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62-541: The MNC was founded in 1958 as an African nationalist party within the Belgian Congo . The party was a united front organization dedicated to achieving independence "within a reasonable" time and bringing together members from a variety of political backgrounds in order to achieve independence. The MNC was created around a charter which was signed by, among others Patrice Lumumba , Cyrille Adoula and Joseph Iléo . Joseph Kasa-Vubu notably refused to sign, accusing

124-686: A mass movement in the years after World War II as a result of wartime changes in the nature of colonial rule as well as social change in Africa itself. Nationalist political parties were established in almost all African colonies during the 1950s, and their rise was an important reason for the decolonisation of Africa between c. 1957 and 1966. However, African nationalism was never a single movement, and political groups considered to be African nationalists varied by economic orientation and degrees of radicalism and violence. Nationalists leaders struggled to find their own social and national identity following

186-629: A local European school. By 1957, the family was living in Léopoldville . In June 1960, the Congo became independent and Patrice Lumumba was elected as its first Prime Minister . The country quickly fell into a major crisis . Amid the upheaval, the Lumumba children faced harassment, resulting in most of them being sent abroad or to relatives for safety. François and his younger brother Patrice were brought to Egypt, whose President Gamal Abdel Nasser

248-411: A major source of strife within the family. Despite Opango's disapproval, Patrice officially acknowledged François as his son, doing so at a time when Opango was visiting her parents in her home village in order to circumvent having to get her legal agreement. When he reached school-going age, François began to live with his father's family. Patrice –who strongly favored modern education– sent François to

310-681: A member of the Kalonji party as prime minister. In turn, Lumumba declared the President deposed, while Iléo failed to gain parliamentary approval. The stalemate was ended when Lumumba's aide and partisan, Colonel Joseph Mobutu arrested Lumumba, who was later transported to Katanga and killed there under dubious circumstances. In March 1961, the MNC-L hosted a party congress in Stanleyville to replace Lumumba as party president. Christophe Gbenye

372-407: A national sense of national identity among the heterogeneous populations inside them. African nationalism exists in an uneasy relationship with tribalism and sub-national ethnic nationalism which differ in their conceptions of political allegiance. Many Africans distinguish between their ethnic and national identities. Some nationalists have argued that tribes were a colonial creation. During

434-448: A new marriage with a girl from his home region in 1951. As it turned out, however, Kie was already pregnant by this time; soon after François' birth, his parents were forced to end their affair due to the arrival of Patrice's third wife, Pauline Opango , in Stanleyville. Regardless, Patrice continued to stay in touch with his former girlfriend and eldest son, supporting the two with money. Patrice Lumumba's continuing contacts with Kie were

496-428: A number of issues and was increasingly polarized between moderate évolués and the more radical mass membership. In July 1959, Iléo attempted to split the party and create a more radical party based on support of federalism rather than centralization, but his group failed to achieve mass defections from the main party. As a result of the split, the remaining majority of the party took the name MNC-Lumumba (MNC-L) but

558-468: A parallel regime. In the early 1990s, an anti-Mobutu rebel group known as the National Council of Resistance for Democracy ( Conseil National de Résistance pour la Démocratie , CNRD) became active. The CRND, led by André Kisase Ngandu , posed as the armed wing of the MNC-L. Researcher Thomas Turner stated that Kisase Ngandu had broken away from one of the MNC-L splinter factions before forming

620-673: A platform to address their own concerns as wives, mothers, industrial workers, peasants, and as women affiliated to the ANC. The 1940s Anti-tax protest in Tanzania involved the women of Peasant Pare, where women employed methods of direct confrontation, provocative language and physical violence. Explicit use of sexual insult was also central to the powerful Anlu protest of the Cameroon in 1958, where women refused to implement agricultural regulations that would have undermined their farming system. In

682-552: A rebel group called " Front for the Liberation of Congo – Patrice Lumumba " (FLC-L), and Nathaniel Mbumba 's Congolese National Liberation Front . However, this alliance was unable to start an effective rebellion against Mobutu. The MNC-L also continued to suffer from factionalism and splintered into further groups during this period. In November 1992, he again attempted to unite the various Lumumbist parties into one force, but this attempt failed. Regardless, Lumumba remained

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744-577: Is also a registered political party. Fran%C3%A7ois Lumumba François Emery Tolenga Lumumba , alternatively François Hemery Flory , (born 20 September 1951) is a Congolese politician, the son of Patrice Lumumba , and the leader of a faction of the Mouvement National Congolais-Lumumba (MNC-L). François' father Patrice Lumumba was the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of

