Zioneer
Banned
You should change your username title to "Insatiably lusting for Lumumba".
Seriously though, this is a great TL. Good to see more African-centric TLs.
Glory and Dignity - A Congo Timeline
- Thread starter GiantMonkeyMan
- Start date
You should change your username title to "Insatiably lusting for Lumumba".
Seriously though, this is a great TL. Good to see more African-centric TLs.
katchen
Banned
That's segue". Segways are curious vehicles that haven't been invented yet in this TL.Glory and Dignity
A Post-Colonial Timeline
“The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations. It will be the history which will be taught in the countries which have won freedom from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity.” - Patrice Lumumba
The rapid urbanisation of the Congo in the post-war period was the result of the huge economic boom that the region experienced. Foreign capital flocked to the colony to take advantage of the region's abundant resources that had provided three quarters of the entire world's supply of cobalt, some of the uranium for the Manhattan project from the mines in Katanga as well as diamonds, copper, iron, coal and other minerals. The expansions of the mines as well as the avaricious policies of the settler farmers, who hoarded vast tracts of the most arable land leaving only the worst land for native farmers to compete over, drove the urbanisation of the Congo as large numbers of dispossessed Congolese migrated to find new work and lives for themselves. By 1955 over a fifth of the entire population was centred in urban areas and it was this strata of Congolese society that lead the struggle for independence.
Leopoldville, Stanleyville and the other major cities of the Congo became the centres of political resistance to the Belgian colonial authorities eventually proving fertile ground for the political parties to form and later solidify during the economic recession of 1957-58. Copper prices fell by 30 percent on the first year and then an additional 14 percent in the following and the entire Congolese economy experienced a recession with a huge fall in living standards. By 1959, over 25 percent of Leopoldville was unemployed and with a similar economic situation across the whole of the Belgian Congo. It was this segment of urban poor, along with the perpetually oppressed rural worker, who began actively organising with the fledgling political organisations. The Congo proved fertile for political struggle and there were over 120 parties representing various ethnic and social movements for independence.
The Leopoldville riots in January 1959 began as a response to police crackdown on the ABAKO party lead by the charismatic Joseph Kasavubu. The riots were brutally suppressed under the orders of the Force Publique garrison commander Lieutenant-General Emile Janssens leading to deaths numbering over a hundred by some estimates. Similar rioting flared up in Stanleyville prompting more harsh crackdowns and deaths. It was in this fiery situation that the Mouvement National Congolais was born from a union of nationalist organisations with the common aim of independence under the leadership of Patrice Lumumba.
The Belgian colonial administration began fraying at the edges in a crisis of opinion regarding the causes of the riots. A commission set up by the Belgian parliament was critical of the colonial policy that engendered racial discrimination and the repressive response of the colonial administration that lead to the deaths in the riots. Janssens was quietly redeployed to another role and, in a move heralded by the Concience Africain as "the first step towards liberation", the restrictions on access to higher education removed for Congolese natives. King Baudouin was forced to make the promise of independence at an unspecified date and the end to racial discrimination. The violent repression of Congolese independence organisations remained but the Belgian authorities began to feel the need to pay lip-service to the ideas of decolonisation in order to quell the unrest of the frustrated native population.
However, the rumblings of political activity wouldn't stop and the initial policies proved only a segway towards the first elections that took place in select municipalities, namely several cities. The elections became a proving ground for the political groups organising throughout the Belgian colony. Parties based around ethnic groups gathered support only in areas where their leaders were particularly charismatic, such as ABAKO and Kasavubu in the Bakongo region and CONAKAT lead by Moise Tshombe in Katanga, but the real explosion came from the MNC which crossed ethnic lines and expressed a nationalist programme.
The success of MNC prompted the leader of the Parti Solidaire Africain, Antoine Gizenga, to enter into talks with Lumumba, who he saw as ideologically very similar, and begin an amalgamation process of the two nationalist independence organisations giving the MNC a stronger foothold in the Leopoldville regional province. To the Belgians, the nationalist MNC with its left-wing message was proving far more serious than the parties based along ethnic lines. Previously at the forefront of the agitation, ABAKO was soon eclipsed by the rapid growth of MNC and the intense politicisation of the western rural areas in support of Lumumba's promises of land reform. Kasavubu had come out with an idea for a secessionist Bakongo state organised along tribal lines, a stance that proved vastly unpopular with large numbers of Congolese people.
