Instructions for Historical Op-Ed assignments
What is an op-ed?
Op-ed is short for “opposite the editorial page,” though is often interpreted as “opinioneditorial.” Op-eds regularly appear in major and not-so-major newspapers such as the
Seattle Times, Daily Evergreen, or the Moscow- Daily News. While you will take a
position on a topic, you will ground your position not in feeling or belief (opinion) but in
substantiated evidence (historical analysis).
Who is your audience?
Your audience for this essay is not an academic one but the general reading public. Write
in a way that engages the casual newspaper reader. Because this assignment asks you to
simulate a newspaper column, it is imperative that you keep within the word limits of 500750 words.
What is the purpose of an op-ed?
Your goal in a historical op-ed is to connect an important and very specific contemporary
event or controversy to the historical issue (colonialism & capitalism, carbon & politics,
race & racism, war & terror, Israel-Palestine).
Basic questions that should inform any good historical op-ed include:
•
How does the past help us better understand today's world?
•
In what ways do past events clarify the origins problems we face in the present?
•
Do past events parallel present-day controversies?
•
How does an understanding of the historical origins of a current problem help us solve
the problem?
•
How might we learn from the mistakes or triumphs of the past?
How do I approach and structure an op-ed?
Your op-ed must: range from 500-750 words, excluding the title, be single-spaced with
paragraphs of no more than 3-4 sentences; use 12-point font and one-inch margins.
First, select a specific, concrete current event and/or controversy that can be better
understood by looking at the past. Scour recent headlines to find your hook. Write a
succinct argument about the event/controversy. This is called the “lede.”
Second, provide at least 3 concrete historical examples drawn from assigned readings,
films, and in class discussions that inform and support the argument you are making about
the contemporary event/controversy in question. At least one of your examples must come
from a primary source.
Quote sparingly and when you do, be sure to set up and provide context for quotes. While
you need to provide Chicago-style footnote citations for your sources in your op-ed (you
should have at least three), you should also cue your examples in the text of the op-ed itself.
For example…
•
“In a 1915 letter to Sharif Husayn, Sir Henry McMahon wrote…”
•
Or…”In his 2001 book Late Victorian Holocausts, historian Mike Davis argued…”
Third, return to your argument and to the contemporary event/controversy in question in
your conclusion.
*Consult the example provided in the course reader, examples published in newspapers,
and visit theopedproject.org for additional structural guidance.
V
The Code Noir, 1685
Describe and give the numbers of the articles in the "Code Noir" that place
restrictions on slaves and slave masters.
What does the "Code Noir" say about the relationship between race and slavery?
Edict of the King:
On the subject of the Policy regarding the Islands of French America March 1685
Recorded at the sovereign Council of Saint Domingue, 6 May 1687.
Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre: to all those here present and to those
to come, GREETINGS. In that we must also care for all people that Divine Providence has put
under our tutelage, we have agreed to have the reports of the officers we have sent to our Ameri-
can islands studied in our presence. These reports inform us of their need for our authority and
our justice in order to maintain the discipline of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith in the
islands. Our authority is also required to settle issues dealing with the condition and quality of
the slaves in said islands. We desire to settle these issues and inform them that, even though they
reside infinitely far from our normal abode, we are always present for them, not only through the
reach of our power but also by the promptness of our help toward their needs. For these reasons,
and on the advice of our council and of our certain knowledge, absolute power and royal authority,
we have declared, ruled, and ordered, and declare, rule, and order, that the following pleases us:
Article I. We desire and we expect that the Edict of 23 April 1615 of the late King, our most
honored lord and father who remains glorious in our memory, be executed in our islands. This
accomplished, we enjoin all of our officers to chase from our islands all the Jews who have estab-
lished residence there. As with all declared enemies of Christianity, we command them to be gone
within three months of the day of issuance of the present [order], at the risk of confiscation of
their persons and their goods.
Article II. All slaves that shall be in our islands shall be baptized and instructed in the Roman,
Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. We enjoin the inhabitants who shall purchase newly-arrived
Negroes to inform the Governor and Intendant of said islands of this fact within no more that
eight days, or risk being fined an arbitrary amount. They shall give the necessary orders to have
them instructed and baptized within a suitable amount of time.
Article III. We forbid any religion other than the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith from
being practiced in public. We desire that offenders be punished as rebels disobedient of our
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Roots of Contemporary Issues
orders. We forbid any gathering to that end, which we declare to be conventicle, illegal, and sedi-
tious, and subject to the same punishment as would be applicable to the masters who permit it or
accept it from their slaves.
Article IV. No persons assigned to positions of authority over Negroes shall be other than a mem-
ber of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, and the master who assigned these persons shall
risk having said Negroes confiscated, and arbitrary punishment levied against the persons who
accepted said position of authority.
Article V. We forbid our subjects who belong to the so-called "reformed" religion from causing
any trouble or unforeseen difficulties for our other subjects or even for their own slaves in the
free exercise of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, at the risk of exemplary punishment.
Article VI. We enjoin all our subjects, of whatever religion and social status they may be, to
observe Sundays and the holidays that are observed by our subjects of the Roman, Catholic, and
Apostolic Faith. We forbid them to work, nor make their slaves work, on said days, from midnight
until the following midnight. They shall neither cultivate the earth, manufacture sugar, nor per-
form any other work, at the risk of a fine and an arbitrary punishment against the masters, and of
confiscation by our officers of as much sugar worked by said slaves before being caught.
Article VII. We forbid them also to hold slave markets or any other market on said days at the
risk of similar punishments and of confiscation of the merchandise that shall be discovered at the
market, and an arbitrary fine against the sellers.
Article VIII. We declare that our subjects who are not of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic
Faith, are incapable of contracting a valid marriage in the future. We declare any child born from
such unions to be bastards, and we desire that said marriages be held and reputed, and to hold and
repute, as actual concubinage.
Article IX. Free men who shall have one or more children during concubinage with their slaves,
together with their masters who accepted it, shall each be fined two thousand pounds of sugar. If
they are the masters of the slave who produced said children, we desire, in addition to the fine,
that the slave and the children be removed and that she and they be sent to work at the hospital,
never to gain their freedom. We do not expect however for the present article to be applied when
the man was not married to another person during his concubinage with this slave, who he should
then marry according to the accepted rites of the Church. In this way she shall then be freed, the
children becoming free and legitimate...
Article XI. We forbid priests from conducting weddings between slaves if it appears that they do
not have their masters' permission. We also forbid masters from using any constraints on their
slaves to marry them without their wishes.
Article XII. Children born from marriages between slaves shall be slaves, and if the husband and
wife have different masters, they shall belong to the masters of the female slave, not to the master
of her husband.
Article XIII. We desire that if a male slave has married a free woman, their children, either male
or female, shall be free as is their mother, regardless of their father's condition of slavery. And if
the father is free and the mother a slave, the children shall also be slaves. ...
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Roots of Inequality: Race and Racism
Article XV. We forbid slaves from carrying any offensive weapons or large sticks, at the risk of
being whipped and having the weapons confiscated. The weapons shall then belong to he who
confiscated them. The sole exception shall be made for those who have been sent by their masters
to hunt and who are carrying either a letter from their masters or his known mark.
