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How Congo's freedom was won and hope was lost in the 'Year of Africa' 43:50 Copy the code below to embed the WBUR sound actor on your site
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In 1960 — dubbed the "Year of Africa" — 17 African nations declared their independence from the colonial West. It was a year of liberation. A time of jubilee, cultural advancement, and optimism for a new start and brighter future cross the continent.
In the Belgian colony of Congo, a pair of bold and charismatic leaders fanned the flames of hope and freedom until they caught fire. But by the following year, that hope had been dashed by exterior forces in a series of political events with lasting consequences.
In this episode, author Brenton Zola transports the states to a turning point in Congo's journey to independence, reveals what happened to the country's hope, and remembers the future that near was.
Producer's Note: "Africa's Lost Year of Hope" is a different kind of a story, one that calls on a traditional style of griot storytelling from Central and W Africa. Brenton Zola, who has deep Congolese roots, plays the office of the griot — a figure who acts as a bridge between your earth and the earth of story, bringing listeners into a world of narrative, music and myth. In this oral tradition, a griot is oft accompanied by a chorus, and this episode features chants, songs and vocal accompaniment that assist bring the story to life.
Show notes:
- Brenton Zola's website
- Original music from Brenton Zola's play virtually Patrice Lumumba
- King Leopold'due south Ghost past Adam Hochschild
- New York Times, Reflections On 1960, The Twelvemonth Of Africa
- New York Times, Overlooked No More: Andrée Blouin, Voice Of Independence In Africa
- The Africa Report, DRC: How The CIA Got Patrice Lumumba
- Fresh Air interview with Larry Devlin, former CIA station chief
- The Guardian, Chronicle Of A Expiry
Further reading:
- Lumumba: Africa'southward Lost Leader by Leo Zeilig
- Congo, My Land past Patrice Lumumba
- My Country, Africa by Andrée Blouin
- Chief Of Station, Congo past Larry Devlin
- Gender And Decolonization In The Congo by Karen Bouwer
Thanks to Eve Blouin, Adam Hochschild, Steve Colwell, Paul Colwell, Mermans Mosengo, Jason Tamba and Stuart Reid for sharing their time and knowledge.
Special thanks to the Storytellers – Jerome, Gibran, Alejandro, Devin and Keanu – for lending their voices. And to Gio Bard Zero, Brodie Kinder, Meredith Turk and Vince "Duneman" Ferg for their sonic contributions.
Thanks also to The Source Marrakech and to Denver Arts and Venues for their support for this projection.
Full Transcript:
This content was originally created for audio. The transcript has been edited from our original script for clarity. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to interpret to text.
[CONGO JAZZ MUSIC]
Nora Saks: Sit dorsum. Close your eyes. Imagine a large city on a river overflowing with life.
Brenton Zola: A place where people are dancing, where music is just swirling through the air in the forms of Congo jazz and trumpets. Where you have art lining the streets. It'south just a place that was ready to emerge from a dark history.
Nora: This is Brenton Zola - a writer, thinker and creator with deep Congolese roots. The place he'southward describing is no figment of the imagination. It'south Leopoldville - and in 1960 - it was the uppercase of the Belgian colony of Congo. That year was a turning point for the unabridged continent. A twelvemonth of liberation.
Brenton: The yr 1960 was known as the Year of Africa, and that is considering 17 African nations really all alleged their independence in i single year.
Nora: Brenton was that before you were born?
Brenton: Ha! Oh Lord. Yes, that is significantly earlier I was born.
Nora: Nevertheless, Brenton'south fascination has led him to begin working on a book about this affiliate of Congo's history. And he says back and so, Leopoldville was bubbling with life and hope that Congo could soon get one of Africa'due south gratuitous Democratic republics. Now, information technology usually takes some kind of spark for those embers of hope to catch fire. Sometimes that tin can be one bold private. But at that time, Congo had two. Patrice Lumumba and Andrée Blouin. A dynamic pair that would transform the entire nation - and inspire people for generations to come up.
