Every June 30, we commemorate the “independence” of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by posting a speech or letter by its first prime minister Patrice Emery Lumumba. The word independence is placed in quotes because we know that independence cha-cha never really occurred and that many African countries including the DRC are still suffering from the sequels of neo-colonialism.

Patrice Lumumba gave the speech below on December 11, 1958 in Accra, Ghana, at a conference sponsored by Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president who also succumbed to imperialism. In his speech, all the evils that plague Congolese and African societies are cited: Western domination, external domination, balkanization of the Congolese territory (and Africa), and all the ‘ism‘ that undermine the unity of Africa. His speech is still very current today. The speech can be found in its entirety on Blackpast.org.

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Patrice Lumumba Speech in Accra, Ghana, in 1958