Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted November 7, 2017 Awards Moderator Share Posted November 7, 2017 On the reframing of colonial history topic, it's very interesting to look at Belgium and what they've done, and are doing, with their museum about the Belgian Congo. What King Leopold did there was abominable, and the history of the museum in and of itself is fascinating. In recent years they've had a total restoration and it's a case of coming to terms with how this museum came to be, why its exhibits are in Belgium, and how completely awful the whole enterprise actually was - while remaining truthful to past perspectives of the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted November 7, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted November 7, 2017 What Europe got up to in its colonies makes for fascinating, horrifying, angering reading. Between Belgium, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Spain, it's a list of atrocities that never seems to end. When you take into account that neo-colonialism via economic strong-arming as well as secret service dirty tricks (the assassination by the CIA of Patrice Lumumba in Zaire and his replacement with the dictator Mobutu is probably the most notable example) is a major factor in why Africa is still fucked, it still flabberghasts me when Europeans and Americans try to claim that "the empires were long ago, Africa should've moved past it by now".Ā One excellent book worth reading, if a little old now, is Decolonisation Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Provides an excellent insight into the challenges many of these countries face post-colonially, both from the West and internally (often the two are inter-related). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted November 6, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 6, 2018 Wasn't sure where to put this, but this thread mentions Hitler, sooo.... This is from a tape I found last year while cleaning the attic out. It was recorded sometime around 1988 when we were supposed to ask our Grandparents questions about their time in the war. MeĀ - thinking I was clever - just set the tape recorder going and let my Grandad speak (whilst simultaneously making dinner, and Mrs Hancock from next door makes a surpriseĀ appearance near the end). As I was only 11, a lot of what he said went over my head, especially the bit aboutĀ doing war registration, and it's only listening to it now that I realise how utterly horrific it sounds. At the time it was the bit about the flying bombs that caught my attention. What's a bit annoying is that some of the stories he was known for weren't mentioned (such as his ship getting torpedoed and having an overly-friendly dolphin kick the shit out of him whilst waiting to be rescued, or getting his hand caught on a hook when trying to quickly vacate a truck that was getting strafed and being left dangling), and he focuses more on the various places he got stationed. Ā Ā Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 Churchill is one of the best examples that the victors really do write the history books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.