Week 3
Decolonization -2( revised).pptx
Movements for independece
Intensified post WW2 and Indian Independence (1947) involving negotiations, armed rebellions, protests, etc.
Drafting new constitutions and negotiations
Gold Coast colony becomes Ghana (1957) after revising constitution (1954)
Nigeria/Sierra Leone next (1960/61) then Egypt, Libya Sudan, Somalia
French West+Equatorial next
Negotiation/voting abt relationship were methods to fight for freedom in French colonies: question of maintaining or breaking ties
Most French colonies vote to maintain→only Guineu voted to became independent
Rebellions and Wars
The Algeria war
France refused to grant independence bc of millions of settlers
November 1954→War launched by Front de Liberation (FLA)
1958→France w half million troops against FLA
1962→FLN forced French to negotiate independence
The Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya East Africa
White settlers dominated colonial govt in Nairobi
Gikuyu ethnic group expelled from fertile land for settlers
(early 1940s) Mau Mau→Kenyan guerilla warfare for African majority rule
(late 1940s) Land and Freedom Army intensified tensions by attacking colonial govt.
(1952) Colonial governor declares state of emergency arrests African political leaders in Nairobi
Invites more army units to destroy resistance groups
Casualties: 10k Mau Mau, 1700 African loyalists, 100 Europeans
(1960) Mau Mau technically defeated but British accepted African majority rule for Kenya
(1963) Kenya becomes independent after constitutional negotiations
Others
Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique fought Portuguese
Religious Oppositions
Independent Christian churches spread in colonial Africa opposing colonization
(1921) Simon Kimbangu founded church in Belgian Congo preaching: God would liberate Congolese from colonial opression
(1920-30) Simon arrested but followers refused to pay taxes, grow export crops
Action by workers
Worker strikes for better pay/working conditions
(1930s) Gold Coast Cocoa Farmers Federation held demonstrations and withheld cocoa harvest to force price raises
(1920s) Mine/railway workers in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast protested colonizers
Africans formed self-help welfare associations to protect against local injustices
Pan-Africanism and Negritude
Educated African elites fought colonial social injustices+political exclusion
(1920s) Pan-African movement creates self-confidence in Africans in north America+Caribbean
(1919-20s) W.E.B. Du Bois organized pan-Africanist congresses in London, Paris, Brussels, Lisbon, NY
Universal Negro World Association preached Africa for Africans: expulsion of Europeans from Africa
(1940s-50s) Marcus Garvey inspired Africans to rise in the nationalist struggles
Negritude→rejection of French assimilation led by French writers
develop sense of self-respect in Caribbean and West Africa
Leopold Senghor (Senegal poet) celebrates African cultures
Egyptian Nationalism
(1918-19) Increased as Egyptians suffered British demands for food, animals, and labor during the WW1
united all classes in demanding independent Egypt
Nationalist movement led by political party Wafd under leadership of Sa’ad Zaghlul and then the Muslim Brotherhood after 1930s
awakened young generation to somewhat Islamic nationalism
Segregation, nationalism, and protests in South Africa
(1880/90s, 1900s) Rise of nationalism starts with churches, and African newspapers
(1910-40) Apartheid: system of govt supported racial segregation mainly to ensure control of agricultural land for white settlers
(1913) Native Land Act limited black ppl to only 7% of the land→increased to 13% in 1936
Skilled/high paying jobs reserved for white workers
(1912) First modern nationalist party (ANC) established to oppose Apartheid+economic/political domination of Africa
Segregation led to Black resistance by ANC
(1994): South Africa gains freedom
Colonial powers interests
Overview
Major Powers post war: France, Britain, Belgium, Portugal
faced (non)violent nationalist resistance but didn’t agree w/o international pressure to grant independence
France+Britain suppressed political challenges in the first postwar decade
French: suppressed armed uprisings in Madagascar, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Cameroon
Britain: suppressed Mau Mau and harmed civilians in rebel areas
Both: transferred political power in a way that protected their interests
White settlers in Portuguese+Belgian colonies resulted in prolonged wars for liberation
Portugal wars to resist decolonization in Angola, Mozambique, British Rhodesia, South Africa, Namibia
Belgium wars against newly independent Congo
Both: colonies unprepared for self-rule
Britain
Better to give power to trusted Africans than attempt to maintain political power
Prepared to give power to trusted Anglophile elites
(1940s) Colonial offices accepted that they were preparing British subjects for eventual self-rule
France
Prioritized maintaining their empire by fighting against nationalist movements
(1950) Conceded local self-government but political independence was not considered an option
(1958) Attempted to establish Fifth Republic but failed
Fought protracted wars against nationalist movements
Forced to yield political independence to most African countries
Negotiated political, economic, and military agreements to guaranteed a strong French presence in newly independent states
Belgium
Wanted to maintain control of Congo before/after independence
(1960s) Transferred rich holdings of colonial state-run companies to private Belgian companies
Administrators remained to protect Belgian interests→1000 Belgian officers control Congolese army
Portugal
Wanted control to ensure access to cheap raw materials and markets for manufactured goods
Fought long costly wars against liberation movements in Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea
Italy
forced to relinquish empire due to WW2 defeat
UN determined fate of Italian colonies
Ex: (1941 )Italian East African empire conquered by Britain
East African Empire: Eritrean, Italian, Somaliland, and Ethiopia (occupied between 1936 and 1941)
Cold War Actors
Decolonization conflicts allowed intervention by Cold War powers in places with weak colonial control
USA Interest
Maintain good relations with European allies, contain radicalism
support for European settlers agendas contentious due to internal and external actors
handling of black Americans influenced relations with Africans
Political stability and govt favoring American economic model
(1950-end of cold war) USA provided aid/military assistance to pro-American allies to fight domestic insurgencies and International communism
USA pursued contradictory African policies reflecting changes in forces within government
Washington advocated freedom, democracy, self-determination but also supports dictators due to fear of communism
U.S. followed Belgium’s determination of Congo policy+supported Britain’s role in Rhodesia
America reinforces colonialism and white settlers leading to higher white settlers population in South Africa
USSR Interest
Third world decolonization was an opportunity to secure itself after World War
possibility for new alliances in struggle against imperialism
Motivated by strategic/ideological factors→involvement in response to former colonialist, US, CHina
Offered different development model to African states: Free—enterprise capitalist model vs centralized economic planning
American alliance w former colonialist created doubts among Africans who associated U.S. w/ povert/oppression→not USSR though
China Interests
Competed for African loyalty amidst struggles with USSR over ideology and policy
(1955) China declares opposition of all forms of colonialism and imperialism→promoted economic and cultural cooperation
(1960-70) China sends hella aid to African countries
10s of thousands of barefoot doctors, agricultural technicians, and solidarity work brigades
grants+low-interests loans
Maoist ideas were prominent in Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), Mozambique’s Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRILIMO), etc
Cuba
(1966) Hosted Tricontinental Conference and supported African liberation movements
link to Africa: 1/3 of Cubans have African heritage
Tens of thousands of health, education, and construction workers and thousands of Cuban soldiers served in Africa, and Cuba paid all expenses