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Hank Fu
Professor Lloyd
History 20
8 June 2013
History-20 Final
The process of decolonization, in which colonies and territories obtain independence,
dramatically restructured the post-WWII era. As part of this process, numerous Third World
writers, such as Aime Cesaire, Mohandas Gandhi, and Jomo Kenyatta, expressed their criticisms
of European civilization.
In his work Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire expressively describes the cruel
effects of colonialism on both the colonizer and those who were colonized. According to
Cesaire, between colonizer and colonized there is room only for forced labor, intimidation,
pressure, the police, taxation, theft, rape, compulsory crops, contempt, mistrust, arrogance, selfcomplacency, swinishness, brainless elites, degraded masses (42). As a result, he states that the
colonizing man will eventually turn into a classroom monitor, an army sergeant, a prison guard,
a slave driver, (42) and so on. He argues that it is inappropriate for Europeans to establish
colonizes and misuse them to satisfy their greed because colonization would generate the
problem of the proletariat and the colonial problem (31). Cesaire considers civilization as
decadent, stricken, and dying. For instance, he mentions that a civilization is incapable of
solving the problem it creates (31), evasive when facing its most crucial problems (31), and
supportive of the practices of trickery and deceit (31). He states that colonization works to
decivilize the colonizer, to brutalize him in the true sense of the word, to degrade him, to awaken
him to buried instincts, to covetousness, violence, race hatred, and moral relativism (35). In

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addition, Cesaire claims that colonization has destroyed the Indian civilizations and has
introduced a principle of ruin (42). He asserts that not only has colonization failed to make any
contributions to security, culture, or the rule of law, European civilization has also created some
colonial issues, such as racism against black people in Africa and other areas, that dehumanizes
the most civilized man (41), the colonial activity, colonial enterprise, colonial conquest (41)
and the colonizer (41). Moreover, he reveals the flaws and falseness in western understandings
of progress and achievements when dealing with colonization. For example, consequences of
colonization included societies drained of their essence, cultures trampled underfoot,
institutions undermined, lands confiscated, religions smashed, magnificent artistic creations
destroyed, extraordinary possibilities wiped out (43). Cesaire is describing a culture, along with
the traditions and beliefs, being ripped away from society during the process of colonization.
Not only did Cesaire criticize all the above mentioned destructive effects of colonization, he also
stressed the negative relationship between colonizer and those who were colonized.
In an excerpt, called India and Self-Government, from a pamphlet that he wrote,
Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of Indias non-violent movement against the British, strongly
criticized modern Western civilization and argued that India should regain its old civilization.
According to Gandhi, the Indians wanted to remove the British rule in their country because the
British government was constantly taking money away from the Indians. In addition, the Indians
were kept in a state of slavery (737). However, instead of accusing the British for causing
these problems, Gandhi blamed most of the problems on modern civilization. For instance, he
states that modern civilization is a [civilization] only in name (737) and under it the nations of
Europe are becoming degraded and ruined day by day (737). Furthermore, Gandhi believes that
India is being ground down not under the English heel but under that of modern [civilization]

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(737); he referred modern civilization as a monster with terrible weight (737). The excerpt
mentioned that while the Indian civilization would elevate the moral being (737), Western
civilization would carry out the exact opposite, which was to propagate immortality (737).
Gandhi believed that due to the invasion of modern western civilization, the Indians are turning
away from God (737). He stressed that in order to reject and fight against modern civilization,
India must develop a self-government, in which the people must own their own fleet, army, and
glory. In brief, Gandhis belief was that the Indians, who were influenced by modernity, or
Western civilization, had become trapped; and the only way to free these people is to have selfgovernment. He declared that the Indians must cling to the old Indian [civilization] even as a
child clings to its mothers breast (737).
Jomo Kenyatta, one of Kenyas leading nationalist, wrote about the negative, damaging
components of the colonial invasion on African traditions in his book Facing Mount Kenya.
According to Kenyatta, it was devastating when European imperialists robbed African people of
their land because not only were they taking away their livelihood, but also their culture, which
was the material symbol that holds family and tribe together (735). By taking away the land,
the Europeans were also destroying the foundations of the African life from all aspects, such as
social, moral, and economic (735). Kenyatta argued that Europeans were not imparting
progressive ideas, such as the ideas of material prosperity, of medicine, and hygiene, and
literacy which enables people to take part in world culture (735), to the Africans when they
visited Africa. In fact, instead of giving the Africans the benefit of European progressive ideas,
all the Europeans did under the name of civilization and progress were the following: forcing the
Africans to work for them, taking away their land and leaving them with no other alternatives,
stealing their government, and condemning their religious ideas. To sum things up, Kenyatta

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stated that by driving an African off his ancestral lands, the Europeans [had] robbed him of the
material foundations of his culture, and reduced him to a state of serfdom incompatible with
human happiness (735). He claimed that the Africans must battle constantly for total freedom,
or else they would be doomed to remain the prey of rival imperialisms (735).
In the book Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, divided human
beings into three groups, the founder of culture, the bearers of culture, the destroyers of culture
(130), based on outward appearance, such as skin color. According to Hitler, not only did the
Aryan belong to the top group, the Aryan was also the master race of humans. In addition, he
stated that from the Aryan originated the foundations and walls of all human creation, and only
the outward form and color are determined by the changing traits of character of the various
peoples (130). Hitler also assigned the positions that are less, or far less, supreme to races such
as the Jewish people. Subsequently, Hitler argued that the Aryan, being the most superior form
of humans, must conquer and dominate people from the lower groups. He explained that those
who were being conquered and dominated would actually benefit from it because they would
have the opportunity to interact with and learn from the master race. In this case, the Aryan is a
particular kind of European for Hitler. While Hitler is promoting racism and arguing that it is
perfectly acceptable for the Europeans to conquer the lower people or the inferior races, the
above mentioned anti-colonial writers would fight against his actions and reject his views.
Cesaire, Gandhi, and Kenyatta would argue that not only would colonization benefit the people,
they would only lead to devastating effects. Cesaire would dispute that colonization would have
negative impacts on both the colonizer and the colonized; also, colonization does not lead to
security, culture, or the rule of law. Cesaire would definitely criticize Hitlers racist view
because Cesaire himself believed that racism holds a dehumanizing effect. Similar to Cesaire,

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Gandhi would most likely disagree with Hitlers view as well. Gandhi believed that European
colonization is spreading immoral activities and turning the Indians away from God. Lastly,
Kenyatta would laugh at Hitlers claim that colonization benefits the colonized. For example,
Kenyatta claimed that all the Europeans did to the Africans were enslaving them and robbing
their land and government. While Hitler believed that Europeans, in this case the Aryan, should
conquer other races and that colonization would actually benefit those who were conquered, all
three of the above mentioned anti-colonial writers believed that colonization was totally wrong
and defective because taking away peoples culture, property, or value would only lead to
detrimental outcomes.