Brenton: I've ever been fascinated by - first of all, people who are able to stir the emotions of, and sort of capture the imagination, the zeitgeist of their time, and that in the case of Lumumba and Blouin specifically, that they could have on these really large responsibilities, knowing similar how unsafe it was, knowing how many large forces were against them and notwithstanding accept the willingness and drive to follow through on their visions for a amend future.
Nora: Now imagine that promise dashed, on purpose, past an outside actor.
Brenton: You know, when nosotros look at the bug of Congo now, from exploitation in the mining industry to animal conservation to violence in the eastern office of the Congo with insubordinate militias, a lot of these are a fallout of what happened in 1960. And I think when nosotros look at our world right now, the trouble or claiming that societies accept is that you oftentimes don't see the fallout from large political events until many decades later on. And so by the time you start really feeling that fallout, people have forgotten.
Nora: Eventually, Brenton says, that era of hope and freedom disappeared from our collective memory. And was replaced with a much simpler notion: 1 of suffering.
Brenton: And so I desire to bring this story to people considering I desire to show them that not simply could the future take been dissimilar, but information technology was on the path of being different. And nosotros basically thwarted that path. And so that the future that we have or the present that we have now is in no way inevitable and that there's e'er a new story that can exist written if we understand how nosotros got here to begin with.
[MUSIC]
Nora: Welcome to Concluding Seen - a testify about people, places and things that accept gone missing, and whether or not they can or even should be plant. From WBUR - Boston's NPR station, I'm Nora Saks.
Today, you lot're going to hear a different kind of a story - more of a lyrical essay - using a traditional way of storytelling from Central and West Africa. Brenton will be playing the role of the griot - a figure who acts as a bridge betwixt your world and the earth of story, bringing you into a world of narrative, music and myth.
In this form, a griot is often accompanied by a chorus. So you volition hear chants, song and song accompaniment with the story.
Today, Brenton Zola transports the states to "Africa's Lost Year of Hope". This is Episode 4.
Brenton: It was the Summer of 1884. A human being with a long, silverish beard sat at a clawfoot table. His proper name was Leopold II, Rex of the Belgians. Other European kings took seats effectually him. He looked around the table and locked eyes with each king. He declared that he wanted to control a new state his men had explored. It was chosen Congo. He wanted it for himself. As a private citizen.
Nobody knew what lay in Africa's heart. Many still don't. Leopold was the only king with access to Central Africa. The other kings didn't empathise what he was asking for. They were focused on grabbing other parts of the continent. He was desperate to bring together their ranks. Earn their respect. He needed Congo.
His fellow kings spoke. They told him that they were willing to give him this 'Congo.' On ane condition. He needed to assistance its people prosper. Leopold gave a broad smile and agreed. The statesmen applauded with self-satisfaction. Congo was now his. A land so large information technology could fit one-half of western Europe.
Adam Hochschild: He wanted some part of the earth where he could reign supreme and where he could make a lot of money.
That's Adam Hochschild, historian and modern Congo skilful.
Adam: He bamboozled first the United states, and and then all the major nations of Europe into recognizing this vast territory as his personal possession.
Brenton: Leopold 2 ruled Congo equally a personal colony for over two decades. He focused on a search for prosperity. And he found information technology.
[JUNGLE SOUNDS]
Brenton: Off in the Congo jungle, a Congolese woman in a floral waist wrap sat in the bush. She was chained to someone next to her. In her left hand, she held a big green vine that snaked along the footing. In her right, she had a large pocketknife. She swung the pocketknife and sliced the vine open. A milky substance erupted. It brought her to her knees. It covered her head, artillery and breast. Then, it hardened. Belgian soldiers came and scraped the hardened substance off of her. They took some of her pilus and skin with information technology. She became delirious. Fell to the ground. At that bespeak, the soldiers took her away. What did they scrape off? Latex. It would be turned into rubber, a new material the world couldn't get enough of.
