The Assassination of Lumumba

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Author :
Publisher : Verso Books
ISBN 13 : 183976791X
Total Pages : 398 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (397 download)

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Book Synopsis The Assassination of Lumumba by : Ludo De Witte

Download or read book The Assassination of Lumumba written by Ludo De Witte and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Assassination of Lumumba unravels the appalling mass of lies, hypocrisy and betrayals that have surrounded accounts of the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba-the first prime minister of the Republic of Congo and a pioneer of African unity-since it perpetration. Making use of a huge array of official sources as well as personal testimony from many of those in the Congo at the time, Ludo De Witte reveals a network of complicity ranging from the Belgian government to the CIA. Patrice Lumumba's personal strength and his quest for African unity emerges in stark contrast with one of the murkiest episodes in twentieth-century politics.

Death in the Congo

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674745361
Total Pages : 293 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (747 download)

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Book Synopsis Death in the Congo by : Emmanuel Gerard

Download or read book Death in the Congo written by Emmanuel Gerard and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty years later, the murky circumstances and tragic symbolism of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination trouble many people around the world. Emmanuel Gerard and Bruce Kuklick reveal a tangled web of international politics in which many people—black and white, well-meaning and ruthless, African, European, and American—bear responsibility for this crime.

The Assassination of Lumumba

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Author :
Publisher : Verso
ISBN 13 : 9781859846186
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (461 download)

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Book Synopsis The Assassination of Lumumba by : Ludo de Witte

Download or read book The Assassination of Lumumba written by Ludo de Witte and published by Verso. This book was released on 2001 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sociologist and writer De Witte details the story of how Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Republic of Congo, was murdered in January 1961, directly by the Belgian government and Congolese rebels, but with the indirect help of the US and United Nations. The original was published in Dutch as De Moord ap Lumumba by Editions Uitgeverij van Halewyck in 1999, but the English seems to have been translated from the French. c. Book News Inc.

Death in the Congo

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674725271
Total Pages : 293 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (747 download)

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Book Synopsis Death in the Congo by : Emmanuel Gerard

Download or read book Death in the Congo written by Emmanuel Gerard and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty years later, the murky circumstances and tragic symbolism of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination trouble many people around the world. Emmanuel Gerard and Bruce Kuklick reveal a tangled web of international politics in which many people—black and white, well-meaning and ruthless, African, European, and American—bear responsibility for this crime.

Patrice Lumumba

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Author :
Publisher : Ohio University Press
ISBN 13 : 0821445065
Total Pages : 93 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (214 download)

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Book Synopsis Patrice Lumumba by : Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja

Download or read book Patrice Lumumba written by Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-04 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patrice Lumumba was a leader of the independence struggle in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the country’s first democratically elected prime minister. After a meteoric rise in the colonial civil service and the African political elite, he became a major figure in the decolonization movement of the 1950s. Lumumba’s short tenure as prime minister (1960–1961) was marked by an uncompromising defense of Congolese national interests against pressure from international mining companies and the Western governments that orchestrated his eventual demise. Cold war geopolitical maneuvering and well-coordinated efforts by Lumumba’s domestic adversaries culminated in his assassination at the age of thirty-five, with the support or at least the tacit complicity of the U.S. and Belgian governments, the CIA, and the UN Secretariat. Even decades after Lumumba’s death, his personal integrity and unyielding dedication to the ideals of self-determination, self-reliance, and pan-African solidarity assure him a prominent place among the heroes of the twentieth-century African independence movement and the worldwide African diaspora. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja’s short and concise book provides a contemporary analysis of Lumumba’s life and work, examining both his strengths and his weaknesses as a political leader. It also surveys the national, continental, and international contexts of Lumumba’s political ascent and his swift elimination by the interests threatened by his ideas and practical reforms.

