The 1928 Ituri Forest Rubber Atrocities: Belgium's Hidden Holocaust

In the dense Ituri rainforest of northeastern Congo, the Belgian colonial administration's rubber extraction system reached its most brutal extremes. This episode follows the 1928 investigation by British consul John Henry Harris into the Force Publique's use of hostage-taking, mutilation, and mass murder to enforce rubber quotas among the Lese, Mbuti, and Bila peoples. Lucas and Luna discuss the role of the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company (ABIR), the infamous 'chicotte' whip, and the network of sentry posts that terrorized entire villages. They examine how Harris's report, published in 1929, became a key piece of evidence in the Congo Reform Association's campaign, yet the atrocities continued for another decade. The episode also reflects on why this chapter remains less known than the earlier Leopoldian atrocities, and what it reveals about the continuity of colonial violence after the state takeover in 1908. A harrowing but essential look at the human cost of Belgium's rubber empire. #IturiForest #RubberAtrocities #JohnHenryHarris #ABIR #ForcePublique #Lese #Mbuti #Bila #Chicotte #CongoReformAssociation #BelgianColonialism #1928 #CongoFreeState #ColonialViolence #History #FexingoHistory #Africa #HumanRights Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo