| Authors: Frederick BIHEL , Jean-François Charles , Charles Maryse |
Pages: 48
Full colour
23 x 32 cms
Date of publication: 29/02/2012
ISBN: 2203034289
EAN: 9782203034280
Price: € 12.95
1897. In the port of Antwerp, a ship unloads its cargo of ivory and rubber on one side, and loads arms and chains on the other and its destination is the EIC –the Congo Free State. The purpose of the Westerners in the ‘Free’ state is simple:to exploit its land and grab as many resources as possible and then bring them back for the businessmen. For this reason absolutism is the rule and out of sight is the virtual slavery imposed on local populations –which has been observed since his recent arrival in Kivu by the young missionary Paul Delisle.
Despite the rhetoric “civilizing” education and evangelization are decidedly not the priorities of the tyrant of Brussels …
This book doesn’t attempt to excuse or hide what was going on back there and to prove this point the frontispiece photo from the period is one I doubt any American publisher would dare have printed in its books. It is beautifully drawn and has a cover that subtly just about says it all.
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