Repost: What the screen forgot to tell you about the movie "Oppenheimer"

Thanks to the efforts of a Hollywood master, the world is now discussing Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

But I want to tell you something the screen doesn't tell you - where did the "Father of the Atomic Bomb" get the uranium that would have allowed him to vaporize hundreds of thousands of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Two-thirds of the uranium needed for the Manhattan Project came from the Shinkolobwe mine in the Congo, a unique deposit discovered in 1915. Thirty years ago, King Leopold II declared the Congo the property of the Belgian Crown. As many as 15 million Congolese have fallen victim to the forced extraction of rubber, ivory, gold and timber.

Most of the pictures you know of Africans wearing chains around their necks were taken in the Congo.

For those Africans who disobeyed the colonists' orders, their hands were cut off and children were sent to European zoos as animal exhibits.

During the 20 years under this "management," the Congolese population fell by 1.5 million .

It wasn't until 1908, when the capitalists replaced the kings and replaced the knives with iron-tipped whips, that hand chopping stopped.

But the story here is about uranium...

…Uranium was thought to be a by-product of radium mining until the discovery of atomic fission (1938). However, just before World War II broke out, Einstein wrote Roosevelt a letter explaining what the significance of uranium was and what kind of bombs could be made from it. Everyone was so excited that they rushed to the Congo (~"the most important source of uranium").

What is a Colonial Mine? It was a concentration camp . The people who lived there worked like hell for pennies, shoveling up thousands of tons of radioactive ore with their bare hands.

Their freedom of movement was restricted and trade unions banned.

Still, workers fought for their rights and boycotted production on a regular basis, with the result that they were either paid a raise or shot before the boss's megaphone demanded everyone go back to work.

The owner of the Shinkolobwe deposit is the Belgian mining company Union-Minière. Watching dark brown clouds thicken over Europe, Edgar Signier, the company's director, worried about the future of its assets, was negotiating with Washington to export Congo's uranium ore to the United States.

After World War II, uranium enrichment allowed the United States to meet its needs at the expense of other, less fertile mines. However, the need to control the Congo remained - not least to prevent the New Kolobwe mine from falling into the hands of a Cold War opponent, namely the Soviet Union .

This is why, immediately after Congo’s independence (1960), the United States supported the dictator Mobutu’s military coup and killed Patrice Lumumba, a national hero and icon of decolonization, in the process.

Congo has a one-party dictatorship and has become a safe haven for all right-wing movements in the region.

The story ends with deafening poverty, a series of military conflicts, the shooting of student demonstrations, and complicity in the Rwandan genocide ....

In 1946, Edgar Signier became the first foreigner to receive the U.S. Medal of Merit. It later turned out that during the war he sold Congolese uranium not only to the Americans but also to the Nazis.

As for the Shinkolobwe mine... at the end of the century, about 15,000 workers and their families lived there. After the mine was closed (2004), many of them were forced to dig secretly in the radioactive area in search of valuable metals. The store was hit by a military attack "to prevent uranium from falling into the hands of terrorists" at the dawn of the so-called "fight against world terrorism".

Radioactive material from mines enters the water, poisoning plants, animals and humans. In the American town of Oak Ridge, where Congolese ore is extracted, the cancer death rate is still rising, and in St. Louis, its waste disposal site will poison the next millennium.

Without Congo rubber, it is difficult to imagine the history of the automobile industry; likewise, without uranium, there would be no nuclear energy.

The so-called "Lights of Progress" from outside continue to ravage the country (now colonized by China ), and the wealth of the Congo makes it a tasty prey for vampires of all stripes.

Congo is rich in resources that play a key role in modern technology (cobalt, coltan, copper, oil). Value of untapped natural wealth: $24 trillion. Exports: $22 billion. But despite this, 60 million Congolese (out of a total of 100 million people) live on just $2.15 a day.

The following was published on August 16 :

Before the arrival of Europeans, there were ancient civilizations in Niger, such as Songhai, Hausa, Kanem-Bornu, Agadez, Dosso and Tuareg. All of these civilizations prospered from trade. Their cities are major cultural, educational and economic centers.

At the end of the 19th century, the Europeans divided spheres of influence in Africa, and France began to conquer the "Territory of Niger". After suppressing the resistance, the colonists wiped out the African countries and incorporated their people into the colonial system. Colonial rulers replaced recalcitrant leaders, whose "African voice" was the order of Paris. The local population was dispossessed and taxed, and ordinary Africans were forced to work on infrastructure and logistics for the empire's resource extraction.

In 1960, Niger declared independence after 70 years of colonial oppression. As a raw material dependency of France, Niger broke away from the French system, but it also no longer had its own (it was crushed by the colonizers), plunged into an era of unrest and military coups .

When Europeans established colonial states, they drew borders arbitrarily without regard to local populations, their identities, cultures, and relationships. Because of this, very different peoples often live under the same roof. During the colonial era, the conflict between them was suppressed under the violence of the common empire. However, with the independence of the country, those once hidden contradictions have been completely broken down, and tensions between traumatized groups have continued to intensify, sparking new conflicts. One factor contributing to the current crisis, for example, is that President Bazoum belongs to the Libyan-Arab minority, while the army that ousted him belongs to the Hausa majority .

Niger remains a battleground for imperial interests. Niger is one of the top ten uranium producers in the world and one of the top three uranium suppliers to France, supplying 20% ​​of France's total demand ( 70% of France's electricity depends on nuclear energy). Niger's oil industry is developed by China. China owns two-thirds of the Agadem oil field. Under the pretext of fighting "Al Qaeda", "Islamic State" and "Boko Haram", both the United States and France have established military bases on Niger territory. Russia is also trying to restore its influence in Niger (Russian-African summit) .

A country rich in uranium, gold, oil, coal, and other minerals has to import food, machinery, equipment, and even oil that it owns but cannot refine itself. The average salary in Niger is $50. 40% of the population lives in extreme poverty. 20% are malnourished. The most conservative cultural elements prevail in society due to lack of funds and affordable education. 76% of girls are married before the age of 18. The average fertility rate is 7.2 children per woman. One of the reasons for this fertility rate is that each family needs to "create" as much labor as possible to support the family .

This is what the legacy of colonialism means. This is what neo-colonialism means .

#Niger #Neocolonialism #China #Europe

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