Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024)

[bunniefuu]

[high-pitched, staticky tone]

[dynamic jazz drumming]

[echoed cymbal crash]

[dynamic jazz drumming]

[vocalizing]

[dynamic jazz drumming]

[vocalizing]

[vocalizing]

[sporadic jazz drumming]

[vocalizing]

[dynamic jazz drumming]

[vocalizing]

[dynamic jazz drumming]

[vocalizing]

[echoed drum flourish]

[man] Can you remember

when you first k*lled a man?

Sort of like it's so final.

That's what grabbed me, I think.

[man] And did that feeling last

when you had to do it again?

No, it was only for that evening,

I think, before I slept...

that I thought about that.

I've often thought about this.

That's why I can say it so clearly:

"How did I feel about it?"

And that's the score,

because after that, when we moved north,

there was a lot of k*lling.

And it just happened so fast

that you didn't even realize it.

I think, after you were

there a little while,

you became "callous,"

I think, is the word?

Very hard, you know?

You don't care a damn.

[clears throat]

[eerie, squeaky clattering]

[bandleader] Are you ready? One, two, on

[lively vintage jazz music]

So, the government is thinking

about sending me into Russia.

And anybody who says that the Russians

don't love good jazz...

oh, you send them to me!

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm Mr. Armstrong.

[man speaking Russian] I don't

understand those composers.

Nowadays, when I turn on the radio,

-I immediately switch it off.

-[radio clicks off]

It drives me crazy.

It's not music, but a cacophony.

[Louis Armstrong scatting]

[jet engines roar]

[newsman] One of America's

most popular emissaries

gets a warm reception

as he arrives in the troubled Congo

on a State Department-

sponsored goodwill mission.

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong,

whose golden trumpet

has preached the gospel

of New Orleans jazz on every continent,

arrives in truly royal style.

[swinging jazz music]

[stately music playing]

[woman] This is Radio Moscow.

[newsman] Louie's solid swinging

outraged Radio Moscow,

which blasted Armstrong's

visit as a diversionary tactic.

[lively vintage jazz music]

[man speaking French] Are you

a communist, Mr. Lumumba?

[Patrice Lumumba, in French]

I always have to laugh

when they ask me that question.

I'm not a communist at all.

I'm an African.

[man] Would you agree that

you're on the lunatic fringe

of the American n*gro movement?

Well, I think this:

that America's whole situation

is a lunatic fringe.

Anytime you have a country

that refers to itself

as "the Free World" and a democracy,

and at the same time has

22 million of its citizens

who aren't permitted citizenship,

why, that in itself reflects lunacy.

[dramatic jazz music playing]

[train whistle blares]

["Take the 'A' Train" playing]

[announcer] The Voice

of America Jazz Hour.

My name is Willis Conover.

My name is Willis Conover.

My name is Willis Conover.

[announcer] I, Willis Conover,

am a familiar name and a familiar voice.

I broadcast a radio program

which can be heard

in every country in the world

and appeals to the universal

appetite for good jazz

beamed overseas by the Voice of America.

[wind gusting]

[man] We can achieve our great goal

in this most critical of all battles:

the winning of men's minds.

[wind gusting]

[man scatting]

[Louis Armstrong scatting]

[radio static]

[Louis Armstrong]

This is the Voice

[man] Different melody.

[Louis Armstrong] This is

The Voice of America

Washington, D.C.

Number 2, do you know where this program

would be the most jammed?

Behind the Iron Curtain.

-Number... oh!

-[tone sounds]

That's all the time we have.

Number 2's voice is such that

I would defect from Russia,

if I heard it.

[announcer] Will the real

Willis Conover please stand up?

[laughter]

["Take the 'A' Train" playing]

[echoed clattering]

[train roaring]

[train trundling]

How do you remember 1960?

Years from now,

when you tell your children

about this year we've been living throug

what scenes will spring to your mind?

The chief of communism

pounding a table in rage?

What sounds will you hear?

In the U.N., when Khrushchev

took off his shoe

and was beating that shoe,

and the interpreter said

that he was saying,

"I'll bury you,"

talking about America.

Khrushchev wasn't saying,"I'll bury you.

Khrushchev was saying,"I love you."

But it was the interpreter

who hated America.

You understand what I mean?

- But did he have rhythm?

- Yeah! He had rhythm.

[rhythmic clapping, pounding, scatting]

[rhythmic jazz music playing]

Rhythm is my business.

[speaking in Russian] Death

to colonial sl*very!

Bury it!

Bury it deep in the ground!

The deeper, the better!

[speaking Russian]

[speaking Russian]

[sinuous jazz music playing]

Africa has brought the U.N.

its severest test:

the Congo.

[newsman] With its delegation

yet to be seated,

the Congo is the largest state

to be admitted into the U.N. this year.

The only way to keep

the Cold w*r out of the Congo

is to keep the United Nations

in the Congo.

[newswoman] Africa also

holds the greatest hope

for saving the United Nations

at this critical late hour.

Changing Africa has changed

the United Nations.

[man speaking Dutch] Humanity

has designated 1960

as The Year of Africa.

Never has there been such a year

at the United Nations.

At its 15th session, the General Assembl

has adopted 16 newly

independent African countries.

The wind blowing in Africa

is not an ordinary wind.

It is a raging hurricane.

[frenetic jazz music playing]

[man] We're going to shift

the emphasis to our jazz

and send these artists over

where they can reach

the masses of the people

of Asia and Africa.

One of the people

who we're planning to use,

my friend Dizzy Gillespie.

This is what we might call a Cool w*r,

rather than a Cold w*r.

The weapon that we will use...

is the cool one.

[dynamic jazz drumming]

[faint footsteps]

["Wild is the Wind" playing]

[wind rustling leaves]

[raindrops pattering]

[woman speaking French] Placing

the protocol in my hands,

Lumumba said,

"If the Belgians learn of this document,

this would be a death warrant for us."

[Nina Simone]

Love me Love me, Love me

Say you do

Let me fly away

[woman speaking French]

That day, I was wearing

my hair in a bun

in which I hid the secret document.

[Nina Simone]

For my love

[woman speaking French] In

the crowd, a Belgian official

was spying on me.

For seconds, our eyes locked.

Would he arrest me here?

Right now?

I could only think of the

document burning in my neck.

But it gave me the strength

to brave anything.

Even death.

[Nina Simone]

One caress

[woman speaking French]

As I landed in Rome,

journalists were crowding around me.

[flashbulbs popping]

[clamor, shouting]

I read the declaration

denouncing Belgium's plot

to install a puppet government.

[Lumumba, in French] The plot

was already in the make

to impose a government

against the will of its people.

[Andre Blouin, in French]

The revelation of the protocol

created a sensation.

We won!

[radio static]

[radio announcer]

Patrice Lumumba's oratory

helped him win enough votes

from parliament

to make him premier.

He succeeded where

Joseph Kasa-Vubu failed.

Kasa-Vubu took over the largely ceremoni

office of president.

[Blouin, in French] That

evening, I phoned Lumumba

at Leopoldville.

"We know," he shouted.

"Everyone is talking about it.

The Belgians are dumbfounded."

[Nina Simone]

You touched me

[Blouin, in French]

Later that day,

the phone rang in my room.

I was surprised to speak

to the Czech ambassador.

"You must leave now," he said.

"Hurry! Pack your things.

I'll pick you in five minutes.

Your life is in danger."

[jet engine roaring]

He had already booked my flight

to Paris and on to Guinea.

I was rushed onto the plane

feeling death on my heels.

[Nina Simone]

So wild is the wind

Wild is the wind

Wild

Is the wind

[jet engine roaring]

[moody music playing]

[man]

September 15th, 1959.

Nikita S. Khrushchev

arrives in Washington...

[pinging of sonar]

...Dwight D. Eisenhower,

president of the United States.

[Khrushchev speaking Russian]

Diplomacy is like

walking a tightrope.

If you raise your voice

half a note too high,

you can end up soiling your pants.

On the other hand,

if you keep your voice too low,

your opponent will hit you hard.

[pinging of sonar]

And this is America, our biggest enemy.

But once you take a misleading path...

history will not forgive you.

And the memory will haunt you forever.

[jet engines roaring]

[Willis Conover] Our program

this morning is given over

to a man whose name I bet you can't spel

Can you?

