How Should King Leopold II Be Remembered ?

You ask the question how should King Leopold II be remembered, look no further, your answer lies here on this white canvas of black stripes in the midst of my words. King Leopold denies charges cast upon him over and over all throughout an article, "King Leopold Denies Charges Against Him" , published on Dec. 11, 1906. He states he doesn’t care about a profit and his only motive was the wellbeing of the Congo. He goes on to say that he never intentionally hurted or killed any Africans and that all those accusations were a lie. Although he comes out and admits, that the Africans are sometimes treated badly by the whites and other natives, only to later say that all countries aren’t perfect and still have many problems to work through. He thinks of himself as a humanitarian in the Congo, providing vaccines, prohibiting the import of alcohol and stopping the slave trade. How truthful Leopold was in this interview I will never know. Although he does give you insight on his life and thoughts during his reign as King, he told many half-truths. Published on the 22nd of June in 2010 by Leigh Phillips, the article, "Ex-commissioner calls Congo’s colonial master a ‘visionary hero’ ", was one of quite major controversy. On one hand you have people like Louis Michel, former Belgian EU development commissioner and current prominent Liberal MEP, calling King Leopold a ‘visionary hero’. But on the other hand, many more depicted him rightfully as he: a murderer and evildoer. Belgian politicians and commentators such as Pol Van Den Driessche truthfully coined Leopold II regime as shameful, & noted that Michel’s reign as EU commissioner was also not worthy of praise as his focus was not on poverty eradication but on the Congo and other regions with historic links to Belgium. This article would