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T_i_B

(14,734 posts)
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 11:27 AM Jun 2020

Burned Leopold II statue removed from Antwerp square

Source: Brussels Times

A statue of former Belgian King Leopold II in Antwerp that was set on fire last week has been removed to be restored and put in a museum in the city.

“The statue has been vandalised and will be removed and temporarily housed in the sculpture collection of the Middelheim Museum, where it will be restored,” Johan Vermant, spokesperson for Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever, told The Brussels Times, adding that it is impossible to predict when the restoration will be complete, as the damage is extensive.

In another incident, a Leopold II bust in Ghent was splashed in red paint and marked “I can’t breathe,” the final words of George Floyd, an unarmed black man whose death at the hands of US police has sparked nationwide uprisings over police brutality and systemic racism.

The removal of the statue comes amid a wave of support for the removal of all monuments built to honour the former king, who brutalised Congolese people during the years he exploited the territory for his personal gain. Lack of reliable sources have made it difficult to form an accurate estimation of the number of Congolese deaths Leopold II’s colonial regime is responsible for, but modern estimates range from 1 million to 15 million. In recent years, a consensus of around 10 million deaths has been reached among historians.

Read more: https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/115940/burned-leopold-ii-statue-moves-to-antwerp-museum/



Maybe not quite as dramatic as throwing a statue of a slave trader into the River Avon, but King Leopold II caused even worse damage to the world. Especially what happened in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State
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sarge43

(28,939 posts)
6. I say near because
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 11:56 AM
Jun 2020

1. Unlike the Holocaust, it probably wasn't premeditated. In a way, something worse, indifference.

2. Many somehow survived - broken, maimed, half starved, suffering from diseases.

I know the people of the Congo are still enduring the consequences, but they still are there.

T_i_B

(14,734 posts)
10. It's difficult to say how many people were killed
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 12:17 PM
Jun 2020

Especially given how prevalent mutilation was. People might not have been sentenced to death directly, but how long could they survive after they had their hands chopped off?

The consequences of this are such that DRC has enormous problems which to this day make other countries problems look very mild by comparison.

totodeinhere

(13,037 posts)
14. I don't think that every single person needs to be killed for it to be called genocide.
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 02:26 PM
Jun 2020

The Nazis did not kill all Jews in Europe and the European colonists did not kill all Native Americans yet both cases are routinely called genocide.

Kind of Blue

(8,709 posts)
15. Not according to the United Nations' Genocide Convention of 1948
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 03:01 PM
Jun 2020
The Contracting Parties,

Having considered the declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 96 (I) dated 11 December 1946 that genocide is a crime under international law, contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world...


Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.

http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm

Javaman

(62,442 posts)
9. you're right.
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 12:16 PM
Jun 2020

he was a racist piece of shit who exploited humans for financial and ego driven gain.

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
13. That was an excellent book. I had read "Scramble for Africa" and wanted more info on Leopold ...
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 01:30 PM
Jun 2020

when "Leopold's Ghost" appeared in the bookstores as if willed into existence by the unanswered questions.





I have sometimes wondered if Pakenham and Hochschild were aware of each other's work in progress, and negotiated some sort of understanding as to who would cover what in depth. It seems almost as if Pakenham deliberately "previewed" Hochschild's book, then left a more comprehensive, focused history of the Congo for him to complete.

dalton99a

(81,073 posts)
5. Leopold II was a sadistic monster
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 11:51 AM
Jun 2020

A father stares at the hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter, severed as a punishment for having harvested too little rubber.

Paladin

(28,204 posts)
17. Leopold II is burning in hell for what he did to the Congo.
Tue Jun 9, 2020, 03:57 PM
Jun 2020

He deserves a statue much less than donald trump.

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