{"id":4582,"date":"2020-10-10T22:12:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-10T21:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/?p=4582"},"modified":"2020-10-18T22:20:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-18T21:20:10","slug":"labsence-et-ses-masques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/?p=4582","title":{"rendered":"L’absence et ses masques."},"content":{"rendered":"
Par Aymar N. Bisoka, Prof. d’anthropologie d\u00e9coloniale, Universit\u00e9 de Mons.<\/div>\n
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L\u2019absence et ses masques. Les commissions parlementaires belges sur la colonisation et le probl\u00e8me de dignit\u00e9.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Les masques ne sont pas les pi\u00e8ces les plus embl\u00e9matiques de ce mus\u00e9e. Les belges les ont presque tous pill\u00e9s durant la colonisation\u00a0pour orner leurs mus\u00e9es. Voil\u00e0 pourquoi nos mus\u00e9es sont presque vides [\u2026]. Ce qui nous reste de grandiose se trouve dehors dans le jardin. Il s\u2019agit de gigantesques fresques qui repr\u00e9sentent des esclaves noirs en train de construire une voie ferr\u00e9e sous la surveillance des colons blancs. On y voit aussi d\u2019imposantes statues de bronze de Stanley et de\u00a0L\u00e9opold\u00a0II, ces deux blancs par lesquels le malheur a commenc\u00e9 \u00bb.<\/p>\n

Voil\u00e0 comment Justin introduit souvent, de mani\u00e8re quasi-machinale mais toujours solennellement, la visite du minuscule mus\u00e9e du Mont Ngaliema \u00e0 Kinshasa. Au fur et \u00e0 mesure qu\u2019on avance pour admirer la cinquantaine d\u2019\u0153uvres d\u2019art reparties dans les deux pi\u00e8ces exigu\u00ebs qui composent le mus\u00e9e, on se heurte effectivement \u00e0 un contraste. D\u2019abord l\u2019absence et le vide cr\u00e9\u00e9s par la violence coloniale. Il n\u2019y a pas grand-chose dans le mus\u00e9e. Selon Justin, il faut aller au mus\u00e9e de Tervuren \u00e0 Bruxelles pour avoir acc\u00e8s aux masques. Ensuite, la violence qu\u2019expriment ces fresques et ces statuts qui surplombent le jardin. Elles sont si impressionnantes qu\u2019on pourrait croire qu\u2019elles avaient \u00e9t\u00e9 con\u00e7ues pour cacher l\u2019absence de masques\u00a0congolais que d\u00e9plore Justin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Comme dans le mus\u00e9e du Mont Ngaliema, on retrouve le m\u00eame mode op\u00e9ratoire colonial dans l\u2019actuelle Commission parlementaire belge sur son pass\u00e9 colonial, cr\u00e9\u00e9e en 2020\u00a0: l\u2019absence de la victime cach\u00e9e par la domination du bourreau-justicier. Le viol de la dignit\u00e9. Car, si \u00ab\u00a0\u00e0 plusieurs \u00e9gards, la rencontre entre l\u2019Afrique et l\u2019Occident\u00a0\u00bb a \u00e9t\u00e9 v\u00e9cue \u00ab\u00a0sous la figure du viol<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb, la rupture politique li\u00e9e \u00e0 la d\u00e9colonisation n\u2019a jamais pu laisser place \u00e0 la fois \u00e0 la reconnaissance de la culpabilit\u00e9, \u00e0 la r\u00e9paration et au soin de la victime. Aujourd\u2019hui, ce viol se traduit par le fait que c\u2019est l\u2019ancien bourreau qui prend l\u2019initiative du discours sur son propre crime. C\u2019est lui qui qualifie l\u2019initiative (de Commission v\u00e9rit\u00e9 et de r\u00e9conciliation) et en d\u00e9finit les termes (ce qu\u2019il sera question de d\u00e9battre) et les modalit\u00e9s\u00a0(comment proc\u00e9der, \u00e0 qui donner la parole et \u00e0 qui revient la d\u00e9cision). C\u2019est lui qui d\u00e9finit, dans son propre langage, les modalit\u00e9s du soin et de r\u00e9paration.<\/p>\n

On est l\u00e0 face \u00e0 une \u00e9nigme \u00e0 penser et que ni la l\u00e9gitimit\u00e9 de l\u2019expertise historique, ni la politique m\u00e9morielle et moins encore le discours journalistique, ne peuvent nous aider \u00e0 saisir\u00a0: comment est-ce possible que le bourreau d\u2019hier prenne l\u2019initiative de la justice, la v\u00e9rit\u00e9 et la r\u00e9conciliation\u00a0? Le soin et la r\u00e9paration sont-ils possibles dans un tel contexte\u00a0? Comment le penser\u00a0du point de vue de la victime, de sa dignit\u00e9\u00a0? Absurde, pourrait-on dire au premier abord. Mais tout devient soudainement coh\u00e9rent lorsqu\u2019on comprend deux choses\u00a0: d\u2019une part le r\u00e9pertoire paternaliste dans lequel op\u00e8re cette initiative et d\u2019autre part l\u2019h\u00e9ritage colonial li\u00e9 aux pr\u00e9c\u00e9dentes commissions sur la question coloniale en Belgique. L\u2019histoire de ces commissions rappelle tristement que tout discours peut se limiter \u00e0 sa seule dimension instrumentale et produire le contraire des id\u00e9aux qu\u2019elle pr\u00f4ne. C\u2019est \u00e0 partir de cette perspective pragmatique et radicale que la nouvelle commission devrait \u00eatre \u00e9prouv\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

