Global Racism .... NO. 009
H.E. KUM Nelson Bame IV
Belgian
Anti-Racism Law
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Belgian
Anti-Racism Law, in full, the Law
of July 30, 1981 on the punishment of certain acts inspired by racism or
xenophobia, is a law against hate speech and discrimination passed by the Federal
Parliament of Belgium in
1981 which made certain acts motivated by racism or xenophobia illegal.
It is also known as the Moureaux
Law, as it was proposed to the Parliament by Justice Minister Philippe Moureaux.
Contents
[hide]
· 1 Historical context
· 2 Content of the law
· 3 Evolution of the legislation
· 4 Condemnations based on the Law of July 30, 1981
· 5 Notes and sources
· 6 See also
Historical context[edit]
The first Belgian law proposal against racism was
introduced in the wake of the signature by Belgium [1] of
the 1965Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination at the
Chamber of deputies by the Socialist MP Ernest
Glinne on December 1,
1966 at the request of the MRAX (Movement against racism, antisemitism and
xenophobia, Belgian equivalent of the French MRAP) which had prepared the proposal. The law
proposal was introduced twice in 1966-1967 an again twice in 1968-1969.[2][3][4]
On July 20, 1980 a terrorist attack against Jewish
children took place in Antwerp (Lamorinièrestraat),[5] then
a French-Algerian man was killed on December 4 in Brussels by members of the
extreme right wing Front de la
jeunesse,[6] and
a large antiracist demonstration took place in Brussels. The Justice Minister
took the opportunity of this public mood to introduce the law project before
the Parliament without consulting the Prime Minister, and only a few right-wing
MPs opposed it, according to him "the far right, some right-wing liberals
and a group of Flemish Christian Democrats MPs who had closed links with the
South African apartheid regime".[7]
Content of the law[edit]
Among others, the following acts were made illegal by the
Anti-Racism Law:
· Incitement to
discrimination, hatred or violence against a person on account of race, colour,
origin or national or ethnic descent, in the circumstances given in Article 444
of the Belgian Penal Code;
· Incitement to
discrimination, segregation, hatred or violence against a group, community or
its members on account of race, colour, origin or national or ethnic descent,
in the circumstances given in Article 444 of the Belgian Penal Code; and
· Announcing the intention
to commit any of the aforementioned offences, in the circumstances given in
Article 444 of the Belgian Penal Code.
The circumstances given in Article 444 of the Belgian
Penal Code are as follows: either in public meetings or places; or in the
presence of several people, in a place that is not public but accessible to a
number of people who are entitled to meet or visit there; or in any place in
the presence of the offended person and in front of witnesses; or through
documents, printed or otherwise, illustrations or symbols that have been
displayed, distributed, sold, offered for sale, or publicly exhibited; or finally
by documents that have not been made public but which have been sent or
communicated to several people.
Evolution of the legislation[edit]
Main: Law of July 30, 1981 on the punishment of certain
acts inspired by racism or xenophobia, published in the Moniteur Belge (M.B.) of August 8, 1981
Further related legislation:[8]
1. Law of February 15, 1993 creating a Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (M.B. February 19, 1993)
2. Law of April 12, 1994 modifying the Law of July 30, 1981 (M.B. May 14,
1994)
3. Law of March 23, 1995 tending to repress negation, minimization,
justification or approbation of the genocide committed by the German
National-Socialist regime during the Second World War (Belgian
Holocaust denial law)
4. Law of May 7, 1999 modifying the law of July 30, 1981 and the law of March
23, 1995 (M.B. June 25, 1999)
5. Law of June 26, 2000 concerning the introduction of euro in the legislation
pertaining to matters referred to in article 78 of the Constitution (M.B. July
29, 2000)
6. Law of January 20, 2003 concerning the reinforcement of legislation against
racism (M.B. February 12, 2003 and erratum May 14, 2003)
7. Law of January 23, 2003 concerning the matching of legal dispositions in
force with the July 10, 1996 law abolishing death penalty and modifying
criminal penalties (M.B. March 13, 2003)
8. Law of May 10, 2007 modifying the July 30, 1981 law (M.B. May 30, 2007,
addendum June 5, 2007)
Condemnations based on the Law of July 30, 1981[edit]
Main article: Vlaams Blok § Court of
Cassation ruling (2004)
Wim Elbers, a higher police officer who was also a
municipal councillor for the far rightist Vlaams Blok since
1994 in Brussels,
was condemned on December 22, 1999 to a 2,500 Euro fine and six months
imprisonment (suspended sentence) for propagating hate mails on usenet.[9]
The Vlaams Blok itself, through three of its linked
associations (Nationalistische Omroep Stichting, Nationalistisch Vormingsinstituut and Vlaamse
Concentratie), was condemned on April 21, 2004 by the Ghent Court of Appeal.
Each association was condemned to a fine of 12,394,67 Euro. The civil parties
were the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism and the Human
Rights League. The judgment was confirmed on November 9, 2004 by the Court of
Cassation, and the party shortly after reorganised itself as the Vlaams Belang.[10]
Notes and sources[edit]
1. Jump up^ Belgiumsigned it on August 17, 1967 and ratified
it on August 7, 1975 (status); see also Declarations and Reservations by Belgium
2. Jump up^ A
l’occasion du 30ème anniversaire de la « loi Moureaux »,
MRAX, 30 July 2011
3. Jump up^ Session of December 1, 1966, Belgian House of
representatives
4. Jump up^ Full chronology (in French):Avant
la loi antiraciste… (Historique 1966-1981), RésistanceS
5. Jump up^ "Een eeuw in beeld. 1980", Gazet van Antwerpen
6. Jump up^ René Haquin, "Années 1980. Nos années de plomb", Le Soir, 7 November 2005
7. Jump up^ Véronique Lamquin, Moureaux : « Le politique n’ose plus aller à
contre-courant », Le Soir, 31 July 2011
8. Jump up^ Belgian
legislation, Belgian Justice Ministry website
9. Jump up^ Full text of the condemnation (in French)
10. Jump up^ Erk, Jan (May 2005). "From Vlaams Blok
to Vlaams Belang: The Belgian Far-Right Renames Itself". West European
Politics28 (3): 493–502. doi:10.1080/01402380500085681.
See also[edit]
· List of
anti-discrimination acts
· Hate speech
· Hate crime
===================================================
Pages 111 - 140Article suivant
·
· http://www.cairn.info/revue-internationale-de-droit-penal-2002-1-page-111.htm
·
1. Introduction
1
This contribution briefly presents the normative and procedural
framework that determines the position of victims of acts of racism and racial
discrimination in Belgium.
First, we introduce the position of the victim in criminal proceedings in
general while looking specifically at possibilities for the victim to obtain
reparation. A victim can do so through tort proceedings before the criminal
courts ( constitution de partie
civile), tort proceedings before the civil courts or request
compensation under the 1985 Victims Compensation Act. The next section
introduces the criminal legislation against racism, primarily the Act of 30
July 1981 on the punishment of certain acts motivated by racism or xenophobia.
Finally, we introduce in somewhat more detail the jurisprudence under the 1981
Act as far as its civil aspects are concerned and briefly touch upon the more
general draft antidiscrimination legislation.
2. The Position Of The Victim In Criminal Proceedings In General
2
Like many other
countries, Belgium has shown an increased interest in the protection of victims of crime in the
past two decades. Especially after 1996, the position of the victim in the
criminal procedure system has received large public and political attention.
Victims in countries, which like Belgium, apply the partie
civile system[1] For an overview of the Belgian criminal procedure,... [1] , are
perhaps better off than victims of crimes in countries where no such procedure
exists. In Belgium, this is particularly true since the passing of the Law of
12 March 1998[2] Law of 12 March 1998 on the amelioration of the
criminal... [2] which
increased the rights of the victim in criminal proceedings to the point where
some commentators state that “[In] a few
years, the position of victims in Belgium has improved to the extent that it
ranks among the best in Europe”[3] BRIENEN, M.E.I. and HOEGEN, E.H., Victims of Crime... [3] . Earlier,
the need had already been felt to improve the position of victims in cases
where they cannot be compensated through thepartie
civile system. Like
elsewhere, this need was especially felt in those cases where the offender was
financially unable to compensate the victim, and in unresolved cases (suspect
could not be identified, has deceased, etc.). In 1985, a new compensation
scheme was created for victims of violent crimes that adopts the principles of
the 1983 European Convention on the compensation of victims of violent crimes.
3
This part of the
article briefly describes the compensation schemes that are available to
victims of crimes in Belgium.
These comprehend the procedure that is available for crime victims in general,
not only victims of violent crimes, as well as the compensation scheme that was
introduced by the Victims Compensation Act of 1985. This is relevant to the
position of victims of racist offences as they necessarily fall into one or
both of these categories.
2.1. The “ordinary” compensation scheme
for crime victims.
4
Most crimes are at
the same time a criminal offence and a civil wrong, and can hence give rise to
two possible proceedings, tort proceedings before the criminal courts, and tort
proceedings before the civil courts.
2.1.1. Tort proceedings before the
criminal courts.
5
Belgiumhas adopted the
French partie civile system. The victim of a crime can
bring a civil action before the competent criminal court, in which case the
court decides about both the criminal aspects of the case (i.e. conviction and
sentence) and the civil aspects (i.e. the compensation of the victim). Fines
and compensation are not mutually exclusive as in some other countries. In Belgium, the
judge who has convicted the defendant on the criminal charges, will usually
also award compensation to the victim.
6
Compensation of the
victim will, however, only be granted if the procedural and substantive
conditions for such compensation are fulfilled. The procedural condition is
that the victim must have decided to become a party to the criminal proceedings
by “constituting himself” as a civil party. This procedure is calledconstitution de partie civile - burgerlijke partijstelling. It means
that a judge will never decide ex officio to compensate the victim, he will
only do so on the victim’s request. The substantive condition is that the
victim’s claim must satisfy the conditions of art. 1382 of the Civil Code (see
below).
7
This procedure is
available to all victims, not only to victims of violent crimes. This means
that victims of racist offences can use this procedure, as well as certain
institutions and organisations (see further below, 4.1.1).
a)
Legal basis
8
Art. 3 of the
Preliminary Title to the Code of Criminal Procedure (which, in Belgium, is
still the original Napoleonic Criminal Procedure Code (CPP) of 1808) stipulates
that the action for the compensation of the damages caused by the crime lies with
those who have suffered the damage.
9
The conditions for
the exercise of the civil action are further set out in art. 1382 of the Civil
Code (1804): (a) the victim must have sustained damage (material or moral) (b)
as a result of a fault, committed by another person and (c) there must be
causal link between fault and damage.
b)
Persons who are entitled to bring the action civile
10
The constitution
de partie civile is
only open to the actual victim of the crime, or to his relatives, not to
persons who have been indirectly damaged by the offence (art. 3 Preliminary
Title CCP). The actio popularis does not exist under Belgian law.
Recently, however, an increasing number of derogations from this rule have been
created, where special legislation grants certain associations or institutions
the right to use the mechanism of the constitution de partie civile in particular criminal cases[4] Violations of the Act of 30 July 1981 on the
punishment... [4] . The action
civile can also be
brought by those who, by virtue of a legal or a contractual obligation, have
compensated the victim. For example, the insurance company which has
indemnified the victim of a road traffic accident, may act as a civil party
against the person who caused the accident.
11
The person who
wants to bring an action civile must qualify for this action under the
general principles, i.e. he or she should have a legal capacity to act, he or
she should have an interest in the action, and the interest should be
legitimate.
c)
Persons against whom the action civile can be brought.
12
The action
civile can be
brought, not only against the defendant in a criminal trial, but also against
those who are civilly responsible for him or her.
13
The civil action
can be brought against persons who, according to the rules of criminal law, are
criminally irresponsible, e.g. for reasons of insanity. In those cases, the
amount of the compensation, however, is different (art. 1386bis Civil Code, see
2.1.6.).
d)
Procedure.
14
The procedure is
different depending on whether or not the public prosecutor has decided to
prosecute the alleged author of the crime. If the prosecutor has initiated
criminal proceedings, the constitution de partie civile will have the effect of the victim
becoming a party to proceedings which are already pending. He or she will be
involved in those proceedings, even, to some extent, during the investigative
stage. The advantage for the victim is that this way of proceeding is very cheap.
If he loses his case, he will not have to pay the costs of the proceedings,
which are born by the state, started the case.
15
If, however, the
public prosecutor has decided not to prosecute, or is still considering his
position, the victim may, by constituting himself or herselfpartie civile, actually seize the
judge. This is a fundamental difference with the victim’s mere complaint[5] The Law of 12 March 1998 introduced a new form of
complaint... [5] , which
is little more than a denunciation of the crime : a complaint does not
have any procedural consequences, it does not seize a court of law and the
public prosecutor is free not to proceed with the case. In case of a constitution
de partie civile, however, the case can only be closed with a
formal judicial decision, either by the judicial council or by the trial court.
16
In the latter
hypothesis, there are two ways for the victim to constitute himself or herself partie
civile. He or she can either summon the defendant directly before
the trial court ( citation
directe-rechtstreekse dagvaarding), or seize the investigating
judge (art. 63 CCP)[6] The seizing of the investigating judge by the
victim... [6] .
Because, in both cases, the victim must bear the cost of the proceedings, in
case of an acquittal or a dismissal, a citation directe will be appropriate only if the victim
has enough evidence to obtain a conviction; otherwise, the wiser course is to
seize the investigating judge, who will then be obliged to search for the
evidence.
17
In case the civil
action is brought before the criminal court, the rules of evidence will be
those that are applicable in criminal proceedings. This means that the
defendant will be presumed innocent until his guilt has been established beyond
reasonable doubt. The onus of proof lies with the public prosecutor who, in the
criminal trial, is the master of the proceedings. If, on the contrary, the case
is brought before the civil court, the proceedings will have to be led by the
victim and it will be up to the victim to establish his or her case ( actori incumbit probatio).
18
The Law of 12 March
1998 considerably extended the rights of the victim who has constituted him or
herself partie civile during the pre-trial investigation.
Most importantly, the partie civile was granted the right to consult the
files of the investigation which are of interest to their case (art. 61ter
CCP). The investigating judge can refuse to grant access if this could harm the
investigation, endanger persons or seriously jeopardize their privacy. Refusal
is also possible if the constitution de partie civile seems to be inadmissible or if the
victim fails to show any legitimate motives to consult the files. The
investigating judge can also choose only to refuse access to certain parts of
the files. The decisions of the investigating judge can be appealed by the partie
civile. In this case, the court of indictment ( kamer van inbeschuldigingstelling/ chambre des
mises en accusation) will review the decision. The victim who has
constituted himself or herself partie civile also has the right to ask the
investigating judge to perform additional investigating measures (art.
61quinquies CCP), specifying the content of and the reason for these measures.
The investigating judge can refuse to perform these measures if he deems them
unnecessary to establish the truth or detrimental to the investigation. Again,
an appeal is possible before the court of indictment. Finally, if the
investigation takes more than one year, thepartie
civile has the right
to bring the case before the court of indictment for scrutiny (art. 136 CCP).
The court has the possibility to ‘purge’any irregularities from the
investigation. The partie civile is also heard during the committal
proceedings which are conducted before the judicial council ( raadkamer/ chambre du conseil).
19
It may be important
for the victim of the crime to be a party in the criminal proceedings : it
will allow him to appeal a dismissal or acquittal, and, in so doing to
safeguard his interests in a case from a subsequent trial before the civil
courts. In case of such a subsequent trial, the civil court will be bound by
the decision of the criminal court, and therefore it is in the victim’s
interest to prevent an acquittal (see further infra, 2.1.2.).
e)
Time limit.
20
Both civil and
criminal actions must be brought within a certain time-limit, after which they
are barred by the statute of limitations. Civil actions arising from a crime
are governed by the same statute of limitations that applies to civil actions
arising from a tort : five years from the day following the one when the
victim acquired knowledge of (the increase in) the damage and of the identity
of the person responsible (art. 26 Preliminary Title of the CCP and art.
2262bis Civil Code). If the civil action has not been brought within this
delay, it will be barred by the statute of limitations. It must however be
noted that the civil action can never be barred by the statute of limitations
before the criminal action. Depending on the gravity of the criminal offence,
this will occur after a period of 6 months, 5 years or 10 years (these terms
can be stretched to double their length). In any case, the civil action will be
proscribed after 20 years following the day on which the damage has occurred.
f)
Damage covered by the compensation claim under art. 1382 CC .
21
The amount of the
compensation is determined by the general principles of the Civil Code (art.
1382), which means that the victim must be fully compensated for the damage
sustained as a consequence of the crime. This includes both physical (corporeal
and mental) and emotional damage.
22
If, however, the
person against whom the civil action is brought is mentally insane, the author
of the damage is only liable to pay a “fair and just” or equitable ( équitable - billijk) compensation (art. 1386bis
CC), not the full compensation. This means that the judge will not only look at
the actual damage, but also to the personal circumstances of both the author of
the damage and the victim.
g)
Assessment of the compensation.
23
The criteria for
assessing the damage arising from a crime are the same as when assessing the
damage arising from a civil wrong. There is extensive case law on this subject[7] See generally FAGNART, J.L. and BOGAERT, R., La
réparation... [7] . Courts,
when assessing the damage, take into account the specific elements of the case
under consideration. Elements in this assessment are the victim’s estimated
inability to work (permanent or temporary), his age, sex, life expectancy, etc.
The amount of the compensation is assessed as a lump sum, to be paid at once,
but the court may award an interim amount, in case the injuries cannot be fully
assessed at the moment of the decision. In that case, the remainder of the
injuries are assessed later.
2.1.2. Tort proceedings before the civil
courts.
24
The victim may also
choose to bring his claim for damages before a civil court. If the criminal
proceedings are still pending (or are started after the civil court has been
seized), the civil court must suspend its decision until the criminal court has
returned its verdict (art. 4 Preliminary Title CCP). The decision of the
criminal court is binding for the civil judge : according to the maxim le
criminel tient le civil en état, the decision of the criminal court
has priority over the decision of the civil court. This means that in practice,
in the case of an acquittal of the accused by a criminal court, the chances of
the victim obtaining compensation in civil proceedings are very faint. The
rules relating to the persons who can bring the action, the persons against
whom the action can be brought, and the amount of the compensation are identical
to those described above in relation to the tort proceedings before the
criminal courts.
25
In some cases, the
victim has no other choice than to bring its compensation claim before the
civil court, e.g. when the “public action” (i.e. prosecution by the public
prosecutor) is, for various reasons, no longer possible, for example because
the defendant is deceased, or because of a settlement out of court (art. 216bis
CCP (compound fine) and art. 216ter (mediation)). In the latter case, the
victim who has not been fully compensated has no other choice than to bring his
claim before the civil judge. To facilitate these proceedings, the law clearly
states that the acceptation of the out-of-court settlement by the defendant
constitutes an irrefutable presumption of guilt in the compensation
proceedings. Since Belgian law allows settlements out of court for most crimes,
including the most serious ones, e.g. acts of violence, this procedure may be
of importance to victims of racist discrimination.
2.2. “Financial help” for victims of
violent crimes under the 1985 victims compensation act.
26
Aspecial
compensation scheme for victims of violent crimes was introduced in the
mid-eighties, by the Victims Compensation Act of 1 August 1985. The purpose of
this act is to award a “financial help” -not a full compensation- to victims
who cannot obtain compensation through the above-described channels, either
because the author of the crime is unknown or insolvent, or because the victim
cannot benefit from another compensation scheme (social security, private
insurances, etc.). Compensation under this act has a subsidiary
nature: it will only be available if other means to obtain
compensation have failed.
27
For the purposes of
the application of this Act, a Compensation Fund has been established. This
Fund is paid from a budget, scheduled within the general budget of the Ministry
of Justice. In addition, the 1985 Act has introduced an “obligatory solidarity
contribution” that is levied on convicted offenders : convicted offenders,
regardless of the crime for which they were convicted (only minor offences
(contraventions) are excluded), are obliged to pay a fixed amount of money,
2000 Belgian franks (±50 EURO), into the Fund.
28
The compensation
that is given by the Fund is a “financial help,” not a full compensation such
as the compensation that is given in tort proceedings. Whereas the latter
covers the full damage that the victim has suffered as a consequence of the
offence (both material (physical and mental) and emotional damages (cfr.
supra), the compensation given by the Fund is assessed “naar billijkheid - en équité”, and is
not more than a “fair and just compensation.” Another difference is that the
proceedings under the 1985 Act are of an administrative nature, whereas the
tort proceedings described above are conducted before the ordinary courts.
Whereas the tort proceedings are directed towards those who are personally or
civilly responsible for the damage, the proceedings under the 1985 Act are
based on a claim for compensation which is addressed to an administrative
tribunal, called “Commission for help to victims of intentional acts of
violence.” In the proceedings before this tribunal, the Minister of Justice
acts as the respondent party. However, it was the clear intention of the
drafters of the act that there should be no recognition of civil liability of
the Belgian State. Accordingly, the focus of the
proceedings is not on the liability of the party that has caused the injuries,
but on the “help” that should be given to those who have suffered injuries from
crimes of violence and have not obtained compensation under other schemes.
29
Of course, this
compensation mechanism is only relevant to victims of racist crimes in as far
as they are at the same time victims of intentional acts of violence.
3. The Belgian Criminal Legislation Against Racism
3.1 Act of 30 July 1981 on the
punishment of certain acts motivated by racism or xenophobia. 3.1.1. Incitement
or intention to discrimination, hatred, violence.
30
Proposals for
legislation on the punishment of incitement to racial hatred and anti-Semitism
were introduced as early as 1960[8] For an overview of the legislative history,
see : CENTRE... [8] .
However, it was not until 1981 that the Act on the punishment of certain acts
motivated by racism or xenophobia entered into force, implementing the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination of 7 March 1966 Belgium had ratified in 1975. This Act was drastically amended in 1994[9] Law of 31 March 1994. The application of the 1981
Act... [9] . In
1995, another Act was adopted, specifically addressing the denial of the
Holocaust[10] Act of 23 March, 1995 on punishing the denial,
minimisation... [10] . The Law
of 31 March 1994 introduced a definition of ‘discrimination’ that was largely
based on the definition found in article 1,1 of the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination :
31
Art. 1 By
“discrimination” in this Act is meant any form of distinction, exclusion,
restriction or preference, whose purpose or whose result is or could be to
destroy, compromise or limit the equal recognition, enjoyment or exercise of
human rights and the fundamental freedoms on a political, economic, social or
cultural level, or in any other area of social life.
The following shall
be punished by a prison sentence of one month to one year[11] The penalties were substantially raised by the
amendment... [11] and
by a fine of fifty francs to one thousand francs, or by one of these
punishments alone :
1) Whoever incites
discrimination, hatred, or violence against a person on account of his race[12] The term ‘race’ is generally understood to mean an... [12] ,
colour, descent, origin[13] This was included to combat anti-Semitism. It is
to... [13] ,
or nationality in the circumstances given in article 444 of the Penal Code[14] Art. 444 Penal Code describes the circumstances in... [14] .
2) Whoever incites
discrimination, segregation, hatred, or violence against a group, community, or
the members of it on account of the race, colour, descent, origin, or
nationality of its members, or some of them, in the circumstances given in
article 444 of the Penal Code.
3) Whoever
announces his intention towards discrimination, hatred or violence, against a
person on account of his race, colour, descent, origin, or nationality in the
circumstances given in article 444 of the Penal Code.
4) Whoever
announces his intention towards discrimination, hatred, violence, or
segregation against a group, community, or the members of it on account of the
race, colour, descent, origin, or nationality of its members, or some of them,
in the circumstances given in article 444 of the Penal Code.
32
The requirement
that the offences be committed in the circumstances given in article 444 of the
Penal Code, make the punishability of the offences subject to a condition of
publicity. Hence, racist insults contained in a letter addressed to one
particular person, cannot be punished under this Act[15] Tribunal correctionnel de Liège, 16 September
1993,... [15] .
33
Two types of
incitement to discrimination can be punished : the incitement of other
persons to commit discrimination and the public announcement of one’s own
intention to discriminate[16] CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE... [16] . This
means that ‘simple’ racist insults are not covered by the Belgian legislation
on the punishment of racist behaviour. These can still be prosecuted according
to the general dispositions of the Penal Code concerning, for instance,
defamation (art. 443 et seq.) or insults (art. 448/ art. 561, 7)[17] Cour d’Appel de Liège, 4 June 1992, cited in
CENTRE... [17] . Also,
the fact of expressing opinions showing a racist bias and contempt for
foreigners, is not punishable as such. The Court of Appeal in Brussels decided that a plea for the return
of foreigners to their country was not necessarily a racist offence[18] Cour d’Appel de Bruxelles, 4 September 1987, cited... [18] :
34
“the return of
certain groups of persons to their country of origin does not, in itself,
constitute racism, if it is not arbitrarily motivated and if the means used to
that end do not foster hate and contempt “ (“ que le renvoi dans leur pays
d’origine de certaines catégories de personnes n’est, en soi, pas constitutif
de racisme, à condition que la motivation ne soit pas arbitraire et que les
moyens utilisés à cette fin n’attisent pas la haine et le mépris”).
35
In another case, a
person was convicted for declaring in public that “they should put all
immigrants on a boat or put a bomb under their beds[19] Tribunal correctionnel d’Anvers, 14 March 1996,
cited... [19] ”,
another for shouting “it stinks, stinking Iranian, dirty Iranian, Saddam’s mob,
dirty drug pusher, go back to Iran”[20] Tribunal correctionnel de Courtrai, 19 August
1998,... [20] .
Similarly, convictions were secured in, inter alia, the following cases :
- shouting “dirty
Jew, go back to your country” in the middle of a meeting of the town council[21] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles, 20 April
1983,... [21] - making
the Hitler salute while taking the oath in the town council[22] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles, 15 July 1996,... [22] . The
judge stated that
36
“explicit and
voluntary reference to the fascist ideology that praised the supremacy of one
race over others and which has undertaken the extermination of said races,
entails in itself incitement to hatred, discrimination, violence or segregation
as punished by the Law of 30 July 1981” (“que la référence explicite et
volontaire à l’idéologie fasciste qui a prôné la suprématie d’une race par
rapport à d’autres et a poursuivi l’extermination desdites races implique en
soi l’incitation à la haine, la discrimination, la violence ou la ségrégation
qui sont sanctionnés par la loi du 30 juillet 1981”).
37
- calling persons
of North-African origin ‘ratons’(dirty
Arabs)[23] Tribunal correctionnel de Charleroi, 23 December
1987,... [23] -
publicly insulting a woman of Moroccan descent, as well as the entire Moroccan
community[24] Tribunal correctionnel d’Audenaarde, 23 October
1995,... [24] -
shouting in a restaurant : “make sure that monkey doesn’t touch my food,
or I’ll bash your head in” and “I can’t stand those blackies”[25] Tribunal correctionnel de Turnhout, 5 January
1999,... [25] -
insulting a black waitress calling her “blackie” and saying “I reckon that
nigger doesn’t like to work”[26] Tribunal correctionnel de Turnhout, 18 December
1998,... [26] -
refusing to be helped by a doctor of African descent in a hospital[27] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles, 30 June 1997,... [27] - almost
systematically insulting Turkish neighbours in the presence of third persons[28] Tribunal correctionnel de Marche-en-Famenne, 19
June... [28] -
insulting the opposing party after a traffic accident, calling him “black
scoundrel” and “black monkey”[29] Tribunal correctionnel de Louvain, 8 February
1999,... [29] -
wilfully humiliating a person of Serbian descent, even after the arrival of the
police[30] Tribunal correctionnel de Furnes, 20 October 2000,... [30]On the other hand, in
a case of a quarrel between neighbours, the expression “dirty nigger, return to
your country” wasn’t deemed punishable, as, according to the judge, both
parties were to blame for the escalation[31] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles, 23 December
1983,... [31] .
38
The punishment of
the offences described by article 1 of the Act of 30 July 1981 requires proof
of the intention of the offender to bring about certain reactions. This
intention need not be focused on certain precise acts, the intention to bring
about a general kind of behaviour is sufficient[32] Cour de Cassation, 19 May 1993, cited in CENTRE
POUR... [32] . It can
be noted that some of the judgements mentioned above seem to create a confusion
between ‘normal’ (racist) insults and those inciting to discrimination and
other racist behaviour, thus taking the special criminal law beyond its scope.
This is probably a consequence of the fact that there is no special
incrimination for racist insults carrying higher penalties, tempting
embarrassed judges to apply an article that was not intended for this purpose[33] BATSELE, D., DAURMONT, O. and HANOTIAU, M., La
lutte... [33] .
Aprospective government proposal would create the possibility to consider the
racist motive as an aggravating circumstance to the insult (see infra, 3.1.7).
3.1.2. Supplying or offering of services
or goods.
39
Contrary to article
1, which incriminates the expression of the intention to discriminate or the
incitement to it, article 2 punishes the actual perpetration of discriminatory
acts. With this article, the legislator aimed at guaranteeing the right of
access to all places and services intended for public use, regardless of the
free or commercial character of the services or goods in question. Where the
Act in its original form included a requirement of publicity, this was regarded
as an unnecessary impediment and subsequently abolished in 1994.
40
Art. 2 : Whoever,
in supplying or offering to supply a service, a good or the enjoyment of it,
commits discrimination against a person on account of his race, colour,
descent, origin, or nationality shall be punished by a prison sentence of one
month to one year and by a fine of fifty francs to one thousand francs, or by
one of these punishments alone.
The same
punishments shall apply when the discrimination is committed against a group, a
community or the members of it, on account of the race, colour, descent,
origin, or nationality of its members, or some of them.
41
The inclusion of
“supplying a good or the enjoyment of it” allows for the punishment of racist
behaviour consisting in, for instance, the refusal to let certain persons rent
a house. The major obstacle to obtain a conviction in this sort of cases will
however still be the gathering of solid evidence.
42
A persistent
problem has been formed by the refusal of managers of pubs, dances etc. to
grant persons of (visibly) foreign origin access to their premises or to serve
them. A landlord was convicted for refusing to serve drinks to a person on
racist grounds, since there were no reasons pertaining to his attire, his
behaviour or other factors that would have jeopardized the keeping of “a
certain standing” in the pub[34] Cour d’Appel de Liège, 11 March 1988, cited in
CENTRE... [34] .
Interestingly, the court accepted the testimony of a third person on a second
refusal that was ‘provoked’by the claimant, considering this action not to
constitute a provocation, but simply a means of gathering evidence[35] Similarly, video recordings were allowed as
evidence... [35] .
Similarly, the refusal to serve five Sikhs led to a conviction, even if the
defendants claimed that their behaviour was not so much inspired by racism as
by the negative reactions of the Belgian customers[36] Tribunal correctionnel de Hasselt, 27 March 1995,
as...[36] . If one
of the selection criteria to be granted access to a dance consists in being
able to show a Belgian identity card, this amounts to a violation of the Act of
1981[37] Tribunal correctionnel de Termonde, 21 October
1986,... [37] .
Convictions have also been obtained in the case where a person of Turkish
origin was refused access to a dance, while his Belgian girlfriend was allowed
in, the accused being unable to advance any objective reasons for their
behaviour[38] Tribunal correctionnel de Hasselt, 21 November
1996,... [38] . In
another case, the judge considered that the “concept of the establishment” the
manager of a discotheque claimed to uphold by refusing entry to certain
persons, consisted precisely in refusing access to foreigners[39] Tribunal correctionnel d’Anvers, 26 June 1998,
cited... [39].
43
An acquittal was
granted where a supplementary investigation established the number of immigrant
clients regularly present and employees of foreign origin in a certain
establishment, as well as the fact that the plaintiff had been blacklisted[40] Cour d’Appel d’Anvers, 18 April 1997, cited in
CENTRE... [40] . A woman
running a business of moped rental on the Belgian coast was also acquitted for
refusing to rent a bike to a young Turk who suddenly started to speak Turkish
with his friend[41] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruges, 25 September
1995,... [41] . The
judge considered that :
44
“The reason why the
rent was refused is not the fact of speaking Turkish in itself, but the concern
which took possession of the defendant. This concern was inspired by the value
of the motorcycle on one hand and the sudden uncertainty about the precise
motives of the prospective tenant on the other. Such fear is of course
subjective and maybe unfounded, but cannot be viewed as a deliberate form of
discrimination.” (“De reden dat niet verhuurd werd is immers niet het Turks
praten op zich, maar wel de ongerustheid die zich dan van betichte meester
maakte. Een ongerustheid die ingegeven werd door enerzijds de waarde van de te
verhuren moto en anderzijds de plots ontstane onzekerheid omtrent de precieze
bedoelingen van de kandidaat-huurder. Dergelijke vrees is uiteraard subjectief
en was misschien ongegrond, maar kan niet als een opzettelijke vorm van discriminatie aanzien worden.”)
3.1.3.
Labour relations
45
While the Belgian
legislator, fearful of “reverse discrimination,” specifically refused to
include discrimination in professional settings in the original Act of 1981[42] TULKENS, F., “Egalité et discriminations en droit
pénal... [42] , an
article 2bis was introduced in 1994 to address discrimination in labour
relations.
46
Art. 2bis : Whoever,
in placing people in employment, providing professional training, offering
jobs, recruitment, the performance of contracts of employment, or the dismissal
of employees, commits discrimination against a person on account of his race,
colour, descent, origin, or nationality shall be punished by the punishments
given in article 2.
The employer shall
bear civil liability for the payment of the fines that his employees or
representatives are ordered to pay.
47
Discrimination
against “groups” was not included in this article, which leads to fear that
certain acts of discrimination would not be punishable, i.e. collectively
dismissing the foreign workers first in times of mass redundancies[43] STOKX, R., “De vernieuwingen aan de Racismewet :
meer... [43] . A
proposal to amend the legislation on racism currently under preparation by the
government would rectify this oversight. For the application of this article,
the representative professional organisations have received the competence to
act in law, that is, to constitute themselves ‘partie civile’(See infra, 4.1.1).
48
Even if article
2bis did not yet exist at the time, a judgement of the Labour Court of Ghent
should be mentioned in this respect[44] Cour du Travail de Gand, 24 Janvier 1985, cited in... [44] . An
employer, not known for racist or anti-Semite sympathies, dismissed an employee
who was wrongly considered to be Jewish by an unknown blackmailer. This latter
person threatened the factory and the family of the employer unless the
supposedly Jewish person was sacked. Hence, the Court estimated that the
dismissal was motivated by these threats and not by racist motives and that the
legislation on racism could not be applied.
3.1.4. Membership of racist groups or
associations.
49
While the Act of 30
July 1981 does not provide for the dissolution of groups or associations of
racist creed, it allows to punish their members on an individual basis.
50
Art. 3 : Whoever
belongs to a group or association that clearly and repeatedly practices or
advocates discrimination or segregation in the circumstances given in the
article 444 of the Penal Code, or who lends his assistance to any such group or
association, shall be punished by a prison sentence of one month to one year
and by a fine of fifty francs to one thousand francs, or by one of these
punishments alone.
51
To fall within the
terms of the law, the group has to function during a certain time and show some
structure and durability[45] CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE... [45] . Members
of racist groups or associations are presumed to know and share the ideology of
the organisation. Since the discrimination or segregation has to be practised
or advocated “clearly and repeatedly” and in the circumstances of publicity
given in art. 444 Penal Code for it to fall within the scope of the law, it can
safely be assumed that a member who voluntary joined this organisation cannot
deny in good faith that he was unaware of the real goals of this group.
Therefore, it is not necessary to be an active member of the organisation, as
long as one is aware of its objectives. Not only members, but also those who
lend their assistance to such groups can be punished. There is no doubt that
those who give material support to the organisation can be punished on the
basis of this article. The incrimination also extends to persons accepting to
give a speech, though it would appear difficult to maintain that this would
include the authors of speeches that disapprove of racial discrimination.
52
Charges on the
basis of article 3 of the 1981 Act have often confronted courts with the need
to consider evidence from different kinds of publications. Some have concluded
that this amounted to the examination of a press crime, which benefit from a
special régime in Belgium,
and declared themselves incompetent, while others came to the opposite
conclusion (see further below, 3.2).
53
While the criminal
responsibility of corporations was introduced in the Belgian criminal
legislation in 1999[46] Law of 4 May 1999. [46] , the
dissolution of corporations by the Court can only be ordered if it has been
established that the corporation was founded with the specific intent of
committing the offences of which it has been convicted or has deliberately been
averted from its statutory purpose (art. 35,1 Penal Code). Fines or
confiscation can be pronounced for offences intrinsically linked to the
realisation of the objectives of the legal person, committed for the protection
of its interests or on its account (art. 5 and 7bis PC).
3.1.5. Public officials
54
Although the
Belgian Penal Code already punishes the arbitrary infringement by public
officials on the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution (art. 151
PC), the legislators chose to incorporate a specific incrimination in the
legislation against racial discrimination :
55
Art. 4 : Any
civil servant or public official, any bearer or agent of public authority or
public power, who in the exercise of his duties commits discrimination against
a person on account of his race, colour, descent, origin or nationality, or who
arbitrarily denies any person the exercise of a right or liberty that he may
claim, shall be punished by a prison sentence of two months to two years.
The same
punishments shall apply when the facts are perpetrated against a group, a
community or the members of it on account of the race, colour, descent, origin,
or nationality of its members or some of them.
If the accused
shows that he acted on the orders of his superiors, in matters that come under
their authority and in which he was in a subordinate position with respect to
them, the punishments shall only be applied to the superiors who gave the
orders. If civil servants or public officials are accused of having ordered,
allowed or facilitated the above-mentioned arbitrary acts, and if they claim
that their signature was obtained unawares, they shall be required in such a
case to stop the act and to denounce the guilty party, otherwise proceedings
shall be taken against him personally.
If one of the
above-mentioned arbitrary acts is committed by means of the false signature of
a public official, the perpetrators of the forgery and those who made
fraudulent or malicious use of it shall be punished by ten to fifteen years of
hard labour.
56
It was the
intention of the legislators to include all those who work for the public
administration, with no distinction as to the nature of their employment,
position, grade or other factors. Private persons charged with public services
seem, however, to be excluded[47] BATSELE, D., DAURMONT, O. and HANOTIAU, M., o.c., ... [47] . The
notion of “arbitrary” denial of the exercise of rights or liberties is likewise
broad and, according to the parliamentary documents, includes behaviour
inspired by whim, ill will, over zealousness, misconception of one’s duties,
occupational disability, egocentrism or ideological conceptions. Moreover, the
protection of art. 4 concerns all rights and liberties the victim can validly
claim, while the general rule found in art. 151 PC only extends to the “rights
and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution”. The will of the legislators to
severely curb racist discrimination by public officials is also witnessed by
the substantially higher penalties with the exclusion of fines in favour of
prison sentences. The use of the false signature of a public official is an
aggravating circumstance.
57
By analogy with the
general principles of criminal law, the official who committed the offence due
to an order of a hierarchical superior that was apparently legal, will be
excused and the superior will be punished instead (art. 4,3). For this excuse
to be applicable, it is required that the order be given in a hierarchical
relation, that the superior was in fact competent to give such an order and
that the order was not manifestly illegal (in which case the subordinate would
have to disobey).
58
A few rather well
publicised cases on racial discrimination by public officers concerned acts
committed by Belgian paratroopers during a UN ‘peace-keeping’ mission in Somalia. In one
case, the Court Marshall could not establish if the acts (swinging a Somali
child over a bonfire) had been motivated by racist feelings and acquitted the
accused[48] Cour militaire de Bruxelles, 17 December 1997,
cited... [48] . In
another case, however, a sergeant was convicted on the basis of article 4 for
forcing a Muslim child to eat pork, thus violating the child’s religious rights
and personal integrity[49] Cour militaire de Bruxelles, 7 Mai 1998, cited in
CENTRE... [49] .
3.1.6. Associations to act in law
59
Article 5 of the
Act of 30 July 1980 grants the right to act in law ( in rechte optreden/ester en justice) to certain
institutions and associations in all legal disputes that the application of
this Act gives rise to, when their statutory aims are compromised. Most
importantly, this creates the possibility to use the mechanism of the constitution
de partie civile (see
supra, 2.1.1) and thus to set the wheels of justice in motion. This particular
legal disposition will be discussed more extensively below (4.1.1).
3.1.7. Proposals for new legislation.
60
The government is
currently preparing a proposal to be presented to parliament that would amend
the 1981 Act once again. As has already been mentioned, this initiative would
amend art. 1,2,2bis and 4, replacing the notion of ‘race’ by ‘socalled race’
and including discrimination vis-à-vis groups in the workplace in the act.
61
A proposed article
5ter would create a new aggravating circumstance, allowing the judges to double
the penalties if a racist motive is involved in certain criminal behavior. This
would be regarded as an aggravating circumstance for such offences as indecent
assault, rape, manslaughter, assault and battery, non-assistance of persons in
danger, abduction and sequestration of minors, insults, violation of a grave
and damaging real estate.
62
Other prospective
legislation is currently before parliament. The Bill on the Fight against
Discrimination[50] This can be retrieved on www. antiracisme. be. [50] would
introduce a comprehensive act concerning direct and indirect discrimination
based on gender, race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, sexual
orientation, marital status, birth, age, belief or philosophy, present or
future medical condition, handicaps or physical characteristics. Incitement to
discrimination on any of these grounds would be punishable, as well as
announcing one’s intention to do so. These motives would also constitute
aggravating circumstances for the offences already mentioned in the previous
paragraph.
3.2. Limitations on the freedom of
expression. 3.2.2. The special regime for racist press crimes.
63
Since 1831, Belgium has
known a particular regime for the punishment of socalled “press-crimes”. For
historical reasons, these were granted the privilege of trial by jury, together
with political crimes (and later also the most serious common offences)[51] See VAN DEN WYNGAERT, C. (ed.), o.c., 2 and 11-12. [51] . This
means that these crimes can only be judged by the assize court ( Hofvan Assisen/ Cour d’Assises) which
comprises twelve lay judges who have to decide on the question of guilt. The
assize procedure is cumbersome, expensive and slow and the public ministry
tries to submit few cases as possible to the jury. This is usually not a
problem with common offences that can be submitted to the normal criminal
courts using a technique known as “correctionalisation.”[52] See VAN DEN WYNGAERT, C. (ed.), o.c., 32-33. [52] Political
and press-crimes, however, have been exclusively assigned to the assize court
by the Constitution (art. 150).
64
This reluctance to
use jury trial has caused a quasi-immunity for press-crimes in Belgium for at
least half a century. One notable exception occurred when, in 1994, members of
the Party of the “Forces Nouvelles”
were brought before the Assize Court of Mons for violations of the Act of 30
July 1981. They were eventually convicted, not for press crimes, but for
membership in a racist association[53] Cour d’Assises de Mons, 28 June 1994, cited in
CENTRE... [53] . This
case was, however, the exception that confirms the rule. The existence of a
press-crime would usually secure a quasi-impunity for the accused, the criminal
courts declaring themselves incompetent. It can be noted that some courts used
a subterfuge to judge cases that could be considered press-crimes, reasoning
that the court did not examine the publications, but only used them as evidence
to establish whether a group or association had a racist character[54] Cour d’Appel de Liège, 26 March 1997, cited in
CENTRE... [54] . In any
case, the special regime for press-crimes granted factual impunity to a large
number of offences.
