My Life on this planet.

Haiti, an example why developing countries became failed states. Why is Haiti such a disaster as a country? Who saw the movie about General Toussaint Louverture who led Haiti to independence knows a lot of the answer; the Guardian article summarises it and goes further . In short, inspired by the French Revolution, black slaves of Haiti revolted against their French owners who refused that slaves in colonies can fight for the same ideals of "liberty, equality and fraternity" as the French themselves against the aristocratic and religious elite in France. In the end, Mr Louverture hoped to negotiate peace with Napoleon but, who refused to meet him so Mr Louverture died imprisoned far from his country. Ironically, Napoleon also died imprisoned far from his country.  Cover of the 2-part movie Toussaint Louverture But, after Haiti's independence, the French managed to force Haitians to pay enormous amounts of money plus interest as condition for France to recognise Haiti...

The Belgian Commission on Belgium's colonial past was a failure as politicians didn't want to agree on an apology about the terror under, mainly, king Leopold II's reign in Congo, although later also Belgium didn't always act correctly. Originally an apology was planned although without compensation , but even this was too much.  Belgium doesn't apologise for its past in its colonies It is beyond believe that Belgians still don't want to condemn officially and with the strongest possible wording the crimes, the genocide committed under their second king Leopold II who allowed the mutilation and dead of men, women, even children when they didn't work hard enough, and to use the violence as an example for others to work harder. Estimates are that up to 10 million people died under king Leopold II's rule over Congo as his personal property; he should never have taken that land. Remember Hitler's 6 million Jews, and most Germans are rightly ashamed of ...

27/11/2022.  Fights between Moroccans and police in Belgium during and after the World Cup match Belgium versus Morocco. Of course, many Belgians but also those belonging to the Moroccan culture are furious. Why this violence? During a next game, Moroccans formed a human chain to control the violent persons  and prevent fights with the police. Of course, parents should try to avoid aggression by their children although distrust towards police, and more general society should not be so intense that their children refuse to acknowledge the authority of police and more general, government. First, we also complain about Belgian hooligans during Belgian competition games . Thus, it seems that a certain part of football supporters is attracted to football for a fight, not for the game. I repeat, a certain section of football supporters, whether Belgian or Moroccan supporters. Heavy machinery to stop potential supporters from entering the centre of Brussels But, I think a problem ...

2020-11-11: Herdenkings- of Wapenstilstandsdag, omdat we degenen die in oorlogen stierven om de vrijheid van anderen te verdedigen niet mogen vergeten. Maar sommige mensen vergeten om de mensen die vandaag leven te vergeven voor wat hun voorouders deden, vaak omdat ze vinden dat de offers die hun volk brachten onvoldoende worden erkend. De afgelopen maanden waren er protesten in de VS en in andere delen van de wereld nadat videobeelden lieten zien hoe een zwarte man werd vermoord door een blanke politieagent. Aangezien soortgelijke arrestaties met dodelijke afloop eerder plaatsvonden en daarna doorgingen, zijn mensen boos omdat zij en vrienden nog steeds racisme ervaren dat hen eraan herinnert hoe slecht hun voorouders werden behandeld, d.w.z. gedwongen deportatie van Afrika naar elders om te werken in het voordeel van hun blanken (en andere) meesters. Maar ook protesteren veel blanken omdat ze boos zijn dat zwarte vrienden nog steeds anders behandeld worden dan blanken. Inderdaad,...

2020-11-11: Remembrance or Armistice Day, because we must not forget those who died in wars to defend the freedom of others. But some people forget to forgive the people living today for what their ancestors did, often because they feel that the sacrifices their people made are insufficiently recognized. In recent months, there have been protests in the US and other parts of the world after video footage showed a black man being murdered by a white police officer. As similar fatal arrests took place before and continued after that, people are angry because they and friends still experience racism that reminds them of how badly their ancestors were treated i.e. forced deportation from Africa elsewhere to work for the benefit of their whites (and other) masters. But also many white people protest because they are angry that black friends are still treated differently from whites. Indeed, our behavior today determines whether people forget or continue to be reminded of the evils of the pa...

A discussion has started/ is ongoing in Western countries after George Floyd was murdered by four white police officers while this happened not long after Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor were killed and a video showed how a white woman called police to falsely claim a black man threatened her. I wrote about slavery and its consequences shortly before  while these stories about police killing black people is not something new  while I suggested some solutions. The discussion is among others about whether or not to remove and/or destroy statues of slave traders, slave owners and leading figures who approved slavery, mistreatment of humans and enforced deportation of humans to other countries and even continents to force them to work without payment and even under threat of punishment and death if they didn't work hard enough. I acknowledge, not all slave owners were bad but they too lived in a time when black people's lives were in danger when they were free and thus b...

Leopold II in Congo Belgium has a terrible human rights track record because of its second king Leopold II (1835 - 1909) during whose reign millions of people in Congo died. People may say he is not personally responsible but the same can be said of Hitler. However, Leopold II could have ruled only Belgium but this he considered too small and thus he lobbied to gain Congo for himself and succeeded on the condition he would treat its people correct, something he refused to do from day one. Therefore, he is responsible as he actively searched for this expansion to enrich himself so he could enlarge his own glory in his kingdom Belgium with neglect of his "subjects" in Congo. And people in those days had already a conscience because the king had to replace the first ambassador who refused to collaborate to expand the king's personal property.   To have an impression of the terror Leopold ii allowed in Congo is a picture in this article that shows a black father who l...