White Malice

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Publisher : Hurst Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1787385825
Total Pages : 688 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (873 download)

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Book Synopsis White Malice by : Susan Williams

Download or read book White Malice written by Susan Williams and published by Hurst Publishers. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accra, 1958. Africa’s liberation leaders have gathered for a conference, full of strength, purpose and vision. Newly independent Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Congo’s Patrice Lumumba strike up a close partnership. Everything seems possible. But, within a few years, both men will have been targeted by the CIA, and their dream of true African autonomy undermined. The United States, watching the Europeans withdraw from Africa, was determined to take control. Pan-Africanism was inspiring African Americans fighting for civil rights; the threat of Soviet influence over new African governments loomed; and the idea of an atomic reactor in black hands was unacceptable. The conclusion was simple: the US had to ‘recapture’ Africa, in the shadows, by any means necessary. Renowned historian Susan Williams dives into the archives, revealing new, shocking details of America’s covert programme in Africa. The CIA crawled over the continent, poisoning the hopes of 1958 with secret agents and informants; surreptitious UN lobbying; cultural infiltration and bribery; assassinations and coups. As the colonisers moved out, the Americans swept in—with bitter consequences that reverberate in Africa to this day

The assassination of Patrice Lumumba

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Author :
Publisher : Kindle Direct Publisher
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 105 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (378 download)

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Book Synopsis The assassination of Patrice Lumumba by : Dr Ley G. Ikpo & Miss Jackline Seka Sahlberg

Download or read book The assassination of Patrice Lumumba written by Dr Ley G. Ikpo & Miss Jackline Seka Sahlberg and published by Kindle Direct Publisher . This book was released on with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Congo, a former Belgian colony, at the beginning of the independence of the territory, a brave and dedicated leader, Patrice Emery Lumumba, won the election and was appointed Prime Minister. As the first Prime Minister of a democratic Congo, the newly elected representative of the country filled with devotion had in mind to providing Congolese with a better future. He therefore fought on behalf of Congolese. His methods were disliked by the former colonizers for whom he became a danger to their interests in Congo after his speech on independence day, on June 30, 1960. Since then, various plots were arranged against him to be killed. Those conspiracies never succeeded against him since they were unfortunately aborted for the most. The country fell into a state of incredible disrepair due to recurrent oppositions since September 14 of that year. Soon, Mobutu's forces backed by the CIA arrested Lumumba, on December 1, 1960 and he was guarded by the UN troops. Later, Lumumba was sent to Elizabethville, in the Katanga, the territory of his rival Moïse Tshombe. At his arrival, he was beaten by both Katanga's and Belgians' forces to death. On January 17, 1960, Patrice Emery Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo was assassinated in cold blood by various perpetrators. After 61 years in Belgium the remaining teeth were sent back the the DRC for burial on June 30, 2022.

Congo, My Country

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Author :
Publisher : Hassell Street Press
ISBN 13 : 9781014151926
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (519 download)

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Book Synopsis Congo, My Country by : Patrice 1925-1961 Lumumba

Download or read book Congo, My Country written by Patrice 1925-1961 Lumumba and published by Hassell Street Press. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Chief of Station, Congo

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Author :
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 0786732180
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

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Book Synopsis Chief of Station, Congo by : Lawrence Devlin

Download or read book Chief of Station, Congo written by Lawrence Devlin and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2008-04-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Larry Devlin arrived as the new chief of station for the CIA in the Congo five days after the country had declared its independence, the army had mutinied, and governmental authority had collapsed. As he crossed the Congo River in an almost empty ferry boat, all he could see were lines of people trying to travel the other way—out of the Congo. Within his first two weeks he found himself on the wrong end of a revolver as militiamen played Russian-roulette, Congo style, with him. During his first year, the charismatic and reckless political leader, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered and Devlin was widely thought to have been entrusted with (he was) and to have carried out (he didn't) the assassination. Then he saved the life of Joseph Desire Mobutu, who carried out the military coup that presaged his own rise to political power. Devlin found himself at the heart of Africa, fighting for the future of perhaps the most strategically influential country on the continent, its borders shared with eight other nations. He met every significant political figure, from presidents to mercenaries, as he took the Cold War to one of the world's hottest zones. This is a classic political memoir from a master spy who lived in wildly dramatic times.

