Patrice Lumumba's Congo: Sovereignty Denied by American Interests

Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of History
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Open Access
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
After the Berlin Conference of 1884-5 recognized King Leopold of Belgium's Congo Free State, he would go on to exploit the Congolese people with a violent and oppressive reign. However, the plight of the Congolese people began even earlier with the exploration of their lands by explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who brought with him racist ideals he picked up during his time in Louisiana, United States. Belgium annexed King Leopold's Congo Free State in 1908 and it subsequently became the Belgian Congo, though the Congolese people remained oppressed. Eventually the colonial structures would succumb to internal and external pressures. With growing discontent from indigenous populations and increasing pressure from the international community, European nations began the decolonization of Africa. The Congolese pro-American regime that eventually replaced Belgium's rule still did not mark change for the suffering Congolese. This thesis will examine the Congolese independence movement and its place in the Cold War and US foreign policy. While the first nations to break the chains of colonial rule did so in the early 1950s, nationalistic sentiment was growing in the Congo. In the mid-50s Joseph Kasa-Vubu represented a radical ethnic nationalism that demanded independence numerous times. Meanwhile Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was working his way up the Belgian Colonial system, adopting many pro-democratic values along the way. After becoming more active in the Pan-Africanism movement and becoming associated with revolutionary leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba radicalized and in turn garnered tremendous support - both inside and outside of the Congo. Today, both Western and Communist countries revere Lumumba as a revolutionary leader who changed the World. Unfortunately, Lumumba's rise to prominence came at the wrong time in American history. The democratic superpower had emerged out of WWII a moral policeman of the World and was facing a new foe: The Communist Soviet Union. The US led foreign interventions in "at risk" areas as the third world became a battleground for the Cold War. Patrice Lumumba is evidence though that not every place America intervened in was in dire need of "help." He provided the Congolese people with a path to sovereignty following Belgian rule. Sovereignty is the one thing the Congolese never experienced during the Cold War, even after their nation's "independence" in 1960. The United States government perceived decolonization as a power vacuum that created an imperative to protect Africa from Communism. Despite Lumumba's many pro-American sentiments, the West was able to cast him as a Communist and justify supporting his overthrow in favor of the staunchly anti-Communist general Mobutu. American economic interests also benefitted greatly from this "neo-colonial" relation that held up Mobutu's regime until after the fall of the Berlin wall.
Description
Citation
Collections