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Universidad de Huelva Departamento Theodor Mommsen Weimar in Africa: human rights and government in the Spanish territories of the Gulf of Guinea, 1931-1936 Memoria para optar al grado de doctor presentada por: José Luis Bibang Ondo Eyang Fecha de lectura: 2 de julio de 2020 Bajo la dirección de los doctores: Carlotta Latini Carlos Petit Calvo Huelva, 2020 UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI CAMERINO School of Advanced Studies DOCTORAL COURSE IN Legal and Social Sciences Curriculum Fundamental Rights in the Global Society XXXII (32) cycle WEIMAR IN AFRICA: HUMAN RIGHTS AND GOVERNMENT IN THE SPANISH TERRITORIES OF THE GULF OF GUINEA, 1931-1936 PhD Student Supervisors José Luis Bibang Ondo Eyang Carlotta Latini and Carlos Petit 1 INDEX ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………………………………….p. 4 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………pp. 5-16 CHAPTER 1: THE COLONIAL QUESTION AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 1. The mandate system in the Treaty of Versailles…………………..................pp.17-25 2. The ILO and the social question in the colonial space………………………pp. 25-31 3. The Slavery Convention of 1926 and the Forced Labour Convention of 1930 (No 29)…………………………………………………………………………..pp. 31-45 4. Weimar and the new interwar social constitutionalism………………………….p.45 4.1. A constitution born and marked by a context of war and revolution…………………………………………………………………....pp.45-53 4.2. The Constitution of Weimar……………………………………………pp. 53-58 CHAPTER 2: DECLARATION OF THE REPUBLIC IN THE STGG 2.1 Spanish liberal constitutionalism and the legal statute of the STGG……………………………………………………………………………pp.59-73 2.2. The Republic, a Messiah for the forgotten STGG?........................................pp.74-77 2.2.1. Native voices in the Republic……………………………………………...p.77- 88 2.2.2. Voices of the colonial settlers in the Republic……………………………p. 88-98 2.3. The investigations conducted by Ricardo Ferrer Barbero………………….p. 99-106 2.4. The republican constituent assembly and the rights of the residents of the STGG………………………………………………………………………...pp. 106-113 CHAPTER 3: THE REPUBLICAN COLONIAL STATUTE 3.1. Short introduction………………………………………………………..pp. 114-115 3.2. The monarchy and the profitability of the STGG………..........................pp. 115-119 2 3.3. Administration of the STGG: bodies and territorial organization…………………………………………………………………...pp.119-123 3.4. Legislative competences of the GG……………………………………..pp. 123-130 3.5. Sanctioning competences of the GG……………………………………………………………………………pp.130-145 3.6. Diplomatic competences………………………………………………...pp. 146-147 3.7. Other directive competences………………………………………………..pp. 147 EPILOGUE: THE CIVIL WAR IN THE STGG: PERHAPS INSIGNIFICANT, BUT A DOCUMENTED EPISODE NEVERTHELESS I. Short introduction…………………………………………………………pp.148-149 II. From July 18th, 1936, to September 19th, 1936: the efforts of Luis Sánchez Guerra to maintain colonial public order………………………………………………..pp. 149-155 III. From September 19th to October 14th, 1936: the fall of the Republic within the Republic……………………………………………………………………...pp. 155-167 IV. From the conquest of Bata to the first colonial statute approved by the Franco Regime in 1938………………………………………………………………pp. 167-171 V. Final considerations………………………………………………………pp. 171-173 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………...pp. 174-176 I. BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………pp.177-193 II. THE AGA DOCUMENTATION………………………………………..pp. 193-199 III. THE PARLIAMENT SESSIONAL RECORD………………………..pp.199-200 IV. MAGAZINES OR JOURNALS………………………………………..pp. 200-203 V. NORMATIVE APPENDIX……………………………………………...pp. 203-206 3 ABREVIATIONS AGA: Archivo Genera de la Administración de Alcalá de Henares: General Archive of the Administration located in Alcalá de Hernares BOC: Boletín Oficial de los Territorios Españoles de Golfo de Guinea: CE’31: Constitución Española de 9 de diciembre de 1931: Spanish Constitution of December, 9th, 1931 DGMC: Dirección General de Marruecos y Colonias: General Directorate of Marocco and Colonies GG: Gobernador General de los Terriorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea: General Governor of the Spanish Territories of the Gulf of Guinea ILO: International Labour Organization RCS: Republican Colonial Staute RD: Real Decreto: Royal Decree STGG: Spanish Territories of the Gulf of Guinea 4 INTRODUCTION Interest in Equatorial Guinea studies has increased in these first two decades of the 21st century. In recent years, PhD theses, individual and co-authored monographs, scientific papers, documentaries, seminars and conferences, etc., have focused their attention on Guinea. Many of this research workin addition to the colonial period, further analyzes the 50 years extending from its independence in 1968 to nowadays1. However, apart from the effort scholars have made to immortalize