Patrice Lumumba

(image by Riccardo Vecchio)

A slight, goateed man with black, half-framed glasses, 35 years old, the first democratically chosen leader of that vast African country, nearly as large as the United States east of the Mississippi. This was Patrice Lumumba. I remember the newspapers fifty years ago. Time has passed, and I met with his name again, as I was reading The Soccer War, an extraordinary book written by Ryszard Kapuscinski.

Fifty years passed since Patrice Lumumba was assassinated. You should read this op-ed in today's NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17hochschild.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

(Zoon Politikon)