Decolonization and the Settler Factor in Africa

Herbert Marshall's African Journey and Early Decolonization Context

• The cover image for the lecture is taken from the book Herbert Marshall's African Journey, which documents Marshall’s tour through the African continent.
• Marshall started his career as a civil rights attorney before being elevated to the legal bench and eventually the Supreme Court of the United States.
• The narrative focuses on his meetings with key independence leaders during the era after World War II ($1945$ onwards), a time characterized by decolonization struggles and the pursuit of self-determination and respect for colonized African nations.

The Dynamics of Settler Colonies and the "Spoiler" Role

• In decolonization, the nature and pace of the transition to independence are often determined by the presence and number of European settlers.
• Settlers serve as a "spoiler" role because they typically oppose being placed on an equal political footing with African parties.
• Where significant numbers of European settlers exist, they almost always seek to achieve their own version of self-government rather than majority rule.
• Two distinct scenarios for settler-held territories:     * Devolution of Power: If the imperial power devolved power early to local authorities (as seen in South Africa in $1910$), the conflict becomes a direct struggle between settlers, who believe they own the territory, and the African majority, who were treated as second or third-class residents on ancestral lands.     * Integrated Metropolitan Status: In cases like Algeria, the territory was considered part of metropolitan France, making the transfer of power significantly more difficult.
• Settler Reticence: By the $1950s$ and $1960s$, European settlers believed they had legal rights to the land due to their financial investments and legal titles awarded by colonial powers; they were unwilling to simply leave.
• Asian Populations: On the Indian Ocean coast, Asian populations often had fewer rights than Europeans but sometimes opposed majority rule. They were frequently viewed as being tied to the imperial power and became scapegoats for the ongoing legacies of colonialism.
• Political Radicalization: In colonies with heavy settler repression, independence parties tended to radicalize. They often moved away from moderate political alignments toward redistribute modes of thinking, such as socialism or communism. This often led to armed struggles where military leaders rose to the top of political organizations, which could negatively impact the transition to peacetime governance.

Tanganyika: A Mandate-Driven Path to Peace

• Tanganyika (the mainland portion of modern-day Tanzania) had only a few thousand European settlers, primarily located in the southern highlands ($Iringa$) and the northern $Usambara$ Mountains.
• Following World War I, Tanganyika became a League of Nations mandate handed to the British. The British government shot down settler plans to create "another Kenya" (large-scale land seizures), citing the spirit of the mandate.
• The British favored settlers in local governance but lacked the same concentration of settler power seen elsewhere.
• The Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) was founded under the leadership of Julius Nyerere ($1922-1999$).
• Nyerere was a charismatic leader who espoused a non-aligned form of socialism and sought friendship with former colonizers while guaranteeing settler interests.
• Result: A mostly peaceful transition to independence in $1961$. Zanzibar achieved independence in $1963$, leading to a union in $1964$ to form Tanzania.

Kenya and the "Emergency": The Mau Mau Rebellion

• Kenya possessed a much larger European population (tens of thousands) who controlled the best agricultural land.
• Post-World War II discontent was driven by rural complaints, political awareness, and the demands of World War II veterans from the King's African Rifles.
• The Kenya African National Union (KANU), formerly the Kenya African Union (KAU), was led by Jomo Kenyatta.
• In $1952$, the Mau Mau rebellion (known to participants as the Land and Freedom Army) began. The movement utilized guerrilla warfare and terror against British officials, settlers, and Africans viewed as collaborationists.
• British Response:     * The British government declared an "Emergency."         * The conflict was extremely expensive for a near-bankrupt post-WWII Britain.         * Archival evidence (exposed by Caroline Elkins in Imperial Reckoning) revealed the scale of British atrocities: large-scale detentions, concentration camps, and horrific conditions used to starve out guerrillas.         * Tens of thousands of regular troops, armored units, and the Royal Air Force were deployed.
• Political Outcome:     * The rebellion was defeated militarily by $1956$, but order was not fully restored until $1960$.     * The British government, realizing they could no longer afford to support the settlers (writing "no more blank checks"), negotiated with the moderate Kenyatta.     * Kenyatta had been jailed in $1954$ but emerged as a hero and the first leader of independent Kenya in $1963$.     * To ensure a friendly post-independence government, the British introduced reforms: a ban on Africans growing Arabica coffee was lifted, and urban wages were raised to undercut communist influence.

