Talk:Monument to the Belgian Pioneers in Congo

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Feedback from New Page Review process

I left the following feedback for the creator/future reviewers while reviewing this article: Thanks for creating the article!.

✠ SunDawn ✠ (contact) 18:39, 29 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lead sentence

@Jason Lagos: I have big concerns over the article saying In particular, it honours the Belgian 'pioneers' (soldiers) who brought 'civilisation' to the Congo, especially through the Congo–Arab War (1892–1894) that sought to conquer present-day East Congo and end the Arab slave trade there. in wiki voice. If it is referring to the inscription, it should say that. At the moment it presents a colonial narrative in wiki voice. Either this should be attributed to the inscription with an {{efn}} note on the colonial narrative, or it should say what scholars determine were the primary motives for the war, ie. conquest and colonisation. Or sought to … be removed. Kowal2701 (talk) 22:23, 11 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Kowal2701 and thank you for your comment. I have slightly reworded the second part of the sentence to 'and illustrates the Belgian raids against the Arab slave traders there', which still clearly indicates what the monument depicts in a neutral way, whilst removing potential confusion regarding the colonial narrative. Please let me know what you think. Adding a note regarding the primary motives for the war might be a bit overkill here, but I am open to suggestions. Jason Lagos (talk) 16:53, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Jason Lagos it’s an improvement, but it still says it honours the Belgian 'pioneers' (soldiers) who brought 'civilisation' to the Congo in wikivoice. Maybe said to honour the Belgian 'pioneers' (soldiers) who 'brought civilisation' to the Congo. Kowal2701 (talk) 16:59, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You are right -- it sounds better, too. Done ;-) Jason Lagos (talk) 17:06, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks :) Kowal2701 (talk) 17:10, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]