Scan barcode
dely_dd's review against another edition
5.0
Tanto di cappello a David van Reybrouck per essere riuscito a mantenere la mia attenzione e interesse per 700 pagine. Non è da tutti, soprattutto quando si tratta di un saggio.
L'autore ci racconta la storia della Repubblica Democratica del Congo (altresì chiamata Congo belga o Congo-Kinshasa) dal 1870 al 2010. Si va dal colonialismo belga ai conflitti ancora in atto con il Ruanda nella zona del Kivu nel nord-est del paese. Nonostante le 700 pagine è una lettura scorrevole perché Reybrouck non è soltanto un ottimo narratore, ma ci racconta la storia del Congo accennando anche alla musica e allo sport o ai tanti predicatori carismatici che si sono susseguiti e che hanno ancora molti accoliti. Questo aiuta a prendere per un attimo fiato da tutta la violenza e le ingiustizie di cui si parla nel libro e che hanno caratterizzato la storia di questo immenso paese.
Il Congo è sempre stato sfruttato da chiunque per gli alberi di caucciù, l'avorio, ma soprattutto per i suoi giacimenti minerari, partendo dai portoghesi, ancor prima dei belgi, e arrivando fino alla Cina e il Ruanda. La RD del Congo non è mai riuscita a svilupparsi perché la popolazione è sempre stata sottomessa e sfruttata, anche dai primi presidenti congolesi votati democraticamente ("democraticamente" per modo di dire perché ancora oggi ci sono imbrogli elettorali), più interessati ad arricchirsi che al benessere del popolo.
La prosa fluida e accattivante lo rende un libro scorrevole nonostante la mole, ma non è una lettura facile perché il Congo ha vissuto, e vive ancora, molte ingiustizie che hanno portato a violenze inaudite. I paesi occidentali non gli hanno mai permesso di svilupparsi (il Congo non produce quasi niente, deve importare tutto, va avanti con fondi esteri del FMI e Onlus occidentali che aiutano sul territorio) perché interessati esclusivamente allo sfruttamento delle ricchezze del sottosuolo.
Riuscirà mai il Congo ad essere completamente indipendente senza avvoltoi pronti a sfruttarlo?
Foto scattata ieri 13 febbrario 2024 a Kinshasa:
L'autore ci racconta la storia della Repubblica Democratica del Congo (altresì chiamata Congo belga o Congo-Kinshasa) dal 1870 al 2010. Si va dal colonialismo belga ai conflitti ancora in atto con il Ruanda nella zona del Kivu nel nord-est del paese. Nonostante le 700 pagine è una lettura scorrevole perché Reybrouck non è soltanto un ottimo narratore, ma ci racconta la storia del Congo accennando anche alla musica e allo sport o ai tanti predicatori carismatici che si sono susseguiti e che hanno ancora molti accoliti. Questo aiuta a prendere per un attimo fiato da tutta la violenza e le ingiustizie di cui si parla nel libro e che hanno caratterizzato la storia di questo immenso paese.
Il Congo è sempre stato sfruttato da chiunque per gli alberi di caucciù, l'avorio, ma soprattutto per i suoi giacimenti minerari, partendo dai portoghesi, ancor prima dei belgi, e arrivando fino alla Cina e il Ruanda. La RD del Congo non è mai riuscita a svilupparsi perché la popolazione è sempre stata sottomessa e sfruttata, anche dai primi presidenti congolesi votati democraticamente ("democraticamente" per modo di dire perché ancora oggi ci sono imbrogli elettorali), più interessati ad arricchirsi che al benessere del popolo.
La prosa fluida e accattivante lo rende un libro scorrevole nonostante la mole, ma non è una lettura facile perché il Congo ha vissuto, e vive ancora, molte ingiustizie che hanno portato a violenze inaudite. I paesi occidentali non gli hanno mai permesso di svilupparsi (il Congo non produce quasi niente, deve importare tutto, va avanti con fondi esteri del FMI e Onlus occidentali che aiutano sul territorio) perché interessati esclusivamente allo sfruttamento delle ricchezze del sottosuolo.
Riuscirà mai il Congo ad essere completamente indipendente senza avvoltoi pronti a sfruttarlo?
Foto scattata ieri 13 febbrario 2024 a Kinshasa:
covert_knits's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
ayahefnawy5's review against another edition
2.0
I didnt like this book, some parts gave a prejudiced feeling and some parts were poorly written, i dont know if that is to be blamed on the translation.
sophiamv's review against another edition
4.0
I already knew I didn't know a lot about Africa, but I didn't know I knew so little about African history. It was hard work, I am not a non-fiction reader at all, but I am glad I read it.
cooperatoby's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Dutch title: Congo: Een Geschiedenis
A much-needed book in the Belgian collective reckoning, it is written in an easily-digestible journalistic, even impressionistic, style.
The severely bearded Leopold II desperately wanted Belgium to have a colony, and got his hands on the Congo by pretending to want to Christianise and civilise it. He cunningly gave France the right to take it over if he failed. At the Berlin Conference in 1855, Britain and Germany acquiesced since he guaranteed free trade. But he went back on his word by dividing the country into concessions, often financed in Britain. To justify it being a colony he had to exercise “effective occupation”, which was expensive. All the profit was repatriated to beautify Brussels. First it was ivory, then rubber came along just in time to stave off bankruptcy. And when that went down, copper came in as the saviour.
It’s not true that they used to cut the hands off live people – they just killed them summarily first then took a hand as evidence they hadn’t wasted a bullet. Uncounted millions died.
It was Belgian anthropologists who insisted on dividing the population rigidly into tribes – a mistake they repeated after WW I with Rwanda and Burundi. Beforehand things had been much more fluid. They also prohibited movement, ostensibly to limit the spread of sleeping sickness. So getting a passport was a cause of corruption.
The between-the-wars period is reputed to have been quiet in Congo, but popular dissatisfaction expressed itself in religious cults, which were fearsomely repressed. The biggest were the followers of Simon Kimbangu: King Albert unexpectedly commuted his death sentence so he spent 30 years in gaol. The Leopard Men were randomly violent – there is reference to them in the museum in Tervuren. Meanwhile urban and mining conditions improved, people moved to the towns and music flourished.
Van Reybrouck unambiguously fingers France for the legacy of warlordism in eastern Congo because they helped the Hutu génocidaires escape there. It is just good business for them.
A much-needed book in the Belgian collective reckoning, it is written in an easily-digestible journalistic, even impressionistic, style.
The severely bearded Leopold II desperately wanted Belgium to have a colony, and got his hands on the Congo by pretending to want to Christianise and civilise it. He cunningly gave France the right to take it over if he failed. At the Berlin Conference in 1855, Britain and Germany acquiesced since he guaranteed free trade. But he went back on his word by dividing the country into concessions, often financed in Britain. To justify it being a colony he had to exercise “effective occupation”, which was expensive. All the profit was repatriated to beautify Brussels. First it was ivory, then rubber came along just in time to stave off bankruptcy. And when that went down, copper came in as the saviour.
It’s not true that they used to cut the hands off live people – they just killed them summarily first then took a hand as evidence they hadn’t wasted a bullet. Uncounted millions died.
It was Belgian anthropologists who insisted on dividing the population rigidly into tribes – a mistake they repeated after WW I with Rwanda and Burundi. Beforehand things had been much more fluid. They also prohibited movement, ostensibly to limit the spread of sleeping sickness. So getting a passport was a cause of corruption.
The between-the-wars period is reputed to have been quiet in Congo, but popular dissatisfaction expressed itself in religious cults, which were fearsomely repressed. The biggest were the followers of Simon Kimbangu: King Albert unexpectedly commuted his death sentence so he spent 30 years in gaol. The Leopard Men were randomly violent – there is reference to them in the museum in Tervuren. Meanwhile urban and mining conditions improved, people moved to the towns and music flourished.
