Patrice Lumumba

Patrice Lumumba was one of the greatest heroes of human history. He stood up not only for
freedom for African peoples. He was an example of a leader of the overall human rights struggle in
general. He loved his wife (who was Pauline) a great deal. The movement of Pan-Africanism in
general owes a great debt of gratitude to the late Brother Patrice Lumumba. He lived a short life,
but he executed a massive impact in the freedom struggle. Patrice Lumumba was born on July 2,
1925. His father was named Franois Tolenga Otetshima. Franois was a farmer. Franois wife was
Julienne Wamato Lomendja. Patrice was born in Onalua in the Congo. He was part of the Tetela
ethnic group. His birth name was lias Okit'Asombo. His original surname means "heir of the
cursed" and is derived from the Tetela words okit/okit ('heir, successor') and asomb ('cursed or
bewitched people who will die quickly'). Patrice had three brothers (Charles Lokolonga, mile
Kalema, and Louis Onema Pene Lumumba) and one half-brother (Tolenga Jean). Lumumba was
raised in a Catholic family. He was educated at a Protestant primary school, a Catholic missionary
school, and finally in the government post office training school. He passed the one year course
with distinction. Patrice Lumumba could also speak Tetela, French, Lingala, Swahili, and Tshiluba.
Lumumba worked in Kinshasa (it was called Leopoldville back then) and in Kisangani (which was
called Stanleyville back then) as a postal clerk and as a traveling beer salesman. In 1951, Lumumba
married Pauline Opangu. Patrice and Pauline Lumumba would have a son named Guy-Patrice

Lumumba. By 1955, Lumumba became the regional head of the Cercles of Stanleyville. He soon
joined the Liberty Party of Belgium where he worked on editing and distributing party literature. He
studied in Belgium, but he was arrested in 1955 on charges of embezzlement, but he returned the
funds. Patrice Lumumba was released in July 1956 with the helped of the Belgian lawyer named
Jules Chrome.
Naturally, Patrice Lumumba was always a political person. He helped to found the MNC or the
Mouvement national Conglais in 1958. Lumumba and his team represented the MNC at the AllAfrican Peoples Conference in Accra, Ghana during December of 1958. Lumumba wanted to
advance Pan-Africanist beliefs. Pan Africanism is the view that all of Africa should be unified socially,
economically, and politically as one. The conference was hosted by Pan-African President Kwame
Nkrumah of Ghana. In the All-African Peoples Conference of December 1958, Lumumba also met
with Shirley Graham Dubois, George Padmore, and Kwame Nkrumah. The AAPC in Ghana allowed
Lumumba to be a well-known figure of the liberation movement in Africa, in America, and
worldwide.
Kwame Nkrumah influenced Lumumba, all Africans, black Americans, all members of the black
African Diaspora, and all freedom loving peoples of the world. In late October 1959, Lumumba, as
leader of the organization, was arrested for inciting an anti-colonial riot in Stanleyville where thirty
people were killed. He was sentenced to 69 months in prison. The trials start date was on January
18, 1960. This was the first day of a round table conference in Brussels to finalize the future of the
Congo. Lumumba was in prison at this time, but the MNC won a huge majority in the December
local elections in the Congo. Lumumba was released from jail because of strong pressure from the
delegates. He attended the Brussels conference. The conference culminated on January 27 with a
declaration of Congolese independence, setting June 30, 1960, as the independence date with
national elections from May 11-25, 1960. Lumumba and the MNC won this election and the right
to form a government, with the announcement on June 23, 1960 of 34-year-old Lumumba as
Congo's first prime minister and Joseph Kasa-Vubu as its president. In accordance with the
constitution, on June 24 the new government passed a vote of confidence and was ratified by the
Congolese Chamber and Senate.
Independence Day in Congo was celebrated on June 30, 1960 via a ceremony. There were
elections held a week before. Many dignitaries attended it like Belgian King Baudouin and the
foreign press. The problem was that Baudouin gave a speech where he praised colonialism, praised
Leopold II of Belgium, and he ignored the atrocities committed by white imperialists against black
Africans in Congo. The Belgian imperialists like King Leopold I killed over 10 million black Congolese
human beings during the 19th century. His speech was very disrespectful and patronizing by calling
Congo to receive advice from the Belgians. The President Kasa-Vubus speech assured the King of
Belgium that they would try hard. The young, eloquent nationalist Lumumba was not scheduled to
speak, but he delivered a great, eloquent speech which reminded the audience that the
independence of the Congo was not grant magnanimously by Belgium.