Article XVI. We also forbid slaves who belong to different masters from gathering, either dur-
ing the day or at night, under the pretext of a wedding or other excuse, either at one of the mas-
ter's houses or elsewhere, and especially not in major roads or isolated locations. They shall risk
corporal punishment that shall not be less than the whip and the fleur de lys, and for frequent
recidivists and in other aggravating circumstances, they may be punished with death, a decision
we leave to their judge. We enjoin all our subjects, even if they are not officers, to rush to the
offenders, arrest them, and take them to prison, and that there be no decree against them....
Article XVIII. We forbid slaves from selling sugar cane, for whatever reason or occasion, even
with the permission of their master, at the risk of a whipping for the slaves and a fine of ten
pounds for the masters who gave them permission, and an equal fine for the buyer.
Article XIX. We also forbid slaves from selling any type of commodities, even fruit, vegetables,
firewood, herbs for cooking and animals either at the market, or at individual houses, without a
letter or a known mark from their masters granting express permission. Slaves shall risk the con-
fiscation of goods sold in this way, without their masters receiving restitution for the loss, and a
fine of six pounds shall be levied against the buyers....
Article XXVII. Slaves who are infirm due to age, sickness or other reason, whether the sickness
is curable or not, shall be nourished and cared for by their masters. In the case that they be aban-
doned, said slaves shall be awarded to the hospital, to which their master shall be required to pay
six sols per day for the care and feeding of each slave....
Article XXXI. Slaves shall not be a party, either in court or in a civil matter, either as a litigant
or as a defendant, or as a civil party in a criminal matter. And compensation shall be pursued in
criminal matters for insults and excesses that have been committed against slaves....
Article XXXIII. The slave who has struck his master in the face or has drawn blood, or has simi-
larly struck the wife of his master, his mistress, or their children, shall be punished by death....
Article XXXVIII. The fugitive slave who has been on the run for one month from the day his
master reported him to the police, shall have his ears cut off and shall be branded with a fleur de lys
on one shoulder. If he commits the same infraction for another month, again counting from the
day he is reported, he shall have his hamstring cut and be branded with a fleur de lys on the other
shoulder. The third time, he shall be put to death.
Article XXXIX. The masters of freed slaves who have given refuge to fugitive slaves in their
homes shall be punished by a fine of three hundred pounds of sugar for each day of refuge.
Article XL. The slave who has been punished with death based on denunciation by his master,
and who is not a party to the crime for which he was condemned, shall be assessed prior to his
execution by two of the principal citizens of the island named by a judge. The assessment price
shall be paid by the master, and in order to satisfy this requirement, the Intendant shall impose
said sum on the head of each Negro. The amount levied in the estimation shall be paid for each
of the said Negroes and levied by the [Tax] Farmer of the Royal Western lands to avoid costs....
157
Roots of Contemporary Issues
Article XLII. The masters may also, when they believe that their slaves so deserve, chain them
and have them beaten with rods or straps. They shall be forbidden however from torturing them
or mutilating any limb, at the risk of having the slaves confiscated and having extraordinary
charges brought against them.
Article XLIII. We enjoin our officers to criminally prosecute the masters, or their foremen, who
have killed a slave under their auspices or control, and to punish the master according to the cir-
cumstances of the atrocity. In the case where there is absolution, we allow our officers to return
the absolved master or foreman, without them needing our pardon.
Article XLIV. We declare slaves to be charges, and as such enter into community property. They
are not to be mortgaged, and shall be shared equally between the co-inheritors without benefit
to the wife or one particular inheritor, nor subject to the right of primogeniture, the usual cus
toms duties, feudal or lineage charges, or feudal or seigneurial taxes. They shall not be affected
by the details of decrees, nor from the imposition of the four-fifths, in case of disposal by death
or bequeathing...
Article XLVII. Husband, wife and prepubescent children, if they are all under the same master,
may not be taken and sold separately. We declare the seizing and sales that shall be done as such
to be void. For slaves who have been separated, we desire that the seller shall risk their loss, and
that the slaves he kept shall be awarded to the buyer, without him having to pay any supplement....
Article LV. Masters twenty years of age may free their slaves by any act toward the living or due to
death, without their having to give just cause for their actions, nor do they require parental advice
as long as they are minors of 25 years of age.
Article LVI. The children who are declared to be sole legatees by their masters, or named as
executors of their wills, or tutors of their children, shall be held and considered as freed slave...
Article LVIII. We declare their freedom is granted in our islands if their place of birth was in our
islands. We declare also that freed slaves shall not require our letters of naturalization to enjoy
the advantages of our natural subjects in our kingdom, lands or country of obedience, even when
they are born in foreign countries.
Article LIX. We grant to freed slaves the same rights, privileges and immunities that are enjoyed
by freeborn persons. We desire that they are deserving of this acquired freedom, and that this
freedom gives them, as much for their person as for their property, the same happiness that natu-
ral liberty has on our other subjects.
Versailles, March 1685, the forty second year of our reign.
Signed LOUIS
and below the King
Colbert, visa, Le Tellier.
Read, posted and recorded at the sovereign council of the coast of Saint Domingue, kept at Petit
Goave, 6 May 1687,
Signed Moriceau.
158
V
Lawyers' Arguments for Francisque... Paris, 1759
Who is Francisque and what is at stake for him in this 1759 trial in Paris, France?
Describe the meaning and logistics of France's Freedom Principle insofar as
Francisque's lawyers convey its meaning.
What two main arguments do Francisque's lawyers put forth in support of his freedom?
Lawyers' Argument for Francisque, of the Nation of India, Novice in the Roman
Catholic Church, Defendant, against Sir Allain François Ignace Brignon, Calling
Himself "Esquire," Appellant, Paris, France, 1759
Editor's Note
In 1759, the Parlement of Paris ruled, for its first and last time, on the status of slaves in France. The case
is peculiar in that the slave in question, Francisque, came not from the heart of France's slave empire in the
Americas, but rather from its outpost in India, Pondichéry.
The Parlement beard this case on appeal. The lower Admiralty Court had ruled in favor of the slave, ordering
bis master, Sir Brignon, to pay Francisque 800 livres for eight years back wages, plus 200 livres in interest and
damages for his imprisonment during the trial.
This document is Francisque's lawyers' argument from that appeal. It was not unusual for lawyers to dis-
tribute pamphlets summarizing their cases throughout Paris. These pamphlets were designed to stir up public
opinion, and -unlike all other
publications in France-they were not subject to royal censorship.
FACTS
Can an Indian, a native of Pondichéry under French rule, who has been subjected to the rigors of
slavery from the age of eight years and since then enlightened to the Christian truths and devoted
to their practice, can he, after ten years of residence in France, justifiably claim to have acquired
the freedom that this monarchy offers? Can he legitimately believe himself to be freed from the
yoke of servitude against a nomadic Frenchman who, without any intention of returning to the
Indies, has for the same eight years lived in Paris? This is the interesting question that has pitted
misery against opulence: a question that has already been decided in favor of the slaves of Amer-
ica, for whom our sovereigns have pronounced laws. But it is a relatively new question with regard
to Indians because, born free, nowhere in the archives of justice can be found any individual guid-
ance regarding their emancipation in this kingdom.
