Thoughtful discussion with SIA Reads

Earlier this week, thirteen people gathered on Zoom for the inaugural session of the SIA Reads book club. SIA North American Board members, staff, and donors discussed the first third of King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild, to better understand the history and legacy of European colonialism in Africa and in philanthropy, and to use that increased knowledge to work in solidarity with Spirit in Action’s grant partners. 

The first six chapters go through many twists and turns, so it’s hard to summarize them concisely. We read about the long history of slavery across sub-Saharan Africa, and 19th-century explorers’ desires to chart “unpopulated” lands and sell fanciful stories to newspapers, exoticizing what they saw and glorifying their own valor.

We also read about King Leopold II, who was King of Belgium from 1835 to 1909, his extreme desire for wealth and territory, and how he used flattery and lies to pull other European and American leaders into sanctioning his personal control over people and trade in the Congo Basin. 

Many of us connected our reflections to our professions (a history teacher, a minister, nonprofit directors, to name a few) and life experiences.

Some things that struck us were:

• How much is lost when histories are written by the winners, and when the stories of others are either not written down or are systematically destroyed

• The hubris (extreme arrogance) of buying and owning land that people have lived on for millennia 

• The blatant deceit of Leopold and his associates, using the language of free trade and being good Christians to hide his exploitation of people for his personal gain, and excluding any African leadership in his International African Association

• Citizens of the colonizing countries were mostly ignorant of what was happening in far-off places, and one person wondered what we’re being ignorant about now

Relating the book to Spirit in Action’s work, people shared: 

• Gratitude for the African Advisory Board, and a feeling that Africans are right to be wary of international organizations coming in and saying they want to help

• The value of indigenous knowledge and of listening to and supporting people arriving at their own solutions to challenges they face

• Really seeing the importance of aligning SIA’s practices with Trust-Based Philanthropy, because it is so easy (and it’s the default) to be paternalistic in charity work, even with the best intentions

• King Leopold used the guise of philanthropy for his mission, duping supporters into believing he was working to save people. This relates to the allure of being a “helper,” without any knowledge of the situation or the people involved, rather than acknowledging the agency of people over their own lives

All left the gathering grateful for the learning, and to be able to be part of SIA, which is doing things differently by centering partnerships, seeing our grant partners as experts in their work, and knowing that all of us – across the wide SIA network – are interconnected. 

*Bonus: One fact I learned was that Picasso took inspiration from Congolese artists! Click to read about Pende masks and a Picasso painting in the Cubist style.