Adam: There was a huge need for safe in manufacture and much of the world was industrializing at that betoken, and y'all need rubber for belts and machinery and factories and so forth. Simply when you institute a bunch of rubber trees it can accept 15 years or and so before they grow to maturity. And you're able to harvest the rubber from them. Then the people who could really make a killing were those who endemic territory where safety grew wild.
Brenton: And no ane had more of that than Male monarch Leopold in the great Congolese rainforest. So Leopold imposed a safety quota on all Congolese. If they didn't harvest enough, soldiers would take them away. But like the woman in the floral waist wrap. They brought her to a tree stump and laid out her right arm. A soldier lifted his pocketknife and information technology dropped down on her wrist. Her hand fell into a woven basket. It joined many others. And things carried on like this. For days. Months. Years.
This was the rubber merchandise that made Leopold a billionaire in today's dollars. That powered automobiles on 5th avenue. That kept the unknowing world moving.
The global media eventually exposed Leopold's atrocities. The likes of Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle lambasted him. The International Community even coined a term for his actions: Crimes Against Humanity. But the harm was done.
Adam: Information technology was an extremely vicious system that produced a holocaust-sized death cost. The best estimates are that the population of this territory shrank past about 50% or about ten million people between around 1880 and around 1920.
Brenton: 10 million people. From famine, disease, separation and violence. The globe wanted justice. Only only a year afterwards he was exposed, Leopold died of a stroke in his glittering palace. From that moment of applause at the clawfoot table up until his very last 24-hour interval, everyone gave him a hand. Nearly two decades after Leopold died, the Belgian regime all the same exploited Congo. Few Congolese had promise of improving their lives. Except ane male child.
[MUSIC]
Brenton: No one knows why Elias was given his particular proper name. Some say his tribe was inferior. Others say that someone saw a meteor at his nativity. A bad omen. Withal it originated, Elias Okit'Asombo's name meant "the heir of the cursed." Simply Elias believed in the power to alter his destiny. The Earth gave him a bellowing vox that carried through infinite. It gave him a precipitous mind that gathered knowledge like a glittering nebula. Every dark, he stood in the middle of his minor hamlet. He recounted tales of Congo's dazzling past. And in spite of themselves, the Congolese around him started to dream. He wanted these dreams for all Congolese. So as a teenager, he hopped on a train to the metropolis. He was born Elias Okit'Asombo. But he gave himself a new proper noun. The starting time meant "noble"; the last, "the crowd." His proper name was Patrice Lumumba.
On the other side of the Congo river, in that location was a 17 year-quondam girl. She was climbing a high rock wall. It was the center of the dark. The gothic architecture of her Catholic orphanage lay behind her. As she reached the peak, she cutting herself on the glass shards that lay on the wall. Her blood dripped downward the wall. She looked to her right and she saw two friends she was supposed to meet. They trembled. She shouted: "This is the hour of our liberation."
Twenty feet down, more jagged shards awaited them at the base of operations of the wall. Her companions whimpered. But she shoved them into the dark.
Andrée was this daughter'southward name. She had no idea of the hereafter for the métisse girls she pushed to freedom. Métisse meant mixed. Half-brood. A kid of sin. Andrée Blouin was built-in to a 14-twelvemonth-old African mother and a 41-year-erstwhile European father. She wasn't an orphan. She was ripped from the arms of her mother and thrown into a and so-called "orphanage" to be with her own kind.
Just she was done hiding. She took a long jiff and plunged into the abyss after her friends. Three pairs of bloody footprints walked into the night.
[MUSIC]
Brenton: Patrice Lumumba, the heir of the cursed, grew up in a rapidly changing globe. This world was hungry for gilt, diamonds, copper and more than, which Congo had. If Congo's mineral riches were measured in the lifespan of our universe, it would take thousands to capture its bounty. It'southward estimated that to this twenty-four hours, Congo has 26 trillion (with a T) Us dollars' worth of untapped minerals.
