Anti colonial movements in Asia

and Africa
Introduction
• During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries the states of Western Europe used Asia
and Africa for their own political interests.
• They established an era of western domination over the rest of mankind.
• The creation of a global imperial order generated a counter revolution as colonized
peoples organized anti-colonial movements that asserted their rights to self-government.
• Imperialism and era of non-western nationalism had changed the face of contemporary
international politics.
• The search for exotic goods, raw materials, new markets for trade and commercial
activities provided a for expansion. Along with the doctrines such as the civilizing mission
and zeal are the other motives the missionary of the colonial empires.
• This gigantic historical enterprise transformed Asia and Africa into a new world of
feasible changes.
 Sukarno was the leader
Hồ Chí Minh Kwame Nkrumah U Nu - Burma of the Indonesian
Former President struggle for
of Ghana independence
Anti-colonial Movements in Asia
• Anti-colonial movements are the movements against the colonial masters against subjection,
freedom less activities etc.
• These movements were active in individual colonies to confront with different local situations
arises there.
• The chief movements namely the Indian National Congress, the Association of Vietnamese
Revolutionary Youth and the United Gold Coast Convention started their task of protecting the
concerned people from the attacks of colonists.
• These movements were well aware of one another and prompted a transnational sentiment of
solidarity against colonial rule.
• On the basis of the circumstances each movement adopted its own tactics and strategy. They
shared a sense of common cause with one another.
• Some struggles for independence were violent. Some others have used the policy of diplomacy.
Certain anticolonial forces take up combined political and military means to achieve their goals.
• In India the formation of Indian National Congress in 1885 was a great anti
colonial force and movement.
• By 1920s it had organized mass movement incorporating a wide range of
social groups.
• Thus the Congress Party played a commendable role in the march to
independence in 1947.
• The Non- Co-operation Movement (1921) launched by Mahatma Gandhi
spread the message of Swedeshi and Swaraj through out India.
• It trained the Indian masses to undergo severe suffering and sacrifices. The
Neutralist foreign policy declared by Nehru offered great support to other
anticolonial movements.
• The ambition of Japan to become an imperial power in China in the 1930s and
later in South East Asia curtailed the hold of the French in Indochina, the Dutch in
Indonesia, and the British in South Asia.
• Burma (modern Myanmar) under its nationalist leader U Nu and Indonesia under
Ahmed Sukarno achieved its independence. The Indonesian National Unity Party
came into being in 1927.
• In Indochina the French chose to resist the anti-colonial League for Vietnamese
Independence. France waged a costly war that lasted until the Vietnamese got
victory at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954.
• By all the available sources and means Asians destabilized the imperial powers
and worked for anticolonial movements to consolidate their power and position
and identity.
Anti-colonial Movements in Africa
• In Africa the anti-colonial movements were somewhat different from that of Asia.
• Most of the African states took up arms to safeguard their independence during this
period.
• The first phase of African resistance to colonial rule from about 1880 to 1910 was
characterized by several forms of militant anti-colonialism in which military resistance
was the norm.
• The struggle in Vietnam was closely watched by the Algerian nationalists. The
anticolonial political parties supported Algerian independence in forums such as the
United Nations and the Bandung Conference.
• On the model of Vietnam successful guerrilla organization the FLN, carried out its first
military operation on November 1st 1954, one months after the fall of Dien Bien Phu.
Thus a anti colonialism led to common strategy across colonized continents.
• The Algerian war became in the history of decolonization.
• The Bandung Conference held in Indonesia in April 1955 was a meeting of the independent states of
Asia and Africa. Most of the members were former colonies.
• The conference celebrated their independence and issued a call for on going efforts to end
colonialism.
• The spirit of Bandung became a major theme of mobilization for the continuing anticolonial
movement.
• New instruments such as the Non Aligned Movement and the Organization of African Unity are the
agenda of decolonization in the Portuguese colonies and the settler states of southern Africa.
• Activist states such as Algeria supported the training of guerrilla movements in Angola, Mozambique
and Portuguese Guinea for getting independence in 1975.
• The Frelimo government in Mozambique helped the Patriotic Front in Southern Rhodesia or
Zimbabwe, the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa and the Southwest African People's
Organization (SWAPO) in Namibia organized anti-colonial movement in 1920s.
• All the anti-colonial movements have generated a feeling of individuality and identity to the victims