65
The solution that
was chosen to solve this problem resulted in an amendment to the Constitution,
explicitly removing racist press-crimes from the protection afforded
press-crimes.
66
Article 150 of the
Belgian Constitution reads as follows :
67
The jury is
established for all criminal matters, in addition to issues of political and
press offences, except for press offences that are inspired by racism or
xenophobia[55] As amended by the law of 7 May 1999, published 29
May... [55] .
68
This amendment created
a distinction between ‘normal’press-crimes and racist press-crimes, the first
still benefiting from the protection mechanism instituted in 1831, the latter
now being judged by the normal criminal courts together with other common
offences. This situation has been met with some criticism by several
commentators who would have preferred a comprehensive reform of the role of the
jury concerning press crimes[56] See the references in BATSELÉ, D., “Racisme et
liberté... [56] . The
first relevant judgement after this amendment is interesting[57] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles, 22 December
1999,... [57] .
Amilitant of the party “Vlaams Blok” was convicted for distributing racist
messages on the Internet in newsgroups. Oddly, the Court estimated that this
amounted to a press-crime, while the new media have traditionally been excluded
from the protection of the regime for press-crimes according to the case-law of
the Cour de Cassation. This qualification was, in any case,
not relevant any more to decide on the competence of the Court after the
amendment of art. 150 in 1999.
69
3.2.1. Act of 23
March, 1995 on punishing the denial, minimisation justification or approval of
the genocide perpetrated by the German National Socialist Regime during the Second
World War.
70
In 1995,
legislation was adopted to punish revisionism. Belgium was in fact rather late
in doing this compared to the surrounding countries and was fast becoming a
destination of choice for revisionist authors and their products[58] BLERO, B., “La répression légale du révisionnisme”,... [58] . The
punishable behaviour consists in the public denial, gross minimisation,
justification or approval of the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany against
the Jewish and Gypsy peoples :
71
Article 1. Whoever,
in the circumstances given in article 444 of the Penal Code denies, grossly
minimises, attempts to justify, or approves the genocide committed by the
German National Socialist Regime during the Second World War shall be punished
by a prison sentence of eight days to one year, and by a fine of twenty six
francs to five thousand francs.
For the application
of the previous paragraph, the term genocide is meant in the sense of article 2
of the International Treaty of 9 December 1948 on preventing and combating
genocide.
In the event of
repetitions, the guilty party may in addition have his civic rights suspended
in accordance with article 33 of the Penal Code.
Art. 2. In
the event of a conviction on account of a violation under this Act, it may be
ordered that the judgement, in its entirety or an excerpt of it, is published
in one or more newspapers, and is displayed, to the charge of the guilty party.
(...)
Art. 4. The
Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism, as well as any
association that at the time of the facts had had a legal personality for at
least five years, and which, on the grounds of its statutes, has the objective
of defending moral interests and the honour of the resistance or the deported,
may act in law in all legal disputes arising from the application of this Act.
72
Evidently, the
application of this Act has been greatly facilitated by the amendment to art.
150 of the Constitution. In November 2000, a man was convicted for distributing
to libraries in Brussels the review “Final Conflict”, which published, amongst
others, a revisionist article[59] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles, 7 November
2000,... [59] . The
Court also reminded the librarians of their duty to make certain they don’t
sell illegal publications.
4. Reparation For Victims Of Acts Of Racism And Racial
Discrimination
73
Similarly to other
crimes which constitute at the same time a criminal offence and a civil wrong,
acts of racism under the 1981 Act can give rise to two possible
proceedings : tort proceedings before criminal courts and before civil
courts (cf. supra, 2).
4.1. Reparation proceedings before
criminal courts
4.1.1. Persons and entities entitled to
bring a civil claim
74
As explained above,
victims can bring a civil action before a criminal court, which will then
decide on both the criminal and the civil aspects of the case. The 1981 Act has
created an additional category of civil claimants. Under article 5 of the
Law :
75
“Any public utility institution and any
associations that, on the days of the fact, had been incorporated for at least
five years, with the exception of the Centre for Equal Opportunities and
Combating Racism which is not bound by such a period, and whose statutory
objective is to defend human rights or to combat discrimination, may act in law
in all legal disputes that the Application of this Act gives rise to, when
their statutory aims are compromised”.
76
As our survey of
jurisprudence will show, several associations have made use of this provision
to constitute themselves partie civile and have been awarded moral damages in
court.
77
For the application
of article 2 of the 1981 Act, which deals with discrimination in the area of
employment (including job offers, professional training, recruitment, dismissal
of employees), article 5 of the Act also allows representative employee and
employer organisations, representative professional organisations and
representative organisations of the self-employed to act in law ( ester en justice).
78
The Centre for
Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (hereafter : the Centre) was
specifically created to promote equal opportunity policies and practices and to
combat all forms of racial discrimination and related forms of intolerance. The
tasks of the centre, which is independent but reports to the Prime Minister on
a yearly basis, include the monitoring of the application of the 1981 Act. To
do so, the Centre is qualified to take any legal dispute that falls under the
application of the 1981 Act to court[60] Article 3, para. 4 of the Act of February 15,1993
pertaining... [60] .
79
Generally, as
reported above, under Belgian legislation, it is not possible for victim
organisations or other public interest groups to participate in judicial
proceedings by way of an actio popularis. The 1981 Act was the first notable
exception to this rule. Advocates of the provision under Article 5 referred to
the general reluctance and fear on behalf of the victims to initiate
proceedings on their own. Others opposed this technique since it would erode
the public prosecutor’s monopoly in safeguarding the public interest[61] See also C. VAN DEN WYNGAERT, Strafrecht and
Strafprocesrecht.... [61] . There
is one precondition to the involvement of the Centre or other associations as
civil claimants : their claim will be admissible only if it demonstrates
that it has obtained the consent of the direct victims[62] Article 5, in fine. Nevertheless, it seems wrong
to... [62] .
4.1.2. Jurisprudence
80
This analysis can
by no means claim to cover all relevant jurisprudence. It is primarily based on
the jurisprudence published by the Centre, both in its May 1999 publication[63] CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE... [63] and on
its website[64] http :// www. antiracisme. be/ [64] , updated
until early 2001.
a)
General observations
81
Compared to the
total number of cases brought before the criminal courts (see above), civil
claims are brought in a large majority of cases. In most of them, the victim,
together with one or more associations, constitutes itself partie
civile. For the year 1999, the Centre constituted itself partie
civile in 18 cases
(in about the same number of cases, the Centre filed a complaint without constitution
de partie civile).
82
In the case of
associations constituting themselves partie civile, the admissibility
depends on three elements : their statutory objective, a period of five
years of legal existence (this condition does not apply to the Centre) and the
consent of the direct victim. In the jurisprudence under analysis, no admissibility
problems seem to have arisen regarding the participation of associations in the
proceedings. The associations that have participated include generalist
antiracism movements, such as the MRAX ( Mouvement contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la xénophobie)
as well as specific interest groups with a more narrowly defined statutory
mandate, such as the coordinating committee of Jewish movements ( Comité de coordination des organisations juives de
Belgique, CCOJB).
83
In the case[65] Chambre des mises en accusation de Liège, 28 March... [65] of
natural persons constituting themselves partie civile, admissibility issues
have arisen. In a case against candidates on the list of a party ( Parti des Forces Nouvelles - PFN )
which advocates discrimination between European and non-European immigrants,
162 persons had constituted themselves partie civile. Among them were
non-European immigrants, European immigrants and Belgian nationals. As far as
the two latter categories of persons are concerned, the court of indictment (“chambre des mises en accusation”, “kamer van inbeschuldigingstelling”)
found that they did not have real and personal damage which would justify their constitution
de partie civile:
“one may nevertheless raise questions with regard
to the personal and real damage from which the civil claimants claim to have
suffered in order to justify their legal action” (“Qu’on peut néanmoins s’interroger dès à present
sur le préjudice personnel et actuel que les parties civiles prétendent subir
pour justifier de leur constitution”)
84
The court of
indictment adds that, given their European or Belgian nationality, non of them
is directly targeted by the PFN programme. The fact that the criminal offences
hurt them in their humanist and democratic convictions, does not suffice.
85
“Que le motif évoqué, à savoir que les infractions
les heurtent dans leur conviction humaniste et démocratique, ne paraît pas
rencontrer le prescrit de la loi. ”
86
In the same case,
the Criminal court[66] Tribunal correctionnel de Liège, 22 June 1993,
cited... [66] confirms
the ruling of the Court of Indictment, in saying that the legal claim to obtain
reparation should be reserved only to those parties who have themselves been
hurt in their personal interests.
87
The mere reference
to their active commitment for human rights and mutual respect does not
suffice. In case the motive behind the civil claim can be reduced to an
interest in the upholding of the law and the prosecution of persons committing
a criminal offence, the claim should be rejected since these interests are
taken care of by the public prosecution department :
88
“Attendu que
l’action en réparation n’appartient qu’à une personne lésée dans
un intérêt qui lui
est particulier;
89
Attendu que
l’action civile doit être rejetée lorsque le seul motif de son internement se
réduit à un intérêt à la répression de l’infraction; Attendu qu’en l’espèce les
parties civiles personnes physiques ne justifient pas, par la seule référence à
leur souci de combat pour les droits de l’homme et pour le respect d’autrui,
l’existence d’un intérêt propre qui a pu être lésé par agissements des
inculpés; Qu’en l’absence d’un préjudice personnel subi par ces parties
civiles, leurs actions ne sont pas fondées, la défense de leurs intérêts ayant
été suffisamment prise en charge par le Ministère Public”
b)
The nature of the damage
90
In some cases, the
acts constituting a criminal offence under the 1981 Act constitute at the same
time other criminal offences, for instance resulting in physical suffering or
impairment, of which the damage is relatively easily verifiable and measurable,
for instance through medical certificates.
91
However, under the
1981 Act itself, the damage incurred by the victims is in many cases not easily
objectively verifiable. Courts have nevertheless tried to define the damage
(primarily moral damage) which results from the criminal acts.
92
In a case[67] Tribunal correctionnel de Hasselt, 27 March 1995,
cited... [67] against a
pub owner who refused to serve five people of Pakistani origin and ordered them
to leave the pub, the Court, in assessing the moral damage of the victims,
noted that :
“the infringement of the mental integrity of people
who are refugees or who are hoping to find a better life or a more comfortable
way of living, and who are time and time again experiencing exclusion, must be
extremely painful” (“overwegende
dat de aantasting van de psychische integriteit van mensen die op de vlucht
zijn of op zoek naar een beter leven of materiële welstand, doch steeds moeten
ervaren te worden uitgesloten, zeer pijnlijk is”)
93
In the same case,
the Court also defined the moral damage suffered by the Centre. Referring to
the latter’s statutory objective, the Court noted that :
94
“the acts of the accused despised the objectives of
the civil claimant and rendered the realisation of these objectives more
difficult, as a result of which the civil claimant has suffered a personal
damage due to the injury caused to her legitimate interests;
the reparation of
the damage of the civil claimant is intended to draw the attention of the
accused to the fact that their behaviour is contrary to the objectives of the
civil claimant;
that the
compensation which they should pay is rather symbolic” (“dat door de daden van beklaagden de doelstellingen
van de burgerlijke partij werden misprezen en de realisatie van deze
doelstellingen werd bemoeilijkt, zodat de burgerlijke partij hierdoor een
persoonlijke schade lijdt omdat haar rechtmatige belangen werden geschaad;
dat het herstel van
de schade van de burgerlijke partij tot doel heeft en hierin bestaat namelijk
de aandacht van beklaagden te trekken dat hun handelen in strijd is met de
doelstellingen van de burgerlijke partij;
dat de door
beklaagden te betalen vergoeding dan ook eerder symbolisch is”)
95
The Court rejected
the Centre’s claim for material damages, noting that its administrative costs
were incurred as a result of the activities it was supposed to conduct in line
with its statutory objectives.
96
In a case[66] Tribunal correctionnel de Liège, 22 June 1993,
cited... [66] against
an accused who physically assaulted a person of Kurdish origin, while telling
him publicly to go back home, the Court distinguished two types of moral
damages. On the one hand, moral damages were awarded for pain and suffering during
a period of temporary inability to work. On the other hand, moral damages were
awarded for “lost satisfaction and loss
of enjoyment of life”[67] Tribunal correctionnel de Hasselt, 27 March 1995,
cited... [67] (“genoegenschade
en verlies aan levensvreugde”). The Court noted that the events :
97
“must have strongly shocked and morally hurt the
civil claimant. Nobody in a democratic society needs to walk down the streets
while fearing for his physical integrity simply because of his opinion or
colour” (“de burgerlijk
partij toch zwaar geschokt en moreel moet aangetast hebben. Niemand hoort in
een democratische rechtsstaat met vrees voor zijn fysieke integriteit over
straat te lopen louter omwille van zijn opinie of huidskleur”)
c)
The nature of reparation and the amount of compensation
98
In almost all
cases, the court reduces the rights of the civil parties to a monetary
compensation, the amount of which widely varies, as will be demonstrated below.
In some rare occasions, some other elements of the right to reparation are also
taken into account. In a case against a politician who insulted a Jewish member
of the municipality council of Brussels during a public hearing of the council, the Court found that :
99
“it is important that the reparation of the damage
caused by the insult takes place sufficiently timely” (“il importe que la réparation du prejudice
engendrer par l’injure ait lieu à un moment où elle possède encore un caractère
d’actualité”)
100
Not only did the
Court stress the element of time, it also argued that punishment is needed to
repair the harm. In doing so, the Court acted in line with the notion of
reparation which has been developed by the Special Rapporteurs of the
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and the
Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations. In their draft Basic
Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation, they distinguish
between (a) restitution, (b) compensation, (c) rehabilitation and (d)
satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition, the latter category including “judicial or administrative sanctions against
persons responsible for the violations”[68] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruges, 30 June 1997,
cited... [68] . The
Court noted that :
101
“only a rapid trial and condemnation of the accused
before a criminal judicial instance is able to repair the damage caused to the
claimant” (“seule une
comparution et une condamnation rapide du cite devant les juridictions
répressives seront de nature à apporter au requérant la réparation de son
dommage”)
102
The amounts awarded
to compensate moral damages vary importantly. In a majority of cases[69] Loss of enjoyment of life is also an element in
the... [69] , the
monetary compensation, both for the direct victim and for the association which
constituted itself partie civile, is purely symbolic and
limited to one Belgian Franc[70] See UN Doc. E/CN. 4/2000/62 of 18 January 2000 [70] The
amounts awarded generally range from 1,000 to 100,000 Belgian Francs. The
latter amount has, in different cases, been awarded to both direct victims and
associations. Generally, when, in the same case, both the direct victim and an
association intervene as civil claimants, the amount awarded to the direct
victim is superior to the amount awarded to the association.
103
For instance, in
the above-mentioned case[71] See, for instance, Cour d’Appel de Bruxelles, 8
novembre... [71] of a
racist attack against a person of Kurdish origin, the Court awarded a total of
18,000 BF to the direct victim for moral damages, and 1,000 BF to the Centre
(instead of the 10,000 BF it had claimed). Exceptionally, the amount awarded to
an association exceeds the amount awarded to the direct victims. For instance,
in a case against the owner of a dance hall who repeatedly refused access to
three visitors of Moroccan origin, the Centre was awarded 70,000 BF (20.000 BF
for material damage and 50.000
104
BF for moral
damage), while the three direct victims were awarded either 20,000 or 30,000 BF
as moral damages, depending on the number of times they were refused access. On
appeal[72] One Euro equals 40,3399 Belgian Francs. [72] , the
amount awarded to the Centre for moral damages was reduced to 1 BF. The claim
for compensation of material damage was rejected, the Court considering that
the administrative costs to the Centre were incurred as a result of the
activities it was supposed to conduct in line with its statutory objectives
(cf. supra).
105
In a case against a
political activist who was convicted of the electronic distribution of racist
messages through the Internet, the Court, in first instance, awarded 100.000 BF
to the Centre as moral damages. In doing so, the Court took into account “the hateful relentlessness” (“l’acharnement haineux”) systematically
targeted against the director of the Centre. On appeal, the amount of damages
was reduced to 1 BF, since the Court in first instance could not consider the
said relentlessness to be part of the criminal offence[75] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles, 22 December
1999... [75] .
106
In several cases,
in addition to financial compensation, the Court also ordered publication of
the judgment in one or more widely spread newspapers. In some cases, however,
civil claimants’ requests to publish the judgment have been rejected, primarily
because of arguments related to public order and peace. In a case[76] Tribunal correctionnel de Charleroi, 23 December
1987,... [76] against
people publicly insulting persons because of their North African origin, the
judge refused to order the publication of the judgment, noting that the 1981
Act does not explicitly provide for this sanction and because of the young age
of the convict. In a case[77] Tribunal correctionnel de Namur, 23 September
1993,... [77] against
members of ASSAULT, convicted under article 3 for belonging or lending
assistance to a group or association that clearly and repeatedly practices or
advocates discrimination or segregation, the judge refused to order the
publication of the judgment because of “the
risk of heated passions” (“le
risque d’attiser les passions”). In the above-mentioned case[78] See footnote number 65. [78]against Parti
des Forces Nouvelles members,
the Court did not order publication because of the period of time lapsed since
the events and because of public peace (“eu
égard à l’ancienneté des faits et à la paix publique”).
4.2. Reparation proceedings before civil courts
4.2.1.
Introduction
107
In line with the
general legislation on torts, victims of acts of racism and racial
discrimination may choose to bring a claim for damages before a civil court. As
mentioned above, in case the criminal proceedings are still pending (or get
started during the civil proceedings), the procedure before the civil court
will be suspended until the criminal court has rendered its judgment.
108
One of the main
differences between both procedures is related to the burden of proof. The
civil procedure offers both (1) disadvantages and (2) possible advantages to
the alleged victim :
(1) In both the
criminal procedure and the civil procedure, the victim must prove his or her
damage and the causal link with the acts committed. However, in the criminal
proceedings, the proof of tort stems automatically from the judicial finding
that a criminal offence has been committed. On the contrary, in the civil
procedure, the alleged victim will also need to prove the tort.
109
(2) In the criminal
procedure, the rights of the accused obviously include a presumption of
innocence (Article 6, para. 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights). In a
case[79] Tribunal correctionnel de Bruges, 25 September
1995,... [79] against
the owner of a bike rental shop who refused to rent a motorbike to a person of
Turkish origin, after the latter started communicating with another person in
Turkish, the Court found that the prosecutor did not prove that the refusal was
based on discrimination rather than on the owner’s fear that the motorbike
might not be returned to the shop. The Court noted that “in the particular case, there is doubt which
should be interpreted to the advantage of the accused” (“dat er terzake twijfel is die in het voordeel van
de betichte moet uitgelegd worden”)[80] See also the text accompanying note 41. [80] . The
difficulties related to the burden of proof of the racist motivation behind
some apparently racist acts is mentioned as one of the main difficulties to
implement the 1981 Act and, as a consequence, as one the arguments for the
above-mentioned current legislative initiative, which we will further develop
below insofar as the aspect of reparation is concerned. The Bill includes a
reversed burden of proof in the context of civil proceedings.
4.2.2. The Bill on the Fight against
Discrimination
110
It was indicated
above how current legislative initiatives seek, inter
alia, to strengthen the criminal legal aspects of the Belgian
legislation against racism and racial discrimination. The Bill on the Fight
against Discrimination also provides for additional powers of the presidents of
the Civil courts ( rechtbank van
eerste aanleg/ tribunal de première instance), casu
quo the Labour courts
( arbeidsrechtbank/ tribunal
du travail) and Commercial courts ( handelsrechtbank/ tribunal de commerce),
in the case of discrimination on the basis of gender, socalled race, colour,
descent, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, civil status, birth,
age, physical disability, religion, etcetera[81] As mentioned above, the Bill includes a range of
discrimination... [81] .
111
At the initiative
of the public prosecutor, or of the victim of the discrimination, or of the
Centre or other associations which meet the conditions under Article 12 of the
Bill[82] These conditions are identical to the ones under
the... [82] , the
president of the Court can formally register the commission of the acts which
are contrary to the law and order their cessation (Article 10, para. 1). The
president can also order the publication of his decision, if the publication
can contribute to the cessation of the acts (Article 10, para. 2). The summary
procedure (“comme en référé”)
will apply to this request (Article 13, para. 2); the Bill also allows the
president of the Court to impose “une
astreinte” (an amount to be paid in case of non-compliance with a
judicial order) which the author of the discrimination should pay in case the
discriminatory behaviour continues, irrespective of the compensation which the
victim may claim. In its advice on the Bill, the Council of State questions the
possibility of the president imposing the payment of damages in the context of
summary proceedings, which are in fact designed to cease the wrongful behaviour
as quickly as possible and which therefore hardly allow for sufficient time to
prove the damage and the causal link. At the time of writing, it is unclear
whether the legislator will incorporate these concerns in a new version of the
Bill.
112
As far as civil
proceedings are concerned, the Bill, in Article 10, reverses the burden of
proof. When the victim or the Centre or one of the other associations submit
information, such as statistical data or situation tests (“test de situation”) - for the
establishment of which the alleged victim will be able to call upon the
services of a bailiff (“huissier de
justice”) -, which indicates that there is reason to believe that
direct or indirect discrimination is taking place, then the defendant needs to
prove that this is not the case.
Notes
[*]
Christine Van den
Wyngaert is a professor of criminal law and procedure and of international and
comparative criminal law at the University of Antwerp. She is a
member of the Board of Directors of the AIDP. Stef Vandeginste and Ignace Van
Daele are research assistants at the University of Antwerp
[1]
For an overview of
the Belgian criminal procedure, see : VAN DEN WYNGAERT, C. (ed.), Criminal
Procedure Systems in the European Community, London, Butterworths, 1993,1-49.
[2]
Law of 12 March
1998 on the amelioration of the criminal procedure which made drastic
amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (henceforth CPP).
[3]
BRIENEN, M.E.I. and
HOEGEN, E.H., Victims of Crime in 22 European Criminal Justice
Systems : The Implementation of Recommendation (85) 11 of the Council of
Europe on the Position of the Victim in the Framework of Criminal Law and
Procedure, Dissertation University of Tilburg/ Nijmegen, Wolf Legal
Productions, 2000,160.
[4]
Violations of the
Act of 30 July 1981 on the punishment of certain acts motivated by racism or
xenophobia can give rise to constitution de partie civile by associations with legal personality
that have existed for at least five years and whose statutory purpose is the
protection of human rights or the fight against racism, see below, 4.1.1. The
Act of 23 March, 1995 on punishing the denial, minimisation justification or
approval of the genocide perpetrated by the German National Socialist Regime
during the Second World War, contains a comparable provision in its art. 4.
Other examples of this trend can be found in the Law on the trade in human
beings and child pornography (1995) and the Law on combating violence between
partners (1997).
[5]
The Law of 12 March
1998 introduced a new form of complaint which grants certain limited rights to
the victim (art. 5bis CCP). If a victim makes a formal declaration at the
offices of the Public Ministry, he or she is granted the quality of “aggrieved
person” ( benadeelde persoon/
personne lésée). Once this formal quality has been obtained, the
victim has the right to be assisted or represented by a lawyer, the right to
add documents to the files of the investigation and the right to be informed
about the outcome of the investigation (i.e. if the Public Ministry decides to
drop the case or, alternatively, bring the suspect to trial or transfer the
investigation to an investigating judge). If the investigation and trial are
subject to the so-called “accelerated procedure” ( comparution immédiate/ onmiddellijke verschijning),
the victim moreover has the right to consult the files of the investigation
(art. 216quinquies, §2 CCP).
[6]
The seizing of the
investigating judge by the victim is not allowed for the least serious offences
( overtredingen/ contraventions)
and in the case of the aforementioned “accelerated procedure” as introduced by
the Law of 28 March 2000.
[7]
See generally
FAGNART, J.L. and BOGAERT, R., La réparation du dommage corporel en droit commun, Brussels,
Larcier, 1994,498p.
[8]
For an overview of
the legislative history, see : CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA
LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, La loi du 30 juillet 1981 tendant à réprimer
certains actes inspirés par la racisme ou la xénophobie. Jurisprudence,
Bruxelles, 1999,3-5.
[9]
Law of 31 March
1994. The application of the 1981 Act had proved to be deceiving. The 1994
amendment not only increased the penalties and rationalised the definitions of
the incriminations, but also made racial discrimination in the workplace
punishable. The Law of 7 May 1999 introduced an article 5bis, providing the
possibility to deprive persons convicted of violations of the Act of certain
civil or political rights such as the right to hold certain offices or to be
elected (see art. 31 PC).
[10]
Act of 23 March,
1995 on punishing the denial, minimisation justification or approval of the
genocide perpetrated by the German National Socialist Regime during the Second
World War, see below, 3.2.1.
[11]
The penalties were
substantially raised by the amendment of 1994. The fact that these offences now
carry a maximum penalty of 1 year means that they are ‘arrestable offences’ and
that detention on remand is theoretically possible. It is also to be noted that
in Belgium the fines mentioned in the legislation, have to be multiplied by a factor of
(at this moment) 200.
[12]
The term ‘race’ is
generally understood to mean an ethnic group which differentiates itself from
others by an entirety of physical and hereditary characteristics representing
variations among the species (CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ETLA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 5, note 11). Aprospective
government proposal to amend the 1981 Act would replace the term ‘race’ by
‘so-called race’ to stress the fact that the notion of ‘race’does not
correspond to any scientific reality.
[13]
This was included
to combat anti-Semitism. It is to be noted that the Law doesn’t only protect
foreigners, but also those of foreign descent who acquired the Belgian
nationality. Religion and language, both traditionally controversial political
issues in Belgium,
have deliberately been excluded from the scope of the 1981 Act.
[14]
Art. 444 Penal Code
describes the circumstances in which the offence of defamation can be
committed, i.e. “(...) either in public meetings or places; or in the presence
of several people, in a place that is not public but accessible to a number of
people who are entitled to meet or visit there; or in any place in the presence
of the offended person and in front of witnesses; or through documents, printed
or otherwise, illustrations or symbols that have been displayed, distributed,
sold, offered for sale, or publicly exhibited; or finally by documents that
have not been made public but which have been sent or communicated to several
people”.
[15]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Liège, 16 September 1993, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., (148) 154.
[16]
CENTRE POUR
L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c.,
9.
[17]
Cour d’Appel de
Liège, 4 June 1992, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 138.
[18]
Cour d’Appel de
Bruxelles, 4 September 1987, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA
LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., (99) 101.
[19]
Tribunal
correctionnel d’Anvers, 14 March 1996, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 191.
[20]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Courtrai, 19 August 1998, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 304. Confirmed by Cour d’Appel
de Gand, 16 September 1999, wwww. antiracisme.
be.
[21]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruxelles, 20 April 1983, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 84.
[22]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruxelles, 15 July 1996, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 200.
[23]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Charleroi, 23 December 1987, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE
DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 103.
[24]
Tribunal
correctionnel d’Audenaarde, 23 October 1995, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 180.
[25]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Turnhout, 5 January 1999, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 331.
[26]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Turnhout, 18 December 1998, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 322.
[27]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruxelles, 30 June 1997, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 246.
[28]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Marche-en-Famenne, 19 June 1998, cited in CENTRE POUR
L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c.,
291.
[29]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Louvain, 8 February 1999, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 335.
[30]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Furnes, 20 October 2000, www. antiracisme. be.
[31]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruxelles, 23 December 1983, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE
DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 89.
[32]
Cour de Cassation,
19 May 1993, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE
RACISME, o.c., 144.
[33]
BATSELE, D.,
DAURMONT, O. and HANOTIAU, M., La lutte contre le racisme et la xénophobie, Brussels,
Nemesis, 1992,24-26.
[34]
Cour d’Appel de
Liège, 11 March 1988, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 108.
[35]
Similarly, video recordings
were allowed as evidence in a case about a discotheque. (Tribunal Correctionnel
de Hasselt, 10 May 2000, www. racisme. be)
[36]
Tribunal correctionnel
de Hasselt, 27 March 1995, as confirmed by Cour d’Appel d’Anvers, 17 November
1995, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ETLA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c.,
182.
[37]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Termonde, 21 October 1986, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 97.
[38]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Hasselt, 21 November 1996, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 212. The Court accepts that
doorkeepers perform “preventative controls” to keep order in the establishment
and guarantee the security of the customers. These are considered “objective
reasons” justifying a refusal to entry. (Tribunal correctionnel de Hasselt, 10
May 2000, www. racisme. be)
[39]
Tribunal
correctionnel d’Anvers, 26 June 1998, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., ( 297) 299. Confirmed by
Cour d’Appel d’Anvers, 25 April 2000, www. racisme. be.
[40]
Cour d’Appel
d’Anvers, 18 April 1997, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 240.
[41]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruges, 25 September 1995, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., (177) 179.
[42]
TULKENS, F.,
“Egalité et discriminations en droit pénal belge”, Revue
Internationale de Droit Pénal 1986,
(63) 81-82.
[43]
STOKX, R., “De
vernieuwingen aan de Racismewet : meer dan een laagje vernis ?”,Panopticon 1994, (503) 508.
[44]
Cour du Travail de
Gand, 24 Janvier 1985, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 91.
[45]
CENTRE POUR
L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c.,
30-31.
[46]
Law of 4 May 1999.
[47]
BATSELE, D.,
DAURMONT, O. and HANOTIAU, M., o.c., 73.
[48]
Cour militaire de
Bruxelles, 17 December 1997, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA
LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., (252) 255-257.
[49]
Cour militaire de
Bruxelles, 7 Mai 1998, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., (279) 285.
[50]
This can be
retrieved on www. antiracisme. be.
[51]
See VAN DEN
WYNGAERT, C. (ed.), o.c., 2 and 11-12.
[52]
See VAN DEN
WYNGAERT, C. (ed.), o.c., 32-33.
[53]
Cour d’Assises de
Mons, 28 June 1994, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 168.
[54]
Cour d’Appel de
Liège, 26 March 1997, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE
CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 221, contra Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruxelles, 6 September 1994, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE
DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 171.
[55]
As amended by the
law of 7 May 1999, published 29 May 1999.
[56]
See the references
in BATSELÉ, D., “Racisme et liberté d’expression. Examen de législation et de
jurisprudence belges”, Revue Trimestrielle des Droits de l’Homme 2001, (321) 329-331.
[57]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruxelles, 22 December 1999, wwww. antiracisme.
be.Confirmed by Cour d’Appel de Bruxelles, 27 June 2000, www. antiracisme.
be.
[58]
BLERO, B., “La
répression légale du révisionnisme”, Journal des Tribunaux 1996, (333) 334.
[59]
Tribunal correctionnel
de Bruxelles, 7 November 2000, www. antiracisme. be.
[60]
Article 3, para. 4
of the Act of February 15,1993 pertaining to the foundation of a Centre for
Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism.
[61]
See also C. VAN DEN
WYNGAERT, Strafrecht and Strafprocesrecht. In hoofdlijnen,
Antwerpen-Apeldoorn, Maklu, 1998,613-617.
[62]
Article 5, in
fine. Nevertheless, it seems wrong to interpret Article 5 in
fine, as saying that the direct victim is transferring the exercise
of its own legal right to the association (contra : CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE
DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, La loi du 30 juillet 1981 tendant à réprimer
certains actes inspirés par la racisme ou la xénophobie. Jurisprudence,
Bruxelles, 1999,35). In fact, in most cases, direct victims are acting
alongside the associations as civil claimants.
[63]
CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE
DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, La loi du 30 juillet 1981 tendant à réprimer
certains actes inspirés par la racisme ou la xénophobie. Jurisprudence,
Bruxelles, 1999,392p.
[64]
http :// www. antiracisme. be/
[65]
Chambre des mises
en accusation de Liège, 28 March 1991, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 112-125.
[66]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Liège, 22 June 1993, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., (221) 235.
[67]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Hasselt, 27 March 1995, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., (182) 185-189.
[68]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruges, 30 June 1997, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 242.
[69]
Loss of enjoyment
of life is also an element in the concept of proyecto de vida (“life project”), which the
Inter-American Court on Human Rights developed in its 1998 reparation judgment
in Loayza Tamayo v. Peru (see, in more detail, SHELTON, D.,Remedies in international human rights law,
Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999,229-231).
[70]
See UN Doc. E/CN.
4/2000/62 of 18 January 2000
[71]
See, for instance,
Cour d’Appel de Bruxelles, 8 novembre 1991, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 131-137.
[72]
One Euro equals
40,3399 Belgian Francs.
[73]
See footnote number
68.
[74]
Cour d’Appel
d’Anvers, 25 April 2000, www. antiracisme. be.
[75]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruxelles, 22 December 1999 and Cour d’Appel de Bruxelles, 27
June 2000, www. antiracisme. be.
[76]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Charleroi, 23 December 1987, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE
DES CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 103-105.
[77]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Namur, 23 September 1993, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ET LA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 157-167.
[78]
See footnote number
65.
[79]
Tribunal
correctionnel de Bruges, 25 September 1995, cited in CENTRE POUR L’EGALITE DES
CHANCES ETLA LUTTE CONTRE LE RACISME, o.c., 177-179.
[80]
See also the text
accompanying note 41.
[81]
As mentioned above,
the Bill includes a range of discrimination grounds which is much wider than
the 1981 Act.
[82]
These conditions
are identical to the ones under the 1981 Act, including the need to act with
the consent of the direct victim.
Plan de l'article
1. 1.
Introduction
2. 2.
The Position Of The Victim In Criminal Proceedings In General
3.
1. 2.1.
The “ordinary” compensation scheme for crime victims.
2. 2.1.1.
Tort proceedings before the criminal courts.
3.
4. 2.1.2.
Tort proceedings before the civil courts.
5. 2.2.
“Financial help” for victims of violent crimes under the 1985 victims
compensation act.
4. 3.
The Belgian Criminal Legislation Against Racism
5.
1. 3.1
Act of 30 July 1981 on the punishment of certain acts motivated by racism or
xenophobia. 3.1.1. Incitement or intention to discrimination, hatred, violence.
2. 3.1.2.
Supplying or offering of services or goods.
3. 3.1.3.
Labour relations
4. 3.1.4.
Membership of racist groups or associations.
5. 3.1.5.
Public officials
6. 3.1.6.
Associations to act in law
7. 3.1.7.
Proposals for new legislation.
8. 3.2.
Limitations on the freedom of expression. 3.2.2. The special regime for racist
press crimes.
6. 4.
Reparation For Victims Of Acts Of Racism And Racial Discrimination
7.
1. 4.1.
Reparation proceedings before criminal courts
2. 4.1.1.
Persons and entities entitled to bring a civil claim
3. 4.1.2.
Jurisprudence
4.
5. 4.2.
Reparation proceedings before civil courts
6. 4.2.1.
Introduction
7. 4.2.2.
The Bill on the Fight against Discrimination
Pour citer cet article
Van den Wyngaert Christine et
al., « The position of victims of acts of racism and racial
discrimination in belgium », Revue internationale de droit pénal 1/ 2002 (Vol. 73), p. 111-140
URL : www.cairn.info/revue-internationale-de-droit-penal-2002-1-page-111.htm.
DOI : 10.3917/ridp.073.0111
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Belgian
Paper Apologizes Over Racist Images of Obama Used in Satire
By ROBERT MACKEY
MARCH 24, 2014 7:53
PM 30 Comments
· SAVE
· MORE
Last Updated,
Tuesday, 10:34 a.m. | One of Belgium’s
leading newspapers, De Morgen,
apologized on Monday to readers offended by a satirical feature published two
days earlier that used racist images of President Obama to mock his strained
relationship with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The editors of the left-leaning Flemish
daily explained that the premise of their “admittedly tasteless joke” was that
the Russian president had been asked to submit an article about Mr. Obama but
sent instead two racist caricatures — one photograph captioned to suggest
that the first African-American president of the United States was a drug
dealer, and a second that was digitally altered to give the president and
Michelle Obama the features of apes.
In an editorial published on Monday under
the headline, “Is De Morgen Racist?” the newspaper, with
roots in the country’s socialist movement, essentially absolved itself of the
charge, suggesting that regular readers aware of its stance against racism
understood that the offensive images — published as part of a special section
on the American president ahead of his visit to Belgium this week — were intended to satirize
how racists think.
Some readers, including the Nigerian-born writer Chika Unigwe, who has lived in Belgium, argued
that publishing the images revealed an unacknowledged racism in Belgian
society, even from the editors of one of the country’s avowedly “progressive”
newspapers.
According to a partial translation of the Morgen editorial from the
Belgian state broadcaster VRT, the editors argued that their mistake was in
assuming that the context of the images, in a regular satirical section of the
paper, would make it clear to readers that no offense was intended, but when
the images circulated online that context was lost. When “you consider the
fragment apart from its context, which is a properly worked out satirical
section, then you don’t see the joke but just a picture evoking sheer racism,”
the editors wrote. “That was a risk we didn’t consider enough beforehand.”
“We wrongly assumed,” they added, “that
racism is no longer acceptable, and that in this way it could be the subject of
a joke.” The editors went on to suggest that they had overlooked the fact that
the racist trope of comparing Africans and their descendants to apes is still
common.
Absolving themselves of the charge of harboring
racist intentions, the editors concluded with an apology to anyone who was
offended. “In this case, we plead guilty of bad taste,” they said. “We continue
to be on the side of those that are battling any form of racism.”
The newspaper also suggested that the
backlash to its failed satire was stronger outside Belgium because racism is more of a problem in other countries, including in the Netherlands,
where the news site Joop published a copy of the full-page satire, showing the
fictional Putin op-ed article beneath a stream of fictional tweets from Mr.
Obama in Flemish.
Ms. Unigwe was unimpressed by the apology
and noted that a sidebar on the satirist responsible for the section, Marc Van
Springel, said that he was shocked by the response.
In a Twitter conversation with another
critic, who suggested that the paper’s apology was obscured by the editorial’s
“pseudo-analysis” of satire and racism, the Morgen journalist Bart Eeckhout
acknowledged in blunt terms that the editors were wrong to publish
the images, but insisted that anti-racism was a cause close to their hearts.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/belgian-paper-apologizes-over-racist-images-of-obama-used-in-satire/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
=========================
Racism in Belgium’s
labour market, says European network
by Alan
Hope,
Recent articles: Bosch in Tienen announces 400 job losses, Rail union to strike on 30 June, Bite: O sole mio
SUMMARY
A report just released
by the European Network Against Racism concludes that Belgium’s
labour market suffers under racism and xenophobia
“Continuing inequality”
The Belgian labour market is based on
“ethnostratification”, according to the European Network Against Racism (ENAR),
meaning that racial and ethnic origin play a major role in determining a
person’s employment prospects.
The network found Belgium to be a source of “continuing inequality and an undeniable hierarchy of
socio-economic positions”. The least likely to benefit from employment
opportunities in Europe, according to the network, are those of Maghreb origin
from North Africa. In Belgium, that
translates to those of Moroccan background.
Black Africans are the group with the second-worst job prospects
in Belgium, followed by
those from Italy and Eastern Europe.
According to the report, the same hierarchy comes into play at all
levels of employment, from access to jobs up to the risk of redundancy. The
report also notes that the same inequalities will come into play regardless of
economic factors. “Racism structures the world of employment and work,” the
report concludes.
The ENAR report makes a number of recommendations: ethnic quotas
in government jobs, based on what is called “inclusive neutrality”; positive
discrimination; opening government jobs up to non-citizens, in particular from
outside of Europe; and reforms to public
holidays to remove religious connotations.
Photo by Ingimage
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Hope
· Racist Satire of Obamas Hits a Nerve in Belgium - NYTimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/world/europe/belgium-satire-racism-obama.... - Similarto Racist Satire of Obamas
Hits a Nerve in Belgium - NYTimes.com
Mar 26, 2014 ... Antiracism groups said that a Belgian newspaper's images depicting the
president and his wife as apes pointed to a normalization of hateful ...
· Belgian Paper Apologizes Over Racist Images of ...
thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/belgian-paper-apologizes... - Similarto Belgian Paper Apologizes
Over Racist Images of ...
Mar 24, 2014 ... Last Updated, Tuesday, 10:34 a.m. |
One of Belgium's leading newspapers, De Morgen,
apologized on Monday to readers offended by a ...
[ More results from thelede.blogs.nytimes.com ]
· Category:Racism in Belgium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Racism_in_Belgium - Similarto Category:Racism in
Belgium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pages in category "Racism
in Belgium". The following 3 pages are in this category, out of 3
total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).
· Belgium Is Shocked America Thinks It's Racist for Its Racist ...
www.thewire.com/politics/2014/03/belgium-is-outraged-america-thinks-... - Similarto Belgium Is Shocked
America Thinks It's Racist for Its Racist ...
Mar 26, 2014 ... Belgium's papers are indignant and confused over
a New York magazine post that called their giant Obama-plays-basketball cookie and racist ...
· Belgium is an insular country. It lives like
history happens ...
africasacountry.com/belgium-is-an-insular-country-it-lives-like-hist... - Similarto Belgium is an insular
country. It lives like history happens ...
Mar 26, 2014 ... The media outcry outside Belgium at De Morgen's misguided racist satire (and the apology from De
Morgen) is already a start. The act of ...
· Belgium Gifting Obama a Racist Caricature Cookie -- NYMag
nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/belgium-obama-racist-caricatur... - Similarto Belgium Gifting Obama a Racist Caricature
Cookie -- NYMag
Mar 25, 2014 ... last week someone told me I was
"writing too much on racism
in #Belgium."
In today's paper, POTUS and wife as apes: pic.twitter.com/ ...
· Racism in
Belgium's labour market, says European network ...
www.flanderstoday.eu/current-affairs/racism-belgiums-labour-market-s... - Similarto Racism in
Belgium's labour market, says European network ...
Mar 18, 2014 ... A report just released by the European
Network Against Racism concludes that Belgium's labour market suffers under racism and xenophobia ...
· Belgian Newspaper Accused Of Racism For Picture Of Obama And ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/24/newspaper-obama-ape-belgian-satire... - Similarto Belgian Newspaper
Accused Of Racism For Picture Of Obama And ...
Mar 24, 2014 ... A Belgian newspaper is under fire for an image
it printed showing ... The progressive newspaper De Morgen is being accused of racism for the ...
· Fight against racism and discrimination - Policy ... - ...
diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/policy_areas/human_rights/specific_i... - Similarto Fight against racism and
discrimination - Policy ... - ...
At the national level,
the Belgian Centre for Equal Opportunities and
Opposition to Racismhas a
remit to combat discrimination in all its various forms.
· Belgium heads EU racism league - News - The Independent
www.independent.co.uk/news/belgium-heads-eu-racism-league-1289695.ht... - Similarto Belgium heads EU racism league - News -
The Independent
Dec 20, 1997 ... Belgium is tops, Britain languishes in the grey zone, and Luxembourg gets nul point. Imre
Karacs looks at a survey on Euro-racism.
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in belgium
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www.chatabout.com/RacismChat About Racism In Belgium.