On the heels of World War II, the Congolese mining industry exploded. Nigh of its cities became mining cities. There was new opportunity for people like Patrice Lumumba. But the Belgians ensured that there wasn't too much.
Like nearly Congolese, Patrice Lumumba only made it through 4th class. In that location was no university in the nation. So the idea that someone could intellectually match Europeans was preposterous. But Lumumba believed it. By day, he was a mailman. By night, a student. Later on his classes, he'd walk around the slums trying to solve bug. Anybody called him the knowledge magician. Only Lumumba's drive also got him in trouble. He felt underpaid. So to cover his learning expenses, he embezzled some money. He intended to pay information technology dorsum, but his debts caught up with him. He earned a ticket to jail.
His fourth dimension in jail was the lucifer that lit the bonfire of revolution. He saw the savage treatment of his fellow inmates. How they ate goose egg but dry out chikwanga breadstuff. How guards stuffed them in tiny cells. This incensed him. He wanted to do something. A couple years later, he got out. It was then that he committed himself to changing Congo'south futurity.
For the métisse orphan Andrée Blouin, tragedy was the match that lit her fire. Later on escaping the orphanage, she started a family. Her life was meeting. But one 24-hour interval in 1944, her toddler got malaria.
Eve Blouin: So ane day he was taken to hospital and doctors saw that his instance was very serious.
Brenton: That's Eve Blouin, one of Andrée's daughters. Eve wasn't still born at the fourth dimension, merely she knows the story well. Andrée brought her son to a French colonial hospital. His condition continued to pass up.
Eve: So she completely freaked out, as you tin can imagine, and tried to find the quinine that was the just cure to what her son had. Plainly, you could merely have access to this drug if you had a bill of fare and it was not given to anyone with African blood.
Brenton: Andrée pleaded that her son was three/4 European. Doctors nevertheless refused. Her son died. She was never the same. Later his death, Andrée moved to Paris. In Paris, she saw the Black Renaissance.
Writers like James Baldwin lit upwardly French cafés late into the night. Blackness luminaries discussed African independence. Andrée idea about her immature son. She decided to join the fight.
She remade herself into a revolutionary. She wanted to build an Africa where all races were equal. Where children didn't die based on the blood that flowed through them. Where women had rights. She became a woman of fire; bold, indefatigable. In the 50's, she moved to Republic of guinea, where her husband worked. Andrée believed that she could help pb Guinea to independence from the French. To her, the key was galvanizing rural Africans.
She organized a caravan of trucks to bulldoze to the remote parts of Republic of guinea. They'd play music through loudspeakers. They'd get together people in a clearing to hear her message. At present, this may seem a bit ordinary today. Only for rural villagers, this was shocking.
Eve: Of course, it's difficult for you to imagine the way information technology was, but imagine people living in the bush-league, no electricity, no phone, no zilch. And suddenly they see a caravan of trucks.
Brenton: The trucks carried their own supply of electricity and waded through all mode of terrain.
Eve: Crossing those jungles, those rivers, just to attain the niggling village that was hiding under a baobab tree or God knows what. It was unbelievable. Just she did it.
Brenton: Thousands of men gathered in awe. But Andrée was particularly keen on women's empowerment. She wanted the women of the village to hear her oral communication.
Eve: She would inquire all these men to bring forth with them, their wives, their daughters, their mothers, whoever.
Brenton: She would speak about education, healthcare and equal voting rights.
Eve: People could not believe that this woman, half white, half black, she did such an impression on all these women that it was like a tidal moving ridge, literally.
Brenton: Guinea went on to become the first African nation to gain independence. Andrée was at the heart of the motility.
Eve: She rallied so many women in Guinea electoral entrada that they wanted her to practise the same in Congo.
Brenton: Andree took all of her lessons to the heart of Africa.
That's afterwards this.
[SPONSOR Break]
Brenton: Leopoldville was Congo'southward upper-case letter. And in the 1950'south, information technology was a bustling urban center. At that place were trendy fashion boutiques and swanky jazz bars. There were Humphrey Bogart films. It even boasted the world's get-go electrical bus. But backside all the glitz, a revolutionary fervor was brewing. Lumumba was sparking that fervor.
He went door-to-door to talk to Congolese about possibilities for the nation. He spoke to them in confined. In restaurants. Anywhere he could grab an ear, he did. He founded Congo's fastest growing and most diverse political party. And his efforts got him on to the airwaves. Like Andrée Blouin, he was a gifted speaker. And with radio, everyone could hear his message.
But while Lumumba's vocalization boomed through the airwaves, a cold world loomed behind him. Nothing would accept a greater impact on 1950's Congo than the Cold State of war.
Congo's natural resources over again played a pivotal role. Here's more from our trusty historian Adam Hochschild.
Adam: No longer were ivory and rubber the principal sources of wealth, but palm oil, uranium, the uranium for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs came from at that place. And, you know, the Americans and Belgians wanted this stuff for themselves for their corporations. They thought of Africa as sort of their possession.
Brenton: The The states army couldn't have built atomic bombs without Congo'due south uniquely rich Uranium. They couldn't afford to lose command of Congo's resources.
Adam: They didn't desire the Soviets to become whatever part of information technology.
Brenton: They created the Central Intelligence Agency. Its founding purpose was to monitor governments and pursue American interests. But trying to protect American interests while thwarting the Soviets led to extreme actions. The CIA spent the 1950's engaging in propaganda, paramilitary action, and even assassination.
But neither the cursed boy, at present man, nor the orphan daughter, now woman, let the Cold War stop their work. Just as in Republic of guinea, Andrée Blouin formed a coalition of tens of thousands women to abet for independence. And by 1959, the roar of freedom was deafening.
It was at that point that Lumumba and Blouin met at a dinner party. Lumumba'southward body still bore scars from his time in prison. Simply he welcomed Andrée with his warm smile and tireless express mirth. In Andrée'due south own words, "Lumumba was brave and sincere."
Eve: Lumumba was like her little brother. She would spend a lot of time with Lumumba.
Brenton: The heir of the cursed and métisse erstwhile orphan decided to combine their flames.
Eve: He would only trust her to the point that the media had a nickname for this collaboration
Brenton: Team "Lumum-Blouin." They had Blouin'southward strategy and Lumumba'southward charisma. They inspired Congolese to lead strikes and demonstrations throughout Leopoldville. They worried the Belgians. The momentum came to a caput. In late 1959, the governor of Leopoldville tried to preclude a large demonstration at a YMCA sports field. The demonstrators became frustrated. And then, enraged. A massive riot broke out. Congolese attacked Belgian soldiers. Belgian soldiers opened fire in response. Dozens of Congolese lost their lives. The nation was spiraling out of command – fast.
The reigning King of Belgium saw the writing on the wall. He was a immature, serenity homo named Baudouin. Leopold'due south great-grandnephew. Rex Baudouin got on the radio. He announced that there would exist independence. Most people thought information technology would have a few years, maybe more, to really materialize. Merely that is not how the history goes. In January 1960, just two months later, he organized a Belgian-Congo roundtable conference.
All of the elevation political actors from both nations flew to Brussels. There, Lumumba sat at a large tabular array staring at Belgium'due south leaders. Congo's as well. Hundreds of aides sabbatum around the room. Journalists in stadium seats waited with bated breath. Perchance the heir of the cursed felt Leopold's ghost. He leaned forrard into the microphone in front end him. And so, he made a bold move.
Brenton: He asked the Belgians to grant independence in four months. The Belgian officials were flabbergasted. Lumumba never thought that they would actually concord to such a thing. Merely the Belgians were under a lot of force per unit area. Congo was falling apart. Every major paper was set to report their response. They did non agree to iv months. But they did agree to six. The stage was set.
June 29th, 1960. The eve of independence. A new song dominates the airwaves. "Vive le Congo."