Les statues et les fresques coloniaux de Ngaliema repr\u00e9sentent la grammaire coloniale du bourreau-justicier qui reproduit l\u2019absence de la victime dans des commissions qui lui sont pourtant d\u00e9di\u00e9es. Sa grammaire doit \u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9e comme une strat\u00e9gie de gouverner le spectre de la race en Belgique et a pour effet l\u2019\u00e9limination de toute possibilit\u00e9 de parole et d\u2019existence \u00e0 la victime. Elle anesth\u00e9sie toute possibilit\u00e9 de soin et de r\u00e9paration s\u00e9rieuse. Mais face \u00e0 cette absence, tr\u00f4ne le devoir de lutte pour la dignit\u00e9 pour la victime.<\/p>\n

Gouverner le spectre de la race<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0[\u2026] la condition noire actuelle est d\u00e9finie par l\u2019indignit\u00e9. La dignit\u00e9 est ce que le Blanc essaie d\u2019abolir lorsqu\u2019il exerce sa violence sur le Noir. Mais c\u2019est aussi ce dont le Blanc se prive lui-m\u00eame lorsqu\u2019il exerce sa violence sur le Noir. Enfin, c\u2019est ce que le Noir r\u00e9affirme collectivement lorsqu\u2019il s\u2019engage contre la domination blanche. [\u2026]. La dignit\u00e9, de ce fait, devient la capacit\u00e9 de l\u2019opprim\u00e9 \u00e0 tenir debout, entre la vie et la mort, que lui imposent les oppresseurs\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n

C\u2019est en ces termes que le philosophe fran\u00e7ais Norman Ajari propose de penser la question coloniale et son h\u00e9ritage contemporain \u2013 c\u2019est-\u00e0-dire ce \u00e0 quoi va s\u2019occuper la Commission parlementaire belge sur la colonisation. Pour Norman Ajari, la colonisation et son h\u00e9ritage sont fond\u00e9s sur l\u2019indignit\u00e9. \u00catre indigne, c\u2019est se voir refuser, non pas les droits humains avant tout, mais le statut m\u00eame d\u2019humain. Or, ce qui n\u2019est pas humain c\u2019est ce dont les humains, les blancs en l\u2019occurrence, peuvent alors disposer \u00e0 leur gr\u00e9. Les noirs. Mais \u00e0 la diff\u00e9rence d\u2019une chose pure, le noir a un statut d\u2019entre-deux. Il est cette chose \u00e0 laquelle on miroite de transformer en homme, un enfant qu\u2019on promet d\u2019\u00e9lever, un barbare \u00e0 civiliser, un animal \u00e0 humaniser, un mort \u00e0 ramener \u00e0 la vie, une victime \u00e0 laquelle le bourreau promet de rendre justice. Entre temps, le noir ne compte pas en lui-m\u00eame.<\/p>\n

Ainsi, comme pour les masques de Ngaliema, le mode op\u00e9ratoire de la violence coloniale est de rendre le noir absent et d\u2019agir \u00e0 sa place et contre lui finalement. Le statut du blanc n\u2019importe pas, qu\u2019il soit colon ou non, h\u00e9ritier du discours colonial ou non. Face au n\u00e8gre-d\u00e9shumanis\u00e9, l\u2019\u00e9thique est inop\u00e9rante. En effet, c\u2019est seulement lorsque la victime n\u2019est pas un humain que le bourreau peut se permettre de devenir justicier. C\u2019est seulement lorsqu\u2019il est pris dans un narcissisme et une toute-puissance n\u00e9vrotique\u00a0qu\u2019il peut convoquer des commissions pour statuer sur son propre crime. Or, c\u2019est en cela que l\u2019humanit\u00e9 du bourreau se retrouve fractur\u00e9e, au m\u00eame moment que celle de sa victime.<\/p>\n

Voil\u00e0 en quoi les commissions sur la question coloniale qui se sont succ\u00e9d\u00e9es depuis pr\u00e8s d\u2019un si\u00e8cle en Belgique posent un s\u00e9rieux probl\u00e8me\u00a0: dans leurs principes et modalit\u00e9s, elles produisent la m\u00eame absence et la m\u00eame indignit\u00e9 pour les victimes.<\/p>\n

Premi\u00e8rement, on retrouve cette situation dans la Commission d\u2019enqu\u00eate sur les exactions commises dans l\u2019EIC. Faisant suite \u00e0 la pression internationale et \u00e0 la lutte autour des int\u00e9r\u00eats \u00e9conomiques, cette commission est cr\u00e9\u00e9e le 23 juillet 1904\u00a0\u00e0 la suite de \u00ab\u00a0l\u2019affaire des mains coup\u00e9es\u00a0\u00bb qui \u00e9clate au d\u00e9but du\u00a0XXe<\/sup>\u00a0si\u00e8cle gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 des campagnes qui d\u00e9noncent des exactions commises par les agents de l\u2019EIC et les compagnies priv\u00e9es \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9gard des congolais.\u00a0Dix millions de morts<\/a>\u00a0! Face \u00e0 la pression, le roi L\u00e9opold II n\u2019a pas d\u2019autres choix que de mettre en place cette commission.<\/p>\n