The Belgian administration laid out a comprehensive plan for decolonisation that began with a broadening out of the municipal elections in December. CONAKAT, ABAKO and the MNC declared the decision unreasonably slow and, following a second wave of rioting in the autumn months, organised a successful boycott of the election, defying the legitimacy of the colonial authorities. Less than a third of eligible voters participated in the election despite the huge politicisation of the whole colony. This forced the Belgians to convene in Brussels what was known as the Round Table Conference in 1960 with the leaders of the major political parties.
[1][2]
[1] Lumumba arriving in Belgium for the Round Table Conference after being freed from a colonial prison.
[2] An early protest by ABAKO supporters demanding an end to the racist policies of the colonial administration.
katchen
Banned
Lummumba is not going to be able to challenge the Belgian Union Miniere directly. If he is smart, though, he may be able to grant concessions to a US railroad from Leopoldville to Port Francui, then on to Elizabethville and Kolwezi in competition with the Belgian railroad, as well as due east to Kindu and from there to Bukavu and Goma. Perhaps a bridge across the Congo to Brazzaville so that the French railroad to Porte Noire can also be used. Besides the diamonds being discovered at Mbjji Maya, there is a whole belt of that important new mineral, coltan (Tantalum) in the east of the country to make such an investment pay off. And plenty of places for hydroelectric power plants, including, near Leopoldville, a stretch of the Congo that is the largest potential hydroelectric power site in the world and does not even require a dam because the Congo's flow is so even throughout the year.
And lumber. And fertile farmland. And opportunity for Matadi-Boma to become an export-processing zone, producing millions of jobs for Congolese.
But it is quite obvious that Union Minere and even American companies, prefer to deal with kleptocrats and in the early 1960s, their executives and shareholders still harbour deep seated prejudices against Africans.
GiantMonkeyMan
Banned
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy.
Thanks to you as well, mister.
There's a good timeline written by Onkel Willie that goes a different route to mine: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=268171&highlight=lumumba+congoHoly Shit, a timeline on the Congo?! You've no idea how long I've wanted to see this!
Cheers, hope you enjoy.Same! Looks interesting!
I feel honoured that you're subscribing!You peeked my interests with a Congo-focused TL with hopefully Lumumba's vision guiding it.
First ever Post-1900 TL I'll be subscribing to.
A lot of post-colonial movements found themselves leaning leftwards not due to any ideological slant but because their interests inevitably conflicted with US imperialism. I've got some thoughts about Angola and how that will develop but I might send you a pm or two to gather them into something coherent.
Lumumba is definitely a cool figure. It's a crying shame the way things turned out in OTL.Cheers! Hope you enjoy the next update.Subbed.
filler
Thanks for subscribing!
Thank you! I hope to keep you hooked.Wow! This looks promising, consider me hooked etc. etc.
Inevitably Belgium interests and those of the Congolese independence movement conflict and Lumumba wouldn't be Lumumba without making some historic speeches.
Cheers! I shouldn't need much luck as there were so many factors that could have been averted to create a more stable and successful post-colonial situation in the Congo.Looks like a good TL. I wish you all the best luck, and hope Africa truly develops a history of glory and dignity!
Thanks, and it's also awesome that d32123 actually changed his user title.
Cheers, I've edited the first post. Thanks for being the grammar communist I needed (or is it spell cheka
). If anyone notices any mistakes it'll be brilliant if you could point them out for me. For the sake of keeping the thread a bit tidy, katchen, could you edit your first post and cut down some of the quote so you're not quoting the entire chapter? Cheers! Indeed. For a country so rich, the Congo has suffered some tragic exploitation at the hands of European imperialism.Lummumba is not going to be able to challenge the Belgian Union Miniere directly. If he is smart, though, he may be able to grant concessions to a US railroad from Leopoldville to Port Francui, then on to Elizabethville and Kolwezi in competition with the Belgian railroad, as well as due east to Kindu and from there to Bukavu and Goma. Perhaps a bridge across the Congo to Brazzaville so that the French railroad to Porte Noire can also be used. Besides the diamonds being discovered at Mbjji Maya, there is a whole belt of that important new mineral, coltan (Tantalum) in the east of the country to make such an investment pay off. And plenty of places for hydroelectric power plants, including, near Leopoldville, a stretch of the Congo that is the largest potential hydroelectric power site in the world and does not even require a dam because the Congo's flow is so even throughout the year.