The Poisonwood Bible

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Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061804819
Total Pages : 578 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (618 download)

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Book Synopsis The Poisonwood Bible by : Barbara Kingsolver

Download or read book The Poisonwood Bible written by Barbara Kingsolver and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller • Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize • An Oprah's Book Club Selection “Powerful . . . [Kingsolver] has with infinitely steady hands worked the prickly threads of religion, politics, race, sin and redemption into a thing of terrible beauty.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review The Poisonwood Bible, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, established Barbara Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers. Taking its place alongside the classic works of postcolonial literature, it is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in Africa. The story is told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy. Against this backdrop, Orleanna Price reconstructs the story of her evangelist husband's part in the Western assault on Africa, a tale indelibly darkened by her own losses and unanswerable questions about her own culpability. Also narrating the story, by turns, are her four daughters—the teenaged Rachel; adolescent twins Leah and Adah; and Ruth May, a prescient five-year-old. These sharply observant girls, who arrive in the Congo with racial preconceptions forged in 1950s Georgia, will be marked in surprisingly different ways by their father's intractable mission, and by Africa itself. Ultimately each must strike her own separate path to salvation. Their passionately intertwined stories become a compelling exploration of moral risk and personal responsibility.

The Lumumba Plot

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Author :
Publisher : Knopf
ISBN 13 : 1524748811
Total Pages : 657 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

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Book Synopsis The Lumumba Plot by : Stuart A. Reid

Download or read book The Lumumba Plot written by Stuart A. Reid and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2023-10-17 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • A spellbinding work of history that reads like a Cold War spy thriller—about the U.S.-sanctioned plot to assassinate the democratically elected leader of the newly independent Congo “This is one of the best books I have read in years . . . gripping, full of colorful characters, and strange plot twists.” —Fareed Zakaria, CNN host It was supposed to be a moment of great optimism, a cause for jubilation. The Congo was at last being set free from Belgium—one of seventeen countries to gain independence in 1960 from ruling European powers. At the helm as prime minister was charismatic nationalist Patrice Lumumba. Just days after the handover, however, the Congo’s new army mutinied, Belgian forces intervened, and Lumumba turned to the United Nations for help in saving his newborn nation from what the press was already calling “the Congo crisis.” Dag Hammarskjöld, the tidy Swede serving as UN secretary-general, quickly arranged the organization’s biggest peacekeeping mission in history. But chaos was still spreading. Frustrated with the fecklessness of the UN and spurned by the United States, Lumumba then approached the Soviets for help—an appeal that set off alarm bells at the CIA. To forestall the spread of Communism in Africa, the CIA sent word to its station chief in the Congo, Larry Devlin: Lumumba had to go. Within a year, everything would unravel. The CIA plot to murder Lumumba would fizzle out, but he would be deposed in a CIA-backed coup, transferred to enemy territory in a CIA-approved operation, and shot dead by Congolese assassins. Hammarskjöld, too, would die, in a mysterious plane crash en route to negotiate a cease-fire with the Congo’s rebellious southeast. And a young, ambitious military officer named Joseph Mobutu, who had once sworn fealty to Lumumba, would seize power with U.S. help and misrule the country for more than three decades. For the Congolese people, the events of 1960–61 represented the opening chapter of a long horror story. For the U.S. government, however, they provided a playbook for future interventions.

King Leopold's Ghost

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Author :
Publisher : Picador
ISBN 13 : 1760785202
Total Pages : 474 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (67 download)

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Book Synopsis King Leopold's Ghost by : Adam Hochschild

Download or read book King Leopold's Ghost written by Adam Hochschild and published by Picador. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With an introduction by award-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver In the late nineteenth century, when the great powers in Europe were tearing Africa apart and seizing ownership of land for themselves, King Leopold of Belgium took hold of the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. In his devastatingly barbarous colonization of this area, Leopold stole its rubber and ivory, pummelled its people and set up a ruthless regime that would reduce the population by half. . While he did all this, he carefully constructed an image of himself as a deeply feeling humanitarian. Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize in 1999, King Leopold’s Ghost is the true and haunting account of this man’s brutal regime and its lasting effect on a ruined nation. It is also the inspiring and deeply moving account of a handful of missionaries and other idealists who travelled to Africa and unwittingly found themselves in the middle of a gruesome holocaust. Instead of turning away, these brave few chose to stand up against Leopold. Adam Hochschild brings life to this largely untold story and, crucially, casts blame on those responsible for this atrocity.

