Chapter 33 Part 2

By Arielle Gottlieb, Liza Hazelwood,

Asha Richards, and Marco Saah

Food for thoughts:

1. What challenges did newly independent countries face during the
period of decolonization?
2. How were the political and economic systems that developed in
Japan and China in the Post-WW 2 era simpler and different?
3. What factors exacerbated the conflict in the Middle East (Southwest
Asia) and how did OPEC and oil shape regional and global affairs?
4. Where did most of the independence movements take place in the
period of decolonization?

Decolonization and African

Struggle for Independence

Quotes for thought

One cannot conceive of both an
independent territory and a France
which continues to aid it
-Charles de Gaulle 1958

When I let my heart talk, I am a

partisan of total and immediate
independence [for Madagascar];
when I make my reason speak, I
realize that it is impossible
-Philibert Tsirinana 1958

Struggles with Independence

Between 1950s and 1960s, Africans began

fighting for independence
Issues after independence

Political boundaries v. ethnic boundaries

Few educated Africans to run government

and staff schools
Over dependence on export crops
Population growth

Increased poverty

unemployment

Ghana

First British Colony to gain independence

Nationalist movement led by Kwame

Nkrumah

Greatly influenced by W.E.B. Du Bois and

Marcus Garvey especially
One of the principal organizers of the fifth
Pan-African Congress (PAC) in Manchester,
London

Returned to Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1947

Brittain was exhausted by the war
Independence on March 6th, 1957
Nkrumah became first Prime Minister
(1957-1960) then President (1960-1966)
Ousted in 1966 by army officers

Kenya

Substantial amount of European coffee

planters
Mau Mau movement of 1952

Jomo Kenyatta was charged for being a

Mau Mau leader

Formed mostly by the Kikuyu people

British hunted down leaders
Resettled Kikuyu

Released in 1961

After negotiations with the British to

make a constitution, Kenya gained
independence (December 12th, 1963)
Kenyatta became the first President of the
Republic of Kenya

French West African Colonies

Reluctant to call for independence

Visualized change through promises made in 1944
by the free french movement of General Charles de
Gaulle

Promised colonial leaders a more democratic

government and broader suffrage

Abolish forced labour/imprisonment of Africans

without charge
Expand education

Only in french
Improve health services
Open more administrative position to Africans

Not top ones

Algeria

Was considered a part of France

Settlement was encouraged

Revolt in 1954

Front de Libration Nationale (FLN)

Algerian revolutionary organization

Independence on July 5th, 1962

Colonists left

Bad for Algerian economy

Few Arabs had technical training

Algeria retained close ties with France

Many Algerians emigrated to France to

flee unemployment

Backed by Egypt and other Arab

countries

Racial Tension after independence

In many places, people of European

descent struggled to retain privilege,
control of resources, and political power

Zimbabwe

Especially intense in Southern Africa

In 1980, European settlers in Southern
Rhodesia acceded to majority African rule

Apartheid in South Africa

Racial separation between Afrikaners

(European descent) and non-white
(Southeast Asian and indigenous Africans)
Non-Whites had strict limitations

Places of residence

homelands

Right to travel (pass books)

Access to jobs

Public facilities

Rising opposition from

Struggle to End Apartheid

Pan-African Congress (PAC)

African National Congress (ANC)

1960 Sharpeville Massacre

Nelson Mandela organized guerrilla
resistance by the ANC
Sentenced to life in prison in 1964
Little change until the United Nations
Apartheid was abolished by F.W. De Klerk
in 1991
Mandela became the first black president
of South Africa (first president elected in
the first free democratic election)

Other Activists
Modern Adaptation of:
African Soldier - Sonny Okosun

Latin America and Quest for

Freedom

The Quest for Economic Freedom in Latin America

The main exports in Latin America were controlled from abroad:

Chilean copper
Cuban sugar
Colombian coffee
Guatemalan bananas

In Mexico, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was in control post-war.

Their rhetoric was about revolutionary independence and economic
development, HOWEVER the gap between the rich and the poor, the urban and
the rural, deepened.

