Dear Mr Mayor
Ladies and gentlemen, aldermen and councillors,
For reasons that apparently have more to do with the situation in the United States after the tragic events that took place there, we note that a petition is circulating in our country with no real basis or nuance, based on a false position: the shared history of Belgian Congo belongs first and foremost to Belgians and Congolese.
We would like to clarify this debate, which we believe is primarily the responsibility of Belgian citizens and leaders, before it becomes the target of a “globalist” discourse so ideological that it becomes a caricature, without the slightest regard or respect for historical reality.
This led to a citizens’ initiative with a counter-petition, shared by Belgians who do not deny their history and who remind us that a country that cannot come to terms with its history cannot exist.
The petition calling for the removal of the statues of Leopold II was essentially based on fantasy, not history[1].
Historian Jean Luc Vellut, a renowned specialist in Africa, has sharply criticised Belgium’s ignorance of its colonial history and of the important Belgian chapter in the history of Central Africa. This ignorance results in the debate remaining at a hopelessly polemical and moralistic level. Advances in scientific research in various fields now make it possible to better articulate the facts and shed more light on the complexity of this shared past. Meanwhile, Belgian colonial history remains riddled with “fake news”. Another historian, Guy Vanthemsche[2], demonstrates the highly hypothetical nature of the extraordinary death rates presented here as proven facts and also addresses the absurdity and inappropriateness of comparing the losses attributable to colonial conquest with those deliberately planned by 20th century totalitarian regimes. We can also mention the dire consequences of the regional wars and areas of chronic insecurity currently plaguing Central Africa, with unprecedented numbers of refugees and displaced persons.
Leopold II’s Belgium, Europe’s second largest industrial power, extended its influence far beyond Congo. Attacking such a symbol of the state, without democratic and academic debate on its historical reality, is literally “breaking the nation”. It would be a grave mistake towards democracy and the nation if elected representatives decided to remove the statue of a visionary and ambitious king, firmly entrenched in his time, based on a virulent, targeted media campaign fuelled by false information. We can certainly criticise the king for many things, but never for being a “genocidaire”.
For it was King Leopold II himself who set up an independent international commission of enquiry, whose sometimes harsh conclusions about the real fate of the people regarding decrees and ordinances were published in full, and whose many recommendations to remedy the abuses were all implemented by new decrees from the King.
There is no shadow without light, and not everything is dark in this colonial past: is there a better testimony than that of Mr Patrice Lumumba, in his book “Le Congo Terre d’Avenir est-il menacé? ” On page 20, it says: “If we look back and compare the black man of the Free State with the black man of 1956, the Congo of yesterday with the Congo of today, we can confidently acknowledge that Belgium has not failed in its mission, and that except for a few mistakes – mistakes that are inherent in any human action – many beautiful and great things have been achieved and are still being achieved. “
Let us reflect on Albert Camus: “It is good that a nation is strong enough in tradition and honour to find the courage to denounce its own mistakes. But it must remember why it can still have a high opinion of itself. In any case, it is dangerous to ask a nation to admit that it alone is guilty and to condemn it to eternal penance.”
History cannot be rewritten. Should we give up our pride in being Belgian by accepting that our country and our monarchy are constantly being dragged through the mud? Are we to accept that our country and our monarchy are constantly pilloried in this way without any right of defence?
So let us fight against ignorance, let us teach history to the younger generations so that they can judge and criticise for themselves what should be, so that they do not make the same mistakes again. We certainly do not meet this huge challenge by removing statues under such circumstances, that can only be described as obscurantist.
And as city councillors, wouldn’t there also be an urgent need to set up an independent commission of enquiry to uncover, despite well-intentioned laws and regulations, the day-to-day discriminatory practices that diasporas in Brussels are frustrated by?
For years, they have rightly denounced the many effective obstacles that continue to stand in the way of their desire to feel like full citizens in our country. And the rapid implementation of its conclusions would make a far more concrete and salutary contribution to social cohesion and harmony among all citizens than a controversial demolition of a past little known and taught without nuance.
“The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance, but certainty” (Rachid Benzine).
Kind regards
Renier NIJSKENS, Chairman
Baudouin PEETERS, Managing Director
Co-signatories :
Thierry CLAEYS BOUUAERT, President of the asbl “Mémoires du Congo”.
Guido BOSTEELS, President of the asbl “Afrikagetuigenissen”.
Jean-Paul ROUSSEAU, President of the Cercle Royal Africain de Namur (CRNAA).
Philippe JACQUIJ, president of the asbl “Union Royale des Fraternelles Coloniales 1940-1945”.
Fernand HESSEL, president of ASAOM
Claude GASTOUT, president of the “Cercle Royal d’Afrique et d’Outre-mer” (CRAOM).
Luc DENS, President of asbl “AP-KDL”, Amicale des pensionnés des réseaux ferroviaires Katanga-Dilolo-Léopoldville (Association of pensioners of the Katanga-Dilolo-Léopoldville railway network)
André de MAERE d’AERTRYCKE and André SCHOROCHOFF, former presidents of KBUOL-UROME, Royal Belgian Overseas Union.
General e.r. Claude PAELINCK, president of CRAOCA
Michel COURTIN, initiator of the petition for the preservation of the statues of Leopold II in Brussels
Stéphanie MBOMBO, chairwoman of HORIZON 2060 asbl.
[1] https://afrique.lalibre.be/33111/libre-opinion-leopold-ii-fantasmes-et-histoire/
[2] https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20190222_04198722