Battleground Africa

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Author :
Publisher : Cold War International History
ISBN 13 : 9780804796804
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (968 download)

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Book Synopsis Battleground Africa by : Lise Namikas

Download or read book Battleground Africa written by Lise Namikas and published by Cold War International History. This book was released on 2015-09-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2013 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title Battleground Africa traces the Congo Crisis from post-World War II decolonization efforts through Mobutu's second coup in 1965 from a radically new vantage point. Drawing on recently opened archives in Russia and the United States, and to a lesser extent Germany and Belgium, Lisa Namikas addresses the crisis from the perspectives of the two superpowers and explains with superb clarity the complex web of allies, clients, and neutral states influencing U.S.-Soviet competition. Unlike any other work, Battleground Africa looks at events leading up to independence, then considers the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the series of U.N.-supported constitutional negotiations, and the crises of 1964 and 1965. Finding that the U.S. and the USSR each wanted to avoid a major confrontation, but also misunderstood its opponent's goals and wanted to avoid looking weak or losing its political standing in Africa, Namikas argues that a series of exaggerations and misjudgements helped to militarize the crisis, and ultimately, helped militarize the Cold War on the continent.

May Our People Triumph

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Author :
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781530766192
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (661 download)

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Book Synopsis May Our People Triumph by : Patrice Lumumba

Download or read book May Our People Triumph written by Patrice Lumumba and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-03-28 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains Patrice Lumumba's speeches and Interviews. Lumumba was the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was born in Kasai province of the Belgian Congo. He was educated at a missionary school and worked in Leopoldville (Kinshasa) and Stanleyville (Kisangani) as a clerk and journalist. In 1955 Lumumba became regional president of a Congolese trade union and joined the Belgian Liberal Party. He was arrested in 1957 on charges of embezzlement and imprisoned for a year. On his release he helped found the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) in 1958. In 1959 Belgium announced a five year path to independence and in the December local elections the MNC won a convincing majority despite Lumumba being under arrest at the time. A 1960 conference in Belgium agreed to bring independence forward to June 1960 with elections in May. Lumumba and the MNC formed the first government on June 23, 1960, with Lumumba as Prime Minister and Joseph Kasavubu as President. His rule was marked by the political disruption when the province of Katanga declared independence under Moise Tshombe in June 1960 with Belgian support. Despite the arrival of United Nations troops unrest continued and Lumumba sought Soviet aid. In September Lumumba was dismissed from government by Kasavubu, an act of dubious legality. On September 14 a coup d'etat headed by Colonel Joseph Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko) and supported by Kasavubu gained power. Lumumba was arrested on December 1, 1960 by troops of Mobutu. He was captured in Port Francqui and flown to Leopoldville in handcuffs. Mobutu said Lumumba would be tried for inciting the army to rebellion and other crimes. United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold made an appeal to Kasavubu asking that Lumumba be treated according to due process of law. The USSR denounced Hammarskjold and the Western Powers as responsible for Lumumba's arrest and demanded his release. ATTN: BOOK SELLERS Visit http: //createspace.com/6169274 and buy this book at discounted price Discount code: PBXAGSKY

Lumumba in the Arts

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Author :
Publisher : Leuven University Press
ISBN 13 : 9462701741
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (627 download)

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Book Synopsis Lumumba in the Arts by : Matthias De Groof