Well, it's K-H-R-U-S-H-C-H-E-V.

[mellow jazz music playing]

[man]

Again, he's waving to the crowds,

apparently completely oblivious,

but very few people

in the crowds here wave back.

He said I was a communist

because I was waving.

I'm free to raise my hand up,

if I want to.

I'm in a free country.

[lively jazz music playing]

Did you come up here to New York

just to see Mr. Khrushchev, or...

What? I'm here.

I've been here eight years!

[laughter]

[echoing thuds]

[group chanting] Red m*rder*r!

Red m*rder*r!

[man] The United States

has never before entertained

its potentially most dangerous enemy.

[flashbulbs popping]

Mr. Dulles, when Khrushchev was here,

did you get a chance to talk with him?

Yes, it took place, uh...

at the dinner that, um...

[match clatters]

...President Eisenhower

gave for Khrushchev.

The President introduced me

and said, "This is Mr. Dulles."

He's got a kind of a twinkle

in his eye and he said,

"Oh yes, I know you. I read your reports

[lively jazz music playing]

We all pay the same agents,

and we all get the same reports.

[Khrushchev speaking Russian]

[translator]

Just now, I was told

I couldn't go to Disneyland.

I asked, "Why not?"

[Khrushchev speaking Russian]

[translator]

What is it you have?

Rocket launching pads there?

[laughter]

[newsman]

It would be a shame

if relations between

the giant nuclear nations

which survived the Berlin

Blockade and the Korean w*r

should now founder on a missed excursion

to the Disneyland amusement park.

[eerie music playing]

[ping of sonar]

[man] But we were ready

for him, the press was ready.

I'd been pointing

to Mr. Khrushchev, saying,

"Well now, Mr. Khrushchev,

here is my Disneyland submarine fleet!"

[helicopter blades whirring]

[indistinct chatter]

- [man 1] Step right up here.

- [man 2] Yes, sir.

[bright piano music playing]

[coughs]

["I'm Confessin'" playing]

[Louis Armstrong]

I'm Confessin' that I love you

[man]

Sing it, Satch.

Tell me do you love me too?

[Khrushchev speaking Russian]

Eisenhower confessed

he was really troubled.

"I've spent my whole life

as a military man,

but I'm absolutely horrified by w*r."

I replied, "Mr. President,

nothing would make me happier

than to prevent another world w*r."

[shattering thuds]

[bell dings]

Any fool can start a w*r

that even a wise man cannot end.

I'm confessin' That I love you

[in Armstrong's style]

I'm Confessin' that I love you

[Louis Armstrong]

Tell me Do you love me too?

Tell me that you love me too, ooh

[Louis Armstrong]

I'm Confessin' that I need you

Honest I do

Oh, baby

[gravelly vocalizing]

[man speaking Spanish] In the

name of the United Nations,

I salute Your Excellency,

Mr. Nikita S. Khrushchev.

[Khrushchev speaking Russian]

[translator]

Over a period of four years,

all states should effect

complete disarmament

and should no longer have

any means of waging w*r.

The United Nations will continue to have

the most active participant

in all efforts at releasing mankind

from the burden of armaments

and consolidating peace

throughout the world.

[applause]

[man speaking French]

Decisions were hard to take

about these big international questions.

I devoted hours and hours

to the Congolese question.

Days and weeks of effort

and contemplation.

Sure, I'd rather be a poet

than a politician.

I'm suspicious of the written word.

I prefer the spoken word.

I trust it more in the world of politics

[eerie xylophone music playing]

[man] To start the chain reaction,

all we need is one neutron.

Watch!

[escalating clattering]

[high-pitched tone]

[dull rumbling]

[high-pitched tone]

[grim music playing]

[man speaking French]

[eerie xylophone music playing]

[speaking French]

[squeaking noise]

[muffled voices]

[grim music playing]

[g*nf*re]

[muffled ambient music playing]

[Bofane speaking French]

[vocal techno music playing]

[faint whirring]

[metallic clanking]

["Ata Ndele" playing]

[Adou Elenga singing in Lingala]

[music stops abruptly]

[faint whirring]

[bell tolls]

[parade-like music playing]

[bell tolling]

[in French] How to reconcile

what the Europeans taught us

with what they perpetrated

against the Black people?

[carnivalesque music playing]

[speaking Dutch]

Danger exists that Euratom

won't possess enough uranium.

Mr. Sassen, is there really

need for so much uranium?

Yes. We need loads of uranium.

Depending on how many nuclear plants...

["Cherie" playing on TV]

[singing in Dutch]

[newsman]

Between North Africa,

with its ancient European associations,

and South Africa, with its

established white settlers,

lay all the vastness of Black Africa.

And here were the makings of empire.

By the end of the last century,

European powers had completed

their carving of the continent.

In the heart was the Congo.

[eerie music playing]

[woman] You don't know

anything about anyplace

until the white man gets there.

It's only when he comes and say,

"Boof, I've discovered you.

Now you exist."

It's ridiculous.

["Tin Tin Deo" playing]

[man 1]

We do not believe

that this division of the world into cam

is a good thing.

[man 2]

Don't you think there should be one worl

just one bloc?

[man 1] No. There should be

independent sovereign nations

respecting each other.

[man 2]

Very often, nations which ask

for the respect of other nations

are gobbled up by aggressors.

[man 1] There is a limit

to the usefulness of the past,

because if your argument were true,

then you would absolutely agree

that all history has been written.

We are the architects of history.

We make it.

[sinuous bass music]

[man] This is the first

intercontinental conference

of colored peoples

in the history of mankind.

[cheering]

Small and great nations

are represented here.

Almost every religion under the sun.

Practically every economic doctrine

has its representative in this hall.

Socialism, capitalism, communism...

[lively jazz music playing]

We are not pro-West, we are not pro-East

We are not anti-West,

we are not anti-East.

[Sukarno]

What harmis in diversity

when there is unity in desire?

As far as I know, we don't engage

in assassinations and kidnappings

and things of that kind.

As far as I know, we never have.

[Dizzy Gillespie plays melody]

Unofficial American ambassador of jazz,

Dizzy Gillespie, one of the originators

of that brand of jazz known as bebop.

A month ago, he had toured

a belt of Middle Eastern countries

ranging from Pakistan to Yugoslavia.

[pensive jazz music playing]

I would be a better emissary

than Kissinger.

Is anybody here a communist?

- Are you a communist?

- No, I am a capitalist.

You're a capitalist, eh?

- Are you a communist?

- No. Capitalist.

Do you think that, uh...

Do you think that, uh, Syria is

in danger of going communist?

[Allen Dulles] The idea

that the CIA is always

engaged in overthrowing

governments, that's false.

That's for the birds.

[liner's horn blares]

[newsman] Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser says

that the foreign-owned Suez Canal has be

taken over by Egypt.

[sultry jazz music playing]

[applause]

[Nasser speaking Arabic]

The British called me,

Gamal Abdel Nasser, a dog.

[wind gusting]

Remember the insults written

on the walls of Port Said?

You said your queen is what?

[crowd yelling in Arabic]

A b*tch!

[Gamal Abdel Nasser] And today,

Port Said toppled

the Prime Minister of Britain.

The world has turned upside down.

The world has changed.

[percolating jazz music playing]

Neither the United Kingdom nor France

had the right to use arms against Egypt,

because they were not attacked.

There is nothing in the charter,

and nothing in any moral principles

of international law and practice

which places upon any country,

however great, however mighty,

however steeped in the traditions

on domination by force.

The most powerful bloc in the U.N.

is the African-Asian bloc.

These are the poor nations.

Yet they carry more weight

than the nations do

who have all the money.

Why? Because no matter

how wealthy America is,

she only has one vote.

No matter how wealthy Russia is,

she only has one vote.

Whereas all the poor nations in Africa

who have just emerged into independence,

they have each a vote, too.

And they stick together

and are able to outmaneuver

the rich nations.

You and I have to look at this

and understand this,

that the ballot is

as powerful as the b*llet.

[playful music playing]

United States? Yes.

United Kingdom? No.

Uruguay? Yes.

Venezuela? Yes.

Yemen? Yes.

Yugoslavia? Yes.

Afghanistan? Yes.

Albania? Yes.

Argentina? Yes.

Australia? No.

Austria? Yes.

Belgium?

Abstain.

