Criticisms of Colonization

By Sir Pierce K. Kozlowski

Introduction

It is entirely possible that the sentiments contained in the pages to come have not been fashioned in a way that would procure general favor. The reason for this is that, while the conclusions I reach may be common sense and popular to those reading, the angle at which I reach those conclusions may be less popular, and therefore, not as widely accepted. Regardless of the philosophical differences between the reader and myself, this shall not hinder any effort of mine in outlining the grave evils of colonization, the hypocrisy of European colonizers, the offenses these European colonizers hath committed before God, the violation of natural rights that entailed with Colonization, and the sophistry of every fallacy attempting to justify this repugnant practice.

Let it be known that, while I am fond of Western Civilization and her core philosophical values — faith in God, rational principle, and natural law — I renounce, in the strongest possible terms, the European invasion of the African territories. When the Belgians journeyed their charted course to the Congo, in what seemed to be the dead of night, they came out and overtook the culture and land of the Congolese. By force, they disintegrated the culture of the common people native to the land, and in its place, churches and schools were erected atop its ruins. And through bloodshed, slavery was instituted and genocide was committed.

P.S. On behalf of the grievances perpetrated against the Congolese, and all other territories seized without just cause, may nothing guide my pen except the doctrine of reason, which is bestowed from none other than the hand of Divinity itself.

Of Christianity Being Misinterpreted Fundamentally

While Jesus Christ — the God I recognize and submit myself to — had been introduced to many of these natives by virtue of the Belgians, they committed the great sin of forcing virtually every native to accept the Christian faith rather than letting the natives decide for themselves which faith they found most desirable. Academics Kenney Gale and Tisa Wenger outline this fact plainly, writing that the Belgium authorities and Catholic missionaries “rejected Native Congolese religious movements—which refused the authority of the colonial churches along with the colonial state—as ‘political’ and so beyond the bounds of legitimate ‘religion’” (Gale and Wenger). By means of force, the Belgian magistrates and Leopold II seized the religious agency of the Congolese. Then, when the Congolese expressed dissent, an expression to which they had every right, the predations of the Belgian magistrates and Leopold II persisted.

What foolishness! Have these so-called “missionaries” not read the scriptures they so fascistically enforce? In the Bible, Joshua affirms his allegiance to the Lord. But, despite being a leader over Israel and the defeated Canaanites, Joshua never forced another to accept the Lord. Standing before the vast multitude of those Joshua ruled over, he averred, “If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua). Even under the harsh law of the Old Testament, long before the coming of Christ, religious compulsion was never righteous in the eyes of God.

In the age that Christ came, throughout His entire ministry, He merely encouraged discipleship; He never forced it. In the Gospel, was it not the will of the disciples to follow Christ, entirely of their own accord? If it was not, then what are we to make of Peter, James, and John, running willingly after Christ following their first interaction with Him at the river, even before Christ revealed Himself as the Son of God or as Israel’s promised Messiah? (Matthew). Missionaries ought to follow in the footsteps of the Lord and King, Jesus Christ, for he hath provided the perfect model for sharing the faith: Compelling not with force, but persuading with the Word. In response to the holy words of God, some may come, and some may not. Not everyone will conform or accept, not everyone has to. But for the Belgians, such understanding is nowhere to be found in their actions, which are better described as crimes.

In line with Christ’s teachings, the doctrine of spiritual freedom is especially paramount, and something the passionate Christian author, Dostoevsky, so ardently stressed through the despotic actions of the Church Cardinal in his short story, the “Grand Inquisitor.” In the story, Dostoevsky explains that when Jesus resisted Satan in the desert in the book of Matthew, he forced humanity to carry the burden of spiritual freedom. Therefore, Dostoevsky believed that spiritual freedom was humanity’s greatest burden, and because that burden of freedom was enabled by Christ and designed by God, it’s, therefore, a necessary part of life. Any effort to remove that freedom — regardless of the intentions behind it, good or bad — is not only incorrect but in direct disobedience to God. Neither people nor government have the right to trump personal liberty, even in the name of a greater good, because spiritual freedom is endowed by God, and therefore the right to that freedom is sacrosanct (Dostoevsky). The Belgian missionaries violated this sacred doctrine of spiritual freedom — the doctrine championed by biblical figures and even affirmed by contemporary Christian writers.

On the Hypocrisy of False Missionaries

Probably the greatest crime committed by the Belgians was their enslavement of the natives and the bloodshed to enshrine that enslavement for the purpose of profit. How vile! No human soul can be rightfully delegated to the role of a slave, much less for the purposes of labor or business, for that does not recognize the nature of man, nor does it acknowledge his inherent, equal worth to his other brothers, sisters, and neighbors. For is it not written in Genesis that all are made in the image of God, not just a select few? (Moses). Since all are made in God’s image, no one is above the other in their inherent worth, and thus no one ought to treat any other any less than themself because all are equal in creation. In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul more precisely declares this fact when he wrote that “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Paul). Just as we are equal in creation, we are also equal in nature; just as we bear God’s image, we are also one in the body of Christ. Hence why no one man can claim inherent superiority to another man as the Belgians did to the Congolese, neither in a state of nature nor under the laws of civil government.