806-591: Is also claimed by the Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU) led by Lumumba's former deputy, Antoine Gizenga , the former Prime Minister. In 2022, the remains of Patrice Lumumba were repatriated to the DR Congo. MNC-L main faction leader François Lumumba used the opportunity to express his hope that his father's nationalist spirit would help the Congolese to defend their country from enemies, considering

868-557: The Parti Démocratique Congolais (PDC). In 1982, a series of MNC congresses in Brussels , Paris , and Cologne acknowledged François Lumumba as the head of the reorganized party. According to researcher Michel Luntumbue, François remained one of the MNC-L main faction's leaders over the course of the 1980s, though other individuals continued to challenge his position. Lumumba eventually became involved in

930-961: The British colonial administration. In 1958, he spearheaded the All Party Committee – the purpose of which was for self-governance and to determine the political direction of the Gambia free from European colonialism and neo-colonialism. In 1959, he organised the Bread and Butter demonstration from outside his house in Barthurst now Banjul , and led his followers to Government House to lobby the British colonial administration. Following that demonstration, Cham Joof and his associates Crispin Grey Johnson and M. B. Jones were indicted as "inciting

992-579: The Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Overall, François Lumumba spent 32 years in exile in Egypt and various European countries. At some point, he obtained a doctorate . By the 1970s, Lumumba had begun to become politically active. Using his family background, he unsuccessfully attempted to unite the infighting factions of the Mouvement National Congolais-Lumumba (MNC-L),

1054-579: The 1980s. MNC activists claimed responsibility for the Kinshasa bombings in March 1984. In September 1985, MNC-L, MNCR, the Congolese Democratic and Socialist Party , and other opposition groups declared a provisional government in exile. However, MNCR head Paul-Roger Mokede rejected his appointment as president of this opposition government, stating that Zaire could not "afford the luxury" of

1116-475: The African Nationalist moment. Whereas women's historians interested in effecting changes in the process and production of American or European history had to fight their way onto trains that had been moving through centuries on well-worn gauges, the "new" Africanist train had barely left the station in the early '60s. With a few exceptions, scholars have devoted little more than a passing mention of

1178-543: The CRND. A group of activists led by Pascal Tabu , Mbalo Meka , and Otoko Okitasombo founded a new MNC-L in Kinshasa in 1994; the older MNC-L main faction in exile subsequently became known as "MNC-Lumumba Originel" (MNC-LO). In 1996, the leader of one MNC-L faction, Lambert Mende Omalanga , voiced his support for Kisase Ngandu and Laurent-Désiré Kabila . The two had become the leaders of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for

1240-488: The Congo , but he was overthrown and murdered during the Congo Crisis . Already studying in Egypt for his own safety at the time of the assassination, François Lumumba spent the next decades in exile. He became a leading figure and eventually the party leader of a major faction of the MNC-L, the party of his father. In this position, he attempted to unite various exiled opposition groups and to support rebellions against

1302-543: The Congo in 1967, the children stayed behind, with Nasser insisting that they should be allowed to continue their studies. Nasser unexpectedly died in 1970 , and his successor Anwar Sadat was much less supportive of the sympathizers and relatives of Lumumba, causing many –including François– to leave for Europe. At some point, he began to study at the Economic University of Budapest where he obtained an undergraduate degree in 1978. Lumumba later studied at

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1364-670: The Congoloese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko . After Mobutu's downfall in the 1990s, Lumumba returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to participate in democratic politics and support efforts to stop the Second Congo War . He has achieved little success in national politics. François Lumumba was born to Patrice Lumumba and Pauline Kie in Stanleyville (modern Kisangani), Congo, on 20 September 1951. At

1426-471: The European influence that controlled the political landscape during the colonial occupation. African nationalism in the colonial era was often framed purely in opposition to colonial rule and was therefore frequently unclear or contradictory about its other objectives. According to historian Robert I. Rotberg , African nationalism would not have emerged without colonialism. Its relation to Pan-Africanism

1488-555: The Liberation of Congo (AFDL) rebel coalition, fighting in the First Congo War to topple Mobutu. Following the fall of Mobutu's regime in 1997, MNC factions began to participate in regular national politics. One MNC-L faction led by Patrice Lumumba's cousin, Albert Onawelho Lumumba, was very critical of the rule of Laurent-Désiré Kabila who had taken power as President. In contrast Patrice Lumumba's daughter, Julienne Lumumba, became part of Kabila's government. Lumumba's heritage