Bolivia? Yes.

Brazil? Yes.

Cambodia? Yes.

Canada? Abstain.

Chile? Yes.

El Salvador? Yes.

Ethiopia? Yes.

- France?

- [in French] Yes... no!

[official] No?

[laughter]

[man] Quiet!

When I came here,

several people asked me how

I really do pronounce my name.

Well, I pronounce it myself

in Swedish: Hammarskjold.

But if you say "hammer-shield,"

that's all right with me.

Welcome to the most

impossible job on Earth.

[Dag Hammarskjold]

As members of the United Nations

emergency force,

you are taking part in an experience

that is new in history.

You are soldiers of peace

in the first international

force of its kind.

["We Insist! Freedom Now Suite" playing]

I think Suez helped

many of the African countries

to be sure of themselves

and insist about independence.

Whisper, listen

Whisper, listen

Whisper say we're free

Rumors flying must be lying

Can it really be?

Can't conceive it. Don't believe it

But that's what they say

sl*ve no longer, sl*ve no longer

This is Freedom Day

This decade is the decade

of African independence.

Forward, then, to independence!

[Lumumba, in French]

Nobody wanted to follow

the colonials any longer.

Men, women and children...

the whole population demanded

immediate independence.

Freedom Day, Freedom Day

Free to vote and earn our pay

Dim the path And hide the way

But we made it, Freedom Day

[cheers, applause]

Brothers and sisters!

We got off the plane,

they had a little tune.

Nine trumpets playing so beautifully.

"All for you, Louis," la-la-la.

Come on, fellas!

So I pulled mine out and played with 'em

[jaunty jazz music playing]

[newsman] Armstrong played to

an audience of 100,000 people,

the world record

in the entire history of music.

[Louis Armstrong]

You could walk on heads

for five blocks and never fall.

Oh yes

[laughing]

Ladies and gentlemen,

it's lovely to be down here

playing with you...

We'd like to lay this next one

on the Prime Minister.

"Black and Blue."

["(What Did I Do To Be So)

Black and Blue" playing]

[Louis Armstrong]

Cold empty bed

Springs hard as lead

Feel like old Ned

Wished I was dead

What did I do

To be so black and blue Mmm

I'm white inside

But that don't help my case

'Cause I can't hide

What is in my face

[scatting]

How would it end?

Ain't got a friend

My only sin is in my skin

What did I do

To be so black and blue?

[man speaking Russian]

Uganda Premier Milton Obote

calls out American racists:

"How can we believe America's sincerity

towards African people,

when inside the U.S. itself,

'Negroes' are still subjected

to terrible racial discrimination?"

[siren wailing]

[rousing music playing]

[reporter] What are you gonna

tell the Russians?

It all depends what time

they send me over there.

I don't think they should send me now,

unless they straighten

that mess down South.

[in Russian] Black children

cannot attend school

together with white children!

Isn't this embarrassing

for such a civilized country?

In America, Blacks get lynched.

They get hanged.

Is that democracy?

Is that respect for man? No!

[lively jazz music playing]

[man]

Ladies and gentlemen,

the Dizzy Gillespie Campaign for Preside

needs a campaign song.

It is entitled,"Vote Dizzy."

Let the good times roll!

[brief trumpet melody]

[robust laugh]

[applause]

[man scatting]

[cheers]

[bright music playing]

[man speaking Dutch] Mr. Vloer,

beer plays a central role

in a Black person's life?

Yes. This has now turned

political, of course.

But when talking politics,

they like to drink a pint of beer.

Just like in Belgium.

[Lumumba speaking French]

[soft, taut jazz music playing]

[Blouin, in French] One day,

driving my Deux Chevaux...

[echoing slam]

...a truck was heading straight at us.

[train trundling]

I stepped on the gas.

We shot past,

but the rear end of my car was hit,

making us skid crazy out of control.

[creaking and clanging]

Right then...

we saw who was in the truck.

Our political opponents.

The rats have got your flour

Bad blood has got your mare

Rats have got your flour

Bad blood has got your mare

[Blouin, in French] Days later,

when crossing the Savannah,

a brush fire was moving towards us.

I slowed down and looked behind,

but the road we just passed

was now engulfed in flames.

The severity of my situation

suddenly hit me.

Twice...

[music stops abruptly]

Twice, I was nearly m*rder*d.

But this did not deter me from my purpos

On the contrary,

I felt an extraordinary

sense of being alive.

It only reinforced the will

to fight for my people.

The rats have got your flour

Bad blood has got your mare

The rats have got your flour

Bad blood has got your mare

Is there anyone who knows

Is there anyone who cares?

So you prayed to the Lord above

Please send you a friend

Oh, ya prayed to the Lord above

Please send you a friend

But your empty pockets Tell ya

That you ain't got no friends

So your baby's Screamin' loud now

It's poundin' in your brain

Your baby's screamin' Louder now

It's poundin' In your brain

[abrupt clunk]

[Blouin, in French] It's

Kwame Nkrumah who asked me

to call upon Africa's women...

to unify the continent...

envisioning a new political entity:

The United States of Africa.

[spare, eerie music playing]

[newsman]

We continue with our report

on Soviet penetration in Africa.

We shall have to compete with both

Russians and Chinese.

They will take advantage

of every opportunity they get,

as they have already

in Guinea and in Ghana.

Nkrumah already created a federation

with Sekou Tour's Guinea.

His goal: freedom for all Africa,

and the creation

of a United States of Africa.

["Mbube" playing]

[Miriam Makeba vocalizing]

[Patrice Lumumba] At our

national congress in December,

a woman spoke up:

"If we're not allowed to vote,

we will sabotage these elections."

[Blouin, in French]

The frenzy of the electoral

campaign across the country made me forg

that I was the only woman in the team.

[Miriam Makeba vocalizing]

[Blouin] I was presented

as a woman from Guinea,

a country that had gained independence.

People sat down in a circle,

asking me questions:

How is it there?

What did people do to gain independence?

If Guinea is independent,

why aren't the Congolese?

[singing in Zulu]

[Blouin, in French] As we

talked about the need

to free our continent,

I saw that the women actually needed

to liberate themselves.

[Miriam Makeba singing in Zulu]

[Blouin, in French] As they

started to tell their story,

I realized that these women

had really suffered.

I understood we could not separate

the problem of Africa's resources

from that of the African women.

[Miriam Makeba singing in Zulu]

[Miriam Makeba] I ask all

the leaders of the world:

Would you keep silent and do nothing

if you were allowed

no rights in your own country

because the color of your skin

is different to that of the rulers?

[Blouin, in French] If they

wished, these women

could become the first

bearers of independence.

[Miriam Makeba vocalizing]

[newsman] Madame Blouin,

whom Guinea's Sekou Tour sent

to guide Lumumba.

[Blouin, in French] By May 1960,

I had enrolled 45,000 members

for the Association

of African Women of Solidarity.

Never have I felt so alive.

[clamor]

But our movement sounded

threatening to the colonials.

[eerie music playing]

[Lumumba, in French] When you

defend the cause of freedom,

they immediately label you.

The officials claimed:

"Lumumba is dangerous.

Because people follow him everywhere,

we must arrest him."

[grim music playing]

So, they threw me in jail...

[wind blowing]

[soft, eerie music playing]

I was brutally assaulted.

Locked into a pitch dark cell.

I was scoffed at, vilified,

and dragged through the mud...

[indistinct singing]

...simply because I claimed

freedom for our country.

[man]

Let the wind

[soft, discordant music playing]

[plodding piano music playing]

[Mbuyi speaking in French]

[applause]

[man speaking in French]

[applause]

Oh, that's Thelonious Monk, he's crazy!

[mellow music playing]

[airplane engine humming]

[singing in French]

[Lumumba in French] I was

released from prison

to head for Brussels.

But I was left with nothing.

No clothes.

No shoes.Absolutely nothing.

The authorities had to get me a suit.

And Africans collected money

to buy the rest of my clothes.

- [applause]

- [cheering]

Upon arrival at the airport,

10,000 Congolese were shouting:

Down with the colonialists!

Down with colonialism!

We want independence right now!

And it was a whole other ballgame...

[singing in French]

[woman] For your next trip,

be sure you choose SABENA

and fly on the Belgian World Airlines.

