Last year, two bodies of young Roma girls were sprawled out on a beach near Naples. The sisters, one 14 and the other 16, had drowned. The bodies, covered with beach towels, were finally removed when an ambulance showed up three hours later. Beach goers only meters away, continued to bathe in the sun, continued to rub lotion, continued to laugh, continued to kick a ball around. Children dug holes, music in the distance carried by the wind, the sound of laughter, the heat of the sun – a perfect day.
It is the psychology of indifference that runs throughout European societies who claim to act on principles but in practice have a profound distaste and fear of the “other.” But it’s more pervasive than sheer racism and xenophobia. It’s the indifference of human suffering buffeted by media, politicians, and a sense of unbridled insecurities and ignorance. Whether it be the lax rules and regulations surrounding domestic abuse and rape to the horrendous treatment of asylum seekers and immigrants, racist discourse and semantics is so deeply ingrained in European societies that it sometimes manifests itself in the most absurd manners.
My friend and I dined at a restaurant last night in Brussels – Europe’s capital. We had just ordered when in walked four white old men, dressed in colonial attire, blue stockings, black buckled shoes and waistcoats. Their exposed body parts (arms, hands, neck, face, head) were painted in black. Their lips bright red and each held a black cherub in one hand and a donation plate in another. “We are here to celebrate the discovery of Belgium’s Congo over 130 years ago. We are gathering money to help young children in orphanages and hospitals,” one said as he approached our table.
For anyone familiar with Belgium’s excessively cruel colonial past, such an appearance is wholly shocking and in bad taste. These men are certainly not impervious to this past and yet…a black doll in one hand and a handful of money in another. The conflict in present day Congo owes a lot to the pillage of resources by Belgium’s King Leopold II.
Brussel’s Grand Place, its intricately adorned neo-gothic buildings, are covered in Congolese blood. The square was restored under the king’s reign in 1873. Like the four men that came into that restaurant, the King claimed his private colonial conquest in the Congo was an act of charity and humanity. He spent the money on his teenage mistress, on monuments, and villas. For humanity. Indeed…here is a list of the atrocities committed by Belgium in that philanthropic adventure.