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Roots of Contemporary Issues
France, this land where the privileges of humanity have for their fundamental principle the laws
of nature, where the purest sentiment is the soul of the legislation, France is homeland of Sir Bri-
gnon. He was born in the city of Saint Malo in northwestern France. Little favored by fortune, he
felt a commendable desire to cross the seas. He was drawn to distant countries to find treasures
that he had not discovered at his own hearth. By his own industry he made up for what he lacked
in inheritance. If only his useful talents-which can only be honored-had remained untouched
by the pride and arrogance of upstarts! Then he would not have to fight the natural and wise laws
of his country today,
Around the year 1747 or 1748, Sir Brignon was in Pondichéry in the East Indies and already pre-
paring to return to France when he came up with an extravagant plan to introduce slavery to this
free nation. Drunk with the pleasure of astonishing his compatriots' eyes with the riches he had
acquired in his travels, he bought two young black Indians for the sum of five rupees each. Their
first assignment was as decoration of a procession during his voyage to the too-celebrated capital
of Portugal. Then, as he could extract no more useful service from them because they were so
young, he sent them to his mother in Saint Malo. She carefully had them instructed in the Catho-
lic faith and they were baptized.
After two or three years, Sir Brignon returned to his homeland loaded with rather considerable
goods to establish himself and live honorably. His ambition apparently satisfied (or at least not
permitting him to undertake any further long-distance journeys), he came to establish himself in
the capital, in the center of luxurious opulence. ... He bought an elevated and dominating plot [in
Paris). There he built a kind of castle, laid out formal gardens, planted groves. In a word, nothing
was spared to make a sumptuous residence.
From 1750, when Sir Brignon established himself in this city, until 1757, he had in his service
the two Indians. ... He claims that he always planned to send them back to the French colo-
nies and, since their arrival in Saint Malo, he annually registered them with the Admiralty
Clerk as the Code Noir requires of American merchants who bring slaves to France with the
intention of returning them to the colonies. ... As will be shown, these registrations are insuffi-
cient, irregular, and of no effect by themselves.
...At last, reason began to kindle within [the Indians]; the spark of natural liberty, the love of
which is born in all men, soon made itself felt. Soon they sought to achieve the condition of their
neighboring domestic servants. The condition of our valets appeared to them fortunate, com-
pared to their own. They looked for other masters, masters that they could not leave if they were
not treated well.
It is well known that Indian Blacks, quite unlike the Negroes of Africa, are usually good domes-
tics. Consequently, these two young men found new positions immediately. Two months passed
since Francisque entered the service of Sir Mersent-who was completely satisfied with him-
when he was suddenly abducted and sent to the Bicêtre prison by means of a King's Order, which
Sir Brignon obtained under false pretenses.
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Roots of Inequality: Race and Racism
On 4 February 1758, Mr. Collet, the king's attorney general (who donated his efforts without cost
to this unfortunate as well as to his comrade André) presented a petition on behalf of these two
Indians to the Admiralty Court. ...
While waiting for the Admiralty Court to rule on the case, André disappeared, never to be heard from again.
On June 16, 1758, the Admiralty Court ruled in Francisque's favor.
Francisque's lawyers, Jolly de Fleury, De La Roue, and Collet, wanted the Parlament of Paris to sustain the
Admiralty Court's ruling on several grounds. Beginning with natural law, they asserted that freedom is a
"gift of nature" that can only be infringed upon by the laws of men. They then surveyed the wide prevalence
of slavery in human history and attributed its gradual cessation in Europe to the expansion of Christianity.
Turning to the debates surrounding the origins in the name "France" and reviewing the history of French
kings offering protection to serfs and slaves as early as 1141 C.E., Francisque's lawyers offered the following
argument
Some, seeing in the term "France" the corruption of franche [i.e., "free") have thought that the
name of the crown derives from the term Terre franche ["free land"). Others believe that it comes
from the Teutonic word Frank, which, in its literal translation, means “free." Finally, others trace
the word to two German words, Frein and Hans, which together mean “free heroes." All these
ideas come together in the notion that the liberty that one breathes in these climates announces
itself to all the nations because it is impossible to name this Monarchy without having the word
"freedom" on one's lips. ...
Two reflections are enough to destroy the arguments of Sir Brignon. (1) The laws comprising the
Code Noir have nothing to do with Indians, a free people. They were only published for America
and not the other countries where the trade of Negro slaves is tolerated. (2) Even supposing Fran-
cisque were American or African, his slavery ceased the moment that he entered France because
Sir Brignon failed to fulfill the formalities of the laws of 1716 and 1738.
FIRST ARGUMENT
The Indians are a free people. The yoke of slavery was never imposed upon them. Sir Brignon
alludes to this fact in declaring that he bought Francisque from the child's mother. If this mother
had not been free, she could not have sold her own son.
Indians, educated in various admittedly-idolatrous sects, regulated by laws, submitted to mon-
archs, rich by the fertility of their lands, perpetuated through an ancient system of kinship, have
only needed the European nations for the purpose of cultivating their lands and regulating their
cities, as they have done in America.
If, by the color of their skin, the individuals born besides the Indus and the rivers that feed it
bear some resemblance to the Negroes of Africa, they at least differ from them in that their noses
are not so flat, their lips are not thick and protruding, and instead of the wooly frizzy down that
covers the heads of Africans, they have long and beautiful hair, similar to that which decorates
European heads.
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Roots of Contemporary Issues
Such is Francisque: It suffices to see him to be convinced that he was not born on the burning
sands of Guinea or Senegal.... Disregarding his color, he looks more European than many Euro-
peans, who need only black skin to appear African.
...Are there laws that authorize slavery for blacks? Yes, without a doubt there are. Can these laws
be applied to Indians serving in countries other than America? Assuredly not.
[The lawyers set forth a history of the introduction of slavery to the Americas, blaming the Spanish for the
"cruel extermination" of the Native Americans.]
But the East Indies must be distinguished from these newly populated lands, which are improp
erly referred to as the "West Indies." The climates of the East Indies have been well known for
many years, always populated and inhabited. Even the city of Pondichéry, Francisque's homeland,
counts more than 120,000 citizens, of whom more than 100.000 are natives. The Indians of these
countries know how to value the land, conduct commerce, build and maintain factories. And it
has never occurred to any people to establish colonies there. All the nations of Europe neverthe-
less participate in trade there.
And while it is true that the slave trade was permitted in India, and particularly Pondichéry,
where the establishment of our trading company is situated, as the laws of 1716 and 1738 were only
promulgated for the good of commerce with America, it is certain that, in entering the kingdom,
Francisque has acquired freedom that the constitutions of the state assure to all slaves who have
the good fortune to be brought here.
SECOND ARGUMENT
Supposing that the laws concerning the slaves of America may be suspiciously applied to the
Indians ... it is indisputable that Sir Brignon lost the right that he might have had over Francisque
because of his failure to fulfill the requirements of the Code Noir.