The Belgians recognized the doctrines of Christianity, but blasphemously ignored the very tenets by which they were supposed to live. They turn a deaf ear to the fact that all people are made in the image of God and that, by virtue of this fact, all people are of equal value in nature. They shut their eyes to the fact that regardless of ethnicity, status, class, or sex, all are equal in the body of Christ. In spite of this truth, the Belgians treated their brothers from the Congo like animals and sold them into slave labor, much like when the sons of Jacob sold their brother Joseph into slavery — an egregious sin that did not go unpunished by God (Moses).

Far more than this, however, a Belgian crime too vile and wicked for words was the heinous severing of the hands of Africans who failed to meet expectations in slave labor, and the staggering genocide of nearly fifteen million Africans as a result of Belgium’s militant colonization (Brum). This is depravity beyond comprehension. Such an act is a sin against God and against man. Woe to these vile Belgians, who adopt the name of the Lord but pervert all that the Lord cherishes. I need not even mention the complete and utter disregard for the teachings of Christ. The Belgians, in their sea of ignorance and wickedness, disregard the commandment to not murder, the virtue of putting others before yourself, the famous Golden Rule, and the teaching that all of humanity stands equal before one another. Yet, in spite of this, the Belgians commit genocide and murder, even desecrating the bodies of their own brothers after enslaving them. For I say again, no such wickedness is justified, since there is no inherent hierarchy in human nature, for there is first God, and below him rests humanity, with no one above the other, and beneath us inlies the rest of creation.

All are in need of God’s hand and fellowship, yet these broken Belgians are just as twisted, if not four or five times more twisted than their non-Christian brethren from the Congo because their efforts to spread the Christian faith disregarded the theme of freedom and teachings of brotherly love embodied by Christ. Most importantly, it would seem the Belgians also overlooked the fact that corruption cannot fix corruption, and incorrection cannot fix incorrection. Tolstoy, in the book Resurrection, reveals this very truth to his readers and chillingly describes the corruption of a prison system which reflects what the Belgians hath done to the Congo almost exactly: “Vicious men undertook to punish other equally vicious men and expected to accomplish this by mechanical means. But all this resulted in nothing, except that needy and greedy men, having made a profession of punishment and correction, had not only become more corrupt than their victims, but had even taught the latter to be worse than they were before” (Tolstoy). Never have the words of a man so adequately described a situation in which those words were not originally intended. So, I now ask, how can the Belgians, who are just as spiritually broken and in need of repair as their Congo brethren, possibly believe that they could justifiably colonize the grounds of another’s land, uproot all that population has built for itself, defy the Lord’s teachings each step of the way by virtue of bringing enslavement and bloodshed, and believe they have done a good and holy thing? They cannot, and for them or anyone to do so is faulty thinking and delusion of the highest order. The Belgians have only further disrupted God’s natural law by bringing vice and sin to the doorstep of the Congo. While admiration for Christ may have initially fueled the Belgian's endeavors, the teachings of Christ did not once guide their methods or their motives, for their method was slavery, and their motive was profit.

As John Locke correctly stated, humanity’s nature is free, free in the sense that people have the right to evade the predations of arbitrary and ungodly servitude. We are not to be bound by another in bondage for any reason, for in the Old Testament, did God not lead his people out of slavery when he had Moses snatch the Israelites from the grip of Pharaoh? And in the New Testament, did Christ not die to make men holy and to set men free from the shackles of sin? Locke also concluded that we are not to be treated less than any other, both in nature and before the law, for our inherent worth is equal to one another. Both of Locke’s sentiments are expressed in the character of Jesus Christ. When Christ came, He showed love to every group, from the rich to the poor, the innocent to the guilty, and the righteous to the wicked. He also did such things even when humanity did not deserve such affection. Thomas Jefferson went on to fiercely declare Locke’s ideas — many of which sprang from biblical thinking — as “self-evident truths” which were in accordance with the laws of “Nature and Nature's God” (Jefferson). People are equal to one another and are therefore to treat each other as such. Both Locke and Jefferson, in all their brilliance and wisdom, and in their great display of piety to the Lord with the works they’ve penned, were absolutely correct.