[bright musical flourish]

[soft, grim music playing]

- [g*nf*re]

- [commotion]

[Lumumba in French]

We heard r*fle shots.

Right after, we saw bodies

laying all over.

People asked: "Why?

What have we done?"

[chimes twinkling]

[airplane engine humming]

I was sentenced to six months in prison

because no one would point

at the colonials.

Thirty Congolese m*rder*d

for no plausible reason.

["Wild Is the Wind"

by Nina Simone playing]

[Nina Simone]

Love me Love me, love me

Say you do

Let me fly away with you

For my loves like the wind

[lively music playing]

[singing in Spanish]

[Rolin in French] A challenging

adventure lies ahead of you.

[Lumumba in French] I'm Patrice Lumumba.

I'm delighted with the results

of the Round Table conference.

On June 30th,

the Congolese people

will gain their freedom.

Let me assure the Belgians

that a lasting friendship

will remain between our countries.

[singing in Lingala]

[Armondo in French] We needed

a song to make everybody dance

and kick off our independence

that was so hard to achieve.

- [chatter]

- [laughter]

[whirring]

[soft music playing]

TELEMEMORIES

THIS EVENING, FREDERIC VANDEWALLE,

CHIEF OF SECURITY

[in French] Colonel Vandewalle,

you were head of Intelligence

in the Belgian Congo:

When you saw the list of ministers

of Lumumba's government

you smiled as you discovered

that some had been

your intelligence assets?

[in French]

Yes, correct.

Within his cabinet

at least three guys were ours.

[bright music playing]

[children shrieking playfully]

[Lumumba in French]

Backstage deals by elite circles

conspired during the Round Table.

So, what does this independence mean

if tomorrow we're sucked dry

by new masters?

What is the significance

of this independence

if tomorrow, it is to set us

against each other?

[singing in Lingala]

[soft, eerie music playing]

Now, before we go any further

we'd like to take this opportunity

to introduce the musicians.

- [indistinct chatter]

- [laughter]

[energetic music playing]

[soft piano music playing]

[energetic trumpet music playing]

[abrupt drum strikes]

[mellow upright bass music playing]

[scat singing]

- [applause]

- [cheering]

[Malcolm X]

The ballot or the b*llet.

[scat singing]

[laughing]

[scat singing]

[applause]

Vote Dizzy, vote Dizzy!

[Bofane in French]

All my life I kept wondering:

"I was in a hole.

But what was that hole?"

Only 50 years later

I realized that it was a chicken coop.

[mellow music playing]

It was right after Congo's Independence.

We got independent on June 30th.

We were all living at Karawa at the time

in the northeast of Congo.

Shortly after they sent

the Belgian paratroopers in.

So the w*r started.

My mother had married Mr. Casse.

A Belgian man.

And he had a 19-year-old son

with the ex-wife of my stepdad

and he was in military service.

But the Congolese soldiers

discovered Mr. Casse had a son

among the Belgian paratroopers.

"This guy married our Congolese sister

and now he's sending his son to k*ll us.

So let's k*ll his children."

[engine humming]

That's how the soldiers arrived

at our place.

I grabbed my brother Claude

and my sister Jacqueline

and rushed to hide in a hole.

Strange that it all came back

to me 50 years later.

I was walking in a street of Brussels.

The sun was shining.

I could smell chicken poop.

[wind rustling in trees]

The inside of a chicken coop is magical.

There are feathers all around.

They shine, they look like diamonds.

Feathers everywhere...

[soft, eerie music playing]

My little brother was a bit boisterous

and started moving so they caught us.

[laughs]

[wings flapping]

Then everybody screamed:

"k*ll them! k*ll the whites!

k*ll the kids of the whites."

Then, a soldier entered my stepdad's sto

and came out with a brand new machete.

When my mother saw the machete,

something clicked in her mind.

She looked at him and said,

"Hey you! Where are you going

with this machete?

You took this machete

from my husband's store.

You didn't pay for it!"

My mom was very fond of money.

"You didn't pay for it

and you want to k*ll his kids with it.

Are you not ashamed?"

So he froze, holding his machete.

And the soldiers left.

[jazzy music playing]

Thanks to my mom's words,

who taught me that in life

one should never remain silent.

Never!

[hooves clopping]

[energetic bass clarinet music playing]

[lively music playing]

[man in French] It's 16:03 here

at Leopoldville airport.

A hectic activity is on display

with the arrival

of his Majesty King Baudouin.

[energetic bass clarinet music playing]

[airplane engine humming]

[majestic music playing]

[man in French]

And the King appears

in his ivory-white uniform.

[energetic bass clarinet music playing]

[majestic music playing]

He shakes hands with Chief

of State Joseph Kasa-Vubu.

He shakes hands

with Prime Minister Lumumba.

[man] Hey, can you splice it up to tape,

you know what I mean?

One, two...

[energetic bass clarinet music playing]

- [applause]

- [cheering]

[cheering]

[in French]

The independence of the Congo

crowned the work,

initiated by the genius of King Leopold

undertaken by his undaunted courage

and carried on

with perseverance by Belgium.

[energetic jazz music playing]

[applause]

[speaking in French]

[energetic jazz music playing]

[speaking in French]

[energetic jazz music playing]

[Lumumba speaking in French]

[music stops]

[awkward silence]

[soft coughing]

[speaking in Dutch]

[energetic music playing]

[Lumumba speaking in French]

- [applause]

- [cheering]

[Lumumba speaking in French]

[applause]

[lively music playing]

- [applause]

- [cheering]

[in French] Mr. Lumumba's speech

indeed took us by surprise.

And...

one cannot deny

that his speech has caused...

a huge disappointment.

And this speech was seen

as very distasteful.

[dramatic musical flourish]

[creatures chirping]

[man in French] What role will

the Congolese Army play

in the newly independent Congo?

[in French] In the newly

independent Congo,

the role of the Congolese Army

will remain the same role

it always played since 1886

when Leopold II created this army.

[man] But do you see

any break with the past,

or will the situation

really remain the same?

There will be no break

whatsoever with the past.

- [g*nf*re]

- [shouting]

[energetic music playing]

I was General Janssens.

But now, not anymore.

[waves lapping softly]

We've got an interesting

situation in Africa today

where the articulate few politicians

in the newly emerged countries

are aware of the fact that

fifty well-trained and ruthless

mercenary soldiers

could overthrow a government.

Consequently, they see

the opportunities for a coup.

Do you have a mercenary force

available to you

on short notice?

I suppose I could get together

100 men within seven days.

[soft music playing]

Today, Africa is one

of the most vital links

in the Soviet chain of world conquest.

Its untouched natural wealth

has perhaps a greater potential

than that of the rest

of the world combined.

Strategically, the key

to Africa is the Congo.

And the key to the Congo

is the state of Katanga.

But the prize catch for the communists

is Katanga's mighty Union Minire,

an internationally owned mine

which supplies the United States

with element U-235,

an ingredient vital in the production

of the first atomic b*mb.

- [b*mb whistles]

- [b*mb explodes]

[soft music playing]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[helicopter blades whirring]

[soft, majestic music playing]

[Tshombe in French]

Sirs, here we are! Isn't it?

We have decided to declare

the independence of Katanga.

[cheering]

[music stops]

[conductor baton whizzing]

[soft music playing]

[man in French]

Behind us, is the chimney.

As long as it still smokes,

all seems well in Katanga.

[man in Dutch]

Everything super-duper!

We won't let it get to our hearts!

Indeed super-duper here in Katanga!

For now at least.

[soft music playing]

[man]

Cherie

[Khrushchev in Russian] The

interests of mighty monopolies

pushed Belgium to snatch away

the richest province, Katanga.

Securing raw materials

for nuclear weapons,

uranium, cobalt, titanium, cheap labor,

that's why they plot against the Congo..

[growling]

[laughing]

...whose strings extend from Brussels

to the major NATO capitals.

[children screaming]

[muffled expl*si*n]

[siren wailing]

- [g*nsh*t]

- [camera shutter clicks]

[man] Belgium promptly

dispatched troops to the Congo

to try to restore order.

Was the dispatch of troops

merely to protect the lives

of nationals?

Or did the Belgians hope

the former Master of the Congo

could seize the opportunity

to pose its control of the colony?