What do these formalities consist of? [The lawyers quoted "literal terms as they are prescribed by the
Edit of October 1716 and by the Declaration of 15 December 1738" specifying what types of permissions slave-
owners need to get, and from whom, to bring slaves into France.]
What is the purpose of these formalities? It is perfectly clear that they suspend the effect of
manumission which operates in the law by the slaves' simple crossing of the border into France.
But manumission is only suspended for slaves from America, whose service is attached to some
residence, and whose masters intend to return to the colonies so that these masters will not be
obliged to purchase other slaves. ...
Has Sir Brignon (who does not appear to have come from America) fulfilled these requirements?
Not only does he not present any permission according to him, whether by a governor or by a
commander, to bring or send the two slaves that he bought to France, but he is completely unable
to present any declaration made by him to the clerk of the [Parisian] Table of Marble [Admiralty
Court) upon the arrival of these slaves, despite having held them in Paris for nearly ten years.
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Roots of Inequality: Race and Racism
Moreover, Francisque has in his sack a certificate from the Clerk of this district, dated January 4,
1758, demonstrating that his former master never made any declaration
Sir Brignon alleges in vain that he had been supplied by the Admiralty of Saint Malo with a decla-
ration that he made upon his arrival at that port and that since that time he has renewed it every
two years. Since when is it permitted to go around the specific regulations in the law?...
Moreover, it is obvious that, if Sir Brignon has not fulfilled these formalities, it is because, having
no intention of returning, possessing no permanent residence in the colonies, inclined to remain
in Paris, he has regarded as useless and superfluous all the precautions that would make it possible
to bring or send this slave back to his homeland, and in so doing, would at the same time give him
his freedom, since India, from which he came from, is a free country.
The remainder of the pamphlet addressed the objections of Sir Brignon's lawyers: The laws of some regions of
France still recognize forms of servitude that are similar to slavery so it is not true that there are no slaves in
France; Francisque is a minor and cannot claim bis own manumission; Francisque recognizes his owns statusas
a slave, and as a slave, he cannot bring charges in a judicial court; Brignon always intended to send Francisque
back to the colonies; Francisque cost Brignon a lot of money--wbo will reimburse the price of his merchandise?
Francisque's lawyers responded that vestiges of ancient servitude (such as forms of serfdom) are not the same as
slavery; Francisque does not need to be an adult to reclaim his free status; Francisque became free as soon as he
arrived in France-he has been wrongfully denied the enjoyment of that free status and seeks to have it recog"
nized; if Brignon sends Francisque back to his native India, rather than America, Francisque will be free upon
arrival in his homeland; Brignon purchased Francisque for a mere five rupees-what is that in comparison
with the value of freedom?
The judges of the Parlement of Paris ruled in favor of Francisque's freedom, but the implications of the case
were ambiguous for the vast majority of the slaves in the French colonies of America. Was Francisque freed
because the court refused to acknowledge the laws of 1716 and 1738, which it had never registered? Or was he
freed on the basis of race, that is, as a native of India, he was not covered by the Code Noir and therefore less
appropriately suited to slavery?
Since French judges never publicly state the rationales for their decisions (unlike, for example, the decisions of
the U.S. Supreme Court), there is no way to know what grounds they found the most compelling. However,
the effect of the decision on future jurisprudence was telling. After Francisque won his freedom, the number
of slaves suing for their freedom in the Paris Admiralty Court increased dramatically; all of them won their
freedom
However, in 1777, the French minister of the marine found a way to get around the Paris Parlement's objec-
tions by instituting new legislation that completely omitted the word slave. The new Control of the Blacks
law (Police des Noirs) probibited the entry of all "blacks, mulattoes, and other people of color" into France,
regardless of their slave or free status, thus substituting race for class.
163
Ical nature relating to economic, social,
and educational conditions in the territories for which they are
respectively responsible other than those territories to which
Chapters XII and XIII apply.
가
al
ARTICLE 74
Members of the United Nations also agree that their policy in respect
of the territories to which this Chapter applies, no less than in respect
of their metropolitan areas, must be based on the general principle of
good-neighbourliness, due account being taken of the interests and
well-being of the rest of the world, in social, economic, and commercial
matters.
3
HO CHI MINH
Declaration of Independence of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
September 2, 1945
In 1941, the leader of the Communist party of Vietnam proposed that all
groups involved in resisting the Japanese occupation form a united front,
which took the name League for the Independence of Vietnam (Vietnam
Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi). It was usually referred to as the Viet Minh
League. Nguyen Sinh Cung, better known by his nom de guerre, Ho Chi
Minh, soon came to lead this organization. By the end of World War II,
the Viet Minh League had gained control over large parts of northern
Vietnam, where it began to establish local governments and oversee the
redistribution of land to peasant farmers. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi
Minh read the following declaration in Ba Dinh Square, in the colonial
From Ho Chi Minh, Selected Works (Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1961),
3:17-21.
1945-1947: DECOLONIZATION BECOMES IMAGINABLE
DECLARATION OF
50
capital of Hanoi (see Map 3, page 11). Tens of thousands of people wit-
nessed this act, yet the tert itself also spoke directly to audiences far from
Hanoi (see Document 4).
Happiness
tain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with cer-
This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this
means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples
The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights
of Man and the Citizen also states: "Men are born and remain free and
have a right to live, to be happy and free.
In the autumn
na's territory to e
French imperiali
our country to t
Thus, from th
the French and
The result was
year, from Qua
million of our
French troops
either fled or
“protecting"
our country
On severa
the French
agreeing to
terrorist act
they massa
Yen Bay an
Notwith
toward the
nese putsc
men to crc
protected
equal in rights."
Those are undeniable truths.
trary to the ideals of humanity and justice.
Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists,
abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated
our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow-citizens. They have acted con-
In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every demo-
cratic liberty.
They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct
political regimes in the North, the Center and the South of Vietnam in
order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being
united.
They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly
slain our patriots; they have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood.
They have fettered public opinion; they have fostered ignorance
among our people.
To weaken our race they have forced us to use opium and alcohol.
In the field of economics, they have fleeced us
the backbone,
impoverished our people, and devastated our land.
They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and
our raw materials. They have monopolized the issuing of bank-notes
They have invented numerous unjustifiable taxes and reduced our
people, especially our peasantry, to a state of extreme poverty.
They have hampered the prospering of our national bourgeoisie;
From
French c
After
rose to
Republi
The
nese an
The
Dai ha
a cent
Fathe
chic
place
FC
repre
web
all t
and the export trade.
they have mercilessly exploited our workers.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM 51
Creator
and the pure
vader sene
th, all the possa
791 on the
reman inte
ас
.al
nch impersian
ity, have vile
have acadou
e of every on
up three dis
ch of Vietnam
In the autumn of 1940, when the Japanese Fascists violated Indochi-
na's territory to establish new bases in their fight again
French imperialists went down on their bended knees and handed over
the Allies, the
our country to them.
Thus, from that date, our people were subjected to the double yoke of
the French and the Japanese. Their sufferings and miseries increased.