Guinea both in its existence as a colony and as an independent state, it should be noted that other efforts have resulted in the diversification of the analyzed aspects about Guinea. Along with historical studies, which of course constitute the majority, we should also mention anthropological studies, which, thanks to ethnographic research in the field, have revealed a great deal of information about the cultures of the ethnic groups that compose Equatorial Guinea. Nor can we forget the studies carried out in fields such as literature or linguistics. Gender studies have not generated much interest yet, but even so, it is not 1 On the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Equatorial Guinea, a number of books covering this long period of Guinean history were published. We can highlight the following titles: J. A. YTURRIAGA BARBERÁN, Guinea Ecuatorial: 50 años de su independencia, Madrid, Editorial Pigmalion Edypro, 2018; C. M. EYA NCHAMA, Cincuenta aniversario de la independencia de Guinea Ecuatorial: Cruz Melchor Eya Nchama conversa con Gustavo Bueno Sánchez, Oviedo, Pentalfa Ediciones, 1918; J. Mª CALVO ROY, Guinea Ecuatorial: la ocasión perdida, Madrid, Sial Ediciones, 2019. 5 impossible to find some titles on the matter2. In short, the interest in research on Guinea is growing by the day and bibliographical references are becoming increasingly extensive3. However, despite these developments, the legal perspective has yet to capture the interest of scholars. Such lack of interest not only concerns contemporary or current researchers on Guinea, but also classic ones, that is, the ancient colonial agents or officials who wrote their memories or experiences about the colonozation of Guinea. If we except some classic research works like those of Olesa Muñido4 and Cordero Torres5, in addition to some legal articles bycomtemporary scholars like Petit (a pioneer in the field)6, Belmonte Medina, Clavero7, Carrasco González8, Campos Serrano9, Mikó Abogo10, and Mbomio Nvó11, the result is an almost complete lack of legal studies on either the colonial or post-colonial period of Guinean history. The present thesis constitutes one of the few studies carried out on Guinea until now, be it from a strictly legal perspective or from a historical-legal point of view. In the line initiated by Petit and Clavero, itintends to take an additional step toward overcoming the constitutional abstraction that continues to characterise the studies 2 In the field of gender studies, we can mention the following titles: J. RIOCHÍ SIAFÁ, Las mujeres de Guinea Ecuatorial. Una aproximación a los estudios de género, Madrid, Editorial Diwan Mayrit, 2018; J. ALLAN, Silenced Resistance: Women, Dictatorships, and Genderwashing in Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea (Women in Africa and the Diaspora), University of Wisconsin Press, 2019. 3 E. REUSS GALINDO, Guinea Española – Guinea Ecuatorial. Estudio de una biblioteca guineana, Libris (Asociación de Libreros de viejo), 2008 4 F. FELIPE OLESA MUÑIDO, Derecho penal aplicable a indígenas en los territorios españoles del Golfo de Guinea, Madrid, Anuario de Derecho Penal y Ciencias Penales (Instituto de Estudios Africanos), 1953 5 J. Mª CORDERO TORRES, Tratado elemental de derecho colonial español, Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1941 6 C. PETIT, Detrimentum Rei Publicae, en Portillo Valdés, José Mª y otros, Constitución de España en Guinea: Orígenes y destinos, Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales, 1998, pp. 425-494 7 B. CLAVERO, Bioko, 1837-1876: Constitucionalismo de Europa en África, derecho internacional consuetudinario del trabajo mediante, en Quaderni Fiorentini, nº 35, 2006, pp. 430-556 8 A. M. CARRASCO GONZÁLEZ, El Gobernador de Fernando Poo en el cambio de régimen, en e-Legal History, nº 10, 2010, pp. 1-27; Estatuto del indígena en la Guinea Española: nacionalidad, ciudadanía y capacidad, en e-Legal History, nº 12, 2011, pp. 1-44 9 A. CAMPOS SERRANO y P. MICÓ ABOGO, Trabajo y libertades sindicales en Guinea Ecuatorial, Madrid, Fundación Paz y Solidaridad Serafín Aliaga de Comisiones Obreras, 2006 10 Idem 11 P. MBOMIO NVÓ, La tutela constitucional del derecho de huelga: Propuesta de regulación del derecho de huelga en Guinea Ecuatorial, Madrid, Tesis Doctoral, UNED, Facultad de Derecho, Departamento de Derecho de la empresa, 2011 6 carried out on the colonial reality of Guinea. Indeed, with the aforementioned exceptions, almost all scholars often analyse the colonial reality of Guinea by divorcing it from the political ideologies that were expressed in the constitutions that applied to the metropolis during the colonial period. In fact, the constitutional abstraction that marks the historiographic studies on Guinea is not entirely unfounded. Inasmuch as the colonial space had always been formally declared outside of the constitutional realm, it