January 17th is dedicated to honoring Patrice Emery Lumumba

January 17th is dedicated to honoring Patrice Emery Lumumba,

DRC’s first democratically elected Prime Minister

who was assassinated on January 17, 1961.

Patrice Lumumba started out working as a journalist.

He helped found the pro-independence Mouvement

National Congolais (MNC), a party that espoused strong

nationalism and anti-colonial sentiment. When the MNC

won the country’s (then known as Republic of the Congo)

first elections in June 1960, Lumumba was proclaimed prime

minister, and Joseph Kasa-Vubu became the first president.

Only a few days into the new government, rebellion broke

out around the country, encouraged by a military that

dissolved into infighting and looting. The reason for his

assassination is filled with political intrigue and cold war

propaganda. But in 1966, Patrice Lumumba's image was

rehabilitated by the Mobutu regime, and he was proclaimed

a national hero and martyr, and a symbol of liberation.

Patrice Lumumba delivered one of his most renowned speeches to the crowd gathered for Congo’s Independence Day

celebrations on June 30, 1960. Read the speech here:

 

hGps://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/yclsa-eom-forum/Juy4b5DB1Zw/r68aHvdM8S8J

  
(fonte: newletter Ambasciata USA)