Linked to global trends: Linked to global trends

Linked to global trends:

• Linked to global trends:

• Calls for self-determination
• Founding of UN
• American opposition to colonialism
• International labor movement
• Successful independence movements in Asia

Internal factors:

• Internal factors:

• Injustices of colonial rule
• White racism
• African nationalism
• New leaders with Western-style educations
• Yearning for freedom

• Each country’s conditions determined speed and ease of independence

• Problems faced:

• Maintaining national unity, stability, prosperity
• Pandemics and natural disasters
• Continual interference by foreign powers

• Results of independence mixed

• Millions died from famine, civil wars, and political terror
• Millions became refugees

• Reasons for guarded hope:

• Freeing of the last “colony,” South Africa
• Generosity towards former colonizers and occupiers
• Spirit of reconciliation in areas of ethnic conflict
• Winding down of civil wars
• Better leadership’ movements towards democracy
• Return to prosperity in some nations

1950-1965, rapid decolonization done peacefully

• 1950-1965, rapid decolonization done peacefully

• 35 states from former European colonies emerged

• Since then, independence obtained through armed action

• Portuguese colonies in 1975
• Rhodesia in 1980
• Eritrea in 1993
• South Africa in 1994

Signing of the Atlantic Charter in 1941

• Signing of the Atlantic Charter in 1941

• Britain/US pledged to principle of self-determination

• UN: self-determination; end to colonialism

• Nationalist movements in Asia

• India’s independence in 1947

• China’s reassertion of control

• Forced decolonization of France in Syria, Lebanon and Indochina

International labor movement organized African protests for fair treatment and wages

• International labor movement organized African protests for fair treatment and wages

• African militancy and belief that colonialism could be defeated

• Pan-African movement with ideas: “blackness” and Negritude; sense of racial unity and strength

New leaders: union leaders, soldiers, or university students returning home from America and Europe

• New leaders: union leaders, soldiers, or university students returning home from America and Europe

• Vision of a better Africa - “Africa for Africans”

• More politically active than predecessors

• Skillful at organizing and channeling grievance

• Phenomenon of mass nationalism and national political parties

Leaders:

• Leaders:

• Leopold Senghor, Senegal
• Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria
• Kwame Nkrumah, Gold Coast
• Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya Julius Nyerere, Tanganyika
• Kenneth Kaunda, Northern Rhodesia

Kwame Nkrumah, Gold Coast/Ghana, 1957, first independent nation

• Kwame Nkrumah, Gold Coast/Ghana, 1957, first independent nation
• 1958, Charles de Gaulle, allowed vote for self-rule in French West and French Equatorial Africa
• 1960 was a “miraculous year” for Africa:
• more than half of the continent independent
• more followed within the next four years

White settler colonies, Algeria, Kenya, (Southern) Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola, Southwest Africa, and South Africa

• White settler colonies, Algeria, Kenya, (Southern) Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola, Southwest Africa, and South Africa

• Significant minority of Europeans who immigrated for a better life:

• Had large houses, big farms
• Cheap African labor – servants, laborers
• Special privileges with colonial governments

Kenya:

• Kenya:

• Rebel group, “Land and Freedom Army or “Mau Mau”
• Attacked African collaborators and white farmers
• Retaliation: “Mau Mau” put into camps and brutalized
• British public outraged by brutality; sea change
• Kenya granted independent in 1963
• First president Jomo Kenyatta

Won freedom after years of conflict:

• Won freedom after years of conflict:

• Rhodesia and South Africa
• Algeria, Angola, Mozambique, Southwest Africa
• South Africa, at last in 1994, Afrikaner-supported government of F.W. de Klerk allowed African majority right to vote
• Nelson Mandela was first president.

• Return to African names - Mali, Ghana, and Zaire, etc.

• New states not inclined to wipe out European presence

• Colonial borders continued

• Pro-democracy wave disappeared quickly – dictators, single parties took over

• Why?

