Congo Free State propaganda war

There was a worldwide media propaganda campaign waged by both King Leopold II of Belgium and the critics of the Congo Free State and its atrocities.

Morel used newspaper accounts, pamphlets, and books to publish evidence from reports, eye-witness testimony, and pictures from missionaries and others involved directly in the Congo.

As Morel gained high-profile supporters, the publicity generated by his campaign eventually forced Leopold to relinquish control of the Congo to the Belgian government.

Much diplomatic maneuvering resulted in the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, at which representatives of fourteen European countries and the United States recognized Leopold as sovereign of most of the area he and Stanley had laid claim to.

After the conference Leopold told the members and reporters: To open up civilization the only part of our globe which it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness in which entire populations are enveloped, is, I venture to say, a crusade worthy of its age of progress … Need I say that, in bringing you to Brussels, I have not been influenced by selfish views.

He also secretly told British merchant houses that if he had formal control of the Congo, he would give Britain the same "most-favored-nation" status Portugal offered.

Leopold sent United States President Chester A. Arthur carefully edited copies of cloth-and-trinket treaties obtained by Stanley.

He proposed that, as an entirely disinterested humanitarian body, the Association administer the Congo for the good of all, handing power to the local inhabitants as soon as they were ready for that grave responsibility.

Since the IAA was seen as a legitimate government of a recognized sovereign state, Bismarck invited King Leopold to discuss African affairs with the Great Powers of Europe.

After long debate and ten sittings, the Great Powers agreed on borders for their colonies, without input from any African leader or thought to the deeply rooted ethnic and tribal politics.

The FP's methods included mutilation, village destruction, killings, and mass murder to motivate the slaves and locals to higher outputs.

King Leopold allowed several hundred foreign Protestant missionaries from Britain, the United States, and Sweden to travel to the Congo.

In the late 1880s William Sheppard, an African-American Protestant missionary, started to write to American newspapers and magazines about the mutilations and murder that he witnessed.

Congo State officials counterattacked with newspaper articles, letters, and comments from Leopold in the Belgian and British press, and quickly silenced Sjöblom.

[12] During the late summer of 1891 the Belgian Parliament defended Leopold and gave a 45-page report to the press circuit, effectively refuting Williams's accusations.

A powerful shipping magnate, Sir Alfred Lewis Jones was employed by Leopold in consular duties representing the Congo Free State.

In 1891, in order to dampen British criticism of human rights abuses in the Congo, he sponsored the travels of novelist May French Sheldon.

"[13] E. D. Morel later wrote that "Had Sir Alfred Jones come forward as the defender of the Congolese, the Congo tragedy would have been terminated long years ago.

In 1893, to increase his income and support his family, Morel began writing articles against French protectionism, which was damaging Elder Dempster's business.

Due to his fluency in French, Morel was often sent to Belgium, where he saw internal accounts of the Congo Free State held by Elder Dempster.

[16]But then he began to write about slavery, using adjectives like evil, bloody, vicious, horrific and violent:[17] Morel also published in major British and Belgian papers.

[22]The Times also provided a glowing review of the book: It is with great satisfaction that the public will welcome a contribution to our general knowledge on the subject… The sufferings of which the picture was given to the world in Uncle Tom's Cabin are as nothing to those which Mr. Morel represents to be habitual accomplishments of the acquisition of rubber and ivory by the Belgian companies.

As Morel's writings stirred public feelings for the "Congo Question" within Great Britain, Parliament created an international commission to investigate.

[28] Casement deliberately abstained from attending the launch of the Congo Reform Association at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool on March 23, 1904, because he did not want his celebrity to be the only reason people joined.

The manifesto called for "secure just and humane treatment of the inhabitants of the Congo State, and restoration of the rights to the land and of their individual freedom".

[29] No more than a week later, the Massachusetts Commission for International Justice organized the American branch of the Congo Reform Association with members including Mark Twain, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B.

Morel answered: America has a peculiar and very clear responsibility in the matter, inasmuch as the American Government was the first to recognize the status of the International Association (later the Congo State), and thereby paved the way for similar action on the part of the European Powers… It is to be hoped that President Roosevelt and the American people may help undo the grieves wrong, which was thereby unknowingly inflicted upon the native inhabitants of the Congo territories.Before Morel left for America he submitted a copy of the memorial to The New York Times, the New York Post, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and other press syndicates.

It is to appeal to you on behalf of the oppressed and persecuted peoples of the Congo, for whose present unhappy condition you, in America, and we, in England, have a great moral responsibility, from which we cannot escape and from which in honour we should not attempt to escape… It is my privilege to ask you who are met here in the cause of peace whether you will not lead a helping hand in staying the cruel and destructive wars – if the murder of helpless men and women can be dignified by such a name… In appealing to you on behalf of those millions of helpless Africans… It is a great responsibility that you have.

In a letter to Henry Cabot Lodge, Roosevelt wrote: "The only tomfoolery that anyone seems bent on is that about the Congo Free State outrages, and that is imbecile rather than noxious.

Appointed by Leopold himself, the commission reported horrific testimony, facts on deaths and mutilations, and letters obtained from the Congo Administration documenting the abuses.