Download or read book Lumumba in the Arts written by Matthias De Groof and published by Leuven University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-17 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lumumba as a symbol of decolonisation and as an icon in the arts It is no coincidence that a historical figure such as Patrice Emery Lumumba, independent Congo’s first prime minister, who was killed in 1961, has lived in the realm of the cultural imaginary and occupied an afterlife in the arts. After all, his project remained unfinished and his corpse unburied. The figure of Lumumba has been imagined through painting, photography, cinema, poetry, literature, theatre, music, sculpture, fashion, cartoons and stamps, and also through historiography and in public space. No art form has been able to escape and remain indifferent to Lumumba. Artists observe the memory and the unresolved suffering that inscribed itself both upon Lumumba’s body and within the history of Congo. If Lumumba – as an icon – lives on today, it is because the need for decolonisation does as well. Rather than seeking to unravel the truth of actual events surrounding the historical Lumumba, this book engages with his representations. What is more, it considers every historiography as inherently embedded in iconography. Film scholars, art critics, historians, philosophers, and anthropologists discuss the rich iconographic heritage inspired by Lumumba. Furthermore, Lumumba in the Arts offers unique testimonies by a number of artists who have contributed to Lumumba's polymorphic iconography, such as Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans, Raoul Peck, and Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, and includes contributions by such highly acclaimed scholars as Johannes Fabian, Bogumil Jewsiewicky, and Elikia M’Bokolo. Contributors: Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda (artist), Karen Bouwer (University of San Francisco), Véronique Bragard (UCLouvain), Piet Defraeye (University of Alberta), Matthias De Groof (scholar/filmmaker), Isabelle de Rezende (independent scholar), Marlene Dumas (artist), Johannes Fabian (em., University of Amsterdam), Rosario Giordano (Università della Calabria), Idesbald Goddeeris (KU Leuven), Gert Huskens (ULB), Robbert Jacobs (artist), Bogumil Jewsiewicki (em., Université Laval), Tshibumba Kanda Matulu (artist), Elikia M’Bokolo (EHESS), Christopher L. Miller (Yale University), Pedro Monaville (NYU), Raoul Peck (artist), Pierre Petit (ULB), Mark Sealy (Autograph ABP), Julien Truddaïu (CEC), Léon Tsambu (University of Kinshasa), Jean Omasombo Tshonda (Africa Museum), Luc Tuymans (artist), Mathieu Zana Etambala (AfricaMuseum)

The Catastrophist

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1596913053
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (969 download)

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Book Synopsis The Catastrophist by : Ronan Bennett

Download or read book The Catastrophist written by Ronan Bennett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2007-10-30 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living in Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo only to be near his lover, an idealistic journalist, novelist James Gillespie becomes caught up in the terror, violence, and corruption that marks that country's slide into civil war in the early 1960s. Reprint.

Patrice Lumumba

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781689790642
Total Pages : 54 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Patrice Lumumba by : Charles River Editors

Download or read book Patrice Lumumba written by Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-31 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading "Without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men." - Patrice Lumumba The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. In 1884, Prince Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together, to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event-known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885-galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa. The conference established two fundamental rules for European seizure of Africa. The first of these was that no recognition of annexation would granted without evidence of a practical occupation, and the second, that a practical occupation would be deemed unlawful without a formal appeal for protection made on behalf of a territory by its leader, a plea that must be committed to paper in the form of a legal treaty. One of the most controversial colonization efforts took place in the Congo, which still conjures up contrasting images of jungles, wildlife, warlords, civil wars, blood diamonds, and the ongoing anarchy of ethnic and tribal warfare. Indeed, the vast expanse of Congo remains one of the most enigmatic and little-known regions of Africa. It is also, undeniably, the original African failed state. It has suffered generations of warlord rule, inter-ethnic violence and insecurity, particularly in the remote and isolated east of the country. The original name of the region derives from the Kingdom of Kongo, a pre-colonial power that ruled a limited region surrounding, and extended south of, the mouth of the Congo River. The first Europeans to discover the mouth of the Congo River were the Portuguese, who incrementally explored the coast of Africa throughout the late 15th century and established diplomatic and trade relations with the Kongo Kingdom before assuming control of what later became Portuguese West Africa, and later still Angola. At that point in history, the European trading powers were only really interested in trade, most particularly the Atlantic Slave Trade, and there was little incentive to penetrate the interior to any depth. The Portuguese made no particular effort, therefore, to explore the Congo River any further inland than the Crystal Mountains or the extensive region of rapids that tended to shield the interior from the coast. For generations the Portuguese simply traded off the coast, while what lay beyond in the dark interior remained a matter of myth and speculation. It was in the nature of Belgium's withdrawal from Africa that power was essentially handed over to the first in line to receive it. Very little of the careful preparation that characterized the British withdrawal from Africa was evident in Congo, in major part due to the fact that the Belgian system of administration allowed for no phased entry of Congolese employees into the executive level, so there was no one trained or experienced in running a government who was in a position to take over from the departing Belgians. The same, indeed, was true in the armed forces. As it turned out, the first in line to take power was a tall, stern-featured ideologue by the name of Patrice Lumumba. Though he was still just 35, his life story was already one full of ideology, politics, and chaos, and things would only get more turbulent once he became the Congo's leader. Patrice Lumumba: The Life and Legacy of the Pan-African Politician Who Became Congo's First Prime Minister looks at one of the most important African leaders of the 20th century.