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Colonial liberation is the freedom of colonial rule which is when a country of higher power disperses their control over poorer nations. Their power is most likely determined by the amount of wealth they hold; the more wealthy they are, the more dominance they can have. These strong countries will be able to implement settlements and the worst part is they would exploit the country’s resources, leaving them economically barren post colonisation.
The process of decolonisation is a long and hefty one. It is the process by which colonised nations become independent states and break free from the ruling of colonisers. There are many reasons for which countries regain their control over their nation, with one of the main reasons being the strong independence movements within these nations that begin to fight back against colonial rule. One of the most prominent movements was the campaign of civil disobedience in India which was implemented in hopes of removing the British Empire from their land.
The campaign was run by Gandhi and exhausted the British Empire due to its persistence. Even though India was an immensely poor country, they aimed at becoming a nation that advocated for neutralist anti-colonialism. The idea behind this was to eliminate colonialism through peaceful ways without the need for a colonial war. Nonetheless, since this occurred just after World War 2, the British Empire lacked the wealth and political support to fight colonial revolts. Hence, to save themselves from a potential downfall of their system, they granted the Indian state independence in August of 1947. After months of protests, marches and hunger strikes led across the country by Gandhi himself, the nation was able to liberate itself from British India to become India.
Despite the fact that certain nations managed to break free from colonist clutches in somewhat peaceful ways, some nations did not have that option as the grip of their colonial ruling was too strong in order for them to gain independence. These nations had to undergo wars to fight back against their colonisers. This occurred mainly during the decolonisation in Africa.
Africa was one of the continents that was stricken by colonial rule for a long period of time. They were subjected to colonialism before the 20th century and suffered terribly from its consequences. An example of a decolonization war was in North Africa, when a majority of the nations were under French rule. France faced a crisis in Algeria when an independence movement called the National Liberation Front formed in 1954. A war broke out which spread to Morocco and Tunisia; two former French colonies.
The war was so wide scale that it ended up threatening the French Colonial Empire itself. The protectorates of Morocco and Tunisia were granted independence in March of 1956. However, Algeria was too crucial to France to be given up and events took a much more violent turn, leading to a brutal 8 year war which ended in March of 1962. The Evian Accords allowed Algeria to obtain independence at that time as well. After 1957, a lot of colonized nations in sub-Saharan Africa were also given independence.
History has exposed the detrimental consequences of colonialism, which was fueled by the Western Nations’ disposition of expanding their land and wealth. It shows how many of them— such as the French or British Empire—would go to great lengths to exploit resources and people from these nations through the means of slavery or forced labour. Even though many of these nations were able to liberate themselves from colonial rule, the consequences and aftermath that came along with it was another hurdle to jump over.
Postcolonialism is a disease that affects all nations that were previously under colonial rule. Many countries were economically affected by colonialism, leaving them stricken with poverty due to mass exploitation of their resources. The economy was left with nothing. A good example of this would be Asia and Africa because both of these continents still struggle severely with the aftermath of colonialism. Many nations within these continents have the biggest gaps between the wealthy and poor, which is proven by their high rates of homelessness and people way below the income gap due to unequal distribution of wealth within these nations. In addition, if we take a look at the British Museum in London, one of the main tourist spots in Britain, it is simply the biggest collection of stolen goods from previously colonised countries.
Additionally, a serious effect of colonisation would be the ideologies left in colonized nations. Often, the racist ideologies brought over from these Western nations have become irreversibly stuck in Asian and African cultures. The idea that ‘white skin colour’ is better and overpowers all other skin tones is very much a colonialist belief. That is why in many Eastern and African nations, the media uses this idea to sell products pertaining to the western standard of beauty. These products can be detrimental to people’s health as well as their thinking which will continue to diffuse into younger generations.
In conclusion, colonialism is not ideal in any circumstance as its economic and social consequences remain to this day, which goes to show how deprecating it is. The ability of these oppressed nations that were able to break free from colonial rule was already a tough process. Although liberation is amazing, to obtain it may take years of struggle, such as these colonies had to go through, and even then, colonial liberation doesn’t equate to the end of that fight.
By: Keerthi
