By Niyaz Ahmed [Edited by Becky Ross and Sonia Hussain]
Anti-colonialism as an ideology has grown to be associated with many different meanings. The term has been traditionally defined to mean anyone who opposes the institution of colonialism, yet the means to provide actual colonial opposition encompasses many different opinions. Therefore, anti-colonialism as an ideology itself is used interchangeably with the concepts of nationalism and decolonisation, which has brewed further comparisons to the ideologies of modernity.[i]
This essay will argue that anti-colonialism is and should always be regarded as a separate and individual ideology. While some anti-colonial movements have arisen based on nationalistic pride and identity, evidently nationalism, decolonisation, and anti-colonialism are inherently different. This essay will mainly focus on the latter. The first section of the essay will centre around the definition of anti-colonialism in relation to the disintegration of the European empires. The next three sections will focus on case studies that make it clear that nationalism and decolonisation should not be used interchangeably. The first focuses on the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire and how nationalism was used against the colonised rather than for it. The second is on the plight of the Algerians against the French and how anti-colonialism became a fight for their values and traditions. Finally, an assessment of Pan-Africanism through the experiences of Haiti and Ethiopia will show how wary European powers were over the growing ideology of anti-colonialism. As nationalism and ideas of modernity became colonial tools of the European powers to give them the moral high ground behind their declining oppressive empires, anti-colonial thinkers like Fanon and Aime Cesaire sought to undermine that. Through their works, they helped expose the double standards of the international community and portray anti-colonialism as a fight against colonial occupation and ideals.
While many political anti-colonial movements had different ideas to ensure independence, there was still a common goal to overthrow the colonial powers. For example, Fanon advocated that violence was the best way to get rid of the occupiers in North Africa.[i] On the other hand, Ghandi, the leader of the Indian independence movement advocated “Satyagraha” or passive resistance, yet both had the same goals.[ii] Quintessentially, nationalism derived from colonialism itself, with European empires justifying their brutal presence on the nationalistic and patriotic concept of “white man’s burden”. In the twentieth century, Britain and France used nationalism to breed resentment and take advantage of the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Rather anti-colonialism is not defined as nationalism, but in line with the concept of independence from their colonial occupiers both physically and ideologically.
Anti-colonialism as an ideology emerged in the twentieth century from the end of the empires after the First World War. To understand anti-colonialism means understanding the nature of decolonisation and the World Wars. Therefore, a suitable definition of this ideology is the presence of a colonial regime that is no longer invincible. With national self-consciousness awakened, anti-colonialism was born as colonised people became aware of their political and economic exploitation by a party regarded as exterior to their collective community.[i] As a result, Europe used many different means to control the loss of their colonies. The British Prime Minister, Macmillan, proclaimed in his ‘Wind of Change’ speech in 1960 to appeal the nationalist tendencies of their colonies. France blatantly held onto their colonies in North Africa with brutal force and in the USA opposition to imperialism was intertwined with communist policies. The colonial powers’ efforts to combat the fall of their empires played an important part in forming anti-colonialism as a single ideology and a common belief for the colonised to fall upon. Their aim was freedom and an independent state where they ruled without outside influence. Regardless of whether this ideology was successful, it remained a principled one.
