PATRICE LUMUMBA - A LONE VOICE IN THE CONGO

AFRICAN REVOLUTION

A Pan-African Blog that educates, enlighten and revolutionize the way Africans see and think about themselves.

A LONE VOICE IN THE CONGO

- November 11, 2021

Patrice Hemery Lumumba was born on July 2nd 1925 in Onalua near the town of Katako-Kombe in the Sankuru district of northeastern Sakai in Congo, in what was formerly known as Belgian Congo. he came from the Batetela tribe which was a branch of the Mongo-Nkutshu family. 

 He served as the first Prime Minister of a newly independent Congo which was trying to get rid of the Belgian economic and political stronghold on Congo's soil . This vast and resource rich Landmass in the heart of Africa was turned against itself as the Belgian and other European interests capitalized on the diverse tribal differences and clashes to continue plundering Congo. Congo was robbed of all its glory. Patrice Lumumba who belonged to a class of educated elites foresaw a danger ahead, he became a Political Activist and Campaigner for unity amongst all Congolese through the party he formed; Movement National Congolais (MNC). His charisma, oratorical skills and active Nationalism won him the crowd and a large following, although it offended some members of his party and other Congolese, as well as the Europeans. He was a Nationalist to the core and he believed if all Congolese could rally together in unity, they would conquer, defeat and eradicate foreign influences and they will rebuild and redefine their own unity not a false unity and country forged on the table of European map makers. Patrice Lumumba's voice and calls for Nationalism reverberated in Congo and the global level. His voice and activism was a threat to imperialistic interests in Africa. 

History must know that at one point or the other, the United Nations, United States and  Belgium were complicit in the murder of Patrice Lumumba. His woes and battle with the Belgian colonial authorities started in his independence day speech when he was sworn in as Prime Minister of an 'independent' Congo, Lumumba went on castigating and pouring scorn on the whole colonial system in the presence of the Belgian Monarch. he was thought to be a stooge they could control, but Lumumba turned out the opposite of what they expected. 

He drew inspiration from Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana who he met in the All Africa's party Congress of 1959 in Accra, he also pursued similar Pan-African ideologies that was a threat to the whole colonial structure in Africa.

At the young age of 32, Lumumba was murdered through a combined efforts of the Belgian Authorities and rival Tribes in Congo who had personal issues with Lumumba's activism. So many unknowns could be traced to his death. following his arrest by the Katangan Government where he was to meet his final fate far away from home support. His own fellow Congolese people turned against him, Kasavubu who once supported Lumumba's politcal activism and nationalism was forced albeit under duress to dismiss him from his position as Prime Minister. A political upheaval followed this dismissal which made Lumumba and his aides to form their own rival government. this move precipitated the military under the command of Mobutu to take over power.

Several School of Thoughts have emerged telling different stories about his death. When he was shot, according to a Belgian Police Officer confession, His body was dissolved in acid. The only memory left of him is his tooth which has long been returned to his family. Lumumba remains one of the heroes and Martyr of the Pan-African struggle. In Congo he is celebrated as a National hero and July 17th was declared a national holiday in his honor. He died a lone and forgotten figure in Africa's post colonial history.

  "The day will come when history will speak....

Africa will write its own history..

 It will be a history of glory and dignity.."

                                                                        Patrice Lumumba

 FURTHER READINGS

Death in the Congo; Emmanuel Gerard and Bruce Kuklick, Lumumba: Africa's lost Leader; Leo Zeilig, The rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba; Thomas Kanz

AFRICAN COUNTRIES WERE EUROPEAN CREATION

- November 15, 2021

    At the Berlin conference of 1884/1885 all European ruling houses and elites laid down their arms to dialogue amongst themselves on how best to rule, conquer and subjugate their  overseas colonies and investments in Africa. Prior to the Conference of 1884 and before the era of contacts with the European slave traders, Africa used to be a continent with diverse empires, kingdoms and societies, with each developing at their own pace. Never was it thought or conceived that members of the different Nations and ethnic nationalities across the continent will become countries in the future forcefully married together.  In Nigeria's case, it seemed absurd that Nations and races like the Yoruba, Igbos, Hausas, the Bini People, the Nupe Nation, The Kanem-Bornu Empire were all forced to merge under a single country. These peoples with diverse cultures could not have survived together, neither could they have settled amongst themselves, these peoples who were forced to become a single count

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TOWARDS A BLACK RENAISSANCE

- November 17, 2021

The time for a Black Renaissance is long overdue, without a rebirth of our ancient greatness, we will forever remain a  subjugated and defeated race. No people, nation or race can stand the test of time without a firm hold and knowledge of their history or roots, just like how no iroko, baobab or oak tree can live and blossom for many years without a firm root which hold tight its enormous stem underneath the earth. The history of Africa in relation to the larger history of the world has been distorted in every front, misrepresented and falsified to the highest degree. It has been downgraded, downplayed, ignored and neglected in the bigger picture of the world civilization and global history by both the Blacks of this current dispensation and the Eurocentric/ Hellenistic Scholars and Historians. The history of the black race and Africa as a whole has been an object of contention, disagreements, endless debates, propositions and hypothesis over the course of history and centuries. Th

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WESTERN TECHNOLOGY AND THE REST OF US

- November 14, 2021

  In these late hours of the Pisces age, My Generation is battling against the Menace caused by Religious Extremism, one which has not only dispossessed the African people, but has also broken asunder the bonds that held us together. Emerging future of advancement I would say that my generation is not only fighting the wrong Fight, but we are simply dragging the African people into another age worse than Religion, our Generation may not see it, but it's going to be a great  menace for another Generation to deal with. As we plunge into this age of Aquarius: The age of reason, knowledge, big data and ultra connectivity. We should bear it in mind that people who placed infrastructures for these Technologies are the sons and daughters of the people who brought this same Religion to our fathers . They are in charge of our data, they control what we learn, how we learn and when to learn, they built algorithms that painstakingly studies us individually, no longer as a continent or as thir

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