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A review by mlautchi
Congo: The Epic History of a People by David Van Reybrouck
‘I was looking for what rarely ends up on the page, because history is so much more than that which is written down.’ (3)
‘… There was another element needed to make colonial fever break out, and that was nationalism. It was the rivalry between European nation-states that caused them, from 1850, to pounce so promptly upon the rest of the world. Patriotism led to a craving for power, and that craving, in turn, to territorial gluttony.’ (37)
‘This is not to say that there had never been tribes – of course thee had, there were major regional differences … and there had even been intertribal wars. But now the differences were being magnified and recorded for all time. It rained stereotypes. The tribes, in fact, were not communities that had been fixed in place for eons, their rigidity only came in the first decades of the twentieth century. More than ever before, people began identifying with one tribe as opposed to the other.’ (115)
‘But, despite all the repressive measures, new messianic religions kept popping up. That stubborn resilience is telling indeed. It comprised, after all, the first structured form of popular protest … show[ing] how many people were longing to set free.’ (153)
‘Operating in the deepest secrecy, Edgar Sengier, then managing director of Union Minière, saw to it that Congo’s uranium reserves did not fall into the wrong hands. Shinkolobowe had the world’s largest confirmed deposit of uranium. When the Nazi threat intensified just before the war, he had 1, 250 metric tons of uranium shipped to New York, then flooded his mines. Only a tiny stock still present in Belgium ever fell into German hands. The potential military application of uranium was still unknown.’ (190)
‘The strategic importance of uranium, however, was a prime reason for America’s special interest in Congo, an interest that started during the war years, became decisive in the years surrounding independence [notably - CIA’s involvement in Lumumba’s death!] and lasted until the end of the Cold War 1990.’ (190-1)
Colonial Drachoussoff working in Congo in his private diary ‘ “Africa is a training ground for the character but also a graveyard for illusions.” ’ (199)
‘ “Colonialism was not only a huge international system, it also consisted of thousands of little humiliations, of telling turns of phrase and subtle facial expressions.” ‘ (244)
Vocabulary
Atavistic: relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral
Heteroclite: abnormal or irregular
‘ “Unlike what most Europeans were willing to admit, [colonized Congolese] had suffered more under the lack of sincere sympathy, respect and love from the colonizers than from any lack of schools, roads and factories.” ‘ (266)
‘Decolonization had begun much too late, independence came too early. Disguised as a reveal, the breakneck emancipation of Congo was a tragedy that could only end in disaster.’ (266)
‘Independence should have been a gift, but it remained an empty promise.’ (279)
“Is it any wonder that this first generation of Congolese politicians had to struggle with democratic principles? Is it strange that they acted more like pretenders to the throne, constantly at each other’s throats, than like elected officials? Among the historical kingdoms of the savannah, succession to the throne had always been marked by a grim power struggle. In 1960 things were no different.’ (283)
‘The state can only become the state when it assumers the monopoly on violence (be that social, tribal or territorial.)’ (287)
‘The May 1968 student movements in Paris, Louvain and Amsterdam so crucial to Europe, seemed like little more than frivolous happening when compared to the dedication and intensity of the Congolese student movement.’ (342)
‘In short, Mobuto made good on promises that independence had awakened but been unable to keep.’ (345)
‘Government funding for health care and education was reduced … the charts didn’t show it, but it was the poorest of the poor who paid most dearly for IMF’s well intentioned measures, while the international funding kept Mobutu firmly in the saddle.’ (379)
‘[Mobutu’s] uniform cap … [read] “Paix Justice Travail” even though his country offered no peace, no justice and no work.’ (382)
‘70% of the diamonds, 90% of the ivory, tons of cobalt and hectolitres of gasoline crossed the borders unseen [during Mobutu’s dictatorship]. The country was as leaky as a sieve, and the state lost out o n hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.’ (389-90)
‘In the years 1990-95 [inflation] had risen to an average of 3, 616 % annually.’ (406)
‘Since 1998 at least 3 and perhaps as many as 5 million people have been killed in hostilities in Congo alone, more than in the media saturated conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq put together.’ (440)
‘In each of its phases the conflict was characterized by the aftershocks of the Rwandan genocide, the weakness of the Congolese state, the military vitality of the new Rwanda, the overpopulation of the area around the Great Lakes, the permeability of former colonial borders, the growth of ethnic tensions due to poverty, the presence of natural riches, the militarization of the informal economy, the world demand for mineral raw materials, the local availability of arms, the impotence of the United Nations and so on and so forth.’ (442)
‘A feeble state with great wealth in its soil, that is asking for trouble.’ (457)
‘Failed nation-states are the success stories of runaway, global neoliberalism.’ (457)
‘Since gaining independence, Congo has never had at its disposal an army comparable in efficiency [to the Force Publique, the colonial army.] For that reason, the army has never been able to fulfil the prime function of statehood, that of a monopoly on violence.’ (470)
‘In addition, the influx of foreign funding created something like “aid addiction”: the Congolese began doubting their ability to manage for themselves.’ (475)
‘Post-materialism is a luxury only the wealthy can afford.’ (491)
‘China has started on a long, structural presence in Africa that will change the face of the world in the years to come.’ (530)
‘Among Western regimes, respect for human rights dates only from the 1990s. And even then…’ (531)
‘What the IMF and the World Bank did not say, however was that they were in a position to do something about that burden … the unfairness of weighing down a newly elected government with the twenty of the year old squander mania of a former dictator dawned only gradually on these institutions … Mimani, a Congolese intellectual, once rightly claimed that the international financial institutions were “holding the national economy hostage.” ‘ (531)
‘The oft praised African solidarity has something touching about it in terms of crisis, but in times of reconstruction it generates an infernal logic: the little bit of money that is available is immediately redistributed. Reinvestment and planning are not highly valued.’ (550)
‘European-American relations may have been the most important intercontinental contacts of the twentieth century, but Sino-African relations will be those of the twenty first.' (551)
‘… There was another element needed to make colonial fever break out, and that was nationalism. It was the rivalry between European nation-states that caused them, from 1850, to pounce so promptly upon the rest of the world. Patriotism led to a craving for power, and that craving, in turn, to territorial gluttony.’ (37)
‘This is not to say that there had never been tribes – of course thee had, there were major regional differences … and there had even been intertribal wars. But now the differences were being magnified and recorded for all time. It rained stereotypes. The tribes, in fact, were not communities that had been fixed in place for eons, their rigidity only came in the first decades of the twentieth century. More than ever before, people began identifying with one tribe as opposed to the other.’ (115)
‘But, despite all the repressive measures, new messianic religions kept popping up. That stubborn resilience is telling indeed. It comprised, after all, the first structured form of popular protest … show[ing] how many people were longing to set free.’ (153)
‘Operating in the deepest secrecy, Edgar Sengier, then managing director of Union Minière, saw to it that Congo’s uranium reserves did not fall into the wrong hands. Shinkolobowe had the world’s largest confirmed deposit of uranium. When the Nazi threat intensified just before the war, he had 1, 250 metric tons of uranium shipped to New York, then flooded his mines. Only a tiny stock still present in Belgium ever fell into German hands. The potential military application of uranium was still unknown.’ (190)
‘The strategic importance of uranium, however, was a prime reason for America’s special interest in Congo, an interest that started during the war years, became decisive in the years surrounding independence [notably - CIA’s involvement in Lumumba’s death!] and lasted until the end of the Cold War 1990.’ (190-1)
Colonial Drachoussoff working in Congo in his private diary ‘ “Africa is a training ground for the character but also a graveyard for illusions.” ’ (199)
‘ “Colonialism was not only a huge international system, it also consisted of thousands of little humiliations, of telling turns of phrase and subtle facial expressions.” ‘ (244)
Vocabulary
