Ex+Worker

You are the ex worker of the rubber plantations and managed to survive the horrible working conditions. You have mustered enough courage to testify against the powerful Belgian ruler King Leopold II. You are surprised that Roger Casement, lead investigator of the rubber plantations, is willing to talk to you because you are (in his mind) a negro slave forced to labor under horrible conditions. Racism is common place in colonies and you are considered second class and barbaric. Plus your mind is beginning to crack and you have common nervous break downs when placed in a stressful situation (such as being on trial). The years of harsh labor, witnessing mass murder and mutilation and starvation has finally taken a toll on your mind and you must muster enough energy to get you through this trial.

Below is a list of atrocities that you have witnessed and rumored to happen. Create a story

Your wife was taken by the Force Publique because you refused to work in harsh conditions for no pay. Your wife (name stricken from the record) was kidnapped raped and then killed along with your daughter. You worked for 6 more months and then escaped from the labor camps to British controled Rhodesia. Become familiar with the story and add more creativity if you want but the prosecution and defense will focus on this list so its important to become familiar with the story and list. Right down some notes so you can remember and go talk to both defense and prosecution.

(Acts you have witnessed) -The severing of the hand of any person, be they man, woman or child, who did not fulfill the task required of them.

-Another method of oppression was to rape the women

-The kidnapping of black women so as to force their husbands to work on the Belgian rubber plantations in the Congo. -These women were kept as hostages until their men had provided the required quota of rubber. -The wife of any man refusing to collect rubber would then be killed, and his children would in all likelihood also be killed.

(Rumors you heard) -Villages that did not meet the quota of rubber stipulated were then required to pay the outstanding amount in the form of a severed hand, each hand representing a “kill”

-The forced separation of children from their parents, after which they were organized into three children’s colonies where they were indoctrinated, being taught Christianity and trained as soldiers.

-However, for every bullet expended, the soldiers would have to return one right hand

-The use of Tippu Tip, a slave trader from Zanzibar, and his slaves (which constituted the Force Publique), to enslave the rest of the Congo populace.