Cher Pourquoi Pas?

In his elaborative research on the colonial history of Congo Augustijnen recalls in his project Cher Pourqoui Pas? for A Prior Magazine #14 the thin lines between truth and fiction, the manipulation of words and data, power structures and the ways in which media have always been entangeled in these. By examining the position of Moïse Tshombe (1919-1969) who was a leading figure in post-colonial Congo, specifically in his responsibility in the secession-politics of the district of Katanga as well as his involvement in the murder of Lumumba who was the first prime minister of independent Congo, Augustijnen questions—albeit not without humour—ways in which reality is perceived and history is written and made. Augustijnen’ s project is based on magazine articles and covers (of Pourquoi Pas? and Special) both dating from the 1960s. A central figure in these magazines is the Belgian journalist and editor Pierre Davister. Cast somewhere between reality and fiction, this docudrama reads like a mystery but should not be mistaken: it happened! (Dieter Roelstraete & Els Roelandt)