How Congo’s freedom was won and hope was lost in the ‘Year of Africa’ – WBUR

In 1960 dubbed the "Year of Africa" 17 African nations declared their independence from the colonial West. It was a year of liberation. A time of jubilee, cultural advancement, and optimism for a new start and brighter future cross the continent.

In the Belgian colony of Congo, a pair of bold and charismatic leaders fanned the flames of hope and freedom until they caught fire. But by the following year, that hope had been dashed by outside forces in a series of political events with lasting consequences.

In this episode, writerBrenton Zolatransports us to a turning point in Congo's journey to independence, reveals what happened to the country's hope, and remembers the future that almost was.

Producer's Note: "Africa's Lost Year of Hope" is a different kind of a story, one that calls on a traditional style of griot storytelling from Central and West Africa. Brenton Zola, who has deep Congolese roots, plays the role of the griot a figure who acts as a bridge between your world and the world of story, bringing listeners into a world of narrative, music and myth.In this oral tradition, a griot is often accompanied by a chorus, and this episode features chants, songs and vocal accompaniment that help bring the story to life.

Episode producers: Brenton Zola and Nora Saks

Host: Nora Saks

Story editor: Nick White

Mixing and sound design: Matt Reed

Original music: Brenton Zola and the Storytellers, Brodie Kinder

Executive producer: Ben Brock Johnson

Web producer: Meera Raman

Additional production: Amory Sivertson, Dean Russell, Paul Vaitkus, Quincy Walters, Kristin Torres

Show notes:

Further reading:

Thanks to Eve Blouin, Adam Hochschild, Steve Colwell, Paul Colwell,Mermans Mosengo, Jason Tamba and Stuart Reid for sharing their time and knowledge.

Special thanks to the Storytellers Jerome, Gibran, Alejandro, Devin and Keanu for lending their voices. And to Gio Bard Zero, Brodie Kinder, Meredith Turk and Vince Duneman Ferg for their sonic contributions.

Thanks also to The Source Marrakech and to Denver Arts and Venues for their support for this project.

This content was originally created for audio. The transcript has been edited from our original script for clarity. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

[CONGO JAZZ MUSIC]

Nora Saks: Sit back. Close your eyes. Imagine a big city on a river overflowing with life.

Brenton Zola: A place where people are dancing, where music is just swirling through the air in the forms of Congo jazz and trumpets. Where you have art lining the streets. It's just a place that was ready to emerge from a dark history.

Nora: This is Brenton Zola - a writer, thinker and creator with deep Congolese roots. The place hes describing is no figment of the imagination. Its Leopoldville - and in 1960 - it was the capital of the Belgian colony of Congo. That year was a turning point for the entire continent. A year of liberation.

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Brenton: The year 1960 was known as the Year of Africa, and that is because 17 African nations actually all declared their independence in one single year.

Nora: Brenton was that before you were born?

Brenton: Ha! Oh Lord. Yes, that is significantly before I was born.

Nora: Nevertheless, Brentons fascination has led him to begin working on a book about this chapter of Congos history. And he says back then, Leopoldville was bubbling with life and hope that Congo could soon become one of Africas free Democratic republics. Now, it usually takes some kind of spark for those embers of hope to catch fire. Sometimes that can be one bold individual. But at that time, Congo had two. Patrice Lumumba and Andre Blouin. A dynamic pair that would transform the entire nation - and inspire people for generations to come.

Brenton: I've always been fascinated by - first of all, people who are able to stir the emotions of, and sort of capture the imagination, the zeitgeist of their time, and that in the case of Lumumba and Blouin specifically, that they could take on these really large responsibilities, knowing like how dangerous it was, knowing how many large forces were against them and still have the willingness and drive to follow through on their visions for a better future.

Nora: Now imagine that hope dashed, on purpose, by an outside actor.

Brenton: You know, when we look at the problems of Congo now, from exploitation in the mining industry to animal conservation to violence in the eastern part of the Congo with rebel militias, a lot of these are a fallout of what happened in 1960. And I think when we look at our world right now, the problem or challenge that societies have is that you oftentimes don't see the fallout from large political events until many decades later. And so by the time you start really feeling that fallout, people have forgotten.

Nora: Eventually, Brenton says, that era of hope and freedom disappeared from our collective memory. And was replaced with a much simpler notion: one of suffering.

