Literature and Art

Comment

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on July 8, 2012 at 5:29am

On the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, 1925 - 1961 (decided by the CIA, UN officials, the Belgian government and royal family):

Four days later, two Belgians were sent to exhume the bodies, cut them up with a metal saw, crush the skulls, and throw everything in a tank of sulfuric acid. In a recent reconstruction of the facts carried out by the Belgian VRT network, Gerard Soete, a police chief who worked for the Katanga regime, confessed - as did De Witte - that he was ordered to make the cadaver disappear with sulfuric acid, a task he carried out with his brother. He added: "It was not easy, we had to cut them up. I kept two of Lumumba's teeth and a bullet covered with part of the skull as souvenirs." All of this was recounted without his showing any emotion.

(the whole plot was to disappear the body of the first leader of independent Congo and to erase all possible traces, including dental testimony, the teeth were thrown in the ocean, except the souvenirs Gerard Soete kept in a very morbid way. He confessed the truth just before he died and a had to testify before a parliamentary investigation commission;

GV)

More info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba

http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=599

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/articles/assassination_of_lumumba.htm

I also want to pay tribute here to the Belgian poet HUGO CLAUS (1929-2008) who was one of the only Belgian  writers who exposed the attrocities committed by the royal family and government of Belgium in the Congo.

He wrote tribute poems to Lumumba. I scan below the last one he wrote (in Dutch and French translation by Marnix Vincent). I read this poem during a meeting to honor Claus’ memory after his death.
Frankly I have NEVER recovered from his passing and probably never will. 

Final sentence of this powerful poem:

The god of the albinos sits on your corps as on a public toilet

 

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on July 8, 2012 at 5:28am

LUMUMBA POEMS by Hugo Claus (1929-2008)

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on July 8, 2012 at 3:26am

Remade the entry on Ana because forgot to scan her mail art that triggered me into the short funny letter that follows

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on July 8, 2012 at 3:21am

FIGHT THE POPE collage I just made because I was in a bad mood after a PC crash. A proof of global conspiracy against independent minds (joke joke joke).

Linked this in my head with the French Writer ANDRE GIDE (1869-1951) and his «shocking» novel LES CAVES DU VATICAN (1914)

Info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Gide

Comment by Lynn Radford on July 7, 2012 at 11:12pm

Thank you for the warmth, Cleo! Looking forward to a bit of Literary ARcTion amongst my IUOMA peers. Although I've been teetering on the edge for some time, it must be said that Guido's Sisyphus lured me in....

Comment by Claire (aka Cleo) on July 7, 2012 at 10:55pm

Welcome Lynn!

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on July 7, 2012 at 6:50am

Collage SISYPHUS IN THE SUBWAY, tribute to Albert CAMUS,

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on July 7, 2012 at 3:49am

Some info on Komrij in English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrit_Komrij

He was also a flamboyant gay, living with his partner in Portugal instead of cold Holland

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on July 7, 2012 at 3:36am

Tears are flowing from my eyes: the Dutch poet and polemnist GERRIT KOMRIJ has passed away. Video of reading is in Dutch.

Comment by cheryl penn on July 6, 2012 at 9:48am

Beautiful collage below :-) X

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