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· Belgian Anti-Racism Law
The Belgian Anti-Racism Law, in full, the Law of July 30, 1981 on
the punishment of certain acts inspired by racism or xenophobia, is a law against... more
· Racism
Racism is actions, practices or beliefs, or
social or political systems that consider different races to be ranked as
inherently superior or inferior... more
Belgiumheads EU racism league
IMRE
KARACS
Saturday 20 December 1997
Belgiumis tops, Britain languishes
in the grey zone, and Luxembourg gets nul point. Imre Karacs looks at a survey on Euro-racism.
Sixteen thousand people across the 15 EU
countries were asked in a survey to pass judgement on themselves. The results,
presented yesterday by the European Commission, show, in the report's words,
"a worrying level of racism and xenophobia in member-states".
The dubious distinction of first place goes to Belgium, home
of the Commission. According to the study, ordered by Eurocrats to mark the
passing of "European Year Against Racism", 22 per cent of Belgians
professed to be "very racist" and 33 per cent "quite
racist".
Britainweighs in at equal
seventh with Germany,
with 8 per cent self- confessed "very racist" and 24 per cent
"quite racist". A further 33 per cent of Britons considered
themselves "a little racist". Only in Luxembourg and Portugal do a majority feel "not at all racist".
Padraig Flynn, the EU commissioner presenting the report,
expressed "extreme concern" at the "shocking statistics",
but was also able to draw some comfort from the findings. While unemployment
was described as the main cause of intolerance, several countries with very
high jobless rates appeared to be relatively untainted by racism, whilst more
prosperous neighbours were hostile out of all proportion.
"The survey shows the complexity of the phenomenon of
racism," the report said. "Feelings of racism co-exist with a strong
belief in the democratic system and respect for fundamental social rights and
freedoms".
There is, nevertheless, a disquieting link between the various
countries' position in the chart and the recent performance of the extreme
right. In Belgium,
where love-thy-neighbour politics went out of fashion years ago, parties
preaching xenophobia have been making headway, especially among the Flemish
community.
France, the silver medallist, regularly comes up with a strong
vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National. And a quarter of the Austrian
electorate - in third place - put their trust in Jorg Haider's Freedom Party in
the last elections. Mr Haider's dislike of foreigners and his high regard for
some of Hitler's "achievements" is common knowledge.
Fourth-placed Denmark would at first sight appear to buck the trend. Less than 5 per cent of the
country's population are immigrants. Danes are prosperous and by tradition
tolerant to newcomers. But in last month's local elections, the xenophobic
Danish People Party achieved a breakthrough, thanks in large part to
anti-immigrant sentiments whipped up by the tabloid press. With more immigrants
still coming, the party appears to have a bright future.
Germany, on the other hand,
is showing the opposite trend, at least in the west. After their successes in
the early Nineties, extreme right-wing parties are declining, and racist
attacks have abated.
Sentiments in the east make barely a blip on the national
statistics, but the evidence from east German schools suggests that the racist
tide there is again on the rise.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/belgium-heads-eu-racism-league-1289695.html
=================================================
=======================
Is Belgium a racist country? Also Russia?
Just curious. But more so about Belgium. I'm
planning to visit the country later on this year and I was wondering if it
could possibly be a pleasant or unpleasant experience for a ...show more
Best AnswerAsker's Choice
· Positivemindattitude answered 6 years ago
·
NO, Belgians are not racists.
One example : ALL our kings married foreigners!
As long as you abide by the rules, by the laws, respect our traditions and that
you behave correctly, nobody will bother you and your skin colour will have
absolutely no importance.
I am a Belgian but also an expatriate since a very, very long time and I am
always astonished - when I come back home - to see how Belgians really
intereact with foreigners. If they like you, you will have no problem at all.
They may even take you under their wing and show you around or point out places
of interests to see or visit. If they don't like you, they'll just ignore you.
Belgians mind their own business so they won't take time to trouble other
people.
We are a very open-minded people : we like to meet new people, interact with
foreigners, help them out when needed. Belgium is a very cosmopolitan country, especially Brussels as it is where most foreigners work
(eurocrats).
You certainly will have no problem in Liège. The only problem you may encounter
- because Liège is situated in the French speaking part of Belgium - is a
language barrier if you only speak English. If you need some info, ask the
younger people for help as they will be more likely to understand English and
answer your questions.
I do not know about Russia but from the TV documentaries, you are right, in some parts they are very
agressif towards black people especially towards the ones studying in
universities over there. I basically think that this attitude is mainly due to
jealousy because the locals there can't afford to go to university and do not
understand the hows & whys strangers can manage and get help when they
can't.
But, let's not generalize. There are bad and good people everywhere but no need
to risk your life if you do not have to go there. Never heard of tourists being
killed due to the colour of their skin, though.
Hope this helps.
I wish you a very pleasant stay in our beautiful country and wish for you to
meet lots of interesting people.
Edit :
Of course there are racists everywhere in the world but - generally speaking -
those are a very small minority in Belgium and, as I mentioned before,
if you behave and act normally and properly you shouldn't have any problem in
Liège or, for that matter, in any other Belgian town.
Source:
a proud Belgian
Asker's rating & comment
Great
perspective! It's nice hearing it from an actual Belgian. Thank you and I will
enjoy my experience for sure.
· 2
2
·
· 1
comment
Other Answers (12)
Rated Highest
·
sweety answered 6 years ago
well i'am a belgian and i'm not a
racist, if your a tourist the are generally nice to you but some people are
racist like in every country, but i hope you don't meet one like that
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ahmad answered 7 months ago
Dear!! Belgians ARE RACIST!! do
not doubt this fact! I am an Iranian, living in Leuven for 2 years and have faced racism time and again! They checked my bag 3 times
upon leaving the shops in front of many others in the queue, the bus drivers do
not wait for you or check my ticket as if its not mine, they dont like
subletting their rooms to non european students, and... dont come to belgium plz! (I
have no experience with the french speakers but dont expect them to be much
different!)
they never talk to non-dutch speakers, even when u r sitting with them they
ignore you and speak in Dutch, they laugh at foreign traditions and cultures,
when walking in the malls or pavements or standing in the bus they never give
space to others to pass by as if they dont see you or ...
I have tried my best to make friends with them and be positive about them, but
its a waste of time! you can never develop any kind of connection with the
Flemish people!
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ALFONSO answered 8 months ago
yes they are .i experience it
every day even if I'm not black ! sorry its ugly truth
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Dr. House answered 6 years ago
Perhaps al you answerers who claim
that Belgium is not a racistic country should visit Antwerp suburbs like
Borgerhout and Hoboken, with a majority of Marrocans, pay a visit to the
headquarters of the ultra extremist party "Eigen Volk eerst" or visit
the Brussels center for illegal immigrants "Le Petit Chateau" and the
Congolese suburb.
Belgium is certainly not the most racistic country on earth but lets not put
halos on our heads and lets not forget that until some years ago you could see
signs at the entrance of the Belgian discos reading "Interdit aux Nord
Africains" (Forbidden for North Africans).
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mark k answered 6 years ago
You've had a couple of people
address the question of racism in Belgium,
or lack thereof, so perhaps I'll contribute a bit about Russia.
Racism certainly does exist in Russia,
and unlike the idealistic thoughts of "no racist countries" from one
of the answerer's, reality doesn't usually meet our hopes. Anyhow, there have
already been more than 160 hate attacks on minorities this year in Russia,
including more than 40 that have resulted in death. The reasons are both racism
and nationalism, plus authorities turning a blind eye. The police are often
racist and usually quite poorly educated.
As a black person you could visit Russia and have a great time. The
odds of a racial attack would be quite small, but higher than most other places
in the west. These attacks are not limited to bad areas late at night either.
They have also occurred just outside of busy metro stations in the middle of
the day. The term for a black person in Russia sounds like ni**er, but is
not meant in an insulting way, it's just the term used.
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Dimitris answered 5 months ago
Actually i indeed that Flammish
region of Belgium is the
most racism and xenophobic place in europe since i have visited more than 20 countries. I feel a racism behaviour every
week since i arrived in Belgium 2 months and unfortunately i live in Flemish region since my job is located
here. i dont work for any belgian organisation if i was working for belgian
company and not for international company i would leave the next day after
arriving here. I am sorry for this mail but this is the truth. Of course they
are nice people like everywhere and i dont want to generalise it. By writting
this answer i want to apologise to the nice people Flemish but i feel very
different just passing the border to Germany.
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Bwitched answered 7 months ago
Belgians are the most rasists and
xenophobe people of Europe!
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jahü answered 6 years ago
I've always wanted to travel to Belgium! (I
don't know why, though)
About Russia,
the last couple of years I've heard in the news how Putin is encouraging
Russian nationalism, working to restore "Russian pride" and rattling
the Russian sabres. (The average Russian has had a very difficult time since
the fall of the USSR).
This has had the unfortunate side-effect of the rise in hate crimes against
non-Russian minorities someone else here mentioned.
Source(s):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/667749...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point...
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Entwined answered 6 years ago
My dad used to live in Belgium and
I've spent a lot of time there. It is very multi-cultural and multi-ethnic.
Because of Belgium's
former west African colonies, there are a lot of people from a west African
background, and there are also a lot of people of north African heritage. There
is a sizable east Asian community and a south Asian community.
In short, it's just like any other city in western Europe: multi-cultural,
multi-ethnic, and very tolerant and liberal.
The only problem I ever had there was one of frustration. Wanting to practise
my French, it was not much help when half the population of Brussels seemed to try to address me in
Arabic!
It's a really nice country, actually. You'll have no problems whatsoever.
As\far as Russia goes, I don't have any personal experience of it so I won't say anything. All I
will say is that I don't really think there is such a thing as "a racist
country". I've been all over the world and where ever you go, almost
everyone is groovy and friendly and interesting.
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·
Richard B answered 6 years ago
I don't know about Russia, but I do know that Belgium is not
a racist country. I hope you have a wonderful time there. You also might want
to visit Brussels and Antwerp. You can get to both places by train.
The prices are good. The trains run on time to the minute. And don't forget to
sample the outstanding Belgian chocolate (best in the world), some Belgian beer
(yum yum) and of course waffles. I visited Belgium 2 years ago and definitely
want to go back many times.
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Chrissy answered 6 years ago
My expierences in Europe were more
of a "if you are from america we don't really like you too much, but we love your things like levis and ralph
lauren." Of course, I was there during the whole "iraq war"
start... so it could have cooled down/been different before. Also, I was there
for about 5 months attending school in Germany. But all the
"touristy" things I did, no one seemed to care who/what I was... Of
course, anyone I met who spent time in america seemed to love me. As far
as color, I'm not a minority so I don't really know about that... sorry.
If you are just going for a short time I think that it wouldn't matter and that
you would have a great time(I did when I went with friends to other
coutries/places).
1.
o Racial Profiling
o Discussion on Racism
o Racism Videos
o YWCA Against Racism
Search Results
1. Belgian Anti-Racism Law -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Anti-Racism_Law
o
o
Wikipedia
The Belgian Anti-Racism Law, in full, the Law of
July 30, 1981 on the punishment of certain acts inspired by racism or xenophobia, is a law
against hate speech ...
2. Fight against racism and discrimination - Belgium.be
diplomatie.belgium.be
› ... › Human rights › Specific issues
o
o
Belgium
1965 saw the adoption of the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofRacial Discrimination (ICERD). This
instrument, which Belgium ratified ...
3. Overview of the Belgian antidiscrimination legislation ...
www.diversitybelgium.be/overview-belgian-antidiscrimination-legislation
o
o
In the course of 2008, the Belgian Communities and Regions
have produced ... 1) 30 July, 1981: criminalizing certain acts inspired by racism or xenophobia, ...
4. Racism in Belgium's labour
market, says European network ...
www.flanderstoday.eu/.../racism-belgiums-labour-market-says-european-...
o
o
by
Alan Hope - Mar 18, 2014 - A report just released
by the European Network AgainstRacism concludes that Belgium's labour market suffers
under racism and xenophobia ...
5. Belgium | www.non-discrimination.net
www.non-discrimination.net/countries/belgium
o
o
Belgium - The new independent
Inter-federal Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism and Discrimination is
fully operational since 15 March ...
6. [PDF]
Belgium: Discrimination on the
basis of race and national ...
www.equalrightstrust.org/.../Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Belgium%20-...
o
o
This document outlines legislation in Belgium that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in
the provision of goods and services.
7. Are the Belgians racist? -
Expatica
www.expatica.com
› Home › News › Dutch News
o
o
Expatica
Half of those polled blame the growing
crime rate on the presence of the foreigners inBelgium. International Day for
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
8. Mass wedding held against racism
in Belgium - Wikinews ...
en.wikinews.org/.../Mass_wedding_held_against_racism_in_Be...
o
o
Wikinews
Mar 22, 2007 - But then someone gave
him the idea to react with a positive signal against racial discrimination. Together with local
NGOs and the Center for ...
9. Belgium is an insular country. It lives like history happens ...
africasacountry.com/belgium-is-an-insular-country-it-lives-like-history-h...
o
o
Mar 26, 2014 - When I was a city
councillor in Turnhout, Belgium,
a colleague, ....Racism is in the eye of the
offended party, not the person committing the act.
10. The position of victims of acts of racism and racial ... - Cairn
www.cairn.info/revue-internationale-de-droit-penal-2002-1-page-111.htm
o
by C Van den Wyngaert - 2002 - Related articles
The position of victims of acts of
racism and racial discrimination
in belgium ..... 3.1 Act of 30 July
1981 on the punishment of certain acts motivated by racism or ...
Fight against racism and discrimination
A brief
introduction to fighting racism and discrimination
One of the fundamental principles underlying human rights is
that of equality between human beings. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaims that “All human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights”. The corollary of the principle of
equality is that of non-discrimination. Discrimination
occurs when people in the same situation are treated differently for no
objective reason.
Unfortunately, many factors still give rise to discrimination in
the modern world, including people’s ethnic, national or social origins, their
religion, language, gender. political leanings, sexual orientation, age, state
of health and so forth. Forms of discriminations based on claims of ‘race’,
i.e. racism, remain among the most widespread
today. Now that globalisation has made our societies more multicultural,
the risks of discrimination have also increased. Consequently, it is crucial to
promote respect and tolerance if we are to guarantee everyone a
harmonious life in diversity. Specific legal standards
have been adopted in an effort to promote these values and combat racism.
International
and regional instruments
The two UN pacts of 1996 continuing the development of
human rights' protection and the UDHRdating from 1948 both contain
provisions stipulating that the rights they list must be applied totally free
of discrimination. However, other specific instruments have also been devised
to combat the most widespread forms of discrimination.
1965 saw the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). This instrument, which Belgium ratified in 1999, was adopted in
response to various racist policies, like those conducted by Nazi Germany or
the apartheid regime in South Africa. It prohibits any racially
distinction based on ‘race’, colour, ethnic or national origin and is designed
to prevent and punish racist talk or racist acts. It also paves the way for the
adoption of positive discriminatory measures.
Since women also fall victim to numerous forms of discrimination, a Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination
against Women (CEDAW)
was adopted in 1979 (see the page on Gender and Women’s Rights).
In the Council of Europe,
Protocol No. 12 to
the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), adopted in 2000, prohibits any
form of discrimination by a public authority on any ground. There is also an
Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, which was adopted in 2003
concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic naturecommitted
through computer systems. The European
Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), established in 1993, is an
independent monitoring mechanism which examines the measures taken in Member
States to combat racist phenomena and also the effectiveness of such measures.
ECRI regularly visits the Member States (it paid Belgium a visit in 2008) to analyse
the situation in situ and duly publishes reports and recommendations.
Action by Belgium and the
European Union
Fighting racism and all forms of discriminations throughout the
world is one of Belgium’s priorities.
At the national level, the Belgian Centre for Equal Opportunities and
Opposition to Racism has a remit to combat discrimination in all its various
forms. Internationally, Belgium is one of the main sponsors of a biannual resolution on the UN’s International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Belgium also plays a major role in the UN
conferences against racism held
in Durban in 2001 and Geneva in 2009. These conferences enabled the
adoption of final documents reasserting the importance of combating racism at
the international level. These same documents also set out the specific issues
arising in this domain and proposed some possible lines of action to take.
These documents formed the basis for the adoption of Belgium’s National Action Plan
Against Racism in 2004.
Within the European Union, the fight against racism and
discrimination is one of the top priorities for the European Union’s Fundamental
Rights Agency (FRA).
This public institution publishes reports on the real-life situation within the
EU and analyses the available measures for combating the phenomenon of
discrimination. The issue is also central to the bilateral relations that Belgium and the
European Union maintain with third countries.
For more information, see the following websites:
International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
The UN’s World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
The Council of Europe’s European Commission Against Racism and
Intolerance
The European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency
Belgian Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism
http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/policy_areas/human_rights/specific_issues/fight_against_racism_and_discrimination/
Mass
wedding held against racism in Belgium
Thursday, March 22, 2007
' class=thumbimage
srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_4.jpg/225px-Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_4.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_4.jpg/300px-Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_4.jpg 2x"
data-file-width=1692 data-file-height=2964 v:shapes="_x0000_i1048">
On January 2nd,
Wouter Van Bellingen became the first black registrar in Belgium.
When Wouter Van Bellingen became the first black registrar in Belgium, he knew there would be negative
reactions, but he admitted that he didn't expect them to be "so direct, so
soon." In February, three couples refused to pledge their wedding vows in
front of the first black alderman of the city of Sint-Niklaas, because of the colour of
his skin. After the racist incident, Van Bellingen told himself:
"If people don't want to marry, then that's not my problem, it's the
problem of those people."
But then someone gave him the idea to react
with a positive signal against racial discrimination. Together with local NGOs
and the Center for Equal Opportunities and against Racial Discrimination, he
decided to organise a multicultural group marriage happening to, as mayor of
Sint-Niklaas Freddy Willockx describes it, "forge this stupid racist behaviour
into an unparallelled positive signal against racism and for tolerance."
Contents
[hide]
· 1 A positive signal against racism
· 2 It started small
· 3 The couples
· 4 Multicultural activities during the event
· 5 The 5 challenges
· 6 The event in pictures
· 7 Related news
A positive signal against racism
Wouter Van
Bellingen with on his left side mayor Freddy Willockx.
Mayor Willockx told the press about when he
first heard about the 3 couples: "I was angry and ashamed that there were
such people." He elaborated: "We are not a racist city. 400 meters
from here is a center for immigrants, which was installed without contestation
from the city council, in spite of fruitless attempts from an intolerant party
to set people up against installation of the center."
When asked about the role of the far-right
political party Vlaams Belang, Van Bellingen told
Wikinews: "It's true that a climate of fear has been created, but to blame
it on a single party would be too easy. It's the responsibility of all
parties." Van Bellingen wants to be the councilor of civilian affairs for
all citizens, "not just for those who voted for me."
Although Van Bellingen too denies Sint-Niklaas is a racist
city, he is often reminded of the colour of his skin. Mayor Willockx gave the
example of an incident last Friday, when someone refused to serve him a plate
of mussels, because the person mistook the deputy for a waiter.
It started small
A spokeswoman for the organising committee
told the press that it all started with a "nice little idea" to have
a mass wedding event on March 21, the U.N.-declared International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination. However, they were "really surprised
that the event became something huge."
Couples who wanted to renew their vows or
pledge them for the first time could register on the event website. Stijn De
Maeyer, a volunteer working on the registrations, told Wikinews that they had
to close the online registration when some 692 couples had registered, because
of logistic limitations. On the evening itself, he estimated that 1 out of 3
couples who showed up hadn't registered beforehand. There were couples from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and even a couple from Norway.
Some of the Belgian couples were immigrants from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Kosovo,
according to De Maeyer.
The couples
' class=thumbimage
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data-file-width=2000 data-file-height=3008 v:shapes="_x0000_i1050">
Kiss in front of
the City Hall of Sint-Niklaas.
While singer Axl Peleman, who demonstrated
his concern about racial discrimination in Flanderson the 0110 concerts last October, opened the podium, the
couples began to register on the city's Market Square.
The symbolic wedding pledge was open to
anyone, from any culture, age, or sexual preference. For Van Bellingen,
"Every person who lives in Flanders is
Flemish, it doesn't matter if you live here for a month or for
generations."
The couples were from all ages and all
layers of society. Some came in their original wedding costume or dress, to
relive the moment of their marriage. Even a group of children from a local primary
school came to vow eternal fidelity to a classmate.
One duo queuing for the registration were
two undercover reporters from the Dutch television, who wanted to become
"the two first heterosexual men to be wed by a black registrar in Belgium".
At the end of the evening, they threw their wedding bouquet off the main stage,
shouting: "Whoever catches this, is not a racist."
Multicultural activities during the event
Drummers from the
group "The African Stage".
Van Bellingen
enjoys some of the Arab tea.
Several organisations promoting diversity
provided free soup and Arab mint tea to warm the attendees in the rain and
cold. Ahmed Hanouch from the sociocultural youth organisation Hidâya told
Wikinews: "As new Belgians, we all are looked at differently from time to
time. Then we get the feeling we are second-class citizens. The solution is to
be open-minded about cultures, like during this event."
For Ahmed, an event like this one would be
welcome each year. Van Bellingen however told the press: "At the end of
the evening, I will drink a pint, and get on with my life."
On the main stage, several performers from
the collective "The African Stage" entertained the growing crowd.
Speeches, songs and dancing strengthened the message of diversity that the
organisation wanted to send.
Several comedy acts followed, such as
"Joeri", a Flemish television character. To warm up the crowd to say
"I do", he set the example for registrar Van Bellingen by wedding a
special couple; who lived in Sint-Niklaas with their children and who are both deaf. Joeri was assisted by an interpreter
for the deaf, who was present all day at the request of Van Bellingen, whose
father became deaf some years before he died.
The 5 challenges
style='background-position-x:0%;background-position-y:100%' class=thumbimage
srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_18.jpg/225px-Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_18.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_18.jpg/300px-Sint-Niklaas_gaat_vreemd_18.jpg 2x"
data-file-width=2000 data-file-height=3008 v:shapes="_x0000_i1055">
This Turkish man
and his Roma colleague pose in front of a cake with a black and white hand
shaking, a symbol for the event.
From left to
right: the interpreter for the deaf, the deaf couple, Joeri and host Dimitri
Leue, known in Flanders from the culture
project W@=D@ .
Wouter and his
wife.
The culmination of the event came when Van
Bellingen held a final speech on the stage, and then started with the symbolic
wedding ceremony. He built up the excitement during his speech, explaining that
"excitement is important in a relationship."
The ceremony was planned for about 8 p.m.,
but was postponed to allow as many as possible of the couples that turned up to
register. Van Bellingen then joined in holy matrimony well over 700 couples. He
then demonstrated to the couples how to kiss the bride, by kissing his own
wife, with whom he has 2 children. The next challenge, a big group hug on the Market Square,
wasn't a problem after the kisses.
At that moment, the Flemish radio station
Radio 2 took over and started a live DJ set, playing the songs the couples had
voted for. The number one wedding dance wasn't Bryan Adams or Clouseau, but Ik hou van u (I love you) by Noordkaap, a song that already proved
popular in 2005 when it was reworked for the celebration of the 175th
anniversary of the state of Belgium.
For the final challenge, those who like
international food could select from the wedding buffet, with desserts provided
by local communities such as the Turkish,
Syrian, Moroccon and
Roma societies, by organisations such as the Red Cross immigration center. There were also
desserts from Mexico, Chile and from the Hare Krishna. Together with a wedding cake for 750
people, the organisation hoped to provide for enough desserts for all present,
and to end the wedding party in beauty.
The event in pictures
Are the Belgians racist?
"I'm not a racist, but ..." is the title of a poll
commissioned by the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism.
EU threatens to withdraw from UN racism conference
Row over Belgian football racism
Vlaams Belang supremo files complaint against YouTube
FN party chairman quits over racist video
The majority of those polled accept
that we live in a multicultural society, but many have problems with certain
aspects of multiculturalism.
More than half of the 1,392 Belgians polled said that they never had contact
with people from a different ethnic origin. This group claim neither positive
nor negative experiences with foreigners.
People living in the city come into more frequent contact with other cultures
and are more positive and open to multiculturalism. The director of the Centre
for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism Jozef De Witte points out that
this is very positive.
"The most remarkable conclusion (of the poll) is that Belgians are more
tolerant of ethnic minorities the more they come into contact with them."
Further, 55 percent of those polled said that they think the presence of
different cultures in Belgium enriches society.
Two out of three Belgians polled said that people from all races are equal. One
third thinks that some races are more talented than others.
The poll confirms a number of clichés. More than a third of Belgians think that
people of an ethnic minority get unemployment benefits easier than Belgians.
Half of those polled blame the growing crime rate on the presence of the
foreigners in Belgium.
International Day
for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was
established in 1966, following the massacre of young students peacefully
protesting against apartheid laws in South Africa.
Proclaiming the International Day, the United Nations General Assembly called
upon the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms
of racial discrimination.
website
flandersnews.be/Expatica
8
reactions to this article
andy posted: 2012-01-03
19:00:23
the problem
with belgians is they dont know what racism means,as far as the majority of
belgians go its a matter of they are not racist as long as the people think,act
and dress the same as me. the system itself has a lot to blame for that
though,i have had a lorry driver drive me off the road when driving a foreign
car and when police were called they asked,what do u expect us to do?,i have
actual recordings of a doctor saying that belgium is sick of foreigners coming
here expecting help and the best thing would be to ,,,go home,though the
department in belgium for anti discrimination advised us to get a lawyer they
themself decided it was not in anyones intrest to follow through with a
prosecution?basically belgium is the country that hosts the european union so
would hate to be accused of such blatant racism but please note,bulgaria has
just been admitted to the european community,prostitutes can work legally there
but engineers cant? and who says the good old days of pimping are over.
paul posted: 2012-01-30
12:23:25
Yup, a funny
bunch all right. I was regularly hooted at by truck drivers for no apparent
reason (must've been my UK plates). My wife went into a bank and they were nice as pie until she spoke
English, at which point they got nasty and accused her of pushing in front of
the queue. I was openly hated by one of my Belgian colleagues who would
complain loudly about me from the other side of the desk (he didn't know I
understood Flemish) and yet still smile at me and shake my hand every morning.
I was told by a Belgian that all Belgian's are two-faced, which was interesting
coming from a local. Was glad to leave and hope never to return. Some genuinely
nice people there, but the country is too weird for my tastes.
andy posted: 2012-02-05
18:03:03
well jusy an
update on the last posting,being a foreigner in Belgium gets even worse,due to
increased crime in this time of economic depression we have been asked by our
local police to request visitors to our home to park their foreign registered
cars in the centre of town and to walk to our home in order to ease the worries
of neighbours in the street who feel ill at ease?. I know its hard to believe
but over the christmas and new year period we actually had family and friends
visit which has led to a visit from our landlords and the local police,non due
to noise,parking,or any other disturbances,only that the belgian mentality is
such it worries about such things but for the actual police to get involved and
make such requests is beyond belief,specially in this day and age,i wonder what
would happen if the police in the UK or anywhere else did as such?
Vik posted: 2012-11-16 12:27:02
Yes its
unfortunate, i have faced racism and comments on being a brown. Its funny how
people talk about you in local language and thinking you do not understand a
thing.
Thankfully leaving the country soon. But i did meet some nice people too - but
was rare.
WeDontHateYou posted: 2013-07-30
14:32:30
I'm Belgian and
I think everyone is unique, despite what country he or she lives in. I think
everyone has qualities and should have the same chances in society. There are
some flaws in the system but that's not the people who uses the flaws their
fault. It's the system or government's fault. If I don't smile or look at you
on the street it's because I'm already thinking what I'm going to have for
dinner or I think of family and freinds.. Or I'm just tired from work and want
to be left alone.. We're quite introvert you know. No hard feelings... It's our
culture. We don't hate you. :-) On the contrary. Tell me about your culture,
and I'll gladly listen to you. Just, make an appointment first, lol. By the
way, "are THE Belgians racist" is indirectly aimed at me, which is
stereotypical generalization... it makes me wonder who's the real racist... :-(
Abhishek posted: 2013-12-18
15:10:01
I live in Belgium for 3
years
Wendy posted: 2014-03-27
23:43:01
After living in Belgium for 4 years, having
lived in Zwitzerland, Netherlands and England before, I have to say I cannot wait to leave and it is long overdue. I feel
very dissapointed in the Belgium people as human beings. Extremely selfish, money driven, highly cynical,
un-human people. With exceptions of course. Incapable of expressing positive
genuine emotions, even towards loved ones and friends. The attitude in regards
to emigrants, I would not call it Racism simply because they even hate white
people of other nationalities. I would call it extremist Nationalism, passed
down long and heavy through generations, even affecting the children. They have
no respect for other cultures as human beings, and view them as simple
"allowed" into the country to basically do the jobs that they do not
want to do, "GOOD WORKERS"... or im sure you reader can find another
word to fill in that blank. There is something extremely un-human about Belgium. And
mind you I was and still am, granted a little affected by these 4 years, but
still am a very positive and kind person. But their behaviour is simple
unacceptable. And Zwart Piet should be banned by the human rights. It is NOT
humourous/entertaining. It is a disrespectful, disgraceful, display that
reflects perfectly the Belgium collective mentality.
JohnBeton posted: 2014-05-14
13:54:58
Sad to hear
that, Wendy, I'm a Belgian and the Belgian mentality is quite two-faced. Nice
in your face but you never know what they really think until their own
"friendliness" is about to force them into doing something their real
mind doesn't want to do. One thing though, do not hate on Zwarte Piet, quite
sick of non-Dutch or non-Belgians dissing this tradition. It's based on an
ancient Bishop who did exist and did free slaves. However, these days nobody
sees Zwarte Piet as a black human but as a magical being that just happens to
be black. Not a damn thing racist about it. You wouldn't call elves/gnomes
racist expression against people with dwarfism would you? Want to ban gnomes
from the world?
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8
http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/dutch-news/Are-the-Belgians-racist__50941.html
Years ago, Karel De Gucht, the present
European Commissioner for Trade, referred to Kofi Annan, then Secretary General
of the UN on TV as an “Évolué” which was the term colonial Belgians used to
refer to the Congolese who had “evolved” and become more westernized
(i.e. “civilized”). “Évolués” had to do exams to show how “civilized” they had
become and got certificates if they passed. De Gucht meant of course that Annan
was not your “typical African.” Was there an outrage? No. “De Gucht was not
being disparaging. He was praising Kofi Annan,” was the usual response.
In
2007, when Barack Obama was running for US president, there was a question
about him on Canvascrack, a popular national TV quiz show. The question was the
technical term for a child of mixed parentage. The phrasing was a lot more
offensive than I have suggested (Obama is the son of a N**** from Kenya and a
white mother, etcetera). The answer was “Mulato.” I expected someone in the
audience to stand up and call the quiz master to order. No one did. The show
went on as normal. I wrote a piece denouncing it. Not only was the question
wrong, but of all things to ask on Obama, it had to be that? I got a few
comments from well meaning Belgians who told me that “mulato” and the “N word”
are not as historically charged in Belgium as in other parts of the
world and are therefore not offensive terms. I was told not to be too quick in
seeing offense. And a friend of the quizmaster told me what a lovely person he
really was.
When I was a city councillor in Turnhout,
Belgium, a colleague, upset at our Mayor’s expectation that we toe the
line said, “we are not all N****s that we just nod. We are thinking
humans!” The colleague who said this, I must admit, is one of the nicest people
I know. He always gave me rides to meetings and so on but once he said that, it
became obvious to me that he did not think we were equals. I mentioned this in
an article I wrote a while ago and again, I got mails from people telling me
about how it was not a racist thing to say, that it has been in use for a long
time and that really there is a historical context for this. In the 60s, cars
had bobbing black heads, and I shouldn’t be quick to take offense. And did not
I say my colleague was a nice man?
When
the leading Belgian newspaper De Morgen, which styles itself as progressive,
published an image of Obama and his wife as chimps and passed it off as satire, they did
not expect a backlash. They assumed that their readers would laugh and move on,
and it would be business as usual. This assumption was rooted in two facts:
The
first is that as a block, black people in Belgium have no political or
economic voice and are therefore of very little consequence. They were not high
on De Morgen’s consideration list when they published
that article. There are no black newscasters (to my knowledge); very few black
journalists (certain none in De Morgen as
far as I know); my children were never taught by black teachers; I never saw a
black bank clerk. There might be a black police man in Brussels,
I have never seen any anywhere in Belgium. In fact, when Turnhout got
its first black cab driver (about five years ago), we rejoiced.
The
second fact is that there is a certain level of racial dementia in Belgium. There
is an inability to judge what is racially offensive and what is not. Belgium has
never confronted its colonial past and has therefore never moved on from it.
There is a statue celebrating Leopold despite the atrocities he committed in
the Congo. Zwarte
Piet (with the black face, red lips and the kinky wig, reminiscent of the
golliwog, so popular in neighboring Netherlands that even the Prime Minister gets into blackface)
is considered a national treasure in Belgium.
Employers
can say (and have said) “I do not want a black worker” without much fear of
punishment. (Here’s a
variation on that excuse.) The black immigrant is still expected to be grateful
for the chance to live in Belgium and eat at the “Massa’s
table” and not ruffle feathers.
Things
will only change when Belgium realizes that no country is an island, that there are consequences for actions
and that yes, the world has moved on. The media outcry outside Belgiumat De
Morgen’s misguided racist satire (and the apology from De
Morgen) is already a start. The act of apologizing is a big step in
the right direction (if only because as far as I know, this is the first time a
Belgian media outlet has ever acknowledged, much less apologized for being
offensive) even if the apology itself leaves a lot to be desired.
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63 thoughts on “Belgiumis an insular country. It
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1. Jessica on March
27, 2014 at 4:42 pm said:
Reply ↓
I’m
glad the rest of the world is starting to take notice of Belgium. I
doubt their viewpoints of ‘outsiders’ will change much though. I lived there
for 18 years as an immigrant. I learned the language fluently, worked, and even
made some good friends. However, contrary to the US where I’m from, I observed no
possibility of self criticism or insight in most Flemish people I encountered,
almost universally. The only reaction to any objective observation was met with
hostility, defensiveness, or some kind of attack on my character or country of
origin. Racism is in the eye of the offended party, not the person committing
the act. You can talk till you’re blue in the face about Zwarte Piet’s soot, it
won’t change how others experience your actions. The question to truly ask is
why the opinions of Americans, or Belgians of color, or even the president of
the free world don’t mean anything to the average Flemish person? I’m very
offended at what was done to my president in De Morgen and by Radio 1 and I
refuse to believe those in charge were too stupid to know any better, why
shouldn’t my feelings count enough for the Flemish to care about it? Is it maybe
because I am not seen as equal to them? To all the commenters who can’t see the
harm, what you’re really admitting is that you believe you are worth more as a
human being than those who are offended. That IS racism and it is apparently
very deep. The comments about this topic (and Sinterklaas) around the web only
prove this point. If you keep fighting so hard for your right to be racists,
that’s exactly what you’ll be called.
2. qwesi.gh on March
27, 2014 at 9:39 pm said:
Reply ↓
The
only language many Europeans understand is violence. Unfortunately, somehow , i
feel our over-dependence on them gives them this urge. Africa has been too silent and accepting.
3. Edwin on March
28, 2014 at 2:44 am said:
Reply ↓
I am
from Belgium.
And I can tell you Belgians are not like this at all. Do not insult an entire
country for interpretations of words from individuals. Thank you.
o Johan on May
21, 2014 at 10:09 am said:
Reply ↓
Wierd article.
Edwin: you’re being a anti-belgium racist mate. I am pretty sure I can find a
lot of quotes from lots of different countries / people / politicians /
tv-presenters / etc from everywhere in the world allowing me to conclude
whatever I want and generalise an entire population of a collection of those
events. This is exactly what happens when you start generalising / becoming a
racist. And what you seem to dislike from others doing to you, is actually the
same thing you are doing to others.
4. gus on March
28, 2014 at 5:13 am said:
Reply ↓
Well
well…, although I also cannot tolerate the images that were published in ‘de
Morgen’, putting the ‘racist idiots’ stamp on a whole country is simply too
generalising… it’s not because some idiots say or do things that these facts
apply to a whole country.
Please
check your facts…
You
could also have written about the manner the politics have dealt with the
racist politic party ‘vlaams blok’, they were simply ruled out by manner of
blocking them off in what was called a ‘cordon sanitaire’, meaning all politic
parties simply refused talking with them;
The
‘zwarte piet’ affaire you describe is not what it looks like at all: the REAL
story / legend is this: a catholic saint comes every year (6th december)
bringing gifts to all children, he walks over the roofs of the houses on a
horse, an drops the presents through the chimney. To be able to do this job, he
has the help of boys who climb through the chimney, because the chimneys are
covered with coal, the boys faces are black… thus: this is not a racist
picturing of black people, but simply a ‘piece of theatre’. The zwarte piet’ is
not a racist stereotype, it’s a white boy that goes down a chimney and gets his
face dirty… It’s is not Al Jolson, it’s Oliver twist….
You
could also have written about the way the belgian citizens have conducted
during World War II, hiding and helping thousands of jew people with disregard
of their own lives.
You
could also wave written about the brave boys who where the only ones to have
stopped a train going to the Auswitch camps, rescuing hundreds of jews going to
a certain death…
You
could also have written about the fact that our prime minister is a/ coming
from immigrant family and b/ is gay.
Racism
is a bad thing, it’s all over the place. Don’t just point the finger and judge
ALL people. That’s racist too…
5. Laza on March
28, 2014 at 6:12 am said:
Reply ↓
I
live and work in the UK.
Recently I worked in Belgium for a year commuting bank and forth regularly.
After working in Belgium for a few months, I started to notice how casual racism is ingrained in the
society. Some of my colleagues who are brilliant and lovely in all other ways
would make casual racist comments completely unaware that these comments are
offensive and wrong. Sometimes even in meetings followed with a laughter. I
sometimes I wondered whether my colleagues genuinely thought they were superior
to other races or they just simply got used to making casual racist remarks…
Slowly,
I started to notice that in Belgium I struggled to find couples of different races like you would in the UK, for
example. Also other than official get together like school, work and transport
you would struggle to find people of different races doing social activities
together… like say… a group of young friends from different races having a
drink at the bar, or friends from different races having lunch at a restaurant.
This
is really shocking when you imagine the number of international organisations
having headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
It
felt to me as if the world moved on and left Belgium behind.
6. Dani on March
28, 2014 at 8:07 am said:
Reply ↓
You
seem to forget that in Belgium,
immigration from non-European countries like Morocco only started 50 years ago, and most immigrants from black Africa only arrived during the last 10-15 years. Because of this, they often don’t
speak the local language yet and have very little affinity with European
culture. Before this rather recent immigration wave, Belgium was almost
exclusively white, unlike the US where different races have been living
together for centuries and share the same language and culture.
If you say there are very few black people in public positions like
newscasters, bank clerks etc…. this has often more to do with the fact that
they’re so new here rather than with race. Turkish and Moroccan people, who
have been living here for a generation longer than most black Africans, are
often working as politicians, journalists and are speaking the local language
fluently since the younger generation grew up here. Besides, have you ever
heard about Wouter Van Bellingen (Flemish politician) or Sandrine Van
Handenhoven (newscaster)? Both are black, but one was adopted by a Belgian
family and the other was born in Belgium. Sandrine’s mother
(Congolese) was even prosecuted and put in prison by a Congolese judge because
she wanted to marry a white man, something like that would be unthinkable in Belgium.
So I’m truly sorry for you if you feel offended by certain things you’ve seen
or heard in the press, but just be careful before calling a whole country like
Belgium racist or backward, cause then you’re doing the same thing you don’t
want people to do to you (classifying people and judging a whole group)
Besides, I also think that the Obama cartoon was very offensive, personally I’m
a big fan of Barack Obama. But then again, when Bush was in power, there were
also cartoons published in progressive news papers where his facial expressions
where compared to those of a chimp…
I personally think you’re overreacting about a lot of things and putting them
out of context in order to create a very negative atmosphere about Belgians,
which is not very nice.
7. Dani on March
28, 2014 at 8:15 am said:
Reply ↓
Besides,
I agree that Leopold II did horrible things in Congo and should not be remembered
in a positive way. On this, I’m sure most Belgians would agree, as his crimes
have been exposed in the media more than once.
Employers in Belgium are not allowed to refuse job candidates based on ethnicity or they will face
legal charges. Only, it’s sometimes very hard to prove if a racist boss refuses
to hire a candidate only because of the skin color, they could easily give
another false reason. But things like this happen everywhere!
8. Pepijn on March
28, 2014 at 8:57 am said:
Reply ↓
The
Anglo-Saxons and their fake political correctness. Please get a life.
By
the way in Belgium foreigners can vote, which is not the case in many western countries. Not a
very racist thing to have in place.
9. Jim on March
28, 2014 at 1:56 pm said:
Reply ↓
Maybe
you should crawl out of your little box, and look at it all – from a non racist
perspective.
10. Ptrice van de Walle on March
28, 2014 at 3:18 pm said:
Reply ↓
The
lack of understanding in Belgium about how racism works always surprises me. The picture in De Morgen, even as
an attack/joke directed towards Putin, is highly offensive. How people can try
to justify that I don’t know.
o Dani on March
28, 2014 at 5:34 pm said:
Reply ↓
I agree that the
picture was offensive and the paper apologized for it afterwards, but can you
explain to me why a picture of Obama compared to a chimp is racist but a
picture of Bush compared to a chimp is not racist? If you think one is racist
but the other is not, doesn’t that mean you’re the one who’s implying that
black people look more like monkeys than white people?
§Ste on March 28, 2014 at 6:18 pm said:
@Dani: The reason is
because black people have been portrayed as/called apes and monkeys as a way to
make them seem less than human for centuries, while whites haven’t been. The
thinking that blacks were not quite people was used by colonialists to justify
slavery – and is used by some non-blacks to justify continued discrimination
against blacks. This has not happened to whites as a race, to my knowledge. The
false equivalency often comes up as a feeble argument in questions like, “If
there’s an International Women’s Day, why not have an International Men’s Day?”
The reason, of one thinks even a little, is that every other day is
International Men’s Day: men earn more than women for the same jobs, outstrip
women in positions exponentially (despite females being the majority in most
countries), and have not had their accomplishments ignored throughout history
(as women have). A little critical thinking is necessary here…
§Ptrice van de Walle on March 29, 2014 at 4:16 am said:
I agree with Dani.
This is all about cultural communications. Fans around the football fields of Europe make monkey noises and ape gestures and throw
bananas onto the field. I have never heard of a white player thinking that it
was directed at him. Monkey gestures, noises and thrown bananas are thus
explicitly understood by white players to not be directed towards them. The
fans also know that as do the black players.
Using Dani’s gender example: the words “master” and “mistress” originally meant
the same thing, albeit one was for the lady of the manor the other for the man
of the manor. Today “mistress” has a sexual connotation. It’s just words and
their meanings that change over time depending on how people use them. To hide
behind that and use these loaded (and racist) symbols is very dangerous and De
Morgen should have known better.
Another example: Throwing a shoe at Bush was a huge symbol and insult in the
Muslim world. But it was not taken seriously by Bush, his entourage and the
western media (other than as a petty act of aggression).