Despite many of their colonies becoming independent after the Second World War, the fall of Britain’s empire was inevitable, one that became evident after the First World War. As a result, the loss of their colonies and their intervention in the East became a prime example of anti-colonialism working to usurp colonial powers, rather than the benevolent decolonisation that was claimed by Macmillan in 1960. The key issue was that nationalism was a colonial tool, used to ensure a new form of colonialism, rather than full-blown independence, where the colonised would remain supportive of their former colonisers. This sentiment remained throughout the twentieth century, initiated in the Middle East before arriving in their African colonies. The decolonisation of Britain’s empire showed how nationalism was used to create an image of a benevolent Britain letting go of their colonies by the consent of the people. Rather, this shows that anti-colonialism was the ideology of the colonised and nationalism was an ideological tool for the colonisers. The colonisers’ sense of superiority was still sustained through the decolonisation process to ensure there was still some degree of control.[i]
European’s, particularly Britain and France’s, involvement in the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War exemplified how nationalism was used as a tool for colonialism. Through the guise of tolerating self-rule after Woodrow Wilson’s declaration of independent rule in his “Fourteen Points”, fifty-two new nation-states throughout the Middle East were created. Self-rule, however, was far from being implemented. Following the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Hussain-McMahon correspondence of 1916, many of these new nation-states remained under some sort of control by the Europeans; Egypt being the prime example.[i] By 1932, Britain claimed to declare Egypt as a sovereign, independent state to appeal to the rising anti-colonial feeling in the country. In reality, there were many caveats. All decisions made in parliament had to be ratified by British officials and the existing monarchy had to remain.[ii] Further examples in Africa after 1960 used similar methods to attain a certain degree of control. Rhodesia and South Africa remained independent but ruled by white minority powers. As a result, anti-colonialism cannot be attributed to the ideology of nationalism as it was used to undermine the efforts of the colonised people. Whilst it was claimed that the European powers were letting go of their colonies, they were simply using nationalism to downplay their oppression. The decolonisation process showed that by allowing independent states to form, they could determine how they develop.
Furthermore, the ideological bond of the colonised was much stronger than the sense of nationalism. The French presence in Algeria, and North Africa in general, exemplified the role of anti-colonialism as an ideology in their independence movements. The occupation of Algeria by the French was an outright invasion of the country in the earlier nineteenth century when nearly eighty per cent of the land was bought by foreigners after the governor of Algeria was forced into exile.[i] As a result, Algeria was now French Algeria. Unlike their other colonies, this state was considered an actual part of France. This explains why the French tried to hold on to their colony as steadfastly as possible after the initial rebellion of 1958. The rebellion, however, was not a nationalist uprising. Rather it was an effort to usurp the colonial powers, a key feature of the ideology of anti-colonialism. The natives had seen that the French Empire was disintegrating after the loss of Morocco and Tunisia. When the French suffered a humiliating retreat from Indochina, the Algerians realised that the colonisers were no longer the strong power that kept them at bay. The Algerian independence movement was built upon their hatred for the colonisers.[ii]
In addition, while the efforts of the colonised were being undermined by the so-called generosity and concern by the returning Charles de Gaulle, philosophers like Cesaire and Fanon sought to fight against the colonisers not only physically but also ideologically. Another facet of anti-colonialism was shown through this example. Fanon believed that anti-colonialism was an ideology that encompassed the physical opposition through violence, but more importantly opposing them ideologically. Throughout his writings, he gives more precedence behind the customs of the natives rather than the oppression of the French army. This was to ensure that the French would not peddle the narrative of “modernity” to justify their presence in Algeria. While the French maintained this rhetoric to “civilise” the Algerians, Fanon challenged this view by implying that it was the French that needed Algeria more than Algeria needed them.
Specifically, Fanon focuses on the plight of Algerian women in their fight for independence. According to Fanon, part of the ideology of anti-colonialism was to maintain the traditions and beliefs that were held sacred before the occupation of the colonisers to challenge Western colonial perceptions. He gives the example of the ha’ik, a veil covering the women from head to toe, only exposing the eyes. As the French went on their new press offensive that they had liberated Algeria, the women opposed it by “donning the ha’ik”.[i] Cesaire talks about the importance of challenging Western beliefs as a key component of anti-colonialism. While he does not speak about specific anti-colonial movements, he focuses on the double standards of Western beliefs. Part of the anti-colonial belief is being aware of the hypocrisy of the coloniser’s minds. Thus, he remarks, “it is the colonized man who wants to move forward, and the colonizer who holds things back.”[ii]
Understanding the plight of pan-Africanism is also important in assessing the ideology of anti-colonialism that ensure there is no control, both legislatively and ideologically, on land that had been colonised. The emergence of pan-Africanism during the interwar period was the first time in the twentieth century where there was a rising belief that Africa could set up an alternative civilisation to Western beliefs. This centred on a sense of unity, despite all but two former African colony states which were still under some degree of European control. Therefore, the occupations of Haiti and Ethiopia by the USA and Italy respectively help us explain how pan-Africanism was seen as a realistic application of anti-colonialism from an ideological front.
