King Leopold's Regime

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King Leopold's Regime

From the beginning of time genocide has taken place and likely is not to end anytime soon. The atrocity from King Leopold's regime is one of the most unheard of cases of genocide but also one of the most gruesome. The killing and atrocities going on in Congo were full-blown genocide. The King was greedy, did not have any care or respect for his people, and also allowed and had the practice of slavery.

The main motivating factor for King Leopold to commit this mass genocide was greed. All that the King cared about was money and power. To fully understand the extent of genocide that was committed by the King you need to know the exact meaning of genocide. According to Webster Dictionary genocide means the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. An example of the King's greed was a decree he made that by which all the land, all the rubber, and all the ivory was to be the property of the State ---- which was himself. This made it illegal for natives to sell ivory are rubber to Europeans, and for the Europeans to buy it from the natives. The King than sent a letter to all of his officials telling them of a bonus they would receive for collecting rubber and ivory from natives at bargain prices. The officials would buy ivory and rubber that was worth a dollar for thirty cents from the natives and receive a fifteen-cent bonus. The act of doing this is illegal under article 23 section 2 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This article says " Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work." This article means that the natives should receive fair payment of one dollar for selling their ivory and rubber not the thirty cents that ...

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...he slaves would cross narrow bridges if one feel all the slaves would fall and die. This is an inexcusable way to die and treat a human being.

The King's actions were inexcusable. King Leopold had no respect for his people or cared for their well being. His actions in every way were genocide. He broke almost every article in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. All that King Leopold cared about was money and power. In order to obtain this he enslaved his fellow people. He also killed millions of people with no conscious at all. In order to get people to do what he wanted he threatened them with cruel and unusual punishment. The best way to sum up the atrocities going on in Congo under the reign of King Leopold is a quote from Joseph Conrad " The violence, scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience."

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