§Johan on May 21, 2014 at 10:22 am said:
I agree with you
Dani 100%. Sometimes a joke about people can become racism just because someone
wants to interprete it that way. If you feel everybody is equal, then there’s
no issue to have some fun / make a joke with / about your neighbour. E.g. the
way someone speaks funny english, e.g. some french people. I e.g. have been
asked if there’s electricity/light in my country. Sometimes a joke is intended
to be funny, nothing else. But sometimes some people really want to see racism,
especially when they assume ALL people from belgium are racists.
11. Maarten Frans Julia
Coertjens-Magazin on March
30, 2014 at 4:42 pm said:
Reply ↓
Quite
true, throughout our education system people from southern continents were always
portrayed as ‘poor’, ‘uneducated/stupid’. And in need of help, those ‘arme
zwartjes’. So never as equals. Oh, and our development organisations used to
organise those classes in school. Maybe time for Belgium and the wider development
sector to reflect on their contribution to today’s racism.
12. Monday Midnite on April
11, 2014 at 1:42 am said:
Reply ↓
The
war against the despicable and gruesome evil called RACISM that still
continuously thrives in almost every nook and cranny of the globe will not be
won via the parochial prism of unfounded generalization. Wise to always keep in
mind that generalization in itself, is, in most cases, extremely deceptive and
possesses a highly potent and contagiously venomous sting that’s capable of
paralyzing all senses of rational and objectivity.
Trivializing
and shrouding the realistically demoralizing impact of racism on black folks
under the guise of linguistic and cultural misunderstanding as some have
laughably attempted to do in their comments here will not contribute an ounce
of gun powder to the ammunition depot of the war against racism either.
As
an outspoken, sensitive, uncompromising, injustice despising and equity loving
black man who has shared most of his life between the United States and
Belgium, the indelible physical and psychological scars of racism that I’ve had
to bear over several decades on both sides of the isle, and the excruciating
pain of the fresh emotional racial wounds I suffered as recent as last month,
are heart-wrenching and visibly towering.
But
does that mean that I should discard with my sense of objectivity and yield to
temporary amnesia when it comes to accurately distinguishing between sunshine
and rain? Should my agonizing pain automatically obliterate my fundamental
educational ability to separate the wheat from the chaff? We must always
endeavor to call a spade a spade, let the truth be the truth, and never allow
our eagerness to unleash years of internalized and accumulative racial torments
we’ve suffered to cloud our faculty of sound judgment.
Even
under the blazing and scotching sun, we should never forget the cool breeze
that soothes us intermittently.
Yes,
there’s no iota of doubt in my mind that the depiction of the most powerful
couple on the face of the earth as apes by De Morgen was horrible, deplorable
and it irked me to the bone….still does….in a way none of my white sisters and
brothers will ever truly comprehend….coz, as the authentic lyrics of Bob Marley
affirms, “who feels it knows it.” But to categorically condemn ALL BELGIANS as
racists on account of the insensitive and uncivilized action of one print media
is not only blatantly preposterous and a gross violation of the rule of
fairness, but also dangerously counter-productive.
Is
there racism in Belgium?
ABSOLUTELY. Are ALL Belgians Racists? ABSOLUTELY NOT. And anyone who thinks
otherwise definitely need to get his or her head examined.
13. Mr_K on April
20, 2014 at 4:33 pm said:
Reply ↓
Belgiumis a racist country
and every black man who has worked there will tell you that. I will not piss
there any day . Racists Bigots. They stole from Africa and stood by when Rwandans butchered each other. Mate, move to the UK . At least
we have rights here and most of the things Belgians consider not racists will
be unlawful in this country.
o Johan on May
21, 2014 at 10:12 am said:
Reply ↓
Mr K. Calling an
entire state something, e.g. racist bigots, is racism.
o Johan on May
21, 2014 at 10:13 am said:
Reply ↓
Oops… now I feel a
huge amount of racist / angry / insultant comments coming my way
http://africasacountry.com/belgium-is-an-insular-country-it-lives-like-history-happens-outside-of-it/
Finlandand belgium are the most racist countries on earth.
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GunboatDiplomat
36 POSTED: 28 June 2010 9:41 am
Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 697
Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Therumancer:
See, I'm one of those guys who feels that a big problem we're dealing with is that minorities in the US, and by this I don't mean just Blacks though they are the most visable and vocal group, basically have a hatred for society and the majority (ie whites) crammed down their throat pretty much with their mother's milk. They come up in a culture that glorifies crime, violence, hatred, and yes racism. It presents conformity and education as bad things, with death being preferable to fitting in and falling into the rut most people exist in. Any bit of power a person can get, or is given, needs to be waved in someone's face in the most obnoxious fashion possible, and if someone doesn't have any power... well that's what guns are for, and if you yourself get gunned down dying is better than the alternative....
...Rather it's minority cultures bringing a lot of this upon themselves through their own attitudes and behavior....
...Basically if you have 80% (or whatever the last estimate was) of a given population acting like thugs....
Holy crap, I vote for whatever country you're from as being the most racist. The 'analysis' and sentiment being expressed here would be seen by most european sociologists as being blatantly racist mainly because it is compeletely blind to the current institutional racism of the state in the US and its deep deep roots which is, err, blindingly obvious to most of the rest of the world.
Also for a 'sociologist' I love the way you quantify 'thuggish' behaviour. Real scientific.
I also think Ireland should be WAY further up that list - although I'm only basing this on personal anecdotal evidence - immigrants* being regularly spat at, racist ephithets being shouted at, stones being thrown at - all of which have been really comon sights on the streets of dublin the past few years. Plus I'm sure the whole sectarian thing in the north would really skew the figures for the island as a whole.
*I once talked to a young french woman who was abused on a bus - when I commented her being 'mediteranean looking' may have been a factor she retorted 'but I'm white!' Not white enough for Dublin apparently...
Therumancer
37 POSTED: 28 June 2010 11:45 am
Citation Needed
Posts: 10554
Joined: 28 Nov 2007 GunboatDiplomat:
Therumancer:
See, I'm one of those guys who feels that a big problem we're dealing with is that minorities in the US, and by this I don't mean just Blacks though they are the most visable and vocal group, basically have a hatred for society and the majority (ie whites) crammed down their throat pretty much with their mother's milk. They come up in a culture that glorifies crime, violence, hatred, and yes racism. It presents conformity and education as bad things, with death being preferable to fitting in and falling into the rut most people exist in. Any bit of power a person can get, or is given, needs to be waved in someone's face in the most obnoxious fashion possible, and if someone doesn't have any power... well that's what guns are for, and if you yourself get gunned down dying is better than the alternative....
...Rather it's minority cultures bringing a lot of this upon themselves through their own attitudes and behavior....
...Basically if you have 80% (or whatever the last estimate was) of a given population acting like thugs....
Holy crap, I vote for whatever country you're from as being the most racist. The 'analysis' and sentiment being expressed here would be seen by most european sociologists as being blatantly racist mainly because it is compeletely blind to the current institutional racism of the state in the US and its deep deep roots which is, err, blindingly obvious to most of the rest of the world.
Also for a 'sociologist' I love the way you quantify 'thuggish' behaviour. Real scientific.
I also think Ireland should be WAY further up that list - although I'm only basing this on personal anecdotal evidence - immigrants* being regularly spat at, racist ephithets being shouted at, stones being thrown at - all of which have been really comon sights on the streets of dublin the past few years. Plus I'm sure the whole sectarian thing in the north would really skew the figures for the island as a whole.
*I once talked to a young french woman who was abused on a bus - when I commented her being 'mediteranean looking' may have been a factor she retorted 'but I'm white!' Not white enough for Dublin apparently...
Well, I'd argue the European sociologists would be ignoring their own science to make a national statement rather than get to the facts. I say this because Europeans especially those from the UK frequently talk about "Chavs" and the problem they represent, using a lot of the same arguements and statistics. The problem basically being a self perpetuating sub culture that is difficult to single out and target because of other moral policies within society. Heck, I've even seem polls here with people calling Chavs the lowest form of human life and saying they should be rubbed out, met with a massive cheering section from Europeans and oftentimes explanations about what exactly a "Chav" is.
The only real differance is that in the US the subculture I'm talking about draws lines along race on it's own. Things like rap and hip-hop music also perpetuate this division, and the lifestyle itself. Believe it or not the majority of that music you hear on radio stations in sandbox crime games is not made up just for those games, but popular music that was liscenced for use.
I suppose to some extent it might also be a lack of awareness, just as a lot of people in the US don't really know what a "Chav" is, a lot of Europeans probably don't have the same kinds of issues the US does. I for example don't see much "gangsta rap" coming in from overseas.
Nor do I hear about European recording artists argueing about who is more of a "real criminal". In the US we've literally had rap entertainers comparing their prison records and busts to prove who was more of a thug/criminal/lifestyler. Guys like 50 Cent have made having attempted assinations against them by rival criminals a big part of their marketing appeal. One of the things that actually seemed to help the career of Shawn "Puffy" Combs (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, etc...) was him having been in a gun fight in a nightclub when he was dating Jennifer Lopez, leading to big arguements about what role she played, and if she was responsible for throwing the gun used out a car window. This case didn't go anywhere, but this is the kind of stuff that perpetuates the subculture, and sells CDs.
Heck, some of the "rap music" I've heard seems to largely be one
group of rappers more or less insulting other groups based on who is more
"real".
Also sometime look up "Gang Dossiers" (search words) and it can be a real eye opener if somehow your unaware of this.
Also let me be blunt about something else, anyone who calls ANY of this stuff racist has no clue, or is trying to play semantics games based on a politically correct re-definition. To be a racist you must believe that one ethnicity is superior, or inferior to another on an inherant level. If I was to say that Blacks were genetically pre-disposed towards violence and crime and nothing could change that, then it would be a racist statement. In this case however I'm talking about behaviors and cultures that perpetuate them. I very much believe that things can be changed, where if I was a racist I would believe that it wouldn't be possible do to the intristic traits of the minorities we're looking at. Or simply put if "most European sociologists" would call me a racist, it would mean that they are arguably incompetant and have no idea what racism actually is.
letterbomber223
38 POSTED: 28 June 2010 12:24 pm
BANNED
Posts: 874
Joined: 21 Jun 2010 Bullshit. They aren't perfect but there many, many far worse places.
Zimbabwe, anyone?
User was banned for: The Escapist Is...Features. (Permanent)
Agema
39 POSTED: 28 June 2010 12:32 pm
Master Archivist
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Posts: 8665
Joined: 3 Mar 2009 Therumancer:
The only real differance is that in the US the subculture I'm talking about draws lines along race on it's own. Things like rap and hip-hop music also perpetuate this division, and the lifestyle itself. Believe it or not the majority of that music you hear on radio stations in sandbox crime games is not made up just for those games, but popular music that was liscenced for use.
A sociologist - of any nationality - would do a lot more than observe current culture. They'd also ask why the culture is that way.
It's hardly a stretch to think that a black subculture based around criminality exists because blacks have for so long been treated as criminals by wider society, or taken to crime as it presented the best opportunity for them to thrive. If you treat people as outcasts, there's a good chance they may behave like outcasts.
The argument might go that slavery and racism has left black society an enduring legacy of lower opportunities: poverty, worse education, slum-dwelling. Endemic and sometimes institutionalised racism and injustice has made many feel like despised outsiders in their own country, which has left them little motivation to trust, like or admire their own country, the country's institutions, or the race who they may consider have oppressed them and still do.
Considering these elements, it would at best be a skin-deep sociological analysis to write off the race as the authors of their own downfall. Individuals and societies have deep roots. At worst, it's certainly an act of racism to dismiss any potential faults of one's own race to heap all the blame on the other.
Arsen
40 POSTED: 28 June 2010 12:36 pm
Gone Gonzo
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Posts: 2603
Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Why is it that everytime people want to be theirselves and have their own kind living in their own lands, nations, etc... people automatically throw out the racial tirades? Seriously... somebody give me a genuine remark on this.
GunboatDiplomat
41 POSTED: 28 June 2010 12:38 pm
Infamous Scribbler
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anyone who calls ANY of this stuff racist has no clue, or is trying to play semantics games based on a politically correct re-definition. To be a racist you must believe that one ethnicity is superior, or inferior to another on an inherant level. If I was to say that Blacks were genetically pre-disposed towards violence and crime and nothing could change that, then it would be a racist statement. In this case however I'm talking about behaviors and cultures that perpetuate them.
Nonsense, you don't have to promote eugenics to promote racism. You present a derogatory caricature of 'black culture' in america as promoting and being full of gangsters and thugs with no interest in self improvement and thus responsible for their own oppression. In reality the history of black culture in america is full of contradictions, of beauty and ugliness, pain and joy, creativity and ignorance - like any culture - with an exceptionally long and proud history of struggle against oppression.
So your views are not eugenics - just one step away - but your caricature IS racist.
For any european reading this who would like to know more I suggest starting with the autobiography of malcolm x.
FlameUnquenchable
42 POSTED: 28 June 2010 12:39 pm
Pulitzer Laureate
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Therumancer:
GunboatDiplomat:
Therumancer:
See, I'm one of those guys who feels that a big problem we're dealing with is that minorities in the US, and by this I don't mean just Blacks though they are the most visable and vocal group, basically have a hatred for society and the majority (ie whites) crammed down their throat pretty much with their mother's milk. They come up in a culture that glorifies crime, violence, hatred, and yes racism. It presents conformity and education as bad things, with death being preferable to fitting in and falling into the rut most people exist in. Any bit of power a person can get, or is given, needs to be waved in someone's face in the most obnoxious fashion possible, and if someone doesn't have any power... well that's what guns are for, and if you yourself get gunned down dying is better than the alternative....
...Rather it's minority cultures bringing a lot of this upon themselves through their own attitudes and behavior....
...Basically if you have 80% (or whatever the last estimate was) of a given population acting like thugs....
Holy crap, I vote for whatever country you're from as being the most racist. The 'analysis' and sentiment being expressed here would be seen by most european sociologists as being blatantly racist mainly because it is compeletely blind to the current institutional racism of the state in the US and its deep deep roots which is, err, blindingly obvious to most of the rest of the world.
Also for a 'sociologist' I love the way you quantify 'thuggish' behaviour. Real scientific.
I also think Ireland should be WAY further up that list - although I'm only basing this on personal anecdotal evidence - immigrants* being regularly spat at, racist ephithets being shouted at, stones being thrown at - all of which have been really comon sights on the streets of dublin the past few years. Plus I'm sure the whole sectarian thing in the north would really skew the figures for the island as a whole.
*I once talked to a young french woman who was abused on a bus - when I commented her being 'mediteranean looking' may have been a factor she retorted 'but I'm white!' Not white enough for Dublin apparently...
Well, I'd argue the European sociologists would be ignoring their own science to make a national statement rather than get to the facts. I say this because Europeans especially those from the UK frequently talk about "Chavs" and the problem they represent, using a lot of the same arguements and statistics. The problem basically being a self perpetuating sub culture that is difficult to single out and target because of other moral policies within society. Heck, I've even seem polls here with people calling Chavs the lowest form of human life and saying they should be rubbed out, met with a massive cheering section from Europeans and oftentimes explanations about what exactly a "Chav" is.
The only real differance is that in the US the subculture I'm talking about draws lines along race on it's own. Things like rap and hip-hop music also perpetuate this division, and the lifestyle itself. Believe it or not the majority of that music you hear on radio stations in sandbox crime games is not made up just for those games, but popular music that was liscenced for use.
I suppose to some extent it might also be a lack of awareness, just as a lot of people in the US don't really know what a "Chav" is, a lot of Europeans probably don't have the same kinds of issues the US does. I for example don't see much "gangsta rap" coming in from overseas.
Nor do I hear about European recording artists argueing about who is more of a "real criminal". In the US we've literally had rap entertainers comparing their prison records and busts to prove who was more of a thug/criminal/lifestyler. Guys like 50 Cent have made having attempted assinations against them by rival criminals a big part of their marketing appeal. One of the things that actually seemed to help the career of Shawn "Puffy" Combs (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, etc...) was him having been in a gun fight in a nightclub when he was dating Jennifer Lopez, leading to big arguements about what role she played, and if she was responsible for throwing the gun used out a car window. This case didn't go anywhere, but this is the kind of stuff that perpetuates the subculture, and sells CDs.
Heck, some of the "rap music" I've heard seems to largely be one
group of rappers more or less insulting other groups based on who is more
"real".
Also sometime look up "Gang Dossiers" (search words) and it can be a real eye opener if somehow your unaware of this.
Also let me be blunt about something else, anyone who calls ANY of this stuff racist has no clue, or is trying to play semantics games based on a politically correct re-definition. To be a racist you must believe that one ethnicity is superior, or inferior to another on an inherant level. If I was to say that Blacks were genetically pre-disposed towards violence and crime and nothing could change that, then it would be a racist statement. In this case however I'm talking about behaviors and cultures that perpetuate them. I very much believe that things can be changed, where if I was a racist I would believe that it wouldn't be possible do to the intristic traits of the minorities we're looking at. Or simply put if "most European sociologists" would call me a racist, it would mean that they are arguably incompetant and have no idea what racism actually is.
I've been trying to say this for years, and I've been called a racist many times, which is completely untrue. It is obviously about culture and what a group teaches their children which modifies thier behavior.
I've been around many minorities in my life, a lot of my friends were black, hispanic, and asian. I've had people in each of those communities complain about "the man" in one way or another, and when I ask who "the man" is, it's white people. White people as a whole are keepign every minority down? I have heard first hand parents telling their children, and teachers telling their students (I went to a school where I was one of only 2 white kids in the school) that they were never going to make any true progress because white people would keep them down.
I routinely hear minority leaders tell those who listen to them that they won't get anywhere, because the majority will keep them down. I really, really hate that attitude. I tell people all the time, you can do whatever you want, if you want to. F other people who tell you that you're going to be nothing, I defy someone to try and keep me from something I really want. It angers me to no end when people buy into the self pity "I can't do anything" attitude, maybe because I'm a pain in the ass, hopelessly obstinate, and when peole tell me I can't do something it drives me that much harder to prove them wrong...
Edit: Got interrupted mid post and forgot to add my concluding point, that many seclusionist cultures existing, trying to insulate themselves from mainstream society. White cultures that many people refer to as 'hillbillies' in the Smokey Mountains are one such society, Amish and Menonite societies are another (mainly white from what I've seen). They don't like the mainstream culture so they stay away from it and seclude themselves and their families. Some of my indian relatives in Oklahoma do the same thing. Many of those isular communities are poor, not because of their inability, but because of their thinking that limits what they are willing to do to succeed.
GunboatDiplomat
43 POSTED: 28 June 2010 7:11 pm
Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 697
Joined: 23 Mar 2009 FlameUnquenchable:
I tell people all the time, you can do whatever you want, if you want to.
The quintessential american dream.
Everybody who is rich and successful in america built themselves up out of nothing. EVERYONE can do it if only they have the will.
Think about this. Under the current system there are only so many jobs available in the boardrooms, the judiciary or the medical board. Theres a fuck of a lot more jobs available to clean the toilets and the floors.
Nonetheless the american dream persists partly becuase it contains a grain of truth - an indivdual can make it against the odds - especially if hes willing to do whatever it takes and fuck over anyone who gets in his way. Can a majority of people make it? Of course not, there isn't the room. Someones gotta clean out the pool, collect the trash, work in the sweatshops, mine the iron ore and of course those who subsist in desperation are there to act as deterrant against those workers - those 'losers' who dare to challenge the established order.
But an indivudual can make it. Look at Barack obama! If he can make it as president then what right does some kid from the ghetto have to complain about racism just becuase he was born into poverty and is kept there by an oppressive system?
What right indeed?
FlameUnquenchable
44 POSTED: 28 June 2010 7:47 pm
Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 735
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 GunboatDiplomat:
FlameUnquenchable:
I tell people all the time, you can do whatever you want, if you want to.
Clipped.
What right indeed?
There is no right to success. Success is earned, there is only the right to have a chance at success. Your attitude promotes the pessimism that is killing people in this country. Nowhere in your sensationalist argument did you present a counter to my statement, anyone can do anything they want to.
Maybe you don't have the determination, maybe you don't have the drive, or the skill, or the need to make more of yourself, but don't stand here telling others that they can't, and that the system won't let them. I for one will stand against that kind of fatalistic diatribe until the day I die, and against those who perpetuate it.
I know plenty of people that came from nothing and made it, they may not be CEO's of mega corporations, or richer than god but that's not what I said either. Not everyone aspires to be the top, some only aspire to have a small little business they can call their own, or a house on a hill with a dog and some kids and get by on their 40 hrs a week, and maybe save a little something to pass on to their kids, or make enough to put them through college.
The American dream is alive and well, and realized everyday by people all over this country. Just because you may not see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and that people can't pull themselves up out of the situation they're in and make something of themselves. This is the kind of thinking that dissuades people from having hope, and that's something I consider completely useless.
GunboatDiplomat
45 POSTED: 28 June 2010 9:31 pm
Infamous Scribbler
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The American dream is alive and well, and realized everyday by people all over this country.
It sure is: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26776283/
Therumancer
46 POSTED: 28 June 2010 11:24 pm
Citation Needed
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Therumancer:
anyone who calls ANY of this stuff racist has no clue, or is trying
to play semantics games based on a politically correct re-definition. To be a
racist you must believe that one ethnicity is superior, or inferior to another
on an inherant level. If I was to say that Blacks were genetically pre-disposed
towards violence and crime and nothing could change that, then it would be a
racist statement. In this case however I'm talking about behaviors and cultures
that perpetuate them.
Nonsense, you don't have to promote eugenics to
promote racism. You present a derogatory caricature of 'black culture' in america as
promoting and being full of gangsters and thugs with no interest in self
improvement and thus responsible for their own oppression. In reality the
history of black culture in america is full of contradictions, of beauty and ugliness, pain and joy, creativity and
ignorance - like any culture - with an exceptionally long and proud history of
struggle against oppression.
So your views are not eugenics - just one step
away - but your caricature IS racist.
For any european reading this who would like to
know more I suggest starting with the autobiography of malcolm x.
Not even remotely so. Also Eugenics is a whole field of science,
and has little to do with racism, people have used it both to try and prove
racism, and also ultimatly to disprove it by showing that there are no genetic
differances between people of differant ethnicities. You might want to do some
checking on that, since as a field it ultimatly represents the biggest
verifyable arguement against racism.
Racism is exactly what I said though, you need to believe in the
intristic superiority or inferiority of one group of people compared to
another. Anything else is just political BS.
Now you *CAN* say that I'm a bigot, and there is some truth to
that. A bigot being someone who is willing to identify and single out groups of
people for special treatment. Either saying "this group of people is a
problem, and needs to be dealt with" or "this group of people is
special, and deserves more than everyone else". Bigotry being a harder
animal to deal when when backed up by facts and actual experiences as opposed
simply to rhetoric.
As far as the specific arguements being made, truthfully you'll
find that it's not only whites that point to these problems. I frequently
referance Bill Cosby as he was able to articulate things I had been unable to.
There are also many other black leaders that will point out problems with black
culture and how it's digging it's own grave so to speak.
See, arguements CAN be made about how blacks were treated in previous
generations, but as far as a mainstream phenomena in the US goes it died
decades ago. Right now blacks, and other minorities as well, have tons of
oppertunities availible to them. As many, or more, than the majority has. They
key element however is that those oppertunities are meaningless if they are not
willing to embrace them, and that is the key problem with the existing culture.
It teaches that it's better to be the thuggish criminal that was stereotyped
decades ago than it is to "sell out" and join with the rest of
society. To the black culture education is seen in most cases as being akin to
"selling out", and you frequently hear referances to blacks calling
each other "not black enough" based on whether or not they try and
fit into society on it's terms.
The nature of the problem is simply that with the civil liberties
battle won, there is no great enemy anymore. As people like Martin Luthor King
Jr. pointed out, the actual civil liberties battles and "counter
culture" opposition was the EASY part. Right now a lot of the problems you
see is a group of people who need an enemy, and if one does not exist they need
to create one. It's also a political phenomena because by invoking racial
issues it's possible to sway minority groups so minority leaders, for all they
speak out against many of the messages of the culture(s) in general, also try
and perpetuate a feeling of paranoia so the people are much easier to control
and get to vote in a specific fashion (and then that influance can be sold or
traded, I've read a number of things over the years about the political
reality, and how minority leaders have little personal motivation to actually
improve conditions since the battle is worth more than a victory for them
personally).
I will also point out that I was not quoting specific statistics,
but giving general numbers. When it comes to talking about how many black men
are in prison or have a prison record for example, it's important to note that
few people who argue things from either perspective argue that reality. The
very fact that you (and other respondes I've got) do, seems to imply your
responding due to moral outrage due to the way you've beedn taught, rather any
any real information on the subject. See for those who are educated about the
facts, the usual response is to try and engage someone like me on the
possibility that there are so many blacks in prison due to institutional
racism. Basically that most of those guys are innocent, or were unfairly
convicted. A point usually leading towards arguements that blacks, and other
minorities, need to have a special free-hand with the law to prevent
discrimination. This is closely followed by claims that the culture(s) in
question are a backlash to institutional racism.
See, I've debated (not argued) this kind of thing with some people
who were very well informed about the subject, and actually learned quite a bit
as a result, though I still hold to my overall position. In general I feel that
you probably want to debate your current position for reasons having to do with
your morality, not because of any real facts. That's fine, a lot of people are
like that. However if your going to engage in debate you should at least learn
the issues and how things play out. Saying "OMG, that's racist and untrue"
doesn't work in cases like this. What's more while I was speaking in
generalities there, your very arguement amounts to shooting yourself in the
foot if at some point you wanted to try and argue the point of the system being
biased against minorities (in general, or blacks specifically).
At any rate, I'm sure we'll have to agree to disagree, but this is
really how it is, and that is why the problems are so difficult to address.
To be honest my advice would be to actually ignore the rhetoric of
people like "Malcom X" whose statements are arguably part of the
problem, rather than part of the solution. While I do not agree with his
statements on everything, I actually recommend people looking towards what guys
like Bill Cosby have written on the subject. Mr. Cosby has a PHD in education
and is dealing with things as they exist now, as opposed to being a decades old
rabble rouser.
To put it simply the solution to the issue is to get minorities, blacks and
otherwise, to embrace the oppertunities that are afforded. That means
addressing the inherant subcultures that prevent these oppertunities from being
taken as a big part of the problem. You need to get it to the point where
education is not viewed as selling out. Then you won't see people ravaging
schools to make some kind of point, and actively demeaning those who try and
better themselves in a constructive problem..... and yeah, I said
"ravaging schools". You constantly hear about how schools in
minority-heavy areas are always underequipped or in poor shape, despite
mountains of donations constantly being made. Sending books and computers to
poor minority kids in the inner city is a favorite tax write off, and bit of
celebrity posturing. The problem being is that the "students" wind up
defacing, stealing, or destroying all of that stuff themselves because of how
they are taught to regard it. Years ago I was doing some reading about how 100
computers donated by Microsoft were tracked via windows and found to be in
private hands... with the current owners having bought them from the back of
cars or hole-in the wall computer shops seeing as they were immediatly stolen
from the schools by gangs and sold on the streets.
At any rate, no real point in argueing it, this also should serve
as an answer to a couple of similar posts I got. I said my bit, you've said
yours. I'm sure people can make their own desicians.
Yennick
47 POSTED: 29 June 2010 1:05 am
Beat Writer
Posts: 129
Joined: 21 Jun 2010 What I see in the OP's link is a poll. I've long since felt that
you really can't trust polls too much. Perhaps it just shows that Finland and Belgium are more honest about their
racism and more willing to be truthful about their feelings.
I'm not as optimistic as others that so many people who claim to
not be bothered by the other race truly aren't. I think a lot of people
nowdays, asides from the raving bigots who don't care what others think about
them, are more educated and aware about race. Still, just being educated about
and acknowledging that it's not popular to distrust or hate people based on
race doesn't get rid of the problem of racism.
There's a lot of subtle or even subconscious ways that racism
still rears it's head in our societies and communities. There are plenty of
white people who feel guilty about racial stereotypes they hold but they often
can't stop them from influencing them deep down. A lot of those people would likely
let some of that latent hatred and fear be known if they ever felt like they
were pushed into a corner.
That's one of the big reasons why I feel like free speech and
human dialogue is a good tactic to keep up. People who try to litigate against
"hate speech" are merely repressing the people who hold hateful
opinions from talking about it. This doesn't create a society where racism is
addressed or dealt with. It merely creates a society where people are forced to
bottle up their hatred and let it fester beneath the surface. I'd say that's a
lot more dangerous than having an open group of racists free to speak their
mind.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/report_belgium.html
anti-Semitism in the European Union:
Belgium
(Updated December 2003)
________________________________
Return to Anti-Semitism
in the EU: Table of Contents
________________________________
Within the Belgian population (10.3 million; 55% Flemish,
33% Walloon) Jews represent a minority of some 35,000, most of whom live in Antwerp and Brussels.
In recent years racism has been on the increase, both in terms of
discrimination against immigrants in general and against Arabs in particular.
The Eurobarometer 2000 compiled by the EUMC came to the conclusion that the
attitudes towards ethnic and religious minorities in Belgium show a more negative set of
views than the EU average. Although racially motivated attacks from extreme
right-wing groups, resurgent since the 1990s, are in the first instance
directed against foreigners, running parallel to this is a strong increase in
anti-Semitic tendencies. In particular since the beginning of the “al-Aqsa
Intifada” in the autumn of 2000, the number of violent actions against Jews and
Jewish institutions has increased, with the suspected perpetrators mainly from
Muslim and Arab communities, especially from those of Maghreb origin which
itself is most vulnerable to xenophobia . But right-wing extremist groups also
used the situation for an “Anti-Zionist”
campaign. In addition, a certain influence was exerted by legal proceedings
started in June 2001, based on a law passed in Belgium in 1993 that also enables
criminal prosecution of crimes committed in foreign countries. Survivors of the
massacre in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in 1982 used this law to
undertake legal proceedings against the then Defence Minister of Israel Ariel
Sharon for crimes against humanity. An Israeli inquiry had found that Sharon was indirectly
responsible, prompting his resignation. The attempted prosecution itself, but
also the delaying of a decision over many months, caused an international stir,
not the least because Belgium assumed the EU Presidency on 1 July 2001 and had the request seriously
examined. On 26 June 2002 the court dismissed the charges.
On 30 May, Reuters reported that a confidential Senate Report,
based on evidence from the State Security Service, stated that Belgium is a
recruiting ground for Islamic militants. Apparently, the Saudi-backed Salafi
Movement has created some sort of religious “state within Belgium.”
1. Physical acts of violence
According to the current report of the American Lawyers Committee
for Human Rights, since 11 September 2001 around 2000 anti-Semitic incidents
have taken place, whereby no distinction has been made between violent attacks and
other forms. Already on 5December 2001, the Chief Rabbi of Brussels,
Albert Gigi, was physically assaulted by a group of youths in Anderlecht (Brussels). After shouting
at him and his companion “dirty Jew” in Arab, they followed them into the
subway and one of them kicked the Rabbi in the face, breaking his glasses.
After the first graffiti appeared on Jewish shops in February 2002, demanding
“Death to the Jews”, the synagogue in the Anderlecht district of Brussels was severely damaged by two Molotov cocktails in the night
of 31 March / 1 April. In the following weeks the attacks increased: on 17
April unknown persons set fire to a Jewish bookshop in Brussels and on the
following day the front window of a kosher restaurant were shattered by an air
rifle; during the night of 20 – 21 April 18 shots were fired at the façade of
the synagogue in Charleroi. During a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Antwerp on 1 April, which
took place near a Jewish area and in which ca. 2000 persons took part, front
windows were shattered and an Israeli flag burnt.
Between 15 May and 15 June 2002 the following attacks or violent
acts against Jews have been recorded. Compared with the attacks the month
before, the number of incidents was relatively low.
19 May: a group of Jewish youngsters aged 13 were threatened by a
group of Arab youths at the City Park. One of them menaced
the Jewish youngsters with a mock rifle. The police intervened and arrested the
youth.
25 May: a group of adolescent immigrants (around the age of 13)
vandalized the restaurant of the Maccabi Soccer Club belonging to the Jewish
community of Antwerp.
They spread anti-Jewish slogans across the club walls, destroyed doors, windows
and furniture. The youngsters were caught by the police. After interrogation
and an interview with their parents, they were released.
28 May: a shop on the Frankrijklei, a major avenue in Antwerp, was smeared with
the following slogans: “Kill the juif. Laat ze lijden (let them suffer), fuck Belgium”.
The Antwerp police have also gathered evidence of damage to bus stops, shops or public
buildings. In most cases these were graffiti of the SS insignia, the swastika
and the Star of David.
2. Verbal aggression/hate speech
Newspapers
reported the following incidents:
• On 19 April unknown persons smeared a Jewish shop in Brussels with slogans
such as “Dirty Jew” and “We will burn you”.
• In the second half of May an anonymous letter of anti-Semitic
and revisionist character was sent to a survivor of the concentration camps
after this person had published an article in a widely circulated public
newsletter.
• In the second half of May 2002 an article of highly anti-Semitic
nature was published in a free journal published in the Charleroi region.
• On 3 June an anti-Semitic letter, originating in France, was sent to an individual in Belgium.
• Racist and anti-Semitic slogans continue to belong to the
repertoire of many football fans.
Internet
Websites of Belgian origin with racist and anti-Semitic texts have
increasingly gone online in recent times. The Centre for Equal Opportunity and
Combating Racism was able to identify 82 Belgian sites, which spread such
material. On 6 June a complaint about racism was introduced at the CEOOR
against Dyab Abou Jahjah, President of the Arabian European League (AEL). His
Internet site encourages hatred, discrimination and violence towards the Jewish
community. The complaint concerns a press statement in which the AEL urged
people to join a demonstration in Antwerp to be held on 8 June 2002. According to the League, this demonstration has to
take place in Antwerp since “the power (there)
is in the hands of a Zionist lobby and extreme right racists” and, furthermore,
because “Antwerp represents the bastion of
Zionism in Europe” and is a city “where
pro-Sharon gangs of Zionists are dictating the rules”. Instead, Antwerp needs to become the “Mecca of pro-Palestinian action”.
On 17 January the far left anti-globalisation website Indymedia Belgium relayed
photographs of three corpses of children who should have fallen victim of the
supposed Israeli practice to use bodies of Palestinians for organ theft.
MediaJoel Kotek, professor at the Free University of Brussels
refers to the one sided reports on Israel in the Belgium media: ”Israel is
portrayed by the Belgian media, notably “Le Soir”, the most widely circulated
French-language newspaper in Belgium, as well as by “Vif l’Express”, its weekly
supplement, as solely responsible for the violence which has shaken the Middle
East for almost two years. Frequently, in their forum pages and in letters to
the editor, Israelis are equated with Nazis and in more extreme publications
anti-Semitic motifs appear in anti-Israel propaganda.”
3. Research studies
The
survey commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in ten European countries
has collected information on “European Attitudes towards Jews, Israel and the
Palestinian-Israel Conflict” between 16 May and 4 June respectively between 9
and 29 September.
European Attitudes towards Jews, Israel and the Palestinian-Israel
Conflict
Statement Belgium Denmark France Germany United Kingdom Spain Italy Austria The
Netherlands
Jews
don´t care what happens to anyone but their own kind 25% 16% 20% 24% 10% 34% 30% 29% 15%
Jews
are more willing to use shady practices to get what they want 18% 13% 16% 21% 11% 33% 27% 28% 9%
Jews
are more loyal to Israel than to this country 50% 45% 42% 55% 34% 72% 58% 54% 48%
Jews
have too much power in the business world 44% 13% 42% 32% 21% 63% 42% 40% 20%
Percent responding “probably true” to each statement / 500
respondents in each country
Taylor Nelson Sofres, margin of error +/-4.4% at 95% level of
confidence
For Belgium a clear agreement emerged with anti-Semitic stereotypes. From the four
stereotypical statements presented, 39% of respondents agreed to at least two,
21% with at least three and 6% with all four. Fifty per cent of respondents
agreed with the statement that “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to
this country”, a rate somewhat below the EU-average of 51%, and 38% agreed with
the statement “Jews still talk too much about the Holocaust” (EU-average: 42%).
4. Good practices for reducing prejudice,
violence and aggression
Following
the multi-religious meetings organised since 11 September 2001, the CEOOR
proposed an action plan, the implementation of which is still in the
preparatory phase. However, it has already been decided to create a website
containing a list of associations which subscribe to diversity and mutual
respect and a set of pedagogical tools to improve and foster interculturalism.
There will also be a section on how to make a complaint about racism to the
CEOOR. Finally, there will be an index of key words and concepts, which will be
elaborated and explained in a language understandable by the general public.
5. Reactions by politicians and other
opinion makers
Within
the Belgian legal framework there are two laws dealing with the fight against
anti-Semitism, notably the general anti-racism law of 1981 and the law of the
denial of the Holocaust of March 1995.
• Immediately after the assault on the Brussels Chief Rabbi was
made public in January 2002 and the debate in the Parliament, moderate forces
within the Jewish community in Brussels organised a meeting with Muslim leaders.
• On 5 April 2002 a Round Table Conference was held on the
initiative of the Belgian Government with representatives from the social
partners, the Jewish and the Muslim communities, the Ligue des droits de
l'Homme (League of Human Rights) and the Centre for Equal Opportunities and
Opposition to Racism. After the attacks on a few synagogues in Antwerp and Brussels different communities requested the Round Table Conference. A common
declaration was signed and commitments were made by the different actors to
undertake concrete measures in the near future.
• On 19 April 2002 the Belgian Interior Minister, Antoine
Duquesne, made a joint declaration with his colleagues from France, Spain, Germany and Great Britain on “Racism, Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism”. Given the background of
international tension, in particular in the Middle East,
they characterised the racist and xenophobic violence as an offence against
freedom, democracy and human rights and pronounced European-wide preventive
measures and a coordination of the responsible agencies and offices. At the
Interministerial Conference for the Equal Opportunities Policy, which took
place on 17 May 2002, a concrete action plan was introduced and approved by the
Government.
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BELGIUM
... VICE PRIME MINISTER
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BELGIUM.
WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM,
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ...
www.un.org/WCAR/statements/belgE.htm - 21k
Social, humanitarian and cultural / 3rd Committee - 60th ...
... (revised draft
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Girl Child, Eliminating Racism, Protecting Human Rights while ...
... global efforts for the
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS 46 THIRD COMMITTEE ...
... III on global efforts to
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IN ...
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elected Armenia, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada ...
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BELGIUM
... THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION, VICE PRIME MINISTER AND
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BELGIUM. ... (Fight against racism). ...
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in the fight against racism,
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Daily
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BELGIUM
STATEMENT BY H.E. Mr. LOUIS MICHEL,
PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN
UNION, VICE PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF
FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BELGIUM
56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
New York, 10th November 2001
Unofficial translation
Check against delivery
Mr President,
Mr Secretary General,
Heads of State and Government,
Ministers,
Delegates,
Mr Chairman,
I have the honour today to speak
on behalf of the European Union, which congratulates you on your election,
which testifies to the esteem of the international community for your country
and yourself. I would like also to commend the speed of action and efficiency
you have shown, in the face of the tragic events of 11 September, in adapting
the agenda for the work of this Assembly.
I would like, moreover, to
associate with this tribute the Secretary General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan.
Mr Secretary General, your
re-election had already drawn attention to the unanimous appreciation of the
Member States for your exceptional qualities as a manager, politician and
humanist. The Nobel Committee paid an even wider tribute by awarding you the
Nobel Prize for Peace. The United Nations themselves, here at your side, were
the recipients of this message of hope, from a world in a state of shock
appealing to the United Nations Organisation to remain at the center of the
international community's action for peace and development.
(Fight against terrorism)
Mr Chairman,
It was the fundamental values
constituting the foundation of the United Nations which were attacked in so
cowardly a fashion right here in New York on 11 September this year, while our
host country, several thousands of its citizens and nationals of over sixty
countries were the victims of a barbaric act of aggression for which no direct
or indirect justification can be accepted.
That attack, by its enormity, has
opened our eyes to the worldwide threat that terrorism has become. It is our
open, democratic, tolerant and multicultural societies which have been attacked
through the United States.
The terrorist threat must be hunted down in each of our countries, in our
various regional organizations and, at world level, through the United Nations.
The European Union has most
categorically condemned the 11 September attacks, and the fight against
terrorism is more than ever one of our priority objectives. The Union has
declared its total solidarity with the United States. It has reaffirmed its
unreserved support for the military action undertaken in the name of legitimate
defense and in conformity with the United Nations Charter and Resolution 1368
of the United Nations Security Council.
On 21 September, an Extraordinary
European Council adopted an action plan for an unprecedented campaign against
terrorism. The plan contains a number of specific measures intended to enhance
judicial and police cooperation, including in particular the introduction of a
European arrest warrant. It also includes measures to put an end to the
financing of terrorism and to improve air security. The European Council also
acknowledged that the fight against terrorism requires greater participation by
the Union in the efforts of the international
community to prevent and stabilize regional conflicts. By developing the Common
Foreign and Security Policy and bringing the European Security and Defense
Policy into operation as soon as possible, the Union will be at its most effective.
At world level too, a fresh
impetus needs to be given to the fight against terrorism, and the United
Nations naturally has a central role to play in the development of a
coordinated and diversified strategy. We warmly welcome the major steps which
have already been taken to that end.
The most remarkable was the
adoption of Resolution 1373 by the Security Council on 28 September. The
European Union and its Member States are already
committed to rapid enactment of the measures needed for its implementation. We
call upon all countries to cooperate actively with the follow up system set up
by the Security Council, and we reiterate our readiness to provide aid in doing
so to any countries which may have technical difficulties in meeting its
requirements.
It is also essential that all
States ratify without delay the twelve Conventions concerning the fight against
terrorism and apply all their provisions. The United Nations Convention on the
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism is a decisive aspect of international
action and needs to be speedily signed and ratified.
Lastly, the European Union
welcomes the recent progress made in negotiating a General Convention on international
terrorism, on the basis of the draft submitted by India. The remaining difficulties
must now be dealt with as soon as possible so that this instrument can be put
up for signing early next year.
(Promotion and protection of
human rights and democracy)
Mr Chairman,
The efforts we are making to
combat terrorism must form part of overall endeavours to build a better world,
a world in which human dignity is sacrosanct, in which human rights and
fundamental freedoms are fully respected.
The promotion and protection of
human rights and an attachment to the principles of democracy and the rule of
law are essential components of the European Union's Common Foreign and
Security Policy and of its development cooperation and external relations. The
European Union will actively pursue its work on consolidating human rights and
fundamental freedoms, with insistence in particular on the universal,
indivisible and interdependent character of all human rights. It will continue
to support the efforts made by the Secretary General to integrate human rights
into United Nations activities, at all levels and in all fora, and to cooperate
with all UN human rights mechanisms.
(Establishment of the
International Criminal Court)
The European Union welcomes the
imminent realization of the much awaited establishment of the International
Criminal Court. The Union sees this as being
of prime importance and urges all States which have not yet done so to accede
to the Rome Statute as soon as possible. More than ever, we need a universal
and permanent court capable of sanctioning the most serious violations of
international humanitarian law and human rights and thus contributing to peace
and security in the world. It is vital that the United Nations give effective
support to the establishment of the Court.
