🕳️ Released Phantom Node 22: Leopold II. The Exploiter King
- Foundation date
18 July 2025
🕳️ Released Phantom Node 22: Leopold II. The Exploiter King
He didn’t conquer a people — he extracted them.
Colonialism is not an abstraction. It is millions of broken bodies.
The phantom of Leopold II stands as proof that empires built wealth from blood.
Until we call it a crime, it continues.
Node Type: Imperial Phantom
Status: Deceased, but never condemned
Mechanism of Retention: Imperial myth, statues, historical amnesia
Figure: Monarch with a cross and a whip
Instead of the Phantom: Public recognition of the crime
Core of the Node
— A private colony turned into a death camp
— Dehumanization of a people in the name of profit
— The rubber fever: human life reduced to production quotas
— Personal enrichment disguised as “civilizing mission”
What Sustained Him?
— The myth of Europe’s “mission” in Africa
— Political isolation of Congo from global scrutiny
— Brutal control by private armies and administrators
— Direct extraction of resources for personal gain
How Did He Become a Phantom?
— Claimed to be a humanitarian, acted as a butcher
— Constructed a system of atrocities
— His regime outlived him as a blueprint for extractive violence
Why Does the Phantom Still Exist?
— Because imperial Europe never fully acknowledged the crime
— Because his statues still stand
— Because wealth gained through blood was never returned
— Because Congo’s suffering didn’t end in the 20th century
State of the Phantom
— Officially dead, but disguised as national pride
— Reconstructed in museums, but not in collective consciousness
— His face is still in public squares, not on history’s bench
After the Regime
— Congo without a stable state identity
— Decades of conflict, foreign intervention, and plunder
— A curse of resources that began with Leopold’s crimes
Collective Response
We are not bound to silence just because he wore a crown.
Memory is not only about pride — it is about reckoning.
That is where liberation truly begins.
Core Principle
Crimes committed in the shadow of empire must be exposed.
Otherwise, colonial phantoms are not the past — they are the future.
Alt-text:
A graphite portrait of Leopold II. He stands solemn, wearing a crown and holding a scepter. On his knees is a bag of gold. His gaze is haughty and detached. Behind him: symbols of devastation and forced labor. The atmosphere evokes impunity and profit.
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Anna Pivtorak Kostyuk
📍🗺️
18.07.2025
