond de guur van Leopold II en biedt dit 'oud-kolonialen een uitgelezen opportuniteit om hun erg revisionistische en positieve perspectief te uiten en kracht bij te zetten'.

Starting out as founder of several financial institutions, Alexandre de Browne de Tiège became one of the main financers of Leopold II's rule in the Congo Free State. This article investigates his rol in the Congo concession societies, as politician and his local meaning to the community of Beveren. Published in Het Land van Beveren LIII (2010), nr. 1.

Since the establishment of the independent Belgian kingdom in 1830, numerous citizens have written a so-called letter of request or demande de secours to the royal family to ask for money or help in kind. Between 1865 and 1934, spanning Leopold II's and Albert I's reigns, the royal family received tens of thousands of these letters. Only a few hundred, though, have been preserved (as yet uncatalogued) in the Archives of the Royal Palace in Brussels. Using James C. Scott's concept of the 'public transcript' this chapter asks to what extent the 'official' royal imagery resounded in a sample of sixty letters of request to Leopold II and Queen Elisabeth, Albert I’s consort.
The letters reflect marked class differences. In showing themselves very modest and belittling themselves in the face of royal power, middle-class requesters explicitly appealed to the official transcript of royalism. The lower classes, however made less use of these strategies. They did not always seem to master the official transcript sufficiently to put it to conscious use, which puts a new perspective on Scott's insistence that the subordinate deliberately manipulate the dominant values to their own advantage. The official public transcript might at times have been too hard to read (and use) for the lower classes.
Linda Colley's appraisal of the British monarchy also applies to the Belgian case. From this sample of request letters, it appears that in Belgium the image of the king and queen as 'essentially the same as his [or her] subjects', gradually became popularized after Albert I's marriage to Elisabeth in 1900. Citizens were prompted to see their royal family 'as unique and as typical, as ritually splendid and remorselessly prosaic, as glorious and gemütlich both'.

D'une grande figure héroïque belge, Léopold II est devenu le méchant de l'Histoire, jugé coupable de crimes contre l'humanité. Croqué par la plume, le crayon et fixé sur la pellicule, le Roi est de plus en plus réduit aux traits romanesques et caricaturaux de sa vie comme de son règne.

Ce livre aborde pour la première fois le fonctionnement de l'État indépendant du Congo et le rôle de Léopold II en vue de mieux comprendre les atrocités liées à la récolte du caoutchouc ainsi que les actions du souverain.

Enrichie par de nombreux témoignages inédits, de documents confidentiels et même d'anecdotes, cette étude nuance notre vision du Congo léopoldien, tout en n'évitant pas les questions qui fâchent, telles le nombre de victimes, la responsabilité de Léopold II ou encore son enrichissement personnel.

In writing Heart of Darkness, Conrad made a crucial discovery.  Morality does not prevent genocide.  Quite the contrary, genocide occurs because of moral discourses.  It was for this reason that Conrad rejected morality.  To put the matter simply, Conrad rejects morality because he is committed to social justice.  For a more detailed analysis of Conrad's view of the political psychology that makes genocide possible, see chapter five of my book The Modernist God State, which is titled: "Joseph Conrad and Michael Bakunin on the Redemptive Logic of Western Genocide."

In an article entitled “The Early Spread and Epidemic Ignition of HIV-1 in Human Populations,” in the magazine Science in October 2014, Nuno Faria and his fellow researchers revealed the location of ground zero for one of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases—HIV.

Although the researchers make the assertion that “…we have uncovered the dynamics of the establishment of HIV-1 in humans” (p. 56), the historical dynamics behind the HIV-1 epidemic ignition remain obscured due to serious omissions. The primary historical dynamic omitted from their paper is the major influence of Belgian colonization in the Congo before and after the 1920...

