Anti-racism protests in Belgium have led to demands for the demolition of Leopold II. In an interview with ERR, Baudouin Peeters, general director (2019-2023) of the Union Royale Belgo-Africaine, said removing statues would not help people understand history better.
You have written a letter and you want to protect the monuments of Leopold II. Why do you want to do this?
We realise it is part of our history and we must not turn our backs on our history. It is the history of Belgians and of Belgium, and removing statues does not help us understand history. Events of the past must be understood in the context of our times. This is very important if we want to understand what happened in our history. We are not going to bring down the figures of Leopold II, who was a great king and a visionary, especially in terms of culture, urban planning and economy. Let me remind you that at that time Belgium was the second largest industrial power in the world. Just as we do not dismantle the statues of Julius Caesar, Clovis, Godefroy de Bouillon, Charles V or Napoleon, who are also part of our history.
We realise that Leopold II’s legacy, what he gave to Belgium and Congo, is part of our history, we have to live with it and we can be proud of what he did for our country.
At the same time, it is a sad and painful story for many Congolese and for many people now living in Belgium. What do you say to them?
We see that some people interpret history with a hidden and obscurantist ideological agenda. They want to promote other things. The dramatic events in the United States have nothing to do with Leopold II. These events are instrumentalised by capitalising on people’s emotions to promote the ideological agenda. We can also point to some of the positive things that Belgium and the Belgians have done in Africa, and in Congo in particular, for example, everything that has been done in health, education, culture and nature conservation.
Belgium’s king regrets his colonial past in Congo. How do you judge what he did in Congo, while at the same time killing millions of people?
That’s what you say…. Many historians do not interpret events this way. It is for historians to take stock of what the Belgians did in Africa. It is not for us journalists or ordinary people to say this or that. Historians and university professors have to do this work of research and memory.
However, many historians agree that a large number of people were killed when Leopold II was in power. But why is it so important for Belgium? Leopold II’s contemporaries in Belgium ended his kingdom there and brought it into the fold of the Belgian state. After his death, however, he fell into oblivion and people talk about his deeds and misdeeds in Congo rather than the building king….
You have to realise that in Congo, many people admire Leopold II and there are Congolese historians who write that he was the greatest head of state in Congo’s history.
And many people in Belgium think he was an extraordinary visionary. Of course, not everything was perfect, but we should stress that objectively he ended slavery, the Arab slavery that was prevalent in Congo when he arrived. There is much jealousy about Leopold II in Congo, especially on the part of the British, who do not understand how a small country led by Leopold II could take over Africa’s largest country under the nose of the great powers. This led to smear campaigns against Leopold II.
As you know, he never set foot in Congo. But he wanted to shed light on the events by having the matter handled by an international commission of enquiry, whose report he immediately presented to the public. This is a very transparent way of dealing with it. He has taken steps to right the wrongs of certain people on the ground. But the actions and figures that some attribute to him are totally unrealistic. They are not accurate and they are not the historical truth. And again, I think the job of historians is to examine what happened there, both the positive and negative elements.
Reprinted and translated from the original version of Uudised, Välismaa, Epp Ehand 28.06.2020
https://www.err.ee/1106957/belgia-aafrika-uhing-kujude-mahavotmine-ei-aita-ajalugu-moista