Author: Ahmad Makia

Publisher: House

Published: 2022-12

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781956938050

At the turn of the 20th century, the anti-slavery and pro-abolition movements in England was well underway. One of its luminaries was Roger Casement who reported and sensationalized the British public with his transparent reporting on the human abuses in the Free Congo, by King Leopold II's government, and on indigenous Peruvians, by the Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Company. Emerging as a human rights campaigner and critic of imperial commercialism, Casement's investigative reportage is considered a pioneer of anticolonial writing from the Western hemisphere during the modern century. Published originally by the House of Commons and embraced by the British public, it was later revealed that the British Empire used Casement to glorify itself as more sympathetic and sensible against its brute European imperial competitors. His compiled report on abuses in the Congo are reproduced from the original in this edition, which sheds light on Casement's important role in building anticolonial solidarity movements as a worldwide effort rather than being an East vs West division. After knighting Casement for his reports, the British Government did not anticipate his subversion against them when he emerged as one of the leaders of the Irish nationalist movement and rebellion, where his sympathies for the plight of the subjugated metamorphosed to also include his own homeland of Ireland. Conspiring with the Germans during World War I, Casement grew to become a prime target of the British government, having had made alliances with Irish exiles in America as well as negotiating postcolonial sovereignty for Ireland if the Allies were to lose the War. Later imprisoned by the British and trialed for treason, some members of the public requested for clemency. To squash public sentimentality, the British government distributed an alleged 'Black Diaries' by Casement where he writes about his homosexual affairs abroad. Based on this, Casement was hung and executed.