• No tradition of Western-style political institutions and Parliamentary customs
• Strong tradition of personal leadership, loyalty to lineage/kin group

• Post-independence leaders felt multi-party systems were alien and unworkable in Africa

Puppet governments – Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, and Mozambique

• Puppet governments – Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, and Mozambique

• Breakdown of democracy often ended in military dictatorships

• First, Ghana, then from Nigeria to Somalia and from Algeria to Angola

• Some generals wanted power and riches

• Jean-Bedel Bokassa, Central African Republic
• Idi Amin, Uganda
• Joseph (Ssese Seko) Mobutu, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe

Some vicious repressors been forced out

• Some vicious repressors been forced out
• Popular protests against one-party dictatorships increasing
• Since 1990s, right to establish legal opposition
• Passage of time will reveal: trend or remission

Outgrowths of colonial-era policies – monoeconomies: producing single crops: cacao, rubber, coffee, and palm oil or minerals: copper or bauxite for export

• Outgrowths of colonial-era policies – monoeconomies: producing single crops: cacao, rubber, coffee, and palm oil or minerals: copper or bauxite for export

Operations owned by Westerners

• Operations owned by Westerners

• Few domestic manufactures, mostly import substitutes
• Emphasis on export crops meant Africans had to buy food instead of growing it

World War II created demand for raw materials; prices rose, African producers prosperous

• World War II created demand for raw materials; prices rose, African producers prosperous

• For over a decade, Africa’s GNPs rose, jobs, goods available, towns and villages had new schools, nation had university

• Africa’s new leaders remained popular

• After 1970s oil crisis, economies slid badly

• Hit developing countries hard
• Rapid inflation

Combination of reasons

• Combination of reasons

• Diminishing food stocks
• Prolonged drought: Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Sudan
• Civil wars: Sudan, Chad, Angola, Mozambique, and Ethiopia
• Sharp reduction in foreign aid
• Continuing population increase, which was partly offset by the rapid spread of AIDS

¼ of sub-Saharan Africans live in “chronic food insecurity”

• ¼ of sub-Saharan Africans live in “chronic food insecurity”
• Labor migrated to cities where jobs are minimal

• People took to living on streets and hawking
• Theft, unknown in African society, became common, along with street violence because of hunger and deprivation

Overwhelming problem

• Overwhelming problem

• Too many people for available resources
• No country tried to limit population growth

• Agriculture - only 10% of land is suitable for cropping

• Repeated droughts made matters worse
• Rain forest was being destroyed

• Pastoralism

• Herders increased herds, which put further stress on land
• Sahara Desert expanding southward

Tourism – major income producer

• Tourism – major income producer

• Large regions opened to human habitation, limits animal populations
• Which in turn hurts tourism

• Population bomb has exploded

• Green Revolution prevented it elsewhere but not in Africa
• Yields do not appear able to rise

Internal and international conflicts

• Internal and international conflicts

• Still seems picture of chaos, famine, brutality

• Continent holds most of world’s poorest people
• Low life expectancies, high infant mortality
• Low adult literacy rate, little access to higher education

AIDS

• AIDS

• Has hit Africa harder than other parts of the world
• Over 30% of population is infected
• More AIDS deaths than rest of world combined
• Official countermeasures weak, ineffective
• Governments relying on international aid
• Bizarre obstacle in South Africa:
• President Thabo Mbeki deny connection between HIV and AIDS

2002, major rebellions, riots, demonstrations

• 2002, major rebellions, riots, demonstrations

• Today, signs of a new harmony:

• Organization of African Unity (OAU) - Africa’s peacekeeper

• Intervened in wars in Liberia, Congo-Kinshasa (former Belgian Congo), Darfur, and elsewhere

• Peace returned to Liberia

• Violence subsided in other parts of West Africa

• National elections

Deeply indebted to World Bank, international banks

• Deeply indebted to World Bank, international banks

• Structural Adjustment Programs supposed to re-start economies, but require unpopular measures

Malawi, Botswana, Kenya, and Mozambique democratized their politics

• Malawi, Botswana, Kenya, and Mozambique democratized their politics

• Better relations between the First and Second Worlds and the African Third World

• Fantasts, tyrants, and kleptocracies (rules of thieves) lost colonial support

• International lenders stopped financing grandiose projects

• New projects to reflect real needs

Mini-grants to enterprising individuals and small groups, especially to women, replaced big programs

• Mini-grants to enterprising individuals and small groups, especially to women, replaced big programs

• So far, these have produced much better results

• Less emphasis on export crops, more on family farming

• Change in attitudes toward women and their roles

• Women receiving active support and encouraged to make their voices heard in politics, economy, public affairs generally