Algeria: The Collapse of the French Republic and the FLN

• Algeria had a colonist population of approximately $1,000,000$ people (roughly $10\%$ of the total population of $10,500,000$ to $11,000,000$).
• The National Liberation Front (FLN) issued Proclamation Number $1$ in $1954$, launching a campaign against French occupation.
• Legal Context: Northern Algeria was divided into departments of France, considered integral to the French nation. The local Islamic population was largely barred from citizenship and held in a legal "colonial limbo."
• Violence and Repression:     * FLN organized attacks against infrastructure, police posts, and prisons starting in late $1954$.     * The conflict spiraled into a brutal war involving hundreds of thousands of French troops, torture, extrajudicial executions, and rural detention camps.     * The internal strain caused the French Fourth Republic to collapse in $1958$.
• The Return of De Gaulle:     * Charles de Gaulle established the Fifth French Republic in $1958$. By $1961$, he realized the war was unwinnable and sought to negotiate with the FLN.     * Military personnel and settlers attempted a coup against De Gaulle in April $1961$. De Gaulle famously went on television in his Second World War uniform to order the military to remain in their barracks and ignore the conspirators.
• The Aftermath:     * Algeria gained independence in $1962$ after a vote.     * Approximately $90\%$ of French settlers (known as "Pieds-noirs" or "black feet") fled to France, often destroying property they could not carry.

The Portuguese Empire: Lusotropicalism and the Estado Novo

• Portugal was a relatively poor, agricultural country under the quasi-fascist dictatorship of Antonio Salazar (the "Estado Novo" or "New State").
• Portuguese Colonial Philosophy:     * Lusotropicalism: Proposed by Gilberto Freire, this theory argued that Portugal was a multi-continental civilization with a special relationship with tropical peoples.     * The colonies (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Macau, Goa, East Timor, etc.) were incorporated as "overseas provinces" in $1951$.
• Settler Policy and Labor:     * Portugal encouraged poor citizens and convicts (known as "degradeados") to settle in Africa.     * Settlers were promised the free labor of indigenous Africans for $6$ months out of every year (a system of corvee labor).     * Mozambique Settlers: $350,000$ out of $8,000,000$ total people.     * Angola Settlers: $300,000$ out of $5,000,000$ total people.     * Guinea-Bissau: Population of approximately $600,000$, with fewer settlers.

The Thirty Years War in the South: Armed Liberation in Lusophone Africa

• Independence Movements:     * Guinea-Bissau: The PAIGC began armed resistance in $1961$ following a $1959$ massacre of $50$ striking dockworkers.     * Angola: The MPLA began its struggle in $1962$ after a $1961$ rising against forced labor led to hundreds of deaths across dozens of villages.     * Mozambique: Frelimo (Liberation Front of Mozambique) entered the battlefield formally by $1964$ following a $1960$ massacre of several hundred peasant protesters.
• Societal Mobilization:     * Frelimo and other organizations mobilized entire societies, including women's detachments, viewing the struggle as an existential national business.     * Cold War Dynamics: The Soviet Union and China provided weapons and logistics to these movements, while the United States and South Africa provided clandestine help to Portugal.
• The "Wind of Change": British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan gave the "Wind of Change" speech in early $1960$ (in Accra and Cape Town), warning that the British would no longer support white settler regimes against the inevitable tide of majority rule.

Questions & Discussion

• Question (Student): What are the main goals of the FLN as described in the proclamation?
• Answer (Professor): A central goal was an end to the settler problem. Settlers acted as a spoiler role by opposing equal rights for Africans.
• Question (Student): At what point do you have this united national identity?
• Answer (Professor): National identity varies by region. In Kenya, the British encouraged tribal labels, whereas TANU in Tanganyika was more nationalistic. The identity is often forged through the shared anti-colonial struggle and the KAU/KANU movements.
• Question (Student regarding revolutionary photo): What do you get from this picture about the revolutionary movement in Guinea-Bissau?
• Answer (Student): There are a lot of females and younger females.
• Answer (Professor): It indicates that this is an existential national conflict involving the entire population. It also communicates that the movement is committed, engaged, and devoted to ideas of equality, even if reality didn't always match the image.
• Pre-Class/Post-Class Chatter:     * Students discussed the mandatory attendance policies.     * One student shared a story about taking an Uber from the Denver International Airport ($DIA$) at $2:00$ AM, where the driver—a Desert Storm veteran—asked for an explanation of the history of Iran.     * Discussion of campus fraternities: ADPI (the "Jewish frat"), Christian frats, Black frats, and Pre-Law frats (Delta Theta Phi/Phi Alpha Delta).     * A student mentioned the difficulty of getting an internship as a freshman and the challenges of taking $21$ credits.     * Brief mention of university rankings: Oregon is ranked the lowest in the Big Ten in terms of middle classroom quality (ranked roughly $15th$).