BLACK Lives Matter protests in France and the United Kingdom have intensified the domestic debate over their countries’ past colonialism and present racism. Demonstrators, numbering in the thousands, have toppled memorials to historical figures associated with the slave trade and with colonial empires.
In June, the protests spread to Belgium, with a crowd of about 10,000 in Brussels demonstrating against racism.
On June 30, Belgian King Philippe, in a letter to Felix Tshisekedi, president of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), expressed his “regret” over his country’s exploitation of DRC.
King Philippe stopped short of an apology. Under Belgium’s system of governance, an apology would be deemed a “political act” and could be done only by parliament. However, in a statement following the King’s letter, the new prime minister, Sophie Wilmes, urged Belgians “to look its past in the face.”
For his part, President Tshisekedi, in remarks commemorating the sixtieth anniversary
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