Unequal Exchange in the Congo Episode 1: Patrice Lumumba and Arghiri Emmanuel, Against the Imperialist and Settler Exploitation of the Congo

The Unequal Exchange Podcast

In the 1960s, the independence of the Congo seemed to herald the delinking of one of Africa's most powerful economies and nations from Western imperialism. Patrice Lumumba presented a vision of a unified, Pan-African Congo whose resources "would actually benefit its children". This posed an immense challenge to the rule of Belgian high finance, the major mining companies in the Katanga province led by Union Minière du Haut-Katanga, and not least the white settlers who by 1960 numbered 110,000 throughout the Congo, yet accrued half of the value of the entire country. And of course, the rising imperial hegemon of the time, America, refused to allow a socialist Congo allied with the Soviet Union. All these forces unified to remove Lumumba and crush his Pan-African vision. In the ensuing conflict, imperialism would win out even against the settlers. Yet the resistance of the Congo continued, with Lumumbist figures like Antoine Gizenga rising and struggling to create socialism in the Congo. In this first episode of an ongoing series aimed to reveal the ways the Congo has been exploited by unequal exchange, we begin with reference to Arghiri Emmanuel, who began his theorization of unequal exchange by seeing its brutal effects firsthand while advising and allying with Lumumba. Thus, we tease out the roots of Unequal Exchange analysis as a method of solidarity with Third World liberation, originating undeniably in the Congo.

A bibliography for this episode:

Emmanuel on Settler Colonialism: https://newleftreview.org/issues/i73/articles/arghiri-emmanuel-white-settler-colonialism-and-the-myth-of-investment-imperialism.pdf

The Bias of the World: https://www.kallebrolin.com/Local%20Images%20Folder/portfoliostills/0TheBiasoftheWorld.pdf

A People's History from Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja: https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350223004To support our work, consider becoming a Patron: patreon.com/ArghiriEmmanuelAssociation

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