In celebration of 10 million murdered Congolese slaves... Called Antwerpse handjes in Dutch, these sweets are associated primarily with the myth of the founding of the city, in which the hero Brabo slew the tyrannical giant Antigoon, cut off one of his hands, and threw it in the river. However, Professor Silverman contends, Antwerpse handjes also reflect the atrocities committed by Belgian colonial forces in the Congo. Between 1885-1908, Belgium controlled a sizeable chunk of Central Africa known as the Congo Free State, where it made an enormous profit using forced Congolese labor to harvest rubber and ivory. Agents of the Belgian-controlled state charged with enforcing rubber quotas were best known for their policy of collecting the severed hands of Congolese who failed to make these quotas. Heaped in baskets and presented to European higher-ups, these gruesome, iconic testaments to the brutality of Belgian imperialism were kept as proof that the soldiers’ bullets were not being wasted.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 10:04:56 +0000
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