Patrice Lumumba said the following words in the speech:

For this independence of the Congo, even as it is celebrated today with Belgium, a
friendly country with whom we deal as equal to equal, no Congolese worthy of the name will
ever be able to forget that it was by fighting that it has been won, a day-to-day fight, an
ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering,
and for which we gave our strength and our blood. We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of
fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and
indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by
force

Lumumba spoke about the horrendous suffering of the Congolese under Belgian colonialism
(including of injustice, oppression, and exploitation). Lumumbas speech was accurate, courageous,
and necessary. Days after Congo gained its independence; Lumumba decided to raise the pay of all
government employees except for the army. He was a Prime Minister of the Congo then. Many
Belgian officers like General Janssens refused to accept their position after independence, so they
rebelled and caused the 1960 munity. The rebellion spread all over the Congo and Europeans fled
the country. The province of Katanga declared its independence under the regional premier Moise
Tshombe on July 11, 1960. Tshombe was a traitor to black people as he not only allied with the
Belgian government, but he allied also with mining companies like Union Miniere. The unrest
continued even when UN troops came about in the Congolese region. Lumumba sought Soviet aid
via arms, food, medical supplies, trucks, and planes help move troops to Katanga. This action
alarmed his colleagues and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu, who wanted a more moderate political
approach.
In July 12, 1960, President Joseh Kasa-Vubu and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba of the Congo sent
a cable asking the urgent dispatch of United Nations military assistance to the Congo. The
Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjld addressed the Security Council at a night meeting on July 13.
He asked the Council to act with utmost speed on the request to send UN military assistance to
the Congo. Pursuant to Security Council resolutions, the United Nations Force in the Congo was
established and the Secretary-General himself made four trips to the Congo in connection with the
United Nations operations there. The first two trips to the Congo were made in July and August
1960.
Lumumba said these words on his political philosophy:
This is a propagandist trick aimed at me. I am not a Communist. The colonialists have campaigned
against me throughout the country because I am a revolutionary and demand the abolition of the colonial
regime, which ignored our human dignity. They look upon me as a Communist because I refused to be
bribed by the imperialists." (From an interview to a "France-Soir" correspondent on July 22, 1960). At
the end of the day, a Brother or a Sister has every right to be a non-Communist or a Communist if he or
she wants to.

"...Lumumba [is] the greatest black man who ever walked the African continent. He didnt fear
anybody. He had those people so scared they had to kill him. They couldnt buy him, they
couldnt frighten him, they couldnt reach him. Why, he told the king of Belgium, Man, you may
let us free, you may have given us our independence, but we can never forget these scars. The
greatest speechyou should take that speech and tack it up over your door. This is what
Lumumba said: You arent giving us anything. Why, can you take back these scars that you put
on our bodies? Can you give us back the limbs that you cut off while you were here?..."
-Malcolm's speech at a rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity held on June 28, 1964

On September 1960, the President dismissed Lumumba illegally from the government. Lumumba
immediately protested the legality of the Presidents actions. Congo is the third largest nation in
Africa and it has rich, natural resources. Also, the Western establishment wanted to control
Congolese resources like uranium, cobalt, diamonds, and rubber. Two of the companies that shaped
the history of Congo were the Union Miniere de Haut-Katanga founded in 1906 (mining copper,
uranium, cobalt, etc.) and the Societe Internationale Forestiere et Miniere du Congo (Forminiere)
which started mining diamonds in the Congo in 1907. By 1950, the Rockefeller Group became a
major shareholder of Union Miniere by buying into one of Minieres subsidiaries, Tanganyika
Concessions. This opened the door for American interests in Union Miniere. So, Lumumba wanted
Congo to have economic liberation and use the resources of the Republic of the Congo to improve
the general welfare of his people. The West didnt want that. The West wanted the Congo to be
basically a puppet, pro-Western nation. According to Under Secretary of State Douglas Dillon,
President Eisenhower and the National Security Council determined in 1960 that Lumumba was a
"very difficult if not impossible man to deal with, and was dangerous to the peace and safety of the
world." This is why the Western imperialists supported Tshombe (who Malcolm X publicly
condemned as a murderer) and his Katanga state. Many reactionaries like G. Edward Griffith falsely
labeled Lumumba a Communist when he was a nationalist. Also, it has been found that Kasa-Vubu
was on the CIA payroll. The Eisenhower administration in Washington used pressure to prevent the
UN from confronting Tshombe. Conor Cruise OBrien (who was the UNs political officers) resigned
in protest of this bad policy from the Eisenhower administration. The UN also blocked Soviet
planes supporting Lumumba from using its airfields.