L\u2019accus\u00e9 est aussi le justicier. Il oriente alors la mission de la commission \u00e0 son gr\u00e9. La condition de possibilit\u00e9 de ses crimes ne l\u2019int\u00e9resse pas. Sinon il donnerait raison \u00e0 ceux qui \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque luttent contre la colonisation, les noirs en premier. Il refuse donc d\u2019admettre que toute cette violence coloniale est li\u00e9e au refus des noirs de se soumettre\u00a0; \u00e0 la lutte pour la libert\u00e9 et la dignit\u00e9. Il d\u00e9cide que la commission devrait \u00ab\u00a0rechercher si, dans certaines parties du territoire, des actes de mauvais traitement \u00e9taient commis \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9gard des indig\u00e8nes, soit par des particuliers, soit par des agents de l\u2019\u00c9tat [et] de signaler \u00e9ventuellement les am\u00e9liorations utiles\u00a0<\/a>\u00bb au n\u00e8gre. Les t\u00e9moins pertinents sont des belges, imbib\u00e9s de l\u2019id\u00e9ologie coloniale. Quelques noirs aussi, accessoirement et soigneusement choisis, doivent r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 des questions pr\u00e9cises et orient\u00e9es. Et le verdict de la commission n\u2019est pas moins colonial et indigne que ce qui en a \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 la base\u00a0: le gouvernement belge et le roi ne sont pas responsables des violences. L\u2019EIC devient Congo Belge. Le n\u00e8gre demeure colonis\u00e9. Absence. Apr\u00e8s tout, comment s\u2019imaginer que la Belgique se passe de la colonisation tant qu\u2019elle le peut, cette violence raciale qui fait alors sa prosp\u00e9rit\u00e9\u00a0?<\/p>\n

Deuxi\u00e8mement, on assiste au m\u00eame sch\u00e9ma dans la Commission d\u2019enqu\u00eate dite Lumumba mise en place le 23 mars 2000 suite \u00e0 un scandale\u00a0: la parution du livre \u00ab\u00a0L\u2019assassinat de Lumumba\u00a0\u00bb de Ludo De Witte r\u00e9v\u00e8le la responsabilit\u00e9 des autorit\u00e9s belges dans l\u2019assassinat du h\u00e9ros des congolais et de l\u2019Afrique. La Belgique n\u2019a pas de choix. Elle doit instituer une commission \u00ab\u00a0pour faire la lumi\u00e8re sur l\u2019affaire\u00a0\u00bb. L\u2019institution est utile pour l\u2019opinion publique belge, pour les r\u00e8glements de compte belgo-belges mais aussi pour tenter de se rapprocher du pr\u00e9sident congolais, D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Kabila, qui se r\u00e9clame alors proche de Lumumba. Mais l\u2019initiative restera aussi unilat\u00e9rale et le verdict aussi indigne qu\u2019un si\u00e8cle plus t\u00f4t\u00a0: le royaume n\u2019y est pour rien. Mais face \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9vidence des faits, il faut trouver quelque chose\u00a0: une \u00ab\u00a0responsabilit\u00e9 morale\u00a0\u00bb<\/i>\u00a0de\u00a0\u00ab\u00a0certains ministres et autres acteurs\u00a0\u00bb<\/i>\u00a0belges. Et depuis, tout ce que la famille de Lumumba a re\u00e7u de ce pays qui a contribu\u00e9 \u00e0 la mort de ce dernier, c\u2019est une \u00ab\u00a0autorisation\u00a0<\/a>\u00bb, par un juge d\u2019inscription belge, de lib\u00e9rer les reliques du h\u00e9ros congolais. La justice belge s\u2019est dite enfin pr\u00eate d\u2019en d\u00e9cider, ironie du sort\u00a0! L\u2019affront du bourreau a ainsi demeur\u00e9 impuni et la dignit\u00e9 du colonis\u00e9 \u00e0 nouveau outrag\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

