King Leopold: The Oppressor

King Leopold II of Belgium’s speech delivered to missionaries traveling to the Congo describes an attempt by the king to justify the subjugation of the Congolese people for the benefit of the Belgian economy. King Leopold directed his speech to the Catholic missionaries who were planning on working with the indigenous population of the Congo in 1883. Leopold, blinded by racism and imperialist greed, stresses that the missionaries should selectively interpret their Bible teachings in a manner that appears to rationalize the oppression and exploitation of the native Congolese population. In doing so, the missionaries helped Leopold achieve his goal of transforming Belgium into an imperialist country with international influence. Leopold’s use of inflammatory diction, allusions to scriptures from the Bible, and repetition of a commanding inflection in his speech convinced his myopic audience to commit terrible atrocities in his name. However, it should be noted that his lack of logical development, which includes inconsistencies in his reasoning, ultimately undermines his already weak arguments that he claims are justification for the subjugation of the Congolese population.

King Leopold begins his speech by informing his missionaries that they will be carefully interpreting the principles of the Bible in a manner that will benefit the Belgian state during Belgium’s colonization of the Congo. He clearly showcases his strictly imperialist agenda by stating “The main goal of your mission in the Congo is not to teach the Negro the knowledge of God, because they already know him” (Par. 1). Using this frank and straightforward method, Leopold makes no effort to conceal the devious nature of his commands. Under the guise of spreading rel...

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...y generalizations of the Congolese culture and people and labeled it as inferior to his own without offering any proof. He also argued for atrocities to be committed in his name without any justification of it being morally wrong besides his own opinion. Furthermore, even his use of the Bible as a kind of justification is wrong once the total message of the Bible is considered. The holy scriptures of Catholicism promote lessons of love, equality, and universal comradeship and is completely counterintuitive to Leopold’s arguments of superiority. Any audience can see the irony inherent in Leopold’s speech each time he alludes to the Bible seeing as its message is the opposite of violation of human rights he is advocating for.

Works Cited

Leopold, King, II. "Afrika Global Network (AGN)." Afrika Global Network (AGN). Afrika Global Network, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.