Lumumba by Leo Zeilig

Lumumba by Leo Zeilig

Patrice Lumumba had been prime minister of the newly liberated Congo for only seven months at the time of his assassination in 1961. As news of his execution spread, his image was brandished in demonstrations around the world along with those of Che Guevara and Mao Zedong. He would go on to become an icon of anti-imperialist struggle and perhaps the most famous leader of the African independence movement. Lumumba’s life and the freedom that he sought for the Congo exposed ongoing Western colonialism and the problematic nature of the independence granted to huge swathes of the globe after 1945.

Leo Zeilig’s concise, direct biography tells the story of the Congo in the dying days of colonialism; of Lumumba’s transition from nationalist, to revolutionary, to international symbol of African liberation; and of the role of Western powers in his murder.

Sympathetic, accessible, and highly readable

Leo Zeilig is a writer and researcher. He has written extensively on African politics and history, and biographies on some of Africa’s most important political thinkers and revolutionaries. Leo is also a novelist, and his critically acclaimed novel Eddie the Kid was published by Zero Books.

Yusuf Serunkuma is a columnist for the Ugandan newspaper, The Observer. He is also an essayist and playwright. His plays include The Snake Farmers and The Meat Festivals, both published by Fountain Publishers in Kampala. He is also the author of the recent collection of anti-colonialist essays, Surrounded, and publisher of the pan-African imprint Editor House Facility.

Ludo De Witte is a sociologist and a writer. He is author of the Dutch work Crisis in Kongo and has researched two broadcast television documentaries on Patrice Lumumba.