Liberation Flicks presents: Lumumba

Raoul Peck's Lumumba is a whirlwind account of the rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba, a hero of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's national liberation movement. 

The DRC formally gained its independence from Belgium in 1960. Belgium's colonial rule was marked by King Leopold II's 1885-1908 genocide, where up to 10 million Congolese were killed in one of the worst (and often forgotten) atrocities in modern history. Lumumba, though not particularly radical, was animated by the vision of an independent Congo that would rise from the ashes of colonial terror. His dreams of Pan-Africanism and national self-determination were too much for the DRC's former/would-be colonizers: Belgium and the United States. Lumumba was deposed in a Western-backed coup and executed in 1961. 

The legacy of Lumumba reminds us that imperialism will stop at nothing if it feels its interests are threatened in any way. Lumumba drops the viewer in the middle of this pivotal moment in world history and offers us a glimpse of what it was like to dream of a better future in a continent ravaged by centuries of plunder and exploitation.

Due to the film's length (approximately 2 hours), we will begin the screening promptly at 7:15. Light refreshments will be served. Donations to support the ongoing work of the Justice Center en el Barrio are greatly appreciated.