African Reaction to Colonialism Through Resistance and Collaboration Essay

By the end of World war I, most of Africa had been effectively colonized. European compoundists had managed to quell the efforts by Africans to resist the establishment of colonial rule. The next twain decades, the extremity historians call the inter-war historic period, were relatively quiet years in colonial Africa. This relative quiet, however, did not demonstrate that the colonized people of Africa were happy with colonial rule-that in that location was no opposition to colonialism.During the inter-war years opposition to colonialism was denotative in one of the following forms Demands for opportunity and inclusion Many Africans at this time featureed the humankind of colonial rule merely they did not accept the harsh discrimination and the lack of opportunity that was a central part of the colonial experience. Opposition to these aspects of colonialism was especially unanimous among enlightened Africans.Educated Africans believed that all man are created equal. Dis criminatory colonial policies and practice curtail economic opportunities and participation in the political process. During this period, educated Africans create organizations to promote their interest for an end to discriminative policies and for an increase in opportunities. However, these organizations had limited membership, and they did not top radical demands for the end of colonial rule. The South African subject field Congress and the West African National Congress (Nigeria/Ghana) are ideals of elite African organizations. spectral opposition A number of the early anti-colonial up-risings feature in the last section were led by religious leaders. The Chimurenga (Zimbabwe) and Maji-Maji (Tanganyika) uprisings were led by African priests who were potently opposed to colonial rule. This tradition of religious opposition to colonialism continued throughout the 20th century. However, unlike the in the beginning acts of religious resistance, the new opposition was led by African Christians.African Christians took seriously the Christian teachings on equality and fairness-values that were not practiced by colonial regimes. By the 1920s, some African Christian leaders were forming their own churches, sometimes called African Independent church servicees. These churches that were formed in Southern, Eastern, Central and West Africa, provided a strong voice for justice. hotshot of galore(postnominal) examples is the Kimbaguist Christian Church formed in the Congo by Simon Kimbangu in the 1920s.In spite of Kimbangus imprisonment for many years by the Belgians, the Kimbanguist church grew rapidly. When the Congo became commutative in 1960, the church had a membership of everyplace one million. Economic opposition During this time period economic opposition was often not healthy organized. However, there were attempts in the 1920s and 1930s by mine workers in southern Africa and port workers in West and East Africa to organize into unions. While imp ortant, these activities had teensy-weensy impact on the majority of African peoples.Of great impact were the less organized but much widespread efforts of African farmers to resist colonial demands on their labor and their land. Module Nine African Economies provides an example of how small scale African farmers in Mali quietly, but effectively, resisted the attempts by colonial officials to control the production of cotton. mess hall protests During the inter-war era, there were few mass protests against colonial policies. One of the most important and interesting exceptions was the Aba Womens warfare that took place in southeastern Nigeria in 1929.Ibo merchandise women were upset with a number of colonial policies that exist their economic and social position. In 1929, the women staged a series of protests. The largest protest included more than 10,000 women who had cover their faces with blue paint and carried fern-covered sticks. The women were able to destroy a number of colonial buildings before soldiers stopped the protest, violent death more than fifty women in the process. Not surprisingly in contemporary Nigeria, the Aba Women are considered to be bailiwick heroes