Take a look at this picture. Do you know who it is?
His name is King Leopold II of Belgium.
He “owned” the Congo during his reign as the constitutional monarch of Belgium. After several failed colonial attempts in Asia and Africa, he settled on the Congo. He “bought” it and enslaved its people, turning the entire country into his own personal slave plantation. He disguised his business transactions as “philanthropic” and “scientific” efforts under the banner of the International African Society. He used their enslaved labor to extract Congolese resources and services. His reign was enforced through work camps, body mutilations, executions, torture, and his private army.
Most people haven’t heard of him.
But you should have. When you see his face or hear his name you should get as sick in your stomach as when you read about Mussolini or Hitler or see one of their pictures. You see, he killed over 10 million people in the Congo. (1)
And yet you don’t know him. Almost no one knows him.
You see he did not lose a big war.
Since history is written by the winners… we will continue looking at Hitler documentaries for the next 20 years in History Channel, while holding dear anything having to do with western capitalism and expansion through the globe.
Being a winner makes you a saint.
And yet the greatest real saints were great losers…
Lost our priorities have we.
And that leads to the dark side…
