Exposing the dark pit of human suffering, cruelty and corruption that had long been secretly festering in King Leopold’s Congo, would reveal one of the greatest abuses of human rights in all history, and instigate a human rights campaign that would change the world. Having established it as what was essentially his own private colonial fiefdom in 1885, Leopold had grown rich off the vast quantities of rubber and ivory that his congolese labourers reaped and transported in unimaginably brutal conditions. The man to finally discover the horrendous scheme, and Leopold’s personal corruption, was Edmund Dene Morel, a young shipping clerk who noticed something deeply suspicious about the exports being sent back to the Congo from Belgium. With the backing of a wealthy tycoon, and in tandem with extraordinary individuals such as the magnetic Roger Casement who had personally experienced the horrors of the Congo, Stanley would for the next decade and more of his life embark upon an excoriating attack on Leopold and his regime. He interviewed countless first hand witnesses, published an outpouring of articles detailing the truth of what was going on, spoke convincingly at public gatherings, and set up an influential organisation, all of which served to attract much popular support and attention to the campaign. Soon, the question of the Congo had become an international political affair. But would it be enough to quell the horrific treatment of the Congolese people and discredit Leopold once and for all? Join Dominic and Tom as they describe the discovery, expose, and excoriation of King Leopold’s appalling human rights abuses in the Congo, resulting in one of the most important human rights campaigns of all time. Did it succeed? And, with some of Europe’s major colonial powers clamouring to condemn Leopold, what were the long term implications for European imperialism overall? _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Editor: Jack Meek Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Key at Antwerp
A steamer moored alongside. The musical chimes ringing from the old cathedral spire. The sound of the Brabant song, the Belgian national anthem. On the quay and on the steamer's decks, a jostling motley crowd. Military uniforms. The flutter of women's dresses. Ship's officers gliding to and fro. The hatches battening down. Steam getting up.
Surrounded by groups of relatives or boon companions, passengers bound Congo woods. Men of whose fitness for residing and governing in tropical Africa even a novice would have doubts. Young mostly, and mostly of a poor type. Undersized, pallid wastrels. But here and there, an older, bronzed individual. One who has obviously been through all this before.
the faces of these distinctly not good to look upon, scarred with brutality, with cruel and lustful eyes, faces from which one turns with an involuntary shudder of repulsion.
So that is the scene at Antwerp, a great port in Belgium, from where the steamships head west and south to the Congo Free State in the late 1890s, as described by a barrel-chested, handlebar moustachioed young man called Edmund Dean Morell. And Dominic, I hope that you admire the way in which I evoked the sense of a barrel-chested, handlebar-moustached young man there.
Well, the one thing that was missing – so two things that were missing. Morel was born in France, and his father was French, and then he went to boarding school in England. So you should have done an accent that was a cross between... Oh, like Theo Young-Smith. Right, like Theo Young-Smith. That's the voice you should have done. Theo has many qualities, but he's not barrel-chested.
He's not barrel-chested. He's not barrel-chested. So yes, I think you captured the barrel-chest very nicely there, Tom. Congratulations. Thank you, Dominic.
The reason we're talking about this guy, Edmund D. Morell, is that basically he is the hero of today's episode, isn't he? He is the man who draws the crimes of King Leopold's Congo Free State to the world's attention. and is probably the most effective human rights campaigner of the 20th century. He establishes the template for all the human rights campaigns that have followed.
Yeah, he absolutely is. He is the link between the abolitionist movement that fought slavery in Britain, America and elsewhere a generation before and the human rights campaigns of the later 20th century, the anti-apartheid campaign and so on and so forth. And today's episode really is the story of how he and his friends and his allies bring down Leopold's regime.
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