Of Literature Concerning Colonization

In relation to literature speaking on the matter of Colonization, what are we to make of Chinua Achebe, and his relevant masterpiece, Things Fall Apart? His story shows a society of flawed people who are merely trying to understand the world around them and their place in that world. So, they use their reason to erect a sophisticated society with roles and jobs. They use their hearts to look to the stars and the heavens to find meaning in their faith. This is the story of nearly all civilizations. Then came the Europeans. They bring the church, they bring education, and they bring what are supposed to be gifts to an otherwise simpler land. But all is done against the will of the Nigerian natives. And when the Nigerian tribe leader is banished for seven years, the other natives acquiesce and conform to the standards of the foreign faction. When the leader returns, he learns the lesson that “things fall apart.” His culture, certain friends, clothing, society, and even the name of his own son are different (Achebe). Granted, had all the natives, including the leader, consented to such change, and had the Europeans brought with them no war but only peace, this arrangement would have been fine. But this was not the case, for the end result was because the Europeans acted with force, thereby altering and uprooting the life the Nigerian natives had built for themselves. The Belgians were no more justified in their endeavors to colonize faraway lands than the Europeans in Achebe's Things Fall Apart. But regardless, evil persists. Even in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the primary character is a European colonizer who does not recognize the humanity of the men from the Congo but describes them as shadowy, silhouette creatures who crawl on all fours (Conrad).

Thorough Refutation of Belgian Objections

After the atrocities of Belgium had been revealed, apologists ran to her aid and used sophistry to explain why Belgium could be reasonably justified. But no such reasonability is present in any of their arguments. One of the apologists’ more popular fallacies is the notion that the Belgian education system justifies its colonization since literacy rates and schooling improved. While the natives were given impressive education, close to none made it beyond high school and into university unless one was Belgian, which had no doubt been by design. In 1960, when Belgian authority had already long been established in the Congo, it was revealed that less than half of the Congolese population could “read and write, and only sixteen Congolese [were] university or college graduates. There [were] no Congolese doctors, lawyers or engineers, and no African officers in the 25,000-man Congolese Army” (Gilroy). Not only is the argument from “improved education” a foolish one, but to suggest that Belgium's crimes against the Congolese are justified because education improved would be to suggest that Hitler’s crimes against the Jews could be justified simply because the German economy slightly improved. Such logic is asinine and argued in bad faith.

Africa has suffered greatly because of these acts of greed, power, and capital. It corrupted the Belgians as it would for any man, for not one person is truly immune to the sin of their own heart. Such immunity only comes from the spiritual restoration from the Lord above. Even the brilliant and famed theologian, John Calvin, understood that human nature was totally depraved without God. For it is only through the mercy of God that our depraved fallibility can be repaired, and only through the grace of God that our tendencies toward evil be forgiven (Calvin).

I pray not that the church’s perverted interpretation of scripture, but rather that the true Gospel of Christ reaches each crevice of the world, even Africa and the Congo, so that no man is ignorant of it. But in no way shall the sharing of the gospel ever reflect the method of the Belgians or any other group that brings forth such violence. And lastly, if the gospel is expressed perfectly and peaceably, and a man finds the gospel undesirable, then may it be his choice to honor which belief he finds desirable, for that precious article of freedom is the eternal, natural law of nature, who God himself authored before the foundations of creation.

Finis

From the State of Connecticut,

and in the Year of our Lord,

May 23, MMXXII

Catalog of Academic References

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Classics, 2006.

Apostle Paul. “Galatians 3:28.” NIV

Bettmann. “Life and Work of American Novelist Joseph Conrad.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 6 Apr. 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/joseph-conrad-4588429.

Boyle, Patrick M. “School Wars: Church, State, and the Death of the Congo.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 33, no. 3, 1995, pp. 451–468., doi:10.1017/S0022278X00021200.

Brum, Maurício. “How Belgium Cut off Hands and Arms, and Killed over 15 Million in Africa: Texto EM inglês Com áudioMaurício .” Wise Up News: Textos Em inglês Com áudio Da Gazeta Do Povo, 12 Feb. 2019, www.gazetadopovo.com.br/wiseup-news/how-belgium-cut-off-hands-and-arms-and-killed-over-15-million-in-africa/.

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Hendrickson Publishers, 2008

“Chinua Achebe: 50th Anniversary of ‘Things Fall Apart.’” Radio Future Africa, 6 Dec. 2018, https://radio-future-africa.com/chinua-achebe-50th-anniversary-of-things-fall-apart/.

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924. Heart of Darkness. Charlottesville, Va. :University of Virginia Library, 1996.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, and Constance Black Garnett. “The Grand Inquisitor.” The Brothers Karamazov, J.M. Dent, London, 1927.

Gilroy, Harry. “Lumumba Assails Colonialism as Congo Is Freed.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 July 1960, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/600701lumumba.html.

Jefferson, Thomas. “Declaration of Independence.” Applewood Books, 1997.

Joshua. Joshua 24:15, NIV.

Kenny, Gale, and Tisa Wenger. “Church, State, and ‘Native Liberty’ in the Belgian Congo.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 62, no. 1, 2020, pp. 156–185., doi:10.1017/S0010417519000446.

Locke, John. The Second Treatise on Civil Government. Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books, 1986. Print.

Matthew. Matthew 4:18–22, NIV.

Moses. Genesis 1:27, NIV.

Moses. Genesis 37:26, NIV.