Berlin 1884–1885: The founding act of a legalized international crime

When History Becomes a Crime Scene

Between November 1884 and February 1885, in the plush salons of Berlin, one of the most decisive and destructive events in modern history took place: the Berlin Conference . Presented as a diplomatic meeting intended to organize trade and peace between European powers, it was in reality an act of collective spoliation , a premeditated political crime , committed without African witnesses, without consent, and without moral legitimacy.

BlackArtist Limited does not treat this subject as a simple historical reminder. We treat it as an autopsy : identifying the players, understanding the mechanisms, exposing the lies, and linking Berlin 1885 to current African fractures.

I. The real context: Africa before Berlin

Contrary to the colonial narrative, Africa was neither empty, nor wild, nor disorganized . It was composed of:

• structured kingdoms (Ashanti, Kongo, Sokoto, Buganda, Ethiopia, Zulu, etc.)

• powerful trading empires

• their own legal, diplomatic and military systems

• internal and trans-Saharan economic networks

Africa was not "waiting" for Europe. It functioned without it.

But at the end of the 19th century, industrial Europe needed:

• cheap raw materials

• new markets

• strategic opportunities

• and above all to avoid a European war stemming from colonial competition

It is this internal fear, and not an African concern, that leads to Berlin.

II. The Berlin Conference: who decides, where, and why

The conference was convened at the initiative of Otto von Bismarck , Chancellor of the German Empire. It brought together 14 powers : Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Denmark, Sweden-Norway, the Ottoman Empire and the United States.

📌 Fundamental fact :
👉 No Africans are invited. No African kingdoms are represented.

The participants are not debating whether Africa should be divided up, but how to divide it up without fighting each other .

III. The mechanism of deception: how theft becomes legal

The Conference did not immediately draw all the borders, but it established the legal framework for plunder through the General Act of Berlin (1885). This text rests on several key pillars:

1. The principle of "effective occupation"

A European power can only claim an African territory if it establishes:

• an administration

• a military presence

• an ability to exploit economically

➡️ Result: frantic military race , violence, wars of conquest.

2. Mutual recognition between colonizers

Any new territorial acquisition must be notified to the other signatory powers .
👉 Legality does not come from the people concerned, but from the perspective of other colonizers .

3. Freedom of trade… for Europe

The Congo and Niger river basins are declared free trade zones.
👉 In plain terms: total opening of African resources , without African sovereignty.

4. The humanitarian lie

The text claims to fight against slavery and promote the "moral and material well-being of indigenous populations".
👉 In reality: forced labor, massacres, deportations, amputations, organized famines.

IV. The extreme case: the Congo, the private property of a king

The absolute scandal in Berlin remains the recognition of the Congo Free State as the personal property of Leopold II .

This is not a Belgian colony.
It is not a protectorate.
👉 It's an entire privatized country , run like a death corporation.

Recognized historical record:

• several million dead

• systematic mutilations

• forced extraction of rubber and ivory

Berlin did not create this horror.
👉 Berlin made it possible and legal.

V. Artificial borders: a time bomb

The lines drawn after Berlin:

• They ignore ethnicities, languages, and alliances.

• divide peoples

• force conflictual cohabitations

These borders are not mistakes.
👉 They are tools of domination.

Current conflicts, civil wars, fragile states, coups d'état are not evidence of "African incapacity", but direct consequences of this violent partitioning .

VI. Historical Responsibility and Contemporary Silence

One of Berlin's most enduring crimes is organized amnesia :

• This conference is rarely taught.

• We talk about "colonization" without mentioning premeditation.

• African states are blamed without any mention of their forced birth.

Berlin is not an accident of history.
👉 It is a conscious, deliberate, and signed political project .

VII. BlackArtist Limited: Reclaiming the Confiscated Narrative

BlackArtist Limited is not a neutral brand.
It is a living archive , a space of active memory.

We refuse:

• forgetting as a policy

• neutrality in the face of injustice

• the criminalization of victims

We use art, textiles, and words to remind us of a simple truth:

When injustice becomes law, memory becomes resistance.

Conclusion — Berlin is not finished

Berlin 1885 is not behind us.
He lives:

• within the borders

• in economic imbalances

• in speeches that blame Africa

Understanding Berlin is not about reopening old wounds.
👉 It's about refusing to let us believe that they never existed.

BlackArtist Limited exists for this reason:
to name, to expose, to disturb —
until history ceases to be written solely by the victors.