Lumumba took his case of being illegally dismissed by the President to the Congolese legislature
where both houses of Parliament voted to reinstate him as Prime Minister. The CIA viewed
Lumumba as a threat, because of his great leadership qualities, his resistance to Western imperial
aims, and his great oratory ability. On September 14, 1960, the CIA-backed Colonel Joseph Mobutu
used a coup detat to stop both Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu. Lumumba was placed under house arrest
at the Prime Ministers residence with UN troops positioned around the house. Nevertheless,
Lumumba decided to rouse his supporters in Haut. Smuggled out of his residence at night, Patrice
Lumumba escaped to Stanleyville, where his intention apparently was to set up his own
government and army. On November 22, 1960, the UN General Assembly voted to recognize the
delegation of Kasa-Vubu and military reactionary leader Joseph Mobutu, refusing to sit delegates
loyal to the democratically-elected Lumumba.

Mobutus loyal troops pursued Lumumba and he was captured at Port Francqui on December 1,
1960. He was flown to Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) in ropes not handcuffs. Mobutu claimed that
Lumumba would be tried for inciting the army to rebellion and other crimes. United Nations
Secretary General Dag Hammarskjld made an appeal to Kasa-Vubu asking that Lumumba be
treated according to due process of law. The USSR denounced Hammarskjld (since that they
viewed him as not going far enough) and the West as responsible for Lumumba's arrest and
demanded his release. The UN Security Council was called into session on December 7, 1960. The
UN considered the Soviets demands (of making Lumumba the head of the Congo government, the
dismantling of Mobutus forces, and the evacuation immediately of Belgians from the Congo).
Hammarskjld, answering Soviet attacks against his Congo operations, said that if the UN forces
were withdrawn from the Congo "I fear everything will crumble." The pro-Lumumba resolutions

were defeated on December 14, 1960 by a vote of 8-2. On the same day, a Western resolution that
would have given Hammarskjld increased powers to deal with the Congo situation was vetoed by
the Soviet Union. Lumumba was sent to the Thysviell military barracks Camp Hardy on December 3,
1960. This was about 100 miles from Kinshasa. He was sent to the state of Katanga because of
security risks. He was forcibly restrained on the flight to Elizabethville (now Lubumbashi) on January
17, 1961. On arrival, Lumumba was under arrest to Brouwez House where he was brutally beaten
and tortured by Katangan and Belgian officers, President Tshombe and his cabinet debated on what
to do with Lumumba. Patrice Lumumba was driven to an isolated spot where tree firing squads had
been assembled. Dag Hammarskjld would die in a plane crash (on September 18, 1961) while he
was trying to resolve the crisis in the Congo. Dag Hammarskjld received the Nobel Peace Prize
posthumously or after his death in 1961.

The Belgian Commission has found that the execution was carried out by Katanga's authorities. It
reported that President Tshombe and two other ministers were present with four Belgian officers
under the command of Katangan authorities. Lumumba and two ministers from his newly formed
independent government (and who had also been tortured), Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito,
were lined up against a tree and shot one at a time. Patrice Lumumba was killed on January 17,
1961 in Elisabethville, Katanga. He was 35 years old. On January 17, 1961, Mobutu Sese Seko (who
was a pro-Western puppet and a reactionary) was installed in Congo with Belgium and USA support.
We know that the CIA wanted to dispose of Lumumba as documented by a 1975 U.S. Senate
Committee under Frank Church of Idaho. Mobutu ruled for 30 years and caused Congo to suffer civil
unrest, current devaluations, etc. Sadly, millions of Congolese people died in the recent civil war in
the Congo. The Belgians and their counterparts wanted to get rid of the bodies. So, their bodies
were dug up, dismembered, and dissolved in sulfuric acid, with the bones ground and scattered.
This is why Im against European imperialism and puppet regimes. Patrice Lumumba was a poet (his
poems and essays like May Our People Triumph and Dawn in the Heart of Africa are found in
Congolese journals. He gained national acclaim for them), a father, a husband, a man, a freedom
fighter, and a revolutionary. The announcement of his death caused protests in Belgrade, London,
and in New York City. We learn the truth that the power of the workers, the poor, and the
oppressed can be harness to create change.
We have to learn about the great anti-imperialist Patrice Lumumba and our other heroic Brothers
and Sisters worldwide. With the recent events in Baltimore, we should always be reminded that all
of us (of black African descent) are one. The human race in general should have justice. All black
people of black African descent should unify and continue to desire justice. We want black
liberation worldwide without exception.
By Timothy

RIP Brother Patrice Lumumba

Long live the Congo! Long live Africa.

-Patrice Lumumbas last words in his final letter to his wife.