Belgian Congo - Civilising Mission

Civilising Mission

A key argument that was often invoked as a justification for colonialism in Africa was that of the so-called 'civilizing mission' of the European nations. This was no different with respect to the Belgian Congo. As elsewhere, this self-declared 'civilizing mission' went hand in hand with the goal of economic exploitation and development. Conversion to Catholicism, basic western-style education and improved health care were objectives in their own right, but at the same time helped to integrate what was regarded a "primitive society" into the Western capitalist model, in which workers who were disciplined and healthy, and who had learned to read and write could be efficiently (and cheaply) put to work.

The development of education and health care in the Belgian Congo was impressive. The educational system was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church and, in some rare cases, Protestant churches, and the curricula reflected Christian and Western values. Even in 1948, 99.6% of educational facilities were controlled by Christian missions. Indigenous schooling was mainly religious and vocational. Children received basic education such as learning how to read, write and some mathematics. The Belgian Congo was one of the few African colonies in which local languages (Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba and Swahili) were taught at primary school. Even so, language policies and colonial domination often went hand in hand, as evidenced by the preference given to Lingala—a semi-artificial language spread through its common use in the Force Publique—over more local (but also more ancient) indigenous languages such as Lomongo and others. In 1940 the schooling rates of children between 6 and 14 years old was 12%, reaching 37% in 1954, one of the highest rates in the whole of black Africa. Secondary and higher education for the indigenous population were not developed until relatively late in the colonial period. Black children, in small numbers, began to be admitted to European secondary schools from 1950 onward. The first university in the Belgian Congo, the Catholic University of Lovanium, near Léopoldville, opened its doors to black and white students in 1954. In 1956 a state university was founded in Elisabethville.

Health care, too, was largely supported by the missions, although the colonial state took an increasing interest. Endemic diseases, such as sleeping sickness, were all but eliminated through large-scale and persistent campaigns. The health care infrastructure expanded steadily throughout the colonial period, with a comparatively high availability of hospital beds relative to the population and with dispensaries set up in the most remote regions.

There was a kind of "implicit apartheid", as there were curfews for Congolese city-dwellers and other such restrictions were commonplace. Though there were no specific laws (as in South Africa and the South of the United States at the time) barring blacks from entering the same establishments whites frequented, there was de facto segregation in most areas. For example, the city centers were reserved to white population only, while the blacks were organized in «cités indigènes» (ironically called 'le belge'). Hospitals, department stores and other facilities were often reserved for either whites or blacks. In the police, the blacks could not pass the rank of non-commissioned officer. The blacks in the cities could not leave their houses from 9 pm to 4 am. This type of segregation began to disappear gradually only in the 1950s.

The popular comic book Tintin in the Congo, first published in 1931, provides a good insight in the paternalistic or, as seen by some, racist views about 'primitive' Africa that prevailed at the time in Europe.

Because of the close interconnection between economic development and the 'civilising mission', and because in practice state officials, missionaries and the white executives of the private companies always lent each other a helping hand, the image has emerged that the Belgian Congo in reality was governed by a holy trinity of King-Church-Capital (or: the colonial state, the missions and the Société Générale de Belgique).

The ideology underpinning colonial policy was summed up in a catch-phrase used by Governor-general Pierre Ryckmans (1934–46): "Dominer pour servir" ("Dominate to serve"). The colonial government was keen to convey the image of a benevolent and conflict-free administration and of the Belgian Congo as a true model colony. In reality, no or very little attention was paid to the active emancipation of the Congolese. The colonizer alone knew what was good for the Congo. The local population was given no voice in the affairs of the state. It was only in the 1950s that this paternalistic attitude began to change. As from 1953, and even more so after the triumphant visit of King Baudouin to the colony in 1955, Governor-general Léon Pétillon (1952–58) actively favoured the creation of a “Belgian-Congolese community”, in which blacks and whites were to be treated as equals. In the 1950s, the most blatant discriminatory measures directed at the Congolese were hastily withdrawn (among these: the possibility to inflict corporal punishment by means of the feared chicotte—a fine whip of hippopotamus hide). In 1957, the first municipal elections open to black voters took place in a handful of the largest cities—Léopoldville, Elisabethville and Jadotville.