The Mission Song
John Le Carre
Hodder and Stoughton. First published 2006.
In this book Le Carre focuses on eastern Congo, apparently a beautiful landscape, fatally flawed by the occurrence of large deposits of important and expensive minerals. Corporations of Western countries, encouraged and actively assisted by their governments, conspire with African warlords, politicians and mercenaries to steal the minerals from opposing warlords, governments and politicians. Thus, Rwanda and Uganda, that is, the gangsters or political leaders of these countries, in cahoots with international governments and corporations, think nothing of killing millions of people and destroying large swatches of primeval forests across borders to control access to the deposits. In turn, the bosses in Kinshasa conspire with other corporations and governments to do the same to the opposing side. The local people, poor and primitive, are caught in these battles. They end up either dead, or tortured and enslaved and made to work in the mines, or as refugees in their own country subsisting on the little international aid that reaches them.
Bruno Salvador is the unlikely hero in this book. Born to an Congolese mother, and a drunken Irish father, he grows up in Eastern Congo. He has a talent for languages and learns all the many tongues and dialects spoken in his native country. When, on the death of his parents, he eventually moves to London as a British citizen, he find work as a free-lance translator of the African languages into English and French, and vice versa. He works sometimes for individuals, sometimes for companies, and often for the British government. He is now called away urgently and clandestinely on a mission for the secret service arm of the government. He is flown to an unknown island in the North Sea, where he is asked to interpret at a meeting between African politicians, a mercenary gang, and the representatives of a business syndicate. They are planning an armed coup to take over eastern Congo and its mineral wealth. Bruno learns to his despair that his beloved country will once more be thrown into chaos, confusion, death and destruction. When the meeting ends he steals some of the tapes of the conversations. On his return to London he innocently tries to expose the conspiracy to his patrons in the government. He is unsuccessful, of course, for his patrons are leading the conspiracy. He ends up in prison, writing this memoir.
An excellent book by Le Carre, though more superficial than his best ones. His rage against the injustice done to the 'wretched of the earth' is evident throughout. There is not a single white character who is good, though many of the rich and powerful Africans in the book are also nasty. A typical Le Carre of the last couple of decades - cynical and angry, with a hero who ends up defeated, powerless and sad.
In this book Le Carre focuses on eastern Congo, apparently a beautiful landscape, fatally flawed by the occurrence of large deposits of important and expensive minerals. Corporations of Western countries, encouraged and actively assisted by their governments, conspire with African warlords, politicians and mercenaries to steal the minerals from opposing warlords, governments and politicians. Thus, Rwanda and Uganda, that is, the gangsters or political leaders of these countries, in cahoots with international governments and corporations, think nothing of killing millions of people and destroying large swatches of primeval forests across borders to control access to the deposits. In turn, the bosses in Kinshasa conspire with other corporations and governments to do the same to the opposing side. The local people, poor and primitive, are caught in these battles. They end up either dead, or tortured and enslaved and made to work in the mines, or as refugees in their own country subsisting on the little international aid that reaches them.
Bruno Salvador is the unlikely hero in this book. Born to an Congolese mother, and a drunken Irish father, he grows up in Eastern Congo. He has a talent for languages and learns all the many tongues and dialects spoken in his native country. When, on the death of his parents, he eventually moves to London as a British citizen, he find work as a free-lance translator of the African languages into English and French, and vice versa. He works sometimes for individuals, sometimes for companies, and often for the British government. He is now called away urgently and clandestinely on a mission for the secret service arm of the government. He is flown to an unknown island in the North Sea, where he is asked to interpret at a meeting between African politicians, a mercenary gang, and the representatives of a business syndicate. They are planning an armed coup to take over eastern Congo and its mineral wealth. Bruno learns to his despair that his beloved country will once more be thrown into chaos, confusion, death and destruction. When the meeting ends he steals some of the tapes of the conversations. On his return to London he innocently tries to expose the conspiracy to his patrons in the government. He is unsuccessful, of course, for his patrons are leading the conspiracy. He ends up in prison, writing this memoir.
An excellent book by Le Carre, though more superficial than his best ones. His rage against the injustice done to the 'wretched of the earth' is evident throughout. There is not a single white character who is good, though many of the rich and powerful Africans in the book are also nasty. A typical Le Carre of the last couple of decades - cynical and angry, with a hero who ends up defeated, powerless and sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment