Dr. Andrew Apter from UCLA was certainly an intriguing guest to have come to class, perhaps because he was very successful in weaving real stories and experiences into his lecture on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Apter followed 3 strong themes throughout his lecture, the first being that the Belgian Congo under King Leopold II is a model for a colonial economy rather than an extreme example. Part of this theory comes from the idea that Belgian, like most–if not all–colonization missions, operated under the guise of humanitarian efforts. Another aspect of their colonization that made it such a fundamental example of colonialism is the use of violence to extract resources and take over an economy. In 1959, according to Dr. Apter, the Congo was responsible for the 10% of the world’s copper production, 50% of the world’s cobalt production, and 70% of the world’s diamond production. We see this parallel in other case studies from this year, such as Algeria during the period of Penetration Pacifique.
The next theme of the lecture is the process through which Belgian used the Congo to extract resources and benefit itself. This left the economy underdeveloped and dependent on Belgium, which was using the resources to manufacture goods that it would resell back to the Congo. Despite being a peace mission, Belgian troops would often force the indigenous Congolese to participate in inhumane and manual labor or give them no choice but to participate. Often the labor would consist of extracting resources, or building a railroad that catered towards these extraction methods, rather than supporting a trade economy with Congo’s neighboring countries. This created a Congolese proletariat, one who suffered isolation from the product within production and literally through Belgian amputation, which served as violent punishment.
Lastly, there was a theme in the Congo that supported a pattern of violence throughout generations that started with Belgian rule. Apter drew upon an interesting comparison to the theory of cycles of abuse in psychology. By taking this theory to a macro level, one can see that the Congo itself endured a cycle of abuse, first instigated by the Belgians and then perpetuated by all the leaders that followed after the Congo independence.
Lumumba was the most prominent example, because of the fact that he condoned much violence against the white settlers and other dissenting groups, and amassed a great personal wealth while the citizens within his country suffered from lack of infrastructure and basic needs. It also turned into an interesting discussion about US intervention during the McCarthy era. Eisenhower actually sent CIA agents to assassinate Lumumba, and although it took several decades before Lumumba was assassinated by a different organization, the CIA played a large role in the matter. His lecture was punctuated with his own fascinating stories of the conditions of refugee camps he had visited and his experiences with rituals such as cannibalism and witchcraft.
The CSP 2 students were most engaged by his own cannibalistic experience, and asked many questions ranging from “what it tasted like” to how the situation came to be. It was a riveting lecture, one that kept everyone in attendance attentive and each student feeling informed.
The Revolutionary's Narrative 