Tintin Forums

What I find most saddening is that the Associated Press journalist, Celean Jacobson, has chosen to write that "Remi depicts the white hero's adventures in the Congo against the backdrop of an idiotic, chimpanzee-like native population..."

Is that the writer's own interpretation? It makes me wonder whether she has actually read the book or just parrotted something she has read elsewhere about it.

To quote Hergé: "For Tintin in the Congo, the fact is that I was fed on the prejudices of the bourgeois society I lived in. It was 1930. The only things I knew about these countries were what people said about them at the time. Africans were no more than big children. 'It's lucky for them that we were over there,' and so on. I drew Africans along these lines, in the purely paternalistic spirit of the times in Belgium."

It's true that artistically the charcterisation of the Congolese are stereotyped "natives", but"chimpanzee-like" is a completely ridiculous description in my view.

Is that the writer's own interpretation? It makes me wonder whether she has actually read the book or just parrotted something she has read elsewhere about it.

Absolutely correct. It's just fuelling things further when some hack coins the phrase "Idiotic, chimpanzee-like native population..."

I would ask any "sane" person to look at the portrayal of the Congolese and tell me they are "chimpanzee like" Makes you wonder if we really have moved on.

Interesting side note. I was in my local (Hampshire) Borders store today. I asked if children were interested in Congo.
"No" Came the reply. "It's really only people about your age that have bought it..."

I'm 40 by the way.

I asked if children were interested in Congo."No" Came the reply. "It's really only people about your age that have bought it..."

Indeed. The irony is that it's the adults that are most interested in it and thus make all the fuss about it. When I first read the book (bought for me by my sister on a school trip to France when I was about twelve) it was obvious to me that it was just portraying the prejudices of the time. Thankfully, it didn't turn me into a colonialist racist. I think it's an insult to the intelligence of kids today for adults to believe that children wouldn't be able to accept it for what it is.

The story trundles on...
Latest news; a Congolese student, Mbutu Mondondo Bienvenu, who lives in Brussels, has launched a legal action in Belgium to have Tintin in the Congo declared racist and removed from bookstores.

http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-288695200708 07

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/08/wtinti n108.xml

Again. Censor the past so that none of it happened.
This is getting tiresome. Why do these people continue to believe that children today are so guillible that they will fall for this sort of thing, or have parents that explain things to them properly. I wonder if Mr. Bienvenu has canvassed opinion from booksellers, librarians, man on the street etc, to gauge true public feeling about the book.

I'm sorry, I don't like censorship in an historical context. Pornography has it's own rules and indeed censorship certainly has its place there. But to deny historical events occurred and certain attitudes existed is just warping the truth.
Surely these books should remain to promote intelligent discussion.

M. Bienvenu's complaint against Moulinsart can be read at Objectif Tintin at this link

http://www.objectiftintin.com/news.lasso?-Token.T-Client=Guest&-Token. T-Recid=10148

And here's a photo of the chap himself, clasping a copy of the offensive tome, from the German newspaper Die Welt!

http://www.welt.de:80/kultur/article1089188/Student_aus_Kongo_verklagt _Tim_und_Struppi.html

Please excuse any errors in my translation but M. Bienvenu appears to be saying that "it is increasingly difficult to convince Belgians that it is a good idea to bring together various people and their cultures."
If this is the case Congo can't be the only problem. This issue may be the thin end of a very thick wedge. Can any of our members enlighten us?

Personally, I find his statement hard to believe.

This issue may be the thin end of a very thick wedge. Can any of our members enlighten us?

I remember reading before about some accusations of denial about Belgium's colonial past before. Perhaps there are some issues that need to be addressed there.

However, all this fuss about a comic book pales into insignificance when you take a look at conditions in the DR Congo today. The country is in a complete mess. The human rights situation is absolutely appalling. Almost four million people died as a result of the fighting in the Second Congo War (1998-2003). The United Nations estimates that 1000 people a day are still dying as a result of the conflict. We don't hear about that very often, do we?

That's the reality of life in the DR Congo today. Perhaps it would be wise to address these problems first?

Just a thought.

The human rights situation is absolutely appalling....

Some tintinologists may be interested to read www.moreorless.au.com/killers/leopold/html for an account of the Belgium King Leoplod's genocide in Congo that may have killed between five and fifteen million Congolese, and the rubber and ivory profits that the Congolese have never had returned to them.

My sense is that there is something in this history that cannot be ignored in the present row.