King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Most of the Western civilization as we know today is built on the money brought on from exploiting other people. There is no greater reminder of that than Adam Hochschild's book about Congo, showing that even the less obvious nations (not so famous for their colonial history) like Belgium have such a gruesome history behind them.

The book shows clearly how, in a true marketing exercise, King Leopold built an image for himself of a saviour of "poor African souls" while at the same time exploiting them to the maximum without any consideration for their rights as human beings. Descriptions of torture, beatings and regular disregard for human life show how different Europeans looked down on Africans while at the same time fighting for their own rights and democracy in their own native countries.

The saddest part of all to me is the ending which shows how, after the Belgians left, Congo was handled by natives who copied the ruling style of their previous oppressors. This created a cycle of hate and exploitation which may continue for a long time. Next time you look down on the African countries and their despotic ways, try to remember who taught them those ways.

There is no section on what needs to be done here. We like to think that we've moved on from exploiting others and maybe we have (we have at least moved on from the brutal ways described in this book). But maybe the first step would be to start really considering all humans as equal and as having equal rights. Because today, despite loads of rhetoric on the subject, we still don't.

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