Atavistic: relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral
Heteroclite: abnormal or irregular
‘ “Unlike what most Europeans were willing to admit, [colonized Congolese] had suffered more under the lack of sincere sympathy, respect and love from the colonizers than from any lack of schools, roads and factories.” ‘ (266)
‘Decolonization had begun much too late, independence came too early. Disguised as a reveal, the breakneck emancipation of Congo was a tragedy that could only end in disaster.’ (266)
‘Independence should have been a gift, but it remained an empty promise.’ (279)
“Is it any wonder that this first generation of Congolese politicians had to struggle with democratic principles? Is it strange that they acted more like pretenders to the throne, constantly at each other’s throats, than like elected officials? Among the historical kingdoms of the savannah, succession to the throne had always been marked by a grim power struggle. In 1960 things were no different.’ (283)
‘The state can only become the state when it assumers the monopoly on violence (be that social, tribal or territorial.)’ (287)
‘The May 1968 student movements in Paris, Louvain and Amsterdam so crucial to Europe, seemed like little more than frivolous happening when compared to the dedication and intensity of the Congolese student movement.’ (342)
‘In short, Mobuto made good on promises that independence had awakened but been unable to keep.’ (345)
‘Government funding for health care and education was reduced … the charts didn’t show it, but it was the poorest of the poor who paid most dearly for IMF’s well intentioned measures, while the international funding kept Mobutu firmly in the saddle.’ (379)
‘[Mobutu’s] uniform cap … [read] “Paix Justice Travail” even though his country offered no peace, no justice and no work.’ (382)
‘70% of the diamonds, 90% of the ivory, tons of cobalt and hectolitres of gasoline crossed the borders unseen [during Mobutu’s dictatorship]. The country was as leaky as a sieve, and the state lost out o n hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.’ (389-90)
‘In the years 1990-95 [inflation] had risen to an average of 3, 616 % annually.’ (406)
‘Since 1998 at least 3 and perhaps as many as 5 million people have been killed in hostilities in Congo alone, more than in the media saturated conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq put together.’ (440)
‘In each of its phases the conflict was characterized by the aftershocks of the Rwandan genocide, the weakness of the Congolese state, the military vitality of the new Rwanda, the overpopulation of the area around the Great Lakes, the permeability of former colonial borders, the growth of ethnic tensions due to poverty, the presence of natural riches, the militarization of the informal economy, the world demand for mineral raw materials, the local availability of arms, the impotence of the United Nations and so on and so forth.’ (442)
‘A feeble state with great wealth in its soil, that is asking for trouble.’ (457)
‘Failed nation-states are the success stories of runaway, global neoliberalism.’ (457)
‘Since gaining independence, Congo has never had at its disposal an army comparable in efficiency [to the Force Publique, the colonial army.] For that reason, the army has never been able to fulfil the prime function of statehood, that of a monopoly on violence.’ (470)
‘In addition, the influx of foreign funding created something like “aid addiction”: the Congolese began doubting their ability to manage for themselves.’ (475)
‘Post-materialism is a luxury only the wealthy can afford.’ (491)
‘China has started on a long, structural presence in Africa that will change the face of the world in the years to come.’ (530)
‘Among Western regimes, respect for human rights dates only from the 1990s. And even then…’ (531)
‘What the IMF and the World Bank did not say, however was that they were in a position to do something about that burden … the unfairness of weighing down a newly elected government with the twenty of the year old squander mania of a former dictator dawned only gradually on these institutions … Mimani, a Congolese intellectual, once rightly claimed that the international financial institutions were “holding the national economy hostage.” ‘ (531)
‘The oft praised African solidarity has something touching about it in terms of crisis, but in times of reconstruction it generates an infernal logic: the little bit of money that is available is immediately redistributed. Reinvestment and planning are not highly valued.’ (550)
‘European-American relations may have been the most important intercontinental contacts of the twentieth century, but Sino-African relations will be those of the twenty first.' (551)