Congolese Independence Speech

Lumumba, the first Congolese Prime Minister, gave the address during the official independence commemorations at the Palais de la Nation in Léopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa).

Lumumba's speech, broadcast live on the radio across the world, denounced colonialism and was interpreted as an affront to Belgium and Baudouin personally.

While it was well-received within the Congo, it was widely condemned internationally as unnecessarily confrontational and for showing ingratitude at a time when Belgium had granted independence to the state.

[4] Belgian rule in the Congo was based around the "colonial trinity" (trinité coloniale) of state, missionary and private company interests.

[5] The privileging of Belgian commercial interests meant that large amounts of capital flowed into the Congo and that individual regions became specialised.

On many occasions, the interests of the government and private enterprise became closely tied and the state helped companies break strikes and remove other barriers imposed by the indigenous population.

[5] The country was split into nesting, hierarchically organised administrative subdivisions, and run uniformly according to a set "native policy" (politique indigène)—in contrast to the British and the French, who generally favoured the system of indirect rule whereby traditional leaders were retained in positions of authority under colonial oversight.

Large numbers of whites that moved to the Congo after the end of World War II came from across the social spectrum, but were nonetheless always treated as superior to blacks.

[7] The largest, the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), was a united front organisation dedicated to achieving independence "within a reasonable" time and was led by, among others, Patrice Lumumba.

[10] The speech was given as part of the official ceremony held at the Palais de la Nation in Léopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa) marking the end of Belgian colonial rule in the country.

The service began at 9:00 am, after which delegates returned to the Palais de la Nation which had been the residency of the Belgian Governor-General of the Congo.

[11] Some leading Congolese musicians, notably Joseph Kabaselleh and his band, Le Grand Kallé et l'African Jazz, performed specially-written songs commemorating independence there until 11:00 am.

Baudouin depicted the end of colonial rule in the Congo as the culmination of the Belgian "civilising mission" and spoke of the close relations he hoped would be maintained between the two countries.

"[22] As Lumumba dressed, Kanza and one of the secretaries, André Mandi, read through as much of the speech as they could, replacing some individual words with less inflammatory language and crossing out several full paragraphs deemed too difficult to temper.

Greatly pleased with the result, Lumumba stated that he would read some parts of the speech verbatim, then improvise to respond to the atmosphere in the room as he saw fit.

Lumumba called upon other states, particularly Belgium, to support the Congo to establish mutually beneficial relations between the "two equal and independent countries".

[27] Political scientist Jean-Claude Willame argued that the speech was the result of Lumumba's growing frustration with the process of independence which he believed might represent a purely nominal change in government with no real effects.

[26] Others have pointed to the influence of Belgian Socialist delegates and representatives of the Guinean President, Ahmed Sékou Touré, who had a strongly Marxist ideology, all of whom hoped a public and international denunciation of colonialism would help them politically.

[30] The Belgian delegation found the oration deeply insulting; the king promptly exited the room after its delivery and Joseph Mobutu reported that other diplomats had tears in their eyes.

[30] Kanza tried to mollify the situation by presenting the speech to others in a moderate fashion[32] while Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Justin Marie Bomboko convinced Baudouin not to leave the celebrations, assuring him that Lumumba would clarify his intent in further remarks.

[33] After the break, Lumumba was persuaded by the outgoing Belgian resident, Walter Ganshof van der Meersch, to give a second speech which attempted to strike a more conciliatory tone between the two countries.

[31] When interviewed about the incident, Eyskens said "this speech caused a lot of disappointment" but pointed to Lumumba's subsequent conciliatory remarks with pleasure.

[41] Lumumba, for his part, was greatly annoyed by the Belgian hostility to his address and thought it served as additional proof that Belgium was undermining him.

[42] Between September 1960 and January 1961, partly at the instigation of the two countries, Lumumba was deposed from power, arrested and executed with the complicity of both the Congolese and Katangese governments.

[44] In Parliament, Albert Kalonji, with the support of other deputies, filed an interpellation against Lumumba, requesting that he explain the provocative nature of his oration.