This photograph was secretly taken by a clergyman in Congo, one of the African colonies of Belgian King Leopold II, in the early 1900s.
This photograph was secretly taken by a clergyman in Congo, one of the African colonies of Belgian King Leopold II, in the early 1900s. The man in the photo is looking at the cut off left hand and right foot of his 5-year-old daughter, who was also a slave and was punished for not collecting enough rubber. This horrific photograph is a witness to just one of the 5 million murders and countless tortures committed during King Leopold’s rule in Africa between 1885 and 1908, and is one of the documents that triggered the media backlash that resulted in King Leopold withdrawing his African territories. In one of the discussions under this photograph on the internet, someone who said he was Belgian wrote the following comment: “I am Belgian, and moreover, I am a historian. I find it extremely appalling that this shameful past of Belgium has not been discussed even once in the classes I have taken in the past 4 years.” There is not a single inch of land in the world where similar injustices have not occurred. The only antibody to this poison is for man to accept his nature, which is prone to ugliness, and to learn about his sinister history. Indeed, ‘learning’ is the only way to recognize similar injustices when the time comes and say stop. The irony is that the education system, which should be the most suitable place for this task, has taken on a function almost opposite to that expected under the supervision of the authority.... Quote... Mehmet Ali Yaşar
