Apart from the atrocities with the Congo Free State the Belgians were very good colonizers of the Congo. By the sixties the Congo had twice the purchasing power than the average African country and without developments from the Belgians the Congolese population would’ve been able to grow exponentially.
The Belgians were beneficial to the Congolese
Anthony Cooper
Christian Rogers
>The ends justify the means
Machiavelli please go
Caleb Collins
>apart from the atrocities
Apart from the bad stuff everything is good.
Jaxon Wright
The Congolese population was very small back then (especially Post Leopold rule) which was bad because you need more labourers in the colony. The Belgians had to make laws to FORCE population growth and even those failed because of ignorance on the part of the Belgian authorities on its subjects and bad planning. Colonial authorities had a huge obsession with black bodies/sexuality to an autistic degree just like on Veeky Forums.
Andrew Lopez
>Belgians has codified colonial pro natalist laws
Source?
Hunter Garcia
THERE ARE FEW THINGS MORE PATHETIC THAN A HYPOCRITICAL IGNOBLE PERSON EXERTING THEIR LIMITED INTELLECT, ATTEMPTING TO RATIONALIZE THEIR ABOMINABLE ACTIONS, OR ACTIONS BY OTHERS WITH WHICH IT SYMPATHIZES.
Dominic Reyes
>By the sixties the Congo had twice the purchasing power than the average African country
But then the Belgians left and brought every single person who actually knew how to run a modern country with them, leaving the colony to collapse almost immediately.
Samuel Adams
Shit-tier Belgian hospitals sharing needles gave us the AIDS epidemic.
David Hill
Are you sure it isn’t something else?
Brody Lewis
what did he mean by this?
Sebastian Allen
THERE ARE FEW THINGS MORE PATHETIC THAN A PERSON WITH A TRIPCODE POSTING TOTALLY IN CAPS
Isaiah Cruz
Almost as if this was a population which required serious precautions, because if a blood-borne illness got into it it would spread. Instead of needle sharing.
That said, requiring prostitutes in Kinshasa to get regular checkups at those "hospitals" was asking for trouble, it didn't start with the soldiers.
Dylan Gray
HIV spread from people in rural areas getting it then due to labour demands of the Belgian state men were brought to the cities as mass source of cheap labour. Few women there meant that prostitutes could make big money (for a Congolese) servicing men so that exacerbated the spread.
It's not the only reason (there's a lot) but it's something to think about when you read about HIV in the Congo.
Adrian Lee
familyplanning-drc.net
they had a taboo on fucking women who just gave birth.
Also banned any type of contraception or Birth control used by Congolese (meanwhile back in Europe Belgian women got that right).
Induced abortions got massive punishments.
Jaxson Rivera
>familyplanning-drc.net
Here's the official papers all in French
In the 1950s, an estimated one in five women aged 30 or above were childless, more than three times of what should be expected in a healthy population without family planning. This is including all the factors both cultural and environmental
Asher Gomez
was there something in the water that effected fertility?
or where the belgians just working them too hard?/(did they employ both genders?)
funny enough what would've done wonders is if the belgians forced belgian companies to better compensate their workers, and/or built housing/apartment blocks and infrastructure.. Preferably using architects who can use/integrate native/local motifs into the facade.
Caleb Roberts
>Apart from the atrocities
Caleb Morgan
>apart from being a notoriously evil and cruel and genocidal and exploitative ruler, Belgians were good.
U wut m8?
Jose Sanders
>vastly improve conditions of Congolese
>cruel and exploitative
Alls forms of KKKapitalism and Imperialism are cruel and exploitative
Austin Edwards
You could argue that public education is invaluable for the country's ascent into modernity, but that still doesn't excuse the atrocities. Even if you think slavery is a-ok and blacks should be exploited, Belgian Kongo was just massively mismanaged and inefficient as an exploited colony.
Oliver Butler
I've always wondered how stupid someone could possibly get, and you've answered my question.
I can't believe moot is paying money to keep your comment up.
Xavier Howard
Lol all infrastructure that the Belgians built was aimed at resource extraction, not manufacturing or any useful industries that lead to the development of a middle class. Belgium intentionally limited the availability of education in Congo. The country was so fucked that it descended into civil war after less than a week of independence
Jacob Torres
Can you guys recommend some sources on the early development/spread of AIDS?