And lumber. And fertile farmland. And opportunity for Matadi-Boma to become an export-processing zone, producing millions of jobs for Congolese.
But it is quite obvious that Union Minere and even American companies, prefer to deal with kleptocrats and in the early 1960s, their executives and shareholders still harbour deep seated prejudices against Africans.
Cheers, hope you enjoy the next update.
Thanks for subscribing! The next update will be posted shortly.Oh God a Congo TL I'm most definitely subscribed
---
Wow. Was totally not expected such an overwhelming response. It's funny really, this is perhaps the third version of Glory and Dignity I've put together and, in my opinion, probably the weakest in terms of writing but strongest in terms of believability. I initially tried writing it in the style of a series of excepts from newspapers and academic books but that method didn't really work for me. Hopefully this doesn't get too rambling but I hope to keep you all hooked and entertained. Cheers!
GiantMonkeyMan
Banned
Independence Cha Cha
"We see the mobilisation of a people which toils to exhaustion in front of a suspicious and bloated Europe." - Frantz Fanon
The Belgians laid out a plan for independence in four years, a programme rejected by Tshombe and Lumumba who wanted immediate independence, and also indicated that the Congo would inherit a debt worth $350 million incurred from development work within the Congo. The debt was by far the largest post-colonial debt forced upon an African nation and servicing and redemption of the debt would require roughly 25 percent of the Congo's yearly budget. Gizenga, who fancied himself a socialist, was outraged by the figure and had to leave the room to control his anger. With Gizenga's early and frustrated departure, one of Lumumba's key allies in the room was gone and Lumumba asked to call the meeting to a close early with the aim of continuing the negotiations the next day.
The grudging compliance of the Belgian negotiators revealed Lumumba's position of power in relation to the other Congolese leaders. In response, Lumumba sent his secretary, Joseph Mobutu, to organise a meeting with Paul Gillet, the chairman of the Union Minière du Haut Katanga, the principle mining interest in the Congo, and to his surprise a meeting was held later that day. Lumumba knew he was not liked by the Union Minière (Sartre wrote "despite the moderation of his economic programme, the leader of the MNC was considered by [...] the Société Générale as a mortal enemy", the Société Générale being the corporate conglomerate that held the most shares in Union Minière) but he laid out, rather bluntly as was often Lumumba's way, that if the newly independent Congo was saddled with the level of debt the Belgians were suggesting then the new independent government would be forced to increase export duties in order try and service the debt.
Gérard Assoignon, the Director of the company's African interests was also present at the meeting and reminded Gillet that the export duties of Union Minière's various holdings accounted for 50% of the colonial administration's income in 1959. Gillet knew that the mines in the Congo relied upon European refineries but still realised the importance of Lumumba's threat. He said he'd take the Congolese leader's warnings into account and called a meeting of his own with sections of the Belgian government. Lumumba wasn't sure how much effect he would have on the mining company's policies but he knew that they had a huge influence on the Belgian colonial administration so hoped to tap into that influence to improve the Congolese situation.
The next day the negotiations regarding the debt seemed to have dramatically changed. Initially, the Belgian government would only guarantee 10.5 billion Belgian francs of the total outstanding debt but on this day of the negotiations the Belgians suggested that they would guarantee roughly half of the debt, 21.5 billion Belgian francs as well as a low interest grace period of five years. Although the debt the Congo would inherit was still daunting, this guarantee gave the future Congolese state some breathing space with which to sort its affairs. The change in tone in the negotiations also gave Lumumba a glimpse of the power of the mining companies.
The new Congolese government was set to inherit a significant number of shares of Union Minière subsidiaries from the Colonial administration and all the Congolese political leaders knew the importance mining was to the country's economy. At an informal part of the meeting, Lumumba, Tshombe and Albert Kalonji, a man from the Kasai region who represented the federalist wing of the MNC, secretly negotiated a coalition to exclude the parties such as the Parti National du Progrès, who were supported by the Belgians, from the future Congolese national government and ensure some Congolese control over the fates of the mining industry in the future government. Eventually it was decided that free elections were to take place on the last day of June giving the Congolese political parties, and the foreign groups with economic interests in the nation, roughly five months to prepare for independence.
