Genocide & Imperialism
Review by Matt Meyer

Exterminate All The Brutes: One Man’s Odyssey into the Heart of Darkness and the Origins of European Genocide. By Sven Lindqvist. New Press, 1996, 179 pages; $20.00.

"You already know enough. So do I. It is not knowledge we lack. What is missing is the courage to understand what we know and to draw conclusions."

So begins the incredible journey of Swedish author Sven Lindqvist, as he attempts—in the middle of the Sahara Desert, computer in hand—to tell a story that newly interprets the key phrase of another, classic, tale.

When Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness in 1898, Linqvist ponders, what was the meaning behind his lead character Mr. Kurtz’s stark suggestion: "exterminate all the brutes"? Lindqvist’s own Exterminate All The Brutes: One Man’s Odyssey into the Heart of Darkness and the Origins of European Genocide dares to draw conclusions concerning Conrad, Kurtz, and the connections between the conquest of Africa and the Nazi Holocaust.

Before entering Lindqvist’s engaging prose, one is warned that his book is not an attempt at historical research. A literary editor of London’s Guardian described the novel as unfolding "like the telling of a detective story," and this reviewer couldn’t agree more. Each of the 169 sections of the short book provide additional clues to Lindqvist’s interrelated quests. He explores his own relationship as a writer and traveler throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America to the European explorers of decades past. He reviews Conrad’s and Kurtz’s relationship to Stanley, Livingstone and the British Empire at the turn of the century. Finally, and most importantly, he draws the parallels between Hitler’s early years—inevitably bombarded by the rationalizations of genocide that swept through Europe at the time of the "scramble" for colonies—and the ultimate development of the Final Solution in Germany.

Clearly a great deal of investigation went into the writing of Exterminate All The Brutes. Meticulously footnoted, it convinces a reader that Lindqvist has successfully uncovered the facts that, piece by piece, prove the validity of his connections. He is quick to note that the fundamental thesis presented is not an original one; Hannah Arendt suggested in 1951 that imperialism necessitated a totalitarianism based on racism. He also implies that he is unwilling to "take sides" in current debates as to whether the events surrounding the horrors of World War II were uniquely German or European in character, or were, rather, part of an historical continuum. "Two events need not be identical," Lindqvist writes of the genocides of African and Jewish peoples, "for one of them to facilitate the other." I hasten to add that the facts that fly at the reader on every page of the book are woven so masterfully into fascinating anecdotes that they contribute to, rather than distract from, the overall flow of this great tale.

The book is a challenging political treatise, critiquing the whole of modern imperialism. It is deep anthropology, delving into the premise of extermination as a natural extension of social Darwinism in revealing and new ways. It is near-perfect historical realism, reminding me of the epic work of Latin American historian Eduardo Galeano and his three-volume, paragraph-by-paragraph exploration of 500 years of "encounters." It is fascinating literary criticism. And it is spellbinding literature in itself, with a narrative style that makes the harsh realities presented relatively easy to read.

I recommend it highly for two reasons. First, as activists, we need to understand what we already know: Genocide, racism and our very rationales for modern civilization are deeply interwoven. Secondly, I assure you, you won’t be able to put this book down.

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