Troisi\u00e8mement, ce sont les manifestations antiracistes suite \u00e0 la mort de George Floyd, tu\u00e9 fin mai 2020 par des policiers blancs aux \u00c9tats-Unis, qui ont men\u00e9 \u00e0 une nouvelle commission parlementaire belge. Plusieurs statues du roi L\u00e9opold II ont\u00a0\u00e9t\u00e9 prises pour cible,\u00a0vandalis\u00e9es ou d\u00e9boulonn\u00e9es en Belgique comme pour dire que ce petit royaume \u00e9tait aussi concern\u00e9 par le racisme\u00a0; qu\u2019elle ne parvenait pas \u00e0 se d\u00e9faire de son pass\u00e9 souvent ignor\u00e9 sinon falsifi\u00e9. Suite \u00e0 cette pression, \u00e0 l\u2019occasion de la soixanti\u00e8me ann\u00e9e de l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance de la RDC, le roi des belges a exprim\u00e9 ses \u00ab\u00a0plus profonds regrets pour les blessures\u00a0\u00bb inflig\u00e9es aux congolais durant la colonisation. Et le 17 juillet 2020, le Parlement a d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de faire \u00ab\u00a0la paix avec son pass\u00e9 colonial\u00a0\u00bb en mettant en place une commission sp\u00e9ciale pour mener \u00ab\u00a0l\u2019enqu\u00eate et le d\u00e9bat soci\u00e9tal \u00e0 ce sujet\u00a0[\u2026],\u00a0rassembler des experts pour mettre en place une commission de v\u00e9rit\u00e9 et r\u00e9conciliation<\/a>.\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n

A partir de cette commission, le colon d\u2019hier cherche d\u00e9sesp\u00e9r\u00e9ment \u00e0 s\u2019humaniser, en contr\u00f4lant tout le processus qui pourrait mener \u00e0 un aveu complet, et en d\u00e9shonorant \u00e0 nouveau sa victime dans le m\u00eame geste. Pour qu\u2019une telle initiative soit possible, il faut qu\u2019il y ait en \u0153uvre la combinaison d\u2019un hyper narcissisme et une toute puissance n\u00e9vrotique. Le bourreau pense alors pouvoir tout connaitre unilat\u00e9ralement. La victime n\u2019existe pas en dehors de l\u2019espace p\u00e9riph\u00e9rique qui lui est accord\u00e9 par le bourreau. Elle n\u2019a pas de parole en dehors du langage du bourreau, ni de temporalit\u00e9 en dehors de celle fix\u00e9e par ce dernier. Comme le montre\u00a0Nadia Fadil<\/a>\u00a0pour la question musulmane en Belgique, un retour historique et critique montre que cette commission est une strat\u00e9gie de gouvernance de la\u00a0question raciale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Face \u00e0 la grammaire du bourreau-justicier<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Nous avons connu les ironies, les insultes, les coups que nous devions subir matin, midi et soir parce que nous \u00e9tions des n\u00e8gres. Nous qui avons souffert dans notre corps et dans notre t\u00eate de l\u2019esprit colonialiste, nous vous disons : tout cela est d\u00e9sormais fini.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

Voil\u00e0 l\u2019une des phrases que Lumumba prononce dans son m\u00e9morable discours le 30 juin 1960, jour de l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance de la RDC, et que la Belgique ne lui pardonnera jamais jusqu\u2019\u00e0 son assassinat. Lumumba est alors consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme l\u2019ennemie \u00e0 abattre simplement car il estime erron\u00e9 de comprendre l\u2019\u00e9v\u00e9nement decolonial comme une simple alternance politique \u00e0 l\u2019amiable dont le colon veut en faire. Pour lui, la colonisation a avant tout repr\u00e9sent\u00e9 un moment de souillure de la dignit\u00e9 des noirs pour lesquels Ubuntu, Agaciro, Bushamuka, Bufasoni, Bushingantahe, ne signifiaient plus rien apr\u00e8s tant de violences et d\u2019humiliations. Chacun \u00e0 sa mani\u00e8re, ces mots intraduisibles chantaient jadis la dignit\u00e9 et structuraient la vision du monde, le syst\u00e8me de valeur et le cadre normatif dans les Grands Lacs. Avec la colonisation, ils ont perdu leur sens : les rois avaient \u00e9t\u00e9 humili\u00e9s par des petits fonctionnaires coloniaux, les femmes viol\u00e9es, les p\u00e8res de familles mutil\u00e9s, la terre et la vache sacr\u00e9es souill\u00e9es. Et enfin, les masques avaient \u00e9t\u00e9 pill\u00e9s. Les esprits n\u2019y habitaient plus. La \u00ab\u00a0force\u00a0vitale<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb a ainsi \u00e9t\u00e9 retir\u00e9e de la vie qui avait d\u00e9sormais des allures de la mort.<\/p>\n

Le pouvoir colonial a ainsi \u00e9t\u00e9 une \u00ab\u00a0n\u00e9cropolitique\u00a0<\/a>\u00bb qui, \u00ab\u00a0dans un acte de r\u00e9version permanente, prenait la mort pour la vie et la vie pour la mort\u00a0\u00bb. En colonie, vivre \u00ab\u00a0ce n\u2019est pas encore construire un monde commun. Vivre, ce n\u2019est que survivre, c\u2019est ne pas mourir. Exister, c\u2019est maintenir la vie\u00a0\u00bb. Individu dissoci\u00e9, assign\u00e9 \u00e0 une race, \u00ab\u00a0d\u00e9tach\u00e9 de son essence\u00a0\u00bb et habitant \u00ab\u00a0cette s\u00e9paration comme son v\u00e9ritable \u00eatre\u00a0\u00bb, le racis\u00e9 a \u00e9t\u00e9 amen\u00e9 \u00e0 ha\u00efr \u00ab\u00a0celui qu\u2019il est et cherche \u00e0 \u00eatre celui qu\u2019il n\u2019est pas\u00a0\u00bb. C\u2019est une telle exp\u00e9rience de \u00ab\u00a0lutte permanente contre une mort atmosph\u00e9rique\u00a0<\/a>\u00bb qui s\u2019est prolong\u00e9e en situation post-coloniale pour les personnes racis\u00e9es et que le point de vue du dominant ne peut parvenir \u00e0 capter.<\/p>\n

