Not on behalf of DRC, or a few other “colonies.”
redlemace@lemmy.world 1 day ago
@belgium, on behalf of the world : Thank you and well done! Whoever wins the cup, you are the team of the tournament !
somethingsnappy@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 hours ago
You’re right but also extremely wrong:
Unbeknownst to most, Belgium was one of the absolute WORST colonial powers back in the day, which deserves all the condemnation in the world.
That being said, MODERN DAY Belgium isn’t doing any of that, much less the national football team.
Jiral@lemmy.world 36 minutes ago
I thought it was pretty much general knowledge that Belgium was one of the most terrible colinial powers in europe?
I do see the lack of relevance of that for that football game though. It is like talking about the genocide(s) the US was built upon, just because of a football game.
shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
History doesn’t exist in a vacuum I’m afraid. If an entity, whether it’s a person or a nation, commits atrocities and then simply stops doing so, can we call that justice?
Leopold, turned the Congo Free State into his personal, horrific rubber-and-ivory fiefdom from 1885 to 1908, used the profits to bankroll massive architectural and infrastructure projects in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ostend (e.g., the Cinquantenaire park, the Royal Palace of Laeken, and the Antwerp Central Station).
The profits were deeply integrated into Belgium’s financial and industrial sectors (steel, banking, and manufacturing), giving the country a massive economic head start in European and global markets during the 20th century.
Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world, handling roughly 84% of the world’s rough diamonds. Critics point out that a massive portion of the DRC’s vast diamond wealth historically and currently flows straight to Antwerp, meaning Belgium still captures the high-value “refining and trading” end of the supply chain, while the DRC is left with the environmental and human cost of raw extraction.
Major Belgian conglomerates, or companies born out of the colonial structure (like Umicore, formerly Union Minière du Haut-Katanga), transitioned from colonial owners to powerful multinational players. They still hold significant strategic advantages and interests in extracting critical minerals like cobalt and copper from Central Africa.
When the DRC gained independence in 1960, its first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, wanted to nationalize the country’s resources so the Congolese people could finally benefit from them. Fearing the loss of mineral access, Belgian officials (with the help of the CIA) were deeply complicit in Lumumba’s overthrow and assassination, replacing him with Mobutu Sese Seko—a brutal dictator who let Western corporations keep extracting wealth while plunging his own country into poverty.
Colonialism may have come to an end but Belgium is still a neocolonialist nation.
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 hours ago
This is for informational purposes only
Fair enough. I was about to be snarky about blaming the football team for it, so thanks for heading that fruitless discussion off at the pass 😁
BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
King Leopold is absolutely one of the worse humans we have ever produced.
dethedrus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 hours ago
Leopold the First was some random minor German nobility who was placed on the ‘throne’ iirc.
His son was one of history’s more horrific, while still utterly incompetent, monsters.
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 hours ago
Thanks, edited the original comment 😁
noli@lemmy.zip 22 hours ago
Which other belgian colonies?
regdog@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
booo
CarpalTunnelButt@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
I think Cape Verde gets that designation, but yes, we appreciate Belgium too.
maccentric@sh.itjust.works 9 hours ago
That game was sooo damn good.