1550-537: The MNC-L were fusing together as the Parti National Lumumbiste. MNC-L leaders rejected the declaration, insisting a party congress would have to be held on a merger. Meanwhile, national political party activity outside of government steadily declined. While MNC-L persisted longer than other groupings and continued to hold some functions in early 1962, by 1963 nearly all party activity had ceased. MNC-L members continued to hold ministerial portfolios in

1612-424: The President of the MNC-L's main faction. In 1997, Mobutu was overthrown as a result of the First Congo War , soon followed by the even more destructive Second Congo War as various factions fought for the control of the country and its resources. In 1998, Lumumba criticized the new Congoloese government of Laurent-Désiré Kabila , accusing it of denying freedom of expression to the Lumumba family. In 2000, Lumumba

1674-567: The South African Native National Congress, the organisation was formed to advocate for the rights of black South Africans . When the National Party government came to power in 1948 , the ANC's central purpose became to oppose the new government's policy of institutionalised apartheid . In the post-apartheid era, the ANC continues to identify itself foremost as a liberation movement , although it

1736-492: The Tanganyikan African National Union. Mohammed, who was semi-illiterate, was an impressive orator and later combined her nationalist work in the 1950s with her political ambitions. She was one of the most visible Tanganyikan nationalists during the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. She was the only nationalist leader, besides Julius Nyerere , who was recognized across the country at

1798-456: The activities of the militant Congolese opposition-in-exile. At the time, various groups existed which attempted to mobilize an insurgency against Mobutu Sese Seko , the dictator of the Congo (then renamed " Zaire ") since 1965. Several of the exiled militant groups were splinters and factions of the MNC-L. Around 1985, he was in Tripoli and helped to organize an alliance between MNC-L forces,

1860-556: The country." This meant the end of the MNC's legal activity until 1990. The party continued to operate in exile, however, where it allied with other anti-Mobutu groups. In exile, the two main MNC groups were the MNC-L and the MNCR ( Mouvement National Congolais Rénové , "Reformed Congolese National Movement"). The MNC-L also continued to suffer from factionalism and splintered into further groups during this period. The MNC-L main faction came under

1922-569: The course of Africanist historiography. The goal of these women involved in the African nationalism movement was to recover Africa's past and to celebrate the independent emergence of independent Africa. It was necessary to raise awareness of this cause, calling to the new emerging generation of African women, raised in a better, more stable society. Although the challenges they faced seemed increasingly more significant, they, however, had it better than past generations, allowing them to raise awareness of

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1984-547: The larger male-dominated liberation organizations, as through the African National Congress (ANC). Nevertheless, in 1943, the ANC adopted a new constitution which included a new position for women to become full members of the national movement. Women also formed their own national organisations, such as the Federation of South African Women in 1954, which boasted a membership of 230,000 women. Though at

2046-608: The largest nationalist faction in the country. Lumumba formed a coalition with the more conservative and federalist ABAKO party led by Joseph Kasa-Vubu. Lumumba was elected Prime Minister, while Kasa-Vubu became Congo's first President. However, the country quickly plunged into the Congo Crisis , facing mutinies among the soldiers and separatism in Katanga (led by Moise Tshombe ) and South Kasai (led by Albert Kalonji ). In September, Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu fell out and Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba and instead appointed Joseph Iléo ,

2108-505: The late 1950s and 1960s, scholars of African nationalist struggles primarily focused on the Western-educated male elites who led the nationalist movements and assumed power after independence. The history of studies of women's involvement in African nationalist struggle, mobilization, and party politics can be traced along intellectual and political paths that initially followed, later paralleled, but have seldom deviated from or led

2170-522: The leadership of François Lumumba , Patrice Lumumba's son. The different MNC groups organized a militant resistance in the Congo (renamed " Zaire " by Mobutu). The MNC-L set up an armed wing called "Lumumba Patriotic Army" ( Armíe Patriotique Lumumba , APL) and formed a coalition with the Front for the Liberation of Congo – Patrice Lumumba (FLC-L), a militant group which waged a low-level insurgency in Zaire, in

2232-674: The mid-19th century among the emerging black middle classes in West Africa . Early nationalists hoped to overcome ethnic fragmentation by creating nation-states . In its earliest period, it was inspired by African-American and Afro-Caribbean intellectuals from the Back-to-Africa movement who imported nationalist ideals current in Europe and the Americas at the time. The early African nationalists were elitist and believed in