Le roi des belges a donc raison de rappeler \u00ab\u00a0des souffrances et des humiliations\u00a0\u00bb et les \u00ab actes de violence et de cruaut\u00e9 [\u2026] qui p\u00e8sent encore\u00a0\u00bb. Mais ces actes sont indicibles pour le colon. La Belgique ne saurait jamais dire cet indicible. Et moins encore dans son langage, \u00e0 partir de son point de vue. L\u2019indicible n\u2019est peut-\u00eatre pas \u00e0 dire par la Belgique mais \u00e0 reconnaitre. Et il ne s\u2019agit pas encore une fois de s\u2019inscrire dans un sch\u00e9ma paternaliste en proposant de \u00ab\u00a0reconnaitre la souffrance de l\u2019autre\u00a0\u00bb comme l\u2019a estim\u00e9 la premi\u00e8re ministre belge. Au contraire, il s\u2019agit de reconnaitre son propre forfait, ce qui ne n\u00e9cessite pas une commission. L\u2019indicible de la colonisation vit dans la chair du colonis\u00e9, dans ses plaies et ses cicatrices. Il le dit d\u00e9j\u00e0 tous les jours par ses larmes, sa plume, sa musique, sa danse, son activisme, sa t\u00e9nacit\u00e9 et son art qui appelle \u00e0 la dignit\u00e9, gage de l\u2019humanit\u00e9 du colon.<\/p>\n

A l\u2019\u00e9poque coloniale, la dignit\u00e9 du colonis\u00e9 a consist\u00e9 dans sa capacit\u00e9 \u00e0 rester d\u00e9bout alors que son monde s\u2019\u00e9tait \u00e9croul\u00e9 autour de lui. Aujourd\u2019hui, cette dignit\u00e9 consiste dans le refus de parler le langage du bourreau et l\u2019exigence \u00e9thique d\u2019en d\u00e9masquer les man\u0153uvres et les contradictions. Comme l\u2019ont exp\u00e9riment\u00e9 les personnes colonis\u00e9es et racis\u00e9es, ce langage du bourreau s\u2019est toujours inscrit dans la modalit\u00e9 monade, cette \u00ab\u00a0raison hell\u00e8ne\u00a0\u00bb consubstantielle de la \u00ab\u00a0raison n\u00e8gre\u00a0\u00bb et de la \u00ab\u00a0raison cupide\u00a0\u00bb. C\u2019est \u00e0 travers cette modalit\u00e9 \u00ab\u00a0hell\u00e8ne-n\u00e8gre-cupide\u00a0\u00bb que la Belgique est pass\u00e9e des mains coup\u00e9es aux crimes et humiliations coloniaux\u00a0; de l\u2019assassinat de Lumumba aux affronts subis par sa famille et par les afro-descendants. C\u2019est la m\u00eame modalit\u00e9 qui rend possible l\u2019illusion de l\u2019efficacit\u00e9 de l\u2019expertise des commissions \u00e0 la place de l\u2019exp\u00e9rience des personnes concern\u00e9es. Or, en r\u00e9alit\u00e9, ces commissions sont une m\u00e9taphore du pouvoir qui, au lieu de soigner et de r\u00e9parer le tort caus\u00e9, g\u00e8re un processus qui engendre l\u2019impunit\u00e9, l\u2019indignit\u00e9 et le \u00ab\u00a0devenir-n\u00e8gre\u00a0<\/a>\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Dans ce n\u00e8gre, il y a ce \u00ab\u00a0quelque chose d\u2019indomptable, de fonci\u00e8rement inapprivoisable, que la domination \u2013 peu en importe les formes \u2013 ne peut ni \u00e9liminer, ni contenir, ni r\u00e9primer totalement\u00a0<\/a>\u00bb. Mais, bien que d\u00e9bout sur ses pieds, ce n\u00e8gre \u00ab\u00a0infantilis\u00e9, accultur\u00e9, d\u00e9shumanis\u00e9\u00a0\u00bb porte toujours en lui un corps bless\u00e9 qui lutte, qui exige son droit au soin et \u00e0 la r\u00e9paration. \u00ab\u00a0R\u00e9parer signifie, \u00e9tymologiquement, dans la culture occidentale, retourner \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tat originel, donc nier la blessure. Dans les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s traditionnelles, africaines, asiatiques, et m\u00eame ant\u00e9-modernes occidentales, r\u00e9parer signifiait montrer que l\u2019on a trait<\/a>. Un tel travail ne peut qu\u2019\u00eatre con\u00e7u et initi\u00e9 par les victimes qui comprennent vraiment ce qu\u2019a \u00e9t\u00e9 la colonisation. Ce qu\u2019elle continue d\u2019\u00eatre dans leur quotidien.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

