Congo rubber extraction enriched Leopold while killing millions of Congolese

Evidence

Rubber production in the Congo grew from 135 million tons worth half a million Belgian francs in 1890 to 5,500 tons worth nearly 50 million francs in 1904 (Nelson 1994; 84). But the human cost was almost inestimable. Between 1885 and 1920 it is projected that 10 million people died, ,murdered randomly and invariably on a whim, actively starved by state agents in the name of state policy and rubber collection, or left to rot from disease and decay, lack of food and declining birth rates. — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 69

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Pairs naturally with ‘On Sacrifice’ on state-imposed death; but more directly complements ‘Grafting & Growth’ insofar as rubber tapping here drives deforestation — the extractive underside of tree commodity economies.
• DEEPTHINKING: The numbers (135 tons in 1890 to 5,500 tons in 1904, 10 million dead) captured simultaneously as economic growth and extermination is a dense, paradigm-shifting compression.