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Anti-Colonial Movements (Rif War 1921-1926 (:bulb:What ideas underpinned…
Anti-Colonial Movements
Rif War
1921-1926
:house_with_garden:
What were the local conditions that led to this?
Lyautey
collaboration system built authority/legitimacy on:
:two:
tariqas
; network of mystical Islamic brotherhoods
:three: indigenous, non-Arab, Berbers
September 1914 law: Berber's governed by their own rules
French employed policy of divide and rule, which el-Krim took to its logical conclusion
:one: big
qa'ids
; tribal leaders
focussed on conquering the centre, or 'Useful Morocco' to reduce strain on the army
i.e. agricultural, mining, water
:: countryside became site of resistance
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al Khatabi, or Abd el-Krim
#
Small town judge from Rif Mountains
Spanish controlled part of Morocco
Ethnic grouping in Morocco
organised army / well disciplined militia within familiar mountain territory
July-August 1921 10,000 Spanish casualties
Spanish pushback 1922, then lost weapons and artillery to the insurgents
February 1923: Abd el-Krim began to found an independent state
declared himself amir, had people swear allegience
"In 1923, over 21,000 French troops were fighting an estimated 7,000 Moroccan insurgents."
The Arabs: A History; Eugene Rogan, p.277
:bulb:
What ideas underpinned this movement?
nationalism
"I wanted to make the Rif an independent country like France and Spain, and to found a free state with full sovereignty [...] independence which assured us complete freedom of self-determination and the running of our affairs, and to conclude such treaties and alliances as we saw fit."
The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, p.277
#
religion, Islamic legitimacy
"Holy War has been proclaimed by Abd el-Krim, the true Sultan of Morocco, to throw out the infidels, and particularly the French, in the name of the greater glory of regenerated Islam."
The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, p.279
which brought them into opposition with competing claims of islamic legitimacy
#
ethno-nationalism?
perhaps not underpinning the movement itself, but impacting the reaction
"It is of no doubt that the Rifis' Berber identity played a role in discouraging Moroccan Arabs from joining their campaign against the French."
The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, p.280
:handshake:
In what ways was it connected to global anti-imperialist movements?
Wilson's 14 points
deliberately uses the language of self determination
:fleur_de_lis:
What was the French reaction?
Lyautey resigned October 1925
Scandal involving the French possibly selling weapons to the rebels, esp. when they weren't directly fighting French.
Spanish pissed off
#
Joined forces with the Spanish in order to put the rebellion down. After a few years they were able to crush the Rif forces in a pincer movement.
:earth_africa:
What was the global reaction?
Metropole
films, exp. moroccan films sold an idealised, romantic view of colonialism, primitive noble natives etc.
Rif War and attempted cover-up shocked french public, shattering illusion
seen as failure of his system / project to completely pacify Morocco
Syrian Revolt
1925-27
:bulb:
What ideas underpinned this movement?
nationalism
ARAB nationalism
"What we saw in the heroism of their fight convinced us that the distinct character of the Arabs had survived [...] and a love of sacrifice spread among us. I obsessively followed events in Morocco, and found maps of the field of conflict."
The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, p.282
perhaps seeing the impact of divide and rule, or Lyautey's three pillars division; however many miles away in Syria without this history of ethnic division the Rif War was an inspiration on the terms of Arabism
Joyce Laverty Miller. 'The Syrian Revolt of 1925',
International Journal of Middle East Studies
:house_with_garden:
What were the local conditions that led to this?
Franco-Syrian War / Battle of Maysalun still raw in the memory, many who had rallied to the cause now living under French mandate rule
Syria very recently 'annexed' under the mandate system, after feeling betrayed by the British, McMahon agreement, and despite jumping through the hoops that the LoN asked them to
League of Nations
In order to respond to the King-Crane commission, Syria (albeit forcibly) developed a 'modern', 'european style' democratic society including a constitution, representative assembly, associational culture.
nationalist political parties:
People's Party,
Hizb Allah (the Party of God)
Co-ordinated with the Druze
#
"Chahbandar's willingness to work through the traditional local power structure was an important factor in the extension and continuation of the revolt"
The Syrian Revolt of 1925, J. L. Miller, p.559
All of this was intended to foster feelings of nationalism (which would be centred around Faisal) and a cohesive identity especially in the face of the French.
There had been five years of pockets of unrest, since the earliest days of the mandate
four state system
#
:three: of Damascus
:one: Alawite
:two: Druze
:four: of Aleppo
Attempts to pacify and collaborate with the Druze state were going very badly. The French broke with the Lyautey system and appointed a governor. This was a Very Bad Thing.
The governor was a moderniser, saw Druze systems as backwards and in need of reform/destruction
"[Dr. Abd al-Rahman] Shahbandar noted ironically that many of his fellow nationalists credited the French officer with promoting Syrian nationalism by driving the Druzes to the brink of revolt."
The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, p.286
:handshake:
In what ways was it connected to global anti-imperialist movements?
"Their [the Rifis] five-year insurgency (1921-1926) against Spain and France inspired some Syrian nationalists to mount their own revolt against the French in 1925."
The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, p.281
NEWSPAPERS :newspaper:
idea of a general ending / weakening of French colonial occupation across MENA area
How far is the LoN anti-imperialist?
Literally built on hopes and expectations of Wilson's promise of self-determination
:fleur_de_lis:
What was the French reaction?