2294-507: The national government through 1963 but, due to leadership disputes, its members failed to act as a cohesive voting bloc in Parliament. In November 1965, following another fall-out between president and prime minister, Mobutu again seized power and under regime d'exception appointed himself President. Mobutu blamed the five years of turmoil on "the politicians" and decreed: "For five years, there will be no more political party activity in

2356-432: The nationalist struggle. A minority of women were incorporated and affiliated into male-dominated national organisations. Founded by women in 1960, The National Council of Sierra Leone was to become, in 1968, the women's section of the ruling All People's Congress and dedicated primarily to the vigorous support of head of state, President Stevens. Women activists extended and conveyed militant behaviours. Nancy Dolly Steele

2418-601: The non-elite population. Market women in coastal Nigeria and Guinea also used their networks to convey anti-government information. ‘Ordinary’ women themselves had transformed "traditional" methods for networking and expressing disapproval against individuals, into mechanisms for challenging and unsettling the local colonial administration. However, although these women contributed to African nationalist politics, they had limited impact as their strategies were concerned with shaming, retaliation, restitution and compensation, and were not directly about radical transformation. This problem

2480-602: The old party of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. However, François' position within the Lumumbist movement was repeatedly challenged. His uncle Albert Onawelho Lumumba became his most important rival for control of the MNC-L. Though François enjoyed some limited successes, he was unable to overcome the factionalism. By the start of the 1980s, the MNC-L was divided into many groups, one loyal to François, whereas two others were led by Kituka Munganga , and Léonard She Okitundu , while yet another group had split off entirely and formed

2542-463: The opportunity to express his hope that his father's nationalist spirit would help the Congolese to defend their country from enemies, considering the then-ongoing M23 offensive . François has one half-sister by his mother Pauline Kie, and two half-brothers, namely Guy-Patrice and Roland-Gilbert, as well as two more half-sisters, Juliana and Marie-Christine, through his step-mother Pauline Opango. François has at least one son, Chez Teddy Lumumba, who

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2604-502: The party of being too moderate. By the end of 1959, it claimed to have 58,000 members. The MNC was a national party with substantial support in the whole of Congo, while most other parties were based primarily on regional or ethnic allegiances and garnered support in their respective provinces. The MNC was the biggest nationalist party in the Belgian Congo but had many different factions within it which took different stances on

2666-496: The position of MNC-L provincial president for Orientale Province was disputed. He threw his support behind Joseph Amuri in this conflict. He ran as a National Assembly candidate in the July 2006 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election . In the same election, he supported his younger brother Guy-Patrice 's candidacy for President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . According to journalist Colette Braeckmann, François

2728-419: The presence of African women as conscious political actors in African nationalism. Anne McClintock has stressed that "all nationalisms are gendered." Undoubtedly, women played a significant role in arousing national consciousness as well as elevating their own political and social position through African nationalism. It is with this in mind, that both feminism and the research of these women become critical to

2790-636: The public to disobey the laws of the land" and charged as political prisoners. ' The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa . It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election resulted in Nelson Mandela being elected as President of South Africa . Founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as

2852-525: The re-evaluation of the history of African nationalism. In 1943, a prominent organization called the African National Congress Women's League used its branches throughout the continent to build an international campaign. As leaders and activists, women participated in African nationalism through national organisations. The decade of the 1950s was a landmark because of the significant number of women who were politically involved in

2914-481: The same way, women used music, dance and informal methods to convey their solidarity for African nationalism. The production of Tanganyikan nationalism in Tanzania can be seen as “woman’s work,” where women evoked, created and performed nationalism through their dances and songs. Equally, women were considered the best sloganeers, as traditional story-tellers and singers using ideas, images and phrases that appealed to

2976-719: The split also divided the MNC between the Lumumba-ists who held the Stanleyville region and its faction, which became the MNC-Kalonji (MNC-K; after Albert Kalonji who became its leader after his release from prison) which attracted support in Élisabethville (modern-day Lubumbashi) and among the Baluba ethnic groups . Both groups competed in the Congo's first parliamentary elections in June 1960, in which Lumumba's party emerged as

3038-465: The supremacy of Western culture but sought a greater role for themselves in political decision-making. They rejected African traditional religions and tribalism as "primitive" and embraced western ideas of Christianity , modernity , and the nation state . However, one of the challenges faced by nationalists in unifying their nation after European rule were the divisions of tribes and the formation of ethnicism. African nationalism first emerged as

3100-531: The then-ongoing M23 offensive . African nationalism African nationalism is an umbrella term which refers to a group of political ideologies in West, Central, East and Southern Africa, which are based on the idea of national self-determination and the creation of nation states . The ideology emerged under European colonial rule during the 19th and 20th centuries and was loosely inspired by nationalist ideas from Europe. Originally, African nationalism

