In this post, I’ve shared some of the impactful revolutionary Patrice Lumumba Quotes.
Patrice Lumumba was born on July 2, 1925, and died on January 17, 1961. From June to September 1960, he was the first prime minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was instrumental in transforming the Congo from a Belgian colony into an independent republic. He was an African nationalist and pan-Africanist who led the Congolese National Movement (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination.
20 Patrice Lumumba Quotes.
- “Without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence, there are no free men.”
2. “No one is perfect in this imperfect world.”
3. “Neither cruelty, nor violence, nor torture will make me beg for mercy, because I prefer to die with my head raised high, with unshakeable faith… In my country’s predestination rather than live in submission forsaking my sacred principles.”
4. “The colonialists care nothing for Africa for her own sake. They are attracted by African riches and their actions are guided by the desire to preserve their interests in Africa against the wishes of the African people. For the colonialists all means are good if they help them to possess these riches.”
5. “All of Africa is irrevocably engaged in a merciless struggle against colonialism and imperialism We wish to bid farewell to the rule of slavery and bastardization that has so severely wronged us. Any people that oppresses another people is neither civilized nor Christian.”
6. “My dear countrymen! In joy and in sorrow I will always be with you. It is together with you that I fought to free my country from foreign rule. Together with you I am fighting to strengthen our national independence. Together with you, I will fight to preserve the integrity and national unity of the Republic of the Congo.”
7. “Political independence has no meaning if it is not accompanied by rapid economic and social development.”
8. “We became the target of attacks because we no longer want to submit … and reject corruption. They tried to bribe us and millions were promised to me, but I refused, I did not take a single centime.”
9. “African unity and solidarity are no longer dreams. They must be expressed in decisions.”
10. “I know that an overwhelming majority of the Belgian people are against the oppression of Africans. They disapprove of a colonial status for the Congo under which 14 million Congolese are exposed to the diktat of a tiny economic oligarchy. If the Belgian people were to have their say, the Congo would never have experienced the misfortunes which are affecting it now.”
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Revolutionary Patrice Lumumba Quotes.
11. “A minimum of comfort is necessary for the practice of virtue.”
12. “These divisions, which the colonial powers have always exploited the better to dominate us, have played an important role and are still playing that role in the suicide of Africa.”
13. “Our dearest wish perhaps, some may find it utopian is to found in the Congo a Nation in which differences of race and religion will melt away, a homogeneous society composed of Belgians and Congolese who with a single impulse will link their hearts to the destinies of the country.”
14. “The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations…Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity.”
15. “The aspirations of the peoples of colonial countries, are identical, their destinies are similar and the goals they pursue in their national development are the same: liberation of Africa from the yoke of colonialism. Africa will never be free and independent if any part of it remains under foreign domination.”
16. “All together, dear brothers and sisters, workers and government employees, workers by brain and by hand, rich and poor, Africans and Europeans, Catholics and Protestants, Kimbanguists and Kitawalists, let us unite and create a great nation.”
17. “We know that Africa is neither French, nor British, nor American, nor Russian, that it is African. We know the objects of the West. Yesterday they divided us on the level of a tribe, clan and village…They want to create antagonistic blocs, satellites.”
18. “Our wounds are too fresh and too smarting for us to be able to have known ironies, insults, and blows which we had to undergo morning, noon and night because we were Negroes. We have seen our lands spoiled in the name of laws which only recognised the right of the strongest. We have known laws which differed according to whether it dealt with a black man or a white.”
19. “I took the money not for myself, but for my political activities, I hurt no private individual, only the Belgian state, which at the time was my worst enemy, it had plunderd us, now i plunderd it.”
20. “No Congolese worthy of the name will ever to be able to forget that this independence has been won through a struggle in which we did not spare our energy and our blood… We have known ironies, insults, and blows which we had to undergo morning, noon and night because we were Negroes.”
My favorite Patrice Lumumba quote “Without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.”
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Additional Read: Patrice Lumumba: Why Belgium is returning a Congolese hero’s golden tooth
Patrice Lumumba played a key role in the decolonization of Africa and the independence of the Congo from Belgium in 1960. Lumumba was arrested and subsequently tortured by Belgian colonial authorities, but he continued to fight for the independence of his country.
After Congo gained independence, Lumumba’s government struggled with various internal and external challenges, including the breakaway province of Katanga and the intervention of foreign powers.
Lumumba was eventually removed from power and arrested by his political rivals in 1960. He was subsequently handed over to a secessionist government in Katanga and executed by firing squad on January 17, 1961. His death is widely considered to be a political assassination and has been the subject of much controversy.