Brenton: And so I want to bring this story to people because I want to show them that not only could the future have been different, but it was on the path of being different. And we basically thwarted that path. And so that the future that we have or the present that we have now is in no way inevitable and that there's always a new story that can be written if we understand how we got here to begin with.

[MUSIC]

Nora: Welcome to Last Seen - a show about people, places and things that have gone missing, and whether or not they can or even should be found. From WBUR - Bostons NPR station, Im Nora Saks.

Today, youre going to hear a different kind of a story - more of a lyrical essay - using a traditional style of storytelling from Central and West Africa. Brenton will be playing the role of the griot - a figure who acts as a bridge between your world and the world of story, bringing you into a world of narrative, music and myth.

In this form, a griot is often accompanied by a chorus. So you will hear chants, song and vocal accompaniment with the story.

Today, Brenton Zola transports us to Africas Lost Year of Hope. This is Episode 4.

Brenton: It was the Summer of 1884. A man with a long, silver beard sat at a clawfoot table. His name was Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Other European kings took seats around him. He looked around the table and locked eyes with each king. He declared that he wanted to control a new land his men had explored. It was called Congo. He wanted it for himself. As a private citizen.

Nobody knew what lay in Africas heart. Many still dont. Leopold was the only king with access to Central Africa. The other kings didnt understand what he was asking for. They were focused on grabbing other parts of the continent. He was desperate to join their ranks. Earn their respect. He needed Congo.

His fellow kings spoke. They told him that they were willing to give him this Congo. On one condition. He needed to help its people prosper. Leopold gave a broad smile and agreed. The statesmen applauded with self-satisfaction. Congo was now his. A land so large it could fit half of western Europe.

Adam Hochschild: He wanted some part of the world where he could reign supreme and where he could make a lot of money.

Thats Adam Hochschild, historian and modern Congo expert.

Adam: He bamboozled first the United States, and then all the major nations of Europe into recognizing this vast territory as his personal possession.

Brenton: Leopold II ruled Congo as a personal colony for over two decades. He focused on a search for prosperity. And he found it.

[JUNGLE SOUNDS]

Brenton: Off in the Congo jungle, a Congolese woman in a floral waist wrap sat in the bush. She was chained to someone next to her. In her left hand, she held a large green vine that snaked along the ground. In her right, she had a large knife. She swung the knife and sliced the vine open. A milky substance erupted. It brought her to her knees. It covered her head, arms and chest. Then, it hardened. Belgian soldiers came and scraped the hardened substance off of her. They took some of her hair and skin with it. She became delirious. Fell to the ground. At that point, the soldiers took her away. What did they scrape off? Latex. It would be turned into rubber, a new material the world couldnt get enough of.

Adam: There was a huge demand for rubber in industry and much of the world was industrializing at that point, and you need rubber for belts and machinery and factories and so forth. But when you plant a bunch of rubber trees it can take 15 years or so before they grow to maturity. And youre able to harvest the rubber from them. So the people who could really make a killing were those who owned territory where rubber grew wild.

Brenton: And no one had more of that than King Leopold in the great Congolese rainforest. So Leopold imposed a rubber quota on all Congolese. If they didnt harvest enough, soldiers would take them away. Just like the woman in the floral waist wrap. They brought her to a tree stump and laid out her right arm. A soldier lifted his knife and it dropped down on her wrist. Her hand fell into a woven basket. It joined many others. And things carried on like this. For days. Months. Years.

This was the rubber trade that made Leopold a billionaire in todays dollars. That powered automobiles on 5th avenue. That kept the unknowing world moving.

The global media eventually exposed Leopolds atrocities. The likes of Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle lambasted him. The International Community even coined a term for his actions: Crimes Against Humanity. But the damage was done.

Adam: It was an extremely brutal system that produced a holocaust-sized death toll. The best estimates are that the population of this territory shrank by about 50% or about 10 million people between around 1880 and around 1920.

Brenton: 10 million people. From famine, disease, separation and violence. The world wanted justice. But just a year after he was exposed, Leopold died of a stroke in his glittering palace. From that moment of applause at the clawfoot table up until his very last day, everyone gave him a hand. Nearly two decades after Leopold died, the Belgian government still exploited Congo. Few Congolese had hope of improving their lives. Except one boy.