(Protection and promotion of the
rights of the child)
Following the tragedy of 11
September, the Special Session of the General Assembly on the ten year review
of the World Summit for Children had to be postponed. However, until it is held
we need to keep up the momentum developed in the preparatory discussions. We
must continue to integrate the specific dimension of the child into our actions
and strive to ensure that every child's life is free from terror, the horrors
of war, abuse and exploitation, hunger and poverty.
(Full realization by women of
their human rights)
The European Union is resolved to
continue the fight against all forms of discrimination and violence against
women and to ensure that all countries take strong measures to apply the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Women must be able to enjoy their human rights in full, on an equal footing
with men. Girls must have the same opportunities as boys, in particular in
education and access to social services. The European Union insists that there
must be equal rights to property, credit facilities and social services,
including reproductive health services. It is in the interest of everyone that
women should be able to participate fully at all levels in economic and
political life.
The Union stresses the importance of implementing Security Council Resolution 1325 and
the special attention which must be given to the participation and full
association of women on an equal footing in all endeavours to maintain and
promote peace and security.
(Fight against racism)
We must also vigorously pursue
our essential fight against the racist excesses, discriminatory tendencies and
intolerance which are daily realities throughout the world. The World
Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance has
shown us the way. It has also enabled us to advance discussion on the causes
and origins of racism and to acquire a new perception of our past. What matters
now is the will to close the darkest chapters of our history so that we can
build a new relationship based on mutual respect, solidarity and partnership.
(Humanitarian action)
Mr Chairman,
The terrible humanitarian crisis
in Afghanistan holds the attention of the international community every bit as much as the
political, diplomatic, military and economic aspects of the situation in that
country. It is the first time that the international community has adopted such
a global approach in an armed conflict. We are convinced that it is the best,
if not the only, means to plan an effective way out of the crisis. The
coordination of aid efforts, chiefly on the ground and as part of the range of
actions undertaken by the United Nations, remains essential.
Emergency humanitarian aid to Afghanistan constitutes an absolute priority of
the Union, which has undertaken to mobilize an
aid package of over EUR 320 million without delay. The Union expresses its
concern at the difficulties regarding access and the convoying of humanitarian
aid in Afghanistan.
It supports the efforts of the United Nations. Specialized Agencies, the
ICRC and all the humanitarian organizations in seeking practical and flexible
solutions. It also calls on the countries of the region to facilitate by all
possible means humanitarian operations to deal with new influxes of Afghan
refugees.
The European Union recognizes the
vital role of the UN in seeking a peace plan for Afghanistan. It intends to support
the initiatives of the Secretary?General and of his Special Representative and
to make a constructive contribution to them, both with regard to the pursuit of
an internal political solution and to a plan for rebuilding the country. The
Union also stresses the importance of the regional dimension of stabilization
in Afghanistan.
We must make contributions that
are sufficient to ensure that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs functions efficiently. The European Union attaches particular
importance to the provision of aid to persons displaced within their countries.
We therefore welcome the fact that a unit has been established within the
Secretariat to cater for their specific needs. Following the recent attacks
against humanitarian aid personnel, the European Union can only call once again
for a strengthening of the arrangements, particularly those of a legal and
financial nature, for guaranteeing the safety and security of humanitarian aid
workers and UN workers in general.
(Promotion of disarmament and
non-proliferation)
Mr Chairman,
More than ever, disarmament and
non proliferation form the cornerstones of any peace and security structure and
must therefore be subject to binding multilateral norms. It is against this
background that we wish to strengthen non proliferation regimes, promote the rapid
entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and strengthen
the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. We must also combat the
proliferation of ballistic missiles and the illicit trade in light weapons and
continue to work for the complete elimination of antipersonnel mines.
(Peacekeeping arid maintenance of
security)
With regard to peacekeeping, the
United Nations has shown in the past year that it was better equipped and
better organized than in recent times. By way of example, I should like to
mention the operations in East Timor, Eritrea and Sierra Leone. Thus some progress has
already been made, on the ground, in implementing the recommendations of the
Brahimi report. However, much remains to be done, and the European Union will
continue to give active support to improving peacekeeping capabilities and
advocate that the Organization receive the resources necessary to enable it
effectively to discharge its increasingly complex responsibilities.
In order to resolve differences
of opinion, consolidate peace and prevent a resurgence of conflicts, a
comprehensive, long term approach is required. The European Union, which is
currently establishing its own military and civil crisis management capability,
is actively engaged in strengthening its cooperation with the United Nations
and other international organizations in the area of conflict prevention,
crisis management, humanitarian aid, post conflict reconstruction and long term
development.
The Balkans, a region so close to
our countries, remains at the center of the European Union's external action.
We resolutely maintain our commitment to contribute there to building an area
of security, prosperity and democracy where multi ethnic societies are free to
flourish. While the progress made has been remarkable and encouraging, the
situation in many cases remains fragile. The international community must
remain vigilant and not let extremists, of whatever kind, use violence to
destroy the stabilization work carried out.
The European Union remains
gravely concerned by the situation in the Middle East and continues to act on a daily basis, in conjunction with other States, to
persuade the parties to put an end to the infernal cycle of violence. Everyone
must realize that there is no alternative to the peace process. The
recommendations of the report of the Fact Finding Committee ("Mitchell
Report") should be implemented without delay and efforts concentrated on
urgently opening up the prospect of a peaceful solution.
The European Union finds the status
quo in Cyprus unacceptable. We would express our disappointment at the unjustified decision
of the Turkish side to decline the Secretary General's invitation to pursue
negotiations. We continue to support the Secretary General's endeavours to
arrive at a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the Cyprus question
in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions.
The scale of the dramas witnessed
on the African continent calls for resolute action on our part, at all levels,
aimed at tackling the direct and structural causes of the conflicts. Conflicts
in Africa have become increasingly complex and
their cross border effects more and more destructive. The crises in the Great
Lakes region of West Africa, as well as in Zimbabwe and the Horn of Africa,
call for increased vigilance on the part of our organization.
These crises also show the need
for an international approach that is comprehensive and integrated. We gave an
enthusiastic welcome to the launch of the new African initiative at the Lusaka
Summit. The European Union expressed its willingness to respond and has already
entered into a dialogue at the highest level with the African Union.
(Fight against poverty and
promotion of sustainable development)
Mr Chairman,
Together, at the Millennium
Summit, we pledged to achieve a set of development objectives. It is an
ambitious project which involves, inter olio, good governance in each country
and at international level.
The Union underlines the need for a strengthened partnership between rich countries and
poor countries to achieve the development objectives of the Millennium
Declaration. That partnership entails obligations and joint but varied efforts
on the part of all countries.
Firstly, we must make every
effort to eradicate poverty. New, concrete commitments were made at the 3rd
Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Brussels last May. The European Union
committed itself to untying aid, to opening up its markets by means of the
"Everything but arms" initiative and to the full financing of the
HIPC initiative. It is now a question of finalizing the follow up mechanisms of
the Programme of Action. The European Union will also continue to give priority
to the development of Africa.
Two major international
conferences will present us with the opportunity to take up the challenges and
achieve the principal objectives of the Millennium Declaration. At the
Financing for Development Conference to be held next March in Monterrey, Mexico,
we shall attach importance to improving cooperation between all the development
actors, using resources more effectively and mobilizing them better.
At the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in October 2002, we wish to promote the sustainable use and management and the
protection of the natural resources which underlie social and economic
development. We also wish to integrate actions aimed at the environment and
poverty, make globalization serve the needs of sustainable development and
promote better ways of managing public affairs and participation. The European
Union would like to explore with its partners the scope for achieving a Global
Pact on Sustainable Development at the Summit.
This Pact should contain commitments both from governments and from the other
actors. A Global Pact should lead to concrete action to improve the
implementation of sustainable development policies.
We hope that the UN Member States
will without delay undertake to be represented in Monterrey and Johannesburg at the highest political level.
The Convention on Climate Change
was one of the major results of the 1992 Earth Summit. We welcome the progress
made in Bonn and in Marrakesh and we undertake to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol rapidly.
We have also just reached an
intergovernmental consensus at the highest level on the strategy that needs to
be followed to halt the appalling global AIDS pandemic. That is a major step
forward, but the urgent and dramatic nature of the problem require us to be
more ambitious. We will actively contribute to the creation of a new global Fund
to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and we will play an active role in
all the other processes that emerged from last June's Special Session so that
the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS is put into practice by means of
concrete measures.
Of the other challenges, the
demographic changes that lie ahead are of particular interest to the European
Union. The Second World Assembly on Ageing to be held in Madrid in April 2002 will be an opportunity
for us to work together to build a society for all ages.
Mr Chairman,
The Millennium Summit, the prime
objective of which was to strengthen and give new impetus to the United
Nations, allowed us to tackle, at the highest level, the major challenges
facing the global community. We must now turn our attention to the process of
following up the Declaration of the Heads of State and Government, with all due
regard for the lofty and balanced aims of that cardinal text. For that we need
to call on reliable data, the existing follow up machinery and processes and
the concerted efforts of the various actors in the international community who
can help us to achieve the objectives set.
We must also continue reforming
the United Nations system as a whole, including the specialist institutions and
the Operational Funds and Programs. The strengthening of the Security Council
and its comprehensive reform in all its aspects should be pursued with
determination. If we want a Security Council capable of responding even more
effectively to the major challenges of the moment, we should intensify our
efforts.
Mr Chairman,
Mr Secretary General,
Heads of State and Government,
Ministers,
Delegates,
Looking beyond the tremendous and
growing complexity of our actions in the world, our debate should highlight
this basic truth: if we want to build a world made more peaceful by respect for
the law, solidarity and tolerance, we need to strengthen our cohesion in the
face of the new challenges that have been thrown down, but also to step up our
efforts to promote human rights, eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable
development.
In this forum of the United
Nations we set against the messengers of destruction our common ideal, which
will be stronger than hatred and divisions among mankind. That edifice, whose
foundations are set in our spirits and our hearts, will be unassailable.
Thank you for your attention
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H.E. KUM Nelson Bame IV
Africa: Belgian Colonies
- HISTORY OF BELGIAN COLONIZATION, THE ADMINISTRATION OF CONGO BY THE BELGIANS
(1908–1960)
rwanda tutsis hutus congolese
Belgium created two colonies in Africa:
the entities now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly the
Republic of Zaire) and the Republic of Rwanda, previously Ruanda-Urundi, a
former German African colony that was given to Belgium to administer after the
defeat of Germany in World War I. The scramble for colonies was the brainchild
of Leopold II, king of Belgium.
HISTORY OF BELGIAN COLONIZATION
Belgium itself had gained independence in
1831 when it broke away from the Netherlands and became a new nation. The
second king of Belgium, Leopold II, was a very ambitious man who wanted to
personally enrich himself and enhance his country’s prestige by annexing and
colonizing lands in Africa. In 1865 he succeeded his father, Leopold I, to the
Belgian throne. In 1876 he commissioned Sir Henry Morton Stanley’s expedition
to explore the Congo region. This exploration led initially to the
establishment of the Congo Free State. The new colony comprised a land bigger
than western Europe and seventy-four times larger than Belgium, and belonged to
Leopold II as a personal possession. He proclaimed himself king-sovereign of
Congo Free State at a time when France, Britain, Portugal, and Germany also had
colonies in the area. In 1885 Leopold II secured U.S. recognition of his
personal sovereignty over the Congo Free State.
Leopold II was absolute ruler of Congo.
His rule was brutal and millions of Congolese died as a result. By 1895 the
British press started to expose Leopold II’s atrocities in Congo. In 1897 a Swedish
missionary told a London meeting how Leopold’s soldiers were rewarded by the
number of Congolese hands they amputated as punishment to native workers for
failure to work hard enough. By 1899 the British vice consul confirmed and
further reported the brutality of Leopold’s misrule in Congo. Finally in 1908,
Leopold was forced to hand over the Congo Free State, his personal fiefdom, to
the Belgian state.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CONGO BY THE BELGIANS (1908–1960)
The takeover of the administration by the
Belgian government brought some improvements in the lives of the Congolese
peoples, who had suffered untold hardships under Leopold II and his private
militia. There were slight improvements in the everyday economic and social
life of the Congolese that were comparable to conditions in other European
colonies in Africa. The Belgian colonial administration built some schools,
railways, roads, plantations, mines, industrial areas, and airports. Despite
the modest improvements in the lives of the Congolese, the Belgians created two
separate societies in the Congo: the whites and the natives. The whites had all
the luxuries, and the native Africans lacked everything. It was an apartheid
type of social and political system. All the major decisions concerning the Congo
were made in Brussels, and the Congolese were not allowed to participate in the
running of their own country.
In 1955 some of the few Congolese
educated-elites organized a resistance to the lack of democracy and the
apartheid policies of the Belgian colonial masters. The main aim of these
so-called évolués in resisting the Belgian colonial administration was to
redress the gross inequality that existed between the Europeans and the
Africans. They used civil disobedience, strikes, and civil unrest against the
Belgian colonialists. This uprising led to the disintegration of the Belgian
colonial administration and helped in winning independence for the Congo in
1960.
HISTORY OF BELGIUM COLONIZATION OF RWANDA
Belgium’s other colony, Rwanda, was an
independent monarchy until the Germans annexed it in 1899 and made it part of
German East Africa. Belgium seized Rwanda and Burundi from Germany in 1916; two
years later, after the defeat of Germany in World War I, Ruanda-Urundi was
formally given to Belgium as a League of Nations (later United Nations) trust
territory.
RACE AND ETHNICITY IN PRECOLONIAL AFRICAN BELGIAN COLONIES
In precolonial Congo, established
monarchies and kingdoms maintained order. The most notable of these empires was
the Kingdom of Kongo, which was founded in the fourteenth century and centered
around present-day western Congo and northern Angola. Other notable empires
included the Luba empire, founded in the sixteenth century and centered around
Lakes Kisale and Upemba, located in central Shaba; the Lunda kingdom of Mwata,
founded in the fifteenth century and centered in southwestern Congo; and the
Kuba empire of the Shonga people, founded in the seventeenth century and
centered around the Kasai and Sankura rivers in southern Congo. Another notable
kingdom was the Lunda kingdom of Nwata Kazembe, founded in the early eighteenth
century and centered around the Luapula River near the Congo-Zambia border.
There were other small LubaLunda states in Congo.
Relations among the Congolese peoples
during the precolonial period were largely harmonious. Through intermarriage
and socioeconomic contacts, interethnic strife was benign. These kingdoms,
especially the Kingdom of Kongo, were comparably wealthy, and when the standard
of living is high, people tend to get along well. Nevertheless, there were
interethnic wars on some occasions.
In 1482 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão
became the first European to come to the Congo. The Portuguese established a
relationship with the king of Kongo but stayed in the modern Angolan coastal
areas. It was not until the eighteenth century that the Portuguese gained
substantial influence in Congo. This was the situation until King Leopold II of
Belgium made the Congo his personal possession, and it became the only colony
owned and run by a single individual.
RACE AND ETHNICITY IN PRECOLONIAL RWANDA
Before the European incursion into Rwanda
and the Belgian colonization, Rwanda was united under the central leadership of
an absolute Tutsi monarchy. The people, although classified as Hutu, Tutsi, and
Twa, essentially spoke the same language. They also shared the same culture,
ate the same or similar foods, and practiced the same religion.
Precolonial Rwanda under the monarchy was
highly stratified. The aristocracy, who were essentially the Tutsi, owned all
the land and earned tributes from the farmers, who were mainly Hutu. Whereas
the Hutus were farmers, the Tutsis were cattle herders. The Twa or the
“pygmies,” who were the original inhabitants of Rwanda, were outcasts and
despised by both the Hutus and the Tutsis. There was social mobility (both
upward and downward) in this stratified Rwandese society. A rich Hutu who
purchased a large herd of cattle could become a Tutsi, while a Tutsi who became
poor would drop into the Hutu caste. Intermarriage was not prohibited in this
caste system. Both Hutus and Tutsis served in the king’s military. All the
members of the castes seemed to be living in harmony until the Belgians came
and brought ethnic conflict with them. These conflicts resulted in many wars
and episodes of genocide.
ETHNIC RELATIONS DURING THE BELGIAN COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION
The Belgians ruled over Congo from 1909 to
1960, while their rule over Rwanda lasted from 1918 to 1962. In the Congo, the
Belgians created an apartheid-like system between the Europeans (Belgians)
living in Congo and the Congolese, thereby marginalizing the Congolese in their
own society. Among the Congolese, the Belgians used the strategy of divide and
rule. They favored certain ethnic groups, especially the ones that would allow
them to continue to colonize and plunder the rich natural resources of the
Congo.
Before the coming of the Europeans, the
Kingdom of Kongo had well-organized political and administrative structures
that rivaled those of the Europeans. The economic system of the kingdom was
organized into guilds based on agriculture and handicraft industries. The
European incursion into the west coast of Africa and the consequent slave raids
increased the migrations of refugees into Kongo. These migrations created
myriad problems both at the time and in subsequent periods.
When the Belgians took over the
administration of Rwanda from the Germans in 1918, they significantly changed
the Rwandese system of government and social relations. The Belgians found
willing elites to help them rule Rwanda. The Tutsis were willing collaborators
to the Belgian colonization. The Belgians, in turn, gave the Tutsis privileged
positions in politics, education, and business. The Belgians even took the few
leadership positions that the Hutus had and gave them to the Tutsis. Specifically,
in 1929, they eliminated all the non-Tutsi chiefs, and as a result the Hutus
lost all their representation in the colonial government. A further blow came
in 1933, when the Belgians issued identity cards to all Rwandans. These
mandatory identity cards removed the fluidity from the Rwandan stratification
(caste) system, thereby confining people permanently as Hutus, Tutsis, and
“pygmies.” The Belgians empowered the Tutsis so much that their exploitation of
the Hutu majority reached new heights. As the independence of Rwanda became
inevitable in the 1950s, however, the Belgians changed course and started to
empower the Hutus by increasing their political and economic muscle and
providing them access to modern education.
These conflicting measures brought anarchy
and led to the creation of extreme groups—from both the majority Hutus and the
minority Tutsis—wanting to protect the interests of their respective peoples.
It was the activities of these extreme groups that led to the various episodes
of genocide that reached appalling heights in 1994 with the killing of nearly
one million people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, by extreme Hutus.
The first wave of genocide by the Hutus
against the Tutsis took place earlier, however, under the administration of the
Belgians in 1959. Like the 1994 genocide, it started when extremist Tutsis
attacked a Hutu leader, and the Hutus retaliated by killing hundreds of Tutsis.
In the Western press, this conflict was portrayed as a racial and cultural one,
between the tall, aristocratic, pastoral Tutsis, and Hutus who were uneducated
peasant farmers. That the Tutsi and Hutu were originally two castes of the same
people, speaking a common language, and that the antagonism had been created by
Belgian colonial forces for their own purposes, were facts somehow lost in the
international dialogue.
To summarize, the ethnic rivalries and
tensions in the former Belgian colonies of Congo and Rwanda that escalated
following independence and continued into the twenty-first century had their
roots in the Belgian colonial administration. It was during the Belgian
colonial administration that the foundations for the postcolonial and
present-day ethnic tensions and political instability were laid.
Read more: Africa:
Belgian Colonies - HISTORY OF BELGIAN COLONIZATION, THE ADMINISTRATION OF CONGO
BY THE BELGIANS (1908–1960) - Rwanda, Tutsis, Hutus, and Congolese - JRank
Articles http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/5918/Africa-Belgian-Colonies.html#ixzz36GEza41q
The industrialization of the Belgian Congo
Frans Buelens and Danny Cassimon
Introduction
Industrialization is a hallmark for measuring economic
development as it is recognized that economic development includes a shift from
agriculture to industry and further on to services. In general the terms of
trade are more advantageous for manufacturing goods than for raw materials. So
industrialization is important (Rodrik 2004). Among others, the historical
examples of the United States and Japan are there to demonstrate the importance
of catching up with industrialization as well as the possibility to realize
such industrialization within a rather short period of time.
Although, as the China example makes clear, catching up is
possible indeed for those countries having (for whatever reason) not
industrialized until now, this ‘Chinese route’ seems not to be applicable to a
lot of countries, especially not to some of the former African colonial
possessions. They do not seem to be able to realize the take-off towards a
diversified industrialization and subsequent development of the service sector.
One of the most striking examples is the former Belgian Congo, being nowadays
one of the poorest countries in the world. Nevertheless, when the Belgian Congo
became independent in 1960 it had a well developed economic structure; in fact
it was one of the highest developed countries of Africa. The debate on what
went wrong afterwards is complicated as so many issues are involved such as
foreign intervention, civil war, the effects of dictatorship and the long
lasting influence of colonialism.
In this paper we will investigate the last issue by
highlighting the economic development pattern of the Belgian Congo. In
particular we will focus on the analysis of its industrialization pattern. We
will indicate the following points. First, although Congo is often cited as an
example of a “Raubwirtschaft” colonial type (referring to the Belgian King
Leopold II reign), there was an important evolution in the overall economic
structure especially after 1908. Second, the Belgian Congo was seen as a
country to exploit in the interest of Belgium that could profit from the Congo
raw materials and tropical products and that could gather high dividends from
its capital export. Third, this would not prevent that the Belgian Congo was
one of the most industrialized countries of Africa in 1960. Fourth, even an
advanced social security system was elaborated during the 1950s and
considerable efforts were made in the medical and educational sector (although
concentrated in primary schooling). Fifth, there was a huge kind of uneven development
between rural and urban areas, as well as between regions. Sixth, human capital
development was highly neglected, especially with regard to the formation of
highly skilled Africans. In fact Belgium simply did not allow Africans in any
administrative, political, military, or company top job and forbade university
schooling for Africans until 1954 (except for religious schooling).
Section 1 will highlight some of the particularities of the
now-DRC that are of importance for understanding the specific Congolese
industrialization pattern. Section 2 will show how this industrialization
evolved over time, dividing the industrialization process in three
(sub)periods. In the first period (1920-1940) a first wave of industrialization
takes place, centered on the export of raw materials (tropical crops as well as
minerals) and supported by state investments in infrastructure. The second
period (1940-1958) sees a second wave of industrialization starting with the
Second World War, and continuing into the 1950s. It is characterized by a
growing internal market, a tendency to import substitution and a changing class
structure. By the end of the colonial era a third period seems to announce
itself with big plans for the development of the capital goods sector. These
plans were however never realized during the colonial era. Later on, during the
Mobutu dictatorship, some of these plans would be partially realized, although
the overall economic structure had collapsed. Section 3 provides some overall
data on the Congo industrialization. Section 4 summarizes and concludes.
Section 1. Congo’s economic history and some of its
particularities In 1885, when the colonization of the Congo took place, the
territories of what is by now called the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
were a sparsely populated region in the Middle of Africa. Their economic
activities were restricted to hunting, fishing and agriculture. By 1960, when
the country became independent, the economic structure had profoundly changed1.
The main economic activity of the country had become mining; the second most
important activity related to tropical products such as palm oil, cotton,
coffee etc. But the economic structure was not restricted to mining and
tropical products. Congo had obtained the second highest degree of
industrialization of Sub Saharan Africa (Huybrechts 2010). Global
industrialization rates were about 14% of the country’s GDP; whereas in some
regions (as that of Leopoldville, now Kinshasa2) more than 25% of economic
activity was in industrialization. African agriculture however had become the
handmaiden of this development, with an agricultural population that was one of
the poorest of Africa. In the decades after 1960 this vast industrial and
mining structure would collapse. Some particular elements in the history of
Belgian colonialism can contribute to understanding what went wrong (see also
Buelens 2007).
In 1885 the Congo Free State was born under the reign of
King Leopold II, who was also king of Belgium (and from then on King of two countries).
The Congo at the time did not exist as a single country. It came into existence
as a unified territory under colonial domination. The Berlin Act of 1885 gave
some official status to this acquisition. The Act would play an important role
in the way the economic structure of the country would develop. Indeed, due to
that Act it was forbidden for colonial rulers to develop a protectionist policy
towards
1 For an extensive list with the number of all companies by sector and
sub sector, see especially Centrale Bank van Belgisch-Congo en Ruanda Urundi
(1959). 2 Throughout the text we will use the historical names and indicate
also their actual names. As in so many other colonies it was European practice to
give European names to original African places; some towns created by European
colonists even had no African name. Leopoldville would be named Kinshasa after
1960. Originally however Kinshasa and Leopoldville were two separate places,
near to each other.
other countries; no “infant industry policy” was allowed
here. The Berlin Act defined the Congo Free State as a free trade zone
prohibiting Belgium to establish a preferential trade tariff in the Belgian
Congo. Later on this would imply that Belgian owned companies would be founded
in the Belgian Congo in order to meet with foreign competition. In 1925 e.g.
textile company TEXAF was founded in order to meet with systematic dumping
practices of Japan that tried to conquer the Congo market (Lacroix 1967: 19).
Colonization had started with the expropriation of the
Congolese population of their lands. By the ordinance of 1/7/1885 the principle
of “free estates” ("terres vacantes") was established. The
overwhelming part of the Congo territory became state owned (Dubois 1913: 13).
Only those small territories in which people lived remained free of state
ownership. Following the colonial state would use these estates in order to
give big land grants, (mining and other) concessions (for a long period of
time) or even sell the estates to colonial investors. In exchange the colonial
state received stocks of those colonial companies, making the colonial state
the biggest investor in the Congo. This “Congo Portfolio” would enable the
colonial state to finance most of its activities, due to the high dividends
paid by colonial companies (Buelens and Marysse 2009). Later on, during the
Second World War, Congo would even finance the Belgian government in exile as
well as provide for the servicing of the Belgian debt (Huybrechts 2010).
Rather soon after 1885 the Congo proved to be one of the
richest mining regions of Africa and even of the whole world. Consequently,
colonial exploitation focused on first the rubber, ivory and copal business
(during King Leopold II), switching to mining in 1906 with the foundation of
the three mining companies UMHK (Union Minière du Haut Katanga), Forminière
(Société Internationale Forestière et Minière du Congo) and BCK (Compagnie du
Chemin de Fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK). Each of them received enormous
land grants. In the meantime King Leopold II had come under severe attack for
his colonial practices; as a consequence political power switched from Leopold
II to Belgium in 1908. But more importantly (Ndaywel è Nziem 1998 28-30), economic
power switched to the Société Générale de Belgique, one of the strongest
holding companies in Europe at the time. When in 1928 the Banque d’Outremer
merged with Société Générale, the most important Congo holding company, the
CCCI – the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie - provided Société Générale with the near total
control of the Belgian Congo.
From 1906 on mining became the centerpiece of colonial
policy. It had heavy consequences for population policy and for African
agriculture. Indeed, as the country was thinly populated (approximately 10
million people around 1908; 14.4 million in 1959) (Huybrechts 2010: 25) and the
need for miners was high, mining companies like UMHK tried to attract miners
from other regions out of their villages. African agriculture lost most of its
workforce. It contributed to a highly uneven development of the Belgian Congo,
with African agriculture devastated in favor of a few mining regions, with the
mining centre of Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi), where UMHK was located, as
the most important one. The countryside, where tropical products were
harvested, did not develop in the same way. Prices were kept low; its products
were shipped to be exported. This gave rise to the further development of a
second growth pole in the region around Leopoldville, the main commercial
centre, situated at the Congo river. In fact, that town had developed already
during the Congo Free State
period as an important place for trade. In the late 1920s it
became also the capital of the Belgian Congo and gained in importance due to a
lot of administrative activities.
Belgium followed a hugely apartheid-inspired colonial ruling
system, based on brutal military force. The “Force Publique” was led by Belgian
officers and trained in oppressing people. Belgium held all of the top jobs in
the administration, in the army as well as in companies in its own hands.
Attending university was simply forbidden for Africans (until 1954); top
functions were only for Europeans. Belgium thought it would be needed for
ruling the Congo for a thousand years to come. Thus colonial rulers highly
neglected human capital formation during the colonial era. As a result, when in
1960 Africans took over, they had never been given the opportunity to develop their
skills in administering the country, nor in military or in political functions,
in the management of companies, in law, in civil engineering etc. It would
prove to be a disaster.
Political unrest, civil war as well as foreign intervention
contributed to this, but the Belgian colonial policy of keeping Africans out of
any leading position also had a huge responsibility in this process. It made
the Congo to become a fragile state. When in 1960 Patrice Lumumba became the
first democratic elected Prime Minister of the Belgian Congo, both the Belgian
government and the Société Générale were not pleased. Instead of giving full
support to the first elected government, Belgian neo-colonialist interventions
contributed a lot to political instability. Patrice Lumumba was murdered, and
the (rich) Katanga and Kasai provinces started secession, leading to the Congo
Secession War. When Mobutu took over he received full support from Belgium,
notwithstanding that under the Mobutu dictatorship the Congo would be led to
ruin.
Section 2. The evolving industrialization process of the
Belgian Congo
2.1. Raubwirtschaft
There can hardly be any doubt that the primary (and nearly
sole) objective of the first stage of the Congo (the Congo Free State, as a
personal possession of King Leopold II) was to exploit the colony by extracting
as much profit as possible from the exploitation of its natural resources.
Almost all the lands were appropriated by the state (Decree of 1885) and would
later on be used to be sold or to be given as concessions to private companies.
The Congo People was submitted to severe exploitation. Rubber, ivory and copal
were the main products extracted by a cruel system of forced labor (Gann and
Duignan 1979 30). Other tropical crops such as the exploitation of tropical
timber from the forests of Mayumbé (near the Atlantic Ocean) would follow.
This system has rightly been characterized as
“Raubwirtschaft”. It led to a stylized image of the Congo: “At one extreme,
European powers set up "extractive states," exemplified by the
Belgian colonization of the Congo” (Acemoglu 2001). Highly inspired by what the
Dutch did in Indonesia, the King took it for granted that colonies should be
exploited under supervision of the state for the well being of Belgium. The most
violent exploitation of natural and human resources would take place
(Jewsiewicki 1983a). Population would diminish sharply during this era.
The Congo being a big
trading economy, a central place was reserved for the growth and development of
Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). The town was situated at the Congo river, some 400
km from the coast. It was the central place for acquiring trading products from
elsewhere in the Congo (transported mainly by the Congo River) and for
transporting them further on by the Congo railway (connecting Matadi with
Leopoldville). This will be an important issue, as it will be exactly this city
centre that will develop into the main centre of one of the two main growth
centers of the Belgian Congo.
The “Raubwirtschaft” met fierce resistance from the
international community at the time, forcing King Leopold II to transfer the
Congo in 1908 to the supervision of the Belgian state. The “Belgian Congo” was
born. Things would change somewhat in the years after, although the bare
essence of an extractive state remained, the main difference being that is was
by now done on in a more “scientific” way of exploitation3. From an economic
point of view, the sectoral composition would be changing too, with ivory,
rubber and copal no longer being the main economic items, for replaced by
copper and other metals. The foundation of the “3 companies of 1906” (UMHK,
Forminière and BCK; see earlier), all of them based in Katanga, marked the
switch. Of course, it would take several years before they would be able to
start mining production and the process of transformation was somewhat hampered
by the First World War. But soon after the war the “new economic policy” would
become visible.
It is hardly possible to talk about industrialization as such
in that period. Nevertheless there were some companies who saw light in that
period such as SOCOL (Société Colonial de Construction). It was founded in 1911
for the construction of the railway Elisabethville- Bukama4. Indeed, during the
first decades a lot of attention went to one of the basic infrastructural needs
of colonization: transport. The main means of transport in the Belgian Congo
was the Congo river; additional equipment was in railways. Until the end of
colonization both means would dominate the transport industry.
2.2. The first wave of industrialization (1920-1939)
Soon after the First World War the “scientific exploitation”
of the Belgian Congo could start up, in contrast to the “Raubwirtschaft” policy
of Leopold II. But that did not mean the Congo would be developed in the
interests of its people. Belgium joined the overall mercantile colonial
opinion, stating that colonies had to supply the “mother countries” with raw
3 For example, Félicien Cattier, professor at the Free University of
Brussels (ULB, Université Libre de Bruxelles) and from 1935 on vice-governor of
the Société Générale, criticized Leopold II in the following way: “"...
L'Etat du Congo n'est point un Etat colonisateur (..) c'est à peine un Etat :
c'est une entreprise financière (..) La colonie n'a été administrée ni dans les
intérêts des indigènes ni même dans l'intérêt économique de la Belgique:
Procurer au Roi- Souverain un maximum de ressources, tel a été le ressort de
l'activité gouvernementale." (Cattier 1906 341). 4 Later on it would
develop into a multinational company and changed its name in 1941 in Société
Continentale et Coloniale de Construction (Socol), specialized in industrial
constructing all over the world.
materials. Belgium focused on the theory of comparative
advantage. It saw the Congo’s comparative advantage mainly in (a) minerals for
export (b) tropical products. Belgium would export in exchange machinery and
other manufactured products5. And it would receive huge amounts of dividends in
exchange for Belgian capital exports to the Congo. But Belgian exporters
pursued an aggressive strategy not to let foreign competition grow in the Congo
basin. Only those products with complementary aspects with Belgian industries
were allowed and favored. Belgium had a strong position in metalworking and
machinery. Following it tried to export as many of these products to the
Belgian Congo6.
Within this context industrialization took place, directly
linked to mining, commercial centre activities and tropical crops. It was
mainly financed by Belgian investors: a sharp increase of (Belgian) foreign
direct investment in the Belgian Congo in the period 1920-28 can be observed
(giving rise to a sharp competition for scarce African labor). As can be seen
from table 1 the capital account balance was increasing from 92 million BEF7 in
1920 to 1530 million BEF in 1928, mainly due to private foreign investments.
Industrial production developed in both export and import substituting
activities. In fact there was roughly a 50/50 division between both sectors
(Lacroix 1967: 2). But this did not mean that any kind of industrial production
was favored. Roughly speaking, industrial production for export was (a) for the
first transformation in cases where it was too costly to export products as
such (for example for copper) (b) for those transformations where it was for
technical reasons not otherwise possible, for example palm oil (Ahrens 1953:
31). Besides, industrial production for the home market was for a certain range
of consumer goods for which it was more profitable to produce them directly in
the Belgian Congo (for example: beer, cotton fabrics, cement) or industrial
goods whenever these were needed to keep production going (for example cement,
electrical production or chemicals for the mining companies). The Belgian Congo
started the production of cement (1920), soap (1922), beer (1924); cotton
fabrics
5 For example, Xavier Carton de Wiart, the son of Henry Carton de Wiart
wrote in 1930: "La mise en valeur des territoires coloniaux (...) n'est
pas, pour les nations blanches une question de simple profit: c'est une
nécessité vitale. Comme au temps des Conquistadors, nos comptoirs d'outre-mer
nous envoient leurs épices, leur ivoire, leurs bois, le métal-or de notre
trésor public, mais ils nous envoient surtout l'étain, le cuivre, le coton que
réclament nos ingénieurs et nos ouvriers, le cacao, le café, l'huile,
indispensables à notre alimentation, les diamants, le radium." (Carton de
Wiart 1930: 12). Henry Carton de Wiart was the brother of Edmond Carton de
Wiart, the former Secretary of Leopold II and from 1910 on, a director of the
Société Générale. 6 « … la Belgique n’aurait pas permis l’implantation au Congo
d’une industrie de base concurrente des producteurs belges. » (Lacroix 1967:
21) This line of conduct was held on. Even in 1953 when the Antwerp based TITAN
ANVERSOIS company founded the “Ateliers de Leopoldville”, it met with such
fierce competition from “Usines à Tubes”, a daughter company of the Société
Générale that it had to close its doors. One of the reasons was that the
government had lowered the import taxes on tubes making it easier for Usines à
Tubes to import their products (Joye and Lewin 1961: 101; Lacroix 1967: 326).
According to the chairman of the Board of directors, Lucien Varda, Titan
Anversois had been the victim of dumping practices (Moniteur des Intérêts
Matériels, 31/01/1959). 7 BEF stands for Belgian Franc, but Belgium created
also the COF (Congolese Franc) that had the same parity as the Belgian
Franc.
(1925), sugar (1925) and even some metal fabrication
companies (Lacroix 1967: 21). A brief overview in the remainder of this section
will document the nature of this first industrialization.
Table 1. Capital account of the Belgian Congo and
Ruanda-Urundi (1920-1939) (million BEF)
Capital account Current account Overall balance Year (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1920 84 8 92 57 149 1921 39 47 86 -110 -24 1922 120 77 197 -78 119 1923 162 -47
115 25 140 1924 64 121 185 42 227 1925 369 170 539 -250 289 1926 587 450 1037
-540 497 1927 720 -45 675 -530 145 1928 1614 -84 1530 -409 1121 1929 989 210
1199 -343 856 1930 1236 261 1497 -284 1213 1931 736 341 1077 -279 798 1932 -24
581 577 -238 319 1933 -108 376 268 -77 191 1934 -3 -326 -329 186 -133 1935 -198
-456 -654 287 -367 1936 -955 1126 171 218 389 1937 -119 -328 -447 537 90 1938
-78 -204 -282 82 -200 1939 -9 109 100 106 206 (1) Capital operations in the
long run (private capital) (2) Capital operations in the long run(government
capital) (3) Capital account balance (long run) (4) Current account balance (5)
Overall balance Source: Vandewalle (1966 : 77)
2.2.1. Mining and the industrialization of Katanga Congo was
rich in minerals (gold, copper, cobalt, tantalite, columbite, cassiterite,
uranium, tin …). Belgium concentrated all its economic efforts into the
exploitation of these minerals. Industrial development in that region was the
handmaiden of the export of those raw materials. Especially in Katanga (the home
base of UMHK) this gave rise to an impressive industrialization wave in several
sectors. First, as Katanga was that far away from the Atlantic Ocean, it was
not profitable to export many raw materials as such, they had to undergo a
first transformation in order to lower transport costs. Second, as Katanga was
sparsely populated and produced not enough food other industries had to be
developed such as mills and meat producing farms. So in 1923 the Brasseries du
Katanga (Brassekat) was founded (brewery), in 1924 Compagnie d´Elevage et
d´Alimentation du Katanga (Elakat),
in 1929 the Minoteries du Katanga, in 1930 Compagnie des
Grands Elevages Congolais (Grelco). Third, there were the housing needs of the
staff and the construction needs of the firms that gave rise to the development
of all kind of construction linked firms: Ciments du Katanga (Cimenkat)
(founded in 1922); Compagnie Foncière du Katanga (1922). Fourth, a lot of
supporting activities such as electricity power plants, chemicals (Sogechim was
founded in 19298) and metal construction workhouses were needed. As far as
energy is concerned, the UMHK had the highest power generation capacity in
place of the Belgian Congo9 (other mining regions as Kilo-Moto also had power
plants of a lower capacity). Due to the rather low production output
traditional thermal processes were used by UMHK at first, notwithstanding the
extremely high cost of coke (that had first to be imported from Europe,
afterwards from South Rhodesia). But UMHK looked for using hydraulic resources
(Gouverneur 1971 57). Indeed, the Belgian Congo offers great possibilities for
electricity, as its hydraulic power potential is enormous. From 1930 on the
Société Générale des Forces Hydro-Electriques du Katanga (Sogefor), a daughter
company of the UMHK, realized a series of hydro electric power plants in
Katanga; Sogelec, Société Générale Africaine d’Electricité (a daughter company
of Sogefor) would exploit it. All this implied that a vast network of
interconnected firms was founded to make mining possible.
Industrialization as a consequence of mining needs was
especially developed in the Katanga region. In other regions of the Belgian
Congo, mining was far from absent but the diamond production in Kasai or the
gold production in Kilo-Moto did not give rise to the same development of an
industrial network as the mining needs in Katanga did.
2.2.2. Tropical products
Belgium decided to transform African agriculture by the system of
compulsory crops, with cotton being the main item (besides other tropical
products as palm oil, coffee, cacao, timber, tabac …). Nearly 800.000 villagers
were obliged to grow cotton. This served the interests of the (at the time)
vast textile industry in Belgium that would no longer be dependent on the raw
materials from other countries. Following in 1920 the COTONCO company was
founded, that would buy all the cotton produced by African farmers (Cotonco did
not have own cotton plantations). The purchase of raw cotton took place at a
state- defined (low) minimum price in order to make Belgian textile companies
competitive on an international scale. The Congo transformed in one big cotton
plantation, comparable to the Southern United States. Large areas of the Congo
(including Uélé, Maniema, Ubangi, Kivu, Lualaba and Lusambo) became compulsory
cotton producers (Foutry 1986: 122-24, Vellut 1979: 370). In 1947 Cotonco had
73 factories all over the Congo.
Besides cotton, a second main crop was palm oil production. This was
mainly the work of UNILEVER10. Already in 1911 the Lever Company had acquired
vast territories in the Belgian
8 Sogéchim produced mainly sulphuric acid, needed for the production of
electrolytic copper for UMHK) (Dumortier 1947). 9 The construction of electric
power plants during colonial times has been highly unevenly throughout the
country and mainly linked to industrial power plants (exception made for the
region of Leopoldville). 10 Originally Lever Brothers; Unilever was the result
of a merger in 1930 between the Dutch “Margarine Unie” with “Lever Brothers”.
Congo. Lord Lever acquired five big “circle areas” in the
Congo. Production was done by salaried and by small farmers. The main aim was
export. But due to technical reasons it was not possible to export the oil as
such; it had to undergo a first transformation. That was the main reason why
“Huileries du Congo Belge” (founded in 1911) set up a lot of factories in the
Belgian Congo. As such, palm oil became a major export crop (second after
cotton) with the Belgian Congo being the second African exporter after Nigeria
(Lacroix 1967: 243).
African agriculture became the handmaiden of economic
(industrial) development. But it did not stop with the transformation of
agriculture towards export crops. Because of massive mining recruitment
campaigns African villages were deprived of the majority of their young and
strong workers, leaving older people, women and children populating these
villages. It would lead to the impoverishment of the rural areas.
2.2.3. Consumption products for the internal market: the
role of Leopoldville Not all of cotton production was for export; in 1925, a
Belgian firm, Texaf, was founded. It would produce vast amounts of textile
products for the internal market. Texaf would become active mainly in the
Leopoldville region. This was a logical choice. Indeed it was immediately
connected with the fast growing commercial township of Leopoldville, one of the
two main growth centers of the Belgian Congo11. Later on, it would also become
the capital of the country (instead of Boma). Several industries were developed
in its surroundings, all of them to serve the immediate needs of the town (and
region). Breweries were started from 1923 on, with the foundation of Brasserie
de Leopoldville. Texaf would become a holding company in 1934; transferring her
textile manufacturing activities in Usines Textiles de Leopoldville (UtexLeo).