Léopold II marqua de son empreinte les sphères politique, diplomatique, économique et culturelle de son époque. Les représentations les plus variées de Léopold II coexistent sur un mode bien plus complexe que celui du génie colonial ou de la gêne post-moderne. Le premier objectif de cet ouvrage est de se fonder sur l'analyse historique du rôle joué par Léopold II. Le second vise non plus l'action du Roi, mais ses représentations et ses éventuels usages politiques. Le fil rouge concerne la politique étrangère menée par Léopold II, à commencer par son action coloniale. Aux travaux historiographiques, succèdent des études aux accents politiques, sociologiques, littéraires et artistiques, pour livrer un portrait original de ce Roi à la fois vénéré et décrié.

Dans un contexte de course aux colonies, Léopold II, nouvellement roi de Belgique envoie des agents au Congo pour ramener des informations qui lui permettront de créer un nouvel Etat en 1885 : l’E.I.C. Ces agents, recherchant pour la plupart de la gloire et de l’aventure, partent alors pour des contrées encore mal connues et fantasmées en Europe : le
continent des ténèbres.
Sur place, ne sachant comment s’y prendre, ils font appel aux commerçants Araboswahilis qui empruntent les routes de l’île de Zanzibar à l’intérieur du continent depuis quelques décennies. Ces derniers s’étaient installés à Zanzibar en 1840, suite à la volonté du sultan de Mascate d’y placer sa capitale. Mais la présence de ces derniers est due notamment au commerce d’esclaves, commerce dénoncé en Europe comme étant une marque de barbarie et de frein à la civilisation. Mais les agents n’ayant aucune autre possibilité, se garderont bien
de donner leurs avis philanthropiques aux esclavagistes pour profiter très certainement de leur assistance.
Arrivés dans les régions convoitées, les agents s’y installent, fondent des stations et fréquentent les Arabo-swahilis. Certains, au grand étonnement de l’opinion publique en
métropole, en ramèneront des témoignages valorisant « l’esclavagiste arabe ». Mais si les discours des agents de Léopold II peuvent être considérés à l’époque comme étant « pro-arabe », à leur analyse rien n’est plus ambigu. En effet, ces discours lorsqu’ils sont positifs restent teintés de la mentalité de la société dont les agents sont issus : la société européenne du 19ème siècle. Cette société, fascinante par les grands mouvements artistiques, scientifiques et technologiques dont elle a été le berceau, n’était pas pour autant moins raciste et les écrits des agents en témoignent. C’est pourquoi le discours de ces derniers sur les Arabo-swahilis est à analyser de deux manières : en le replaçant dans le contexte historique dont il est
contemporain et en le confrontant à celui présent en métropole. « L’Arabe téméraire, cruel et fanatique » et « l’Arabe comme allié » sont des exemples de représentations, présentes dans les écrits des agents, qui seront étudiés dans ce travail grâce notamment à une lecture sociopsychologique
de la construction des stéréotypes.
Tous ces discours se confrontent, s’alimentent et finalement le politique prend le dessus: la concurrence pour l’ivoire aura une telle ampleur qu’un conflit armé va être engagé jusqu’à
ce que les agents de l’Etat Indépendant du Congo ne représentent plus que la seule et unique autorité au Congo.

La nature en ville dans un contexte de densification, étude portant sur l'archéologie de l'écologie urbaine. Comportant une analyse comparative des processus d'urbanisation au 19ème et de gentrification au 21ème. Une recherche sur la biopolitique mineure (résistance, négociations, participation) et sur la nature sauvage et rudérale : la friche.

Life and work of Ellsworth Faris (1874-1953), disciple and successor of G.H. Mead, social psychologist, Chairman of the department of  sociology (1925-1939), then of the University of Chicago. A forgotten name in its history, he is the missing that explains the diffusion of Mead's social psychology. A figure of novel, his life is tied to Waco, Belgian Congo and Chicago. Details of his life are offered. He had an interest for cultural anthropology and in the social psychology of G.H. Mead he contributed to introduce in the sociology curriculum, a work which was pursued after by H. Blumer, his principal heir.