[MUSIC]

Brenton: No one knows why Elias was given his particular name. Some say his tribe was inferior. Others say that someone saw a shooting star at his birth. A bad omen. However it originated, Elias OkitAsombos name meant the heir of the cursed. But Elias believed in the power to change his destiny. The Earth gave him a bellowing voice that carried through space. It gave him a sharp mind that gathered knowledge like a glittering nebula. Every night, he stood in the middle of his small village. He recounted tales of Congos dazzling past. And in spite of themselves, the Congolese around him started to dream. He wanted these dreams for all Congolese. So as a teenager, he hopped on a train to the city. He was born Elias OkitAsombo. But he gave himself a new name. The first meant noble; the last, the crowd. His name was Patrice Lumumba.

On the other side of the Congo river, there was a 17 year-old girl. She was climbing a high stone wall. It was the middle of the night. The gothic architecture of her Catholic orphanage lay behind her. As she reached the top, she cut herself on the glass shards that lay on the wall. Her blood dripped down the wall. She looked to her right and she saw two friends she was supposed to meet. They trembled. She shouted: This is the hour of our liberation.

Twenty feet down, more jagged shards awaited them at the base of the wall. Her companions whimpered. But she shoved them into the night.

Andre was this girls name. She had no idea of the future for the mtisse girls she pushed to freedom. Mtisse meant mixed. Half-breed. A child of sin. Andre Blouin was born to a 14-year-old African mother and a 41-year-old European father. She wasnt an orphan. She was ripped from the arms of her mother and thrown into a so-called orphanage to be with her own kind.

But she was done hiding. She took a long breath and plunged into the abyss after her friends. Three pairs of bloody footprints walked into the night.

[MUSIC]

Brenton: Patrice Lumumba, the heir of the cursed, grew up in a rapidly changing world. This world was hungry for gold, diamonds, copper and more, which Congo had. If Congos mineral riches were measured in the lifespan of our universe, it would take thousands to capture its bounty. Its estimated that to this day, Congo has 26 trillion (with a T) US dollars worth of untapped minerals.

On the heels of World War II, the Congolese mining industry exploded. Most of its cities became mining cities. There was new opportunity for people like Patrice Lumumba. But the Belgians ensured that there wasnt too much.

Like most Congolese, Patrice Lumumba only made it through 4th grade. There was no university in the nation. So the idea that someone could intellectually match Europeans was preposterous. But Lumumba believed it. By day, he was a mailman. By night, a student. After his classes, hed walk around the slums trying to solve problems. Everyone called him the knowledge magician. But Lumumbas drive also got him in trouble. He felt underpaid. So to cover his learning expenses, he embezzled some money. He intended to pay it back, but his debts caught up with him. He earned a ticket to jail.

His time in jail was the match that lit the bonfire of revolution. He saw the brutal treatment of his fellow inmates. How they ate nothing but dry chikwanga bread. How guards stuffed them in tiny cells. This incensed him. He wanted to do something. A couple years later, he got out. It was then that he committed himself to changing Congos future.

For the mtisse orphan Andre Blouin, tragedy was the match that lit her fire. After escaping the orphanage, she started a family. Her life was coming together. But one day in 1944, her toddler got malaria.

Eve Blouin: So one day he was taken to hospital and doctors saw that his case was very serious.

Brenton: Thats Eve Blouin, one of Andres daughters. Eve wasnt yet born at the time, but she knows the story well. Andre brought her son to a French colonial hospital. His condition continued to decline.

Eve: So she completely freaked out, as you can imagine, and tried to find the quinine that was the only cure to what her son had. Apparently, you could only have access to this drug if you had a card and it was not given to anyone with African blood.

Brenton: Andre pleaded that her son was 3/4 European. Doctors still refused. Her son died. She was never the same. After his death, Andre moved to Paris. In Paris, she saw the Black Renaissance.

Writers like James Baldwin lit up French cafs late into the night. Black luminaries discussed African independence. Andre thought about her young son. She decided to join the fight.

She remade herself into a revolutionary. She wanted to build an Africa where all races were equal. Where children didnt die based on the blood that flowed through them. Where women had rights. She became a woman of fire; bold, indefatigable. In the 50s, she moved to Guinea, where her husband worked. Andre believed that she could help lead Guinea to independence from the French. To her, the key was galvanizing rural Africans.

She organized a caravan of trucks to drive to the remote parts of Guinea. Theyd play music through loudspeakers. Theyd gather people in a clearing to hear her message. Now, this may seem a bit ordinary today. But for rural villagers, this was shocking.

Eve: Of course, it's hard for you to imagine the way it was, but imagine people living in the bush, no electricity, no telephone, no nothing. And suddenly they see a caravan of trucks.