The absence and its masks<\/h1>\n
By Aymar N. Bisoka, Prof. of Decolonial Anthropology, University of Mons.<\/div>\n

The absence and its masks:\u00a0<\/b>Belgian parliamentary committees on colonisation and the problem of dignity<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe masks are not the most emblematic pieces in this museum. The Belgians looted almost all of them during the colonisation to adorn their museums. This is why our museums are almost empty. The only vestiges of the grandeur in this museum are outside there in the garden: prodigious frescoes which depict black slaves building a railroad under the surveillance of white colonists. There are also imposing bronze statues of Stanley and Leopold II, the two white people who are the provenance of our misfortune\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n

This is how Justin often introduces, almost automatically but always solemnly, each visit to the tiny Mont Ngaliema Museum in Kinshasa. As one proceeds to admire the fifty or so works of art distributed in the two cramped rooms that make up the museum, it is impossible to ignore one lacuna in this collection of artifacts. First, the absence of the Congolese masks and the vacuum that the colonial violence created. There is not much to see in the museum. According to Justin, you need to tour the Tervuren Museum in Brussels to have access to the masks. Second, there is the inherent violence expressed by the frescoes and statutes overlooking the garden. However, they are imposingly masterful, and one would be forgiven to think that they were designed to obscure the absence of the masks, a situation that Justin deplores.<\/p>\n

As in the Mont Ngaliema Museum, the same colonial modus operandi is evident in the current Belgian Parliamentary Commission on its Colonial Past, created in 2020: the absence of the victim, shrouded by the domination of the executioner-judge as well as the rape of dignity. Because, \u00ab\u00a0in several respects, the meeting between Africa and the West\u00a0\u00bb has lived \u00ab\u00a0under the figure of rape<\/a>\u00ab\u00a0; and the political rupture linked to decolonisation has never been able to give way to both recognition of guilt, reparation, and caring for the victim. Today, this rape is reflected in the blatant audacity of the former executioner to ensconce himself as the pilot of the conversations regarding his crime. It is he who christens the initiative (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) and defines the terms (what will be discussed) and the modalities (how to proceed, whom to give the floor, and on whom the decision-making authority rests). It is he who defines, in his own language, the modalities of care and reparation.<\/p>\n

This now introduces an enigma to contemplate, one that neither the legitimacy of historical expertise, nor the politics of memory and much less journalistic discourse, can help us grasp: how is it possible that yesterday\u2019s executioner takes the initiative to claim justice, truth and reconciliation? In such a context, are care and reparation possible? How would we perpend this from the victim\u2019s point of view and dignity? Absurd, you might say, at first glance. But everything suddenly becomes coherent when you understand two things: on the one hand, the paternalistic repertoire in which this initiative operates and, on the other, the colonial legacy linked to previous commissions formed to address the colonial issue in Belgium. The history of these commissions is a dismal reminder that any discourse can be tapered off to its sole instrumental dimension and eventually produce the opposite of the ideals it advocates for. It is from this pragmatic and radical perspective that the new commission should be tested.<\/p>\n

The statutes and the colonial frescoes of Ngaliema represent the colonial grammar of executioner-judge who reproduces the absence of the victim in commissions which are nevertheless dedicated to him. This grammar should be seen as a strategy to rule the spectrum of race in Belgium and has the effect of eliminating any possibility of speech and existence of the victim. It anesthetises any possibility of resolute care and reparation. This glaring absence, however, reifies the duty to fight for the dignity of the victim.<\/p>\n

Governing the spectrum of the race<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b>\u201c[\u2026] the current condition of the black race is defined by indignity. This dignity is what the white man tries to abolish when he exerts his violence on the black man. But this dignity is also what the white man deprives himself of when he exerts his violence on the black. Finally, this dignity is what the black man collectively reaffirms when engaging himself against white domination. [\u2026]. Dignity, therefore, becomes the capacity of the oppressed to stand up between the choice of life and death that is imposed on him by the oppressors.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

In this regard, French philosopher Norman Ajari proposes the need to ruminate on the colonial question and its contemporary legacy, that is, what the Belgian Parliamentary Commission on colonisation will be concerned with. For Norman Ajari, colonisation and its legacy are based on indignity. To be undignified means to be denied, not only human rights above all, but the very status of a human being. But that which is inhumane is what human beings, the whites in this case, can then dispose of on a whim, say black people. But unlike a strictly pure thing, the black man\u2019s status vacillates between extremes. He is that thing that we hope to transform into a man, a child that we promise to raise, a barbarian to civilise, an animal to humanise, a dead man to bring back to life, a victim to whom the executioner promises to bring justice. All these variations implying that, the black is unworthy in himself.<\/p>\n

Thus, as with the masks of Ngaliema, the modus operandi of colonial violence is to render the black man absent, act in his place and ultimately against him. The status of the white person does not matter, whether he is a colonist or not, heir to colonial discourse or not. In the face of the dehumanised negro, ethics are ineffective. Indeed, it is only when the victim is no longer seen as a human being that the executioner can afford to become the judge. Only when caught up in narcissism and neurotic omnipotence can he convene commissions to rule on his own crime. However, it is at this exact juncture that the humanity of the executioner is found fractured, at the same time as that of his victim. This is why for close to a century, all the consecutive commissions that have been established to address the colonial issue in Belgium pose an acute problem: in their principle and modalities, they engender the same absence and the same indignity for the victims.<\/p>\n

