Whenever I hear the endless crises that have been happening in Congo for the last decades, I’d say to myself Congo needs someone like Lumumba.
I know a lot of people might argue that he did a lot of mistakes. I don’t deny that- but, he was courageous enough to demand and act towards what was truly needed in his country back then. I admire the man and I have read a lot about his life. And I truly think of his as one of the bravest revolutionists in Africa. Two hundred days after he took office, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by imperialist agents.
Today, 52 years later, Africa’s countries are independent, but its people still await genuine liberation. The Congo stands divided and fueled and backed up by rival imperialist powers.
I want to share some of his quotes;
“…Our wounds are too fresh and too painful still for us to drive them from our memory. We have known harassing work, exacted in exchange for salaries which did not permit us to eat enough to drive away hunger, or to clothe ourselves, or to house ourselves decently, or to raise our children as creatures dear to us.”
Question: “Some of your political opponents accuse you of being a Communist. Could you reply to that?” Answer: “This is a propagandist trick aimed at me. I am not a Communist. The colonialists have campaigned against me throughout the country because I am a revolutionary and demand the abolition of the colonial regime, which ignored our human dignity. They look upon me as a Communist because I refused to be bribed by the imperialists.” (From an interview to a “France-Soir” correspondent on July 22, 1960)
“We are neither Communists, Catholics nor socialists. We are African nationalists. We reserve the right to choose our friends in accordance with the principle of positive neutrality.”
“Without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.”
“I only gave voice to words of freedom and brotherhood, words they couldn’t accept. Just words.”
“Don’t weep my love. One day history will have its say. Not the history they teach in Brussels, Paris or Washington, but our history. That of a new Africa. And on that day.”