In particular to the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, different European states projected their rivalries, as well as, power to multiple parts of the Asian and African countries consequently establishing a period of Western domination on several societies and mankind as a whole. This development of an international imperial order culminated in the creation of a counter-revolution since the colonized people organized anti-colonial movements which advocated for their self-governance rights. The concept specifically gained momentum in the twentieth century thus altering the face of global politics. Therefore, the following article will present a discussion on anti-colonialism. It will mention the reasons for the development of anti-colonialism, the motivations of the movement's leaders and lastly find answers as to whether anti-colonialism was successful or not.
The first reason for the development of anti-colonialism was the outright political control that was exuded by the Westerners over the colonies. In fact, the adverse impacts of colonialism sprouted from the fact that the concept made the colonies lose their political powers which are otherwise a primary determining factor of several societies in the world. The anticolonial movements, as a result, perceived the restraint imposed on their political wills as massive under-developments. Because of this, they sort to gain control of their internal affairs that they had lost to the Western nations. Besides, colonization meant that Europeans directly appropriated the existing institutions in their colonial states. Through this, the colonies lost a direct command of their people and could not also set the indigenous standards, as well as, aims as they had initially done in their societies. The anticolonial movements, therefore, sort the reclamation of this lost political glory. (Andrea and Overfield 425)
The other reason for the anticolonial movements was the subordination of the economic interests of the locals by the colonizers. A notable factor of economic subordination was the exploitation of resources such as diamonds, gold, ivory and rubber by the colonial masters and consequently exporting them back to Europe for their own personal gain. This enormously impacted on the economies of the colonies as their rightful resources were taken away from them. The lands belonging to the locals were also taken away from them so that they could not sell them. This was a huge setback because on top of not being able to sell them, they could not use them for meaningful economic gains such as farming. In fact, they were driven into forced labor to work again on their lands. They were also deprived of the incomes that they could as well earn from the farms. Therefore, in order to regain the control of their economies, anticolonial movements arose to further this prospect.
Lastly, the quest for a general independence for the affected countries led to the rise of anticolonial groups. This independence was generally in all spheres of the society ranging from social, economic to even environmental factors. The people in the colonies had lost immense control of their lives as they lived at the mercies of the colonizers. The Europeans, as a result, influenced every aspect of the locals’ lives, particularly in the African and Asian states. Therefore, the anticolonial movements speedily spring up to gain their independence from the ills that were regularly being caused by the Westerners. The colonizers had literally taken control of nearly activity that went about in the colonies.
What motivated the leaders of anticolonial movements?
The leaders of anticolonial movements had strong motivations behind their zeal and quest to gain back the control that they had lost to the colonizers. For instance, Kwame Nkrumah being a leader of the 1st country to acquire its independence in Africa advocated for African Unity as a formidable strategy that could be used in dealing with the aspect of decolonization in times of the cold war. Not only him but also other movement leaders wanted the economic development of their continents to be pursued so that they become liberated from the colonizers. These ideologies of the leaders were based on the fact that independence was a common interest of every individual in the affected regions, and thus this drive for unity was a central reference point of the movement leaders. (Bentley and Ziegler 898)
The other aspect that drove the colonial leaders into forming anticolonial movements was their strong dislike for the racial discrimination that their people continually faced in their native lands. In most cases, the colonizers established collaborationist, as well as, racist regimes that promoted several ills in the society. Therefore, the leaders resorted to violent campaigns against the white settlers who had racially segregated them. This was a primary drive for the movements’ leaders as they sort to clear their regions of the treatment of one based on the skin pigmentation. Also, the leaders tended to enjoy massive support from their local communities. They could, as a result, mobilize the locals to overpower the colonial masters and regain back their lands and possessions that had been taken away from them. Generally, being assured of the required support made them fight for their rights.
Were the anti-colonialism efforts successful?
Anti-colonialism can be said to have been fully successful going by the symptoms that pointed to the diminishing global role of the European states after coming to an end of the World War II. Besides, there was a massive disintegration of colonial empires that were previously held by the European powers. Some of the causes of decolonization included financial, as well as, military exhaustion of the colonial masters, an increase of nationalism in the local colonies and also the leadership that was exhibited by the local rulers. As a result, several colonies became independent as time progressed. (Andrea and Overfield 471) Besides, the efforts that were made by the people in the colonies ensured that they gained their independence i.e. they collaborated with their leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi in India and Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana to further the concept of self-governance that they had fought for all along.
The anticolonial efforts also became largely successful because of the important wars of independence that took place in several regions of the world amongst them India and Kenya. However, the United States and the Soviet Union forced the Europeans to resign themselves into decolonization consequently contributing to the success of anti-colonialism. In fact, following the end of the Second World War, the European countries relinquished their full domination of the global affairs to the Americans and the Soviet Union. This was largely because the populations in Europe were exhausted and also their countries’ economies had been ruined by the war. Besides, the nations mentioned above succeeded in alleviating the ideology of colonization because they had a comparatively strong military, industrial might and were also very large. This also contributed to the success of anti-colonization movements leading to the independence of the affected states.
Works Cited
Andrea, Alfred and James Overfield. The Human Record: Sources Of Global History, Volume II: Since 1500. United States: Cengage Learning, 2011.
Bentley, Jerry and Herbert Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters, Volume 2 from 1500 to the Present. America: McGraw-Hill Education, 2007.