Brenton: The trucks carried their own supply of electricity and waded through all manner of terrain.

Eve: Crossing those jungles, those rivers, just to reach the little village that was hiding under a baobab tree or God knows what. It was unbelievable. But she did it.

Brenton: Thousands of men gathered in awe. But Andre was particularly keen on womens empowerment. She wanted the women of the village to hear her speech.

Eve: She would ask all these men to bring along with them, their wives, their daughters, their mothers, whoever.

Brenton: She would speak about education, healthcare and equal voting rights.

Eve: People could not believe that this woman, half white, half black, she did such an impression on all these women that it was like a tidal wave, literally.

Brenton: Guinea went on to become the first African nation to gain independence. Andre was at the heart of the movement.

Eve: She rallied so many women in Guinea electoral campaign that they wanted her to do the same in Congo.

Brenton: Andree took all of her lessons to the heart of Africa.

Thats after this.

[SPONSOR BREAK]

Brenton: Leopoldville was Congos capital. And in the 1950s, it was a bustling metropolis. There were trendy fashion boutiques and swanky jazz bars. There were Humphrey Bogart films. It even boasted the worlds first electric bus. But behind all the glitz, a revolutionary fervor was brewing. Lumumba was sparking that fervor.

He went door-to-door to talk to Congolese about possibilities for the nation. He spoke to them in bars. In restaurants. Anywhere he could catch an ear, he did. He founded Congo's fastest growing and most diverse political party. And his efforts got him on to the airwaves. Like Andre Blouin, he was a gifted speaker. And with radio, everyone could hear his message.

But while Lumumbas voice boomed through the airwaves, a cold world loomed behind him. Nothing would have a greater impact on 1950s Congo than the Cold War.

Congos natural resources once again played a pivotal role. Heres more from our trusty historian Adam Hochschild.

Adam: No longer were ivory and rubber the chief sources of wealth, but palm oil, uranium, the uranium for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs came from there. And, you know, the Americans and Belgians wanted this stuff for themselves for their corporations. They thought of Africa as sort of their possession.

Brenton: The US army couldnt have built atomic bombs without Congos uniquely rich Uranium. They couldn't afford to lose control of Congos resources.

Adam: They didn't want the Soviets to get any part of it.

Brenton: They created the Central Intelligence Agency. Its founding purpose was to monitor governments and pursue American interests. But trying to protect American interests while thwarting the Soviets led to extreme actions. The CIA spent the 1950s engaging in propaganda, paramilitary action, and even assassination.

But neither the cursed boy, now man, nor the orphan girl, now woman, let the Cold War stop their work. Just as in Guinea, Andre Blouin formed a coalition of tens of thousands women to advocate for independence. And by 1959, the roar of freedom was deafening.

It was at that point that Lumumba and Blouin met at a dinner party. Lumumbas body still bore scars from his time in prison. But he welcomed Andre with his warm smile and tireless laugh. In Andres own words, Lumumba was brave and sincere.

Eve: Lumumba was like her little brother. She would spend a lot of time with Lumumba.

Brenton: The heir of the cursed and mtisse former orphan decided to combine their flames.

Eve: He would only trust her to the point that the media had a nickname for this collaboration

Brenton: Team "Lumum-Blouin. They had Blouins strategy and Lumumbas charisma. They inspired Congolese to lead strikes and demonstrations throughout Leopoldville. They worried the Belgians. The momentum came to a head. In late 1959, the governor of Leopoldville tried to prevent a large demonstration at a YMCA sports field. The demonstrators became frustrated. And then, enraged. A massive riot broke out. Congolese attacked Belgian soldiers. Belgian soldiers opened fire in response. Dozens of Congolese lost their lives. The nation was spiraling out of control fast.

The reigning King of Belgium saw the writing on the wall. He was a young, quiet man named Baudouin. Leopolds great-grandnephew. King Baudouin got on the radio. He announced that there would be independence. Most people thought it would take a few years, maybe more, to actually materialize. But that is not how the history goes. In January 1960, just two months later, he organized a Belgian-Congo roundtable conference.

All of the top political actors from both nations flew to Brussels. There, Lumumba sat at a large table staring at Belgiums leaders. Congos too. Hundreds of aides sat around the room. Journalists in stadium seats waited with bated breath. Perhaps the heir of the cursed felt Leopolds ghost. He leaned forward into the microphone in front him. Then, he made a bold move.

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How Congo's freedom was won and hope was lost in the 'Year of Africa' - WBUR