[VIVE LE CONGO PLAYS]
Brenton: It's by a white American trio named the Colwell Brothers. The Colwell Brothers were naive young musicians. Congo's tiptop politicians brought them to help unite the country through music. They got to play for a special audience.
Paul Colwell: We did a functioning in a theater to Patrice Lumumba and his cabinet.
Brenton: That'due south Paul Colwell. He's one of the brothers.
Paul: And we were country and western kind of performers, but we too included world music. But nosotros had our western gear, our cowboy hats, and all that. And that's when we launched our song called Vive le Congo.
[VIVE LE CONGO PLAYS]
Brenton: The Colwell Brothers' song captured the spirit of optimism in the nation. It was a national sensation. By this point in mid-1960, six African nations had alleged their independence. Patrice Emery Lumumba had inspired them.
Now, all eyes were on Congo. On Him. For six months, Lumumba had campaigned for the Prime Government minister post. Of course, he leaned on Andrée Blouin. They caravaned throughout the whole state. It was joyous. Raucous. Simply now, with their goal so close, things were tense.
The following day. Baudouin stands before hundreds of dignitaries. Congolese politicians, Belgian ministers and international printing are all present. It'due south the Independence Congress in Leopoldville. Through the airwaves, the whole world listens. Baudouin announces Patrice Lumumba as Congo's commencement Prime Minister.
[Adulation]
Brenton: The applause is deafening. He chop-chop speaks over the dissonance.
[Excerpt of Baudouin speaking in French]
Brenton: Did you catch that? Baudouin asks the audition to honor the human who created an opportunity for humanitarian work in Congo. The genius, Leopold 2. When he finishes, Lumumba rises.
He is non scheduled to speak. The room falls silent. Lumumba approaches the podium with a small enshroud of papers.
[Excerpt of Lumumba speaking in French]
Brenton: Lumumba excoriates the Belgians for decades of brutality. He declares Congo free.
[Excerpt of Lumumba speaking in French]
[Applause]
Brenton: The Congolese in the room give him a standing ovation for eight straight minutes. New Congolese citizens roar outside. This moment is a tipping point for Lumumba and Africa'south hope. Baudouin and the Belgians are enraged. Here's Adam Hochschild describing Baudouin'due south reaction.
Adam: You've probably seen the motion picture footage of that ceremony. It'southward an amazing thing. The expression on his face when he turns to somebody next to him, and yous can sort of imagine him saying: who the hell is this guy Lumumba?
Brenton: He was the man who lit a whole nation on fire. For days, Congolese roasted goats. Spoke to the Earth through their feet. Citizens poured into the new Prime Minister's role to get a glimpse. The Colwell Brothers sang at the celebrations.
Only Lumumba wasted no time getting to piece of work. The new Prime number Minister made more bold moves. He named Andrée Blouin to his chiffonier to strategize his policy and write his speeches. He announced his intentions of nationalizing Congo's minerals. But his disrespect put a target on his back. In reality, there was petty infrastructure to support his ambition. Retrieve, the Belgians express their education. Congo only had a few higher graduates in the entire nation. So the problems for the fledgling government started simply a few days into Lumumba'due south tenure.
When the army realized that he hadn't even so replaced their abusive Belgian general, they mutinied. Soldiers flooded the streets. Assaulted Europeans. Burned cars in a wild rage. The Colwell Brothers had to hide. Here's Steve Colwell, Paul's older brother, recounting that experience. You'll hear a bit of Paul as well.
Steve Colwell: Nosotros were in an apartment edifice on the fifth floor and Congolese war machine would be driving upwardly and downwardly the streets in camouflage.
Paul: This was the main boulevard of town so everyone was coming in and out.
Steve: And they were in battle prepare with guns. And one point there was a Belgian flag that was hanging over the balustrade of an apartment right next to us. And information technology was it was fired on by one of these jeeps. And so we were brash to not sure white faces over the balcony.
