Happy Birthday, Congo.I have posted below Patrice Lumumba’ independence speech that he read in from of parliament and King Baudouin on June 30th, 1960. Whatever one might think of Lumumba – I often find him to be more popular outside of the Congo – it was a great speech, given in response to King Baudouin’s statement that the Congo had benefited from “the genius of Leopold.” I think Louis Michel, the former Belgian foreign minister who recently said that Leopold had been “a visionary hero,” would do well to read it.
You can read it here.