PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:27 AM EDT

Article Source: the Mail online

world-news, china, africa, communism, peter-hitchens, chinese-communism, chinese-imperialism, chinese-economics, chinese-racism, chinese-slavery, chinese-tyrants

Seeded by bluecollarbytes

I think I am probably going to die any minute now. An inflamed, deceived mob of about 50 desperate men are crowding round the car, some trying to turn it over, others beating at it with large rocks, all yelling insults and curses.

They have just started to smash the windows. Next, they will pull us out and, well, let's not think about that ...

I am trying not to meet their eyes, but they are staring at me and my companions with rage and hatred such as I haven't seen in a human face before. Those companions, Barbara Jones and Richard van Ryneveld, are - like me - quite helpless in the back seats.

If we get out, we will certainly be beaten to death. If we stay where we are, we will probably be beaten to death.

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2.1

{"commentId":3184452,"authorDomain":"bluecollarbytes"}

bluecollarbytes

This piece by Peter Hitchens reminds me of his brother Christopher Hitchens, plowing headlong into dangerous situations trying to obtain some on-the-ground truths. It's one of the traits that drew me to Chris Hitchens' writings to begin with.

What a world. The 'signs' don't look good for the future.

{"commentId":3184452,"threadId":"371358","contentId":"1925312","authorDomain":"bluecollarbytes"}

1 vote

#1 - Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:32 AM EDT

{"commentId":3186592,"authorDomain":"LarryH"}

Larry H-189743

It was very interesting to read Peter Hitchens's contrast of Zambia and the Congo.

{"commentId":3186592,"threadId":"371358","contentId":"1925312","authorDomain":"LarryH"}

2 votes

#2 - Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:04 PM EDT

{"commentId":3196009,"authorDomain":"nigeriawhatisnew"}

Beauty

These poor, hopeless, angry people exist by grubbing for scraps of cobalt and copper ore in the filth and dust of abandoned copper mines in Congo, sinking perilous 80ft shafts by hand, washing their finds in cholera-infected streams full of human filth, then pushing enormous two-hundredweight loads uphill on ancient bicycles to the nearby town of Likasi where middlemen buy them to sell on, mainly to Chinese businessmen hungry for these vital metals.

{"commentId":3196009,"threadId":"371358","contentId":"1925312","authorDomain":"nigeriawhatisnew"}

1 vote

#3 - Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:41 AM EDT

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BLUECOLLARBYTES

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PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa

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