The road to independence was far from smooth with a variety of different colonial and native interests vying for influence. Notable amongst these were protests by large groups of women in Leopoldville in which Pauline Lumumba, married to the leader of the MNC, participated in and even helped organise. The educated middle class in the Congo, the main demographic of political leaders, were largely Europeanised and culturally accepted monogamous relationships but a practice had been taken up by many involved in the political struggle of divorcing their wives in order to marry Europeanised women who would also provide political alliances and diplomatic support. Pauline Lumumba became a focal figure of women's rights in Leopoldville and ensured that her husband and his party discouraged such callous and misogynist actions.
It proved a turbulent and difficult time for the MNC who had already been reeling from internal divisions. The party was split along federalist and centralist lines with the extremes of the two wings being represented on one side by Pierre Mulele, who was a self-professed Maoist and favoured a centralist state, and Joseph Ileo, who wanted the MNC Central Committee power organised along decentralised collegial lines. Lumumba himself supported a centralised and direct power structure but recognised that the federalist wing was too strong to successfully sweep away. In the end he appointed Jean Yumba, president of the Provincial Committee of the Katangan section of the MNC and a moderate in terms of this argument, as the secretary general of the party.
The move proved unpopular with both wings but various promises of future parliamentary positions and concessions managed to hold the party together in time for the elections. Much to the disappointment of the Belgian authorities, who supported the PNP, and the smaller parties based around ethnic lines, the Mouvement National Congolaise proved to be by far the winner of the election taking in over half the vote.
[1]
[2]
Mulele [1] and Ileo [2] who represented the two extremes in the fragile MNC alliance.
---
I'll try and post the next update, which will detail the statistics of the election, before Christmas.
"We see the mobilisation of a people which toils to exhaustion in front of a suspicious and bloated Europe." - Frantz Fanon
The Belgians laid out a plan for independence in four years, a programme rejected by Tshombe and Lumumba who wanted immediate independence, and also indicated that the Congo would inherit a debt worth $350 million incurred from development work within the Congo. The debt was by far the largest post-colonial debt forced upon an African nation and servicing and redemption of the debt would require roughly 25 percent of the Congo's yearly budget. Gizenga, who fancied himself a socialist, was outraged by the figure and had to leave the room to control his anger. With Gizenga's early and frustrated departure, one of Lumumba's key allies in the room was gone and Lumumba asked to call the meeting to a close early with the aim of continuing the negotiations the next day.
The grudging compliance of the Belgian negotiators revealed Lumumba's position of power in relation to the other Congolese leaders. In response, Lumumba sent his secretary, Joseph Mobutu, to organise a meeting with Paul Gillet, the chairman of the Union Minière du Haut Katanga, the principle mining interest in the Congo, and to his surprise a meeting was held later that day. Lumumba knew he was not liked by the Union Minière (Sartre wrote "despite the moderation of his economic programme, the leader of the MNC was considered by [...] the Société Générale as a mortal enemy", the Société Générale being the corporate conglomerate that held the most shares in Union Minière) but he laid out, rather bluntly as was often Lumumba's way, that if the newly independent Congo was saddled with the level of debt the Belgians were suggesting then the new independent government would be forced to increase export duties in order try and service the debt.
Gérard Assoignon, the Director of the company's African interests was also present at the meeting and reminded Gillet that the export duties of Union Minière's various holdings accounted for 50% of the colonial administration's income in 1959. Gillet knew that the mines in the Congo relied upon European refineries but still realised the importance of Lumumba's threat. He said he'd take the Congolese leader's warnings into account and called a meeting of his own with sections of the Belgian government. Lumumba wasn't sure how much effect he would have on the mining company's policies but he knew that they had a huge influence on the Belgian colonial administration so hoped to tap into that influence to improve the Congolese situation.
The next day the negotiations regarding the debt seemed to have dramatically changed. Initially, the Belgian government would only guarantee 10.5 billion Belgian francs of the total outstanding debt but on this day of the negotiations the Belgians suggested that they would guarantee roughly half of the debt, 21.5 billion Belgian francs as well as a low interest grace period of five years. Although the debt the Congo would inherit was still daunting, this guarantee gave the future Congolese state some breathing space with which to sort its affairs. The change in tone in the negotiations also gave Lumumba a glimpse of the power of the mining companies.