- [g*nsh*t]

- [chicken clucking]

[airplane engine humming]

[soft music playing]

[Lumumba in French] I'm visiting

the United States

to meet the UN Secretary-General

and ask for his support

to remove the Belgian troops

from the territory of our republic.

The coup was plotted

by the Belgian government

who sent a general

to command the Katangese army.

The Belgian government has no right

to install its military in our country.

Just as the Belgian government

has no right

to invade the U.S.

with its military bases.

[speaking in French]

[Lumumba in French]

In Washington I stayed

at the presidential guest house.

But the Belgian government protested:

"Why had the U.S. government

extended such a distinguished

welcome to a dirty n*gg*r?"

[eerie music playing]

[energetic music playing]

[man] It's a very strange thing

how someone says,

"Okay, n*gg*r, play."

Or, "Okay, n*gg*r, get off the sidewalk.

[soft music playing]

And it didn't make any sense for me

to be what I thought I was,

that they had made me

what I thought I wasn't.

[somber string music playing]

[reporter]

This is Harlem Square.

125th Street and 7th Avenue.

The hot corner of Black nationalism.

[siren wailing]

[man]

Twenty million Black people

asking for civil rights.

Chinese don't have to ask

for civil rights.

Russia! Even Khrushchev can go

anywhere he want in America

and he got a b*mb.

[soft piano music playing]

[Malcolm X] Harlem has

the largest concentration

of people of African descent.

Because that's what you and I

are, Africans.

[applause]

[woman] I was downtown

at one of Malcolm X's speeches,

and who should plop down

on the seat next to me

but John Coltrane.

[Coltrane laughing]

[mellow music playing]

[Coltrane]

I thought I had to see the man.

You know?

I was quite impressed.

[woman] Some musicians have said

there's a relationship

between some of Malcolm's ideas

and the music.

[Coltrane] I think music can

create the initial change

in the thinking of the people.

[Lumumba in French]

[applause]

[siren wailing]

[Lumumba in French]

[ball thuds]

[wind whistling softly]

[rain pattering]

[man] The Soviet Union joined

the rest of the council to give

the Congolese government

military assistance.

We are at the turn of the road,

not only for the future

of this organization,

but also for the future of Africa.

And Africa may well,

in present circumstances,

mean the world.

[bright music playing]

The world must answer

the African question.

And it must answer it our way.

- [applause]

- [cheering]

[in French] The Congo should

take center stage

in the movement for a free Africa.

We've made it Freedom Day

[reporter]

Within five weeks,

nearly 20,000 UN troops were in the Cong

[applause]

[majestic bagpipe music playing]

[music stops]

[footsteps]

[majestic music playing]

[man in French]

Mr. Hammarskjold has accepted

the invitation of the Belgian government

He then had an audience with the King.

[man in Dutch] I've explained once more

to the UN Secretary-General

the situation of Katanga

where the economy has resumed.

Totally impossible

in the rest of the Congo

where so much is destroyed

which was built with so many sacrifices

not to satisfy colonial

or imperial aspirations

but to complete a mission of civilizatio

for the benefit of a less developed peop

that for its salvation and ascension

so much depends on the white people

and the Belgians.

[soft, eerie music playing]

[low rumbling]

[airplane engine humming]

[man]

Once Hammarskjold decided

to fly to Elisabethvilleto meet Tshombe

over Lumumba's head, almost literally.

The downfall of Lumumba

was inscribed in that event.

[reporter]

Today in Katanga

a plane load of Belgium-sent arms arrive

[mellow music playing]

[airplane taking off]

[low rumbling]

[twinkling sounds]

- [rattling]

- [register chime]

[cracking sounds]

[man]

Someone said once

that the study of history

was like sitting on the cat.

Meaning, I suppose,

that its surprises

left their scars.

There was no one in the United Nations

who did not give a damn

what Washington said.

Washington wielded tremendous

influence in the UN.

Americans had always been kept in

and Russians always kept out.

If there was any "Cabinet"

for the Congo operation,

it was not the Security Council

but the highly informal Congo Club

on the 38th Floor.

The Russians, however,

were not part of that Club.

The story of our times

is the story of revolution.

This is the Museum of Modern Art

in New York City.

But the most vivid records

of the triumphs and the ironies

of this 20th Century are kept right here

[in French]

The Treachery of Images

is the title of a painting

representing a pipe

with a caption:

"This is not a pipe."

Because the image of a pipe is not a pip

[airplane engine humming]

[applause]

[energetic drum music playing]

[man]

Say these English words after me:

Pipe.

[static radio chatter]

-Tobacco.

-[group] Tobacco.

[energetic music playing]

- [music stops]

- [radio buzzing]

[Kasa-Vubu in French] The 5th

of September, 1960,

we have revoked Premier Patrice Lumumba.

[energetic drum music playing]

[lively music playing]

[Lumumba in French] Today,

without consulting Parliament,

without asking advice

of the elected government,

Mr. Kasa-Vubu has betrayed us.

[radio static]

I proclaim that Kasa-Vubu,

who plotted with the Belgians,

is no longer Chief of State.

[energetic music playing]

[beeping]

[suspenseful music playing]

This is Leopoldville the morning after

President Kasa-Vubu's

sensational announcement

on the Congo radio

that he had dismissed

Prime Minister Lumumba.

Meanwhile, airports were closed

and Lumumba was denied

the use of the radio station

which was shut down by UN troops.

[energetic music playing]

[beeping]

[in Russian] This is shameful.

The UN forces invited

by the legal government of Patrice Lumum

took over the airports

and the radio station.

They made it possible

for a treacherous puppet regime

to take over the Congo...

[vehicle engine humming]

[energetic drumming]

[reporter] Next day an emergency

session of Parliament.

The members of Parliament

here are discussing

whether Mr. Kasa-Vubu

or Mr. Lumumba's government

is the authority in the Congo.

[indistinct chatter]

Once you get really good

inside intelligence

about any group,

you are able to learn

what the levers of power are

and what each man fears from another.

And what each man will credit another ma

to be capable of doing.

It's all a matter of inside knowledge.

[man] You're talking in riddles.

What do you mean by that?

You set people very discretely

against one another.

[man] Right.

They destroy each other.

[reporter] At the end

of the chaotic debate,

Lumumba went to the rostrum.

[applause]

He spoke quietly and skillfully.

[in French] We reject any intervention.

The Congo will never become

a colony of the United Nations.

This is a reconquest!

[reporter]

After hearing Lumumba's speech,

the MPs voted to invalidate

the decrees of both Kasa-Vubuand Lumumba

dismissing one another.

[indistinct shouting]

The night before the vote,

we counted heads, going down everyone.

We had the election.

[man] Did you buy votes?

I'm not gonna answer that one, I'm sorry

Don't comment, put it that way.

[energetic music playing]

The following day...

we had two votes.

[mellow music playing]

I lost.

[reporter] The senate had given

Lumumba a vote of confidence

by 41 votes to 2.

[speaking in French]

[applause]

[Lumumba in French] The coup d'tat,

this whole campaign against me

is conceived by the Congolese people

as a campaign against

the independence we had achieved.

[singing in French]

[applause]

[beeping]

[energetic music playing]

[applause]

[man in Russian]

Lumumba addressed

the international press:

"Hammarskjold has lost our trust."

[man] Lumumba demanded

the immediate withdrawal

of UN troops

if they continued interfering

with his government.

Hammarskjold started out before the Cong

with an extraordinary degree of confiden

from African and Asian countries.

Part of the tragedy

is the destruction of that

reservoir of confidence.

[in Arabic] The United Nations

is failing in the Congo.

Who is responsible?

What is the role of the United Nations

in the Congo?

Destructive forces have been let loose

by people who do not wish well

to this newly independent state.

Up till now, the United Nations

has failed in the Congo.

Any wound inflicted upon the Congo,

is a wound to the whole of Africa.

[O'Brien] Nasser and Nkrumah

threatened to withdraw

their troops from the UN force.

Hammarskjold had to make a serious effor

to recover their confidence.

But he was opposed by the Western powers

who feared that he would bring

Lumumba back into the picture.

[man]

How much money do you suppose

the Central Intelligence Agency

has poured into the Congo?

I don't know.Are you prepared to say?

I certainly, of course, don't know.

I wonder if it's quite honest

to represent our policy

as completely angelic?

[Larry Devlin] The one name

that kept coming up

was Joseph-Dsir Mobutu.

