Review of My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria by Andrée Blouin (Verso Books, 2025)
Andrée Blouin was one of the closest allies of Patrice Lumumba, the charismatic Congolese politician who led his country to independence before his murder in 1961. American and Belgian critics of the slain leader often held Blouin in contempt. To them she was a “fanatic,” possibly a communist agent, certainly strongly opposed to Western power. Almost forty years since her death in 1986, aged just sixty-four, Andrée has drifted somewhat into obscurity.
The recent reissue of her long out-of-print autobiography, My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria, provides evidence of her enduring importance. It comes at a time of renewed interest in the politics of Central Africa. The 2024 award-winning documentary film by Johan Grimonprez about American jazz music’s uncomfortable relationship with empire, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, quotes her extensively. This renewed attention is overdue. Her life story is a remarkable tale of personal and political struggle by a truly extraordinary individual.
As with many activists, Andrée’s engagement was shaped by firsthand experiences. The late colonial era, when the continent’s subject peoples were starting to mobilize on a grand scale to throw off foreign domination, was the backdrop to her life. So much seemed possible. Yet optimism often ended in disappointment. The continent’s more conservative leaders saw sovereignty mainly as a replacement of European faces with African ones, leaving intact existing borders and social relations fostered by colonialism.
Blouin chose instead to side with the interests of ordinary people and viewed…
Auteur: Ernest Harsch