The new Congolese government was set to inherit a significant number of shares of Union Minière subsidiaries from the Colonial administration and all the Congolese political leaders knew the importance mining was to the country's economy. At an informal part of the meeting, Lumumba, Tshombe and Albert Kalonji, a man from the Kasai region who represented the federalist wing of the MNC, secretly negotiated a coalition to exclude the parties such as the Parti National du Progrès, who were supported by the Belgians, from the future Congolese national government and ensure some Congolese control over the fates of the mining industry in the future government. Eventually it was decided that free elections were to take place on the last day of June giving the Congolese political parties, and the foreign groups with economic interests in the nation, roughly five months to prepare for independence.
The road to independence was far from smooth with a variety of different colonial and native interests vying for influence. Notable amongst these were protests by large groups of women in Leopoldville in which Pauline Lumumba, married to the leader of the MNC, participated in and even helped organise. The educated middle class in the Congo, the main demographic of political leaders, were largely Europeanised and culturally accepted monogamous relationships but a practice had been taken up by many involved in the political struggle of divorcing their wives in order to marry Europeanised women who would also provide political alliances and diplomatic support. Pauline Lumumba became a focal figure of women's rights in Leopoldville and ensured that her husband and his party discouraged such callous and misogynist actions.
It proved a turbulent and difficult time for the MNC who had already been reeling from internal divisions. The party was split along federalist and centralist lines with the extremes of the two wings being represented on one side by Pierre Mulele, who was a self-professed Maoist and favoured a centralist state, and Joseph Ileo, who wanted the MNC Central Committee power organised along decentralised collegial lines. Lumumba himself supported a centralised and direct power structure but recognised that the federalist wing was too strong to successfully sweep away. In the end he appointed Jean Yumba, president of the Provincial Committee of the Katangan section of the MNC and a moderate in terms of this argument, as the secretary general of the party.
The move proved unpopular with both wings but various promises of future parliamentary positions and concessions managed to hold the party together in time for the elections. Much to the disappointment of the Belgian authorities, who supported the PNP, and the smaller parties based around ethnic lines, the Mouvement National Congolaise proved to be by far the winner of the election taking in over half the vote.
Mulele [1] and Ileo [2] who represented the two extremes in the fragile MNC alliance.
---
I'll try and post the next update, which will detail the statistics of the election, before Christmas.
It will be rocky, but Lumumba will be alright as long as he does not alienate Union Minière/the Société Générale. They will be powerful allies in the early years of Congolese independence. Getting them aboard means no Belgian support to Katangese separatism.
GiantMonkeyMan
Banned
It's not dead, I've just had a lot of shit pile up on me over the holidays and am trying to sort my life out essentially. Which was doubly annoying because I was aiming on using the holidays to write more but instead found myself lacking motivation. I've actually got a couple chapters written out in advance but this next one, dealing with the election itself, is important and I wanted to ensure it's accurate.
I'm sorry your holidays were shit. I hope the New Year turns out well for you, providing you with happiness in life and thereby the motivation you need. I am eager to see what happens next to Congo.
GiantMonkeyMan
Banned
Cheers, I hope you enjoy the next update as well.A great update.
Thanks for subscribing!*reads timeline* Interesting...subscribed!
It's certainly going to be a bumpy ride.
At the moment, those resources are in the hands of foreign capital! But there's a lot of potential for our fledgling nation.
I'm not sure that the Société Générale would ever consider themselves as 'allies' to the MNC and Lumumba is too headstrong to consider himself a lackey. Although, Katangan seperatism has already been curtailed somewhat by Lumumba's dealings with Tshombe.
Having read some of the correspondence between Lumumba and Dag Hammerskjold, I'm not really sure I like the guy! His death has already probably been butterflied away but whether or not that means more support for Lumumba is something I have to research a little further.
Thanks for the support, both of you. I finally got round to finishing this up. I hope the update is worthy of your support.
Thanks again, Onkel Willie. Your timeline 'A Different Congo' was very much inspiration for this one so I'm glad you're reading and still interested. If you see anything that trips believability please point it out!
