It is the start of the new year at our PA East Book Club. At our first meeting of this academic year, there were a few familiar faces, and some new ones to welcome. As is our tradition, we met for a finger food potluck and to know each other better, before we shared our thoughts on the Book of the Month.
The book was Congo, The Epic History of a People. The words daunting and outstanding were frequently used to describe the experience of reading the almost 600 pages of it. Written by David van Reybrouck , Congo is the story of the country, as witnessed and experienced by its people. From the earliest mentions in hieroglyphics dated 2500 BC, Van Reybrouck traces Congo’s history through the explorations of the Congo river by Stanley, into the colonial period as first, the personal fiefdom of the kings Leopold, to being a Belgian colony, right through the rushed and botched independence in the early 60s and up to the present times and the stirrings of trade with China.
The author Van Reybrouck has exhaustively researched the life and times of the nation of Congo through the writings and verbal musings of it's people in order to, and I quote, "write a book that I would like to read." Apart from studying the diaries and journals of the various Belgian officers, clerymen, and other civil servants stationed in Congo, the author speaks to hundreds of Congolese themselves. It was remarkable to ‘hear’ the voices of a few centenarian Congolese, who although frail in their bodies, had crisp memories of their personal experiences during colonial times. Congolese had traveled all the way to Belgium, England and even fought in the world wars in Egypt, Palestine and all the way to the Indo-Burmese border. Reading their testimonies made us realize the earliest beginnings of our globalised world and how connected we all were to Congo and always have been.
From the rubber for the early Dunlop tires, the palm oil for the first soaps of Unilever Corp, from the uranium for the Manhattan project to the colbium inside our smart phones today, a piece of Congo has always been in our lives.
What this book brought into sharp focus for the Book Clubbers was the role the rich bounty from the Congolese soil has played in the geopolitics of the entire region of Central Africa. Combined with the well-meaning, and often self-suiting policies of the west, not to mention the paranoia against communism, has resulted in supporting despotic leaders and war-mongering neighbours in the region. It is the same underground riches that have also attracted the deals and trade with China, thereby re-igniting the world’s interest in Congo.
Above all, we accepted that the sub-text of this sweeping book will always be, How Not To Build A Nation.
Congo: The Epic History of a People
It is the start of the new year at our PA East Book Club. At our first meeting of this academic year, there were a few familiar faces, and some new ones to welcome. As is our tradition, we met for a finger food potluck and to know each other better, before we shared our thoughts on the Book of the Month.
The book was Congo, The Epic History of a People. The words daunting and outstanding were frequently used to describe the experience of reading the almost 600 pages of it. Written by David van Reybrouck , Congo is the story of the country, as witnessed and experienced by its people. From the earliest mentions in hieroglyphics dated 2500 BC, Van Reybrouck traces Congo’s history through the explorations of the Congo river by Stanley, into the colonial period as first, the personal fiefdom of the kings Leopold, to being a Belgian colony, right through the rushed and botched independence in the early 60s and up to the present times and the stirrings of trade with China.
The author Van Reybrouck has exhaustively researched the life and times of the nation of Congo through the writings and verbal musings of it's people in order to, and I quote, "write a book that I would like to read."
Apart from studying the diaries and journals of the various Belgian officers, clerymen, and other civil servants stationed in Congo, the author speaks to hundreds of Congolese themselves. It was remarkable to ‘hear’ the voices of a few centenarian Congolese, who although frail in their bodies, had crisp memories of their personal experiences during colonial times. Congolese had traveled all the way to Belgium, England and even fought in the world wars in Egypt, Palestine and all the way to the Indo-Burmese border. Reading their testimonies made us realize the earliest beginnings of our globalised world and how connected we all were to Congo and always have been.
From the rubber for the early Dunlop tires, the palm oil for the first soaps of Unilever Corp, from the uranium for the Manhattan project to the colbium inside our smart phones today, a piece of Congo has always been in our lives.
What this book brought into sharp focus for the Book Clubbers was the role the rich bounty from the Congolese soil has played in the geopolitics of the entire region of Central Africa. Combined with the well-meaning, and often self-suiting policies of the west, not to mention the paranoia against communism, has resulted in supporting despotic leaders and war-mongering neighbours in the region. It is the same underground riches that have also attracted the deals and trade with China, thereby re-igniting the world’s interest in Congo.
Above all, we accepted that the sub-text of this sweeping book will always be, How Not To Build A Nation.
-Neetu Aggarwal.