08/12/2021
My beloved companion,
I am writing these words not knowing how they will reach you and when they will and whether I shall still be alive when you read them.
All through my struggle for the independence of my country, I have never doubted for a single instant the final triumph of the sacred cause to which my companions and I have devoted all our lives.
But what we wanted for our country — its right to an honorable life, to perfect dignity, to independence with no restrictions — was never wanted by Belgian colonialism and its Western allies, who found direct and indirect, intentional and unintentional support among certain high officials of the United Nations, that body in which we placed all our trust when we called on it for help.
They have corrupted some of our countrymen; they have bought others; they have done their part to distort the truth and defile our independence. What else can I say?
Dead or alive, free or in prison by order of the imperialists, it is not my person that is important. What is important is the Congo, our poor people whose independence has been turned into a cage, with people looking at us from outside the bars, sometimes with charitable compassion, sometimes with glee and delight
But my faith will remain unshakeable. I know and I feel in my heart that sooner or later my people will rid themselves of all their enemies, foreign and domestic, and that they will rise as one man to say no to the degradation and shame of colonialism, and regain their dignity in the clear light of the sun.
We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and the free and liberated peoples in every corner of the globe will ever remain at the side of the millions of Congolese who will not abandon the struggle until the day when there will be no more colonizers and no more of their mercenaries in our country.
As to my children whom I leave and whom I may never see again, I should like them to be told that it is for them, as it is for every Congolese, to accomplish the sacred task of reconstructing our independence and our sovereignty.
For without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.
Neither brutality nor cruelty nor torture will ever bring me to ask for mercy, for I prefer to die with my head unbowed, my faith unshakeable and with profound trust in the destiny of my country, rather than live under subjection and disregarding sacred principles.
History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that is taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or in the United Nations. But the history which will be taught in the countries freed from colonialism and its puppets.
Africa will write its own history and to the north, and south of the Sahara, it will be a glorious and dignified history.
Do not weep for me, my companion; I know that my country, now suffering so much, ‘will be able to defend its independence and its freedom.
Long Live the Congo!
Long Live Africa!
Patrice "
Hon. Patrice lumumba