Guatemala and Foreign Interests

Jacobo Arbenz Guzmn was elected president of Guatemala in 1951. Like many
Latin American leaders, he tried to confront the foreign interests in his country.
His expropriation of large estates angered many large landowners (United Fruit
Company in particular).
The CIA got reports that Arbenz was leaning
towards communism and ordered a takeover
through the military in 1954. They removed
Arbenz from power, which condemned
Guatemala to decades of governmental instability
and growing violence.

Cuban Revolution (pt. 1)

The United States owned:

40% of raw sugar production

23% of non-sugar industry
90% of telephone and electrical services
50% of public service railways

American-owned Cuban industries depended on American factories for

supplies. The needs of the American economy determined Cuban foreign trade.

Cuban Revolution (pt. 2)

A 1934 treaty granted Cuban sugar preferential treatment in the U.S. market in
return for U.S. manufacturers gaining access to the Cuban market.
In 1956, sugar accounted for 80% of Cuban exports and 25% of the national
income HOWEVER the U.S. demand only required 39% of the land to be in
production. Profit went to the United States and a small class of wealthy Cubans.
Between 1951 and 1958, the economic growth rate was 1.4%, which was less than
the population growth rate, so about 25% of the population was unemployed for
a majority of the year. The current leader, Fulgencio Batista became a symbol of
corruption.

Cuban Revolution (pt. 3)

1959 - A rebellion forces Batista to flee and the regime of Fidel Castro, Raoul
Castro, and Ernesto Che Guevara begins. The government redistributed land,
lowered urban rents, raised wages, which effectively transferred 15% of the
national income from the rich to the poor.
After 22 months in power, they had seized
almost all of the United States property, which
resulted in a blockade by the U.S. This caused
a flight of the middle class and the
technologically trained Cubans, a drop in
foreign investment, and the beginning of
chronic food shortages.

Cuban Revolution (pt. 4)

Castro turned to the Soviet Union for economic aid, but only condemned Cuba to
economic stagnation and an equally damaging dependence on a foreign power.
In April 1961, the Bay of Pigs incident occurred,
through a faulty plan to overthrow the Castro
regime. This resulted in the tarnishing of the U.S.
reputation and caused Castro to say that he had a
Marxist-Leninist ideology from the start.

How
How has the Revolution succeeded, in Castro
s eyes? Who is the focus of the Revolution?

Fidel Castro, 1961

Less than two weeks after the
Bay of Pigs incident

different today's parade has been! How

different even from the first parades after the

revolution triumphed. Today's parade shows us
how much we have advanced. The workers now do
not have to submit themselves to those trials; the
workers now do not have to implore deaf
executives; the workers now are not subject to the
domination of any exploiting class; the workers no
longer live in a country run by men serving
exploiting interests. The workers know now that
everything the revolution does, everything the
government does or can do, has one goal: helping
the workers, helping the people.
Otherwise, there would be no explanation for the
spontaneous sentiment of support for the
Revolutionary Government, that overflowing good
will that every man and woman has expressed
today.

Challenges of Nation Building

In the last months of 1945, 51 nations signed the United Nations Charter. In the
next decade, 25 new members joined. In the following decade, 46 new members
joined, making 122 members over the course of twenty years.
Few nations could organize and establish governments without experiencing
coups, rewritten constitutions, or rebellions. Many new nations faced severe
economic challenges, ie. foreign ownership, operation of key resources, and the
need to build infrastructure.
Education was a huge concern: which language should they teach in? How
should they include national unity in diverse populations? Where do the
graduates get jobs after their education is over?

Beyond A Bipolar World

Outside of the East and West Superpowers

The superpowers (Soviet Russia and the United States) dominated the
world but did not control it entirely. As time progressed, they dominated
it less and less.
Bandung Conference (1955)- Meeting of 29 African and Asian countries,
most of which were newly independent. The conference's stated aims
were to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to
oppose colonialism or neocolonialism by any nation.
Bandung Conference represented
nearly one-quarter of the Earth's
land surface and a total population
of 1.5 billion people.

Fidel Castro said the purpose of the

organization was to ensure "the national
independence,
sovereignty,
territorial
integrity and security of non-aligned
countries" in their "struggle against
imperialism,colonialism,
neo-colonialism,
racism, and all forms of foreign aggression,
occupation, domination, interference or
hegemony as well as against great power and
bloc politics".
Coined the terms nonaligned nation and third world, which were used by
these countries to establish a neutral position to both superpowers, in
order to effectively extract money and weapons from one or both of them.