The result was that from the end of last year to the beginning of this
year, from Quang Tri province to the North of Vietnam, more than two
million of our fellow-citizens died from starvation. On March 9, the
French troops were disarmed by the Japanese. The French colonialists
either fled or surrendered showing that not only were they incapable of
“protecting” us, but that, in the span of five years, they had twice sold
our country to the Japanese.
On several occasions before March 9, the Viet Minh League urged
the French to ally themselves with it against the Japanese. Instead of
agreeing to this proposal, the French colonialists so intensified their
terrorist activities against the Viet Minh members that before fleeing
they massacred a great number of our political prisoners detained at
Yen Bay and Cao Bang.
Notwithstanding all this, our fellow-citizens have always manifested
toward the French a tolerant and humane attitude. Even after the Japa-
nese putsch of March 1945, the Viet Minh League helped many French-
men to cross the frontier, rescued some of them from Japanese jails, and
protected French lives and property.
From the autumn of 1940, our country had in fact ceased to be a
French colony and had become a Japanese possession.
After the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies, our whole people
rose to regain our national sovereignty and to found the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam.
The truth is that we have wrested our independence from the Japa-
nese and not from the French.
The French have fled, the Japanese have capitulated, Emperor Bao
Dai has abdicated. Our people have broken the chains which for nearly
a century have fettered them and have won independence for the
Fatherland. Our people at the same time have overthrown the monar-
chic regime that has reigned supreme for dozens of centuries. In its
place has been established the present Democratic Republic.
For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government,
representing the whole Vietnamese people, declare that from now on
we break off all relations of a colonial character with France; we repeal
all the international obligation that France has so far subscribed to on
ople from bei
ave merck
vers of blood
ered ignite
and alcube
the bachi
ur forests
of banko
d reduced
verte
/ bouge
52
1945-1947: DECOLONIZATION BECOMES IMAGINABLE
behalf of Vietnam and we abolish all the special rights the French have
unlawfully acquired in our Fatherland.
The whole Vietnamese people, animated by a common purpose, are
determined to fight to the bitter end against any attempt by the French
colonialists to reconquer their country.
We are convinced that the Allied nations which at (the 1943 “Big
Three” meeting between Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Frank-
lin Roosevelt in) Tehran and [in signing the 1945 United Nations
Charter in] San Francisco have acknowledged the principles of self-
determination and equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge
the independence of Vietnam.
A people who have courageously opposed French domination for
more than eight years, a people who have fought side by side with the
Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must
be free and independent.
For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that
Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country—and in
fact is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobi-
lize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and
property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.
4
An Appeal of the Vietnamese Bishops in Favor
of the Independence of Their Country
September 23, 1945
TI
u rast resort, may
have
On September 23, 1945, soon after Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnamese
independence in Hanoi (see Document 3), four Roman Catholic bishops
of Vietnamese origin put their names on this public letter to Pope Pius
XII. On November 4, 1945, as French troops moved to reassert control
over their nation's Southeast Asian colonies, the same men published
the “Message of the Four Vietnamese Bishops to the Christians of the
toata Roof De-II-heghurt to achieve Freedom, even if force
destroys them and the world.
We are determined to be free. We want education. We want the right
omy and independence, so far and no further than it is possible in this
to earn a decent living; the right to express our thoughts and emotions,
to adopt and create forms of beauty. We demand for Black Africa auton-
"One World” for groups and peoples to rule themselves subject to inevi-
table world unity and federation.
We are not ashamed to have been an age-long patient people. We
continue willingly to sacrifice and strive. But we are unwilling to starve
any longer while doing the world's drudgery, in order to support by our
poverty and ignorance a false aristocracy and a discarded imperialism.
We condemn the monopoly of capital and the rule of private wealth
and industry for private profit alone. We welcome economic democracy
as the only real democracy. Therefore, we shall complain, appeal and
arraign. We will make the world
listen to the facts of our condition.
We will fight in every way we can for freedom, democracy and social
betterment.
6
UNESCO
The Statement on Race
July 1950
In addition to questions of political sovereignty, debates around racism
and its role in colonialism influenced all episodes of decolonization in
the years after World War II
. In 1949, some one hundred scientists and
social scientists were called together under the auspices of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
From UNESCO, Four Statements on the Race Question (Paris: UNESCO, 1969), 30,
32-35.
DEFINING NEW INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
pl
th
i
56
with the goal of synthesizing a clear statement about the science of "race
that could shape public discussions. In this task, they received advice and
assistance from diplomats, politicians, and bureaucrats associated with
UNESCO. Their statement, published in 1950, was clear in its rejection
of many previous presumptions about the concept of race, and almost
immediately it sparked substantial controversy, on both political and
scientific grounds.
Less than a year after its publication, UNESCO published a revised
version of the statement, which included more input from biologists and
physical anthropologists. The original 1950 version, however, had far
more popular impact and is excerpted here. Note the role that scientific
authority plays in its claims. Consider also the tension in the text between
asserting respect for differences among various groups and making
claims of sameness. Interestingly, the entire text is structured as a point-
by-point (though tacit) rebuttal of Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf (My
Struggle).
1. Scientists have reached general agreement in recognising that
mankind is one that all men belong to the same species, homo sapiens.
It is further generally agreed among scientists that all men are prob-
ably derived from the same common stock; and that such differences
as exist between different groups of mankind are due to the operation
of evolutionary factors of differentiation such as isolation, the drift and
random fixation of the material particles which control heredity (the
genes), changes in the structure of these particles, hybridisation, and
natural selection. In these ways groups have arisen of varying stabil-
ity and degree of differentiation which have been classified in different
ways for different purposes.
2. From the biological standpoint, the species homo sapiens is made
up of a number of populations, each one of which differs from the others
in the frequency of one or more genes. Such genes, responsible for the
hereditary differences between men, are always few when compared to
the whole genetic constitution of man and to the vast number of genes
common to all human beings regardless of the population to which they
belong. This means that the likenesses among men are far greater than
their differences.
10. The scientific material available to us at present does not justify
the conclusion that inherited genetic differences are a major factor in
ciated with
its rejection
advice and
THE STATEMENT ON RACE
57
d almost
cal and
revised
gists and
had far
scientific
xt between
eing
a point-
apf (My
ing that
sapiens
re prob-
erences
eration
producing the differences between the cultures and cultural achieve-
ments of different peoples or groups. It does indicate, however, that
the history of the cultural experience which each group has undergone
is the major factor in explaining such differences. The one trait which
above all others has been at a premium in the evolution of men's men-
tal characters (characteristics) has been educability, plasticity. This is a
trait which all human beings possess. It is indeed, a species character
of homo sapiens.
11. So far as temperament is concerned, there is no definite evidence
that there exist inborn differences between human groups. There is evi-
dence that whatever group differences of the kind there might be are
greatly overridden by the individual differences, and by the differences
springing from environmental factors.
12. As for personality and character, these may be considered race-
less. In every human group a rich variety of personality and character
types will be found, and there is no reason for believing that any human
group is richer than any other in these respects.
