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SPECPOL African-Decolonization

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SPECPOL African-Decolonization Welcome Letter Dear distinguished delegates and faculty advisers, Greetings, I hope this message finds you well! Welcome to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL) at NAMUN 2017. I am Angela Hou, an undergraduate student pursuing a double major in International Relations and Ethics, Society, and Law at Trinity College, UTSG. I have been an avid Model UN enthusiast for six years, and I am extremely excited to meet all of you this upcoming February. And now over to my co-chair, Justin. Hello, my name is Justin Jassal and this is my first year staffing NAMUN and SPECPOL. However, I have participated in Model UN during my high school years, attending conferences across America as a delegate. I am now a second year student at University of Toronto studying Human Biology with intentions to practice dentistry. Outside of school, I like to swim, play basketball and record music. I hope you are all as excited as I am to dive into this committee in February. Justin and I are looking forward to meeting you in person, especially in the context of such a fascinating committee. SPECPOL is one of the vital committees under the UN’s largest organ, the General Assembly. While decolonization is a process that dominated SPECPOL’s agenda several decades ago, relations between former colonial powers and former colonies is nonetheless a prevalent topic in contemporary global affairs. In our simulation of SPECPOL, we will be discussing the following topics: -Major African Decolonization movements 60 years on -Financial Colonization -Arctic & Antarctic Colonization As co-chairs of this committee, Justin and I look forward to hearing your ideas and solutions to the topics on our agenda. We encourage you to honor NAMUN’s consistent dedication to academic quality by thoroughly researching your country policy beyond this background guide. We also hope you appreciate the complexity and sensitivities of said topics, and collaborate in the spirit of diplomacy. See you at NAMUN 2017! Sincerely, Angela Hou & Justin Jassal Introduction Decolonization is a hard but yet sought after process for countries to reach their ultimate goals of sovereignty. It is observed throughout history in many parts of the world, such as the American Revolution and the French Revolution. However, a more recent case is in the African territories. At the close of World War II, African leaders gained great power under European rule. In the decades that followed their sovereignty, they worked to shape their country’s political, economic, and cultural values. Some worked against these efforts and remained to pledge allegiance with the previously instilled European cultures. This displays the hardships of decolonization and emphasizes how long and variable of a process it can be. In essence, decolonization promised moments of glory, yet failed to live up to expectation. Leaders of African nations mostly accuse their failed attempts of decolonizing due to stronger European powers. Comparing decolonization in another timeline to this one is unfair because of the already strong European economy and influence. Therefore, at this point in time African civilizations are behind the whole world, thus making it harder for them to decolonize quickly. This is where SPECPOL needs to put their efforts; to aid and help the African territories independently sustain themselves. Definitions Decolonization The act of a colony subsiding from their colonizer and effectively taking full responsibilities of themselves. Sovereignty The authority of a state to govern itself or another state. Pro-West During the cold war, having values related to capitalism and general westernized culture. Pro-East During the cold war, having values related to socialism and general U.S.S.R culture. Marxism Is a method of socioeconomic analysis that analyzes class relations and societal conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and a dialectical view of social transformation. Neo-colonialism The practice of using capitalism, globalization and cultural imperialism to influence a developing country in lieu of direct military control (imperialism) or indirect political control (hegemony). Historical Background Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia in March 1966, spoke on the ideas of decolonizing. He realized that African territories had no choice but to rely on either the west or the east because of the lack of funds. At first, there were many optimistic thoughts regarding decolonization. During 1960, it was pronounced to be the “Year of Africa” because of the changes that were claimed to be brought about the entire continent. During that year, there was a fatal massacre deemed the Sharpeville massacre. Europeans showed their dominance as their police force shot into a crowd of innocent protesters, killing almost seventy people. The same year, seventeen other African territories gained independence from European rule. These nations later on joined the United Nations General Assembly to voice their concerns with the world. Harold Macmillan, prime minister of Great Britain in 1957, delivered a renown speech “Wind of Change” to the South African government. Macmillan fully recognized the potential for remarkable change to African territories and what it could to bring to global politics. “The growth of national consciousness in Africa is a political fact,” Macmillan said. He warned Western nations to change their attitude toward Africa to prevent the continent from falling under the influence of the East. This fear of Soviet influence in Africa created a major problem for the African nations. Western powers reflected independence onto the Africans through personal means via Cold War. This forced African leaders to choose a side for support—pro-west or pro-east. Initially, Africans wanted to maintain neutrality however did not have the defense or political power to maintain that goal. Nevertheless, Cold War stresses caused African politics to never form in a natural manner. This combined with a strong influence from their Colonial past caused African leaders to design their internal and external politics mindful of the Western powers’ vigilance against socialist or communist influences. Although Western European powers helped African Nations, they also forced their governments to support their agendas and aided in overthrowing their governments. They also instigated domestic turmoil to guarantee that governments unfriendly to their Cold War initiatives remained in power and those that were, were assassinated or politically ousted. For example, In Congo, Joseph Mobutu took a strong anti-communist view and was rewarded by Western Powers. Which unseeingly helped facilitate the murder of Patrice Lumumba, one of the most anti-democratic leaders in Africa. Mobutu’s rise to power and economic and political damage to Congo—with the help of Western friendlies—depicts that the politics of the Cold War, defined the successes and failures of African decolonization. In the 1960’s, during African neo-colonization, it was very much believed this time period was just another way of exploiting the continent. African leaders were constantly faced the with the problems of the continuation with economic and political interactions with former colonial powers. These powers constantly threatened their government and political viability. The former colonizers wanted to keep their previous lands within their influence and power. Thus, the continued corrupt relationships benefited the higher class but not for the nation as a whole. This caused great tension between the majority of the population and the small ruling class. Between the 1950’s and mid-1970’s, African leaders South of the Sahara took full control of their politics, economies, and resources as they entered into the brutal political trap i.e. the Cold War. In essence, European economic and political influence remains deeply entrenched in Africa throughout these periods because of their interests in maintaining access in Africa’s resources and governments. Poor African leadership and a focus on anti-communism cleared the way for political corruption among Africans. Decolonization, therefore, released Africans from their colonizers on paper, but failed to lead their nations independently and have fallen subject to political and economic exploitation. Issues The UN’s approach to decolonization is summarized in the words of Secretary- General Ban Ki Moon in 2010: “What we need now are creative solutions... [to] fulfill [the UN’s] obligations to supporting the legitimate aspirations of the peoples of these territories, a pragmatic and realistic approach”.1 This quote is quite telling of the current state of decolonization: as the number of non-self-governing territories decrease, the difficulty of resolving the remaining disputes increases. The most significant issue in the decolonization process is ensuring that newly independent states can sustain economic and political structures to achieve true autonomy and development. Many colonies have experienced the exploitation of natural resources by their former colonial powers. In addition, the sudden withdrawal of support and governance by former colonial powers can cause the newly independent states to experience a lack of regulatory capacity, human resources, and sufficient infrastructure overall. Such states are often new to all international and regional forums, which severely impacts their capacity for trade, foreign direct investment etc. Hence, decolonization is not just granting the
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