Torn From Parents in the Belgian Congo, Women Seek Reparations – The News Pig thenewspig.com

All because of the exploitation of mineral riches of course, and everyone had its hand in it.
The humanitarian result, displaced and abused children.

Belgian civil servants snatched some kids from their households, or coerced the dad and mom of others into handing over their kids to Catholic establishments cooperating with the state. A minority of those kids was despatched to Belgium, whereas most stayed in Congo. Their father, they have been informed, was “Papa l’État,” our father, the state.

As Belgium grapples with its colonial previous, critics say it has principally taken symbolic measures that do little to deal with the trauma. In 2018, the nation renamed a sq. after Patrice Lumumba, a Congolese chief it helped overthrow in a coup that led to his dying, and revamped a museum that celebrated colonialism. Final 12 months, the authorities eliminated some statues of King Leopold II, whose rule over Congo led to the deaths of thousands and thousands by way of compelled labor and famine. King Philippe of Belgium has additionally expressed his “deepest regrets for the injuries of the previous,” however stopped in need of apologizing.