Decolonization in Africa Notes

Decolonization in Africa

French Algeria, 1954-1962

• Population of Algeria:
  • Poor rural Muslims
  • French-speaking urban Muslims and Catholics
  • French colons (control wealth, land, and resources)
• France weakened after World War II:
  • Determined to hold on to Algeria
• National Liberation Front (NLF) emerges in 1954:
  • Agglomeration of groups
  • Arab nationalism
  • Socialist ideas

Frantz Fanon

• Born in Martinique in 1925
• French repression early influence
• Educated in France
• Wrote of psychological trauma of colonialism
• Moved to Algeria in early 1950s; joins National Liberation Front
• Wretched of the Earth (1961):
  • Revolutionary violence by colonial people is justified
  • Dehumanized; subject to violence; necessary for psychological and political decolonization
• International advocate

Algerian Independence

• 1954: NLF launches revolution against French
  • First phase: urban revolt suppressed by French with mass arrests and torture
  • Second phase: rural revolt led by religious leaders; long, brutal fight
• 1962: France signs Evian Accords; Algeria is independent, admitted to United Nations
• 1963: Ahmed Ben Bella elected first president
  • Increasingly autocratic
  • Purges enemies
  • Amplifies socialist rhetoric
• 1965: removed in coup; one-party

Belgian Congo

• Belgium colonizes Congo river basin in late 19th century; officially a colony in 1908
• Brutal economic exploitation; terror and massacres
• Growing independence movement in 1950s driven by educated Congolese
• Frustrated by Belgium’s slow reforms
• MNC founded in 1958 by Patrice Lumumba
• Negotiates Congolese independence in 1960
• Antagonizes army, seek aid from Soviet Union
• Executed in coup in 1961

Nigeria

• A colony created by British colonial designs
• Bound together various tribes, Muslims, Christians
• Ruled through tribal federation
• 1953-1960: riots against British
• British pull out amidst chaos in 1960
• 1967: Civil War in Biafra in southeast; Ibos attempt independence

Legacies of Imperialism

• Algeria, Congo, Nigeria: violent revolutions lead to dictatorships
• Ethnic, tribal, religious differences; failure of nationalism; results in personal dictatorships
• Imperialism in Africa in 20th century a disaster for Africans
• Exploitation; wealth extracted to powers
• Little or no political reforms; “civilizing mission”
• Deformed European culture: racism and arrogance