black history in the motherland: patrice lumumba said no to colonialism and lost his life for it

Patrice Lumumba was the first legally elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who was murdered by the United States and Belgium governments on 17 January, 1961. A crucial investor in the claims to Congolese territories by Belgium’s King Leopold II (a genocidal dictator whose crimes rivaled or surpassed Hitler’s in scale) a century prior, America naturally conspired with the Belgium government to secure Congolese accomplices and a Belgian execution squad to carry out the deed.

After Leopold II’s cruel exploitation led to millions and millions of deaths in the Congo, the US joined other western forces to take over the African country, but continuing the exploitation of its natural resources (ironically, uranium from the country were used to build the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

This is when Patrice Lumumba joined other nationalist rebels to demand full independence. A powerful orator and natural leader, Lumumba led the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party from 1958 until his death.

In order to undermine freedom for the Congolese people, the US and Belgium spent loads to buy the support of Lumumba’s Congolese rivals, and eventually his killers.

Only seven months after the country’s independence was won, Ludo De Witte, the Belgian author of The assassination of Lumumba, called the crime “the most important assassination of the 20th century.” To this day, it has major implications on the Congo’s politics, as the coalition Lumumba brought together was thrown into disarray.

But Lumumba’s radical legacy still lives on today!