Publisher: Deep Vellum Publishing (US)
Translated from the French by Roland Glasser
Published: 2015
ISBN-10: 1941920047
ISBN-13: 978-1941920046
pp 224; Price: $12.37
Reviewed by: Olatoun Gabi-Williams

http://bordersliteratureonline.net/books/Tram-83

Biography (in French) of Félix Fuchs, Governor General of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo.
Le présent ouvrage ouvrage, conçu comme une biographie, analyse essentiellement la carrière coloniale de Félix Fuchs, qui couvre environ les années 1888 à 1915. Au niveau même de celle-ci, l'accent est mis sur les moments où Fuchs exerce les fonctions de Gouverneur Général. A ce propos, soulignons dès l'abord que Fuchs, s'il ne porte le titre officiel de Gouverneur Général du Congo belge que du 20 mai 1912 au 31 décembre 1915, a néanmoins déjà exercé cette fonction de manière intérimaire dès 1891, c'est-à-dire sous l'Etat Indépendant du Congo.

Although Leopold I, first King of the Belgians (1790–1865, r. 1831–1865), already had expansionist views and multiplied commercial deals with foreign countries, his son, who was a born businessman, longed for more proactive actions in order to make his future realm a prosperous European power. Young Leopold was a quick learner and he realized quite early how important it was for a prince to understand all the subtleties of politics, diplomacy, and economy. Egypt, which was at that time part of the Ottoman Empire and ruled by Khedive (Viceroy) Mohamed Sa’id Pasha (1822–1863), was at the crossroads between the Eastern and the Western World. If Cairo was perhaps not yet a “nest of spies”, it was for sure a meeting place of diplomats, European investors, businessmen, artists, writers, and treasure hunters. France and England, unsurprisingly, were the most active Western powers in Egypt since the failed military campaign of Napoleon Bonaparte. The object of their competitive struggle was the acquisition of control over Egyptian state finances. It is in this complex geopolitical context that young prince Leopold made two journeys to the land of the pharaohs, the first in 1854–1855 and the second in 1862–1863. This paper aims to contextualise these two journeys, to address Leopold’s real motivations at the time, and to provide new clues regarding the constitution of his collection of Egyptian antiquities.

ENGLISH

After the anti-Christian, anti-imperial and anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion took place in the summer of 1900, the so-called Conference of Peking had to settle the post-war situation in China.  Inspired by the renewed attention for diplomats as actors of international relations and the criticism on the extensive focus on king Leopold II of Belgium as prime actor in Belgian imperialism, this master’s thesis focusses on the agency, contribution and role of Belgian diplomat Maurice Joostens during the Conference of Peking (1900-1901). On the one hand this thesis uses a Bourdieusian mindset to consider his relations with the Belgian minister of foreign affairs and on the other hand Peter Haas’ theory of epistemic community is applied to the diplomatic corps at the Conference of Peking.

Firstly this thesis offers a contextualization of Joostens’ career, the Conference of Peking and western imperialism in China at the turn of the nineteenth century.  The research proves that Joostens could become the Belgian envoy in Peking thanks to both facilitating aspects in his environment,  ancestry, wealth, education and his professional performance in his earlier career.  Subsequently is showed in the second chapter, which focusses on the influence of local factors, that Joostens could not profit from the benefits of a tight diplomatic corps since the diplomats in Peking were not unified. Furthermore the small-state status of Belgium in the European diplomatic theatre was transferred to China and this also limited Joostens’ agency. Nevertheless Belgian minister of foreign affairs Paul de Favereau was very dependent of Joostens’ intelligence and insights since Joostens was the minister’s prime source on Chinese information. Whereas Joostens did have a conciliatory and moderate orientalist world view, this did not affect his diplomacy and the Belgian diplomat performed in a typical imperialist way.

The third chapter analyses the metropolitan dynamics and focusses on the relationship between Joostens and de Favereau more thoroughly. Since the Belgian paradigms of political neutrality and economic growth where very flexible, Joostens interpreted these rules in his own way and applied them to the local macro- and micro-political context. The analysis on the influence of king Leopold II of Belgium on Joostens subsequently shows that the monarch did not have a direct influence but proves that Joostens and Leopold II shared the same implicit imperialistic mindset and toolbox.