3162-468: The time of Tanzanian independence. Her legacy as a leader, speaker, organiser and activist is testimony to the pivotal role played by many uneducated women in spreading a national consciousness, a political awareness and securing independence from British rule in Tanzania. Whilst some female-oriented initiatives may have been conceived and presented to women by male party-leaders, others were clearly created by women themselves. These women used nationalism as

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3224-452: The time women viewed themselves primarily as mothers and wives, the act of their joining in political organisations illustrated a kind of feminist consciousness. Women were fundamental nationalist leaders in their own right. Under the inspiration of Bibi Titi Mohammed , a former singer in Dar es Salaam who became a Tanganyikan nationalist, Tanzanian women were organised into a Women's Section of

3286-486: The time, the Congo was a Belgian colony . François' family situation was complex. His father Patrice was married three times, and his first two marriages had produced no children and had been divorced by the time of François' birth. By 1947, Patrice began an extramarital affair with Kie, and they lived together in Stanleyville from 1948. Though this relationship proved to be very close and durable, they never married. Instead, Lumumba requested his friends and family to arrange

3348-480: Was a reflection of the extent to which most African women had already been marginalized politically, economically and educationally under colonial regimes in Africa. In the Gambia , one of the prominent Gambian nationalists and Pan-Africanists during the colonial era was Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof . From the 1950s up to Gambia's independence , Cham Joof (as he is commonly referred to), held a series of campaigns against

3410-706: Was able to convince the Mai-Mai to release the hostages without conditions. In 2002, the Belgian government expressed "sincere regrets" over the assassination of Patrice Lumumba to François. Around this time, he also attempted to involve himself in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue , a series of negotiations which attempted to find a peaceful solution to the Second Congo War. By March 2006, Lumumba had to deal with conflicts within his party, as

3472-428: Was also ambiguous, with many nationalist leaders professing Pan-African loyalties but still refusing to commit to supranational unions . African nationalists of the period have also been criticised for their continued use of ideas and policies associated with colonial states. In particular, nationalists usually attempted to preserve national frontiers created arbitrarily under colonial rule after independence and create

3534-403: Was based on demands for self-determination and played an important role in forcing the process of decolonisation of Africa ( c. 1957–66). However, the term refers to a broad range of different ideological and political movements and should not be confused with Pan-Africanism which may seek the federation of many or all nation states in Africa. Nationalist ideas in Africa emerged during

3596-635: Was elected to lead it, but leadership disputes continued to plague the party in subsequent years, with Joseph Kasongo , Charles Badjoko, Gabriel Lassiry, and Antoine Kiwewa all at times claiming to be Lumumba's rightful successor. At the conference, delegates expressed a general desire to form a larger bloc to encompass all Lumumbists in the country. Antoine Gizenga , a member of the Parti Solidaire Africain and former government colleague of Lumumba, announced in September that his party and

3658-419: Was financially ruined by his funding of Guy-Patrice's campaigns. After a Belgian judge ruled that Patrice Lumumba's remains had to be returned from Belgium to his family in 2020, François publicly expressed his and his family's gratitude to everyone who had contributed to this ruling. In 2022, the remains of Patrice Lumumba were repatriated to the DR Congo. In his position as MNC-L leader and son, François used

3720-592: Was supportive of their father. In September 1960, Prime Minister Lumumba was overthrown and murdered with support by Western powers , including Belgium. Afterwards, François' other siblings and his step-mother Pauline Opango also went into exile in Egypt. Under the protection of Nasser, the family was moved into a villa in Cairo 's Zamalek district, while the Egyptian state paid their school fees. Many other Lumumbists also moved to Egypt. When Pauline Opango returned to

3782-454: Was temporarily detained by the Kabila government. A Mai-Mai militia calling itself "Lumumbist National Resistance" kidnapped twenty foreigners in 2001 in order to raise international attention to the warfare in the Congo. The group demanded that negotiations for the hostages involve François Lumumba, hoping that this would showcase their commitment to Lumumbism. After six days of talks, Lumumba

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3844-586: Was the organizing secretary and co-founder of the Congress, and has been noted for her militant political and nationalist activities. In the same way, throughout Africa, the influence of trade union movements, in particular, became the spawning ground for women organisers as such. South African women, for instance, emerged as primary catalysts for protests against the Apartheid regime. These women first participated in resistance movements through women's branches of

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