Voices of decolonization: a brief history with documents

PART ONE. Introduction: Decolonization, from unimaginable to Inevitable

What Is decolonization?

The varieties of imperialism

Interwar empires: Crisis and consolidation, 1918

1937

World War II: Decolonization becomes imaginable

New international connections

European efforts to reinvent overseas colonialism

The Cold War, local collaborators, and the slowing pace of change

The rise of anticolonial radicalism

The international politics of decolonization

Algeria's decolonization

The legacies of decolonization

PART TWO. The documents

1. 1945

1947: Decolonization becomes imaginable

1. Winston Churchill, "Hands off the British Empire," December 31, 1944

2. United Nations, United Nations Charter: Preamble and Declaration concerning non-autonomous territories, June 26, 1945

3. Ho Chi Minh, Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, September 2, 1945

4. An appeal of the Vietnamese Bishops in favor of the independence of their country, September 23, 1945

2. Defining new international connections

5. Fifth Pan-African Congress, The challenge to the colonial powers, 1945

6. UNESCO, The Statement on race, July 1950

7. Alfred Sauvy, three Worlds, one planet, August 14, 1952

8. First Afro-Asian conference, final communique, April 24, 1955

9. Richard Wright, The color curtain: A report on the Bandung Conference, 1956

10. Joseph Kirira and Josiah Kariuki, Song of Africa (Kenyan song), 1957

3. From possibilities of independence to expectations of liberation

11. Song for Murang'a Women (Kenyan song), ca. 1950

12. Historical survey of the origins and growth of Mau Mau, 1950, 1960

13. Historical survey of the origins and growth of Mau Mau, 1952, 1960

14. Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's liberation: The philosophy of the revolution, 1955

15. The Shin Bet, The minorities in Israel, February 26, 1958

16. Georgios Grivas, Report addressed to Michail Christodolou Mouskos, May 23, 1955

17. Oath of the National Organization of Cypriot combatants, 1955

4. The triumph of anticolonialism

18. Mohammed Dib, The fire, 1954

19. National Liberation Front, Proclamation, November 1, 1954

20. Francois Mitterrand, Speech in response to FLN actions, November 12, 1954

21. Slimane Azem, Locust, leave my country (Berber song), 1955

22. Muslim population of Tebessa, Letter to Robert Lacoste, July 1956

23. Rene Massigli, French Intelligence analysis of British public opinion on the Algerian conflict, December 1956

24. Charles de Gaulle, Presidential press conference, April 11, 1961

25. Frantz Fanon, The wretched of the Earth, 1961

26. Visitor, Lift up the torch of United Africa, April 12, 1958

27. Eric Williams, Massa Day done, March 22, 1961

5. The contagion of independence

28. Conscience Africaine, Manifesto for Belgian Congo, July 1956

29. ABAKO, Counter Manifesto for Belgian Congo, August 23, 1956

30. Harold Macmillan, "Wind of change" Speech, February 3, 1960

31. Ingrid Jonker, The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga, 1960

32. United Nations General Assembly, Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, December 14, 1960

33. Alvim Pereira, ten principles, 1961

34. Celina Simango, Speech at the International Women's Congress in Moscow, June 1963

35. Amilcar Cabral, anonymous soldiers for the United Nations, December 12, 1962

36. Zhou Enlai, Conversation with S.V. Chervonenko, April 20, 1965

37. Fayez A. Sayegh, Zionist colonialism in Palestine, 1965

38. Claudia Jones, The Caribbean community in Britain, 1964

39. Kwame Nkrumah, neo-colonialism: The last stage of imperialism, 1965

APPENDIXES

A chronology of the era of decolonization (1937

1965)

Questions for consideration.