The fourth and last chapter doesn’t analyse Joostens diplomacy but offers a view on the reception and perception of the diplomat. Firstly is proved that thanks to his presence during the spectacular Siege of the Legations, Joostens could become a Belgian hero of empire. The press nevertheless only focussed on the siege and did not give many attention to Joostens diplomatic achievements. Whereas Joostens was aware of the possibilities of the developments of mass media, he used the attention for his stay in Peking to highlight and promote the prospects of Belgian migration to China and Belgian investments in the Belgian companies in the country. In this way Joostens is a good example of the shift towards a more extensive use of mass media by diplomats.


NEDERLANDS

In 1900 ontstond in China een antichristelijke en anti-imperiale rebellie die de geschiedenisboeken is ingegaan als de Bokseropstand. Na afloop vond de zogenaamde Conferentie van Peking plaats waarin alle aanwezige imperiale machten de naoorlogse orde bepaalden.

Geïnspireerd door de hernieuwde aandacht voor de diplomaat als actor in de internationale relaties en de literatuur die de allesomvattende rol van Leopold II in het Belgisch imperialisme nuanceert, onderzoekt deze masterproef welke inbreng Belgisch gezant Maurice Joostens had in de vorming van de Belgische positie tijdens de conferentie.

Ten eerste komt een overzicht aan bod van de context waarbinnen Joostens’ deelname aan de conferentie kaderde. Zo wordt aangetoond dat deze diplomaat alles in huis had om een succesvolle carrière uit te bouwen en dat hij dankzij zijn optredens in eerdere posten werd benoemd tot gezant in China. Vervolgens schetst deze verhandeling de ontwikkeling van de Bokseropstand, de evolutie van het Belgisch imperialisme in China, het diplomatieke schaakbord aan de vooravond van de onderhandelingen en het verloop van de conferentie.

Vervolgens wordt geargumenteerd dat Joostens niet kon profiteren van de kracht die de gezanten van een eensgezind collectief diplomatiek korps normaal gesproken ten aanzien van hun ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken genieten en dat de Belgische small state-positie hier toe bijdroeg. Daarnaast wordt aangetoond dat de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken afhankelijk was van Joostens’ input en dat de communicatiewijze en de leefomstandigheden slechts van beperkte invloed waren. Ten slotte wordt gesteld dat Joostens’ verzoeningsgezinde en gematigd oriëntalistische visie op de Chinezen zich niet uitte in zijn diplomatie.

Het derde hoofdstuk beschouwt de Brusselse dynamieken en meer bepaald de verhouding met de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken grondiger. Ten eerste wordt geargumenteerd dat zowel de algemene instructies als de paradigma’s van neutraliteit en economische groei slechts in beperkte mate Joostens’ autonomie bepaalden. Joostens sprong immers op een creatieve manier om met deze relatieve vrijheid en had een sterke agency in tal van dossiers. Daarnaast wordt aangetoond dat Leopold II en Joostens dezelfde imperialistische denkkaders deelden en op die manier de impliciete invloed van de vorst op Joostens groot was.

Ten slotte richt de analyse zich op de aandacht voor Joostens in de publieke sfeer naar aanleiding van het beleg van de legaties en wordt aangetoond dat rond de figuur Joostens het Belgische imperialisme in China tastbaar en publiek werd. Joostens besefte dit en gebruikte zijn status om zowel het grote publiek als de elite warm te maken voor een Chinees avontuur.

Leopold II, King of the Belgians, founded the "Congo Free State" in 1885 after almost ten years of political preparations in Europe and explorations in Central Africa. Swiss bourgeoisie took part in the creation of then-to-be Belgian colony by participation of national geographical societies in the "International African Association" (founded in 1876). Although Swiss partnership to Leopold II's project pretended to help the fight against slavery, quite different were actually the reasons for the Swiss bourgeoisie to support the Belgian King financially, legally and intellectually. This article – in french – analyses the origins and the challenges of colonial philanthropy applied by Swiss geographical societies during Congo's Leopoldian colonization.