Brenton: As the violence intensified, the Colwells had to make up one's mind if they would flee. But they decided to stay put, literally. They didn't leave their flat. Through the window, they saw scores of Belgians running for boats and ferries.
Paul: And so there were just these long, long, miles long, cavalcades or caravans, of Belgians fleeing the country. That's what we were watching from our flat.
Brenton: During this chaos, the US and Belgium fabricated their move. They bribed leaders in the Southeastern province of Katanga to secede. The minerals of the Katanga province were responsible for more two-thirds of Congo's acquirement. Then the secession kept minerals in Western easily and incapacitated Congo'southward economy.
In response, Lumumba reached out to the UN, United states and Europe for help. They all refused. So he consulted with Blouin. They decided to approach the Soviets.
Now it'due south important to clarify that Lumumba was not a communist. Simply he was willing to practice annihilation to go along the fire of hope burning. So he asked for planes, supplies and weapons with which to take back Katanga. The Soviets agreed.
This was the final straw for the Americans and Belgians.
[EISENHOWER: The United States deplores the unilateral activity of the Soviet Spousal relationship in supplying aircraft and other equipment for military purposes to the Congo.
Brenton: In late Summertime 1960, the CIA sent a cable to its head of Congo operations. They authorized him, in indirect words to assassinate the Prime number Minister.
He was to go to Lumumba's residence and swap out his toothpaste for a tube of poisoned toothpaste. But something unexpected happened. The CIA's assassinator couldn't go through with information technology. He couldn't extinguish this shining star. Fifty-fifty he got swept upward in Africa'south spirit of hope. He ended up throwing the vile vial into the Congo River.
Simply that blink of hope was short-lived. The CIA took another road. They paid off Lumumba's rivals to remove him from ability. Some of these men were fifty-fifty in his own cabinet.
Merely this anti-Lumumba faction knew they actually needed to start with Andrée Blouin. The beating centre of his performance. In mid-September 1960, they exiled her.
Eve: Mother had to flee the Congo. We were put in prison with my father and my grandmother and my blood brother.
Brenton: Eve Blouin once again. Inside the prison house, soldiers menaced Eve and bear upwardly her grandmother, who eventually died from the injuries. The residuum of the family managed to flee the country.
With Andrée out of the manner, the anti-Lumumba faction got on the omnipotent radio. They dismissed the Prime Minister. Put him nether firm abort. But Lumumba was not easily held down. He managed to escape and abscond across the land with his family. If he made it all the way to the Eastward, he could reunite with his supporters. And take back the country.
Just once again, Lumumba's devotion was also his greatest weakness. During his several-twenty-four hour period journeying, he stopped many times to make speeches to rural Congolese. Soldiers caught upward to him. Threatened his family. So he decided to plow himself in.
This fourth dimension, his rivals didn't take any chances. The soldiers vanquish Lumumba. They shoved one of his speeches in his mouth and tried to make him literally eat his words. They presently shipped him off to Katanga, the province that seceded. There, they organized a firing squad in the bush-league. And there, Lumumba stood. Alone, in the darkness.
Before they brought him to the firing line, he wrote a letter to his married woman. His terminal attestation. Part of the ending read:
Without dignity at that place is no freedom, without justice there is no dignity. I adopt to die with caput high. The day will come up when history will speak. But information technology will not be the history taught in Brussels, Washington or the Un. Africa will write its ain history of glory and dignity. Vive le Congo! Vive Afrique!
Late into the dark hours of Jan 17th, 1961, motorcar-gun fire singed the air. And there, upon the scarred, amber earth, lay Congo's hope. This beacon of Africa'due south promise, lifeless at 35.
Yet, his rivals were still so agape of what he symbolized that they threw Lumumba's remains into a vat of acid. They wanted to erase him completely. Kingdom of belgium and the CIA put out a press release claiming that he had died under "mysterious circumstances." The news crushed Andrée Blouin. She lost her compatriot and brother.
