Augustin Dokolo Sanu
A desire for national renewal
During his entire life, the late Augustin Dokolo Sanu fought for the resurgence of a new middle class that was to become the driving force of the Congolese economy.
The development of this new social category was his leitmotiv. Augustin Dokolo Sanu’s ideas, acquaintances and actions prove that he didn’t identify with any region or ethnic group.
A modern vision of Africa
His desire for national emancipation was not based on chauvinism but on profound admiration for certain people and certain countries.
Amongst his role models were artists such as Josephine Baker, poets like Leopold Sédar Senghor, Langston Hugues, Aimé Cesaire and intellectuals such as: Janheinz Jahn, André Malraux, Seydou Badian Kouyaté.
In 1965, his ideas on the Congo led him to contemplate different topics which strike us today by their modernity: the problem of corruption, the role of intellectuals in the country, the action of foreigners in this recently decolonised country.
His understanding of the post-colonial mechanisms and his opinion on the foreign companies established in the Congo show great insight.
An experience acquired throughout his travels
- In the United States where he spent three months and his vision of which he described in his book Telema Congo;
- In Europe which he knew very well and where his children attended their studies;
- And in his native Africa, which he had visited extensively and to which he vowed a double passion: a passion for its culture and a passion for the challenges that it had to face and to which Augustin Dokolo Sanu devoted his life.
“Work and national awareness will always be the base of development.”
“I have understood better the problems of other nations, of other Africans, of other blacks. I have also realised better the strength of my attachment to my country, to my continent, to my race.”
“Corruption: this practice is unjustifiable and fatal to the nation, less in it’s practical consequences than by the state of mind it contributes to create in all layers of the population. It is also the state of mind exactly opposite to the one necessary to help us occupy an honourable position on an international level that will contribute to accelerate the interior upturn.”
“He is the first Congolese businessman that has been successful without public donations; what he did ask from the government were incentive measures and actions towards a healthier economic environment but not financial resources.”
Justin Marie Bomboko
A Congolese and African vision