Van Reybrouck unambiguously fingers France for the legacy of warlordism in eastern Congo because they helped the Hutu génocidaires escape there. It is just good business for them.
tichbou's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
a little less gripping than revolusi (which is what made me want to read this book) but van reybrouck's basic formula is a winner and he is a gifted collector of anecdotes.
probably the best single volume on the congo although it is such a massive and important area that any one book is bound to be insufficient.
id be very interested in a book long version of his last chapter, sort of a reverse "china's second continent".
probably the best single volume on the congo although it is such a massive and important area that any one book is bound to be insufficient.
id be very interested in a book long version of his last chapter, sort of a reverse "china's second continent".
bauke's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.25
While I learned a lot from this, I suspect there are better sources available to learn about Congolese history.
I'll start with some positives. The book gives a clear and accessible narrative account of the history of the DRC. It starts with a sketch of pre-history, and covers European exploration, colonization, exploitation, decolonization, the first republic of Kasavubu and Lumumba, Mobutu's dictatorship, and both Kabila's up to the point where the book was written. I found the part about decolonization especially useful in understanding how the DRC was set up to fail from the beginning. It makes the complex entanglement Rwanda and the Rwandan genocide more or less intelligible.
I loved Reybrouck's approach of trying to find people who experienced history firsthand, recording their experience and using this to ground the narrative. Undoubtedly much history that otherwise would have been lost was saved this, and some of the life stories covered are truly fascinating. Unfortunately at least one of the interviewees (the man who supposedly stole the Belgian king's sword from its scabbard during the independence celebration) is not in fact that person and seems to have lied, which the audiobook at least does not mention. That the author was unable to catch sadly casts doubt on the other interesting stories he recorderd. This goes especially for the most interesting account, of a man who claimed in 2006 to be 126 years old and to have met the first English missionaries to traverse Congo. I really hope his account is genuine, but the author himself confesses that he cannot be sure it is.
The author would have done well to start with a statement about his possible biases, as we learn only halfway through that his father worked in Congo during the Katangan secession. Many other reviewers have noted that the author, who to be sure is critical of western involvement in general, and Belgian colonialism in particular, is nevertheless not critical enough. I am not confident this book gave me a good understanding of the horrors of Leopold II's rule, and the author's focus on the point that while the horrors were terrible, Leopold likely did not intend them, seems odd. I will have to consult some other sources on this in the future.
I'll start with some positives. The book gives a clear and accessible narrative account of the history of the DRC. It starts with a sketch of pre-history, and covers European exploration, colonization, exploitation, decolonization, the first republic of Kasavubu and Lumumba, Mobutu's dictatorship, and both Kabila's up to the point where the book was written. I found the part about decolonization especially useful in understanding how the DRC was set up to fail from the beginning. It makes the complex entanglement Rwanda and the Rwandan genocide more or less intelligible.
I loved Reybrouck's approach of trying to find people who experienced history firsthand, recording their experience and using this to ground the narrative. Undoubtedly much history that otherwise would have been lost was saved this, and some of the life stories covered are truly fascinating. Unfortunately at least one of the interviewees (the man who supposedly stole the Belgian king's sword from its scabbard during the independence celebration) is not in fact that person and seems to have lied, which the audiobook at least does not mention. That the author was unable to catch sadly casts doubt on the other interesting stories he recorderd. This goes especially for the most interesting account, of a man who claimed in 2006 to be 126 years old and to have met the first English missionaries to traverse Congo. I really hope his account is genuine, but the author himself confesses that he cannot be sure it is.
The author would have done well to start with a statement about his possible biases, as we learn only halfway through that his father worked in Congo during the Katangan secession. Many other reviewers have noted that the author, who to be sure is critical of western involvement in general, and Belgian colonialism in particular, is nevertheless not critical enough. I am not confident this book gave me a good understanding of the horrors of Leopold II's rule, and the author's focus on the point that while the horrors were terrible, Leopold likely did not intend them, seems odd. I will have to consult some other sources on this in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Colonisation, and War
stelhan's review against another edition
5.0
4.95
This book has fundamentally altered my brain chemistry. I will never be the same again and I have never drawn so many highlights and taken so many screenshots.
This book has fundamentally altered my brain chemistry. I will never be the same again and I have never drawn so many highlights and taken so many screenshots.