First, we find this situation in the Commission of Inquiry into the Abuses Committed in the EIC. Following international pressure and the fight for economic interests, this Commission was created on 23rd<\/sup>\u00a0July 1904 on the heels of the \u201csevered hands affair\u201d which transpired at the beginning of the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century; owing to campaigns denouncing abuses committed by EIC agents and private companies against the Congolese.\u00a0Ten million dead<\/a>! Faced with the pressure, King Leopold II had no other choice but to set up this Commission.<\/p>\n

Since the accused is also the judge, he then directs the Commission’s mission as he sees it fit. The factors, social, economic and others, that enabled his crimes are the least of his concerns. Otherwise, he would be in agreement with those who at that time were fighting against colonisation, primarily blacks. He therefore refuses to admit that all this colonial violence is linked to the refusal of blacks to submit; and to the struggle for freedom and dignity. He decides that the commission should \u201cinvestigate whether in certain parts of the territory, acts of ill-treatment were committed against the natives, either by individuals or by State agents [and] to report, if necessary, useful improvements<\/a>\u201d to the negro. The relevant witnesses are Belgians imbibed in colonial ideology. A few blacks also, incidentally and carefully chosen, must answer specific and leading questions. Ultimately, the Commission\u2019s verdict is no less colonial and outrageous than the primordial reason for its formation: the Belgian government and the King are not responsible for the violence. The EIC becomes Belgian Congo. The negro remains colonised. Absence: after all, how can we imagine that Belgium would hastily dispense with colonisation, since this racial violence then made it prosperous?<\/p>\n

Secondly, we witnessed the same pattern in the so-called Lumumba Commission of Inquiry set up on 23rd March 2000 following a scandal: the publication of the book \u00ab\u00a0The Assassination of Lumumba\u00a0\u00bb by Ludo De Witte which revealed the responsibility of the Belgian authorities in the assassination of the Congolese and African hero. Belgium had no choice but to set up a commission \u00ab\u00a0to shed light on the matter\u00a0\u00bb. The institution was useful for Belgian public opinion, for Belgian-Belgian settling of scores but also as a guise get closer to the Congolese president, D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Kabila, who at the time claimed to be close to Lumumba. However, the initiative remained as one-sided, and the verdict as outrageous as the one passed almost a century earlier: The Kingdom had nothing to do with it. But faced with the evidence of the facts, something needed be found: a \u00ab\u00a0moral responsibility\u00a0\u00bb of \u00ab\u00a0certain Belgian ministers and other actors\u00a0\u00bb. And since then, all Lumumba’s family has received from that country that contributed to his death is an \u00ab\u00a0authorisation<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb by a Belgian registration judge to release the relics of the Congolese hero. The Belgian justice system declared that it was finally ready to decide, what an ironic twist of fate! The affront of the executioner again went unpunished and the dignity of the colonised was once again trampled.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, the anti-racist demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, murdered at the end of May 2020 by white police officers in the United States, led to a new Belgian parliamentary commission. Several statues of King Leopold II were targeted, vandalised or unbolted in Belgium as a clear message to this small kingdom also burgeoned through racism; that she could not easily relinquish her often ignored if not falsified past. Owing to this pressure, on the occasion of the sixtieth year of the DRC independence, the Belgian King expressed his \u00ab\u00a0deepest regrets for the injuries\u00a0\u00bb inflicted on the Congolese during colonisation. On 17th<\/sup>\u00a0July 2020, the Belgian Parliament decided to make \u201cpeace with its colonial past\u201d by setting up a special commission \u201cto conduct an investigation and societal debate on this topic [\u2026], to bring together experts to set up a truth and reconciliation commission<\/a>\u00ab\u00a0.<\/p>\n

From this commission, yesterday’s colonist desperately seeks to humanise himself by controlling the entire process that could lead to a full confession, and again in this action, dishonouring his victim. Such an initiative further evinces the inveterate combination of hyper narcissism and neurotic omnipotence. The executioner purports to have unilateral omniscience, thus the victim does not exist outside the peripheral space granted to him by the executioner. The victim has no say outside the language of the executioner, nor temporality outside that which is fixed by the latter. As\u00a0Nadia Fadil<\/a>\u00a0illustrates with the Muslim issue in Belgium, a historical and critical feedback shows that this commission has been set up merely as a governance strategy of the\u00a0racial question.<\/a><\/p>\n

Faced with the grammar of the executioner-judge<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have known the ironies, the insults, the blows that we had to suffer morning, noon and night because we are negroes. We who have suffered in our bodies and in our minds from the colonialist spirit, we say to you: all this is now over\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n

