Patrice Lumumba

Patrice Emery Lumumba (July 2, 1925 - January, 1961) was an African nationalist leader and the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo when it declared its independence in June 1960. Forced out of office during a political crisis in September, he was assassinated in January 1961.

Independence Day: "Tears, Fire, and Blood" Speech

King Baudouin of Belgium flew to Leopoldville to perform the official handover. It was here that Lumumba gave his "tears, fire and blood" speech that so angered the Belgians.

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Before King Baudouin's arrival, Lumumba's cabinet had decided that the country should present a united front at the independence celebrations, and that the titular leader, President Joseph Kasavubu should reply to the King's speech. (Congo's Loi Fundamentale, published by Belgium as the defacto national constitution for the country, had invested supreme power in the prime minister. The president only played a ceremonial role, with no executive powers).

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On independence day, 30 June, King Baudouin, then 30 years old, chose to make one of the most undiplomatic speeches ever heard by the world. Standing before millions of ecstatic Congolese in Leopoldville, the King said:

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"The independence of the Congo is the crowning of the work conceived by the genius of King Leopold II, undertaken by him with courage and continued by Belgium with perseverance.

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"For 80 years, Belgium has sent to your land the best of its sons - first to deliver the Congo basin from the odious slave trade which was decimating the population, later to bring together the different tribes which, though former enemies, are now preparing to form the greatest of the independent states of Africa...

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"Belgian pioneers have built railways, cities, industries, schools, medical services and modernised agriculture... It is your task, gentlemen, to show that we were right in trusting you.

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"The dangers before you are the inexperience of people to govern themselves, tribal fights which have done so much harm, and must at all costs be stopped, and the attraction which some of your regions can have for foreign powers which are ready to profit from the least sign of weakness..."

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Long faces greeted the King's speech. Even the moderate Kasavubu, who replied on behalf of the new Congo nation, had to drop the second half of his prepared speech praising the King.

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Lumumba, not scheduled officially to speak that day, could not hold himself any longer. He was not known to be a waffler. He took the podium and went straight to the point:

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"Men and women of the Congo, who have fought for and won the independence we celebrate today, I salute you in the name of the Congolese government.

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"I ask you all, friends who have fought relentlessly side by side to make this 30th of June 1960 an illustrious date that remains ineradicably engraved on your hearts, a date whose significance you will be proud to teach to your children, who will in turn pass on to their children and grandchildren the glorious story of our struggle for liberty.

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"For, while the independence of the Congo has today been proclaimed in agreement with Belgium, a friendly country with whom we deal on an equal footing, no Congolese worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that independence has only been won by struggle, a struggle that went on day after day, a struggle of fire and idealism, a struggle in which we have spared neither effort, deprivation, suffering or even our blood.

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"The struggle, involving tears, fire, and blood, is something of which we are proud in our deepest hearts, for it was a noble and just struggle, which was needed to bring to an end the humiliating slavery imposed on us by force.

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"Such was our lot for 80 years under the colonialist regime; our wounds are still too fresh and painful for us to be able to forget them at will, for we have experienced painful labour demanded of us in return for wages that were not enough to enable us to eat properly, nor to be decently dressed or sheltered, nor to bring up our children as we longed to.

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"We have experienced contempt, insults and blows, morning, noon and night because we were 'blacks.' We shall never forget that a black man was addressed informally, not because he was a friend but because only the whites were given the honour of being addressed formally.

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"We have seen our lands despoiled in the name of so-called legal documents which were no more than a recognition of superior force. We have known that the law was never the same for a white man as it was for a black man: for the former it made allowances, for the latter, it was cruel and inhuman.

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"We have seen the appalling suffering of those who had their political opinions and religious beliefs dismissed as exiles in their own country, their lot was truly worse than death. We have seen magnificent houses in the towns for the whites, and crumbling straw huts for the blacks; a black man could not go to the cinema, or a restaurant, or a shop that was meant for 'Europeans,' a black man would always travel in the lowest part of a ship, under the feet of the whites in their luxurious cabins.

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"And finally, who can ever forget the shooting in which so many of our brothers died; or the cells where those who refused to submit any longer to the rule of a 'justice' of oppression and exploitation were put away?

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"All this, brothers, has meant the most profound suffering. But all this, we can now say, we who have been voted as your elected representatives to govern our beloved country, all this is now ended. The Republic of Congo has been proclaimed, and our land is now in the hands of its own children. Together, brothers and sisters, we shall start on a new struggle, a noble struggle that will bring our country to peace, prosperity and greatness...

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"We shall show the world what the black man can do when he is allowed to work in freedom, and we shall make the Congo the focal point of Africa..."

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The expression on King Baudouin's face as Lumumba uttered those words could not be described in friendly terms. Congo was allowed only two weeks of peace after independence under Lumumba's government.

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