Quote by Patrice Lumumba: “We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and the free and liberated peoples from all corners of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese.”

Lumumba was claiming international solidarity for Congo at the moment of its independence — insisting that the newly freed nation was not isolated but part of a global movement of decolonisation. This was both a political declaration and a warning to the colonial powers: Congo had allies.

Lumumba delivered his independence speech on June 30, 1960, the day Congo was formally declared independent from Belgium. The speech, delivered before the Belgian king, was a dramatic break from colonial diplomatic norms. Within months, Lumumba had been deposed and he was assassinated in January 1961 with Western complicity.

Congolese independence leader and the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo following independence from Belgium in 1960. He was deposed in a coup backed by Belgian and American intelligence services and assassinated in 1961. He remains one of the most iconic figures of African independence.