In 1925 the sugar industry started with the foundation of Compagnie Sucrière
Congolaise (at Moerbeke-Kwilu). This company was the copybook example Congolese
firm: Compagnie Sucrière Congolaise not only developed sugar activities but
also activities in the field of construction, metal working, timber industry
and hospitals (Lippens 1953: 65). Just like in Katanga, construction was an
important business. Construction for manufacturing aims as well as residential
construction called for the development of construction companies and all the
materials it needed, one of the most important being cement. In 1920 a cement industry
was created in Lukula (Ciments du Congo); in 1928 Compagnie Immobilière du
Congo became responsible for housing; not unimportant as cities were growing
fast (Kipré 1993). Besides, investments were also made in supporting
activities, the main one being shipbuilding. Indeed, as the Congo River was the
main means of transport, ships (and maintenance facilities) were needed. In
1928 Chanic (Chantier Naval et Industriel du Congo) was founded, near
Leopoldville. Before World War II Chanic was mainly busy in assembling
components from ships coming from Belgium (Cockerill Yards, Hoboken, near
Antwerp) as well as in maintenance activities. Last but not least, just as in
Katanga, there was a huge need for energy. In 1923 the Société Coloniale
d´Electricité (Colectric) was founded. It would distribute electricity from the
electric power plant of Zongo. Additionally, in 1930 the Forces
Hydro-Electriques de Sanga would start production of the Sanga Waterfalls on
the Congo River (near to Leopoldville).
11 The
influence of Leopoldville would reach the wide environment going even into
Stanleyville (Kisangani nowadays), considered as a third potential (although
minor) growth centre.
The first wave of investment came to an end with the crisis
of the thirties. Nearly no new investments took place, and existing companies
were severely hit. For example, one out of three soap companies was liquidated
(Lacroix 1967: 169). Moreover European and African labor was shrinking; several
companies replaced even European labor with African labor. Being an export
economy of raw materials, prices as well as export volumes were heavily
shrinking. The colonial government was focused however on the export markets
and tried to do everything to save the export industry. Industrial production
for the internal market did also diminish. Between 1930 and 1935 overall
internal market demand fell back to the 1920 level. Production for the internal
market would only again reach the 1929 level in 1944 (Lacroix 1967: 169).
Examples are numerous and are well documented by Lacroix: Cement production
fell down from 64.000 ton (1929) to 21.000 ton (1944); Beer production from
24.000 hl (1929) to 8700 hl (1934); Internal consumption of sugar fell from 2100
ton (1929) to 937 ton (1933) and reached 2125 ton in 1938 (Lacroix 1967:
169-170).
From 1935 on things changed. Even some new investments were
made; the multinational Bata shoe company would found “Société Bata Congolaise”
in 1937 (Joye 1961: 273) with a manufacturing unit in Leopoldville. But the
real upswing would come with the Second World War.
2.3. The Second Wave of Industrialization (1940-1957) The
Second World War (and its aftermath) fundamentally changed the Congolese
economy. First, huge requirements in minerals and crops were put forward for
allied efforts to win the war12. Following this, productive capacity and
production increased enormously. Industrial production rose at a high average
rate of at least 14 % a year in the period 1935-1949 (Lacroix 1967: 21-22). In
1951, tropical agricultural product exports stood at 7,694 billion BEF (on total exports of 20,406
billion BEF) compared to 388 millions BEF and 1,533 billion BEF in 1937 (Ahrens
1953 31). The number of enterprises was sharply increasing from 7396 in 1948 to
11784 enterprises in 1952. The number of construction companies would rise from
104 in 1948 to 402 in 1952 (Derkinderen 1953 42-51). This tremendous change had
several consequences (see also Peemans 1975a).
First, the transport infrastructure was no longer adapted to
such an expanding economy. It would need important investments after the war.
Second, due to this increase in production the number of miners and workers
increased sharply (from 480.000 (1940) to 800.000 (1945)) and the uneven
development between the rural areas and the industrial centers (and towns) was
even more disturbed than before. Third, as the Second World War cut all the
links between the Belgian Congo and Belgium and as the number of workers
increased, companies were forced to upgrade the skills of their African
workers: at the end of the war high skilled workers and (lower) clerks occupied
positions they did not held before the war. Fourth, companies made enormous
profits. These accumulated reserves would be able to finance a lot of post-war
investments. Congo was even forced to finance the Belgian
12 One example out of many states that firms had to work all day round:
"L'énorme effort de guerre accompli par les Usines Textiles de
Leopoldville pendant la guerre et toujours pour le moment: les usines ont
marché presque continuellement 24 heures par jour." (Fransolet 1947: 185).
government in exile. Fifth, as imports from Belgium had no
longer been possible during the war and industrial sectors had seen competition
from European providers diminish due to the war, they had been able to develop
further. A typical example is Chanic. It developed into a real metalworking
conglomerate with a diversified production. During World War II, Chanic’s
activities exploded. The complete construction of ships came to pass the spot
and thus led to a real shipyard industry in the Congo. Chanic diversified its
production to food cans and took on the distribution of products from Caterpillar
and other (mostly American) companies. Moreover, it would help founding other
companies such as Cegeac (Compagnie Générale d'Automobiles et d'Aviation du
Congo) and Congacier. It had a staff of more than 3000 after the Second World
War.
Besides economic changes something more fundamentally
changed at the social and political level. First the world would never be the
same again, with regard to the idea of colonialism. Neither the Soviet Union,
nor the United States accepted old fashioned European colonialism. A growing
number of colonized peoples urged to become independent; it would not be
otherwise in the Belgian Congo. Second, the class composition of Congo had
profoundly changed with a growing (lower) middle class, an industrial working
class and an impoverished poor agricultural population. This changing class
structure would favor independence. Third Belgian official colonialist doctrine
changed the focus from “exploitative colonialism” towards “development
colonialism”. It was motivated by some concern over the social condition of the
Congolese people but also about the best way to meet with the growing
resistance against colonization. Consequently during the 1945-1958 period the
Congolese internal market developed through a policy of increasing wages,
social security systems (pensions and child allowances) and even a minimum
wage. Besides the opportunity of being able to manufacture and sell consumer
goods in a well-developed internal market, the political motive was also
important, as stated by Derkinderen: “…the Government wants to support the
middle classes, in order to stabilize the home-market (…) these middle classes
are necessary, if only to act as intermediaries between big capital and the
aboriginal proletariat. These classes, to which natives should be admitted,
will further a peaceful evolution.” (Derkinderen 1953: 52).
In the meantime, on the economic side, a Ten Year Plan
(1949-1959) was elaborated. That plan put forward huge investments in the
Congo. The 1949-1959 Ten Year Plan was essentially aimed at adapting and
developing transport infrastructure, as this was no longer suited to the needs
of the state of development of the Congo economy. Additional Capital (public
and private) investments between 1950 and 1957 stood at about 124 billion BEF
or (on average) 27.5 percent of GDP per year (Peemans 1975b: 187-193;
Vanthemsche 1993: 345). Strong economic growth asked for such a high investment
volume in public infrastructure. Financing could partly be done by reserves,
partly by new loans. Planning was in the mood, partly due to the Soviet Union
successes, partly due to the Keynesian answer to the crisis of the 1930s. But
near to absent in the Ten Year Plan was any meaningful investment in African
agriculture. Moreover, some very promising objectives, such as the foundation
of a “Société de Développement Colonial” (in order to stimulate the building of
« strategic sectors ») and a “Société pour le Développement de l’Economie
Indigène » (in order to stimulate the building of small entreprises by
Africans), were not carried through.
During the War growth rates were extremely high. Now, when
the war was over, growth rates continued their high levels. The Ten Year Plan,
the Cold War, the Korean War, strategic stockpiling by allied powers and the
fear of a Third World War kept the Congo economy on the same high growth path.
Especially growth rates in the mining sector were high. Growth rates of
individual mining products for some minerals as tantalite-columbite boomed to
more than 722 % only between 1946 and 1952. For wolfram it was 396%, for cobalt
217 %, for zinc 183 % and even for copper 42%. The total value of mineral
exports rose from 3,314 billion BEF (in 1946) to 12,108 billion BEF (in 1952)
(Marthoz 1953: 71)13.
Besides all this, there was also an additional factor: a
widespread fear that a Third World War was near. It made the Belgian government
looking for a place to flight and the Société Générale turning to other regions
for investments with Canada and the Belgian Congo as two of the favorite ones.
The result was an additional huge amount of investment in the Belgian
Congo.
Between 1950 and 1957, not only the mining sector was
growing fast, but also the annual average growth rate of industrial production
was extremely high at 14.3 % (Lacroix 1967: 22). This was also reflected in the
evolution of the volume index of industrial production. Between 1939 and 1957
the index grew by 622% for food, by 2843% for textiles, by 1251% for chemicals
and by 2489 % for construction (see table 2).
Table 2. Evolution of the volume index of industrial
production (1939-1957) Food Textiles
Chemicals Construction Divers Total 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946
1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 41 44 45 59 69 72 73 79
89 100 111 124 146 158 186 212 237 272 296 21 25 27 27 44 42 69 67 81 102 116
160 327 392 446 524 601 697 618 35 44 53 75 70 71 75 81 91 76 133 145 154 196
304 330 412 448 473 19 15 28 30 44 54 52 58 87 105 108 201 244 283 339 413 432
462 492 10 9 26 27 29 32 52 60 61 95 144 147 175 218 267 280 310 336 387 29 30
38 46 54 59 64 71 82 99 119 147 179 206 250 280 315 349 377 Total (%) 622 2843
1251 2489 3770 1200
13 The only exception was gold. Due to the fixed price imposed by the
Bretton Woods agreement, gold production rose only by 10% between 1946 and 1952
(Marthoz 1953: 71)
Source: Centrale Bank van Belgisch-Congo en Ruanda Urundi
(1959: 4).
Existing activities expanded rapidly. Existing companies had
magnificent years with e.g. the shoe industry, having a production volume of 3
million pairs of shoes in 1959, which represented 25% of the production volume
of Belgian shoe companies (Joye 1961 107). That growing internal market saw
also a lot of new activities started up. For example in 1947 Brasseries de
Leopoldville founded a new company Bouteillerie de Leopoldville. The brewery
sector had a tremendous expansion with the foundation of breweries all over the
country. Textiles expanded further too (see also Moxhon 1953): Besides UtexLeo
(spinning and weaving of cotton; printing of fabrics), Société Coloniale de
Textiles (Socotex) (1946) (blankets) and Tissaco (1947) (Filatures et Tissages
de Fibres au Congo) (jute bags) were founded in the region of Leopoldville.
Especially foreign multinational companies came in but also a lot of Belgian
companies such as e.g. Eternit (Eternit-Congo, 1947). Indeed, as the Congolese
economy was booming Belgian exporters tried to aggressively develop all kind of
strategies to protect and increase the export of their products. They were
actively supported by colonial authorities. For example, in 1951, a commercial
register was introduced, protecting entrepreneurs from rogue competitors; the
same objective was aimed at by provisions to protect trademarks (Cleys 2002).
The giant Belgian business organization “Fabrimetal” opened up an office in
Leopoldville. The growth of industrial production between 1950 and 1957 was on
average 14.3 % (Lacroix 21/22). The participation rate of workers in the
“commercial economy” stood at 59% (of which 30 % as workers), being among the
highest in Africa (Lacroix 1967: 26-28). Financial results were not
disappointing investors: the average return on investment (net profits/capital
plus reserves) for industrial companies was always situated above 12% during
the 1950-57 period (CBBCRU 1959: 11).
Besides its expansion, industrial production was also
becoming more capital intensive and also productivity increased. This was
mainly due to the exhaustion of labor and the increasing wage level. As a
result the number of industrial workers decreased from 134.466 (1950) to
121.232 (1957) although the totality of workers increased from 962.209 (1950)
to 1.147.712 workers (1957) (CBBCRU 1959: 9).
2.2.4. Inga, Capital Flight and the war for independence
(1958-1960) Consumer goods were not the only industrial sector. In the mining
centers of Katanga a vast industrial conglomerate of industrial activities was
expanding further. Construction activities were booming; metal and chemicals
were developed too. The Katanga region was a highly developed industrial
region, highly attributable to the UMHK activities and its extremely high
profits that allowed UMHK to be the major contributor to the Congo state
finances. in the period 1950-1960 only, UMHK tranfered the huge amount of 26.99
billion BEF in dividends
But industrial plans would not stop at the door of the UMHK.
In the course of the 1950s several far reaching ideas were developed to give a
boost to the development of the Congolese economy, especially from the side of
development of heavy industries and subsequent energy and transport
requirements. Transport had been the prime focus of the Ten Year Plan. Now it
was time to turn to energy. Plans were envisaged for a petroleum
refinery near to Kitona at the Atlantic Ocean14. But the
most important idea was in the field of electricity provision. As stated
earlier electricity power plants were highly developed (mainly for UMHK) but
rather unevenly distributed throughout the country. But now a giant plan was
under study: an enormous hydraulic power plant – the INGA hydraulic power
plant. The site has one of the largest waterfalls in the world (Inga Falls), as
the Congo River drops 96 meters; it has at that place a flow of 42,476 m³/s on
average. To develop an electric power plant in such conditions was an old idea,
with e.g. the Syneba Syndicate (Syndicat d’Etude du Bas Congo) already
examining the issue in 1929 (see Willame 1986: 29-30). It was to be developed
on the Congo River near the Atlantic Ocean, some 40 km from Matadi. This
hydraulic power plant should be able to deliver enormous quantities of
electricity, making it possible to develop steel mills, aluminum mills and
chemical industries. It was hoped that once a minimal threshold level of firms
was operating it would have a big catalytic effect on attracting and/or
founding other firms.
The colonial government founded the Inga Institute («
Institut National d’Etudes pour le développement du Bas-Congo ») in 1957. A
Belgian consortium was interested (Sydelinga) including companies such as
Traction-Electricité, Electrobel and Sofina, while also others like the
Cominière holding company were interested. In 1958 efforts were joined in
Abelinga (« Association Belge pour l’Etude de l’aménagement hydroélectrique
d’Inga ») (Mollin 1996). Plans were developed, but the project was not realized
during the colonial era. The Inga project would only be realized after
independence. From 1960 on other competitors came in and the project met with
several severe difficulties (see Willame 1986). But also the conditions set
under the predator practices of Mobutu, did not enable to realize the
industrialization jump of the Congo (Young 199415), notwithstanding a lot of
plans and advices (Lacroix 1966).
Section 3. Overall data on the Congo Industrialization When
examining the GDP of the Belgian Congo at the end of colonization, it can be
seen that perspectives are bright (table 3), although industrialization did not
encompass all branches. On a total GDP of 63 billion BEF, industrial production
amounted to 9 billion BEF (about 15%). This is impressive for an African
colony.
Table 3. Composition of GDP (1958) (BEF) (added value by
industry)
Sectors 1958
14 Later on, in 1973, Cometra Oil (former colonial company Compagnie
Financière Africaine) would have an agreement with the by then “Zaire” state to
explore the territorial waters of Congo in collaboration with the American Gulf
Oil Company and the Japanese Teikoku Oil Cy. 15 “The grandiose projects which
were to make 1980 a rendez-vous with abundance - the Maluku steel mill, the
Inga-Shaba power line, and the Tenke-Fungurume copper mines, among others -
were spectacular disasters,” (Young 1994a: 262). On their own, they were also
responsible for the build–up of the foreign debt of DRC, which, due to the
accumulation of rescheduling and arrears, evolved from about 3 billion
originally to about 12 billion USD at the beginning of the current decade,
necessitating a huge debt reduction to make debt again sustainable. See Marysse
et al. (2011).
Agricultural Production (commercialized) Agricultural
Production (for export or industry) Mining Industrial production (export)
Industrial production (home market)
3.737.000.000
7.679.000.000 5.031.000.000 4.790.000.000 4.279.000.000 TOTAL 25.516.000.000 Transport Electricity and
water Real Estate and Public Works Administration, Education, Defense Commerce
Other Services 4.602.000.000 1.040.000.000 2.220.000.000 8.590.000.000
4.670.000.000 4.062.000.000 TOTAL 25.184.000.000 Indirect Taxes 5.150.000.000
GDP (commercialized) 55.850.000.000 Non commercialized production 7.550.000.000
GDP 63.400.000.000 Source : Lacroix (1967: 30).
Taking into account that the population of the Belgian Congo
and Belgium was in the same order of magnitude at the end of the colonization,
comparing data for those two countries learn that in some fields the Belgian
Congo was highly developed. Electricity was about 18.4 % of the Belgian
production; this is perhaps the best indicator for the industrialization level
of the Belgian Congo (table 4).
Table 4. Comparing industrial production for Belgium and the
Belgian Congo in 1957
Unity Belgium Belgian
Congo %
Electricity Sugar Beer Water + lemonade Margarine Cigarettes
Cement Lime Bricks Ceramics Shoes Tissues Blankets
Millions KWH Tons 1000 hl 1000 hl tons millions tons tons
1000 1000 m2 1000 pairs 1000 m2 1000 pieces
12611 369335 10185 2966 95253 10546 470500 29249000 2242933
1625 12117 702105 11768
2320 19332 1382 320 669 4045 463952 100460 293876 137 2851
52982 1976
18.4 5.2 13.6 10.8 0.7 38.4 9.9 0.3 13.1 8.4 23.5 7.5 16.8
Source: Centrale Bank van Belgisch-Congo en Ruanda Urundi
(1959).
But these high industrialized data show also some
weaknesses. Indeed, industrialization is a vast process, encompassing so many
branches: Processing industries as a natural extension of raw materials,
service industries (repair shops, ..), light consumer goods industries
(cigarettes, soap, breweries …); ancillary industries (manufacturing
commodities needed for
the export of raw materials); large scale consumer goods
industries (textiles, footwear ..); construction goods industries (bricks,
cement ….); other capital goods and industrial raw materials industry
(chemicals, steel, semi-manufactured iron) (Melville 1953 149-150). Of all
these branches some were lacking in the Belgian Congo, although towards the end
of colonization intentions were formulated to develop capital goods, based on
the use of the INGA project.
More important even was the human capital factor. Compared
to other colonial powers Belgium prevented that high skilled Africans came on
the forefront during colonial times. Not a single African was allowed to follow
university courses until 1954, nor any of them had the opportunity to acquire
practical skills at a top job in administration, politics, the army or
business. As a result, it was extremely difficult for Africans to take over the
Congo after 1960, although at first the Belgians were prepared to stay for a
while. As neo-colonial activity was intervening and undermining the new born state,
political instability grew and the Congo would collapse.
Section 4. Summary and Conclusions
Investment in the Belgian Congo was mainly in mining and the
transport sector (needed for export minerals). Export of minerals and profits
out of this activity were the main economic objectives of colonization.
Supporting activities for mining were developed such as cement, electricity or
chemicals, giving rise to the formation of certain industrial “islands” within
the Congo economy. Besides minerals attention went to tropical products such as
cotton, palm oil and coffee. Both activities put a major burden on African
agriculture. Major profits were made, exported to Belgium or used for financing
the Colonial State. With the Second World War some important changes can be
observed in the Belgian Congo. This was mainly caused by the explosive growth
of the Congo economy during and after the war (due to her unique position as a
main supplier of minerals and tropical products for allied forces). As a
consequence, wages and consumption began to increase and a lot of new
manufacturing activities were developed. The internal market developed but so
did the middle class. The class structure changed, giving birth to an
historical alliance between the new middle class and the poor peasant
population as well as industrial and mining workers in order to overthrow the
colonial domination.
The industrialization of the Belgian Congo went through
different stages. The Belgian Congo started industrialization around 1920. That
industrialization was centered round two growth centers: Leopoldville and UMHK
(Katanga). The first one was highly centered on developing consumer goods for
the internal market; the second one was highly centered on consumer goods as
well as on intermediary products for mining. At the end of the colonial period
big expansion programs were developed, centered round the hydroelectric
potential of the INGA weir. Fast industrialization was realized by big
investments from Belgian companies, huge profits but also harsh exploitation of
African labor, especially that of the countryside. Colonialism separated (and
impoverished) African agriculture from the fast growing administrative capital
and the mining regions. It was highly responsible for the uneven development of
the country.
Investments in human capital were made but were restricted
to (at maximum) high skilled technical jobs and lower level office jobs.
Neither on the administrative side nor on the side of entrepreneurial skills
were Africans allowed to acquire the experience (and the instruction) needed to
assure successful leadership of the country’s resources. It contributed to the
collapse of the Congo economy after 1960, although other factors contributed as
well.
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pp. 80-88 • Ndaywel è Nziem I. (1998), Histoire générale du Congo. De
l'héritage ancien à la République Démocratique, Paris-Brussels: De Boeck &
Larcier, pp. 995 • Peemans, J.P. (1975a), Capital Accumulation in the Congo
under Colonialism: The Role of the State, in: L.H. Gann and P. Duignan (eds.),
Colonialism in Africa 1870-1960, 4, The economics of colonialism, Stanford:
Hoover Institution Press, 165-212. • Peemans J.P. (1975b), The Social and
Economic Development of Zaire since Independence: An Historical Outline,
African Affairs, 74 (295), pp. 148-179 • Rodrik D (2004), Industrial policy in
the twenty-first century. Paper prepared for UNIDO.www.ksg.harvard.edu/rodrik/,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Boston. • Vandewalle G. (1966), De
conjuncturele evolutie in Kongo en Ruanda-Urundi van 1920 tot 1939 en van 1949
tot 1958, Ghent: Hogere School voor Handels- en Economische Wetenschappen, 328
pp. • Vanthemsche G. (1993), Une politique de développement économique
colonial. Le "plan décennal" du Congo Belge 1949-1959, in: Aerts E.,
Henau B., Janssens P. and
R.Van Uytven, Studia historica
oeconomica. Liber amicorum Herman Van der Wee, Louvain: Universitaire Pers, pp.
337-355 • Vellut J.L. (1979), De Kongo 1910-1940, in: Blok P. (1979), Algemene
Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, 14, Haarlem: Fibula-Van Dishoeck, pp. 367-378 •
Willame, J.C. (1986), Zaïre: l'épopée d'Inga: chronique d'une prédation industrielle,
Paris • Young C. (1994), The Shattered Illusion of the Integral State, The
Journal of Modern African Studies, 32 (2), pp. 247-263
Belgian Congo
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Belgian Congo
Congo Belge (French)
Belgisch-Kongo (Dutch)
Colony of Belgium
← 1908–1960 →
→
Flag Coat of arms
Motto
Travail et Progrès
"Work and Progress"
Anthem
Brabançonne
"Brabantian"
The Congo (dark green) depicted with Belgian Ruanda-Urundi (light green), 1935
Capital Léopoldville
Languages French,[1] Dutch,[2]
Indigenous languages
Religion Roman Catholic
Political structure Colony
King
- 1908–1909 Leopold II
- 1909–1934 Albert I
- 1934–1951 Leopold III
- 1951–1960 Baudouin I
Governor-General
- 1908–1910 Théophile Wahis (first)
- 1958–1960 Henri Cornelis (last)
History
- Annexed byBelgium 15 November 1908
- Independence declared 30 June 1960
Area
- 1960 2,344,858 km²(905,355 sq mi)
Population
- 1960 est. 16,610,000
Density 7.1 /km² (18.3 /sq mi)
Currency Congolese franc
Today part of DR Congo
The Belgian Congo (French: Congo Belge, Dutch: Belgisch-Kongo (help·info)) was the formal title of
present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between King Leopold II’s formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.[3]
Contents
[hide]
· 1 Congo Free State, 1884–1908
· 2 Belgian colony, 1908–1960
· 3 Colonial economic policy
o 3.1 First World War
o 3.2 Investments
· 4 Civilizing mission
· 5 Resistance and voices of dissent
· 6 Towards Independence: 1945–1960
o 6.1 Political Organization
o 6.2 “Lipanda”
· 7 Belgian Congo after 1960
· 8 In popular culture
o 8.1 In literature and publications
o 8.2 In music
o 8.3 Onscreen
o 8.4 In visual art
· 9 Governors-General
· 10 See also
· 11 References
· 12 Bibliography
· 13 External links
Congo
Free State, 1884–1908[edit]
Leopold II, King
of the Belgians andde facto owner of the Congo Free
State from 1885 to 1908
Congolese children and
wives whose fathers/husbands failed to meet rubber-collection quotas often had
their hands cut off
Main
article: Congo Free State
Until the later part of
the 19th century, few Europeans had ventured into the Congo basin. The rainforest, swamps and accompanying malaria, and other
diseases, such as sleeping sickness, made it a difficult environment
for European-style exploration and exploitation. In 1876, King Leopold II of the Belgians organized the International African Association with the cooperation of
the leading African explorers and the support of several European governments
for the promotion of African exploration and colonization. After Henry
Morton Stanley had explored the region
in a journey that ended in 1878, Leopold courted the explorer and hired him to
help his interests in the region.[4]
Leopold II had been keen
to acquire a colony for Belgium even before he ascended to the throne in 1865.
He believed that the acquisition of a colony would bestow international
prestige on his relatively young and small home country and that it might
provide a steady source of income. Belgium showed little interest in its
monarch's dreams of empire-building. Ambitious and stubborn, Leopold decided to
pursue the matter on his own account.
European rivalry in
Central Africa led to diplomatic tensions, in particular with regard to the largely
unclaimed Congo River basin.
In November 1884 Otto von Bismarck convened a 14-nation
conference (the Berlin Conference)
to find a peaceful resolution to the Congo crisis. Though the Berlin Conference
did not formally approve the territorial claims of the European powers in
Central Africa, it did agree on a set of rules to ensure a conflict-free
partitioning of the region. The rules recognised (inter alia) the Congo
basin as a free-trade zone. In reality, Leopold II emerged triumphant from the
Berlin Conference.[5] and Leopold's
single-shareholder "philanthropic" organization received a large
share of territory (2,344,000 km2 (905,000 sq mi))
to be constituted as the Congo Free State.
The Congo Free State
operated as a corporate state privately
controlled by Leopold II through a non-governmental organization, theAssociation Internationale Africaine.[6] The state included the
entire area of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo and existed from 1885 to
1908, when the government of Belgium annexed the area. Under Leopold II’s
administration, the Congo Free State became a humanitarian disaster. The lack
of accurate records makes it difficult to quantify the number of deaths. Many of
the deaths were attributed to lack of immunity to new diseases introduced by
contact with European colonists.[7] William
Rubinstein wrote: "More
basically, it appears almost certain that the population figures given by Hochschild are inaccurate. There is,
of course, no way of ascertaining the population of the Congo before the
twentieth century, and estimates like 20 million are purely guesses. Most of
the interior of the Congo was literally unexplored if not inaccessible."[8]
The European and American
press exposed the conditions in the Congo Free State to the public in the early
1900s. In 1904, Leopold II was forced to allow an international parliamentary
commission of inquiry entry to the Congo Free State. By 1908, public pressure
and diplomatic maneuvers led to the end of Leopold II's personal rule and to
the annexation of the Congo as a colony of Belgium, known as the
Belgian Congo.
Belgian
colony, 1908–1960[edit]
Former residence of the
Governor-general of the Belgian Congo (1908–1926) located in Boma. Photograph from 2008
Steam Boat arriving at Shinkakasa(Congo River), 1912
Standard of the Governor-General
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo, 1900–1959
Year Pop. ±%
1900 1,187 —
1910 1,928 +62.4%
1920 3,615 +87.5%
1930 17,676 +389.0%
1939 17,536 −0.8%
1950 39,006 +122.4%
1955 69,813 +79.0%
1959 88,913 +27.4%
Source: [9]
On 18 October 1908, the
Belgian parliament voted in favour of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony.
This was only after King Leopold II had given up any hope to maintain a
substantial part of the Congo Free State as separate crown property. The
government of the Belgian Congo was arranged by the 1908 Colonial Charter.[10] Executive power rested
with the Belgian Minister of Colonial Affairs, assisted by a Colonial Council
(Conseil Colonial). Both resided in Brussels. The Belgian parliament exercised
legislative authority over the Belgian Congo. The highest-ranking representative
of the colonial administration in the Congo was the Governor-general. From 1886
until 1926, the Governor-general and his administration were posted in Boma,
near the Congo River estuary. From 1926, the colonial capital moved to
Léopoldville, some 300 km further upstream in the interior. Initially, the
Belgian Congo was administratively divided into four provinces: Léopoldville
(or: Congo-Kasaï), Equateur, Orientale and Katanga, each presided by a
vice-Governor-general. An administrative reform in 1932 increased the number of
provinces to six, while “demoting” the Vice-governors-general to provincial
Governors.
The territorial service
was the true backbone of the colonial administration.[11] Each province was divided
into 24 districts and each district into 120 territories. A territory was
managed by a territorial administrator, assisted by one or more assistants. The
territories were further subdivided into numerous “chiefdoms” (chefferies),
at the head of which the Belgian administration appointed “traditional chiefs”
(chefs coutumiers). The territories administered by one territorial
administrator and a handful of assistants were often larger than a few Belgian
provinces taken together (the whole Belgian Congo was nearly 80 times larger
than the whole of Belgium). Nevertheless, the territorial administrator was
expected to inspect his territory and to file detailed annual reports with the
provincial administration. In terms of jurisdiction, two systems co-existed: a
system of European courts and one of indigenous courts (tribunaux indigènes).
These indigenous courts were presided over by the traditional chiefs, but had
only limited powers and remained under the firm control of the colonial
administration. In 1936 it was recorded that there were 728 administrators
controlling the Congo from Belgium. Belgians living in the Congo had no say in
the government and the Congolese did not either. No political activity was
permitted in the Congo whatsoever.[12] Public order in the
colony was maintained by the Force Publique, a locally recruited
army under Belgian command. It was only in the 1950s that metropolitan
troops—i.e., units of the regular Belgian army—were posted in the Belgian Congo
(for instance in Kamina).
The colonial state—and in
fact any authority exercised by whites in the Congo—was often referred to by
the Congolese as bula matari ("break
rocks"), one of the names originally given to Stanley, because of the
dynamite he used to crush rocks when paving his way through the lower-Congo
region.[13] The term bula matari came to signify the
irresistible and compelling force of the colonial state.
When the Belgian
government took over the administration in 1908, the situation in the Congo
improved in certain respects. The brutal exploitation and arbitrary use of
violence, in which some of the concessionary companies had excelled, were
curbed. The crime of "red rubber" was put to a stop. Article 3 of the
new Colonial Charter of 18 October 1908 established that: "Nobody can be
forced to work on behalf of and for the profit of companies or privates".
In reality, forced labour, in differing forms and degrees, would not disappear
entirely until the end of the colonial period.[citation needed]
The transition from the
Congo Free State to the Belgian Congo was a break but it was also marked by a
large degree of continuity. The last Governor-general of the Congo Free State,
Baron Wahis, remained in office in the Belgian Congo and the majority of Leopold
II’s administration with him.[14] Opening up the Congo and
its natural and mineral riches for the Belgian economy remained the main motive
for colonial expansion but all the same other priorities, such as healthcare
and basic education, slowly gained in importance.
The Belgian Congo was
directly involved in the two world wars. During World War One, an initial
stand-off between the Force Publique and the German colonial
army in German East-Africa (Tanganyika) turned into open warfare with a joint
Anglo-Belgian invasion of German colonial territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African Campaign. The Force Publique gained a notable victory
when it marched into Tabora in September 1916, under
the command of general Charles Tombeur after heavy fighting.
After the war, Belgium
was rewarded for the participation of the Force Publique in the East African
campaign with a League of Nations mandate over the former
German colony of Ruanda-Urundi. During World War Two, the Belgian Congo was a
crucial source of income for the Belgian government in exile in London. The Force Publique again participated in the
Allied campaigns in Africa. Belgian Congolese forces under the command of
Belgian officers notably fought against the Italian colonial army in Ethiopia
in Asosa, Bortaï andSaïo under Major-general Auguste-Eduard Gilliaert during the second East African Campaign.[15]
Colonial
economic policy[edit]
Propaganda leaflet of the Belgian Ministry of Colonies (nl), early 1920s
The economic development
of the Congo was the colonizer’s top priority. One important tool was the
construction of railways to open up the mineral and agricultural areas.[16]
First World War[edit]
Rubber had long been the
main export, but its importance fell from 77% of exports (by value) to only
15%. New resources opened, especially copper mining in Katanga province. The
Belgian-owned Union minière du Haut-Katanga, which was to dominate
copper mining, used a direct rail line to the sea at Beira. The war caused a
heavy demand for copper, and production soared from 997 tons in 1911 to 27,462
tons in 1917, then fell off to 19,000 tons in 1920. Smelters operate at
Lubumbashi, Before the war the copper was sold to Germany; the British
purchased all the wartime output, with the revenues going to the Belgian
government in exile. Diamond and gold mining expanded during the war. The
British firm of Lever Bros. greatly expanded the palm oil business during the
war, and there was an increased output of cocoa, rice and cotton. New rail and
steamship lines opened to handle the expanded export traffic.[17]
Investments[edit]
Under Belgian rule, two
distinct periods of massive investment in the Congo’s economic infrastructure
stand out: the 1920s and the 1950s.[18]
After the First World
War, priority was given to mining (copper and cobalt in Katanga, diamond in
Kasai, gold in Ituri) as well as to the transport infrastructure (such as the
rail lines between Matadi and Léopoldville and Elisabethville and Port
Francqui). To obtain the necessary capital, the colonial state gave
the private companies, to a large extent, a free hand. This allowed, in
particular, the Belgian Société Générale to build up an economic
empire in the colony. Huge profits were generated and for a large part siphoned
off to Europe in the form of dividends.[19] The necessary work force
was recruited in the interior of the vast colony with the active support of the
territorial administration. In many cases, this amounted to forced labour, as
in many villages minimum quotas of “able-bodied workers” to be recruited were
enforced. In this way, tens of thousands of workers were transferred from the
interior to the sparsely populated copper belt in the south (Katanga) to work
in the mines. In agriculture, too, the colonial state forced a drastic
rationalisation of production. The so-called “vacant lands”—i.e., the land that
was not directly used by the local tribes—fell to the state, which
redistributed it to European companies, individual white landowners (colons),
or the missions. In this way, an extensive plantation economy developed. Palm oil production in the Congo
increased from 2,500 tons in 1914 to 9,000 tons in 1921 and 230,000 tons in
1957. Cotton production increased from
23,000 tons in 1932 to 127,000 in 1939.[20] After World War Two, the
system of mandatory cultivation was introduced: Congolese peasants were forced
to grow certain cash crops (cotton, coffee, groundnuts) destined for the
European market. Territorial administrators and state agronomists had the task
to supervise and if necessary sanction those peasants who evaded the hated
mandatory cultivation.[21]
Rwandan workers at the
Kisanga-mine, Katanga, c. 1920
Railways (grey/black) and
navigable waterways (purple) in the Belgian Congo
The mobilization of the
African work force in the capitalist colonial economy played a crucial role in
spreading the use of money in the Belgian Congo.[citation needed] The basic idea was that
the development of the Congo had to be borne not by the Belgian taxpayers but
by the Congolese themselves.[citation needed] The colonial state needed
to be able to levy taxes in money on the Congolese, so it was important that
they could make money by selling their produce or their labour within the
framework of the colonial economy.[citation needed]
The economic boom of the
1920s turned the Belgian Congo into one of the leading copper ore producers
worldwide. In 1926 alone, the Union Minière exported more than 80,000 tons of
copper ore, a large part of which was processed in Hoboken in Belgium.[22] In 1928, King Albert I
visited the Congo to inaugurate the so-called 'voie national' that linked the
Katanga mining region via rail (up to Port Francqui) and river transport (from
Port Francqui to Léopoldville) to the Atlantic port of Matadi.
During the great depression of the 1930s, the
export-based Belgian Congo economy was severely hit by the world crisis,
because of the drop of international demand of raw materials and agricultural
products (for example, the price of peanuts fell from 1.25 francs to
25 centimes (cents)). In some areas, as in the Katanga mining region, employment
declined by 70% and in the whole country the exploitation of forced labour was
diminished while many forced labourers returned to their villages.
After the occupation of
Belgium by the Germans in May 1940, the Congo declared itself loyal to the
Belgian government in exile in London to continue the war on the Allied side in
the Battle of Britain with 28 pilots in the RAF (squadron 349) and in the Royal South African Air Force (350 Squadron)[citation needed] and in Africa. In the East African Campaign, in 1941–42, the
Belgian-Congolese army was victorious in Asosa, Bortaï and Saïo. On 3 July, the Italian forces ( under General Pietro Gazzera)
surrendered when they were cut off by the Force Public under Lieutenant-général Auguste-Eduard Gilliaert. A Congolese unit also served
in the Far Eastern Theatre with the British army in the Burma Campaign.
During World War Two,
industrial production increased drastically. After Malaysia fell to the Japanese,
the Belgian Congo became a strategic supplier of rubber to the Allies. The
Belgian Congo was one of the major exporters of uranium to the US during World
War Two (and the Cold War),
particularly from the Shinkolobwe mine. The colony provided
the uranium used by the Manhattan Project,
including inatomic bombs dropped on the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.[15]
After World War Two, the
colonial state took on a much more active role in the economic and social
development of the Belgian Congo. An ambitious ten-year plan was launched in
1949. It put emphasis on house building, energy supply and health care
infrastructure. The ten-year plan ushered in a decade of strong economic
growth, from which, for the first time, the Congolese began to benefit on a
substantial scale.[citation needed] In 1953, the Congolese
were granted the right to buy and sell private property in their own names. In
the 1950s, a Congolese middle class, modest at first, but steadily growing,
emerged in the main cities (Léopoldville, Elisabethville, Stanleyville and Luluabourg).[citation needed]
Civilizing
mission[edit]
Cathedral of the Jesuit mission inKisantu, built in
the 1930s
White nurses of the Union
Minière du Haut-Katanga and their Congolese assistants, Élisabethville, 1918
King
Albert I and Queen Elisabethinspect the military camp of
Léopoldville during their visit to the Belgian Congo, 1928
A key argument that was
often invoked as a justification for colonialism in Africa was that of the
"civilizing influence" of the European culture. As elsewhere, this
self-declared 'civilizing
mission' went hand in hand with the goal of economic gain.
Conversion to Catholicism, basic western-style education and improved health
care were objectives in their own right, but at the same time helped to
transform what was regarded as a "primitive society" into the Western
model, in which workers who were disciplined and healthy, and who had learned
to read and write could be more efficiently put to work.
The development of
education and health care in the Belgian Congo was impressive. The educational
system was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church and, in some rare cases, Protestant churches, and the
curricula reflected Christian and Western values. Even in 1948, 99.6% of
educational facilities were run by Christian missions. Indigenous schooling was
mainly religious and vocational. Children received basic education such as
learning how to read, write and some mathematics. The Belgian Congo was one of
the few African colonies in which local languages (Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba and Swahili) were taught
at primary school. Even so, language policies and colonial domination often
went hand in hand, as evidenced by the preference given to Lingala—a
semi-artificial language spread through its common use in the Force
Publique—over more local (but also more ancient) indigenous languages such as
Lomongo and others.[23] In 1940 the schooling
rates of children between 6 and 14 years old was 12%, reaching 37% in 1954, one
of the highest rates in the whole of black Africa. Secondary and higher
education for the indigenous population were not developed until relatively
late in the colonial period. Black children, in small numbers, began to be
admitted to European secondary schools from 1950 onward. The first university
in the Belgian Congo, the Catholic University of Lovanium, near Léopoldville, opened its
doors to black and white students in 1954.[24] In 1956 a state
university was founded in Elisabethville. Progress was slow though, until the
end of the 1950s no Congolese had risen beyond the rank of non-commissioned
officer in the Force Publique, nor to a responsible position in the
administration (such as head of bureau or territorial administrator).
Health care, too, was
largely supported by the missions, although the colonial state took an
increasing interest. Endemic diseases, such as sleeping sickness, were all but
eliminated through large-scale and persistent campaigns.[25] In 1925, medical
missionary Dr. Arthur
Lewis Piper was the first person to
use and bring tryparsamide, the Rockefeller Foundation’s drug to cure sleeping
sickness, to the Congo.[26]The health
care infrastructure expanded steadily throughout the colonial period, with a
comparatively high availability of hospital beds relative to the population and
with dispensaries set up in the most remote regions.
There was an
"implicit apartheid", as
there were curfews for Congolese city-dwellers and other such restrictions were
commonplace. Though there were no specific laws (as in South Africa and the
South of the United States at the time) barring blacks from entering the same
establishments whites frequented, there was de facto segregation in most areas. For
example, the city centers were reserved to white
population only, while the blacks were organized in «cités indigènes»
(ironically called 'le belge'). Hospitals, department stores and other
facilities were often reserved for either whites or blacks. In the police, the blacks
could not pass the rank of non-commissioned officer. The blacks in the cities
could not leave their houses from 9 pm to 4 am. This type of segregation began
to disappear gradually only in the 1950s, but even then the Congolese remained
or felt treated in many respects as second-rate citizens (for instance in
political and legal terms). The popular comic book Tintin
in the Congo, first published in 1931, provides an insight into the
view of Africa as primitive that prevailed at that time in Europe.
Because of the close
interconnection between economic development and the 'civilising
mission', and because in practice state officials, missionaries and
the white executives of the private companies always lent each other a helping
hand, the image has emerged that the Belgian Congo in reality was governed by a
holy trinity of King-Church-Capital (or: the colonial state, the missions and
the Société Générale de Belgique).
The ideology underpinning
colonial policy was summed up in a catch-phrase used by Governor-general Pierre Ryckmans (1934–46): "Dominer
pour servir" ("Dominate to serve").[27] The colonial government
was keen to convey the image of a benevolent and conflict-free administration
and of the Belgian Congo as a true model colony. But no or very little
attention was paid to the active emancipation of the Congolese. The colonizer
alone knew what was good for the Congo. The local population was given no voice
in the affairs of the state. It was only in the 1950s that this paternalistic
attitude began to change. As from 1953, and even more so after the triumphant
visit of King Baudouin to the colony in 1955, Governor-general Léon Pétillon
(1952–58) actively favoured the creation of a “Belgian-Congolese community”, in
which blacks and whites were to be treated as equals.[28] In the 1950s, the most
blatant discriminatory measures directed at the Congolese were hastily
withdrawn (among these: the possibility to inflict corporal punishment by means
of the feared chicotte—a fine whip of
hippopotamus hide). In 1957, the first municipal elections open to black voters
took place in a handful of the largest cities — Léopoldville, Élisabethville
and Jadotville.
Resistance
and voices of dissent[edit]
Congolese resistance
against colonialism was widespread and took many different forms.[29] Armed resistance occurred
sporadically and localized until roughly the end of the Second World War (e.g.,
revolt of the Pende in 1931, mutiny in
Luluabourg 1944). From the end of the Second World War until the late 1950s,
the so-called "Pax belgica" prevailed. Until the end of
colonial rule in 1960, passive forms of resistance and expressions of an
anti-colonial sub-culture were manifold (e.g., Kimbanguism, after
the prophetSimon
Kimbangu, who was imprisoned by the Belgians).
Apart from active and
passive resistance among the Congolese, the colonial regime over time also
elicited internal criticism and dissent. Already in the 1920s, certain members
of the Colonial Council in Brussels (among them Octave Louwers) voiced
criticism regarding the often brutal recruitment methods employed by the major
companies in the mining districts. The stagnation of population growth in many
districts—in spite of spectacular successes in the fight against endemic
diseases such as sleeping sickness—was another cause for concern. Low birth
rates in the countryside and the depopulation of certain areas were typically
attributed to the disruption of traditional community life as a result of
forced labour migration and mandatory cultivation.[30] Many missionaries who
were in daily contact with Congolese villagers, took their plight at heart and
sometimes intervened on their behalf with the colonial administration (for
instance in land property questions).
