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Neutrality - Yes
R. Ross, Vancouver, writes:

Th an address prepared for the
tecent UBC seminar on Africa,
Robert W. M. Q. Halm, Ghan-
1an ambassador to the United
States, after stating that Ghana
Wanted to tie itself up with
Neither the West nor the East,
Went on to say:

“The way out 1s the unifying

force inherent in African na-
lonalism.. This force of po-
tency, if properly harnessed
8nd manipulated, could propel
the component: parts of Africa
tresistibly into the sort of
Close co-operation. and solidar-
ity which would build up the
€ntire continent into a third
Strong force able to deal with
‘ny other without losing its
alance,

“This force would be able
© exert a real influence on
the side of peace for it is only
Ma setting of world peace that
it woulda have any chance of

€althy growth.”

I think the Ghanian Ambas-
Sador makes the case for p°si-
tive neutrafity very well. Since
"ack of neutrality, or, in other

Words, throwing in our. mili-

tary lot with the United States
“Sa policy leading to war, the
°bposite, neutrality, is not a
Policy ‘standing for nothing,
uta Policy standing for peace.
erhaps if there were an-

€r word which meant. ap-
Proximately the same thing as
Neutrality it would be better
a Use it, but I don’t think we
°uld get ourselves all fogged
ap by semantics. Neutrality
Means not being. an active par-

_ OPEN FORUM _

ticipant in the sinister plans
of the Pentagon. Neutrality
means giving encouragement
to other countries to disen-
tangle themselves from their
crushing military alliances.

Neutrality means serving no-
tice on the world that we have
grown out of the ranks of the
invertebrates. Neutrality
means that we are going to
stand on our own feet from
now on, and furthermore, it
serves notice on those who
would prepare for war that we
are not going to be the battle-
ground, the receptacle for mis-
fired missiles, the shield to
shelter aggression. Above all,
neutrality is very catching. It
is very appealing to the lesser
nations, particularly those now
bursting the bonds of colonial-
ism.

Canada has the opportunity
right now to strike a tremen-
dous blow for world peace and
at the same time turn the
course of her economy upward
instead of downward.

lrish ‘freedom’

R. H.,. Vancouver, writes
that there are 134 Irish trade
union men in Crumblin Road
Prison held with no charge
and no trial for 2% years. ‘

He says there. is .a police
state based on British occupa-
tion plus the. Special Powers
Act in North Ireland. Under

this Act theré is arrest without.

warrant or~ charge; indefinite

imprisonment without trial
and prisoners ‘are © denied
counsel. Police brutality is

rife.

iIMerk Twain and

the Belgian Congo

Mark Twain called him “the
pirate King of Belgium.”’

The great American social
critic was stirred to eloquent
anger by many injustices, but
few aroused such bitter wrath
in him as the crimes of King
Leopold II, Belgian colonizer
of the Congo.

In a letter to a friend in
1903, Twain said that all the
horrors in all the massacres of
recorded history ‘‘are the mer-
est trifles compared with King
Leopold’s bloody doings in the
Congo State today. I have been
arranging for Leopold with St.
Peter.” ;

Twain said he would see to
it that St. Peter would register
as Leopold’s trade mark “the
photograph of a little black
boy with a hand and foot cut
off,” and force the king ta
“wear it in hell.”

Twain’s anger was grounded
in fact. Leopold II had organ-
ized the Intl. Assn. for the Ex-
ploration and Civilization of
Central Africa in 1876. With
the help of explorer Henry M.
Stanley, the new association
chose to civilize the Congo
first. :

King Leopold took over the
Congo (a million square miles
of land, and some 20 million
inhabitants) as his personal
domain, and the U.S. Govern-
ment recognized the regime in
1884, first government io do
so.

Stories of unbelievable cru-
elty and exploitation began to
filter out of the so-called Con-
go Free State; but it was not
until 1904 when the facts were
assembled and documented in
a report by Roger Casement,
British consul in the Congo.

