Ep 46: Patrice Lumumba p1 - Emerging Independence and Social Justice

Emerging from centuries of division, exploitation and abuse at the hands of outside oppressors, the people of the Congo began to assert themselves in the aftermath of World War Two, part of the "liberating breath" rolling over the African continent. None came to epitomize the newfound independence movement quite as much as nationalist politician Patrice Lumumba, but is the common image of Lumumba as a fire-breathing, pro-independence radical warranted? What were Lumumba's exact motives, and why did the West come to view him as such a threat?