reading response #6

Reading response #6

Forced Labor?

     While reading this section, there were multiple things I wanted to write on. When I read the section, and saw the picture, about the people being forced to work to cultivate cash crops, I knew I had to write about that. If there was no picture in this section, I would be less likely to write about it; however, I am such a visual learner, the picture put a thousand words in my head. The picture on page 600 depicts two young boys, each with a severed right hand. The boy on the right also looks like he has a deformity or some damage done to his left hand as well. The reason they were brutalized in this manner was because their village was unable to produce enough cash crop. In this case the cash crop in Congo at the time was wild rubber. My thoughts?? First of all, I think it is completely wrong at any time to cut off the hand of a person. I know that punishments were different in the 19^th century, but I still think that this punishment does not fir the crime. It does not make sense to me how one or two young men can be punished for the acts of an entire village. Also it does not make sense why they would cut off their hands. If the village already could not supply enough cash crop, they then would have one less hand to help in producing it the next time around.

    

     In German East Africa the cash crop of choice was cotton. Just like in Congo, production was based by villages, and each village would be given days on which they had to cultivate cotton. The working conditions were terrible. One man is quoted as saying “After arriving you all suffered very greatly. Your back and buttocks were whipped and there was no rising up once you stooped to dig.” Was it necessary for the Germans to whip the people that are picking their cotton? Absolutely not. At least not in the manner that they were treated. To me it sounds like they would get whipped not for doing anything wrong, but just to show dominance.

     Harvesting cotton like this must have had a huge effect on the rest of the crops that people were supposed to and had to produce to survive. My thoughts are that if a village had certain days where it is taken to pick cotton, that would make it nearly impossible to harvest other crops in order to survive. In 1905, the best possible thing that could have happened, did. There was a huge rebellion among the workers and that meant the Germans had to end the forced growing of cotton.

     This section absolutely blew my mind. I had no idea that body parts, such as hands were being severed just to prove a point. Now a days, I am glad that we have laws in place to prevent actions like that from happening.