You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
In the two decades before World War One, Great Britain witnessed the largest revival of anti-slavery protest since the legendary age of emancipation in the mid-nineteenth century. Rather than campaigning against the trans-Atlantic slave trade, these latter-day abolitionists focused on the so-called 'new slaveries' of European imperialism in Africa, condemning coercive systems of labor taxation and indentured servitude, as well as evidence of atrocities. A Civilized Savagery illuminates the multifaceted nature of British humanitarianism by juxtaposing campaigns against different forms of imperial labor exploitation in three separate areas: the Congo Free State, South Africa, and Portuguese West Africa. In doing so, Kevin Grant points out how this new type of humanitarianism influenced the transition from Empire to international government and the advent of universal human rights in subsequent decades.
In Neutrality as a Policy Choice for Small/Weak Democracies: Learning from the Belgian Experience, Michael F. Palo has three main objectives. First, he employs a counterfactual approach to examine the hypothesis that had permanent neutrality not been imposed on Belgium in 1839, it would have pursued neutrality anyway until war broke out in 1914. Secondly, he analyses why, after abandoning obligatory neutrality during World War I, the Belgians adopted voluntary neutrality in October 1936. Finally, he seeks to use the historical Belgian case study to test specific International Relations’ Theories and to contribute to Small State Studies, especially the behaviour of small/weak democracies in the international system.
The Postcolonial Low Countries is the first book to bring together critical and comparative approaches to the emergent field of neerlandophone postcolonial studies. The collection of essays ranges across the cultures and literatures of the Netherlands and Belgium and establishes an encounter between postcolonial theoretical discourses from both within and without the region. Each one of the contributions puts under pressure the definitive concepts of postcolonial studies in its more conventional anglophone or francophone formation, as well as perceptions of the Low Countries, Belgium and the Netherlands, as lying outside or to the side of the postcolonial domain. In the Low Countries, local ...
Zaire, apparently strong and stable under Presdident Mobutu in the early 1970s, was bankrupt and discredited by the end of that decade, beset by hyperinflation and mass corruption, the populace forced into abject poverty. Why and how, in a new african state strategically located in Central Africa and rich in mineral resources, did this happen? How did the Zairian state become a “parasitic predator” upon its own people?
Jean Stengers s'est passionné pour l'histoire de Léopold II et du Congo durant quarante ans au moins. Il a longuement travaillé à la fois dans les archives étrangères et dans les archives belges. Ce qu'il nous offre ici est un ensemble d'études qui couvrent un siècle d'histoire : elles vont du 17 février 1860 - date du premier discours colonial du futur Léopold II - jusqu'à l'indépendance du Congo, le 30 juin 1960. On y trouve abordés la plupart des angles majeurs de la politique du Roi, puis de la Belgique. Ces aspects sont souvent controversés. L'auteur s'attache, là où il rencontre des conceptions légendaires, que ce soient des légendes dorées ou des légendes noires, ...
In Genocide Denials and the Law, Ludovic Hennebel and Thomas Hochmann offer a thorough study of the relationship between law and genocide denial from the perspectives of specialists from six countries. This controversial topic provokes strong international reactions involving emotion caused by denial along with concerns about freedom of speech. The authors offer an in-depth study of the various legal issues raised by the denial of crimes against humanity, presenting arguments both in favor of and in opposition to prohibition of this expression. They do not adopt a pro or contra position, but include chapters written by proponents and opponents of a legal prohibition on genocide denial. Henne...
Congo's past is painted as a gallery of horrors! Looting of King Leopold, a precursor to Hitler and Stalin! Holocaust, hands cut off, whipping, red rubber, forced labour, etc. In fact, all these atrocities have been fueled by interested foreigners. For the first time, a well documented Congolese tests the accuracy of all told and untold stories. His captivating work reveals how major issues have been changed and outright falsified. Why? There is an underlying racism. That is gripping! This book is the first volume of a Trilogy that unfolds major, continuous, and disgraceful fake news (Vol 1), puts King Leopold on trial with XXIst century criteria (Vol 2), and tells 135 years of comprehensive and dignified history (Vol 3)! Indeed, the truth about the Congo’s past comes from Congolese living in the Congo ! The author, Marcel Yabili, is a lawyer. He has been living and acting permanently in the Congo for 50 years. He shares his testimonies and observations in scientific, literary, and artistic works, articles and blogs, as well as in his family museum of collective memory.
For decades before and after African independence, the London weekly West Africa was a well-known source of news, analysis and comment on the region, especially the (former) British territories. Jonathan Derrick, who worked on the magazine's staff in the 1960s and again in its final years before closure in 2003, here studies the earlier history of West Africa through the story of its largely forgotten editor, Albert Cartwright, from the magazine's founding in 1917 to Cartwright's retirement in 1947. Before editing West Africa, Cartwright spent twenty years in South Africa, making the headlines in 1901 when, as editor of Cape Town's South African News during the Boer War, he was jailed for a ...
The man who bought a country -- The emergence of an idea -- King Leopold's Borneo -- Bismarck's Borneo -- Epilogue: "A great act of folly
None