The states of Haiti and Ethiopia were the only African states free of colonisation during the turn of the twentieth century. The Ethiopians had defeated the Italians in the decisive Battle of Adwa in 1896 to ensure they had a stable and militaristic government in power and Haiti was the first to secure independence from slavery in 1804. As a result, the international community remained wary of their power and a possible reunification of Africa led by these two powers. Again, much like France in Algeria and the British and their colonies, both states maintained they were “liberating” these states through occupation. For interwar intellectuals and activists committed to pan-African liberation, however, the desire for a new world order free from racialised structures of international communities like the League of Nations meant an engagement with the ideology of anti-colonialism.[i] Using pan-Africanism as a platform, they challenged the European invention of modernity that it had claimed to bestow upon Haiti and Ethiopia.[ii] While this movement has lost its pace in recent times, it has been considered a key part of the anti-colonial ideology as an alternative path than the destructive force of European colonisation coupled with political and economic independence.
In conclusion, the ideology of anti-colonialism is a single but contentious ideology. While it remains core to its values of ridding occupied land from all traces of colonial rule, this hurt European sentiments. Therefore, numerous scholars and writers associate this ideology with others that are propagated by the West. Nationalism and decolonisation were terms invented by the West to ensure that their colonies still depended on them, despite losing direct political and legislative control. This ideology, however, should revolve only around the idea of opposing the colonisers in every way, not only to assume independent rule that would appease the colonisers. The Middle East was a clear example of a warped version of decolonisation. Instead, scholars like Fanon and Cesaire maintained that by challenging Western beliefs and delegitimising their control over local traditions based on anti-colonial rhetoric, occupied rule could be successfully challenged. In Fanon’s own words, regarding the anti-colonial actions of the Algerian women wearing the ha’ik, he says: “This woman who sees without being seen frustrates the coloniser”.[i]
Notes
[i] Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, p. 66. [i] Musab Younis, “Race, the World and Time: Haiti, Liberia and Ethiopia (1914–1945)”, Millennium, 46/3 (2018), p. 352.
[ii] Robbie Shilliam, “Intervention and Colonial-Modernity: Decolonising the Italy/Ethiopia Conflict Through Psalms 68:31” Review of International Studies, 39/5 (2015), p. 1134.
[i] Franz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism (New York: Grove Press, 1965), p. 65.
[ii] Aimé Césaire, A Discourse on Colonialism (New York, 2000), p. 46.
[i] Ansary, Destiny Disrupted, pp. 245-246.
[ii] Daniel Gagnon, (2014) "Algeria, De Gaulle, and the Birth of the French Fifth Republic", History Student Papers <http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2d09/2c6418141bcbe7ecf6ae252390f1fbef34d7.pdf> [Accessed 19th March, 2019]. [i] Tamim Ansary, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes (New York: Public Affairs, 2009), p. 311.
[ii] Ansary, Destiny Disrupted, p. 312. [i] Robin D.G Kelly, A Poetics of Anti-Colonialism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000), p. 9. [i] Youssef Kodsy, (2015) “Anti-colonialism, grassroots nationalism and their impacts on international relations in Egypt”, Open Democracy <https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/anti-colonialism-grassroots-nationalism-their-impacts-on-international-/> [Accessed 21st March 2019]. [i] Oladipo Fashina. “Frantz Fanon and the Ethical Justification of Anti-Colonial Violence”, Social Theory and Practice, 15/2 (1989), p. 179.
[ii] Mahatma Gandhi, Hind Swaraj and Other Writings: Centenary Edition, A. Parel (ed.), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 7. [i] Michel Cahen, Anti-colonialism Nationalism: Deconstructing Synonymy, Investigating Historical Processes: Notes on the Heterogeneity of Former African Colonial Portuguese Areas (Brill Academic Publishers, 2012), p. 1.
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