A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire
"A Season in the Congo" by Aimé Césaire is a powerful dramatic exploration of the political turmoil and exploitation faced by the Congo during the early postcolonial period, particularly focusing on the figure of Patrice Lumumba, the country’s first Prime Minister. The play highlights the struggles for independence from Belgian colonial rule and the subsequent betrayal by local leaders, particularly General Mokutu, who prioritizes personal gain over national integrity. Césaire contrasts Lumumba's idealism and vision for a truly independent Congo with Mokutu's cynicism and complicity with foreign interests, particularly those of Belgium. The narrative reflects upon the tragic fate of Lumumba, who, despite popular support, faces violent opposition and ultimately assassination, illustrating the intense geopolitical rivalries of the Cold War era. Césaire’s work serves as a critique of both colonial exploitation and the failures of international bodies like the United Nations to protect newly independent nations. The portrayal of the Congo as a pawn in larger political games underscores the complex legacy of colonialism and the ongoing struggles for self-determination faced by African nations. This play invites audiences to reflect on the consequences of power dynamics and the sacrifices made in the pursuit of freedom.
A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First produced:Une Saison au Congo, 1967 (first published, 1966; English translation, 1968)
Type of work: Play
The Work
A Season in the Congo deals with an extremely obvious exploitation of an African country during the early postcolonial period. In 1960, Belgium very grudgingly granted independence to its colony, the Belgian Congo, in which between three million and twenty million Congolese were either executed or worked to death while toiling on Belgian rubber plantations in the colony, known as the Congo Free State until 1980 and the Belgian Congo from 1908 until 1960. After independence, the country was first named the Congo and then Zaire. In his novel Heart of Darkness (1899, serial; 1902, book) Joseph Conrad portrays the horrendous human suffering in the Congo Free State that modern historians have frequently compared to the Nazi Holocaust and to Joseph Stalin’s mass murder of Soviet citizens.
In the late 1950’s and the early 1960’s, France and England began committing themselves to granting independence to their many African colonies. The crimes against humanity committed against the black Congolese by Belgium were so awful and well known that few blacks in Africa and throughout the black diaspora trusted Belgium to act properly toward the newly independent Congo. Congolese blacks became even more suspicious when Belgian colonial authorities had Patrice Lumumba arrested because of his opposition to long-term mining leases designed to enable Belgium to continue exploiting the Congo’s mineral riches after independence. Strong international criticism forced Belgium to release Lumumba so he could participate in discussions aimed at transferring power from Belgium to the Congo.
In A Season in the Congo, Césaire contrasts the idealism of Lumumba, who wants to end completely Belgian influence in the Congo, with the overt cynicism and corruption of General Mokutu, who sells out his country for his personal enrichment. It does not take much imagination for readers and theatergoers to understand that Mokutu represents Mobutu Sese Seko, who helped overthrow the elected government of Lumumba with Belgian military assistance. Belgian businesses rewarded Mobutu generously for his betrayal of his homeland. Mobutu allowed Belgian mining interests to continue stealing the Congo’s mineral resources for decades, while helping none of the Congolese except himself and his thugs.
In A Season in the Congo, Césaire portrays how Belgians, with the covert support of Mokutu, fund a civil war in the Congo in order to overthrow Lumumba’s government. When the United Nations, represented in this play by its then Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, refuses to intervene because this is allegedly a civil war not involving any foreign country, Lumumba flies to Moscow and Soviet military planes restore him to power. Césaire shows quite powerfully how the Congo became a pawn in the larger conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States for political influence in Africa. In this play, Lumumba refuses to meet with the United Nations’ diplomat, Ralph Bunche, because Lumumba understands all too clearly that although Bunche was a distinguished African American, Bunche’s loyalty was to the United States and not to newly independent African countries.
Once the United Nations abandons the Congo, the die is cast for Lumumba. Theatergoers and readers realize that it is only a question of when and how Lumumba will die. Mokutu makes arrangements for killers to execute Lumumba; when the Congolese demonstrate openly in support of the martyred leader, Mokutu instructs his soldiers to use machine guns against the demonstrators. Just to make sure that theatergoers and readers identify Mokutu as Mobutu, Césaire specifies that Mokutu wears “a leopard-skin outfit,” similar to the one Mobutu liked to wear when he became the dictator of the country that he renamed Zaire.
When Césaire completed this play in the mid-1960’s, he could not imagine that Mobutu would allow Belgian mining interests to continue stealing wealth from Zaire, while at the same time destroying Zaire’s infrastructure, until 1997, when Mobutu was finally driven into exile in Morocco.
Bibliography
Davis, Gregson. Aimé Césaire. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Munro, Martin. Shaping and Reshaping the Caribbean: The Work of Aimé Césaire and René Depestre. Leeds, England: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2000.
Pallister, Janis L. Aimé Césaire. New York: Twayne, 1991.
Scharfman, Ronnie Leah. Engagement and the Language of Aimé Césaire. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1987.
Suk, Jeannie. Postcolonial Paradoxes in French Caribbean Writing. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2001.