Introduction
The crime and the reasons for its commission have always been the cornerstone of a heated debate among police officers, jurors, psychologists, and other stakeholders. The key feature of criminality is that its types do not alter over time. Any violation of the law should be classified in order to make a system more proficient and help people understand the effect of various transgressions on their lives.
Slavery and Genocide Crimes
Since the beginning of time, people knew what a crime was but could never impact those in power. Africa was the focus of all nations when a European sailor explored the Congo River back in the 1400s. By the mid of the 19th century, approximately 90% of African coastal areas were occupied, and the interior part was unknown to the Europeans (Hochschild, 1999, p. 16). Perhaps, one of the most impactful history books was King Leopold’s Ghostwritten by Adam Hochschild.
The story explores the brutal exploitation of the Congo citizens under King Leopold II’s governance. It also reveals the atrocities the Belgians committed between 1885 and 1908, ad recounts the king’s biography, which impacted the public awareness of criminality (Hochschild, 1999). As it is known from the narrative, the Congo Free State was known as Belgium Congo since it was colonized in 1908 by Belgium (Hochschild, 1999). Leopold was particularly interested in the rich African resources; therefore, he wanted to privatize several industries in the Congo, including ivory and rubber production. As a result, he has enslaved the inhabitants of the continent in order to make a profit.
Under King Leopold II’s control, local people had to bear continuous tortures, imprisonments, and even terror. Women and youths were taken hostages; men were murdered if they refused to work, rape and sexual assaults were rampant. Public officials completely dehumanized local people that started using their body parts as decorations for their gardens. Even though Christians and human rights movements publicized these atrocities, little has changed in the country. Several missionaries and social advocates including Roger Casement, George Williams, and others started spreading news of hideous crimes committed in the Congo under the Leopold administration’s control. However, these atrocities were overshadowed by World War I events.
As a consequence of these tortures, the Congo’s population has significantly decreased. Hence, these crimes could be related to genocide, which implies killing people with the aim of destroying a religious, national, ethnic, or other groups. Although extermination was not the policy of King Leopold, but his actions could be considered a massacre that was the result of rapacious exploitation. His repressive troops’ murders were not premeditated, but their number could be qualified as genocide.
The book vividly depicts slavery, which is considered to be an international crime, especially when it is committed against a human. While Europeans and Americans were attempting to abolish slave trade, King Leopold still wanted to enrich using cheap-labor supply. The slave trade was one of the significant violations of the law by the Belgian Government. Therefore, it seems vital to mention that modern society seems to have eradicated this problem worldwide; yet, more than 40 million people are in forced labor in Gulf States, Africa, and Latin America (Hochschild, 1999, p. 72). This implies that slavery remains an unresolved issue because human trafficking is a clandestine activity which can barely be identified as a crime. This happens because the modern enslavement procedure is far elaborated that it used to be: traffickers falsify official documents in order to avoid imprisonment or any other punishment.
Race-Based Crimes
Additionally, one can state that racism is one of the main problems being discussed in the story. This phenomenon is currently widely condemned in society; thus, religious and race-based incidents are related to hate crimes. Even though Americans and Europeans claimed equality in the narrative, the people of color were still considered inferior to the white ones. Even those who opposed the slave trade seemed to agree with the unjustified violence with which the Africans were treated. The most striking moment of the book was when by a Polish man, Joseph Conrad, saw a young African boy being tortured by a police officer for no reason. The situation began to change for the better in the early 19th century, but this would be many years before the black race would be considered equal to the white race (Hochschild, 1999). Modern generation promotes the Black Lives Matter movement and seeks to recall the colonial regime’s past events to indicate why inequality still exists. They aspire to dispel racial biases and protect individuals’ lives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it seems reasonable to state that King Leopold’s Ghost depicted the crimes which remain relevant for today’s world. Leopold’s colonial activity led to millions of people’s deaths, which was an immense tragedy for the African population. Slave trade, genocide, and other atrocities that occurred during King Leopold II’s reign still admonish people about their ancestors’ transgressions that led to horrendous consequences. Since race, ethnicity, and religious-based incidents were mistakes of the past, this is indispensable to re-establish the historical truth to stop victim insults.
Reference
Hochschild, A. (1999). King Leopold’s ghost: A story of greed, terror, and heroism in colonial Africa. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.