13. With respect to race mixture, the evidence points unequivo-
cally to the fact that this has been going on from the earliest times.
Indeed, one of the chief processes of race formation and race extinc-
tion or absorption is by means of hybridisation between races or ethnic
groups. Furthermore, no convincing evidence has been adduced that
race mixture of itself produces biologically bad effects. Statements that
human hybrids frequently show undesirable traits, both physically and
mentally, physical disharmonies and mental degeneracies, are not sup-
ported by the facts. There is, therefore, no biological justification for
prohibiting intermarriage between persons of different ethnic groups.
14. The biological fact of race and the myth of "race" should be dis-
tinguished. For all practical social purposes "race" is not so much a bio-
logical phenomenon as a social myth. The myth of “race" has created an
enormous amount of human and social damage. In recent years it has
taken a heavy toll in human lives and caused untold suffering. It still pre-
vents the normal development of millions of human beings and deprives
civilisation of the effective co-operation of productive minds. The bio-
logical differences between ethnic groups should be disregarded from
the standpoint of social acceptance and social action. The unity of man-
kind from both the biological and social viewpoints is the main thing. To
recognise this and to act accordingly is the first requirement of modern
man. It is but to recognise what a great biologist wrote in 1875: “As
man advances in civilisation, and small tribes are united into larger com-
ift and
y (the
n, and
stabil
Ferent
made
hers
- the
d to
nes
Hey
nan
fy
in
munities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought
58
e.
All nor
comm
recipr
biolog
ethni
cal o
bein
Lastly, biol
hood; for n
drives are
being who
with his fe
and man
brother's
main, be
millenniums plainly exhibit.
Original
Prof.
Prof
DEFINING NEW INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the
same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once
reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies
Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man (2nd ed., 1875, pp. 187-8). And,
extending to the men of all nations and races." These are the words of
indeed, the whole of human history shows that a co-operative spirit is
tendencies. If this were not so we should not see the growth of integra-
not only natural to men, but more deeply rooted than any self-seeking
tion and organisation of his communities which the centuries and the
15. We now have to consider the bearing of these statements on
the problem of human equality. It must be asserted with the utmost
emphasis that equality as an ethical principle in no way depends upon
the assertion that human beings are in fact equal in endowment. Obvi-
ously individuals in all ethnic groups vary greatly among themselves in
endowment. Nevertheless, the characteristics in which human groups
differ from one another are often exaggerated and used as a basis for
questioning the validity of equality in the ethical sense. For this pur-
pose we have thought it worthwhile to set out in a formal manner what
is at present scientifically established concerning individual and group
differences.
In matters of race, the only characteristics which anthropolo-
gists can effectively use as a basis for classifications are physical
and physiological
b. According to present knowledge there is no proof that the
groups of mankind differ in their innate mental characteristics,
whether in respect of intelligence or temperament. The scien-
tific evidence indicates that the range of mental capacities in all
ethnic groups is much the same.
Historical and sociological studies support the view that genetic
differences are not of importance in determining the social and
cultural differences between different groups of Homo sapiens,
and that the social and cultural changes in different groups
have, in the main, been independent of changes in inborn con-
stitution. Vast social changes have occurred which were not in
any way connected with changes in racial type.
d. There is no evidence that race mixture as such produces bad
results from the biological point of view. The social results of
race mixture whether for good or ill are to be traced to social
factors.
Prof
Pro
Pro
Dr.
Pro
Pr
a.
Text
Prof
Dob
Wil
Ste:
C.
THE STATEMENT ON RACE
59
e.
f
All normal human beings are capable of learning to share in a
common life, to understand the nature of mutual service and
reciprocity, and to respect social obligations and contracts. Such
biological differences as exist between members of different
ethnic groups have no relevance to problems of social and politi-
cal organisation, moral life and communication between human
beings.
Lastly, biological studies lend support to the ethic of universal brother-
hood; for man is born with drives toward co-operation, and unless these
drives are satisfied, men and nations alike fall ill. Man is born a social
being who can reach his fullest development only through interaction
with his fellows. The denial at any point of this social bond between men
and man brings with it disintegration. In this sense, every man is his
brother's keeper. For every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main, because he is involved in mankind.
Original statement drafted at UNESCO House, Paris, by the following experts:
Prof. Ernest Beaglehole (New Zealand);
Professor Juan Comas (Mexico);
Professor L. A. Costa Pinto (Brazil);
Professor Franklin Frazier (United States of America);
Professor Morris Ginsberg (United Kingdom);
Dr. Humayun Kabir (India);
Professor Claude Lévi-Strauss (France);
Professor Ashley Montagu (United States of America) (rapporteur).
Text revised by Professor Ashley Montagu, after criticism submitted by
Professors Hadley Cantril, E. G. Conklin, Gunnar Dahlberg, Theodosius
Dobzhansky, L. C. Dunn, Donald Hager, Julian S. Huxley, Otto Klineberg,
Wilbert Moore, H. J. Muller, Gunnar Myrdal, Joseph Needham, Curt
Stern.
enchanted with free enterprise that
heat boiling
they have clearly not taken note that underdeveloped countries of the
into democratic capitalism. It might console us, if we want to see this as
feudal type can slide much more easily into a Communist regime than
clear proof that capitalism has gone much farther down the road, but the
fact remains the same. And should it cast its bright glow over the first
world, perhaps the latter, even if any reaction of human solidarity were
and fierce, toward life. Because that third world, ignored, exploited, and
absent, might begin to recognize a slow and irresistible thrust, humble
despised, like the Third Estate, wants to be something, too.
8
FIRST AFRO-ASIAN CONFERENCE
Final Communiqué
April 24, 1955
In 1955, the first Afro-Asian Conference, known as the Bandung Con-
ference for the city in which it was held, brought together the leaders of
twenty-nine countries in the recently independent Republic of Indonesia
(see Map 3, page 11). The man who had led his country's violent struggle
against the Dutch, Ahmed Sukarno, invited leaders of recently decolo-
nized independent states, such as India, the Philippines, and Pakistan, as
well as representatives of states that had recently cast off Western domina-
tion, notably the People's Republic of China and Egypt, to discuss what
united them and how they could influence world events. The conference
also welcomed leaders and representatives of groups fighting for inde-
pendence and against colonialism. The Algerian National Liberation
Front (FLN), in particular, garnered enormous attention and support at
Bandung
From Foreign Policy of India: Texts of Documents, 1947–64 (New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secre-
tariat, 1966), 525-31.
FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ
63
onservatives
ence, it saps
master the
mination, so
end in itself,
tries of the
-egime than
The Final Communiqué of the conference was remarkable for its
forthright and critical assessment of the history and continuing existence
of Western overseas colonialism. Diplomatic formulas did little to soften
the verbal blows. While economic cooperation was a key element of the
document, the following excerpts highlight the areas that received the most
attention at the time--for
example, the continuing effects of colonial rule
in the Arab world and in Africa, particularly North Africa.
see this as
oad, but the
ver the first
darity were
1st, humble
bloited, and
g Con-
The Asian-African Conference, convened upon the invitation of the
Prime Ministers of Burma, Ceylon,
India, Indonesia and Pakistan, met
in Bandung from the 18th to the 24th April, 1955. In addition to the
sponsoring countries the following 24 countries participated in the
Conference:
1. Afghanistan
2. Cambodia
3. People's Republic of China
4. Egypt
5. Ethiopia
6. Gold Coast
7. Iran
8. Iraq
9. Japan
10. Jordan
11. Laos
12. Lebanon
13. Liberia
14. Libya
15. Nepal
16. Philippines
17. Saudi Arabia
18. Sudan
19. Syria
20. Thailand
21. Turkey
ders of
donesia
it struggle
ecolo-
kistan, as
domina-
s what
ference
inde-
ation
apport at
bha Secre-
DEFINING NEW INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
64
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
23. State of Vietnam
24. Yemen
The Asian-African Conference considered problems of common inter
means by which their people could achieve fuller economic, cultural and
est and concern to countries of Asia and Africa and discussed ways and
3. It was not
groups of natic
ence viewed the
African countr
sality, the Cor
tion should be
Side by si
tion the cour
with others.
the promoti
political cooperation. ...
Cultural Cooperation
Human R
1. The
damental
United N
Rights as
nations.
self-dete
the Unit
the rigt
requisi
2. I
of raci
ernme
parts
1. The Asian-African Conference was convinced that among the
most powerful means of promoting understanding among nations is
the development of cultural cooperation. Asia and Africa have been the
cradle of great religions and civilizations, which have enriched other
cultures and civilizations while themselves being enriched in the pro
cess. Thus the cultures of Asia and Africa are based on spiritual and
universal foundations. Unfortunately contacts among Asian and African
countries were interrupted during the past centuries. The peoples of
Asia and Africa are now animated by a keen and sincere desire to renew
their old cultural contacts and develop new ones in the context of the
modern world. All participating Governments at the Conference reiter-
ated their determination to work for closer cultural cooperation.
2. The Asian-African Conference took note of the fact that the exis-
tence of colonialism in many parts of Asia and Africa, in whatever form
it may be, not only prevents cultural cooperation but also suppresses
the national cultures of the people. Some colonial powers have denied
to their dependent peoples basic rights in the sphere of education and
culture, which hampers the development of their personality and also
prevents cultural intercourse with other Asian and African peoples. This
is particularly true in the case of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, where
the basic right of the people to study their own language and culture has
been suppressed. Similar discrimination has been practiced against Afri-
can and coloured people in some parts of the Continent of Africa. The
Conference felt that these policies amount to a denial of the fundamental
rights of man, impede cultural advancement in this region and also ham-
per cultural cooperation on the wider international plane. The Confer-
ence condemned such a denial of fundamental rights in the sphere of
education and culture in some parts of Asia and Africa by this and other
forms of cultural suppression. In particular, the Conference condemned
rights
its w
victi.
Indi
tain
to e
tric
dal
P
racialism as a means of cultural suppression.
T
FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ
65
groups
non inter-
ways and
tural and
3. It was not from any sense of exclusiveness or rivalry with other
of nations and other civilizations and cultures that the Confer-
ence viewed the development of cultural cooperation among Asian and
African countries. True to the age-old tradition of tolerance
and univer-
sality, the Conference believed that Asian and African cultural coopera-
tion should be developed in the larger context of world cooperation.
Side by side with the development of Asian-African cultural coopera-
tion the countries of Asia and Africa desire to develop cultural contacts
with others. This would enrich their own culture and would also help in
the promotion of world peace and understanding. ...
long the
ations is
been the
ed other
the pro-
tual and
African
oples of
o renew
t of the
e reiter-
he exis
er form
Dresses
denied
Human Rights and Self-Determination
1. The Asian-African Conference declared its full support of the fun-
damental principles of Human Rights as set forth in the Charter of the
United Nations and took note of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all
nations. The Conference declared its full support of the principle of
self-determination of peoples and nations as set forth in the Charter of
the United Nations and took note of the United Nations resolutions on
the rights of peoples and nations to self-determination, which is a pre-
requisite of the full enjoyment of all fundamental Human Rights.
2. The Asian-African Conference deplored the policies and practices
of racial segregation and discrimination, which form the basis of gov-
ernment and human relations in large regions of Africa and in other
parts of the world. Such conduct is not only a gross violation of human
rights, but also a denial of the dignity of man. The Conference extended
its warm sympathy and support for the courageous stand taken by the
victims of raciai discrimination, especially by the peoples of African and
Indian and Pakistani origin in South Africa; applauded all those who sus-
tain their cause; reaffirmed the determination of Asian-African peoples
to eradicate every trace of racialism that might exist in their own coun-
tries; and pledged to use its full moral influence to guard against the
danger of falling victims to the same evil in their struggle to eradicate it.
on and
ad also
s. This
where
re has
st Afri
a. The
mental
ham-
onfer
Problems of Dependent Peoples
1. The Asian-African Conference discussed the problems of depen-
dent peoples and colonialism and the evils arising from the subjection of
peoples to alien subjugation and exploitation. The Conference is agreed:
ere of
other
mned
66
DEFINING NEW INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
a.
c.
In declaring that colonialism in all its manifestations is an evil
which should speedily be brought to an end;
b. In affirming that the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation,
domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental
human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations
and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and
cooperation;
In declaring its support of the cause of freedom and indepen-
dence for all such peoples, and
d. In calling upon the powers concerned to grant freedom and
independence to such peoples.
2. In view of the unsettled situation in North Africa and of the
persisting denial to the peoples of North Africa of their right to self-
determination, the Asian-African Conference declared its support
of the rights of the people of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to self-
determination and independence and urged the French Government to
bring about a peaceful settlement of the issue without delay.
Other Problems
1. In view of the existing tension in the Middle East, caused by the
situation in Palestine and of the danger of that tension to world peace,
the Asian-African Conference declared its support of the rights of the
Arab people of Palestine and called for the implementation of the United
Nations Resolutions on Palestine and the achievement of the peaceful
settlement of the Palestine question. ...
... The Asian-African Conference recommended that the Five Spon-
soring Countries consider the convening of the next meeting of the Con-
ference, in consultation with the participating countries.
BANDUNG, 24 April, 1955
jugation,
undamental
ed Nations
9
ce and
RICHARD WRIGHT
ndepen
The Color Curtain:
A Report on the Bandung Conference
1956
mand
nd of the
ht to self-
support
a to self-
nment to
by the
a peace,
s of the
United
eaceful
The African American writer Richard Wright was one of the many
independent observers who went to Indonesia to cover the Bandung
Conference of 1955 (see Document 8). In The Color Curtain, published
shortly after the conference, Wright reported on this unprecedented
gathering of anticolonial leaders. In Bandung, as he famously wrote,
"the despised, the insulted, the hurt, the dispossessed ... the underdogs of
the human race were meeting.” The conference gave the so-called third
world a voice and a face and set the stage for the emergence of a group
that called itself the Non-Aligned Movement. While many of the states in
attendance were firmly on one side or the other of the U.S.-Soviet cold
war, states such as India, Indonesia, and Egypt were actively looking to
formulate their own approach to world politics. Several years later, when
the Chinese Communist government broke with the Soviet Union, the
idea that it might be possible to avoid alignment received new impetus.
