case study: kenya - university of alberta study: kenya “where settlers were many …the road to...

Case Study: Kenya“Where settlers were many … the road to independence was soaked in blood.” [Basil Davidson]

Local Issues: Settler Societies“Settler Colonies”: all colonial powers controlled colonies with white settler populations

‐most in Central, East and Southern Africa: e.g. Congo, Mozambique, Kenya, Rhodesia (North, South),  [Belgian, Portuguese, British]‐ others in North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia [French]; Libya [Italian]

Local Issues: Settler Societies“Settler Colonies”: all colonial powers controlled colonies with white settler populations

‐ post‐WWII: many attractive to Europeans  ‐‐ ‘escape’ from war‐torn countries

‐ Portuguese, Belgians: sponsored a ‘second colonization’ which complicated local social, political situations even more

Forced labourcontinued to underpinSettlerEconomy undernew emigration of 1950s.

Not until early 1970s was system reformed .

Portuguese Mozambique

Picturefrom 1960scould have been taken 30 or even

40 years earlier!

Portuguese Mozambique

Local Issues: Settler Societies“Issues” shaped both Settler Presence:

‐ presence of Europeans ensured frustrations  not only ‘legal’ and ‘administrative’ [e.g. Gold Coast] but personal, immediate

‐ ‘demands’ articulated in context of strongly felt racism

‐ laws, government: rooted in physical segregation, discrimination – ‘legalized racism’

Local Issues: Settler Societies… And Economy:

‐most settler colonies: economy based on European exploitation commercial agriculture 

‐ required alienating Africans from their land

‐ Congo exception: resources largely mineral, agriculture supported business

‐ all economies required forcing Africans to work in European enterprises

Local Issues: Settler Societies“Issues” arising from these situations:

‐ return of land‐ right to ‘self‐determination’ (as elsewhere) ‐ freedom of culture, religion, ideology‐ provision of educational access‐ overcoming of racial discrimination

Local Issues: Settler SocietiesProblem: ‘colonizer’ was not only the colonial power

‐ local (white) settlers had their own power usually articulated politics, military

‐ European colonial powers facing demands of settlers as well as Africans

Settler SocietiesSettler SocietiesSettlers:

‐demanded land, transport facilities

‐most importantly: access to African labour‐ laws demanded forced labourfrom  Africans

‐ ‘taxation’ achieved same goal: Africans forced to work for Europeans in order to earn cash to pay taxes!

Settler SocietiesSettler Societies

Settlers:‐ feared increasing competition from Africans in agriculture and commerce (accelerated as Africans educated)

‐ also feared Africans themselves: Africans outnumbered Europeans in all settler colonies

‐ increasingly, Africans preyed upon that ‐ overall: led to growing racism

Fear, Racism: resulted in repressive laws

‐ threats of violent punishment‐ strict urban segregation

‐ ‘pass laws’ to control movement Africans: between where they worked, lived – even where they were allowed to visit

Settler SocietiesSettler Societies

“Millions of man hours are spent annually at pass offices, registrationcentres and post-office counters throughout South Africa.”[scene could be anywhere in East or Southern Africa.]

[RHW Shepherd & PG Paver,African Contrasts, 57]

Pass Laws in South Africa

Kenyan Passbook (1957)

Kenyan Passbook (1959)

Settler SocietiesSettler SocietiesSettlers:

‐ demanded protection against African competition: small peasant farmers successfully supplying markets like Nairobi‐ demanded that colonial governments meet their needs . . .

. . . but increasingly wanted power to  meet needs themselves! Wanted their own autonomy!

Settler SocietiesEven as Britain, France moved towards 

decolonization in West African colonies[e.g. Gold Coast],

‐ settlers’ voices elsewhere competing successfully with Africans [e.g. Rhodesia, Kenya]

‐ 1948: Afrikaner Nationalist Party [white] won elections  on platform of ‘Apartheid’

‐ ‘separate development’: racist government ruled South  Africa until 1992

Settler SocietiesBelgium, Portugal:

‐ not considering reforms to colonies at all

France:

‐treated Algeria as exception to other colonies: no intention of letting go

‐ soon resulted in protracted War of Independence 

Settler Societies

Britain:  refused to grant independence to colonies while in hands of White Settlers

‐ ‘catch22’ for Africans: unable to negotiate with either ‘European’ or ‘Settler’ colonial governments 

Settler Societies: KenyaKenya prime example:

‐ settled by European merchants, commercial farmers in late 19th century

‐ ‘targeted’ Kenya as desirable ‘African Destination

‐ immigration rose significantly after WWI

Settler Societies: Kenya‘Model’ East African Colony:

‐excellent climate, soils (coffee, tea) meant colony prosperous

‐ also meant massive land expropriation in fertile central highlands and  in early days ‘Pacification’ [video]

