Nationalist Movements in Latin Am, ME, and Africa

20th Century Nationalism

Onto Africa…

Resistance to Colonial Rule

• Discrimination – white settlers forced Africans off the best land in Kenya and Rhodesia– Restrict who can grow most lucrative crops

(coffee and sisal)

• Africans forced to carry ID cards, pay special taxes and travel was limited

Resistance Takes Many Forms

• Those who lost lands to Europeans sometimes squatted or settled illegally

• Workers started forming labor unions

• Socialism gains popularity

• Protests become common

Examples

• Kenya and the Kikuyu• Protested loss of land,

forced labor, heavy taxes, and ID cards

• Jailed the Kikuyu leaders• Nigeria• “Women’s War” –

reaction to British policies that restricted women’s positions in the markets– Machetes and sticks

Racial Segregation and Nationalism in South Africa

• 1910-1940 – whites imposed a system of racial segregation– Ensured white economic and political power, and

social supremacy

• Laws restrict better-paying jobs in mines to whites only– Blacks pushed into low-paid, less-skilled work

• Evicted from the best land– Forced to live on crowded reserves in infertile areas

• Abolish the right to vote in 1936

Apartheid in South Africa

• Post 1948, restrictive segregation laws become official, permanent laws

Pan-African Congress

• Led by African American scholar – WEB DuBois

• First met in Paris in 1919• Delegates from African colonies, the West

Indies, and the US called on Paris peacemakers to approve a charter of rights for Africans– Demands are ignored, but cooperation among

African and African American leaders is established

Egypt

• During WW I Egyptians were forced to provide food and workers to help Britain

• Resistance simmered • When the war ended Western-educated officials, peasants,

landowners, Christians, and Muslims united behind the WAFD party, launching strikes and revolts

• British finally agreed to declare Egypt independent– But British stayed to guard the Suez and remained the

indirect power behind the king• 1930s the Muslim Brotherhood develops – fosters a broad

Islamic nationalism that reject western culture and denounces widespread corruption in the Egyptian gov’t

Bye Bye Ottomans

• Collapsed officially in 1918• Arab lands divided up between British and

French, but the Turks resist and build Turkey

• Mustafa Kemal– leads Turkish nat’lists to overthrow the sultan– Defeats western occupation forces– Declares Turkey a republic– Nicknamed “Ataturk” – “father of the Turks”

Westernization– Replaces Islamic law with European models– Discards Muslim calendar for the Christian one– Replaces Arabic with the Latin alphabet– Dress code – western– Closed religious schools, opens thousands of

state schools– No more veil– Polygamy is outlawed– Women begin working outside the home– Industrial expansion

Turkey inspires…

• Iran• Greatly resent the British and Russians• 1925 Reza Khan overthrows the shah and

creates his own dynasty– Modernizes, makes Iran independent– Industrializes– Western clothing– Creates modern, secular schools– Secular law replaces the sharia– British still own the oil industry

Pan-Arabism

• Arabs had helped the Euro Allies fight the Ottomans and Central Powers in WWI (with promise of independence)

• Instead…Allies carve up the Ottoman lands “mandates”– Britain – Palestine and Iraq, Later Trans-Jordan– France – Syria and Lebanon

• Can we say betrayal? – 1920s and 30s – anger erupted in frequent protests

and revolts against the West– A particularly sensitive area?

• Palestine – Arab nationalists versus European Zionists (Jewish Nationalists)

• Russian Revolution

• Fascism

Struggle for Change in Latin America

Mexican Revolution

• Porfirio Diaz, rules Mexico, 35 yrs by 1910

• Landowners, businesses, and foreign investors are happy

• Majority (peasants living in poverty) are not– No land or education = no

hope

The Battle Begins

• Francisco Madero – liberal reformer who demands free elections

• Diaz imprisons him• Madero encourages

revolts, Diaz resigns• Madero becomes prez of

Mexico• Madero is murdered

within two years

Power Struggle

• Francisco “Pancho” Villa – Rebel from the north– Personal power– Wins loyalty from

followers

• Emiliano Zapata– Indian tenant farmer– Leads peasant revolt– Followers=Zapatistas

• Fighting goes on for years

• Around 1,000,000 are killed

• Peasants, small farmers, ranchers, and urban workers are all involved

• Soldaderas (women soldiers) cook, treat wounded, and fight with the men

Venustiano Carranza

• Elected 1917• Constitution of 1917

– Land, religion, and labor

• Break up estates• Restrict foreigners from

owning land• Allowed Nationalization

– Govt takeover of natural resources

– Sets minimum wage– Protects strike rights

The PRI

• Institutional Revolutionary Party– Created in 1929– Accommodated all groups in Mexican society

including busineses, military leaders, peasants, and workers

– Back reform– Suppressed oppression

Rising Tide of Nationalism

• Reclaiming oil fields from foreign investors renews sense of nationalism– Especially with United States

• Economic Nationalism – determined to develop their own economies and independence from foreign economic control

• Cultural Nationalism – revival of mural paintings

Jose Clemente Orozco

David Alfaro Siqueiros

Good Neighbor Policy

• During Mexican Revolution the United States supported leaders who it thought would best protect US interests

• 1914, attack Vera Cruz (imprisoning US sailors)• 1916, US invades b/c Pancho Villa killed over 12

Americans in Mexico• Result? Anti-American sentiments• 1920s Nicaragua, Augusto Cesar Sandino led guerrilla

movement against US occupied forces (Sandino Latin Am hero)

• 1930s FDR creates the good neighbor policy:– US withdrew troops in Haiti and Nicaragua, lifts legislature that

limited Cuban independence