[reporter]

Colonel Mobutu's loyalty

has been swinging between

Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu.

[man] You say that A

is sleeping with B's wife?

Yes, what a pity that so-and-so

is so in discrete.

Not much more.

Of course, there are much more

sophisticated operations.

[man] What kind

of sophisticated operation?

Ah, that I couldn't possibly tell you.

[applause]

Darling,

are you enjoying the good things in life

Why am I so interested in pipe tobacco?

Darling...

[expl*si*n]

[radio static]

[Mobutu in French]

Hello, hello.

This is Colonel Mobutu

speaking from Leopoldville.

The Congolese Army

has decided to neutralize

the Head of State.

[Mobutu in French]

[man in French]

It's obvious...

It's obvious that the image

of a pipe is not a pipe.

[reporter] The CIA tended to support

very extreme right-wing groups

in foreign countries

because of an obsession with communism

and set back democratic possibilities

in foreign countries?

I think just the opposite is the case.

- [cheering]

- [applause]

[soft music playing]

[in Dutch] Life is often

monotonous and tedious...

That's why television

offers you a distraction.

- [applause]

- [cheering]

[singing in French]

[Tshombe in French] If I return

to Belgium today

it's in the first place

to show my respect to the King.

[singing in French]

[purse thuds]

[soft, eerie music playing]

- [applause]

- [cheering]

[hooves clopping]

[bells tolling]

[crowd shouts in French,

"Long live the Queen!"]

[majestic music playing]

[soft, eerie music playing]

[airplane engine humming]

[soft music playing]

[Blouin in French] For days

our house had been surrounded

by troops armed with machine g*ns.

We expected the dreaded

knock on the door any time.

Then, one early morning...

[engine revving]

...two jeeps stopped

in front of the house.

Gilbert M'Pongo, government deputy,

delivered my expulsion order.

[reporter] An intimate adviser

to the Lumumba government,

Madame Andre Blouinfrom Guinea,

the glamorous half-French "mulatto"

with communist tendencies

whose influence behind the scenes

is being attacked by Lumumba's opponents

[Blouin in French] The soldiers

crowded into the house,

making themselves at home...

asking for food and drinks.

Playing with my children,

Eve-Sylviane and Patrick,

allowing them to handle their weapons

to the children's delight.

[wings flapping]

I had anticipated this goodbye.

Still, at the last moment,

I couldn't really accept

what was happening.

The order specified:"Madame Blouin."

"My children," I begged.

"No, your children and husband

can't join you,"

replied M'Pongo.

[wind blowing softly]

At the airport, before departure,

he reminded me that my loved ones

were being held hostage.

"Don't forget!

Not a word to the international press

or it will cost them dearly!"

[Bofane speaking in Kituba]

[Bofane speaking in French]

[soft, eerie music playing]

[footsteps]

[energetic music playing]

[Khrushchev in Russian]

We announced that I would head

the Soviet delegation.

[footsteps]

[speaking in Russian]

That poured oil on the fire.

The American press was furious.

Cursing the Soviet Union

at the top of their lungs.

- [cheering]

- [applause]

Nehru would come from India.

Tito from Yugoslavia.

And Macmillan from Great Britain.

[resounding thud]

[man in Spanish] I declare the opening

of the 15th UN General Assembly.

There is Nasser.

There is Nehru.

There is Skou Tour.

There is Nkrumah.

There is Mao Zedong in Peking.

[water splashes]

[upbeat jazz music playing]

People say imperialism is dead.

No!

Imperialism is not yet dead.

It is dying.

[music resumes]

[O'Brien]

The U.S. still held

the necessary two-thirds

majority in the Assembly,

but the influx of newly independent

Afro-Asian countries

Transformed the General Assembly

from being little more

than a U.S. propaganda tool

into a genuine organ of negotiations.

[woman]

If the African-Asian states

all vote together, which they seldom do,

they could produce 46

out of the 99 possible votes.

This, therefore, is a bloc

which must be reckoned with.

[O'Brien]

There was always a danger that

the Afro-Asian opinion

might swing over to Mr. Khrushchev's sid

Ambassador Stevenson,

if the United Nation should

fail in this undertaking,

what hope is there for mankind?

Well, that's a very gloomy prospect.

[Morse code beeping]

[Morse code beeping]

[Morse code beeping]

[Morse code beeping]

[soft music playing]

[cars whooshing]

FIDEL AT THE U.N.

[man in Spanish] To attend

the 15th U.N. General Assembly

the Cuban delegation travels to New York

headed by the Prime Minister

and leader of the revolution:

Fidel Castro.

[mellow jazz music playing]

[unintelligible]

These are funny feet.

Funny, funny.

When I look at my feet,

I get messed up myself.

[mimicking rhythmic beat]

[dramatic music playing]

[man]

At least 16 African nations

ought to be admitted for the opening

of the United Nations

15th General Assembly

already momentous on the Congo issue.

A score of heads of government

will be present.

A dramatic setting

with global stakes at issue.

[audio warbling]

[Khrushchev in Russian]

Castro was throwing

thunder and lightning

when he was kicked out of his hotel.

Being a former guerrillero,

he threatened to pitch his tent

in front of the U.N.!

[shouting]

["Que Rico Mambo" playing]

[grunting]

[siren wailing]

[shouting]

[grunting]

[siren wailing]

[Prez Prado shouting]

I want to salute the people

of the United States.

[singing in Spanish]

[Khrushchev in Russian] It was

crucial to pay Castro a visit

to expose America's policy

towards both the Afro-Americans

and the Cuban delegation.

[man] ...the Theresa Hotel:

lots of cops here.

A great jam of cameramen here now.

We're trying to push our way in.

An absolute madhouse here.

[Khrushchev in Russian]

When I encountered Castro

for the first time,

he made a deep impression:

here was this huge, tall person

with a black beard.

We embraced each other.

"Embrace" is perhaps an understatement.

[Prez Prado shouts, grunts]

[Khrushchev] He literally

bent down to envelop me

with his whole body!

[man in Spanish]

By hugging, Fidel and Nikita

bring Cubans and Soviets closer.

[man] What did you discuss in there?

Don't worry about that!

["My Reverie" playing]

[man]

Let me ask you, Mr. X,

why did you visit Fidel Castro

this morning?

[Malcolm X] Well, because of

the trouble in Africa,

in the Congo, and other places,

it has caused a great deal

of tension in Harlem.

We were led up to the 9th floor

and into Dr. Castro's room.

He greeted us very cordially, we sat dow

the room wasn't so big.

My impression of Fidel Castro

was that he was a man

who seemed to have the genuine interest

of his people at heart.

It's been suggested that there might be

some international intrigue here

because of Malcolm's travels to Africa,

his contacts with Nasser.

[man] The CIA was indeed

very closely watching Malcolm.

Of special concern

was his effectiveness in Africa.

He had submitted an eight-page

memorandum to a meeting

of the heads of 33 African nations

calling for their support

in his pending move

to take America before the United Nation

for violating the

Afro-Americans' human rights.

[Malcolm X]

It's a human problem,

not an American problem

or a n*gro problem.

And as a world problem,

we feel that it should be taken

out of the jurisdiction

of the United States government

and the United States courts

in the same manner that the problems

of the Black man in South Africa, Angola

and other parts of the world

are taken into the United Nations

because of violations of human rights.

We believe that our problem

is one not of violation

of civil rights but

of violation of human rights.

Not only are we denied the right

to be a citizen in the United States,

we're denied the right

to be a human being.

I would suggest

that when the charter

of the United Nations

comes to be revised,

a permanent seat should be created

for Africa on the Security Council.

In view, not only of the growing number

of African members of the United Nations

but also of the increasing importance

of the African continent in world affair

[train whooshing]

["Blue in Green" playing]

[O'Brien] Within a few days

of taking my seat in the U.N.,

I was contacted

by the American "arm-twister."

Arm-twisters was a concept little heard

in public discussions

of the United Nations

but absolutely central

to its actual workings.

Arm-twisters were usually

American delegates

whose function was

to influence crucial votes

smell out possible recalcitrance,

and deal with it.

[O'Brien] Dealing with it could

include bribery or blackmail.

Countries in which there were

corporate interests

would receive less subtle hints.

[man in French] In my capacity

as President

of the Republic of Congo,

I hereby announce the make-up

of my delegation.