This is one of the phrases that Lumumba uttered in his memorable speech on 30th<\/sup>\u00a0June 1960, the DRC\u2019s Independence Day, and one that Belgium would never forgive him for, until his assassination. Lumumba was then perceived as an enemy to be annihilated because he considered it wrong to understand the decolonial event as the simplistic, amicable political alternation that the colonist wanted to make of it. For him, the colonisation was above all an era of defilement of the dignity of blacks to whom Ubuntu, Agaciro, Bushamuka, Bufasoni, Bushingantahe; no longer meant anything after so much violence and humiliation. Each one in its own way, these untranslatable words once sang the dignity and structured the worldview, the value system, and the normative framework in the Great Lakes Region. With the advent of colonisation, they lost their meaning: kings had been humiliated by petty colonial officials, women were raped, fathers of families were mutilated, and the sacred land and the sacred cow were soiled. And finally, the masks had been looted. The spirits no longer inhabited this land. The \u00ab\u00a0vital force<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb was therefore withdrawn from life, which henceforth bore a semblance to death.<\/p>\n

The colonial power was thus a \u201cnecropolitics<\/a>\u201d which, \u201cin an act of permanent reversion, took death for life and life for death\u201d. In a colony, living \u00ab\u00a0is not yet building a common world. Living is only surviving, it is not dying. Existing is maintaining life\u00a0\u00bb. A dissociated individual, assigned to a race, \u00ab\u00a0detached from his essence\u00a0\u00bb and inhabiting \u00ab\u00a0this separation as his true being\u00a0\u00bb, the racialised person has been compelled to hate \u00ab\u00a0who he is and seeks to be who he is not\u00a0\u00bb. It is such an experience of a \u00ab\u00a0lifelong struggle against atmospheric death<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb that has dragged on in post-colonial times for people of colour and that the dominant’s point of view cannot capture.<\/p>\n

The king of Belgians is therefore right to recall \u201csufferings and humiliations\u201d and \u201cacts of violence and cruelty [\u2026] which still weigh heavily\u201d. But these acts are unspeakable to the colonist. Belgium can never talk about this unspeakable. And even less in his language, from his point of view, the unspeakable is not perhaps there to be said by Belgium but to be rather recognised. And once again, this is not a question of subscribing to a paternalistic pattern by proposing to \u00ab\u00a0recognise the suffering of the other\u00a0\u00bb as estimated by the Belgian Prime Minister. On the contrary, this is about recognising one\u2019s own infamy, which does not necessarily require a commission. The unspeakable misdeed of colonisation lies in the flesh of the colonised, in his wounds and scars. He already says it every day through his tears, pen, music, dance, activism, tenacity and art which call for dignity, a pledge of the colonist humanity.<\/p>\n

In colonial times, the dignity of the colonised people consisted in their ability to stand upright as their world collapsed around them. Today, this dignity consists in the refusal to speak the language of the executioner and the ethical requirement to unmask its manoeuvres and contradictions. As colonised and racialised people have experienced it, this language of the executioner has always been part of the monad modality, this consubstantial \u00ab\u00a0Hellenic reason\u00a0\u00bb of the \u00ab\u00a0negro reason\u00a0\u00bb and the \u00ab\u00a0greedy reason\u201d. It was through this \u00ab\u00a0Hellenic-Negro-greedy\u00a0\u00bb modality that Belgium went from severed hands to colonial crimes and humiliations; from Lumumba’s assassination to the affronts suffered by his family and by Afro-descendants. It is actually the same modality which makes possible the illusion of the effectiveness of the committees\u2019 expertise instead of the experience of the concerned people. In reality, however, these commissions are a metaphor for the power which, instead of healing and repairing the wrong done, manages a process which breeds impunity, indignity and the vicious cycle of \u00ab\u00a0becoming-negro<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb to which the black man is unceasingly subjected.<\/p>\n

In this negro, there is \u00ab\u00a0something indomitable, fundamentally untameable, that domination \u2013 whatever its forms \u2013 can neither eliminate, nor contain, nor repress completely<\/a>\u00ab\u00a0. Nonetheless, although standing on his feet, this \u201cinfantilised, acculturated, dehumanised\u201d negro still carries within him a wounded body which struggles and claims its right to care and reparation. \u00ab\u00a0Repairing means, etymologically, in Western culture, to return to the original state, therefore to deny the injury. In traditional, African, Asian, and even pre-modern Western societies, repairing meant showing that the wound had been treated, giving this<\/a>\u201d. Such work can only be designed and initiated by the victims who truly understand what colonisation was all about and what it continues to be in their daily lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Par Aymar N. Bisoka, Prof. d’anthropologie d\u00e9coloniale, Universit\u00e9 de Mons. L\u2019absence et ses masques. Les commissions parlementaires belges sur la colonisation et le probl\u00e8me de dignit\u00e9. \u00ab\u00a0Les masques ne sont pas les pi\u00e8ces les plus embl\u00e9matiques de ce mus\u00e9e. Les belges les ont presque tous pill\u00e9s durant la colonisation\u00a0pour orner leurs mus\u00e9es. Voil\u00e0 pourquoi nos … Lire la suite<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,21,36,7,18,28],"tags":[440],"class_list":["post-4582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-classe","category-anti-imperialisme","category-europe","category-negrophobie","category-resistance-bruxelles","category-racismes","tag-aymar-n-bisoka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4583,"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582\/revisions\/4583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruxelles-pantheres.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}