On this day in 1959, Congolese residents of Stanleyville rebelled against Belgian colonizers, demanding independence after a speech by Patrice Lumumba. Police suppressed the riot, killing ~70, imposing martial law, and arresting Lumumba.

The day prior, Lumumba called for a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience in a speech to the MNC congress, also ordering Congolese people to not collaborate with the Belgian colonial government and announcing that the party would not take part in the upcoming December elections.

The rebellion began on October 30th when the police arrived at the suburb of Mangoba to arrest Lumumba. The uprising was suppressed with military force, including two companies of infantry.

In total, approximately 70 people were killed in the fighting, and up to 200 were wounded. Lumumba himself was arrested by police as the government imposed martial law and banned gatherings of more than five people.

Congo would achieve independence from Belgium on June 30th, 1960, with Lumumba serving as its first Prime Minister. He was assassinated by Belgian forces and their collaborators on January 17th, 1961.

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • Lettucetacoboutit [none/use name]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    8 months ago

    I know I was warned but finding out that only candidate I ever donated to is indeed a warmonger pro-war, so long as Democrats start them, including Libya) Zionist and as I see it, obviously racist because he can’t see Palestinians as people nor the killing of children as anything except “defense”.

    I guess I should be grateful he was never president because he would have just been a monster war criminal just like the rest.

    The way I feel right now, Sanders is even worse than the rest for being a fake piece of shit who cynically preyed off our hope and despair.

    • Maoo [none/use name]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      8 months ago

      Sanders is a lib so yes. But he was still useful in teaching a very important and necessary lesson for folks in the West: a better world is possible and the capitalists will never let you have it, not even by their own “rules”.

      I don’t think a SocDem is going to have that agitational power for a while. Maybe in 5-10 years when there’s a generation that hasn’t been told to hope gets an injection by some grifter (AOC) and then they eat shit.

      On the plus side we can hoover them up into organizing. SocDem failures fuel our orgs.