Still, many observers viewed nonalignment as more threatening to the
West than to the Soviets and their allies.
Wright, who had come to international prominence with the publica-
tion of his controversial novel Native Son in 1940, left the United States
for France in 1949. His decision to go into exile was driven by his anger
at both the racist climate he saw in his homeland and the Communist
Party of the United States (CPUSA). A former member of the party, he
quit partly because he believed that it, among other flaws, neither took
racism seriously nor understood how racism shaped politics. Wright went
to Bandung with much excitement, hoping to see how other people of
color were charting their own paths. As this excerpt reveals, however, he
left with more-mixed feelings. In particular, as the last line suggests, he
warned of the attraction that communism might have for anticolonial-
ists if the West ignored them, a temptation he embodies in the person of
Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai.
Spon-
e Con-
1955
From Richard Wright, Black Power: Three Books from Exile (New York: Harper Peren-
nial, 2008), 540-42,593.
67
DEFINING NEW INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
68
"Religi
rostrum to deliver the opening address. ...
world. TE
the globe
And
"Alme
colonial
Suka
ties in
as I sat
Bandu
tional
demo.
them.
turbu
It
men
cal vi
thea
At last Sukarno, President of the Republic of Indonesia, mounted the
he moved slowly, deliberately. He spoke in English with a slight accent;
He was a small man, tan of face, and with a pair of dark, deep-set eyes,
he knew words and how to use them, and you realized at once that this
man had done nothing all his life but utilize words to capture the atten
tion and loyalties of others. From the very outset, he sounded the notes
of race and religion, strong, defiant; before he had uttered more than a
hundred syllables, he declared:
"This is the first international conference of colored peoples in the
history of mankind!"...
And why had they now come together? Sukarno said:
“... We are living in a world of fear. The life of man today is cor-
roded and made bitter by fear. Fear of the future, fear of the hydrogen
bomb, fear of ideologies. Perhaps this fear is a greater danger than the
danger itself, because it is fear which drives men to act foolishly, to act
thoughtlessly, to act dangerously. ... And do not think that the oceans
and the seas will protect us. The food we eat, the water that we drink,
yes, even the very air that we breathe can be contaminated by poisons
originating from thousands of miles away. And it could be that, even if
we ourselves escaped lightly, the unborn generations of our children
would bear on their distorted bodies the marks of our failure to control
the forces which have been released on the world."
What strength had Sukarno and Asian and African leaders like him?
He was frank about it. He said:
"For many generations our peoples have been the voiceless ones
in the world. We have been the unregarded, the peoples for whom
decisions were made by others whose interests were paramount, the
peoples who lived in poverty and humiliation. ... What can we do? The
peoples of Asia and Africa wield little physical power. Even our eco-
nomic strength is dispersed and slight. We cannot indulge in power poli-
tics. ... Our statesmen, by and large, are not backed up with serried
(closed) ranks of jet bombers."
He then defined the strength of this gathering of the leaders of the
poor and backward nations as:
"We, the peoples of Asia and Africa, 1,400,000,000 strong, far more
than half of the population of the world, we can mobilize what I have
called the Moral Violence of Nations in favor of peace....
And where was this moral violence coming from? Sukarno knew to
what he was appealing, for he said:
to g
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THE COLOR CURTAIN: A REPORT ON THE BANDUNG CONFERENC
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“Religion is of dominating importance particularly in this part of the
world. There are perhaps more religions here than in other regions of
the globe. ... Our countries were the birthplace of religions.”
And what bound these diverse peoples together? Sukarno said:
"Almost all of us have ties to common experience, the experience of
colonialism."
Sukarno was appealing to race and religion; they were the only reali-
ties in the lives of the men before him that he could appeal to. And,
as I sat listening, I began to sense a deep and organic relation here in
Bandung between race and religion, two of the most powerful and irra-
tional forces in human nature. Sukarno was not evoking these twin
demons; he was not trying to create them; he was trying to organize
them. ... The reality of race and religion was there, swollen, sensitive,
turbulent. ...
It was no accident that most of the delegates were deeply religious
men representing governments and vast populations steeped in mysti-
cal visions of life. Asian and African populations had been subjugated on
the assumption that they were in some way biologically inferior and unfit
to govern themselves, and the white Western world that had shackled
them had either given them a Christian religion or else had made them
agonizingly conscious of their old, traditional religions to which they
had had to cling under conditions of imperialist rule. Those of them
who had been converted to Christianity had been taught to hope for
a freedom and social justice which the white Western world had teas-
ingly withheld. Thus, a racial consciousness, evoked by the attitudes
and practices of the West, had slowly blended with a defensive religious
feeling; here, in Bandung, the two had combined into one: a racial and
religious system of identification manifesting itself in an emotional nation-
alism which was now leaping state boundaries and melting and merging,
one into the other....
The results of the deliberations of the delegates at Bandung would
be, of course, addressed to the people and the statesmen of the Western
powers, for it was the moral notions-or lack of them- of those pow-
ers that were in question here; it had been against the dominance of
those powers that these delegates and their populations had struggled
so long. After two days of torrid public speaking and four days of discus-
sions in closed sessions, the Asian-African Conference issued a com-
muniqué. It was a sober document, brief and to the point; yet it did not
hesitate to lash out, in terse legal prose, at racial injustice and colonial
exploitation
him?
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70
DEFINING NEW INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
I repeat and underline that the document was addressed to the West.
to the moral prepossessions of the West. It was my belief that the de
egates at Bandung, for the most part, though bitter, looked and hoped
toward the West.... The West, in my opinion, must be big enough,
generous enough, to accept and understand that bitterness. The Ban
dung communiqué was no appeal, in terms of sentiment or ideology, to
Communism. Instead, it carried exalted overtones of the stern dignity
of ancient and proud peoples who yearned to rise and play again a role
in human affairs.
It was also my conviction that, if this call went unheeded, ignored,
and if these men, as they will, should meet again, their appeal would be
different. ... IN SUM, BANDUNG WAS THE LAST CALL OF WESTERNIZED ASIANS TO
THE MORAL CONSCIENCE OF THE WEST!
If the West spurns this call, what will happen? I don't know. ... But
remember that Mr. Chou En-lai stands there, waiting, patient, with no
record of racial practices behind him. ... He will listen.
10
JOSEPH KIRIRA AND JOSIAH KARIUKI
Song of Africa (Kenyan Song)
1957
The immediate aftermath of independence saw efforts in many decolo-
nized countries to preserve as much information about the anticolonial
struggle as possible. This was particularly true in places such as Kenya,
where harsh repression of such activities had rendered primary sources
rare (see Map 2, page 5). In much of the colonized world as well, the
vast majority of people were illiterate and thus unable to express them-
selves in writing. Traditionally, historians focus on primary source
evidence that was written at the time the events in question took place.
In an effort to recover voices that might be lost to history, oral historians
seek to use subsequent interviews and testimonials to obtain information
about how people understood what they lived through. This is one o
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