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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   31486 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 10, 2023

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The Belgians were quite upset with the US (c.f. Michel Struelens' book) for supposedly making decolonization in the Congo go badly, especially under the Kennedy administration. The Kennedy administration did a lot to increase the presence of the UN in the Congo, and the UN actions were in turn heavily driven by resentful anti-colonial nations like India and Ghana. Apparently the Johnson administration was not as anti-colonial and reversed many of these policies, but the damage was already done.

I don't think anyone would call our approach to the Congo "anti-colonial" though. We looked the other way when the Belgians tried to create a secessionist state in Katanga, refused to give Lumumba any assistance in fighting the secession, and refused to convince Hammarskjöld that the UN should help either:

The arrival of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC) was initially welcomed by Lumumba and the central government who believed the UN would help suppress the secessionist states. ONUC's initial mandate, however, only covered the maintenance of law and order. Viewing the secessions as an internal political matter, Hammarskjöld refused to use UN troops to assist the central Congolese government against them; he argued that doing so would represent a loss of impartiality and breach Congolese sovereignty. Lumumba also sought the assistance of the United States government of Dwight D. Eisenhower, which refused to provide unilateral military support. Frustrated, he turned to the Soviet Union, which agreed to provide weapons, logistical and material support.

After refusing to assist Lumumba in holding together his nation's soveirgnty against his former colonizer we drove him in desperation to the last major power around, the USSR. For this mistake we immediately made plans to have him killed, and then when he was eventually assasinated with assistance from the Belgians, rather than condemn this colonial coup we became bosom allies with his successor, the tyrant Mobutu. This was all already complete by the time Kennedy took power, who continued to maintain positive relations with Mobutu:

In the Congo, U.S. policy [under Kennedy] seldom departed from the policy preferences of Belgium and Britain. The Administration initially supported negotiations to foster unity between the Congo's warring factions and, later, reluctantly endorsed the use of military force to achieve this goal. Throughout the administration, it sought a policy acceptable to Belgium and Britain. Once a degree of order was established by early 1963, the U.S. reduced its own involvement while urging Belgium to assume increasing responsibility for the country. A February 1963 government document captures the character of American policy toward the Congo during the Kennedy administration with the observation that the U.S. had conducted its Congo policy "in association with" Belgium's leader and even avoided any irreparable parting with Britain...

Under John Kennedy, U.S. policy did not keep pace with the tide of change sweeping across Africa. Nor did it adequately harness, on behalf of U.S. foreign policy, the spirit of nationalism and radicalism making inroads on the continent. In the congo the administration helped to consolidate the power of Joseph Mobutu, who would only retain power in subsequent years through the assistance of white mercenaries and military involvement by pro-Western states.

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