'A Season In Congo'

FIRST JAILER 

Oh! Oh! 

Congo, and then came the Whites 

Raping your women 

Making your warriors drunk 

But the happy future brings liberation 

From then on the shores of these great rivers are yours 

Yours this earth and all these riches 

Yours the sun above. 

Where is he going to go fishing for it, the sun? he is 

not content to covet our houses and our women, he 

would also take the sun! . . . ah! look at you, bastard, 

shitface, ungrateful wretch! ah! the gentleman writes 

poetry! But who taught you to read, monkey, if not the 

Belgians whom you hate so much! Here, catch, I’ll 

write poetry on your back. 

Hits him 

SECOND JAILER 

My colleague, that라이브 바카라 not all. look what I just happened 

to find in his cell: the manuscript of an article where the 

prisoner protests against his imprisonment, of course 

illegal! (You know they all say so!) and demands his 

release so that he can participate in the work of the 

Round Table in Brussels. signed: Patrice Lumumba, 

President of the National Movement of the Congo. 

FIRST JAILER 

Not bad, eh? 

Hits him 

You see yourself in Brussels, savage? and what will you 

say to the king if you see him? What will you say to the 

Bwana kitoko—that noble man? 

SECOND JAILER 

Hitting him 

Of course he wants to be minister! 

Laughs 

You see yourself Excellency, monkey! . . .Excellency. 

FIRST JAILER 

Possible! But first he would have to eat king kala. 

Sonny, don’t damage him too much, he reports to the 

Director who may be here any moment. Yes! 

There he is! 

Enter Director. 

DIRECTOR 

Mr Lumumba, I bring you good, indeed excellent, 

news! Yes, it sometimes happens to prison directors, to 

bring to their prisoners good, indeed, excellent, news: I 

have just received an order from Brussels concerning 

you. The Minister of the Congo has decided to set you 

at large and wishes that as the president of the MNC, 

the Congolese National Movement, as you say, you 

participate in the work of the Round Table. I am 

charged to take all measures to facilitate your trip. I 

advise you that tomorrow there is a Sabena flight 

for Brussels. You are free, Mr Lumumba. 

Have a good trip, Excellency. 

THE JAILERS 

Oh! Oh! 

They bow. 

Have a good trip, Excellency! 

(Excerpted from ‘A Season in the Congo’ by Aimé Césaire, translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak; with permission from Seagull Books)