Eve: I remember , she was simply sitting down on the on the flooring in the living room. And she, she just cried for days. She just was similar slumped on the like, a mop on the floor. And she, she just cried. All her dreams of independence and all her dreams of an independent free Africa were killed when they killed Lumumba and she knew it. She knew it.
Brenton: The CIA press release fooled no ane. Protests broke out from Miami to Mumbai. In New York, angry crowds virtually breached the UN assembly. Blackness days followed the black human action. Merely eventually, the retentiveness faded. Fifty-fifty for this towering effigy. The earth dismissed Congo as a backwards nation of suffering. It forgot what could've been. About the African who was as famous every bit Mandela in his fourth dimension. Here's historian Adam Hoschchild.
Adam: I call back he was a sort of Mandela-like effigy in the eyes of progressives effectually the world because of the eloquence with which he spoke of Africa's needs. Unlike Mandela of grade, he was killed.
Brenton: Only the spirits of Lumumba and Blouin have not disappeared.
Eve: She's definitely non forgotten. She in fact has get a myth. She had the dream of Pan Africanism and she thought it would change the world and allow united states of america all to consider each other equally brother and sister.
Brenton: For promise does not die.
Steve: I personally will never give up hope. We must never lose hope that the possibility of change and a better time.
Brenton: Hope does non fade away.
Paul: Vive le Congo, we nevertheless sing. We nevertheless say Vive le Congo
Brenton: Promise lives in dreams and actions.
Eve: Freedom. That's what nosotros wish for Africa.
Brenton: Promise lives in new generations. And it shall exist seen once again.
[MUSIC]
Nora: Coming up next week, a seize with teeth-sized crime story starring a tiny species of desert fish - and the long arm of the Endangered Species Act.
Paige Blankenbuehler: He drops the shotgun, he strips off his dress, and then he slips into this deep warm h2o. He didn't know information technology yet, only that would evidence to be his worst mistake of the nighttime.
Nora: This week's episode of Last Seen was reported and written by Brenton Zola. And Brenton's got one more souvenir in store for usa correct after these credits - then stay tuned. Our episode was produced by Brenton and myself, Nora Saks, your host and curator of this season. Nick White is our story editor. Mix and sound design past Matt Reed. Original music by Matt Reed and Brenton Zola and his song group - THE STORYTELLERS. And by Brodie Kinder. Product assist from my WBUR Podcasts teammates, Amory Sivertson, Matt Reed, Quincy Walters, Meera Raman and Kristen Torres. Ben Brock Johnson is our executive producer. Large cheers to Eve Blouin, Adam Hochschild, and Steve and Paul Colwell. And to the Storytellers – Jerome, Gibran, Alejandro, Devin and Keanu – for lending your voices. And to Gio, Bard Cypher, Brodie Kinder, Meredith Turk and Vince "Duneman" Ferg for their sonic contributions. Thanks also to The Source Marrakech and to Denver Arts and Venues for their project support.
To find more of Brenton's work check out his website, brentonzola.com If you want to know more than most this story, the music in it, and come across our show notes, go to our website - wbur.org/final seen. Follow us on Twitter - @LastSeenPodcast. And pitch us your story ideas about people, places, and things that have gone missing. Drop u.s. a line at lastseenwbur@gmail.com. Thanks so much for listening, we'll be back next week. Now back to Brenton.
Brenton: Hey at that place! Cheers for coming on this journey. I've got one terminal surprise for you. Whenever I interview a guest, I like to surprise them with a little freestyle verse, to sum up our conversation. Completely on the spot, which usually elicits reactions like this from the Colwell'southward,
[COLWELL FREESTYLE REACTION]
Brenton: So I idea I'd share the total freestyle I did with Eve Blouin. It'due south my mode of spreading hope.
Eve: Give thanks you! That was fantastic! Well washed, you're a very talented man, aren't you?
Brenton: Well, my mom thinks so.
Eve: Oh, well your mommy'southward correct. Mothers are always right.
[END]
Source: https://www.wbur.org/lastseen/2022/02/15/africas-lost-year-of-hope
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