Nomad_Africa_Edition12

“ No brutality mistreatment, or torture has ever forced me
to ask for grace, for I prefer to die with my head high, my
faith steadfast, and my confidence profound in the destiny
of my country, rather than to live in submission and scorn
of sacred principles.”
cluding all Congolese people in his rhetoric
thereby creating a solid base for the birth of
a national identity and unity.
Lumumba viewed the state as a necessary
organ, instrumental for the public welfare
and intervention within Congolese society to
ensure equality, justice, and social harmony.
The ideology doctrine of Lumumba is known
as Lumumbisme (French for Lumumbism), a
complex set of fundamental principles consisting
of nationalism, Pan-Africanism, nonalignment,
and social progressivism.
Many Congolese political parties today claim
Lumumba's political and spiritual heritage
with his image continuing to serve as an inspiration
in contemporary Congolese politics.
In the end, Lumumba lost power, his country,
and his life. All were forcibly taken from
him by a combination of forces that were
very powerful, all deployed against a single
individual.
Ludo De Witte, in his book, “The Assassination
of Patrice Lumumba”, calls Lumumba’s
murder “the most important political assassination
in the 20th century”. Despite all this,
Lumumba never lost his most powerful possession
and left a legacy for those who
struggled as an inspiration to all.
In his last letter to his wife Pauline, Patrice
Lumumba states; “No brutality, mistreatment,
or torture has ever forced me to ask
for grace, for I prefer to die with my head
high, my faith steadfast, and my confidence
profound in the destiny of my country,
rather than to live in submission and scorn
of sacred principles. History will one day
have its say, but it will not be the history that
Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United
Nations will teach, but that which they will
teach in the countries emancipated from
colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write
its own history, and it will be, to the north
and to the south of the Sahara, a history of
glory and dignity”.
60 | www.nomadafricamag.com | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | Issue 12