As a young official at the shipping company Elder Dempster, Morel observed
a fortune in rubber returning from the Congo while only guns
and manacles were being sent in return. He correctly deduced that these resources were being extracted from the population by force and began to campaign to expose the abuses.
Why is Edmund Morel important?
E. D. Morel was
one of the earliest critics of the secret diplomacy and alliance system
that led to the start of the Great War. Imprisoned during the war by the British government for his writings, he later became a foreign policy leader in the Labour Party and a critic of the Treaty of Versailles.
Who was Edmund Morel and why was he important to this story?
Reformer, rebel, political activist
; amongst his many achievements E D Morel directed the first great humanitarian campaign of the 20th Century which brought King Leopold II of Belgium’s brutal and genocidal regime in the Congo to an end.
What did the Congo Reform Association do?
The Congo Reform Association (CRA) was a political and humanitarian activist group that
sought to promote reform of the Congo Free State, a private territory in Central Africa
under the absolute sovereignty of King Leopold II.
Why was King Leopold II interested in the Congo?
Leopold financed development projects with money loaned to him from the Belgian government. The king’s stated
goal was to bring civilization to the people of the Congo
, an enormous region in Central Africa. (Believing one people is more civilized than another is wrong.)
What did Edmund Morel do and when?
In collaboration with Roger Casement, Morel led a
campaign against slavery in the Congo Free State
, founding the Congo Reform Association and running the West African Mail.
What was the impact of King Leopold’s rule in the Congo?
Keen on establishing Belgium as an imperial power, he
led the first European efforts to develop the Congo River basin
, making possible the formation in 1885 of the Congo Free State, annexed in 1908 as the Belgian Congo and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
What did the Force Publique do?
Under Leopold II the Force Publique was described as an “exceptionally brutal army”. One major purpose of the Force was
to enforce the rubber quotas and other forms of forced labour
. Armed with modern weapons and the chicote—a bull whip made of hippopotamus hide—soldiers of the FP often took and mistreated hostages.
Who Exposed Congo?
It was created in the 1880s as the private holding of a group of European investors headed by
Leopold II
, king of the Belgians. The king’s attention was drawn to the region during Henry (later Sir Henry) Morton Stanley’s exploration of the Congo River in 1874–77.
Why did George Washington Williams travel to the Congo?
In the late 1880s, Williams turned his interest to Europe and Africa. … After having been impressed by meeting King Leopold II of Belgium, he traveled in 1890 to the Congo Free State (then owned by the king)
to see its development
.
Who created the Congo Reform Association?
Henry Grattan Guinness (an African missionary), Edmund Dene Morel (a journalist), and Roger Casement
(a diplomat and author of the 1904 Casement Report on the Congo) founded the Congo Reform Association to call international attention to the exploitation of Africans in the Congo Free State, which at the time was the …
What modern day organization’s have used the model developed by the Congo reform movement to document human rights abuses?
Morel’s courageous and relentless leadership of
the Congo Reform Association
laid the earliest foundations for today’s human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
When was the Congo report written?
The Casement Report was a
1904
document written by Roger Casement (1864–1916)—a diplomat and Irish independence fighter—detailing abuses in the Congo Free State which was under the private ownership of King Leopold II of Belgium.
Why did they cut off hands in the Congo?
To make up for the low production, troops began to use hands as currency – chopping them was a way of punishing workers who
did not fulfill their quotas
, and, at the same time, served to show that soldiers were doing their part in exerting pressure over the local population to ensure the fulfillment of these quotas.
What eventually led to Leopold II giving up his control of the Congo?
7. What eventually led to Leopold II giving up his control of the Congo?
After news of the atrocities gained international attention, he was pressured to give up control over the Congo.
How much money did King Leopold make from the Congo?
Marchal, the Belgian scholar, estimates that Leopold drew some 220 million francs (or
$1.1 billion in today’s dollars
) in profits from the Congo during his lifetime.