The missions and certain
territorial administrators also played an important role in the study and
preservation of Congolese cultural and linguistic traditions and artefacts. One
example among many is that of Father Gustaaf Hulstaert (1900–1990) who in 1937
created the periodical 'Aequatoria' devoted to the linguistic, ethnographic and
historical study of the Mongo-people of the central Congo basin.[31] The colonial state itself
took an interest in the cultural and scientific study of the Congo,
particularly after the Second World War through the creation of the Institut pour la
Recherche Scientifique en Afrique Centrale (IRSAC, 1948).
Towards
Independence: 1945–1960[edit]
King
Baudouin visits the school of the
Force Publique in Luluabourg, 1955
In the early 1950s,
political emancipation of the Congolese elites, let alone of the masses, seemed
like a far cry. Nonetheless, it was clear that the Congo could not forever
remain immune from the rapid changes that, after the Second World War,
profoundly affected colonialism around the world. The independence of the
British, French and Dutch colonies in Asia shortly after 1945 had
little immediate impact in the Congo, but in the United Nations pressure on Belgium (as on other colonial
powers) was stepped up. Belgium had ratified article 73 of theUnited Nations Charter, which advocated
self-determination, and both superpowers put pressure on Belgium to reform its
Congo policy. However, the Belgian government tried to resist as best it could
what it labeled 'interference' with its colonial policy.
All the same, it was
clear to the colonial authorities that something needed to be done to
ameliorate the situation of the Congolese. Since the 1940s, the colonial
government had experimented in a very modest way with granting a limited elite
of so-called évolués more civil rights,
holding out the eventual prospect of a limited amount of political influence.
To this end "deserving" Congolese could apply for a proof of
"civil merit", or, one step up, 'immatriculation' (registration),
i.e., official evidence of their assimilation with European civilisation. To
acquire this status, the applicant had to fulfill strict conditions (monogamous
matrimony, evidence of good behaviour, etc.) and submit to stringent controls
(including house visits). This policy was a failure. By the mid-1950s, there
were at best a few thousand Congolese who had successfully obtained the civil
merit diploma or been granted "immatriculation". The supposed
benefits attached to it—including equal legal status with the white population—proved
often more theory than reality and led to open frustration with the évolués. When Governor-General
Pétillon began to speak about granting the native people more civil rights,
even suffrage, to create what he termed a “Belgo-Congolese community”, his
ideas were met with indifference from Brussels and often with open hostility
from some of the Belgians in the Congo, who feared for their privileges.[32]
It became increasingly
evident that the Belgian government lacked a strategic long-term vision in
relation to the Congo. This was due partly to the fact that ‘colonial affairs’
did not generate much interest or political debate in Belgium, so long as the colony
seemed to be thriving and calm. A notable exception was the young King
Boudewijn I of the Belgians, who had succeeded his father, Leopold
III, under dramatic circumstances in 1951, when Leopold was forced to abdicate.
Boudewijn took a lively interest in the Congo. On his firststate visit to the Belgian Congo in
1955, he was welcomed enthusiastically by cheering crowds of whites and blacks
alike, as captured in André Cauvin’s
documentary film, Bwana Kitoko.[33] Foreign observers, such
as the international correspondent of The
Manchester Guardian, remarked that Belgian paternalism “seemed
to work”, and contrasted Belgium’s seemingly loyal and enthusiastic colonial
subjects with the restless French and British colonies. On the occasion of his
visit, King Baudouin openly endorsed the Governor-General’s vision of a
“Belgo-Congolese community”; but, in practice, this idea progressed slowly. At
the same time, divisive ideological and linguistic issues in Belgium, which
heretofore had been successfully kept out of the colony’s affairs, now began to
make themselves felt in the Congo as well. These included the rise of unionism
among workers, the call for public (state) schools to break the missions’
monopoly on education, and the call for equal treatment in the colony of both
national languages: French and Dutch. Until then, French had been promoted as
the unique colonial language. The Governor-general feared that such divisive
issues would undermine the authority of the colonial government in the eyes of
the Congolese, while also diverting attention from the more pressing need for
true emancipation.
Political Organization[edit]
Patrice Lumumba,
Congolese independence leader and the first democratically elected Prime
Minister of the Republic of the Congo
As a result of the
inability of the colonial government to introduce radical and credible changes,
the Congolese elites began to take matters more and more in their own hands by
organising themselves socially and soon also politically. In fact, it can be
argued that the seeds of Congo’s post-independence woes were sown in the
emergence in the 1950s of two markedly different forms of nationalism among the
Congolese elites. The nationalist movement—to which the Belgian authorities, to
some degree, turned a blind eye—promoted territorial nationalism wherein the Belgian Congo
would become one politically united state after independence. In opposition to
this was the ethno-religious and regional nationalism that took hold in the Bakongo territories of the west
coast, Kasai and Katanga. The first
political organisations were of the latter type. ABAKO, founded in 1950 as the Association culturelle
des Bakongo (“lower-Congo region”)
and headed by Joseph Kasa-Vubu,
was initially a cultural association that soon turned political and, from the
mid-1950s, became a vocal opponent of Belgian colonial rule. Additionally, the
organization continued to serve as the major ethno-religious organization for
the Bakongo and became closely intertwined with the Kimbanguist church which
was extremely popular in the lower Congo.
In 1955, Belgian
professor Antoine
van Bilsen published a treatise
called Thirty Year Plan for the
Political Emancipation of Belgian Africa.[34] The timetable called for
the gradual emancipation of the Congo over a 30-year period—the time Van Bilsen
expected it would take to create an educated elite who could replace the
Belgians in positions of power. The Belgian government and many of the évoluéswere suspicious of the
plan—the former because it meant eventually giving up the Congo, and the latter
because Belgium would still be ruling Congo for another three decades. A group
of Catholic évolués responded positively to
the plan with a moderate manifesto in a Congolese journal called Conscience Africaine, with their only point
of disagreement being the amount of Congolese participation.[35]
In 1957, by way of
experiment, the colonial government organised in three urban centres
(Léopoldville, Elisabethville and Jadotville) the first municipal elections in
which Congolese people were allowed to stand for office and cast their vote.
Events in 1957–58 led to a sudden acceleration in the demands for political
emancipation. This was, in part, influenced by developments outside the Congo,
notably the independence of Ghana in 1957 and President De Gaulle’s August 1958 visit to Brazzaville, the
capital of the French Congo, on the
other side of the Congo river, opposite Léopoldville, in which he promised France’s African colonies the free choice between a
continued association with France or full independence. The World Exhibition
organised inBrussels in 1958 (Expo 58) proved
another eye-opener for many Congolese leaders, who were allowed to travel to
Belgium for the first time.[36] In 1958, the demands for
independence radicalised quickly and gained momentum. A key role was played by
the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). First set up in
1956, the MNC established itself in October 1958 as a national political party
that supported the idea of a unitary and centralised Congolese nation after
independence. Its most influential leader was the charismaticPatrice Lumumba. In
1959, an internal split was precipitated by Albert Kalonji and other MNC leaders who
favoured a more moderate political stance (the splinter group was deemed Mouvement National Congolais-Kalonji). Despite
the organisational divergence of the party, Lumumba’s leftist faction (now the Mouvement National Congolais-Lumumba) and the
MNC collectively had established themselves as by far the most important and
influential party in the Belgian Congo. Belgium vehemently opposed Lumumba’s
leftist views and had grave concerns about the status of their financial
interests should Lumumba’s MNC gain power.
“Lipanda”[edit]
In the winter of 1958–59,
while the Belgian government was debating a program to gradually extend the
political emancipation of the Congolese population, it was overtaken by events.
On 4 January 1959, a prohibited political demonstration organized in
Léopoldville by ABAKO got out of hand. At once, the colonial capital was in the
grip of heavy rioting. It took the authorities several days to restore order
and, by the most conservative count, several hundred died. The eruption of
violence sent a shock-wave through the Congo and Belgium alike. On 13 January,
King Boudewijn solemnly declared in a radio address that Belgium would work
towards the full independence of the Congo "without hesitation, but also
without irresponsible rashness".[citation needed]
Without committing to a
specific date for independence, the government of prime minister Gaston Eyskens had a multi-year
transition period in mind during which provincial elections would take place in
December 1959, national elections in 1960 or 1961, after which administrative
and political responsibilities would be gradually transferred to the Congolese,
in a process presumably to be completed towards the mid-1960s. On the ground
the reality looked quite different.[37] Increasingly, the
colonial administration saw itself confronted with non-cooperation (e.g.,
refusal to pay taxes). In some regions anarchy threatened.[38] At the same time it was clear
that an important portion of the Belgian population in the Congo opposed the
idea of independence and felt betrayed by Brussels. In those circumstances, and
faced with a radicalization of Congolese demands, the chances of a gradual and
carefully planned transition towards independence dwindled rapidly. In 1959,
King Baudouin made another visit to the Belgian Congo. The contrast with his
1955 visit could not have been greater. Upon his arrival in Léopoldville, he
was pelted with rocks by blacks who were angry with the imprisonment of
Lumumba, convicted because of incitement against the colonial government.
Though Baudouin's reception in other cities was considerably better, the shouts
of "Vive le roi!" were often followed by "Indépendance
immédiate!" The Belgian government wanted to avoid at all cost being drawn
into a futile and potentially very bloody colonial war, as had happened to
France inVietnam and Algeria or to the Netherlands in Indonesia. For that reason, it was all the more
inclined to give in to the demands for immediate independence voiced ever more
vocally by the Congolese leaders. It was hoped that somehow, and in spite of
the lack of preparations (including the lack of an educated elite: there were
only a handful of Congolese holding a university degree at that time),
miraculously, things might work out. This became known as "Le Pari
Congolais" — the Congolese bet.
In January 1960,
Congolese political leaders were invited to Brussels to participate in a round-table conference to discuss independence.
Patrice Lumumba was discharged from prison for the occasion. The conference
agreed surprisingly quickly to grant the Congolese practically all of their
demands: a general election to be held in May 1960 and full independence — "Dipenda"
— on 30 June 1960. This was in no small measure thanks to the strong united
front put up by the Congolese delegation. The political maneuvering ahead of
the elections resulted in the emergence of three political alliances: a
coalition of the federalistic nationalists consisting of six separatist parties
or organizations, two of which were ABAKO and the MNC—Kalonji, the centralist MNC—Lumumba, and finally that of the
strong-man of Katanga, Moïse Tshombe,
conscious of the economic vitality of its area and the business interests of
the Union Minière (just like Kalonji with respect to the diamond exploitations
in Kasaï). The parliamentary elections resulted in a divided political landscape,
with both the regionalist factions—chief among them ABAKO—and the nationalist
parties such as the MNC, doing well. As time until independence day was running
out, a compromise arrangement was forced through, with Kasa-vubu becoming the
first president of the Republic of the Congo and Lumumba its first head of
government. As planned, scarcely five months earlier, the hand-over ceremony
took place on 30 June 1960. The location was the new residence of the
Governor-General of the Belgian Congo in Léopoldville.
The ceremony was
overshadowed by a significant incident: in his speech, King Boudewijn praised
his forefather Leopold II, founder of the Congo Free State, and the blessings
of Belgian colonial rule. Prime Minister Lumumba retorted with a vehement indictment
of colonial oppression.
Scarcely one week after
the handover of sovereignty, a rebellion broke out within the Force Publique against its officers, who
were still predominantly Belgian. This was the signal for disturbances all over
the Congo, mainly instigated by dissatisfied soldiers and radicalized
youngsters. In many areas, violence specifically targeted European victims.
Within weeks, the largest part of the more than 80,000 Belgians who were still
working and living in the Congo were evacuated in all haste and often under
traumatic circumstances by the Belgian military and later by the United Nations
intervention force.[39]
Belgian
Congo after 1960[edit]
Main
articles: Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) and Zaire
Belgian soldier lying in
front of dead hostages, November 1964 in Stanleyville duringOperation Dragon Rouge. Belgian paratroopers freed
over 1,800 European hostages held by Congolese rebels
The rebellion that had
started in Thyssville in the Bas-Congo in July
1960 quickly spread to the rest of the Congo.[40] In September 1960,
President Kasa-Vubu declared prime minister Lumumba deposed from his functions
and vice versa. The stalemate was ended with the arrest of Lumumba. In January
1961, he was flown to the rich mining province of Katanga, which by
that time had declared a secession from Léopoldville under the leadership of
Moïse Tshombe (with active Belgian support). Patrice Lumumba was handed over to
Katangan authorities by the state and executed. In 2002 Belgium officially
apologised for its role in the elimination of Lumumba; the CIA too has been
suspected of complicity.[41] A series of rebellions
and separatist movements seemed to shatter the dream of a unitary Congolese
state at its birth. Although independent, Belgian paratroopers intervened in
the Congo on various occasions to protect and evacuate fellow citizens. The United
Nations maintained a large peace-keeping operation in the Congo from late 1960
onward. The situation stabilised only in 1964–65, with the re-integration of
the Katanga province and the end of the so-called Simba Rebellion in Stanleyville (province
Orientale). Shortly after that army colonel Joseph Désiré Mobutuended
the political impasse by seizing power himself.
Mobutu enjoyed the
support of the West, and in particular of the United States, because of his
strong anti-communist stance. Initially his rule favored consolidation and
economic development (e.g., by building the Inga-dam that had been planned in
the 1950s). In order to distance himself from the previous colonial regime, he
launched a campaign of Congolese "authenticity". As a result the
colonial place names were abandoned in 1966: Léopoldville became Kinshasa, Elisabethville Lubumbashi, Stanleyville Kisangani. During this period, the
Congo maintained close economic and political ties with Belgium, although these
were occasionally overshadowed by the financial issues that had remained
unresolved after independence (the so-called "contentieux"), for
instance the transfer of shares in the big mining companies that had been held
directly by the colonial state.[42] In 1970, on the occasion
of the tenth anniversary of independence, King Baudouin paid an official state
visit to the Congo.
Mobutu’s régime
radicalized during the 1970s. The Mouvement populaire de la Révolution (MPR), of which Mobutu
was the président-fondateur, firmly established one-party rule. Political repression
increased considerably. Mobutu now renamed the Congo into the republic of Zaïre. The so-called
"Zaïrisation" of the country in the mid-1970s led to an exodus of
foreign workers and economic disaster. In the 1980s the Mobutu regime became a
byword for mismanagement and corruption.[43] Relations with the former
colonial power Belgium went through a series of ups and downs, reflecting a
steady decline in the underlying economic, financial and political interests.[44] After the end of the Cold War, Mobutu
lost support in the West. As a result, in 1990, he decided to end the one-party
system and dramatically announced a return to democracy, but subsequently
dragged his feet and played out his opponents against one another to gain time.
A bloody intervention of the Zaïrian Army against students on the Lubumbashi University Campus in May 1990 precipitated
a break in diplomatic relations between Belgium and Zaïre. Pointedly, Mobutu
was not invited to attend the funeral of King Baudouin in 1993, which he
considered a grave personal affront. Finally, in 1997 Mobutu was chased from
power by a rebel force headed by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who declared himself president
and renamed Zaïre into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Assassinated in
2001, Laurent-Désiré Kabila was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila, who
in 2006 was confirmed as president through the first nation-wide free elections
in the Congo since 1960. On 30 June – 2 July 2010, King
Albert II of the Belgians and Yves Leterme, the Belgian Prime Minister, visited Kinshasa to attend
the festivities marking the 50th anniversary of Congolese independence from
Belgium.
Certain practices and
traditions from the colonial period have survived into the independent
Congolese state, such as a strong centralising and bureaucratic tendency, or
the organizational structure of the education system and the judiciary. The
influence of the Congo on Belgium has manifested itself mainly in economic
terms: through the activities of the Union Minière (now Umicore), the
development of a nonferrous metal industry, and the development of the Port of Antwerp and diamond industry. To
this day, Brussels Airlines(successor
of the former Sabena) has maintained a strong presence in
the DRC. It is estimated that there currently (2010) remain more than 4,000
Belgians resident in the DRC, while the Congolese community in Belgium is at
least 16,000 strong. The "Matongé" quarter in Brussels is
the traditional focal point of the Congolese community in Belgium.[45]
In
popular culture[edit]
In literature and publications[edit]
The Belgian Congo
features prominently or as a backdrop in some great works of Western
literature. Among those are:
· André Gide (1927), Voyage au Congo
· Peter Bates (2003), White King, Red Rubber,
Black Death;
· Hergé (1930), Tintin
in the Congo;
· Evelyn Waugh (1931), Remote people;
· Kathryn Hulme (1956), The Nun's Story (also 1959 film by Fred Zinnemann,
starring Audrey Hepburn);
· Graham Greene (1959), A burnt-out case;
· Lieve Joris (1987), Terug naar Congo.
· Barbara
Kingsolver (1998), The
Poisonwood Bible
· Joseph Conrad (1899), Heart of Darkness
In music[edit]
· In the song "We Didn't Start the
Fire" by Billy Joel, the
Belgian response to the Congo Crisis following independence is
mentioned.
· In "Short Memory", by Midnight Oil, the
line "Belgians in the Congo" appears in the first verse.
· A specultated sideproject of noise artist Prurient, Force
Publique Congo was a power electronics project that released 6 tapes centered
around the events in 2011 on Hospital
Productions
Onscreen[edit]
· Raoul Peck's movie Lumumba (2000)
· Lucasfilm's "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Oganga,
the Giver and Taker of Life" (1999), takes place in Belgian Congo and German
East Africa.
· Fred Zinnemann's
movie The Nun's Story (1959), has scenes that
take place in the Belgian Congo.
In visual art[edit]
· "Colonie belge" – usually
depicting a black prisoner being flogged by a black guardian under the watchful
eye of a white official — is a recurring theme in Congolese paintings by
artists like Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu, C. Mutomobo, and others.[46]
Governors-General[edit]
· Baron Théophile Wahis (November 1908 – May
1912; originally appointed by Leopold II in 1900)
· Félix Alexandre Fuchs (May 1912 – January 1916)
· Eugène Joseph Marie Henry (January 1916 – January
1921)
· Maurice Eugène Auguste Lippens (January 1921 – January
1923)
· Martin Joseph Marie René Rutten (January 1923 – December
1927)
· Auguste Constant Tilkens (December 1927 –
September 1934)
· Pierre Marie Joseph Ryckmans (September 1934 – July
1946)
· Eugène Jacques Pierre Louis Jungers (July 1946 – January
1952)
· Léon
Antoine Marie Pétillon (January 1952 – July
1958)
· Henri Arthur Adolf Marie
Christopher Cornelis (July 1958 – June 1960)
See
also[edit]
Belgium portal
Democratic Republic of the Congo portal
· Belgian Congo in World War II
· List of colonial governors of
the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo
· University of Lovanium
· French Congo
References[edit]
1. Jump up^ (French) République démocratique du Congo, Laval University, Canada
2. Jump up^ (Dutch) Vlamingen en Afrikanen—Vlamingen in Centraal Afrika,
Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
3. Jump up^ Georges
Nzongola-Ntalaja (2002). The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's
History. Zed Books. ISBN 1-84277-053-5.
4. Jump up^ Hochschild 61–67.
5. Jump up^ Hochschild 84–87.
6. Jump up^ "Map of
the Belgian Congo". World DIgital Library. Retrieved 21 January
2013.
7. Jump up^ John D. Fage, The Cambridge History of Africa: From the earliest times
to c. 500 BC, Cambridge
University Press, 1982, p. 748. ISBN 0-521-22803-4
8. Jump up^ Rubinstein, W. D.
(2004). Genocide: a history. Pearson Education.
pp. 98–99. ISBN 0-582-50601-8
9. Jump up^ Vanthemsche, Guy
(2007), La Belgique et le Congo, Brussels: Editions Complexe, pp.
353–4.
10. Jump up^ Senelle, R., and E.
Clément (2009), Léopold II et la Charte Coloniale, Brussels:
Editions Mols.
11. Jump up^ A good overview in:
Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte (2000), Recalling the Belgian Congo,
Conversations and Introspection, New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 17–44.
12. Jump up^ Meredith, Martin
(2005). The Fate of Africa. New York: Public Affairs. p. 6.
13. Jump up^ Likaka, Osumaka
(2009), Naming Colonialism, History and Collective Memory in the Congo,
1870–1960, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, p. 56.
14. Jump up^ Stengers, Jean
(2005), Congo: Mythes et réalités, Brussels: Editions Racine.
15. ^ Jump up to:a b McCrummen, Stephanie (4
August 2009). "Nearly Forgotten Forces of WWII". The Washington Post.
Washington Post Foreign Service.
16. Jump up^ See "Le Rail
au Congo Belge, 1890-1920 (Volume 1)." (1993, Ediblanchart). ISBN 2872020101.
17. Jump up^ "Belgian
Congo" in Encyclopædia Britannica (1922 edition) online
18. Jump up^ Vanthemsche, Guy
(2007), La Belgique et le Congo, Brussels: Editions Complexe.
19. Jump up^ Buelens,Frans
(2007), Congo 1885–1960, Een financiëel-economische geschiedenis,
Berchem: EPO.
20. Jump up^ Boahen, A. Adu
(1990). Africa Under Colonial Domination, 1880–1935. p. 171.
21. Jump up^ Likaka, Osumaka
(1997), Rural Society and Cotton in Colonial Zaire, Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press.
22. Jump up^ Brion, René and
Jean-Louis Moreau (2006), De la Mine à Mars: la genèse d'Umicore,
Tielt: Lannoo.
23. Jump up^ On this subject see
for instance: Fabian, Johannes (1986), Language and Colonial Power, The
Appropriation of Swahili in the Former Belgian Congo 1880–1938, Berkeley:
University of California Press.
24. Jump up^ Mantels, Ruben
(2007), Geleerd in de tropen, Leuven, Congo en de wetenschap, 1885–1960,
Leuven: Universitaire Pers, pp. 201–236.
25. Jump up^ A critical
assessment of the colonial obsession with sleeping sickness in: Lyons, Maryinez
(1992), The Colonial Disease, A social history of sleeping sickness in
northern Zaire, 1900–1940, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26. Jump up^ Klingman, Jack.
"Arthur Lewis Piper, M.D.: A Medical Missionary in the Belgian
Congo." Journal of Community Health 19.2 (1994): n.pag.Periodicals Archive
Online. Web. 15 Oct 2013.
27. Jump up^ Vanderlinden,
Jacques (1994), Pierre Ryckmans 1891–1959, Coloniser dans l'honneur,
Brussels: De Boeck.
28. Jump up^ Pétillon, L. A. M.
(1967), Témoignage et réflexions, Brussels: Renaissance du Livre.
29. Jump up^ Likaka, Osumaka
(2009), Naming Colonialism, History and Collective Memory in the Congo,
1870–1960, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
30. Jump up^ See for instance a
lecture by Nancy Rose Hunt (2002), Rewriting the Soul in Colonial
Congo: Flemish Missionaries and Infertility, Antwerp University PDF
31. Jump up^ See:
www.aequatoria.be
32. Jump up^ Ndaywel è Nziem,
Isidore (1998), Histoire générale du Congo, Paris-Brussels: De
Boeck & Larcier, pp. 456–63.
33. Jump up^ Raspoet, Erik
(2005). Bwana Kitoko en de koning van de Bakuba.
Meulenhoff/Manteau. ISBN 90-8542-020-2.
34. Jump up^ Gerard-Libois,
Jules (1989), "Vers l'Indépendance: une accélération imprévue", InCongo-Zaïre,
Brussels: GRIP, pp. 43–56.
35. Jump up^ Kalulambi Pongo,
Martin (2009), "Le manifeste 'Conscience africaine: genèse, influences et
réactions", In Tousignant, Nathalie (ed.), Le manifeste Conscience
africaine, 1956, Brussels: Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis, pp. 59–81.
36. Jump up^ Aziza Etambala,
Zana (2008), De teloorgang van een modelkolonie, Belgisch Congo
1958–1960, Leuven: Acco, pp. 105–110.
37. Jump up^ Young, Crawford
(1965), Politics in the Congo, Decolonization and independence,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 140–161.
38. Jump up^ Ryckmans, Geneviève
(1995), André Ryckmans, un territorial du Congo belge. Paris.
L'Harmattan, pp. 215–224.
39. Jump up^ Verlinden,
Peter (2002). Weg uit Congo, Het drama van de
kolonialen. Leuven:Davidsfonds.[page needed]
40. Jump up^ For an overview of
developments in the Congo after 1960 see: O'Ballance, Edgar (2000), The
Congo-Zaire Experience, 1960–98, Houndmills: MacMillan Press.
41. Jump up^ An illuminating
first-hand account of the CIA's activities in the Congo in 1960–61 in: Devlin,
Larry (2008), Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in a Hot
Zone, Cambridge: PublicAffairs
42. Jump up^ Willame,
Jean-Claude (1989), "Vingt-cinq ans de rélations belgo-zaïroises", In
Congo-Zaïre, Brussels: GRIP, pp. 145–58.
43. Jump up^ Wrong, Michela
(2001), Living on the brink of disaster in Mobutu's Congo, In the
footsteps of Mr Kurtz, New York: HarperCollins, pp. 195–200.
44. Jump up^ Bud, Guy (Hilary
2013). "Imperial Transitions: Belgian-Congolese relations in the
post-colonial era". SIR, (2): 7–8.
45. Jump up^ Swyngedouw, Eva and
Erik Swyngedouw (2009), "The Congolese Diaspora in Brussels and hybrid
identity formation", In Urban Research & Practice, vol 2,
1, pp. 68–90.
46. Jump up^ Fabian, Johannes
(1996), Remembering the Present, Painting and Popular History in Zaïre,
Narrative and Paintings by Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Bibliography[edit]
About 751,000 results (0.67
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1. Belgian Congo -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Congo
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Wikipedia
The government of the Belgian
Congo was arranged by the 1908 Colonial Charter. ..... There was an
"implicit apartheid", as there were curfews for
Congolese ...
South Kasai - Simba Rebellion - Belgian Congo in
World War II
2. Africa: Belgian Colonies
- HISTORY OF BELGIAN ...
encyclopedia.jrank.org › ... › Contributed
Topics from AE
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In 1955 some of the
few Congolese educated-elites organized a resistance to the
lack of democracy and the apartheid policies of the Belgian colonial
masters.
3. [PDF]
The
industrialization of the Belgian Congo - Partner
vkc.library.uu.nl/.../CH9.Buelens.Cassimon.Industriali...
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Utrecht University
by F Buelens - Related articles
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Congo became independent in 1960 .... Belgium followed a hugely apartheid-inspired
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ffh.films.com/.../A_Savage_Legacy_Apartheid_Jim_Crow_and_Racism_...
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Pursuing answers, this
program focuses on a pattern of segregation and genocide evident in King
Leopold's Belgian Congo rampages, South Africa's apartheid ...
5. The Secret
History of How Cuba Helped End Apartheid in ...
truth-out.org/.../20590-the-secret-history-of-how-cuba-helped-e...
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Truthout
by Amy Goodman - Dec
12, 2013 - The Secret History of
How Cuba Helped EndApartheid in South Africa .... of Cubans into
Congo, the former Belgian Congo, where there was a ...
6. Apartheid's Reluctant
Uncle: The United States and ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0195079426
Thomas Borstelmann - 1993
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... the term
"organize" in reference to Congolese workers suggested his distaste
for ... not to the Mediterranean but rather to "the uranium of the Belgian
Congo.
7. Recalling the Belgian
Congo: Conversations and Introspection
books.google.com/books?isbn=1571819452
Marie-Bénédicte
Dembour - 2000 - Social Science
The other articles
contained in the July 1989 issue of Congorudi exemplify ...
with racism and apartheid; practised administrative and judicial
arbitrariness.
8. African History
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www-sul.stanford...
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Stanford University
Libraries & Information Resources
President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement,
London; Bishop Ambrose Reeves (1899-), Former ... Herbert Lang and James Chapin
set sail for the Belgian Congo.
9. Apartheid, Militarism and
the U.S. Southeast
books.google.com/books?isbn=0865431515
Ann Willcox
Seidman - 1990 - History
In southern Africa,
the border between Zaire (the former Belgian Congo) and Zambia ...
worked in mines owned by the Belgian Union Miniere du Haute Katanga.
10.[PPT]
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Colonialism in Africa
kummernes.weebly.com/uploads/1/.../europeancolonialisminafricav2.ppt
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Congo: "King Leopold's. Ghost" ... Belgium's Stranglehold on the
Congo ... South Africa used a form of extreme segregation known as Apartheid.
1. The Creation of Apartheid:
from Union to Republique
www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/amcdouga/Hist247/winter.../mar_28_31_rev.pdf
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societies like
Rhodesia, Algeria, Belgian Congo,. Mozambique: - some form 'local
government': following. Boer War, 'Union of South Africa' 1910. -
government ...
2. Christianity, Apartheid and
Racialism - heretication.info
www.heretication.info/_race.html
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perpetrated by his government in the Belgian Congo - the
extensive use of slave labour and assorted murderous practices - were first
concealed, ...
3. [PDF]
Chapter 1:
Africa's Apartheid Parks - Ohio University Press
www.ohioswallow.com/extras/9780821418666_chapter_1.pdf
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The Belgian presence began in the mid-1880s when Leopold II
took possession of the. Congo Free ...
4. Africa's World War: Congo,
the Rwandan Genocide, and the ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0199743991
Gerard Prunier -
2008 - History
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direct or indirect security concerns in the Congo; ... Katanga region of the
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5. South Africa ::
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Encyclopaedia
Britannica
The issue was
presented to white voters in 1960 as a way to bring about white unity,
especially because of concern with the problems that the Belgian Congo ...
6. [PPT]
31.1 African
Independence Movements
www.pburgsd.net/cms/lib04/.../ch31_sec1.ppt
o
o
Phillipsburg School
District
What effect did apartheid have
on the lives of black South Africans? ... Belgian government agreed to prepare
people of Belgian Congo for self-government.
________________________________
7. Images for apartheid in belgian congoReport images
o
o
o
o
o
More images for apartheid
in belgian congo
________________________________
8. Daniel Francois
Malan -- A Biography of DF Malan
africanhistory.about.com › ... › Biographies › Apartheid Era
Leaders
o
o
by Alistair Boddy-Evans -
Mar 17, 2003 - Champion of Afrikaner
Nationalism and FirstApartheid Era Prime Minister ... the Belgian
Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and ...
9. The Netherlands and South Africa: The Dutch
Connection
www.dutchconsulate.co.za/
o
o
The Role of the
Netherlands during the Apartheid Period ... Republic of Congo because
of the parallels that be drawn between the Congo-Belgium relationship ...
10. Missions,
States, and European Expansion in Africa
books.google.com/books?isbn=0415955599
Chima Jacob Korieh,
Raphael Chijioke Njoku - 2007 - History
The Dutch Reformed
Church provided the grounding in formulating the ideology ofapartheid in
South Africa. Belgian Catholic missionaries in the Congo were ...
11. Belgian Congo |
thousandfold echo
thousandfoldecho.com/tag/belgian-congo/
o
Dec 9, 2013 - Posts about Belgian Congo written
by thousandfoldecho. ... the disconnect between the country's born frees, who
never knew apartheid, …
________________________________
1. Where Is The Belgian
Congo
Adask.com/Where+Is+The+Belgian+Congo
o
Where Is The Belgian
Congo. Discover and Explore on Ask.com!
o Videos
o News
o Images
2. Map Belgian
Congo
Adwww.wow.com/Map+Belgian+Congo
o
Search for Map Belgian
Congo Look Up Quick Results Now!
· Political
Awakening in the Belgian Congo
books.google.com/books?id=qFI-Z5YUxigC
René Lemarchand - 1964 -
Congo (Democratic Republic)
BF (Bulletin de la
Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi [Dec, ...
le fédéralisme qui sera après considéré comme l'apartheid et
l'autonomie.
· Malan, Daniel,
South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church
www.dacb.org/stories/southafrica/malan_daniel.html
·
·
... and politician who
strongly believed in Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid. ... and
the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
as well as ...
· United States
Relations with Belgium and the Congo, 1940-1960
books.google.com/books?isbn=0874136539
Jonathan E.
Helmreich - 1998 - Political Science
25 Belgian uncertainties
about the United States position persisted, augmented by ... 27 In both
administrations the problems of apartheid in the
strategically ...
· energy apartheid -
Sowetan LIVE
www.sowetanlive.co.za/.../world-bank-chief-rues-energy-ap...
·
·
The Sowetan
Apr 2, 2014 - World Bank chief rues 'energy apartheid'
in Africa ... Today the combined energy usage of the billion people in Africa
equals what Belgium offers to its 11 ... the Democratic
Republic of Congo to help begin development of the ...
· Race,
Resistance, and the Boy Scout Movement in British ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0821441450
Timothy Parsons -
2004 - History
... coupled with
international disdain for apartheid,left the South African Boy
Scout ... Portuguese Africa, the Belgian Congo,and the British East
African colonies.
· Was apartheid in
Rhodesia a necessary evil? - Total War Center
www.twcenter.net
› ... › Vestigia
Vetustatis
·
·
Total War Center
Jun 13, 2013 - 16 posts -
11 authors
Therefore I think the Apartheid in
Rhodesia or South Africa were just .... there are probably Belgian-Congolese persons
in the entire country.
· The Divided
World: Human Rights and Its Violence
books.google.com/books?isbn=1452915237
Randall Williams -
2010
... Mali, Belgian
Congo (Zaire, then Democratic Republic of Congo), French Congo ...
Since the adoption of apartheid in 1949 by the National Party,
black South ...
· [PDF]
a-z list -
Nelson Mandela Foundation
www.nelsonmandela.org/images/uploads/aama-azlist.pdf
·
·
Nelson Mandela
Action Committee
Boycott Apartheid Belgium, Belgium .... Muslims
againstApartheid, USA. National Anti‐Apartheid Committee of the Republic of Congo,Congo.
· African History - Library Subject
Guides - Yale University
guides.library.yale.edu
› ... › Humanities
·
Yale University
Library
Apr 30, 2014 - ... the Democratic Republic of Congo (formally
known as Belgian Congo), ... apartheid to the
first democratic elections open to all races in 1994.
· Historical
Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
books.google.com/books?isbn=0810863251
Emizet Francois
Kisangani, Scott F. Bobb -
2009 - History
By September,
Soumialot' s forces controlled nearly onehalf of Congolese territory.
... with the airdrop of Belgian forces on Stanleyville in
November 1964, reduced the ... of the white-led government's policy of apartheid or
racial separateness.
Search Results
1. South Africa's
Resistance Press: Alternative Voices in the ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0896802132
Les Switzer, Mohamed
Adhikari - 2000 - History
Alternative Voices in
the Last Generation Under Apartheid Les Switzer, ... with
Nigeria, Somalia, and the former Belgian Congo were granted
independence.
2. Apartheid Israel
& over 60 years of racism, war, theft ...
https://altahrir.wordpress.com/.../apartheid-israel-over-60-years-of-racis...
o
Sep 7, 2012 - 1.5 million Palestinian Israelis live under
race-based Apartheid laws ... died in the Belgian
Congo alone); the Aboriginal Genocide in Australia, ...
3. BURUNDI APARTHEID |
Israel Ntaganzwa - Academia.edu
www.academia.edu/1622089/BURUNDI_APARTHEID
o
Academia.edu
Burundi officials have
recently adopted an apartheid policy of reissuing the old
colonial ... It became necessary then to send Belgian officers
and their Congolese ...
4. Tydskr.
geesteswet. vol.50 issue4; Abstract: S0041 ... - SciELO
www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S0041-47512010000400001...
o
o
by O Terblanche - 2010 -
Cited by 1 -
Related articles
J. Verkuyl, were
outspoken in their condemnation of apartheid. Because of ... TheBelgian colonial
adventure in the Congo lasted for only 75 years. The Congo ...
5. 'Israeli Apartheid Week'
arrives, and so do attacks ...
mondoweiss.net/2010/03/...apartheid.../comment-page-1
o
Mondoweiss
Mar 1, 2010 - "If you're going to label Israel as apartheid,
then you are also calling Canada apartheid and you are ....
The Belgian Congo comes to mind.
6. Khulumani Red Card Campaign | A
People's Movement for ...
redcardcampaign.wordpress.com/
o
o
Tags: aiding and
abetting, apartheid, Barclays Bank, Bedford trucks, ..... Tags:
Angola,Belgium, blood minerals, Burundi, colonisation, Congo for
Peace, ...
7. The History of Racism - Episode 3
(part 6/6) - YouTube
► 8:42► 8:42
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y56EpwKen8M
o
Dec 30, 2009 - Uploaded
by umkh
Episode 3 - A Savage
Legacy: Apartheid, Jim Crow, and Racism Today. ... in King Leopolds Belgian
Congo ...
8. Encore -- A
Savage legacy [electronic resource (video ...
encore.library.cofc.edu/.../C__Rb2327782__SSOCIAL+SCIENCE+%252F...
Sep 4, 2008 - A Savage legacy [electronic resource (video)]
: Apartheid, Jim Crow, and ... Leopold's Belgian Congo rampages,
South Africa's apartheid rule, ...
9. [PDF]
BELGIAN CONGO;: Too Late, Too
Little? - Radish
radishmag.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/1957-12-too-late-too-little.pdf
o
One cloudy, hot
morning last week in Leopoldville, capital of the vast Belgian ...
have never had the racial clashes or race hate that flame in apartheid-cursed ...
10. ISSUU - Africa
Is Very Far Away. Belgium and its Colonial ...
issuu.com/onserfdeel/docs/tlc_2001_reynebeau_congo
o
o
During the half
century that Congo remained a colony, Belgian politics
... A model colony with apartheid Belgium's colonisation was
not one of settlement. Only a ...
1. Belgium | The
Espresso Stalinist
espressostalinist.com/category/internationalism/europe/belgium/
o
Mar 4, 2013 - Posts about Belgium written by admin. ...
Renamed the Belgian Congo(to contrast with the much smaller French
...... In 1973 the Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime
of Apartheid made it clear that the ...
2. [PDF]
ANGLICANS AND APARTHEID -
DISA
www.disa.ukzn.ac.za/webpages/DC/asjul61.6/asjul61.6.pdf
o
spoken opinions—that apartheid and
fellowship are reconcilable, ..... the once Belgian Congo must
be blamed for failing to face up to avarice and selfishness in ...
3. Apartheid's Reluctant
Uncle - Google Books
books.google.com › ... › South › Republic of
South Africa
o
Google Books
Apartheid's Reluctant Uncle brings to light the
neglected history of ... to limit Soviet and left-wing influence by supporting
the colonial powers (Belgium, Portugal, ...
4. Mandela's other
only friends : reggae songs on apartheid
michelconci.blogspot.com/.../mandelas-other-only-friends-reggae.html
o
o
Jul 4, 2013 - Songs against apartheid appeared
in other genres as well: by (South) .... The Belgian colonial regime in Belgian
Congo, in seeking to enforce ...
5. 01 Apartheid!!
- webjournals .ac.edu.au
webjournals.ac.edu.au/journals/AEGTM/1960-march/01-apartheid/
o
(Kikondja) Belgian
Congo. Who made the lily, sweet and fair. The blushing rose of fragrance
rare,. The Congo grass and trees so tall? Our God of wonders made ...
6. Opening
Pandora's Apartheid Box – Part 6 Other rationales ...
mikesmithspoliticalcommentary.blogspot.com/.../opening-pandoras-apart...
o
Apr 30, 2010 - There are so many more rationales for Apartheid that
one can actually .... very well having fleed from the belgian congo during
independance.
7. an interview with Noam Chomsky - Pete
McCormack
www.petemccormack.com/social_005.htm
o
o
In Africa the
instrument would be [Apartheid] South Africa—South Africa was .....
many) the Belgian King Leopold's lust for rubber in the Belgian Congo (see
King ...
8. [PDF]
united states
district court southern district of new york
www.apartheid-reparations.ch/documents/.../e_2004-08_KeesaAmicus.p...
o
monitoring the
governance of companies, former anti-apartheid groups, advocacy ...
loans to foreign countries went to Africa: to the then Belgian Congo and.
9. World Bank chief
rues 'energy apartheid' - Business News ...
www.iol.co.za/.../world-bank-chief-rues-energy-apar...
o
o
Independent Online
Apr 1, 2014 - ... energy usage of the billion people in
Africa equals what Belgium offers to its 11 ... “This is a
form of energy apartheid that we must tackle if we are ... to
the Democratic Republic of Congo to help begin development of
the 4 ...
10.[RTF]
Test Bank with
Answers - Wiley
www.wiley.com/college/regions2000/to.../07MCTF.rt...
o
o
John Wiley & Sons
The capital of the
former Belgian Congo (now The Congo) was: ..... D. the island
is controlled by the South Africans who have extended apartheid to
the island.
Page 6 of about 752,000
results (0.88 seconds)
Search Results
1. [RTF]
Test Bank with
Answers - Wiley
www.wiley.com/college/regions2000/to.../07MCTF.rt...
o
o
John Wiley & Sons
The capital of the
former Belgian Congo (now The Congo) was: ..... D. the island
is controlled by the South Africans who have extended apartheid to
the island.
2. Was Mandela's
Hand Forced During the Apartheid ...
www.africanglobe.net › Africa
o
Oct 31, 2013 - In the negotiations for a post-apartheid South
Africa, De Klerk tried to ... the instigation of the Congo's former
coloniser, Belgium, Lumumba was ...
3. Excuse me while
I blame apartheid | Thought Leader
www.thoughtleader.co.za/...apartheid/comment-page-5/
o
Thought Leader
Mar 28, 2008 - Many white people see no just cause in blacks
blaming apartheid ...... Oldfox: Apartheid was
very much like Belgian rule in the Belgian Congo ...
4. Modern Africa:
Imperialism, Nationalism, Apartheid ... - Quizlet
quizlet.com/.../modern-africa-imperialism-nationalism-apartheid-f...
o
Quizlet
King Leopold of
Belguim sent a mission to interior of Africa to establish trade agreements with
leaders in the Congo Basin. Belgian presence
set a scramble ...
5. The Parts
Unknown Congo Episode: Just the One-Liners ...
eater.com/.../the-parts-unknown-congo-episode-just-the-oneliners.php
o
o
Jun 10, 2013 - 1: On the Congo: "Nine days
of threats of imprisonment, confiscation of footage, ... 9: On Belgian rule
in the Congo: "An apartheid-like system
of ...
6. The murder of
Patrice Lumumba: Congo's tragedy
socialistworker.co.uk/.../The+murder+of+Patrice+Lumumba%3A+Congo...
o
Jan 4, 2011 - In the 1940s, the Belgian Congo,
as it was known, was emerging from an ... Congo was an apartheid state—strict
segregation determined every ...
7. Panda Farnana –
A Disturbing Congolese | Memento ...
www.mementoproduction.be/.../panda-farnana-un-congolais-qui-derang...
o
o
Now an agronomist, he
returned to the Congo as the first Belgian civil
servant with black skin. He suffered apartheid there and
little by little had to give up his ...
8. Solidarity with
Anti-Apartheid Resistance in Post-Oslo ... - BDS
www.bdsmovement.net/.../solidarity-with-anti-apartheid-resistance-in-po...
o
o
Apr 5, 2014 - Solidarity with Anti-Apartheid Resistance
in Post-Oslo Palestine ... Some Reflections on BDS and Feminist Political
Solidarity · Belgian firm ...
