YouSaid · the spoken record

Mobutu Sese Seko

lines on the record

109

first

1973-09-24

most recent

1989-09-24

sittings or episodes

2

sources

un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

1. “Under the pretext that they had come to Africa to civilize us, the first whites, the pioneers of that civilization, began by emptying our respective countries of their fundamental substance through the shameful practice of slave-trading — and even at that period the chief offenders were the Portuguese. Our ancestors were not considered as men, or even as beings with intelligence and feeling. They were considered as a set of muscles fit for mechanical labour such as we expect from an animal — a horse, a buffalo, a donkey or an ox. 105. Slavery continued and in the nineteenth century became a veritable catastrophe for the African continent. To justify themselves, these colonialists and slave-traders pitted us against our Arab brothers, affirming their role in slavery.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

2. “For authenticity not only implies a profound knowledge of one's own culture, but also a respect for the cultural heritage of others. 102. Thus, strengthened by this experience, we in all modesty believe that Zaire can now give to the world its own interpretation of problems that confront us. 103. We shall start by dealing with our own continent, Africa. For Africa today remains the only continent where colonization, racial segregation, apartheid and contempt of man because of the pigmentation of his skin persist. Africa is a continent that has suffered some of the greatest humiliations of recorded history. 104. For centuries the situation of the black man in Africa has deteriorated.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

3. “This is an awareness on the part of the people of Zaire that they should return to their beginnings and search for the values of their ancestors in order to appreciate the values which contribute to the country's harmonious and natural development. It is the refusal of the people of Zaire blindly to espouse imported ideologies. It is the affirmation of the worth of the Zairean, or of any man, as he is and where he is, with the mental and social structures that are his own. A return to authenticity is not narrow nationalism, a blind return to the past. On the contrary, it is a useful instrument for peace among nations, a condition for existence among peoples, a platform on which co-operation among States can be built.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

4. “Our country suffered because of its lack of political preparation; but it suffered above all because of the greed of the West and the East. Both of them tried to gain a decisive influence over us so that they could control our important natural resources. Some wanted to recolonize us economically, whereas others wished to dominate us ideologically. 101. Zaire, which went through indescribable chaos to become an organized and well-governed country, after its unfortunate experience finally recognized its true friends. The Zairean experience is based on a political philosophy that we call authenticity.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

5. “Furthermore, at the time it attained independence my country, 80 times larger than its one-time metropolitan area, had only 10 national cadres that had completed their university studies; and in the administration, in the army and in the private sector, there was not a single Zairean cadre. 98. It was for that reason that 1960 to 1965 were dreadful years for us and we are forced to recognize that anarchy, chaos, disorder, blindness and incapacity prevailed in Zaire. 99. Some of you may have to consult your dictionary to find out precisely what the word "anarchy" means, but we in Zaire were so well acquainted with it that many people felt that the word "anarchy" was an invention of Zaire. That is why disorder in any part of the world was baptized "congolization". 100.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

6. “In 1960, Zaire, which was still called the Congo, collapsed one night like a house of cards. A number of experts in colonialism had decided hastily that our people were congenitally incapable, attempting to prove thereby that the independence of new nations was an unsuccessful operation. We were presumed and judged incapable of governing ourselves without the colonizers. 96. But we believe that the accident that occurred in Zaire was foreseeable. Despite the fact that by the Act of Berlin of 1885 the Zaire river basin was opened to the entire world, Zaire itself was isolated from the world. It was outside the pale of progressive ideas. 97.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

7. “I will take advantage of this opportunity to pay a tribute also to the Secretaries-General of the world Organization who have worked so hard and have been able to assure us of our existence. 92. My thoughts go out particularly to the late Dag Hammarskjold, who died in the service of this important Organization and of the Republic of Zaire. 93. My tribute must also be addressed to his successor, U Thant, who gave himself body and soul to the maintenance of peace in the world and who paid special attention to the cause of Zaire. 94. I am very grateful, finally, for the appointment of Mr. Kurt Waldheim as Secretary-General of the United Nations. I wish for him a brilliant and fruitful career. 95. All the world knows the circumstances that surrounded the accession of my country to independence.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

8. “The people of Zaire, at one with the Popular Movement of the Revolution, our national party, has entrusted me with presenting the thanks of the citizens of Zaire to the United Nations through this august Assembly. 90. If a small minority of States Members of this Organization refused to participate in the Congo operation at that time, the great majority nevertheless spontaneously placed troops at the disposal of the Organization, or assisted financially in the carrying out of the operation that allowed us to maintain peace and the unity and integrity of national territory. Through the United Nations, Zaire wishes to give heart-felt thanks to all parties. 91.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)

9. “88. Mr. President, first of all may I thank you for allowing me to address the Assembly from this rostrum. Furthermore, on behalf of the nationals of the countries commonly called the countries of the third world, I wish to congratulate you on your brilliant election to preside over the General Assembly of the United Nations. I have no doubt that, owing to your well-known reputation as a statesman, you will carry the heavy burdens it imposes with competence and to the immense satisfaction of the General Assembly and to the pride of the so-called third world. Glancing at your biography, Sir, I find both pleasure and pride in discovering that you, like myself, were at one time a journalist. 89.”

   1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)