h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...and very sad. Is there any exception to the sort of treatment that was meted out to Africa under European colonial rule?

Out of interest, is the old Belgian Congo now Zaire *and* the other Congo (Republic of Congo?) Or have they been seperate states since colonial times?

It beats me how they got away with it. I mean, how can 9 million dead be somehow "better"?? It's still 9 million too many.

And - if I reneged on my debts like that (oh ... it's too much ... I'll just get the government to pay it ... no ... let's get the poor b*(&^%$s who we're exploiting to pay it ... ), (a) it wouldn't work (b) I'd end up bankrupt or in gaol. Where old Leo belonged, actually.

It makes me wonder where the world would be today if the Europeans had stayed where they should have (at home, in Europe). There would have been fewer wars, negligible genocide of Indigenous people, and less angst all round. S11 would be fermenting in the fevered imagination of some spec. fic. writer, not acted out in reality.

for a good thought provoking article.

I'm glad you liked it.

AFAIK (which isn't much) the Zaire Congo is what was once the Belgian Congo, and I think the other Congo belonged to a different European country at some point. But definitely don't quote me on that. I could actually look it up, except I'm notoriously lazy.

>>the other Congo belonged to a different European country <<

France (though bits of the north of it belonged to the Germans prior to the First World War)

Thanks

*waves to Krabatt*

Well, it's looking good. Perphaps it could have been more specific but then what am I talking about if I cannot provide the details myself.
I know that after the inquest by the Belgian Government, ordered to do so by the Belgian parliament, one of Leopold's members of staff who was responsible for Leopold's dealings and wheelings in Congo, commited suicide. But, like I said, I do not know the details and who does after the burning of the CFS-archives? Anyway, there is now more knowledge amongst the Belgians about Leopold II's role as mass-murderer. I came across a bookshop with a display of many books about this subject.

Good job, Echomikeromeo.