Talk:Joseph Kasongo/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: HaEr48 (talk · contribs) 15:02, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

I'll do the review soon. HaEr48 (talk) 15:02, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Initial review

• One of the GA criteria is broadness, an article is expected to address "the main aspects of the topic". I see many gaps in this article's coverage, for example:

@HaEr48: Welcome to Africa topics in historiography, the land of gaps and undercoverage.

• There was a gap between 1967 and his death in 1990 - these are supposedly the peak age for a politician. Can you add what he was doing between these years?

The sources has nothing. Kasongo was active in the "First Republic" era of Congolese statehood. In 1965 Joseph-Desire Mobutu seized power and transformed the country into a dictatorship. Many of the first generation politicians were either politically neutralised or otherwise rendered irrelevant. Études africaines du CRISP mentions that as of 1970 Kasongo possessed three or so farms–it's quite possible he simply withdrew to the private sector in the intervening decades. Mobutu began democratising the country in the early 1990s, so it makes sense that Kasongo was only just starting to revitalise the MNC then when he died.

• The article only has his chronological biography. How about his political views? See other GA/FA politicians: Steve Biko, Margaret Thatcher, and others where the subjects’ ideologies and views are explained

Most sources only give biographical details. Aside from the anti-clericalism, I've found nothing explicit on his beliefs.

• What are his legacies? Did he leave lasting impact on his country? Any notable awards or monuments in his honor? Did he start any lasting political movement? DId he write books or other works?

Unknown. Thomas Kanza, Minister-Delegate to the United Nations in the Lumumba Government, does attribute a "historic error" to Kasongo. During the parliamentary session for the election of the head of state, national deputy and Minister of Youth and Sports Maurice Mpolo motioned for an adjournment on the grounds that the the political atmosphere was dangerously tense in the capital for a decision to be made so quickly. In actuality, Mpolo knew that Joseph Kasa-Vubu, with the support of the MNC, was likely to win the election and that as president he would inevitably come into conflict with Lumumba (Mpolo turned out to be correct on that part). By delaying the election, the MNC could reexamine its options and support a less adversarial candidate. Kasongo was presiding over the session and had the power to adjourn it. Not being as "astute" as Mpolo, he asked if his motion had been made on behalf of the Lumumba Government. Lumumba indicated that it wasn't, and Kasongo decided to allow he vote to proceed. Kasa-Vubu was duly elected. As such, Kanza attributes Kasa-Vubu's presidency to Kasongo's failure to adjourn. I chose not to include this information because it relies heavily on Kanza's perspective and his opinion that having Kasa-Vubu as president was a mistake.

• How about his personal life? Family? Marital status? Children? Religious belief?

Nothing is known about his family other than that he had one. Kashamura mentions his Muslim background, but does not indicate if Kasongo was still a practicing member of Islam in his adulthood.

• It would help to review other politician GAs to see what such a GA is expected to cover.

I'm familiar with the process (Talk:Jason Sendwe/GA1, Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Jean Bolikango/archive1, Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Marcel Lihau/archive1). I've done my best to address "the main aspects of the topic" with the available sources.

Some more specific feedbacks

• “Due to his family's Muslim background, Kasongo was a firm supporter of anti-clericalism.”: I think this needs some explaining. According to the wikilink, anti-clericalism is “ opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters”. How does being in a religious family make one oppose religious authority? Maybe it would help to say what “anti-clericalism” is in this context.

Specified that his opposition was to the Catholic Church.

• Where did he have his education?

Unknown.

• He was born in Tanganyika, but his early life seems to be spent in the Belgian Congo. Please explain when/why he moved to the Belgian Congo?

Unknown, but I presume it had to do with his familial connections to the Maniema region.

• Explain what Association des Batetela and Cercle Belgo-Congolais were

I've added a note on the nature of the former, but I've not been able to find any useful explanation of what the latter was.

• “elected president of the Orientale Province's chapter of the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) party”: maybe before dropping this, give a little background, e.g. when/why he joined the party or what kind of party it is.

Noted that it was a nationalist party. Sources do not say when or why Kasongo joined the MNC.

• This passage assumes some familiarity with the political situation in Congo. It would help to add one or two background sentences. What are the parties for? * Were there elections? Was Belgian Congo a colony ruled by Belgium, or was it partially self-ruled at this point? Is “communal councilor” some kind of regional parliament?

Added some context on the political situation. A communal council refers to a municipal board of government for a commune (administrative division)

• Please clarify about communal councilor in the article. HaEr48 (talk) 02:31, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

Footnote added.

• “Lumumba (by then prime minister)'s “: the parentheses positioning is a bit awkward. Maybe “included the controversial Congolese Independence Speech by then-prime minister Lumumba?

Revised as which included Prime Minister Lumumba's controversial Congolese Independence Speech.

• “In October Kasongo was made a member of a commission assembled by Lumumba”: if Lumumba was removed from power, why is he still in charge here?

Though he had no control over the administration by October, Lumumba still claimed to be the rightful Prime Minister of the Congo. Kashamura does not offer many details on the nature of this commission, though I presume that if it ever truly operated it did so more as a personal advisory council than anything otherwise.

• Please include this clarification in the article. Would it be right to call it a rump government?

HaEr48 (talk) 02:31, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

Footnote added. Rump government isn't exactly applicable during this time period, though one later coalesced in the east. At this point is was mostly just Lumumba making statements to the press from his house. -Indy beetle (talk) 23:19, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

I've done my best to address these comments. As a note, I emailed the Congolese National Assembly through their website several months ago to inquire about the date of Kasongo's death (this was before I found Longo-Mbenza et al.). They never responded. -Indy beetle (talk) 04:03, 16 June 2018 (UTC)

-- HaEr48 (talk) 00:09, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

@Indy beetle: Hi , sorry I'm traveling with very limited internet, please give me about 2 weeks before I get back to the review, I hope that's okay. HaEr48 (talk) 04:22, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

@Indy beetle: Thanks for your response. Please see above, I've struck comments that I consider sufficiently addressed, and left replies on some of the others. However with a lot of gaps as I noted above, I'm not sure if I can bring myself to call this a Good Article. I understand what you're saying about the difficulty in finding sources on this area, and I fully sympathize. On the other hand, the reviewing guidelines says "Not every article can be a Good article. If the references to improve an article to Good article standards simply do not exist, then you should not overlook that part of the criteria." If those gaps can't be covered maybe this shouldn't be a GA, but I'll probably ask for second opinion rather than failing it. HaEr48 (talk) 01:48, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

@Indy beetle and HaEr48: Hello to you both. I am responding to the call for a second opinion. I have read over the review and the article. The locus of the dispute, and all that I have evaluated, seems to be over GA criteria 3a "broad in scope" which has the note, "The "broad in its coverage" criterion is significantly weaker than the "comprehensiveness" required of featured articles. It allows shorter articles, articles that do not cover every major fact or detail, and overviews of large topics." WP:RGA offers the guidance that "The article should broadly cover the topic without unnecessary digressions. The article may, and sometimes should, go into detail, but it is not required to be comprehensive." There seems to be no disagreement that the article is not comprehensive, the question is what is present "broad."

I understand the challenges of being constrained by sources, but in the end, while clearly a borderline case, I agree with HaEr48 that this article as written does not meet GA 3a. I think that the questions around family and political beliefs would be necessary for comprehensive but not broad. However, I would think that a reasonable section that either fills in the large gap in his adult life or which talks about his legacy would be necessary to be broad. As written the article basically is talking about a 17 year span of a 71 year life. As such I would agree that it should not be listed as presently constituted. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 16:03, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

Failing the GA now as no attempt was made to expand the scope after the second opinion more than a week ago. Feel free to renominate after the feedback above has been addressed. HaEr48 (talk) 00:40, 7 July 2018 (UTC)