Japanese economic development

After WWII (1951) Japan signed a peace treaty with some of its former
enemies, and gained independence from U.S. occupation a year later.
A new constitution - renounced militarism and imperialism
limited self-defense force
banned deployment of troops abroad
gave the vote to women
Japan became a force for economic development rather than a military
occupier through peace treaties with South East Asia, specifying
reparations payable in goods and services, and cold war isolation from
world politics.

Japan saw great improvements in

three main industries:
Electricity improved through
projects, like dam building,
which produced 60 million
kilowatts
of
electricity
between 1951-1970.
Steel production more than
quadrupled.
Shipping industry produced six times as much tonnage in 1970
than in 1960, almost half of the tonnage produced outside of the
Soviet bloc.

Mao and The Cultural Revolution

Unlike Japan, China was deeply involved in Cold War politics. The Soviet
Union was the main ally and source of arms to communist People's
Republic of China (PRC), but the two were beginning to diverge
politically about things like the USSR rejection of Stalinism, Chinas
reluctance to forever be subordinate to the USSR, and the role of the
peasant.
Maos Great Leap Forward- was supposed to maximize production
through the use of small scale industries and labor, but ended up failing.
It still demonstrated Maos willingness to carry out massive economic
and social projects on his own.

The Cultural Revolution

Mao started his own radical nationwide program, which called for the
mass mobilization of Chinese youth into Red Guard units, who set out to
eradicate China of traditional and Bourgeois values.
Goals: Kindle revolutionary fervor in a new generation, and ward off
stagnation and bureaucratization from the USSR.
Internal party conflict: Mao admitted that the attacks on individuals had
gotten out of hand. The last years of the revolution were dominated by
radicals led by Maos wife Jiang Qing, whose main focus was restriction
on art and intellectual activity.

The remains of Ming Dynasty

Wanli Emperor at the Ming
tombs. Red Guards dragged
the remains of the Wanli
Emperor and Empresses to
the front of the tomb, where
they
were
posthumously
"denounced" and burned.

New relations with U.S. and China

Sensing the distancing of China from the
USSR, Nixon put out secret diplomatic
feelers to revive relations with China. The
US eventually dropped objections to the
China joining the UN, which lead to the
expulsion
of
Chinese
Nationalist
government based in Taiwan. In the
following year Nixon visited Beijing as a
gesture of new cooperation between the
two countries.

Nixon and Mao, China

(1972)

Conflict in the Middle East

and Environmental Concers

Conflict in the Middle East

Iraq, Egypt, and jordan all enjoyed some amount of nominal independence
during the interwar period but remained under indirect British control until the
1950s when military coups overthrew:
-King Faruq of Egypt in 1952
-King Faysal of Iraq in 1958
In Jordan King Husayn dismissed his British military commander in 1956 but
because Jordan was a poor desert country, it remained dependent on British, and
later on American, financial aid.

The Israel Palestine Conflict

-Zionist Jews began emigrating to Palestine. They were encouraged by Britain

under the Balfour Declaration. British policy oscillated between support for
Zionism and sentiment for indigenous Palestinian Arabs who were being pushed
aside as Zionists moved in and felt entitled to their own independent state.
-As more zionists moved in, Arabs began fighting against the increasing
settlement. Jewish groups took to militant tactics a few years later, and the two
sides confronted each other in various riots and similar encounters.

Israel Palestine cont.

-Under pressure to resettle European Jewish refugees, Britain saw no way to

resolve the conflict as it continued, so they handed it off to the UN.
-The UN partitioned Palestine (divided it up)
-Palestinians who were having their land taken from them felt the division was
unfair and took up arms to resist the partition.
-Israel then declared independence in 1948, which prompted neighboring arab
countries who also opposed the formation of Israel to send armies to assist
Palestine.

Israel Palestine cont.

