Belgian colonists framed their own atrocities as mild next to alleged native savagery.

Evidence

It is true that our soldiers were guilty of excesses. They mutilated the bodies of the enemy, whose right hand they hacked off in accordance with native custom. Although such barbaric practices cannot be excused, it must be said that they were nothing when compared with the horrendous cruelty of the natives, who tortured their white and black captives before killing them and using them for their cannibalistic feats. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 893

Categorization

• XREF: The dynamics of atrocity relativization echo Frantz Fanon’s account of colonial ‘Manicheanism’ and the construction of the native as absolute evil.