Download 2016 Imperialism Primary Documents for Group Activity and Editorial

2016 Primary Documents: Imperialism Editorial Assessment for Academic A
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You must select ONE primary document and use within your editorial that support your
position on Imperialism.
You must select ONE primary document and use within your editorial that contradicts your
position on Imperialism and attacks the validity of their arguments.
Documents Against Imperialism
1.
Jomo Kenyatta, an African nationalist leader wrote in 1938:
“There certainly are some progressive ideas among the Europeans. They include the ideas of material
prosperity, of medicine, and hygiene, and literacy which enables people to take part in world culture.
But so far the Europeans…have not in reality transferred this to the Africans, and the Europeans seem
to think that the only way to do this is by police discipline and armed force. They speak as if it was
somehow beneficial to an African to work for them instead of for himself, and to make
sure…they…take away his land…they rob him of his government, condemn his religious ideas, and
ignore his idea of justice and morals…Europeans have robbed the African of the material foundations
of his culture, and reduced him to an inferior state that goes against human happiness. The
African…realizes that he must fight for his own complete emancipation; for without this he is doomed
to remain the prey of rival imperialisms, which in every successive year will drive their fangs more
deeply into his vitality and strength.”
2.
Tom Mboya, an African nationalist leader wrote in 1960:
“Despite its force as an aid to Africa’s economic development, African colonialism has been the
biggest hindrance to the development of the people. Under colonial rule, little attention has been
paid to the need to invest in education, health, technical training, and general community
development for Africans. Partition of Africa into separate colonies and the use of territories as
sources of raw materials for the benefit and enrichment of the colonial powers have not allowed the
planning of continental or regional development. Instead, colonial division has treated each territory
in isolation from others.
3. Belgian official reporting on abuses in the Congo:
“It is blood-curdling to see them (the soldiers) returning with the hands of the slain, and to find the
hands of young children amongst the bigger ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber from this
district has cost hundreds of lives, and the scenes I have witnessed, while unable to help the
oppressed, have been almost enough to make me wish I were dead... This rubber traffic is steeped in
blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep every white person on the Upper Congo into eternity,
there would still be left a fearful balance to their credit. “
4. J.A. Hobson, a British scholar wrote:
“The period of imperialism has witnessed many wars. Most of these wars have been caused by
attacks of white races upon so-called ’lower races.’ They have resulted in the taking of territory by
force….The white rulers of the colonies live at the expense of the natives. Their chief work is to
organize labor for their support. In the typical colony, the most fertile lands and the mineral
resources are owned by white foreigners. These holdings are worked by natives under their
direction. The foreigners take wealth out of the country. All the hard work is done by the natives.”
Documents Supporting Imperialism
5. John Gunther wrote in Inside Africa in 1955:
“The benefits the colonial system brought to Africa, even if it brought abuses too, are incontestable.
Perhaps much of what the whites did was selfish, since it was for the benefit of the white .the
continent, but they also opened it up to civilization. Colonialism made today’s nationalism possible,
and opened the way to democracy. The Europeans abolished slavery, and ended tribal warfare. They
created communications, improved the standard of living, developed natural resources, introduced
scientific agriculture, fought to control malaria and other diseases, established public health controls,
gave natives only an inch away from barbarism stable administration and a regime based in theory at
least, on justice and law (the white man’s law, of course). Most important, they brought Christianity
and western education. Not much education, but some. And there has been practically none before.”
6. O.P. Austin wrote in the article ‘Does Colonization Pay’ in The Forum in 1900:
“Modern progressive nations lying in the temperate zone seek to control garden spots in the tropics,
mainly in Africa, Latin America, and Asia under progressive nations’ directions, these places can yield
tropical produce. In return, the progressive nations bring to the people of those garden spots the
foodstuffs and manufactures they need. Progressive nations develop the territory by building roads,
canals, railways, and telegraphs. They can establish schools and newspapers for the colonies and give
these people the benefit of other blessings of civilization which they have not the means of creating
themselves.”
7. King Leopold on Imperialism:
“To open civilization the only part of our globe where it has not penetrated, to pierce the darkness
which envelops whole populations, is a crusade, if I may say so, a crusade worthy or this century of
progress.”
8. Cecil Rhodes was a famous British imperialist:
“We must find new lands from which we can easily obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit
the cheap slave labor that is available from the natives of the colonies. The colonies would also
provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods produced in our factories.”