61 years ago today Patrice Lumumba was assassinated. In Singapore, people almost rioted in outrage over one of the more egregious examples of western imperialism rearing its ugly ahead 🧵 (1/21). https://t.co/T3sz1NI6R5

News of Lumumba’s assassination sent shockwaves across the globe. This was the era of Afro-Asian solidarity and a recognition of linked struggles among peoples of the Third World (2/21). https://t.co/YuHjJmQ0fv

For Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister, Toh Chin Chye, the fact that this happened in a newly independent and ‘post-colonial’ country like Congo showed that though independence could arrive, it may be “only in name and not in fact.” Colonialism could live on as neo-colonialism. https://t.co/rXVhZBqjd9

Singapore was a few years away from achieving independence and these fears were palpable. In both outrage and solidarity, mass protests and rallies were staged across Singapore (4/21). https://t.co/cUzXeAwUgQ

At Happy World Stadium, 15,000 people squeezed together, shoulder-to-shoulder, holding posters with slogans like “send the colonialists to hell.” At the rally, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew urged the people of Singapore to “Show your disgust!” (5/21). https://t.co/BXHoxAQCA6

After the rally, about 1,000 people from rural and hawkers’ associations marched to Kallang Park and burnt an effigy representing American imperialism (6/21). https://t.co/Ww2mwLWREO

Less than a week later at Victoria Memorial Hall, more than a thousand workers, students and farmers showed up wearing black arm bands to mourn and protest Lumumba’s slaughter (7/21). https://t.co/LBjekaXkAa

Upon the stage, behind a wreath of white flowers, stood a giant painted portrait of Lumumba. On the left of this portrait read “learn from the great democratic hero Lumumba” and on the right “work hard towards completely wiping out colonialism” (8/21). https://t.co/XXlxc2IgOD

Poems were recited by Wong Choo Yin, a member of the Singapore General Employees’ Union. Trade Union Congress President, Encik Mahmud Awang called for Singapore to boycott all Belgian goods (9/21). https://t.co/17EgMaX0HM

When Lim Chin Siong spoke, he stressed that the people of Singapore and Malaya more broadly must ensure “that our stand is with the Afro-Asians — for democracy and freedom.” After a minute of silence, all attendees stood up, thrust their fists in the air and yelled “MERDEKA!” https://t.co/oaxDxJSdws

The energy of the room then spilled out onto the streets, where 4,000 people marched towards the US embassy. Spotted in the procession was “a skeleton representing the remains of Dag Hammerskjold [Secretary-General of UN] and 2 effigies representing Mobutu and Tshombe” (11/21). https://t.co/i3rXNzRHUZ

Protestors chanted “Long Live Lumumba!” and “I Love Malaya!” Emotions ran so high that a riot almost erupted. As Lim Chin Siong recalled in a 1995 interview, if it weren’t for his efforts with Fong Swee Suan to calm the crowd down, things may have taken a violent turn (12/21). https://t.co/YgSMcit4Bh

As a reminder for future Singaporeans to remember Lumumba and the dangers of neo-colonialism, Sandrasegaran Woodhull, a prominent PAP Political Secretary, had appealed to Lee Kuan Yew to move a resolution in Parliament for a road or highway to be named after Lumumba (13/21). https://t.co/g15iFcl4lO

Following news of Lumumba’s death, Fajar, a publication of the University of Malaya Socialist Club, printed a “special Lumumba issue” condemning every western nation who “plundered all of Asia in the past and continue to plunder Africa today” (14/21). https://t.co/JKCJLXUjZT

60 years later, little has changed. While the DRC today is often cited as “the poorest country in the world”, it also ranks among the world’s richest countries in terms of raw materials – like cobalt and coltan that sit within the very device from which you are reading this post https://t.co/PWf1FnqHcN

In Singapore two years after Lumumba’s death, over a hundred left wing politicians and trade unionists were locked up without trial under colonial emergency laws – these laws are still in place today (16/21).

Many of those imprisoned helped bring the PAP to power and were convinced of the need for Afro-Asian solidarity, like Lim Chin Siong and S. Woodhull. Later, Fajar was shut down, universities ‘depoliticised’ and strikes and protests outlawed. Afro-Asian solidarity has disappeared.

We would do well to remember what Lumumba wrote in his final letter to his wife: “We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and the free and liberated peoples in every corner of the globe will ever remain at the side of the millions of Congolese who will not abandon the struggle.” https://t.co/MmpDGWjgql

Merdeka. https://t.co/C2XkwiR0d3

Patrice Émery Lumumba (1925–1961). https://t.co/E86QwXvAYY