The Congo Free State is generally considered as the personal property of King Leopold II, over which he ruled as absolute monarch. Similarly blame was put on those responsible for mass violence triggered by the harvesting and processing of rubber. If these atrocities have been condemned from the beginning of the twentieth century in international campaigns, none have described these as a genocide. This fact lead to two lines of research. The first focuses on the institutional mechanisms within the CFS, which is studied within this work as a colonial state. This approach gives a better understanding of the scope of Leopold’s autocracy and its limits. It definitely questions the image of the pyramid on which the King reigns as an individual. The second line of research goes in depth into the atrocities linked to the ‘red rubber’ scandal. The facts draw out the paradox that exists within Leopold’s reign: that between profit-making and the maintaining of the philanthropic reputation, essential leitmotiv of Leopold’s Congo. Not ruling out the question of the number of victims, this perspective helps us discern the motivations behind such acts and the responsibility of its authors, including that of the king himself. This analysis of Leopold’s reign promotes, in the end, a better understanding of the colonial politics of Leopold II

In Belgium, there are a significant number of street names, statues and monuments bearing the imprint of Belgian colonisation, built in the effigy of colonial ‘heroes’ and once intended to serve a propagandist discourse. In an international socio-political context increasingly marked by the questioning of colonialism and Western imperialism, colonial references in the public space raise many questions and criticisms. Over the past fifteen years, this contested heritage has become a recurrent target of activist actions, sometimes taking the form of artistic interventions, with the aim of probing the historical representations of the colonial past in the country and the weight of this controversial legacy.

This article aims to analyse several art projects that attempted to question, divert and challenge the legitimacy of colonial symbols in the Belgian urban landscape. This was the case with the installation PeoPL (2018) by the Belgian-Rwandan artist Laura Nsengiyumva, an ice replica of the equestrian statue of Leopold II on the Place du Trône in Brussels, which refers to the omnipresence and heroisation of the royal figure in the Belgian capital. Another example concerns the project On Monumental Silences by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama, created and presented in Antwerp in 2018, whose main objective was to propose a ‘counter-monument’ to the statue of Belgian missionary Constant De Deken located in Wilrijk, which has long been criticised for its racist and stereotypical iconography. These two initiatives are indicative of current practices that tend to produce alternative readings and new plastic languages in response to the presence of colonial monuments in public space and the predominant Eurocentric vision that emanates from them.

Echoing the international movements of contestation of colonial statuary, which have taken an unprecedented turn since the death of Georges Floyd in May 2020, this article aims to examine the various issues at stake in such artistic actions, as well as the socio-political context in which they are inscribed.  It will also measure the aesthetic and critical significance of these projects, while apprehending current art as a possible avenue of reflection and opening to the decolonization of urban space. This contribution will therefore allow us to question the participation of artists in decolonial struggles and in debates concerning the memory of the Belgian colonial past – a subject that is still particularly sensitive in view of the establishment, in June 2020, of the parliamentary “truth and reconciliation” commission on the colonisation of the Congo.

Este trabajo, con algunos retoques, corresponde al último apartado del tercer capítulo de mi ensayo El Perú escindido (Ediciones Irreverentes, 2012), obra en la que intenté abordar, confrontándolas, las propuestas estéticas e ideológicas de dos de los autores más representativos del Perú del S. XX: José María Arguedas y Mario Vargas Llosa. El análisis de la que hasta entonces era la última novela de Vargas Llosa, "El sueño del celta", pretendía apuntalar, a través del comentario de algunos de sus aspectos, una de las ideas principales desarrolladas en el mencionado capítulo 3: la consideración de toda la producción intelectual del nobel de literatura como un espacio coherente en el que sus diferentes manifestaciones tenían como denominador común la defensa de una determinada teoría de los valores.

The "Domaine de la Couronne" is known in the history of the Congo Free State as the symbol of Leopold II's lucre and the violence associated with it.
However, the foundation and purpose of this Ancien Régime-type institution is more complex than the current literature suggests.
On the one hand, this study seeks to understand the process of the development of the "Domaine de la Couronne". On the other hand, this insitution provides a better understanding of the management of mass violence by the government of Leopold II.