-Israel prevailed on all fronts against Palestine and the neighboring nations that were assisting,
resulting in 700,000 Palestinian refugees who were displaced.
-These refugees spread to camps in jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza strip, and their right to return
home remains a focal point in Arab politics.
-In 1967, Israel preemptively attacked Egyptian and Syrian airbases in response to threatening moves by
Egypts Nasir. Jordan got involved in this conflict, and after only six days Israel won again, taking control
of Jerusalem, which it had previously split with Jordan. Palestinians and muslims protested this because
Jerusalem has important Islamic shrines, and was seen as the Palestinian capital.
-Israel then began occupying the Gaza strip, Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. The Palestinian
Liberation Organization led by Yasir Arafat resisted this expansion in the only way they could, through
small scale guerilla warfare. Israel responded to this with assassinations and bombings.

Original UN Partition and Israeli Expansion

OPEC and Oil Politics

-The massive concentration of oil wealth in the persian Gulf states (Iran, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, UAE) was fully realized after WWII when demand for oil rose sharply as
civilian economies recovered. These states formed OPEC, the Organization of Oil
Exporting Countries to promote their collective interest in higher revenues.
-In 1973, arab oil-producing countries voted to embargo oil shipments to the US and
the Netherlands as punishment for their support of Israel. The use of oil as an
economic weapon disturbed the worldwide oil industry. Prices and feelings of
insecurity rose. OPEC responded to turmoil in the oil market by quadrupling prices,
setting the stage for an massive transfer of wealth to the producing countries, and
provoking a feeling of crisis throughout the consuming countries.

Environmental Concerns
-Superpowers were focused on economic recovery and technological innovations and were
negligent to the negative effects various initiatives and projects had on the environment.
-Particularly negligent to the environmental pesticide and herbicide use, automobile
exhaust, industrial waste disposal, and radiation hazards.
-In 1968 there was an wave of student unrest in many parts of the world. Students in NYC
protested racism and the Vietnam war. In Paris and Tokyo students rioted to reform higher
education. In Mexico, students were outraged at the amount of money the government was
spending to host the Olympic games. Youth activism grew greatly and focused awareness
on environmental issues. Earth day was first celebrated in 1970: the year the US established
the environmental protection agency (EPA).

Essential Questions

What challenges did newly independent countries face

during the period of decolonization?
They faced severe economic challenges that stemmed off of their previous
dependence on other countries, like foreign ownership. They also faced coups,
rewritten constitutions, and rebellions as the country attempted to settle. They
also recognized that their leaders needed to be properly educated, so schools
were a huge issue that they didnt know what to do with. They had to figure out
the languages, how to teach a national unity to a group of people from diverse
histories and cultures, and what to do with them after they graduate.

How were the political and economic systems that

developed in Japan and China in the post-WW2 era
simpler and different?

Japans new constitution renounced militarism and imperialism and advanced

rights in other aspects. The constitution limited self-defense force, banned the
deployment of troops abroad, and gave the right to vote to women. It also
became a force for economic development through peace treaties with Southeast
Asia. They saw improvements in three industries: electric, steel, and shipping.
Chinas radical cultural revolution led to attempts to eradicate Bourgeois values
through multiple variants of power. The United States also reached out to China,
making it easier for China to revive their economy and increase foreign ties with
the U.S.

What factors exacerbated the conflict in the Middle East

(Southwest Asia) and how did OPEC and oil change
shape regional and global affairs?
-Britain's fluctuating policy decisions, and passing off of responsibility to the UN did nothing to help
resolve the conflict, and the UN action that was taken actually helped to further the violence and fighting
that was taking place. Pressure to resettle European Jews led to disregard for Palestinian rights and the
wants/needs of Palestine as well as the other neighboring arab nations who also opposed the creation,
and subsequent expansion of Israel.
-Demand for oil went up and increased its value, making the Persian Gulf states more powerful and
wealthy because of their control over the vast majority of the oil industry. Their use of oil as an
economic weapon disturbed the worldwide oil industry, causing feelings of insecurity and crisis in the
consuming nations. Oil was used to set the stage for a massive transfer of wealth to the gulf states that
had plentiful oil reserves: their power and influence skyrocketed regionally and globally because of their
monopoly over the oil industry.

Where did most of the independence take place in the

period of decolonization?

Most of the independence took place in Sub-Saharan Africa. Southern

African countries gained independence a bit later than their Western and
Eastern counterparts and even with independence, most of the political
power in Southern African Nations were held by a minority of the
population.
Many countries in Southeast Asia became independent during this time as
well
Depending on ones definition of independence, many Latin American
countries won economic independence (e.g. Cuba)