Talk:Antoine-Roger Bolamba/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Kaiser matias (talk · contribs) 00:55, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

I'll start a full review in the next few days. Kaiser matias (talk) 00:55, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Comments:

• "Antoine-Roger Bolamba or Bolamba Lokolé J'ongungu". While it's noted later in the article, I think a note here explaining it would be good as well.
  • Footnote added.

• It may be worth it to include translations of the French titles, as not everyone will understand them.
  • Done.

• "He also served as Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo..." I'd switch the way you note the state here: as it was called the Republic of the Congo when he was in government, use that, and then note in brackets it is now the DRG: "He also served as Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs of the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo)..."
  • Done.

• "He also began writing poetry, and in 1956 he released a collection entitled Esanzo: Chants pour mon pays. It articulated his Mongo and Congolese identity." I'd either combine this into one sentence, or use a semi-colon, as the second sentence is a fragment.
  • Done.

• Do like the addition of the critical review of Bolamba's work, and that it has a wide range of commentators.

• "On 5 September President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed Bolamba, Lumumba, and several other members of the government." Is there any reason for the dismissal?
  • Of all of those dismissals, Bolamba's is the most curious. For more information on the dismissals in general, see Lumumba Government#Dissolution (and read the relevant footnotes). Kasa-Vubu dismissed a total of seven individuals from the government on 5 September 1960: Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, Deputy Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga, Minister of Justice Rémy Mwamba, Minister of Interior Christophe Gbenye, Minister of Information Anicet Kashamura, Secretary of State to the Presidency Jacques Lumbala, and Bolamba. Naturally, the most important of these dismissal's was Lumumba's. Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu had always had a tenuous relationship, being political rivals and having different ideological backgrounds (Lumumba being a progressive nationalist who was suspicious of the West's intentions in the Congo, and Kasa-Vubu being a conservative nationalist who was to a degree more open to the West). Their disagreements came to a head at this point over Lumumba's handling of the Congo Crisis, and Kasa-Vubu dismissed him. Gizenga, Mwamba, Gbenye, and Kashamura were more ideologically similar to Lumumba and had collaborated with him and/or faithfully executed his orders while he was Prime Minister. Lumbala was from a nominally conservative party but had a personal loyalty to Lumumba outside of his official political alignment. Kasa-Vubu thus probably deemed them too close to the Prime Minister and thought it best to clean house of them. Thus we are left with Bolamba. Though a nominal member of Lumumba's party, he had his own clearly stated political beliefs (European-style liberalism). He was also relatively respected throughout the country, and in my research on the Congo Crisis I've found no complaints about Bolamba in the foreign press (the others were frequently called communists). The fact that he was brought back into the government fold from 1963-1964 in the later stages of pro-west Cyrille Adoula's premiership also makes this strange. We know very little about Bolamba's service in the Lumumba Government, essentially two things: he was placed in charge of the new government press agency, and he made numerous anti-Belgian radio broadcasts. I assume Kasa-Vubu either didn't like what the press agency was saying (Kashamura caught a lot of flak in the Senate for the Ministry of Information's press releases) or was made uncomfortable by the anti-Belgian messages. But this is all speculation and WP:OR.

Interesting, thanks for the detailed reply. A shame it can't really be used here, but glad to at least have some clarity.

• Is there anything else notable about what he did in his later life, especially after 1972? Any idea what he did for the next 30 years?
  • Eric Sellin visited him in 1984 in the Congo and spoke with him. Sellin reported that he had entirely retired from writing. Not sure what he did for a living, but it seems Bolamba was content to live out his days in peace out of the public eye from then until his death. -Indy beetle (talk) 01:53, 5 June 2019 (UTC)

Not a lot to go over, and a real interesting article. Kaiser matias (talk) 15:04, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

@Kaiser matias: I've responded to your comments. -Indy beetle (talk) 04:15, 3 June 2019 (UTC)

Awesome looks good. Kaiser matias (talk) 01:53, 5 June 2019 (UTC)