The Congo: From Colonization Through Lumumba & Mobutu w/ Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja (Guerrilla History)

Revolutionary Left Radio

Breht O'Shea

Communism, Politics, Liberalism, Society & Culture, Philosophy, News, History, Leftwing, Socialism, Marxism

4.8 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 104 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With this episode of Guerrilla History, were continuing our series on African Revolutions and Decolonization with an outstanding case study on the Congo, looking at the process of colonization, how decolonization unfolded, Lumumba's short time as Prime Minister, and the transition to the Mobutu regime. We really could not ask for a much better guest than Prof. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, who not only is one of the foremost experts in not only this history, but also served as a diplomat for the DRC. We're also fortunate that the professor will be rejoining us for the next installment of the series, a dispatch on what is going on in the Eastern Congo and the roots of the ongoing conflict there. Be sure to share this series with comrades, we are still in the very early phases of the planned ~40 parts, so it is a great time for them to start listening in as well!

Also subscribe to our Substack (free!) to keep up to date with what we are doing. With so many episodes coming in this series (and beyond), you won't want to miss anything, so get the updates straight to your inbox. guerrillahistory.substack.com

Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is Professor Emeritus of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and previously served as the DRC's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Additionally, he is the author of numerous brilliant books, including Patrice Lumumba and The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History

Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/guerrillahistory

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everybody. So today we are going to put on our feed today and tomorrow a couple episodes from our good friends and comrades over at guerrilla history. They're doing a series on African revolutions and decolonization and extensive series that I think is really important and really interesting historically, theoretically, and just conceptually for those of us on the left to understand
0:24.1	revolutions and decolonization movements in Africa in particular.
0:28.3	And they're doing this really, really cool series on African resistance, revolution and decolonization
0:33.2	that we wanted to promote on our RSS feed and give you know, give people an episode or two to listen to,
0:40.4	and hopefully we'll then migrate over, subscribe to guerrilla history and listen to the other episodes
0:46.4	in this growing series. And they wrote a little, you know, short little article kind of
0:52.6	promoting the African Revolution and Decolonization
0:55.8	series that I want to read for you so you can get an idea of the series and what they're
1:00.8	trying to do with it. So founders of the militant podcast, Gorilla History, Henry Hakamaki
1:05.5	and Adnan Hussein introduced their new series on African revolutions and decolonization.
1:11.9	Focusing on African struggles and revolutions, they invite listeners to encounter radical perspectives from the continent
1:17.1	and beyond, challenge their assumptions about history, and learn about the struggles of those
1:21.9	who dared to resist depression in Africa. Hukamaki and Hussein argue for a nuanced understanding of the revolutionary movements
1:29.4	that define Africa's past and continue to shape its future. In a world decisively shaped by the
1:36.3	legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and the extension of capitalism, the importance of studying
1:42.3	African revolutions and the process of decolonization
1:45.2	cannot be overstated. The guerrilla history's upcoming 30-part series, African revolutions
1:51.1	and decolonization on the guerrilla history podcast, endeavors to illuminate the complexities
1:56.3	surrounding these topics, combining case studies of revolutionary struggles, as well as thematic and
2:02.7	theoretical explorations of political and economic processes across the continent and its place in the
2:08.9	global system. By engaging deeply with historical examples and vital intellectual currents,
2:15.0	guerrilla history aims to forge a rich understanding of the revolutionary
	...

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