Belgium Archives - Institute of the Black World 21st Century

The Prime Minister of Congo Patrice Lumumba speaks with U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter in Washington in July 1960.

How the U.S. issued its first ever order to assassinate a foreign leader

By IBW21Editors' Choice

A snub from the White House, a controversial stay at Blair House, an encounter with Dave Chappelle’s mother and a CIA-arranged tryst — what happened when Congo’s beleaguered leader visited…

October 18, 2023

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Left to right: Belgium's Queen Mathilde, Belgium's King Philippe, First Lady Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Felix Tshisekedi arrive at the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Kinshasa on June 8, 2022

Colonialism is not dead, Your Royal Highness

By IBW21Commentaries/Opinions

Royals should not be allowed to score ‘woke points’ by expressing regret over their ancestors’ atrocities. By Tafi Mhaka, Al Jazeera — On June 8, at the start of his…

August 9, 2022

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Protesters vandalised a statue of former Belgian King Leopold II at the Africa Museum, in Tervuren, near Brussels, earlier this month

Belgian king expresses ‘regrets’ over colonial past in Congo

By IBW21News & Current Affairs

Monarch acknowledges ‘acts of violence and cruelty’ inflicted during colonial rule. By Rory Sullivan, The Independent — The King of Belgium has expressed his “deepest regrets” for the violence and suffering inflicted during Belgian rule over what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the African country marks 60 years since it gained independence. In a letter written to Felix Tshisekedi, the president of the DRC, King Philippe became the first reigning Belgian monarch…

July 1, 2020

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The Second Sight of W.E.B. Du Bois

By IBW21Editors' Choice

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com — Chris Hedges gave this talk Friday at the Left Forum in New York City. W.E.B. Du Bois, more than any intellectual this nation produced in the first half of the 20th century, explained America to itself. He did this not only through what he called the “color line” but by exposing the intertwining of empire, capitalism and white supremacy. He deftly fused academic disciplines. He possessed unwavering…

June 6, 2018

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