MILITARY
:bomb: Bombing of Damascus
by targeting the cities blanket style they killed / traumatised civilians, women, children
over 1,000 dead in a few days
:earth_africa:
What was the global reaction?
outraged and appalled at the violence of the French response
Permanent Mandates commission refused to accept the French version in the annual report which glossed over the worst of the conflict. demanded a full report and a return to peace.
threat/rumour to change the mandate from French rule
but no one prepared to accept Syrian independence as a solution
furore died down when it dropped out of the news cycle
North African Star
1926
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What ideas underpinned this movement?
communism/socialism
nationalism
"the complex issues surrounding the return of Algerian migrants to their homeland during the interwar period cannot be understood without exploring the processes that preceded and informed their return. The return of many Algerian migrants to Algeria was marked by a process of politicization. It led to the emergence of a radical nationalist movement that was able to mobilize increasing numbers of Algerians around its nationalist agenda in the colonial territory and to imagine the contours of the Algerian nation."
Exile and the Politics of Return and Liberation: Algerian Colonial Workers and Anti-Colonialism in France During the Interwar Period
, Rabah Aissaoui
Algerian nationalists in the French political arena and beyond: the Etoile nord-africaine and the Parti du peuple algérien in interwar France
, Rabah Assaoui
:house_with_garden:
What were the local conditions that led to this?
Messali Hadj
#
served in the French army 1918-1921, attended university in Paris, joined PCF
Prominent political Algerian figures Ben Badis and Ferhat Abbas both protested in favour of citizenship or equality in their own ways, but neither called for independence
colonial migration; increased post WW1
Algerian workforce in France (100,000), some became radicalised by exposure to French socialist parties and unions
headquarters of the movement remained in Paris until 30s
:handshake:
In what ways was it connected to global anti-imperialist movements?
Hadj helped found the
League against Imperialism
congress in Brussels in 1927
Also in attendance:
Chinese Guomindang Party,
Jawaharlal Nehru, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya
J. T. Gumede, ANC South Africa
Mohammad Hatta, Perhimpoenan Indonesia
American & European intellectuals
aka.
League against Colonial Oppression
Links with
Parti Communiste Français
during 1920s
Initially focussed on North Africa as a whole
"In North Africa, they had regular contacts with Tunisian and Moroccan parties which had a clearly nationalist agenda such as the Destour and the Jeunes Marocains, but failed to rally the traditionally reformist Algerian-based political movements."
Algerian nationalists, Rabah Assaoui
Comité de Coordination des Associations noires et arabes*
Association syrienne de Paris
Académie arabe
Ligue de défense de la race nègre
Indochinese workers in France
Concerned with international issues
Ethiopia
Palestine
#
:fleur_de_lis:
What was the French reaction?
French Section of the Workers' International ignored the League against Imperialism
#
1937: left wing French government banned the ENA (Étoile nord-africaine)
French metropolitan left caught between the ideological directive to combat to combat colonialism and imperialism, and the anxieties and prejudices of the working class i.e. fear over immigration, jobs, exacerbated by the depression / recession of the 1930s
because of this, the most consistent support was found in the extreme, ideological left
hope was placed in a democratic process; elect the popular front, they will decolonise or reform. this did not happen.
:earth_africa:
What was the global reaction?
Socialist International ignored the League against Imperialism
#
being based in Paris, (and ideological?) most of the support was from communities of Algerian workers
outside
of Algeria itself
"The association's demands were as just as they were unrealistic at that time [1937 congress], and they attracted little support at home or abroad."
The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, 291
Yen Bay Mutiny
1930
:bulb:
What ideas underpinned this movement?
Viet-nam Quoc dan Dand (VNQDD) :arrow_right: Vietnamese Nationalist Party
Nationalism, independence
Aimed at inspiring nation-wide movement
:house_with_garden:
What were the local conditions that led to this?
Oppressive economic conditions
VNQDD launched an armed movement in conjuction with soldiers garissoned at Yen Bay
Location of Yen Bai province
VNQDD established 1927
Following failed violent resistance, their philosophy involved secret operations in resistance to the French
Strongest support for VNQDD was in the northern provinces
Assassination of a French labour recruiter caused a harsh crackdown by French authorities
VNQDD especially decimated by the purges
:: turned to more open confrontation
:handshake:
In what ways was it connected to global anti-imperialist movements?
Limited to just five provinces in the north of vietnam
Involved soldiers who had been trained by the French, feeding on the anxieties surrounding using colonial troops in WW1
VNQDD had consciously drawn influence from Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang or Nationalist Party of China
Transnational back and forth migration between France and Vietnam
especially student anti-imperialism
Annamite Independence Party founded 1927
“The agitation under which Indochina suffers finds in France one of its principal centers of support”
Anti-Imperial Metropolis: The Politics of Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans in Interwar Paris, Michael Goebel
:fleur_de_lis:
What was the French reaction?
Air bombardment
Indiscriminate reprisals targeting villages
Internal army purge:
long term forced labour,
life deportations,
long-term detentions,
death penalities
Very public executions
:earth_africa:
What was the global reaction?
Metropole
littérature coloniale
became critical, questioning
:newspaper: also more popular; was reproduced in newspapers :: had a large public audience
humanisme colonial
, focussing on the ‘Other’ as the point of colonialism rather than the ideology of imperialism
disillusionment
#
Yen Bay executions featured prominently in media coverage, leading to demonstrations, protests and expulsions of Vietnamese migrants involved in these back to Vietnam