‐ served by Mombasa‐Uganda railway: most important infrastructure investment in East Africa

[H.F. War & J.W. Milligan,Handbook of British East Africa, 1912, xxiii]

The Settler World: KenyaThe Settler World: KenyaMuthaiga Country Club(British East Africa)

[Isak Dinesen’s Africa, 16]

GovernmentHouse, Nairobi

[Isak Dinesen’s Africa, 21]

Nairobi Street(date? C. 1920? )

[Isak Dinesen’s Africa, 21]

The The ‘‘SettlerSettler’’ World: KenyaWorld: KenyaKaren Blixen and herServants

[Isak Dinesen’s Africa, 78]

Blixen’s Servants: headedby Farah, a Somali, Kikuyu farmhands.

[Isak Dinesen’s Africa, 79]

Central Highlands north of Nairobi: banana, coffee plantations

Settler Societies: KenyaPost‐WWII:

‐ liberalizing of restrictions on African political and union activities [as in West Africa]‐ both flourished in Kenya: increasingly radical‐ union activities: large strikes 1947‐50 ‐ 1946:Kenya African Union (KAU)‐ led by former  leader Young Kikuyu Association [similar to Nkruma, Convention Youth Party – Convention Peoples Party]

Kenya African Union Flag

Settler Societies: KenyaParty needed more ‘modern’, less ethnically based leadership [again, similar to CPP: Davidson Video]

‐ Jomo Kenyatta: returned from 17 years in England 

‐ active in same circles as Nkrumah‐ participated (with Nkrumah, others) in Pan‐Africanist Congress UK, 1945

Jomo Kenyatta

1953

Jomo KenyattaIn 1953

Settler Societies: KenyaAs leader of KAU toured country, attempting to:

- politicize and attract members- overcome ethnic divisions (exacerbated by colonial land policies)- gain support of disadvantaged groups- create ‘universal’ political base

Ultimate Goal: to negotiate with White Settler Regime

Settler Societies: Kenya1950: Settler Regime refused to negotiate, resulting in:

- sporadic clashes, increasing urbanviolence- KAU leaders arrested -- including Kenyatta-1000s fled to hills and forests in resistance

“Land and Freedom Army” -- known to British as ‘Mau Mau’

The “Land and Freedom Army”-members (above)- Leader Dedan Kimathi(right)

Settler Societies: Kenya‘Taking of  the Oath’:

‐much debate about nature of group

‐ nationalist? ethnic?

‐members required to take ‘Oath’ that reflected Kikuyu culture and opposition to British Rule [ see Add’l Rdgs]

‐ threat of Death (at the hands  of ‘Ngai’ –Kikuyu God) to anyone who betrayed Mau Mau

Settler Societies: Kenya"We used to drink the oath. We swore we would not let white men rule us forever. We would fight them even down to our last man, so that man could live in freedom." 

[Jacob Njangi, 

former Mau Mau fighter]

Settler Societies: KenyaStill Debated: Did Kenyatta Support Mau Mau?

‐ July 1952: Kenyatta speech to KAU

‘KAU speaks in daylight. He who calls us the Mau Mau is not truthful. We do not know this thing Mau Mau. . . .Our country today is in a bad state. … KAU seeks to remedy this situation and I tell you now it despises thieving, robbery and murder for these practices ruin our country. … Those people are wrecking our chances of advancement. They will prevent us getting freedom.”

[see ‘KAU is not Mau Mau’, Add’l Rdgs]

Settler Societies: Kenya1952 ‘State of Emergency’ Declared

‐ Governor of Kenya assured government that all would be normal in “just a few weeks”

‐ war lasted eight years, some 25,000 people died, many thousands severely affected

What began as battle to allow 29,000 white settlers to remain in control of Kenya

became not only ‘anti-colonial’ but ‘civil’ war

Mau Mau: KenyaBy the numbers:

‐Mau‐Mau killed:*32 British settlers *120 ‘home‐guards’, loyalists*5,000 non‐Mau Mau Africans

‐ British:*150,000 Africans interned (camps)*20,000 Africans killed

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau: an ‘anti‐colonial’ struggle 

‐ the story of ‘Freedom Fighters’ and colonial oppression

‐more than 100,000 Kikuyu interrogated for presumed sympathies with Mau Mau 

‐“processed” through, often interned in brutal labour camps.

Mau Mau: KenyaAn ‘anti‐colonial’ struggle: Hola Camp

‐victims allegedly castrated, burned alive

‐March 1959: eleven Mau Mau detainees  beaten to death by British guards amid an attempt to force prisoners to labour. ‐ now known as ‘Hola Camp Massacre’‐ also now known that British government was ‘aware’ and turned blind eye

Settler Societies: Kenya

Mau Mau: KenyaAn ‘anti‐colonial’ struggle: Hola Camp

‐ seen as a seminal moment, undermining legitimacy of British rule: British public disgusted

“ [It is not possible to have] “African standards in Africa, Asian standards in Asia and perhaps British standards here at home […] We cannot, we dare not, in Africa of all places, fall below our own highest standards in the acceptance of responsibility.”