GiantMonkeyMan
Banned
The Election
The cafés are forgotten; so are the arguments about the next elections or the spitefulness of some policeman or other. Their ears hear the true voice of the country, and their eyes take in the great and infinite poverty of their people. - Frantz Fanon
The months leading up to the election were tense with preparation and chaotic with the various interests in the fledgling nation vying for influence. The colonial authorities paid for Paul Boyla, the leader of their favoured party the PNP, to tour the major cities of the country in an attempt to garner support throughout the nation. Clashes occurred between MNC supporters and colonial authorities in Stanleyville and Lulubourgh when he arrived and in the end Boyla decided not to bother going to Elisabethville where Moise Tshombe promised to drive the Belgian lackeys from Katanga. The tour was criticised as proof that the Belgian authorities remained biased and were being deceitful in their promise to allow the Congolese people the freedom to decide their own fate but there was little the MNC or any other party could do to officially rebuke either the administration itself or the PNP. In response to the Belgian's tour, the MNC organised a similar tour of their speakers and organisers to mass crowds across the nation. Lumumba laid out a strategy not to discuss any detailed political policies but to speak of independence, freedom and a chance for the Congolese to finally get out from under the thumb of the colonial administration and look to their own future.
Lumumba also used MNC funds to organise open air concerts of the band l'African Jazz lead by Joseph Kabasele also known as Le Grande Kallé. Kabasele was a prominent figure in the Congo, even getting invited to the Round Table conference, and his song "Independence Cha Cha" was the most popular in the nation at the time. Lumumba knew that the internal divisions in his party were widening chasms and a source of contention that the Belgians could use to split his organisation and so his entire strategy revolved around ensuring that the entire message of the MNC's election campaign was basic and simple and wouldn't lead to conflict between various MNC organisers who held differing political beliefs. Kabasele became a figure of unity within the party and Lumumba would often use the love the Congolese held for Le Grande Kallé as a way of mediating the division between the socialist and federalist wings of the party.
Voting was permitted for only for men over the age of 21, which frustrated many women throughout the Congo who felt marginalised despite struggling just as vehemently for decolonisation. Inspired by the demonstrations organised by Pauline Lumumba in the months before the Round Table conference, more demonstrations sprung up in Leopoldville of women demanding representation. Sonise Kapamba and Joséphine Solde formed Le Mouvement des Femmes Nationalistes, the women's wing of the MNC, in the months leading up to the election organised women's educational meetings and began to lay the groundwork for women's suffrage even if ultimately their movement was eclipsed by a general drive for independence. Many in the party simply wanted to use the women's movement to encourage men to vote for MNC but Kapamba and Solde were determined to give women in the Congo a voice of their own.
Le Grande Kallé, click on the picture to hear the Independence Cha Cha
In essence there were two elections, on the national scale for a Chamber of Representatives consisting of 137 members and on a local scale for the six Provincial Assemblies consisting of 60, 70 or 90 members depending on population sizes in addition to around ten unelected chiefs or notaries in each assembly. The Assemblies then voted amongst themselves for 14 senators. The President was elected in a common session of Chamber and Senate with a two thirds majority vote. The national government was appointed by the president, but the first government was to be appointed by King Baudouin. The president (by majority) and 10 other members (single non transferable vote) of the provincial governments were elected by the provincial assemblies.
It was perhaps an overly complex electoral system and led to a dynamic of power between the Provincial Assemblies and Parliament. The MNC thrived in the elections, obtaining clear majorities in the provinces of Kivu, Orientale and Kasai but also narrowly beating out ABAKO in the Leopoldville province mainly thanks to the hard efforts of Antoine Gizenga in organising support in the region. Kasavubu was just as shocked by the result as the Belgian authorities and, just as Lumumba had planned, ABAKO was largely marginalised in the following internal elections for senatorial or ministerial positions. In the end, Lumumba and his cabinet secured their positions in the Chamber of Representatives and encouraged MNC senators to vote for Moise Tshombe as President. It followed that the parliament was the domain of the socialist wing and the Provincial Assemblies became the playground of the federalist wing of the independence party.
The election results.
---
As I've said before, various real life things prevented me finishing up and then posting this before. I also had a little worry because for all my research I found all the sort of mention that women were forbidden the vote and then I found this piece of archive footage that suggests otherwise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0kiXH-BsYI and in the end I decided to go with written evidence, which explains the lower voter numbers in comparison to the Congolese population. I basically wanted to point out that 50% of the population is usually sidelined in the decolonisation process and very little about their lives or opportunities change with a native government as opposed to a colonial one.
I hope you all enjoy!
