WHITE KING, RED RUBBER & BLACK DEATH

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Phnom Penh: there will be a screening on Saturday this week of Belgian Peter Bate tells the true story of what King Leopold II of Belgium did in the Congo - to turn the Congo into his own private colony from 1885 to 1908. Under his control, the Congo became a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold assumed the role of "protector" of Africans fleeing Arab slave traders, but, in reality, he exploited them as he amassed a personal fortune in this country rich in rubber. If the men failed to produce enough wild rubber, their families were held hostage and starved to death. It is agreed today, that the first Human Rights movement was spurred by what happened in the Congo (2003, 84mins). Screening is followed by CONGOTRONICS - urban african beats filmed live from Kinshasa....