[Enoch Powell, Speech to Commons]

British colonial officers stand guard over Kenyans suspected of being members of the Mau Mau while they search their homes for weapons.

British colonialists standing guard over Kenyans

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau: Civil War in the Making

"The opponents of the Mau Mau were those who did not share the values of the rebels, who rejected violence and armed struggle as a way forward, and who questioned the moral basis of the claims made by the rebels. . .  .  As the conflict went on, these divisions made it appear more and more like a civil war.“

[David Anderson, Histories of the Hanged]

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau from the Other Side: [from ‘British Must Not Re-Write History, Add’l Rdgs]

‐Mau Mau told as tale of “Evil Imperial Power” using internment, torture to oppress  African colony seeking “Freedom”:  fantasy version of history‐ it was a Terrorist Organisation run by the Kikuyu‐ “extremists” furious at theft of their land by white settlers, so launched war from ‘jungle’

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau from the Other Side:

‐ like many terrorist groups: enforced discipline against anyone not ‘with them’

‐ ‘loyalists’ [majority?] who served as Home Guards, co‐operated with British

‐ who refused to sign ‘Mau Mau Oath’

‐ what began as nationalist uprising turned into ethnic civil war.

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau from the Other Side:

‐most famous victims were white settler Ruck family ‐ January 1953: Mau Mau fighters stormed remote farm house, hacked to death parents and six‐year‐old son ‐ images (photos, newsreel) of bloodied teddy bears, broken toy trains inflamed British opinion [Davidson Video, ‘Africa –Rise of Nationalism: Kenya’, Add’l Rdgs]

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau from the Other Side:

‐ killing Europeans rare‐ “the Mau Mau preferred to kill Africans”‐ in total, they murdered at least 1,800 fellow Kikuyu and Africans from other tribes‐ African women and children were frequent targets.‐ just 200 British soldiers and 32 European settlers

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau from the Other Side: Lari Massacre March 1953

‐ “communicates the full horror of this war”‐ Lari populated by Kikuyu who refused to take Mau Mau oath [challenges ‘ethnic war’interpretation]‐ regarded as loyalists – ‘traitors’‐Mau Mau “descended upon the community like something from hell”‐ Some slashed to death or burned alive in their huts‐pregnant women were disemboweled, children murdered

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau from the Other Side: Lari Massacre 

‐massacre claimed 120 lives

‐ bitter memories still divide Lari today [compare with film, below]

Video“Scars of Lari”[Add’l Rdg.]

Mau Mau: Kenya‐ post‐independence Kenya refused to recognise Mau Mau claims on ancestral lands ‐ it was banned it as an organisation.

“The new independent country [of Kenya] did not hail these [Mau Mau] fighters as liberators. On the contrary, they were often regarded with embarrassment: Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, publicly called the Mau Mau"scum". [“Analysis”, Add’l Rdgs]

Settler Societies: Kenya‐ Kenyatta offered amnesty to Mau Mau still in forest (1963)

‐ but associated 

politically with 

many Kikuyu  

‘loyalists’

"Field Marshal" Mwariamasurrendering group ofFollowers to Kenyatta

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau Today:

‐ in October 2012, three Mau Mau veterans were granted right to ‘sue’ British government for torture they were subjected to during war

‐ lawyers for government tried to argue ‘out of time’ and ‘any suit should be brought against Kenya who inherited British responsibility’: they lost

Mau Mau Veteranstook on BritishGovernment –and WON!!

Mau Mau: KenyaMau Mau Today:

‐ concerns expressed that people around the world from former British empire could bring similar charges – and so they might

‐ case of the ‘three’ became case of over 5,000: they won

Each will receive roughly £2,600 in compensation (total of £13.9 million)

Mau Mau: Kenya

‐ Britain will also help to pay for a new memorial in Nairobi to “victims of torture and ill‐treatment during the colonial era”

‐ without admitting wrong‐doing: “The British Government recognises that Kenyans were subject to torture and other forms of ill treatment at the hands of the colonial administration. [We] sincerely regret that these abuses took place.”

Mau Mau: KenyaAs many celebrated, the press expressed 

ambivalence of former ‘rulers of empire’:

“Britain has done many bad things in its past and there’s nothing wrong with regretting that. But the narrative of history doesn’t always divide into good vsevil, oppressor vs oppressed. Sometimes it’s far more complicated than that, and we should avoid a tendency to rush to place or accept blame. . . .

The Mau Mau uprising is not a simplistic morality tale: it’s the story of one democracy ineptly managing the emergence of another”