The cafés are forgotten; so are the arguments about the next elections or the spitefulness of some policeman or other. Their ears hear the true voice of the country, and their eyes take in the great and infinite poverty of their people. - Frantz Fanon
The months leading up to the election were tense with preparation and chaotic with the various interests in the fledgling nation vying for influence. The colonial authorities paid for Paul Boyla, the leader of their favoured party the PNP, to tour the major cities of the country in an attempt to garner support throughout the nation. Clashes occurred between MNC supporters and colonial authorities in Stanleyville and Lulubourgh when he arrived and in the end Boyla decided not to bother going to Elisabethville where Moise Tshombe promised to drive the Belgian lackeys from Katanga. The tour was criticised as proof that the Belgian authorities remained biased and were being deceitful in their promise to allow the Congolese people the freedom to decide their own fate but there was little the MNC or any other party could do to officially rebuke either the administration itself or the PNP. In response to the Belgian's tour, the MNC organised a similar tour of their speakers and organisers to mass crowds across the nation. Lumumba laid out a strategy not to discuss any detailed political policies but to speak of independence, freedom and a chance for the Congolese to finally get out from under the thumb of the colonial administration and look to their own future.
Lumumba also used MNC funds to organise open air concerts of the band l'African Jazz lead by Joseph Kabasele also known as Le Grande Kallé. Kabasele was a prominent figure in the Congo, even getting invited to the Round Table conference, and his song "Independence Cha Cha" was the most popular in the nation at the time. Lumumba knew that the internal divisions in his party were widening chasms and a source of contention that the Belgians could use to split his organisation and so his entire strategy revolved around ensuring that the entire message of the MNC's election campaign was basic and simple and wouldn't lead to conflict between various MNC organisers who held differing political beliefs. Kabasele became a figure of unity within the party and Lumumba would often use the love the Congolese held for Le Grande Kallé as a way of mediating the division between the socialist and federalist wings of the party.
Voting was permitted for only for men over the age of 21, which frustrated many women throughout the Congo who felt marginalised despite struggling just as vehemently for decolonisation. Inspired by the demonstrations organised by Pauline Lumumba in the months before the Round Table conference, more demonstrations sprung up in Leopoldville of women demanding representation. Sonise Kapamba and Joséphine Solde formed Le Mouvement des Femmes Nationalistes, the women's wing of the MNC, in the months leading up to the election organised women's educational meetings and began to lay the groundwork for women's suffrage even if ultimately their movement was eclipsed by a general drive for independence. Many in the party simply wanted to use the women's movement to encourage men to vote for MNC but Kapamba and Solde were determined to give women in the Congo a voice of their own.
Le Grande Kallé, click on the picture to hear the Independence Cha Cha
In essence there were two elections, on the national scale for a Chamber of Representatives consisting of 137 members and on a local scale for the six Provincial Assemblies consisting of 60, 70 or 90 members depending on population sizes in addition to around ten unelected chiefs or notaries in each assembly. The Assemblies then voted amongst themselves for 14 senators. The President was elected in a common session of Chamber and Senate with a two thirds majority vote. The national government was appointed by the president, but the first government was to be appointed by King Baudouin. The president (by majority) and 10 other members (single non transferable vote) of the provincial governments were elected by the provincial assemblies.
It was perhaps an overly complex electoral system and led to a dynamic of power between the Provincial Assemblies and Parliament. The MNC thrived in the elections, obtaining clear majorities in the provinces of Kivu, Orientale and Kasai but also narrowly beating out ABAKO in the Leopoldville province mainly thanks to the hard efforts of Antoine Gizenga in organising support in the region. Kasavubu was just as shocked by the result as the Belgian authorities and, just as Lumumba had planned, ABAKO was largely marginalised in the following internal elections for senatorial or ministerial positions. In the end, Lumumba and his cabinet secured their positions in the Chamber of Representatives and encouraged MNC senators to vote for Moise Tshombe as President. It followed that the parliament was the domain of the socialist wing and the Provincial Assemblies became the playground of the federalist wing of the independence party.
The election results.
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As I've said before, various real life things prevented me finishing up and then posting this before. I also had a little worry because for all my research I found all the sort of mention that women were forbidden the vote and then I found this piece of archive footage that suggests otherwise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0kiXH-BsYI and in the end I decided to go with written evidence, which explains the lower voter numbers in comparison to the Congolese population. I basically wanted to point out that 50% of the population is usually sidelined in the decolonisation process and very little about their lives or opportunities change with a native government as opposed to a colonial one.
I hope you all enjoy!