BORIS STARLING

50 YEARS AGO …

FOUR A.M. IN THE STEAM ROOM OF an African night. The heat hanging low and sultry, plucking sweat through a man’s pores and making it bloom on his skin. Four a.m. and there are 80,000 people here, terraced in the darkness, intent on the square of light dead centre in the stadium. Even by the surreal standards of boxing’s travelling circus, this is the last outpost. A country whose people are dirt poor but whose president encourages everyone to steal. And why not? No-one steals as much as he does: Mobutu Sese Seko with his leopardskin toque and pink marble palace, Mobutu Sese Seko who charters Concorde for shopping trips to Paris and is pictured descending god-like through clouds every evening at the start of the news. A century ago…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2024

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