[train clanging]

[man] The legitimate

government of the Congo

is the government of Mr. Patrice Lumumba

The decision to seat

the delegation of Mr. Kasa-Vubu

came to us as a great shock.

[Menon] This is the worst humiliation

that the United Nations ever suffered.

And we from Asia would be the people

who'll be deeply shocked and grieved.

There cannot be one African

in this Assembly, sir,

there cannot be one African

in this Assembly

who'd not be moved to shame

by the situation that has arisen.

[train clanging]

[O'Brien] Over a strong protest

by Afro-Asian neutrals,

the Assembly,

under pressure from the U.S.,

seated a Kasa-Vubu delegation.

[Khrushchev in Russian]

The dirty job in the Congo

was carried out

by U.N. Secretary-General Hammarskjold.

History will not forgive you.

A man who has trampled down

elementary justice has no place

at such an important position

as that of the Secretary-General.

[man] I call now on the Secretary-Genera

in exercise of the right of reply.

By resigning, I would throw

the organization to the winds.

I have no right to do so.

It is not the Soviet Union,

or indeed any other big powers

who need the United Nations

for their protection.

It is all the others.

The organization is, first of all,

their organization.

I shall remain in my post

during the term of my office

as a servant of the organization

in the interest...

[applause]

I shall remain in my post

during the term of my office

as a servant of the organization

in the interest of all those other natio

as long as they wish me to do so.

[applause]

[pounding]

Oh, man, I got a million dreams.

It's all I do, is dream.

All the time.

[man] I heard you played the piano.

No, no, this is not piano,

this is dreaming.

[mellow piano music playing]

[Malcolm X]

Along about 1955,

they had the Bandung Conference

in Indonesia.

And at that time, the Africans,

the Asians, the Arabs,

all of the non-white people got together

and agreed to de-emphasize

their differences

and emphasize what they had in common.

[man]

In New York, the dramatic parade

of major world figures

across the stage of history continues.

[dramatic music playing]

At Harlem's Hotel Theresa,

in a heavy presence of security guards

holding back throngs of demonstrators,

Nasser and Fidel Castro

begin a 90-minute talk.

[Malcolm X]

And it was the spirit of Bandung

that made it possible for nations

that didn't have a chance

to become independent.

[man in Spanish]

...welcoming Nehru from India.

Welcoming Nkrumah from Ghana.

Fidel Castro embarks

on his historical speech

personifying for the first time

the rebel voice of Latin America.

[Castro in Spanish]

The case of Cuba

is like that of the Congo.

The colonialist intrusion was obvious.

We condemn

how the U.N. forces

intervened in the Congo.

[mellow piano music playing]

The only true leader who kept defending

the interests of his country, is...

Lumumba.

[applause]

[bright music playing]

[man]

President Eisenhower arrives

at the 1960 session

of the United Nations General Assembly.

One of the most momentous

diplomatic gatherings

in modern history.

[fanciful music playing]

[applause]

Ah, here's a little French tune

we're gonna swing for you.

Hold me close and hold me fast

The magic spell you cast

This is "La vie en rose"

[man] It had become clear

that there could be

no Congolese government

with Lumumba at its head.

[Louis Armstrong]

Heaven sighs

[man]

With the international commitments

of Ghana, Guinea,

of Cairo, Moscow, and Delhi,

all on Lumumba's side,

one wonders whether they can

afford to do nothing about it.

[Louis Armstrong]

To your heart

I'm in a world apart

A world where roses

[soft clunking]

[no audio]

[man] Have you brought with you

some of those devices

which would have enabled

the CIA to use this poison

for k*lling people?

[man] We have indeed.

[man] Don't point it at me.

[tapping of typewriter keys]

[music resumes]

Now...

Does this... does this p*stol

fire the dart?

[man] Yes, it does, Mr. Chairman.

[chairman] Does the target know

he has been hit

and about to die?

[man] A special dart was developed

which potentially would be

able to enter the target

without perception.

[woman] Let's talk

about this tour of Africa.

Was it your idea?

No, it was the State Department.

[woman] Mind you don't get

kidnapped in the Congo.

Why? Nobody gonna kidnap me.

What was the connection between

the activities of the CIA

and the higher levels of the government?

And how much the president may have know

concerning CIA complicity

in assassination attempts?

The people of the Congo are entitled

to build up their country

in peace and freedom.

Intervention by other nations

in their internal affairs

would create a focus of conflict

in the heart of Africa.

[Louis Armstrong] Hold me

Close and hold me fast

The magic spell you cast

This is "La vie en rose"

When you kiss me Heaven sighs

[Devlin] Catty-cornered from the embassy

was Caf de la Presse.

And seated out on the terrace

was a man I recognized.

He said, "I'm Joe from Paris.

We have a lot to talk about."

[Louis Armstrong]

When you press me

[Devlin] I said, "Well, what is it?"

He said, "Well, you'll have

to assassinate Lumumba."

[interviewer] He used those words?

Yes.

[interviewer] Just as clearly

as you say it to me now?

Yes.

[Louis Armstrong] When you

Press me to your heart

I'm in a world apart

[Devlin] He said, "I have been instructe

to provide you with some poisons."

[interviewer] But who ordered him?

He said, "President Eisenhower."

The report says it is reasonable to infe

that President Eisenhower ordered the CI

to try to k*ll Lumumbaof the Congo.

I propose to refrain from intervening

in these new nation's

internal affairs by subversion,

force, propaganda, or any other means.

Thank you and God bless you.

[Louis Armstrong vocalizing]

[music stops]

How do you do?

This is Willis Conover in Washington, DC

The Voice of America:Jazz Hour.

Howdy, folks, this is

old Satchmo, Louis Armstrong

taking over the next 15 minutes

from my old friend Willis Conover.

[man]

Armstrong was officially declared

America's "Ambassador of Love"

by the federal government

and was sent to tour

the civil-w*r-torn Congo

in October of 1960.

[plane whizzing]

[man] America's weapon was

a blue note in a minor key.

["La Vie en Rose" playing]

Mr. Louis Armstrong,

the greatest "King of Jazz."

Welcome, Mr. Armstrong.

[glockenspiel tinkling]

[Lumumba speaking French]

[instrumental cacophony]

[frantic jazz music playing]

[man in French] The U.N.

Secretary-General claimed:

"Katanga is basically kept alive by mone

from Union Minire?"

[in French] Don't forget

that I'm a politician.

And many of my enemies

call me the "Cash Register."

In fact, Union Minire is not paying us,

we're actually supporting them.

[soft music playing]

[plane droning]

[Louis Armstrong]

When You kiss me, heaven sighs

And though I close my eyes

And see la vie en rose

[Morse code beeping]

When you press me to your heart

[Devlin] We were to go to Elisabethville

to attend a concert

given by Louis Armstrong.

I went and Ambassador Timberlake

and Julie, his wife.

The wives were there to make it appear

that this was a social thing.

[typewriter clicking]

[upbeat music playing]

[cheering]

[man singing in Zulu]

[xylophone tones ascending and descendin

[soft music playing]

[Blouin in French] Patrice

Lumumba continued to fight.

No one dared execute him yet, as planned

[shouting]

Not for lack of hatred,

but because Patrice Lumumba

still impressed his enemies.

He knew that he was still

the legal prime minister

but invisible hands were strangling him,

and those hands came from far away.

[mellow music playing]

Very far.

[man singing in Lingala]

[man]

Lumumba's power had grown steadily

and troops loyal to him

controlled vast areas of the Congo.

[O'Brien]

Lumumbists were about to recapture

two-thirds of the country.

[soft music playing]

[wind howling]

[man] Do you see any quick

employment for your talents?

Yes, there is something

coming up fairly soon.

Obviously, we can't talk about that,

but I think we might be back in business

[chaotic jazz music playing]

[man]

The Belgians get a man named Tshombe

who is a m*rder*r

and the first thing he does

is go to South Africa

and hire more K*llers.

They give them the glorious

name of "mercenary."

They are dropping bombs on villages.

Blowing to bits Congolese women.

Congolese babies.

This is extremism.

[in French] The Belgian government

is completely opposed

to the use of mercenaries.

There is not one Belgian

mercenary in Katanga.

Belgium is neither colonialist

nor neo-colonialist

nor imperialist.

