Having lived in Belgium for 18 years, I figured it was time to start learning about the country\u2019s colonial past. Or should I say present?<\/p>\n
My research is at an early stage but it has lead to an unavoidable conclusion: the Belgian elite still behaves as if it calls the shots in Congo.<\/p>\n
The French-language magazine Marianne<\/i> recently published the names of 10 men implicated in the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first Congolese prime minister after its independence. The list \u2013 compiled by Lumumba\u2019s family for a legal investigation opened in Brussels two years ago \u2013 include Etienne Davignon, a former member of the European Commission and chairman of that \u201cgentlemen\u2019s club\u201d for global capitalism, the Bilderberg Group. Davignon worked for the Belgian foreign ministry at the time of Lumumba\u2019s murder and reportedly drew up a telegram recommending the prime minister\u2019s \u201cremoval\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now in his 80s, Davignon remains a high-flying corporate lobbyist. His appearance on the Lumumba list prompted me to check if his commercial activities are in any way connected with Congo. The short answer is \u201cyes, they are\u201d.<\/p>\n
Davignon\u2019s profile on BusinessWeek<\/i> states that he has held the posts of director and vice-president with Umicore. This mining company was previously known as Union Mini\u00c3\u00a8re du Haut Katanga and began extracting Congo\u2019s rich mineral resources in the early twentieth century. \u00a0It has good political connections. Jean-Luc Dehaene, a long-serving Belgian prime minister, has served on Umicore\u2019s board too.<\/p>\n
Patrice Lumumba had the audacity to advocate that \u201cthe soil of our country should really benefit its children\u201d. That was in June 1960. Fifty-three years after he made that pledge, the soil of Katanga province is being used for the benefit of Umicore.<\/p>\n
There is a strong likelihood that my smartphone \u2014 or yours, if you have one \u2014 contains material from Congo. \u00a0Umicore regularly buys cobalt from mines and suppliers in Katanga for batteries, computers, chemicals and cars. Umicore brags that it shares 50% of the global market in materials for lithium-ion batteries (a key power source for electronic equipment) with just one other firm.<\/p>\n
Corporate Knights <\/i>– an insert with The Washington Post<\/i> that promotes \u201cclean capitalism\u201d (an oxymoron if ever there was one) \u2014 has put Umicore in its \u201c100 most sustainable companies\u201d table for 2013.<\/p>\n
Only someone with a warped sense of humour could praise firms active in Congo\u2019s mines for being \u201csustainable\u201d. The International Monetary Fund \u2014 not a friend of the downtrodden \u2014 has calculated that the value of Congo\u2019s mineral and oil exports come to $4.2 billion in 2009. Yet the Kinshasa government collected just $155 million in tax that year \u2014 4% of the value of those sales.<\/p>\n
This is in a country where \u2014 as the \u201cAfrica progress report\u201d published by Kofi Annan recently notes \u2014 some of the world\u2019s worst malnutrition can be found and seven million children are out of school. Congo is at the bottom of the United Nations \u201chuman development index\u201d; it has also been plagued by a war, in which the question of who should control Katanga\u2019s mines has played a significant part.<\/p>\n
Far from having its reputation damaged by its involvement in Congo, Umicore\u2019s advice is much in demand. The European Commission has appointed Umicore representative Christian Hagel\u00c3\u00bcken to an \u201cexpert group\u201d on ensuring access to raw materials for entrepreneurs. A 2010 paper drawn up by that group identified cobalt and tantalum from Congo as being among 14 \u201ccritical\u201d minerals, underscoring their importance for the electronic industry. The paper urged that action be taken against \u201ctrade distortions\u201d \u2014 code for measures designed to use resources for the benefit of a nation\u2019s children (as Lumumba envisaged), rather than for MP3 players.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the \u201cexperts\u201d have made all the right noises about \u201csustainability\u201d and protecting the environment. If we ignore this spin, however, we will see that the determination of Europeans to control Congo has not changed.<\/p>\n
When Belgium conceded in the 1950s that it would have to grant independence to Congo, it resolved to retain a grip on Katanga\u2019s mines. It did so by supporting Lumumba\u2019s rival, Moise Tshombe, as the province\u2019s chief. Belgium tried to encourage Katanga\u2019s secession from the rest of Congo.<\/p>\n
Davignon\u2019s reported call for the removal of Lumumba bears a chilling similarity to a message conveyed by Dwight D Eisenhower, the American president, to Allen Dulles, head of the CIA. In it, Eisenhower pleaded for Lumumba to be \u201celiminated\u201d.<\/p>\n
In 1884, America was the first country to recognise Belgium\u2019s claim to the Congo. This set in train a process which wiped out at least half of the Congolese population by 1920, according to Jan Vansina, an anthropologist who specialises in Central Africa. This could mean that 10 million lives were destroyed during the reign of Leopold II \u2014 the Belgian king who colonised the Congo \u2014 and the 10 years after his death.<\/p>\n
David Van Reybrouck\u2019s recently published history of Congo traces how the agri-food giant Unilever had its origins in the exploitation of Congolese palm oil. Vast fortunes have been amassed for wily businessmen at the expense of the Congolese people. Despite apologising for its role in Lumumba\u2019s murder a decade ago, Belgium has never atoned for the suffering it inflicted on the Congolese. One explanation for why it has never atoned is that some affluent Belgians are doing nicely from the ongoing pillage of Congo\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n
David Cronin\u2019s<\/strong> book Corporate Europe: How Big Business Sets Policies on Food, Climate and War will be published in August. It is available for pre-ordering from Pluto Press (www.plutobooks.com<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n A version of this article was first published by New Europe (www.neurope.eu<\/a>). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n