Art

The King Leopolds Ghost written by Adam Hochschild is a very interesting historical account of a voyage of a selfish king to the one of the richest countries in Africa. This voyage showed some of the cruelest treatments and forms of slavery to the natives while these inhuman actions are masked with the philanthropic disguise of King Leopold and his men.

8As King Leopold discouraged and discredited most of his opponents as shown in Chapter 7, in the succeeding chapters he continued to establish and hold his new colony. In 1888 he established a private force which he called as Force Publique which is basically a combination of guerillas, polices and mercenaries. It was composed of a single or two white officers and mostly black soldiers. As Leopold had taught, problem can arise in keeping peace and subjugation since most of the army is black in origin so he makes sure that the soldiers are not assigned to their place or tribe of origin. This makes his army impersonal in treating its subjects. Leopolds Force Publique defends him to many mutinies and revolts that arose in Congo.

In these times, different forms of maltreatment and brutality to natives can be seen such as murder, rape and tortures. As stated directly from the book, White officers were shooting villagers, sometimes to capture their women, sometimes to intimidate the survivors into working as forced laborers, and sometimes for sport (110). To keep his black subjects from revolting, Leopold spread terror in the region. To gain profits and capitals, Leopold demand the natives of ivory which he used as a payment system. Also, in this chapter, it was shown how lands were seized and taken from the natives by Leopold.

9The next chapter revolves around Konrad Korzeniowski as the title of the chapter says. He is more popularly known as Joseph Condrad who was regarded by his novels. He was born in Poland and grew in France. He spent most of his time travelling. He then travelled to Congo but returned to England because of malaria. After some years, he published the novel Heart of Darkness which is regarded as one of most wide read short novel written in English. The novel is all about a man who travelled in Congo and other parts of Africa. In the novel, the main character encountered some of the most atrocious acts of men to his fellow men. Most of the characters and events in his novel portrayed what is really happening in Congo at that time.

10In the succeeding chapters, Stanley was mentioned again. He went back to England because of his sickness and married a rich socialite painter. He totally gave up his conquests and just spent his time travelling the world and delivering lectures.

A new character was also introduced in the name of William Henry Sheppard. Sheppard is an African-American missionary who then became popular to the local tribes there due to his proactive approach and emission of good energy to people. Among the tribes, he was referred as the black-white man. He was accepted warmly by the natives and he even became the first non-native to visit the Kuba capital. In his travels and stay in the region, he was also exposed to the atrocities and crimes committed by the conquerors to the natives. Because of these perceived experiences which he found as injustice, he wrote different letters to his friends in the other parts of the world spreading the message.

In the later part of the 19th century, the cost of rubber increased making it an important commodity that is used in tires, wire shielding and other objects. This new expanding market corresponds to the dwindling supply of ivories which was formerly the bulk of the products produced in Congo.

Since Congo is rich in vines that can be processed to become rubber, it instantly became a new product to be focused on. Because of this, King Leopold demanded the people to gather rubber. He imposed stricter rules regarding the production. He abducted and seized women to serve as collaterals for men who go to the jungle to collect raw materials. His men hold the families until the men can deliver specified amount of rubber. If they dont meet the quota, their hands were cut and served as their punishments. Quoting directly from the book, In payment for rubber which I brought into the station (natives), telling me I could eat them, or kill them, or use them as slavesas I liked (164).This only shows how the natives, both women, men and children are objectified at the time. It is also important to note that as the demands for rubber in the other parts of the world grew, the maltreatment and slavery in Congo also worsen.

King Leopold continued to uphold his image in the world as someone who is concerned to natives and do a lot of humanitarian missions. He continued to proclaim his self as a benevolent leader while the people of Congo suffer under his control. Out of the massive profits he made out of ivory trade and the recent expansion of rubber market, he managed to erect buildings and private palaces. On the other hand, concerned characters such as Sheppard the missionary continuously make a way to attract the attention of the international community. However, he fails to attract attention to alleviate the situation in Congo.

11The next chapter however brings some new light in the situation in Congo. A British shipping firm in the name of Elder Demster has a contract with King Leopold. They transport goods from Belgium to Congo. During these trades and travels, Morel, a clerk in the firm noticed after months of working that the shipments from Belgium contain merely firearms and ammunitions in exchange to the shipments from Congo which are merely ivory, rubber and other important goods. After analyzing the situation, he believed that the only reason why these trades continue is because of the ongoing and widespread slavery in Congo. This became the shifting point of the story.

12After Morels discovery of the content of the crates, the next succeeding chapters became the start of the fight against the human rights violators of Congo primarily Leopold. Morel started publishing articles in the early part of the 20th century. Because of these acts, he was forced to resign out of the shipping firm and later joined the West African Mail wherein he continued his fight. However, out of bribe and pressure, he was forced out of the said paper and that leads him to dedicate all his time and efforts in informing the officials and the people to what is really happening in Congo.

13After tons of efforts, something good came up. In 1903, the British parliament passed a resolution regarding the atrocities that are happening in the said region of Africa. The governments sent an envoy in the name Roger Casement who later published the famous Casement report wherein he compiled the atrocities and corruption of the white men in Congo. As directly quoted from the book, . . .the reports accounts of sliced-off hands and penises was far more graphic and forceful than the British government had expected. (203)

As a support for Morel, a man in the name of Shanu who was a former employee of Leopald secretly sends him information that will help their fight. The communication was stopped after Shanu was exposed as an accomplice of Morel wherein he later committed suicide.

14The last part of these set of chapters however does not concern much of Leopold in his affairs and hold in Congo. This part is all about Leopold and his affair with a teen prostitute in the name of Caroline. He brought her back in Belgium wherein they continue to do their sexual escapades. This was known to the public and these became a great liability to Leopolds reputation.

To be honest before reading this book, the events in Congo roughly entered my mind. It is hard to imagine that people who consider themselves as civilized can do this to their fellow men. The atrocities and inhuman treatments committed are so shameful that you dont want to be associated with. I believe that these events should be refreshed to the memories of our people especially the youth so they will safeguard their selves against the desire to abuse other people.