[thunder rumbling]

[dark music playing]

[speaking French]

[muffled jazz music playing]

[chaotic jazz music playing]

[music stops]

[music resumes]

[train clanging]

[somber music playing]

[man]

We toured the area in light aircraft

over a long stretch of railway

from Kobongo towards Kabala.

I was losing count of the number

of burnt-out villages.

However much you may distrust

the emotion of moral indignation,

there will be times when it hits you.

It hit me.

Not at the sight of the roofless village

but at the friendly wave

of the white officer

in charge of these operations.

[train clanging]

[no audible saxophone]

[thrum of helicopter blades]

[distant thrum of helicopter blades]

[in French] You are what we call a Simba

Yes. I'm a Simba.

- [man] How old are you?

- I'm 20 years old.

- [man] Exactly 20 years old.

- Exactly.

[thrum of helicopter blades]

[Malcolm X] How do you think

you would you feel right now

if some Congolese brother

walked up to you?

They look just like you.

Don't think you don't look Congolese.

You look as much Congolese

as a Congolese does.

[laughing]

How would you feel

if one of them walked up to you

and asked you about what your government

is doing in the Congo?

I was asked that when I was over there.

- ["Alabama" playing]

- [g*nf*re]

But you have no explanation.

Your tongue stays in your mouth.

[woman in French] Independence

was never achieved.

Independence came with

very limited sovereignty...

- [steam hissing]

- [train whistle shrilling]

[train chuffing]

[somber music playing]

...but economically speaking,

we were nowhere.

Why were we colonized?

Where is our wealth going?

We have diamonds, gold,

copper, tin, all you know...

["Alabama" playing]

[Malcolm X]

They take these hired K*llers,

put them in American planes

with American bombs,

and drop them on African villages.

And you Black people

sitting over here "cool,"

like it doesn't even involve you.

[man in French] Were they really hostage

or were you planning to k*ll them?

They were hostages.

They were there to keep planes away.

To prevent the planes from bombing us.

When we kept the hostages under threat,

there were no more bombings.

[Malcolm X]

When the white public

uses its press to magnify

that the lives of

white hostages are at stake,

they give me the impression

that they attach more importance

to a white hostage

than they do to the death of a human bei

despite the color of his skin.

[in French] We'll make

this work at all costs.

We'll make a pact with the devil

to reunite the Congo.

End of story.

[man in French] Would you

personally have k*lled

the European hostages?

Yes, I would have ex*cuted them.

Considering how we were bombed.

It's like...

being k*lled as wild animals.

But when a Black man strikes back,

he's an extremist.

He's supposed to sit passively

and have no feelings,

be non-violent, and love his enemy.

No matter what kind of attack,

be it verbal or otherwise,

he's supposed to take it.

But if he stands up and in any way

tries to defend himself...

[chuckles]

...then he is an extremist.

[Abo in French] At times, the military

would capture villagers.

They would encircle them like this

and call them out:

"Is this your daughter? Or your son?"

Parents were then forced

to have sex with their own children

in front of everybody.

[soft music playing]

[man in German] I'm fighting in Africa

for freedom and democracy.

Our operation in the Congo

is a NATO operation.

Jacopetti arrived.

I received information from General Mobu

that he was authorized to take pictures.

Jacopetti is a good movie director.

Perhaps he said, "Listen,

here's a man being shot,

put him a bit more to the left,

so the sun shines better."

[somber music playing]

When I stayed in Leopoldville,

I often visited

the Goethe-Institute.

Certainly, it's an institute

of the Federal Republic.

But I have to say

we were running things along two lines.

We're running an "official"

and an "unofficial" politics.

I've attended piano concerts

at the Goethe-Institute.

I'm not a man who just kills n*gg*r*s.

It is my privilege once again

to welcome you on this occasion.

To the outstanding artists

who speak to us today of those things

that can be told

in music's universal tongue,

I offer our homage and our thanks.

[applause]

[Abo in French] We didn't

know how to advance.

We had to build a bridge to cross a rive

It was dark and we decided

to wait till morning to cross.

But the next morning,

the military attacked us by surprise.

Some escaped along the river.

Some were k*lled on the spot.

Mulele, me, and a few partisans

fell into the river.

We stayed in the water

from morning till eight at night.

The water up till here.

While holding our bags

and our r*fles above the water.

[singing in Lingala]

The song tells:

"They lied when we were told

that women aren't strong.

But through what we lived,

we realized that women are strong."

[Dulles] I think we overrated

the Soviet danger in the Congo.

CONGO

[in Russian]

Mobutu's bandits brutally tortured

their prisoners.

With the support of American

and Belgian colonizers,

the legally elected prime minister

of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba,

and his comrades were arrested.

[Khrushchev in Russian]

The colonialists say

that Lumumba is a communist.

Clearly, Lumumba is not

a communist, but a patriot.

But isn't it time to end colonialism?

[drum solo playing]

Some have yet to recognize

their strength and truth.

They still follow yesterday's

lynchers, their colonizers.

Perhaps today, but not tomorrow.

It just won't happen!

The people will rise

and straighten their backs

to become their own masters

instead of being lackeys

and sl*ves of the colonizers.

[moody music playing]

Keep this in mind, gentlemen.

This day will come sooner than you think

Death to colonial sl*very!

Bury it!

Bury it deep in the ground!

The deeper, the better!

[applause]

["The Ballad Of Hollis Brown" playing]

We knew the U.S. would vote

for our resolution with grinding teeth.

So we put the U.S. in a real dilemma.

If they would vote against us,

they would look like the colonizers.

The rats have got your flour

Bad blood it got your mare

And one of the things

that is going to help

to bring this about

is the independence of Africa.

[Nina Simone]

The rats Have got your flour

Bad blood it got your mare

[Malcolm X]

We began to identify with it.

And your Western imperialists

and colonialists

consider this to be a grave threat.

More of a threat than communism

or Marxism or socialism.

Africanism is what they consider

to be the real threat.

[man] A soldier tries

to stuff into Lumumba's mouth

the crumbled speech...

The rats have got your flour

Bad blood it got your mare

[man]

United Arab Republic? Yes.

Ethiopia? Yes.

Bad blood it got your mare

[man]

Soviet Union? Yes.

India? Yes.

Nigeria? Yes.

Is there anyone who cares

[man]

Belgium? Abstained.

United States? Abstained.

So you prayed to the Lord above

Please send you a friend

[applause]

[woman] And there was

Asian-African unanimity

in the United Nations General Assembly

on the "Declaration Against Colonialism"

which won 89 votes.

[somber piano music playing]

[Bofane in French] We owe it to ourselve

to write our own story.

[dark music playing]

Look at "the opening of

the Zaire border" at the time

decided by Westerners.

It's U.N. Resolution 929.

I know it by heart.

I could describe how from then onwards

it's genocide after genocide

after genocide

and finally the Congo w*r.

In five minutes.

[alarm ringing]

[upbeat music playing]

[indistinct lyrics]

[somber music playing]

[muffled thrum of helicopter blades]

[Bofane in French] Everyone looks away.

The U.N. only observes.

It costs $2 billion per month.

They're in the DR Congo

for almost 25 years.

They were able to capture Lumumba

because of the U.N.

[g*nsh*t]

Lumumba was under U.N. protection.

Today it's the same thing.

[exploding]

[man in French] On January 17, 1961,

you were at the Elisabethville airport

when Lumumba, Mpolo, and Okito arrived.

How come you were

at the Elisabethville airport?

I was told an important package

would arrive:

the three persons in question.

How were they at that moment?

They were alive, but in what condition?

They were alive.

As far as I can tell from where I stood.

they were not necessarily

in a state of "dying."

We have all learned this morning

by the Katanga authorities

of the reported death of Patrice Lumumba

and two of his colleagues.

["We Insist! Freedom Now Suite" playing]

[Abbey Lincoln vocalizing]

The issue then is simply this:

Shall the United Nations survive?

Shall the attempt to bring about peace

by the considered power

of international understanding

be discarded?

[music resumes]

[Abbey Lincoln vocalizing]

[Abbey Lincoln vocalizing]

[cheering]

[Abbey Lincoln vocalizing]

[vocalizing]

[screaming]

[shouting]

[whooshing]

[vocalizing]

[shouting]

[vocalizing continues]

[music stops]

[radio static]

[somber music playing]

[muffled lively music playing]