9. Globalism, or Apartheid on
a Global Scale? - Forum du Tiers-Monde
www.forumtiersmonde.net › ... › Critical
Analysis of Capialism
o
o
France, Belgium and
US are involved in the region and therefore share ... Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda
and the Congo (there are Hutu/Tutsi minorities in all
these ...
10. Africa:
Colonialism, Arts, Protest & Independence | South ...
www.sahistory.org.za › timelines › World and
African History
o
o
Alan Paton publishes
Cry, The Beloved Country about life under apartheid in ....
Community: Riots in the Belgian Congo: United Nations condemns apartheid ...
1. Nelson Mandela,
The Hero against the apartheid is dead.
trans-caribbean.blogspot.com/.../originalfrench-version-nelson-mandela....
o
Dec 6, 2013 - On 1958, the battle in Congo continues
on relentlessly . ... in South Africa that were exploited and humiliated by the
minority 9-7% Belgians.
2. Project MUSE -
Research in African Literatures-Volume 45 ...
muse.jhu.edu › ... › African Studies › Research in
African Literatures
“Forget Maps”:
Documenting Global Apartheid and Creating Novel ... Queer
Complicity in the Belgian Congo: Autobiography and Racial Fetishism
in Jef ...
3. South Sudan
should be placed under UN trusteeship to aid ...
africanarguments.org/.../south-sudan-should-be-placed-under-un-trustees...
o
o
Jan 6, 2014 - Even the former Belgian Congo that
came to independence in 1960 ... to independence, and instead ruled it as part
of the apartheid system.
4. Legendary anti-Apartheid play
relevant as ever | Green Left ...
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/38735
o
Green Left Weekly
Nov 30, 2007 - He finds a dead body at the roadside,
prompting his street-wise mate Buntu (Habib Dembele, a Congolese-Belgian rapper)
to tell him to steal ...
5. Escape from Security Police in Apartheid South
Africa 1960
www.dlwaldron.com/South_Africa.html
o
o
Union of South Africa, Apartheid,
Escape from the Secret Police ..... A Belgian family down on
holiday from the Congo where the husband worked, said
they ...
6. I Benefited From Apartheid -
Clutch Magazine
www.clutchmagonline.com/.../south-african-i-benefited-from-apar...
o
Clutch
Nov 19, 2012 - South African “I Benefited From Apartheid”
T-Shirts Spark Race Debate .... the belgium genocide of congolese..
and the least goes on and on.
7. African
Timelines Part V: Post-Independence Africa . . .
web.cocc.edu › ... › African
Timelines
o
o
Central Oregon
Community College
Disillusionment &
Critique | Anti-Apartheid Literature | Nelson Mandela | .... 1961,
Zaire (formerly Belgian Congo, the richest European colony in
Africa & setting ...
8. Reconfiguring Apartheid Loss:
Reading The Apartheid ...
rozenbergquarterly.com/reconfiguring-apartheid-loss-reading-the-aparth...
o
One of the unintended
consequences of apartheid's massive injustices of social
...... Rare Film Footage Of Graham Greene In The Belgian Congo,
March 1959 ...
9. Murderous
Regimes and the Churches | The American ...
spectator.org/.../murderous-regimes-and-churche...
o
o
The American Spectator
Mar 18, 2014 - Interestingly, Belgium's notorious King
Leopold is fourth with 15 million who died in the Belgian Congo under
his brutal colonial exploitation. ... sought arrest outside South Africa's
embassy to protest Apartheid, which of course ...
10. Faculty - John
Higginson
www.umass.edu/.../higginson.html
o
o
University of
Massachusetts Amherst
... Violence and the
Agrarian Origins of South African Apartheid, 1900-1948 will ...Belgian
Congo, 1907-1941," was published in The Journal of Social History.
age 8 of about 752,000
results (0.36 seconds)
Search Results
1. [PPT]
NATIONALISM IN
AFRICA - wallerworldhistory
wallerworldhistory.pbworks.com/f/Coloniesandnationalism+.ppt
o
o
... Conrad's novel,
HEART OF DARKNESS, set in the Belgian Congo during the ... The
South African political system known as apartheid was based on
______.
2. 1981 - Patrick van Rensburg -
Right Livelihood Award
www.rightlivelihood.org/van-rensburg.html
o
o
Right Livelihood Award
Patrick van Rensburg
resigned his post as South African Vice-Consul in the Belgian Congo in
1957, in protest against the apartheid policies of the South
African ...
3. The Analogy to Apartheid |
Middle East Research and ...
www.merip.org/mer/mer223/analogy-apartheid
o
o
by I Urbina - Cited by 5 -
Related articles
Most recently, Nobel
laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu drew the apartheid .... [10]Belgium,
which supplies light weapons for security forces, also decided that it would
... More recently, the family's ties to the training of militias in the Congo and
the ...
4. Why Apartheid?
– Maangamizi by Akala - Rap Genius
rapgenius.com/3206800/Akala-maangamizi/Why-apartheid
o
Rap Genius
Why did they then
invade Africa? And make Africans slaves in their home? With theBelgians killing
10 million. Souls in the Congo alone. Why then Jim Crow.
5. History of South Africa (including apartheid)
www.southafrica.to/history/history.html
o
o
She then turned back
and flew back over the Belgian Congo and the Sahara. At
Khartoum, Lady Bailey crossed paths with Lady Heath. Feb 1928. Lady
Heath ...
6. film ideas -
Political Assassination: African Studies Collection
www.filmideas.com/products.php?rec_num...category...
o
Matthew Goniwe And The
Cradock Murders: The Demise of Apartheid ... vied to control
the vast mineral resources of the former Belgian colony, The Congo.
7. P125 The
politics of whiteness in Africa - ECAS 2013
www.nomadit.co.uk/ecas/ecas2013/panels.php5?PanelID=2184
o
o
... South-West Africa,
Rhodesia, Kenya and the Belgian Congo. But in the post-colonial and
post-apartheid context, what place do whites still have in Africa?
8. Miriam Makeba
"Mama Africa" singer & anti-apartheid activist says ...
www.assatashakur.org › ... › On The Shoulders
Of Our Freedom Fighters
o
Sep 26, 2005 - 4 posts -
2 authors
Having condemned apartheid all
the way to the United Nations, she was ... Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and the Belgian
Congo (now Zaire) with ...
9. Ads Against Apartheid Challenge
www.adsagainstapartheid.com/ads-against-apartheid-challenge/
o
You also agree to give
Ads Against Apartheid permission to publish your ad ... Ads Against Apartheid Facebook
Page @ facebook.com/adsagainstapartheid ...
10.[DOC]
The Logic of
Violence in Africa - The Open University
www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson.../working-paper-2.doc
o
o
Open University
by SJ Ndlvou-Gatsheni - Related articles
the Herero War, Belgian
Congo, and post-apartheid South African townships ... of
declarations such as the 1890 Anti-Slavery Conference (Belgium), and
the ...
· The Logic of
Violence in Africa - The Open University
www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson.../working-paper-2.doc
·
·
Open University
by SJ Ndlvou-Gatsheni - Related articles
the Herero War, Belgian
Congo, and post-apartheid South African townships ... of
declarations such as the 1890 Anti-Slavery Conference (Belgium), and
the ...
· [PDF]
Apartheid
media.manila.at/gesellschaft/gems/apartheid6update.pdf
·
by A Löwstedt - 2011 - Related articles
and Apartheid in
the Context of Some Recent Theories of Oppression 90 ...... supreme goal of
white or European civilization among Belgian colonialists in
the. Congo around the last but one turn of the century, during
which around ten million ...
· The Kuba Experience in Rural Congo,
1880-1960 by ... - Jstor
www.jstor.org/stable/23046831
·
JSTOR
The treatment of the
various forces opposed to the apartheid state, whether ...
Kuba kingdom of the then-Belgian Congo, where Vansina began
extended ...
· South Africa -
Policy - Homepage - Foreign Affairs ... - Belgium
diplomatie.belgium.be
› ... › Countries › Partner
countries
·
·
Belgium
South Africa has been
a partner country in the Belgian Development Cooperation since
1998. 18 years after the end of apartheid, poverty and inequality
(GINI ...
· Nelson Mandela,
Revered Statesman and Anti-Apartheid ...
occupywallst.org/.../nelson-mandela-revered-statesman-and-anti-aparthei...
·
·
Dec 5, 2013 - 15 posts -
5 authors
The anti-apartheid leader
and Nobel laureate was a beloved figure ...... of Cubans into Congo, the former Belgian
Congo, where there was a ...
· Chapter Twelve - The Corporate
Underground
edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap12.htm
·
·
Moreover, Oppenheimer
personally opposed apartheid as both impractical and ...Belgium also
relinquished control of the Congo (which became Zaire), with
its ...
· Feature: Lesotho marks the end of an
era for apartheid's ...
www.unhcr.org/3d6a13...
·
·
United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
Aug 26, 2002 - Lesotho's refugee history is closely linked to
that of apartheid South Africa. ... Rwanda, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe.
· United States
Concern With Developments in the Belgian ...
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/.../ch8
·
Office of the
Historian
United States Concern
With Developments in the Belgian Congo. 1. For previous
documentation on this subject, see Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. XI,
Part ...
· The Role of the Apartheid System
- UC Press E-Books ...
publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft158004rs...
·
11— The Formation of
the Political Culture of Ethnicity in the Belgian Congo, ... the
central role of the chief and tribe in the implementation of apartheid in
the ...
· semper aliquid
novi africam adferre | books from and about ...
semperaliquidnoviafricamadferre.wordpress.com/
·
·
16 hours ago - In Mozambique he sees a different kind of apartheid.
Here the .... After a long hassle Peter gets a visum to enter Belgian
Congo. He travels right ...
Search
Results
1. LSE Review of
Books – Book Review: Apartheid Vertigo ...
blogs.lse.ac.uk/.../boo...
o
o
London School of
Economics and Political Science
May 8, 2013 - In Chapter 9, Matsinhe quotes a Congolese national
who says the ...Belgium and Spain are also struggling with severe
anti-immigration ...
2. Belgian Paratroopers
to Crush Rising Congo Rebellion ...
dissidentvoice.org/.../belgian-paratroopers-to-crush-rising...
o
o
Dissident Voice
Dec 8, 2009 - With the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
engulfed in ... brutal Apartheid dispossession and military
occupation under Belgian ...
3. Black South
African explains why Israel is not an apartheid ...
www.jihadwatch.org/.../black-south-african-explains-why-isr...
o
o
Jihad Watch
Mar 1, 2014 - It is very sad that the “meme” of Israel as apartheid spreads
irrespective ... The real apartheid states in the world today
are the Muslim states like ...
4. FRONTLINE/WORLD
. Rough Cut . Congo: Hope on the ...
www.pbs.org/.../11/congo_hope_on_t.html
o
o
Public Broadcasting
Service
Nov 15, 2006 - Learn more about Congo's history
as a Belgian colony and its difficult ... The Congolese did
not face apartheid or Jim Crow, but since gaining ...
5. Chapter 27 -
StudyBlue
www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/chapter-27/deck/2252919
o
o
StudyBlue
Feb 23, 2012 - Who founded the MNC in Belgian-ruled Congo and
went on to .... The ultimate aim of apartheid was to make
blacks 'foreigners' in _____ per ...
6. Miriam Makeba -
Telegraph
►►
www.telegraph.co.uk/.../Miria...
o
The Daily Telegraph
Nov 11, 2008
... Africa who was
exiled from her homeland as the result ofapartheid. ... toured
extensively in South Africa ...
7. DEMOCRACY AND
LEGITIMACY IN AFRICA! | Mayihlome ...
mayihlome.wordpress.com/2013/.../democracy-and-legitimacy-in-africa/
o
o
Aug 29, 2013 - Belgium and the American government were involved in his ... to
Democracy until in the case of Congo, the Congolese people
drove Mobuto out of power. ... countries in apartheid colonial
South Africa showed up in a big way.
8. [PDF]
background
paper, no. 3 - Unesco
unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001518/151896eo.pdf
o
UNESCO
political, economic
and social development of post-apartheid South Africa ...
educational and training institutions in Antigua, Austria, Belgium,
Botswana,. Canada,Congo, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Germany, Federal.
9. [PDF]
Hammarskjöld and apartheid South
Africa: Mission ...
www.ajol.info/index.php/ajcr/article/viewFile/68152/56242
o
o
by T Sellström - 2011
was dominated by the
process of decolonisation and the Congo war. His ....
mutinies, popular revolts, Belgian intervention and secession
by the Katanga.
10. The Belgian
Congo's Coming Independence - from the ...
archive.thetablet.co.uk/.../5/the-belgian-congos-coming-independence
o
The Belgian colonial
administration in the Congo was largely recruited .... of us
can detach himself from a share of responsibility for the abomination of apartheid.
________________________________
1.
Lecture 10
decolonization & neocolonialism - Belgian ...
www.slideshare.net/.../lecture-10-decolonization-neocolonialism-belgian-...
o
o
Nov 20, 2013 - Lecture 10 decolonization & neocolonialism
- Belgian Congo & South Africa .... South Africa o Apartheid (1948)
o 87% of territory for whites o ...
2. [PDF]
The Politics of
Imperialism, Domination and - codesria
www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/8-Ndlovu__Zamani_17_2009.pdf
o
by SM Ndlovu - 2009 - Related articles
Oct 31, 2012 - leaders acted in solidarity with the apartheid regime
which had divisive for- .... (outside the Union itself) were located in the Belgian
Congo ( ...
3. [PDF]
The Short
Century by Okwui Enwezor, Chronology
orientationtrip2011.files.wordpress.com/.../the-short-century-by-okwui-e...
o
South Africa during apartheid and,
thereafter, part of the new ... 'the Belgian Congo, is held at the
Palais des. -. ... Trade Unions legalized in the Belgian Congo.
4. What rights did
black South Africans have? - Yahoo Answers
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid...
o
Dec 16, 2013 - Apartheid wasn't the cause of all of South Africa's problems, it was
.... you mention are all former colonies , one the Belgian Congo run
by a ...
5. The Democratic
Process in the DRC. - Mémoire Online
www.memoireonline.com › ... › Sciences
Politiques
o
Leopold II sold his Congo Free
State to the Belgian State after perpetrating a ... struggle
against apartheid where black people were foreigners in them
land, ...
6. THE CONTRIBUTION
OF DR. KWAME NKRUMAH TO THE ...
consciencism.wordpress.com/.../the-contribution-of-dr-kwame-nkrumah-...
o
o
Sep 25, 2012 - ... Ministers' Conference and threatened to
withdraw if apartheid South .... and in Africa most especially
in the former Belgian colony of Congo.
7. Nikos Retsos:
NELSON MANDELA AND THE N.A.C. LEGACY!
nikosretsos.blogspot.com/2013/12/nelson-mandela-and-nac-legacy.html
o
Dec 20, 2013 - ... Jomo Kenyatta's in Kenya, Patris Lumumba
of Belgian Congo (now ... The era of the so-called “apartheid”
had begun, and Mandela and the ...
8. 12. Come Back,
Colonialism | Radish
radishmag.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/come-back-colonialism/
o
o
Apr 12, 2013 - Audrey Hepburn in the Belgian Congo (image)
..... (By the way, Rhodesia never implemented apartheid or
denied blacks the vote; it only ...
9. Israeli doctors
in Congo to aid burn victims get slammed for ...
www.haaretz.com/.../israeli-doctors-in-congo-to-aid-burn-victims...
o
o
Haaretz
Jul 18, 2010 - Israeli doctors working in Congo learn
locals turned out to be good hosts ... a doctor from Belgium who
arrived at Uvira with MSF Netherlands, ...
10.[PDF]
Democratic
Republic of Congo: Post- Conflict?
www.usfca.edu/.../DownloadAsset.aspx?id...
o
University of San
Francisco
took over operation of
the country and renamed it the Belgian Congo. ... apartheidtype
of social and political construction completely marginalized the African.
Search
Results
1. Rhythmical
Resistance: Musicians from the Apartheid Era
theculturetrip.com/.../rhythmical-resistance-musicians-from-the-apartheid...
o
o
Apartheid influenced every aspect of life in South
Africa; culturally, music functioned as a popular initiative and response to
the political repression of that era.
2. [PDF]
Democratic
Republic of Congo: Post- Conflict?
www.usfca.edu/.../DownloadAsset.aspx?id...
o
University of San
Francisco
took over operation of
the country and renamed it the Belgian Congo. ... apartheidtype
of social and political construction completely marginalized the African.
3. Devils Backbone
responds to concerns around Congo ...
beerpulse.com/.../devils-backbone-responds-to-concerns-around-congo-...
o
o
May 18, 2012 - “Belgian” being added to “Congo Pale
Ale” was not meant to make light of the ... enough to have had the opportunity
to go back post-apartheid.
4. GH12 – 1.1 - Nick Jordan
nickjordan.ca/gh12-1-1/
o
Global History 12
Assignments; Apartheid .... The novel Heart of Darkness was
based on Joseph Conrad's experiences in the Belgium Congo as a
ship's pilot.
5. Africa Update Archives - Central
Connecticut State University
web.ccsu.edu/AFSTUDY/upd9-4.htm
o
Central Connecticut
State University
Nov 1, 2002 - Editorial: Human Rights, Apartheid and
Reparations; Attorney Ed ..... In July 1960, after Belgium intervened
in the Congo and after the rich ...
6. [PDF]
Download Book
Reviews – PDF - African Studies Quarterly
asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/Book-Reviews-Vol-1-Issue-1.pdf
o
South Africa and apartheid any
"exceptionalism", embracing the implausible .... narrated the
surprise of the native chief in northeastern Belgian Congo, the.
7. A GREATER MAN OF CONGO
BELGIUM 'S LIBERATION
johnbaselepower.blogspot.com/.../greater-man-of-congo-belgium-s.html
o
Jun 13, 2012 - A GREATER MAN OF CONGO BELGIUM 'S
LIBERATION ... against racism in Congo Belgium similar to the
style of the apartheid time in South ...
8. US intervention in Africa: Through
Angolan eyes
www.twnside.org.sg/title/tett-cn.htm
o
o
These included Belgian
Congo, Egypt, Liberia, Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria andapartheid South
Africa which were seen as having raw materials for expanded ...
9. The Wild Geese (1978) - Trivia - IMDb
www.imdb.com/title/tt0078492/trivia
o
o
Internet Movie
Database
Despite being part of
the racist Apartheid regime, the South African Film Board ...
ex-servicemen in mercenary campaigns in the Belgian Congo in
the 1960s and ...
10. The Quatuor of
African Novels - Albert Russo
www.albertrussobilingual.com/the_quatuor_of_african_novels_123181....
o
I should also specify
that I have lived and gone to school with Congolese, ... three of them
extremely painful (I count the fall of the apartheid regime in
South Africa ... World Literature Today: “In Léodine of the Belgian
Congo, the reader will find, ...
________________________________
Page 13 of about 752,000
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1. [DOC]
Modern Conflict
2014.docx
www.zbths.k12.il.us/.../filedownloa...
o
Zion‑Benton Township
High School
French colonies in
Africa (35.1). Belgian Congo (35.1). Apartheid (35.1).
Ethnic violence in Africa (35.2). African cultural revival (35.2). Algerian
Revolution (35.3).
2. Reverse apartheid……South
Africa cries out for help ...
heavenawaits.wordpress.com/reverse-apartheid……south-africa-cries-out...
o
o
Many black people have
declared a wish for apartheid rule since thay where ...... It
follows on from what was done to French Algerians, the Belgians of Congo, ...
3. The Silent
Holocaust: The Belgian Genocide of the Congo
originalblackthought.blogspot.com/.../silent-holocaust-belgian-genocide-...
o
o
Jul 12, 2009 - The Silent Holocaust: The Belgian Genocide
of the Congo ..... (TRC), 14,000 of the 21,000 black people
who died during Apartheid were killed ...
4. Wielding a
sjambok - The Witness
www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global%5B...
o
o
The Witness
Aug 24, 2010 - A plastic version was used by the apartheid police,
but the sjambok has a ... In the Belgian Congo it was known as
the fimbo and used to force ...
5. Petition | The
Rolling Stones: Please cancel your show and ...
www.change.org/.../the-rolling-stones-the-rolling-stones-plea...
o
o
Change.org
The signatories of
this petition are writing to urge you to refrain from playing in apartheidIsrael
and not to condone Israel's violations of...
6. 732 Rwanda -
Syracuse Peace Council
www.peacecouncil.net/pnls/04/732/732Rwanda.htm
o
o
The promise of a new
era – the end of apartheid and crimes against humanity ...
Burundi were supported by Mobutu in the Congo and by France
and Belgium.
7. [DOC]
Research
Questions2010_3rd
www.vonsteuben.org/.../Resear...
o
Von Steuben
Metropolitan Science Center
Apr 5, 2010 - Belgian Congo Samiya. Who was ... Belgian Rwanda
Daniela. What was the .... What was the philosophy behind apartheid in
South Africa?
8. Holding the
Line: Race, Racism, and American ... - H-Net
www.h-net.org/.../showre...
o
o
H‑Net: Humanities and
Social Sciences Online
... the March 1960
Sharpeville Massacre led to a tightening of apartheid; and Congo-Kinshasa,
as it went into crisis following its independence from Belgium at ...
9. Free Ticket to 'Apartheid'
| Inter Press Service
www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/free-ticket-to-apartheid/
o
o
Inter Press Service
Apr 6, 2013 - “This is what apartheid looks
like,” stated Meretz party chairwoman Zahava Gal on her .... Bangladesh.
Barbados. Belarus. Belgium. Belize. Benin. Bermuda ... Congo. Congo.
Cook Islands. Costa Rica. Cote D'ivoire. Croatia.
10. Miriam Makeba |
Biographies - FemBio
www.fembio.org/english/biography.php/woman/.../miriam-makeba/
o
o
... audiences to
African music and championed the struggle against apartheid. ...
and performing throughout South Africa, Rhodesia, and the Belgian Congo.
________________________________
1. Where Is The Belgian
Congo
Adask.com/Where+Is+The+Belgian+Congo
o
Where Is The Belgian
Congo. Discover and Explore on Ask.com!
Page 14 of about 752,000
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Results
1. [PDF]
All diamonds are
blood diamonds The truth about the ...
https://apscuhuru.org/analysis/diamonds/diamonds_web.pdf
o
The signature mark of Belgian conquest
in the Congo was the massive cutting off of the ... up of apartheid and
the system that violently forced African people off.
2. Reception for
'Kongo Across the Waters' Highlights Atlanta ...
www.globalatlanta.com/.../reception-for-kongo-across-the-waters-highlig...
o
May 17, 2014 - The center also is training Congolese police
officers in human rights issues and ... 6,300 domestic observers with the
support of the Belgian government. ... He pointed pridefully
to his administration's efforts to end apartheid in ...
3. raceandhistory.com
- The cause of the fighting in the Congo
www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/diamonds.htm
o
Belgian troops helped secure the breakaway
state. The vast profits ... back toBelgium. Whoever controlled Katanga
had domain over most of Congo's wealth. ... But with the end
of the cold war and of apartheid, Unita lost its military patrons.
4. [PDF]
Bury Apartheid 51.avery!,
www.marxists.org/.../0405_06_06_1986.pdf
o
o
Marxists Internet
Archive
Jun 6, 1986 - The red flag flies over funeral of Peter Nchabeleng,
anti-apartheid fighter killed while in police ...... Belgian
Congo (now Zaire), became.
5. The Netherlands
against Apartheid - 1960s (3) | IISH
socialhistory.org/en/dossiers/anti-apartheid/1960s-3
o
o
Rhodesia. In November
1965 a white minority regime led by Ian Smith declared the 'independence' of
the British colony Southern Rhodesia, one of South ...
6. CIA and MI5
linked to assassinations in the Congo in sixties ...
londonprogressivejournal.com/.../cia-and-mi-linked-to-assassinations-in-t...
o
o
May 4, 2012 - The Belgians had done nothing
to prepare the country for ... which was investigating crimes committed during
the apartheid era, had decided to ...
7. Blood Earth and
South Africa's White Farmers | Global ...
www.globalresearch.ca/blood-earth-and-south-africa-s-white.../29729
o
Mar 13, 2012 - If apartheid were gone from
South Africa, Afrikaners would be providing a buffer ... In resistant cases
such as the former Belgian Congo, Patrice ...
8. South Sudan
Claims for Right of Self-Determination, (David ...
www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles.../de_chand.ht...
o
o
University of
Pennsylvania
During the scramble
for Africa, the British, French and Belgium had a vested ... as part of the Belgian
Congo (Zaire) until the death of King Leopold of Belgium in 1910 .....
in Africa, including anti-apartheid groups in the Republic of South
Africa.
9. BBC World
Service | The Story of Africa
www.bbc.co.uk/.../1624.../page6.shtml
o
o
British Broadcasting
Corporation
This was particularly
so at the time of the Belgian Congo's independence. ...
problems of the front-line states confronting an aggressive apartheid in
South Africa.
10. BBC NEWS | Africa | Obituary: Miriam
'Mama Africa' Makeba
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7719318.stm
o
British Broadcasting
Corporation
Nov 11, 2008 - 1959: Stars in the jazz opera King Kong and
anti-apartheid film Come ... (Zimbabwe) to the Belgian
Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo).
________________________________
· African Economic Development and Colonial Legacies
poldev.revues.org
› Issues › 1 › Dossier | Afrique : 50 ans d'indépen(…)
·
·
by G Austin - 2010 - Cited by 16 -
Related articles
... populous British
and Belgian ones (Nigeria and Congo respectively).1
Half a ..... the liberals were right about the period preceding the fall of apartheid,
i.e. the ...
· History of
Africa - mrcheeksclass7th
www.cheekclass.com/africa/history-of-africa
·
King Leopold II of Belgium personally
owned an area known as the Congo. ... C- Explain the creation and
end of apartheid in South Africa and the roles of ...
· Cold War History
Atoms, apartheid, and the agency ... - Unisa
uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/.../Cold%20War%20History.pdf?...
·
by JA van Wyk - 2014 - Related articles
Mar 28, 2014 - Moreover, the South African government's apartheid policies
....Belgian Congo), Canada, and Portugal – stemmed from its status as a
major.
· #127, July 7,
2009 Delta Darkness I want to explore the ...
www.stockton.edu/.../american%...
·
Richard Stockton
College of New Jersey
I want to explore the
career of the Congo metaphor, and contemplate how it might ...
twentieth century that, like Belgian King Leopold II's African Congo in
the late .... similarities drawn between the Jim Crow South and Apartheid South
Africa, ...
· [PDF]
Day Tours
www.saso.co.za/files/congress/congress-day-tours.pdf
·
during the Apartheid years,
into the financial capital of Africa. .... Century when King Leopold of the Belgian
Congo set out to realize his dream of training the ...
· Congo Background
- Jewish World Watch
www.jewishworldwatch.org
› ... › Congo › Overview
·
·
Jewish World Watch
Congo should be rich
from its gold, diamonds and minerals, yet millions of its ... a sort ofapartheid on
the native population, with curfews and de facto segregation. Eventually
Congolese nationalism won out, and Belgian Congo was
granted ..
· Negotiating
Global Nuclearities: Apartheid, Decolonization ...
www-personal.umich.edu/~hechtg/Hecht-Osiris.pdf
·
·
by G Hecht - Cited by 17 -
Related articles
Apartheid, Decolonization, and the Cold War in the
making of the IAEA ...... Belgianswere building a research reactor
in the Congo; could that not provide a.
· Letter from one
of the most evil King Leopold II of Belgium to ...
www.reunionblackfamily.com/.../11410954-letter-from-one-of-the-most...
·
·
Jan 4, 2012 - Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is
never to teach ... working in the Congo, bought a second hand Bible
from a Belgian priest .... South Africa was also a victim of apartheid,
which was a system similar to that ...
1. Belgian Congo - No
Mutants Allowed
www.nma-fallout.com/showthread.php?155712-Belgian-Congo
o
Apr 11, 2004 - 20 posts -
5 authors
Belgians want to walk away from Congo thinking
they did great things for .... Yet it was by far not the type of apartheid you
had in South-africa.
2. [PDF]
pdf (1.6M) - No Easy Victories
www.noeasyvictories.org/books/ksmr04.pdf
o
o
Coast (Ghana), Pierre
Ryckmans, a former governor of the Belgian Congo, lamented to .....
an August 22, 1952, editorial, "that the apartheid policy
as pursued by.
3. Retracing the
footsteps of a liberation struggle icon: “Where ...
www.newera.com.na
› Series
o
Feb 4, 2014 - The same conference also condemned South
Africa's apartheid policy and its ... Before the end of that
great African year, the Belgian Congo ...
4. Chipkin makes
sense of Jo'burg's complex Vision | Arts and ...
mg.co.za/.../2013-07-19-00-chipkin-makes-sense-of-jo...
o
o
Mail & Guardian
Jul 19, 2013 - ... on the urban culture of the “mining
capital” of the former Belgian Congo, ... Architecture, apartheid and
after (edited by Hilton Judin & Ivan ...
5. Flying me across
the equator – Susan Blumberg-Kason
www.susanbkason.com/2010/06/22/flying-me-across-the-equator/
o
Jun 22, 2010 - Flying to South Africa during apartheid wasn't
easy. ... I've heard theBelgian Congo was even worse, not that that
would excuse South Africa.
6. The Crimes of
Bongo: Apartheid & Terror in Africa's Gardens ...
blackagendareport.com
› Blogs › Keith Harmon Snow's blog
o
o
Jul 21, 2009 - But the series also introduced and paved the
way for the Congo Basin Forest .... AREVA's connections to the Belgian establishment
include ...
7. The
International Dimensions of the Congo Crisis - Centre ...
www.worlddialogue.org/content.php?id=319
o
o
Apartheid's Lingering Shadow ... In a survey of
mortality rates in DR Congo, the International Rescue Committee
(IRC), .... troops from Goma to the former Belgianmilitary base at
Kitona in the south-west for an eventual march on Kinshasa.
8. Who said nearly
50 years ago that Israel was an apartheid ...
links.org.au/node/960
o
o
Mar 17, 2009 - He was irked by the criticism of apartheid policy
and British Prime Minister ... and Australasia, in Africa from Namibia to the Congo and
elsewhere, most .... world, from Australia to Britain to Belgium to
Canada to Cairo, Jordan, ...
9. Colonialism
Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com ...
www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Colonialism.aspx
o
o
Belgian rule over the Congo, which
came to an abrupt end on July 1, 1960, was ...... the north and south,
including South Africa, where apartheid represented
the ...
________________________________
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1. Reconciliation.
Truth. South Africa. Lies. - Lemn Sissay
blog.lemnsissay.com/2013/12/07/reconciliation-truth-south-africa-lies/
o
Dec 7, 2013 - South Africans on the oppressed side of apartheid proved
... Congo and the Belgian King Leopold II who
was once the “owner” of that country ...
2. Heart of
Darkness, Disgrace - Research Papers - Hkmeow
www.studymode.com/course.../Heart-Of-Darkness-Disgrace-45164410.h...
o
... in early 20th
century Belgian Congo and late 20th century, post-apartheid ...
then being ruthlessly exploited as the private property of King Leopold of
Belgium, ...
3. Military Sport
in the Belgian Congo: From Physical Training ...
www.tandfonline.com › List of Issues › Table Of Contents
Dec 20, 2013 - Military Sport in the Belgian Congo:
From Physical Training and Leisure to .... Professional Football in Apartheid South
Africa: Leisure, ...
Search Results
1. [PDF]
Decolonization,
Independence, and the Failure of Politics
www.sscnet.ucla.edu/.../decolonizat...
o
o
University of
California, Los Angeles
by EJ Keller - Cited by 6 -
Related articles
states continued to
grow until, with the dismantlement of apartheid. [ignite retgion
lwa .... status of the Belgian Congo was the central issue in
these disputes.
2. As Mandela is
lauded, contradictions surface - The Final Call
www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/.../article_101054.shtml
o
o
The Final Call
Dec 17, 2013 - —Maurice Carney, executive director, The
Friends of the Congo ... domination as the place from which
the repressive apartheid regime governed. ... Earlier, the CIA
partnered with Belgium and Congolese reactionaries
in the ...
3. History of the
World - Modern Africa
www.lukemastin.com/history/modern_africa.html
o
1948, Afrikaaner
National Party comes to power in South Africa - apartheid. 1953,
Mau Mau ... 1960, Congo gains independence from Belgium.
1961, South ...
4. Security Council Resolution 181 -
UNSCR
unscr.com/en/resolutions/181
o
Question relating to
the policies of apartheid of the Government of the Republic of
South Africa.
5. Africa in the
Movies - The Congo Cookbook (African recipes ...
www.congocookbook.com/about_africa/africa_in_the_movies.html
o
o
Northern Africa is the
setting of many of the older movies; Apartheid South Africa is
the setting for many of .... Audrey Hepburn as nun in Belgian Congo (1959)
6. Apartheid Museum and
Soweto Tour - South Africa Day Tours
www.saplacestours.com/apartheid-museum-and-soweto-tour.html
o
The Apartheid Museum
and Soweto Tour introduces you to the sprawling metropolis of Soweto. Relive
the sad tale of white (minority) supremacy and black ...
7. Racism - A
History: Episode 3 - Video for Learning | BBC ...
www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleID=71
o
o
... the Belgian
Congo) represented a new, mechanised phase of racial slaughter. ...
institutionalised forms of racism as expressed in South Africa's Apartheid era, ...
8. Agence VU - Guy
Tillim
www.agencevu.com/photographers/photographer.php?id...
o
o
Agence VU
He began as a young
reporter in the 1980's, when he became aware of photography as a way to fight
against the racial gap created by the Apartheid in
his ...
9. G4S equips the apartheid wall,
Israel confirms / Adri Nieuwhof
www.whoprofits.org/.../g4s-equips-apartheid-wall-israel-confirms-adri-ni...
o
o
The British-Danish
security giant G4S has become the target of rights activists in different
countries because of its provision of services to Israeli prisons, military ...
10. Southern Times-'Apartheid SA
killed UN Secretary-General'
southerntimesafrica.com/news_article.php?...‘Apartheid%20SA%20kille...
o
'Apartheid SA
killed UN Secretary-General' ... “Captain and also someone called “Congo Red”
– an agent on the ground in the Congo – all belonged ...
imprisoned and later executed on January 17, 1961 by a firing squad of Belgian soldiers.
1. allAfrica.com:
South Sudan Should Be Placed Under UN ...
allafrica.com/stories/201401062611.html
o
AllAfrica.com
Jan 6, 2014 - Even the former Belgian Congo that
came to independence in 1960 ... to independence, and instead ruled it as part
of the apartheid system.
2. [PDF]
Download - BRIO
www.briobrussel.be/assets/.../europe_belgian_continuum.pdf
o
o
by P Van Parijs - 2000 -
Cited by 41 -
Related articles
"The New Social
Question" (Belgian Federal Government, Prime Minister's .....apartheid.
For there can be a soft, choice-based conception of membership in a ....
partition, with Brussels and the Congo, they are very embarrassed,
and this is ...
3. Who said nearly
50 years ago that Israel was an Apartheid ...
world.mediamonitors.net
› Home › Headlines
o
Mar 17, 2009 - At the onset of international “Israel Apartheid Week”
in solidarity with the ... and Australasia, in Africa from Namibia to the Congo and
elsewhere, most clearly .... from Australia to Britain to Belgium to
Canada to Cairo, Jordan, ...
4. Apartheid /
Decolonization - Search Result(s) - Resource ...
www.peaceau.org/en/resource/121-theme-apartheid-decolonization
o
o
Resolution against
military and nuclear collaboration with apartheid South
Africa; >>Read more...; Français. AHG/Decl.2 (XXII), 30th July, 1986.
Decision on the ...
5. African National
Independence
empathosnationenterprises.com/Consulate/EN-Library/.../afindep.html
o
o
Former names: Congo Free
State 1855-1908, Belgian Congo, 1908-1960, ... The dismantling of apartheid affectively
began in 1991 with the proposal to repeal ...
6. Fire, Apartheid,
Dolosses and Other South African Inventions
bentrovato.bookslive.co.za/.../fire-apartheid-dolosses-and-other-south-af...
o
o
Oct 16, 2009 - Fire, Apartheid, Dolosses and
Other South African Inventions ... Only someone who stumbled out of the Belgian
Congo in 1951 could have ...
7. COSATU condemns
South African Zionist Federation's ...
www.ciibroadcasting.com/.../cosatu-condemns-south-african-zionist-fede...
o
o
Jun 28, 2012 - We blacks who suffered under, and struggled
against, apartheid .... byBelgium in the Congo in
the name of “Western Christian Civilisation.
8. Democratic Congo -
History Background - Drc, People ...
education.stateuniversity.com/.../Democratic-Congo-HISTORY-BACKG...
o
o
Mobutu changed the
name of the country from the Belgium Congo to Zaire, a Kikongo
word for "river. .... This was an apartheid-styled educational
system.
9. [PDF]
Jews from Rhodes
in Central .and Southern Africa
https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/.../17--Jews_Southern_...
o
o
University of Oxford
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· Racism(s) in Europe Today: Is Better Data
Collection the ...
www.ies.be/node/1472
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·
Racism(s) in Europe Today: Is Better Data Collection
the Solution? ... European Network against Racism Rue Gallait
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· Belgium: 1,000s
demonstrate against racism and sexism ...
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Belgium, on the other hand, had been unsuccessful in
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scientific racism became the norm, ...
... the discriminatory nature of Belgian law on ... the World Conference against
Racism, Racial Discrimination ... the wide dissemination in Belgium of the ...
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[PDF] Convention on the Elimination
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... abolitionist” thrust of the Belgian system: only ... the Constitution stipulates that
all Belgians are equal ... voting is compulsory in Belgium, and everyone ...
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... thorough and very wide-ranging framework document on racism and related ...
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Durban Review Conference, 20-24
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... Dignity and Justice for All World Conference Against Racism, Durban 2001. ...
Russian Federation) Mr. Alex Van Meeuwen (Belgium) Mr. Franciscos ...
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[PDF] General Assembly
... The perpetrators of racist and xenophobic violence must be ... International
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... or of certain ancestry, the representative of Belgium said that ... agreed that the
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[PDF] ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION
... Islamic Republic of Iran, Belgium and Nigeria ... organizations, including
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A/50/476: Spec Rappo report
contemporary forms of racism ...
... In Belgium, 5,000 people demonstrated in March 1995 in ... the signature by 1
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[PDF] General Assembly
... Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia ...
and regional levels to combat racism and monitor racist acts and ...
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[PDF] General Assembly
... 9. The Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR)
in Belgium, a country visited by the Working Group, is a good example of ...
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[PDF] JOURNAL
... Panel “Elements of a global alliance against racism, racial discrimination ...
Belgium Mr. JM Noirfalisse Permanent Representative to the UN Office in ...
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... Panel “Addressing racism through peace education” (UNICEF) ... Belgium Mr.
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UN General Assembly 61st
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Social, humanitarian and
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... Introduced (Belgium) - 45th meeting (13 Nov). Adopted, as orally revised,
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[PDF] First Report of the Working
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... The Belgian authorities have designed specific educational programmes to ...
racism and bullying. Sweden and Belgium are currently exploring how ...
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UN Webcast: Human Rights
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... Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and ... Belgium Mr. Bart Ouvry [English] [French] 3 Minutes. ...
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[PDF] _-___- ~. 141 __--___.- -_ By
letter 3H5 dated 1 December ...
... had been completed and all Belgian troops involved ... see I 173rd meeting:
Belgium,* paras ... strengthening the capabilities of the “racist” Govcrn- ment ...
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59th General Assembly Session:
Fifth Committee ...
... All Forms of Racial Discrimination - submitted by Austria, Belgium, Bosnia
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DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE
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... As you know, the Durban Review Conference, which is a follow-up to the 2001
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[PDF] United against Racism, Racial
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... to protect them from any form of racism ... give rise to such forms of discrimination ...
being used to promote racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and ...
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Statement on Gender and All Forms of Discrimination,
in ...
... are affected differently in situations of armed conflict where race/ethnicity/
religion ... Certain forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and ...
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Summary submitted by the
Moderator of the panel discussion ...
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campaigns and ... testimonies relating to multiple forms of discrimination. ...
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General Assembly Adopts
Declaration Intended to Mobilize ...
... were manifest today in the form of poverty ... on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racism ... most comprehensive framework of its kind, forming a bulwark ...
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Eliminating Racial
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approaches to countering racism included the ... to be seen as racist themselves ...
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PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL
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of racism, particularly minorities, tended to form the most ...
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[PDF] World Conference against Racism, Racial
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[PDF] WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM, RACIAL ...
... 2001) World Conference Against Racism Accreditation Office ... should complete
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Press kit: Issues - Gender and Racial
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... Overt forms of violence, including, but not limited ... manifestations of either one
form of discrimination ... attention to gender and racism, and recognize ...
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[PDF] Draft outcome document of the
Durban Review Conference
... multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination; ... create or perpetuate racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and ... discrimination in any form, and to ...
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BELGIUM
... PRIME MINISTER MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BELGIUM. ... Racism
has taken such heavy toll of so ... have gone down in the history of the ...
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SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION TO
CONFERENCE AGAINST ...
... offered to host this Conference because of its history. ... those people and hearing
their stories has brought ... more subtle forms of racism or intolerance. ...
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DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MINORITIES, MIDDLE EAST ...
... can yet claim to be entirely free of racism or other ... Only if we are familiar with
history will we be ... The various national histories of the region reflect the ...
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United Nations News Centre -
Shocked UN chief sends ...
... his strong condemnation of all forms of racism, racial discrimination ... Related
Stories. ... Security Council Press Statement on Terrorist Attack in Belgium. ...
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Girl Child, Eliminating Racism,
Protecting Human Rights while ...
... the prism of past history; among other ... the total elimination of racism, racial
discrimination ... Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and ...
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/gashc3970.doc.htm - 106k
RISE OF RACISM,
INTOLERANCE IS SERIOUS THREAT TO ...
... up overnight; there had been a long history behind the ... to questions on how
to combat racism, he noted ... In Belgium, the Vlaams Blok in Antwerp had ...
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/gashc3867.doc.htm - 77k
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[PDF] Report of the World Conference against Racism,
Racial ...
... financial resources to anti-racism education and ... an accurate understanding
of the histories and cultures ... contribution to world history and civilization ...
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[PDF] United Nations - Information
Service Meeting Summary
... to properly address the past history of racism ... Creating success stories would
take time, but the Bank ... A worldwide strategy against racism could only ...
www.un.org/en/durbanreview2009/coverage/pdf/23.04.09_meeting_summary_am_rev1_en.pdf - 104k
Daily Highlights - World Conference against Racism
... appalling tragedies in the history of humanity ... Marc Bossuyt (Belgium) was
elected Chairman of ... the World Conference against Racism has given the ...
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BELGIUM
... MINISTER AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BELGIUM. ... the causes
and origins of racism and to ... the darkest chapters of our history so that ...
www.un.org/webcast/ga/56/statements/011110belgiumE.htm - 25k