The world was shocked by
Casement’s account of forced
labor and savage torture im-
posed upon the Africans. Af-
ricans who failed to gather the
quotas of rubber set by the
colonial regime had _ their
hands chopped off, their geni-
tals severed, their villages
burned. down, their children
mutilated and murdered.

Afriean women were tortur-
ed, murdered, raped, driven
into brothels for King Leo-
pold’s soldiers and agents.

It was estimated: that in the
first 20 years of Leopold’s
reign between five million and
nine: million Africans perished:

Mark 'Fwain was, particular-
ly incensed because the U.S.
Government was the first to:
give. official~ sanction to Leo-
pold’s colonial lordship. On
Thanksgiving Day, 1904; not
long -after ‘Casement’s disclos-
ures, Twain wrote “A Thanks-
giving Sentiment,’’ which read:

“We have much to be. thank-
ful for. Our free Republic be-
ing the official godfather of
the Congo Graveyard; first of

the Powers to
pirate flag and become respon-
sible through silence for the
prodigous depredations and
multitudinous murders com-

less natives by King Leopold

of Belgium in the past twenty |
years; now therefore let us be|
humbly thankful that this last}
twelve months has seen the}

King’s usual annual myriad of
murders reduced by nearly
one and one half percent; let
us be humbly grateful that the
good King, our pet and pro-
tege, due in hell these 65 years
is still spared to us to continue
his work and ours among the
friendless and forsaken; and

finally let us live in the bless- |

ed hope that when in the Last
Great Day he is confronted
with his unoffending millions
upon millions of robbed, mu-
tilated and massacred men,
women and children, and re-
quired to explain, he will be as
politely silent about us as we
have been about him.”

Twain’s major work about
the Congo was “King Leo-
pold’s Soliloquy: A Defense of
His Congo Rule,” written at
the request of the Congo Re-
form Assn. and published in
pamphlet form
1905.

In an acidly
Twain fancies _

ironic vein,
Leopold’s_ re-

sponses to the charges level-

led against his colonial reign.
At one point, after being un-
moved by gruesome reports of
cruelties inflicted upon the
Congolese, he comes upon the
item: “The crucifying of sixty
women.” This upsets him.

recognize its |

in Boston,

“How stupid, how tactless!*
Leopold exclaims.

“Christendom’s. goose flesh
will rise with horror at the

: : ‘news ‘Profanatio: f the sac-
mitted under it upon the help- | ee? Lk

red emblem.’ This is what
Christendom will shout. Yes,
Christendom will buzz. It can
hear me charged with half a
million murders a year for 20
years and keep its composure,
| but to profane the Symbol is
quite another matter. It will
regard this as serious. It wilk
wake up and want to look into
my record. Buzz? Indeed it
will; I seem to hear the distant
hum already .. +5

“It was wrong to crucify the
women, clearly wrong, mani-
festly wrong. I can see it now,
myself, and am sorry it hap-
|pened, sincerely sorry. I be-
jlieve it would have answered
|just as well to skin them...
| (With a sigh). But none of us
|thought of that; one cannot
| think of everything; and after
| aul it is but human to err.”
| International pressure, in
| which Twain’s writings played
|a major part, finally compelled
|the Belgian Parliament to
| change the status of the Congo
|—from the King’s private do-
|main to Belgian colony.
| The more terrible excesses
| were then checked — but the
| essential elements of colonial
'rule, exploitation and suppres-
sion, continued.

(Note: The material above
| was culled from “Mark Twain:
|Social Critic,’ by Philip S.
| Foner, available through Peop-
|les Co-op Bookstore, 307 W.
! Pender).

Picture: shows. the new Pravda printing plant being built
in Moscow by the new interlocking concrete pillar meth-
od. Writing from Moscow, Mark Frank, Pacific Tribune
corespondent says: “ever see those plastic toy sets with
tiny logs and pieces that interlock to make do-it-yourself
toy buildings. Try to imagine a huge modern plant going
up using roughly the same idea. That’s how the new
Pravda printing plant looks in the assembly stage.”

August 12, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5