To What Extent Was the Process of Decolonization in Southeast Asia a Violent Struggle?

The American Anti-Imperialist league has a platform I fully agree with. “We protest against the extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods…” (Doc A, American Anti-Imperialist League). In trying to conquest other nations, the US being identical to the enemy, Spain. What is the point in helping the Filipinos gain their independence if we are about to trap them back into the exact same situation? Some of you may think that our only choice is to annex them.

There were many arguments as to the merits of annexing the Philippines or to walk away and grant them their immediate freedom. The Filipinos had been tormented, had their land savaged and destroyed by Spain for so long, there was truly only one humane and correct decision and that was to annex the Philippines. The Americans although financially gained from the decision, never waivered from their long-term commitment to help to train, educate and prepare the Filipinos to self-rule and govern. Establishing a stronghold in that part of the world helped the Americans establish themselves as a world power and leader in personal freedoms and spreading of democratic governments. With America and its military located on the Philippines they were able to

Established in 1961, the Special Committee of Decolonization is a body of the United Nations, an international bureaucratic agency, working towards the just treatment and interaction of Non-Self-Governing individuals. This body still operates in the present day. The Special Committee of Decolonization defines Non-Self-Governing Territories “whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”. (United Nations 2017) In essence, a nation where foreign, commonly colonial powers dictate the lives of people who have and maintain rich, diverse, historical, and cultural existence in the world for millennia. And while The Special Committee of Decolonization, works towards the decolonization of these nations, they fail to end the scourge of informal imperialism.

The process of decolonization proved to have its own struggles within those who were seeking their independence from imperialist powers. Evidently, these nationalist movements were different in many regions, but they generally shared the sentiment that “Westernization” had taken something away from them. This proved to be the case in Africa and Asia, where the colonization movement from imperialist powers was of strong presence, and that had trouble weakening during and after the Cold War. Part of this struggle was due to the forms of government that were imposed, and because many of these colonies had been in this position for such long time that they were not able to predict upcoming conflicts after their independence. However, in many cases, the problems were more complicated and often implied a combination of reaction to westernization and internal conflicts. Undoubtedly,

century, the outcome of the Spanish-American war divided Americans into those for and against the annexation of the Philippines. The masses supporting it saw the islands as a strong foothold for the country in Chinese markets, compared to the minority which believed the United States was founded to escape oppression and should not lead to doing the same upon others. America becoming an imperial power shifted the world stage, and opened opportunity in trade on the other side of the world. Annexing the Philippines changed how other countries saw the United States, but more importantly it changed how Americans feel about their country; citizens rallied around the flag after defeating Spain because surpassing the empire’s navy gave them something positive to think of after all the turmoil over the past hundred years (and still at the time over working/living conditions and inequality between races/genders). It gave the public a reason to be patriotic. If the United States did not annex the Philippines when it did, it would not have had the ability to become the strongest government in the world and increase exports throughout Asia, but at what cost? American leaders decided it would be a good power move, but did

The conflict was between the imperialists and the anti- imperialists, who were both in America and the Philippines. Imperialism is when one supports the annexation of another. In this case, America annexing the Philippines. Document A was written by the Platform of the American Anti- Imperialist League. This group of individuals thought poorly of imperialism and that it was wrong to take over others. According to this document, it states in the first paragraph, “... extinguish the spirit of 1776 in those islands. This is saying that by annexing the Philippines, we are forgetting all that happened when we broke free from Britain as rebels. If we did this, it would be extremely hypocritical. Also in Document A, the anti- imperialist platform

“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.” Abraham Lincoln. (Document A). The United States did just this in 1898, when they annexed the Philippines. The Filipino people had been fighting for their independence against Spain for many years before the US intervened. The rebels, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, were grateful for the assistance. The Filipino people thought that the US had come to help free them from Spain. Unfortunately for the Filipino people, they were incorrect. On February 6, 1899, the United States of America annexed the Philippines, much to the disgust of the rebels in the Philippines and many people in America (including Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, and former President Grover Cleveland.) The reasoning behind this was partially for economic prosperity, thinking that the Philippines held the “secret route” to riches by being a trading partner and a jumping

was generous to annex the Philippines because the U.S. lead the Philippines to a self-government. “It takes a few weeks of work like this to make one proud that he is an American”(Doc H). This document tells the story of the Philippine- American War coming to the end with America’s victory. Letter written by William Connor shows how the United States military won the war that lead the US to guiding the Philippines to a stronger government. “it cannot rule over vassal states or subjects peoples without bringing in the elements of death into its own constitution…”(Doc I). Document I explains that annexing the Philippines is unconstitutional, but this is not correct because the Philippines was bought by the U.S. and they were owned by U.S. “We could not leave them to themselves- they were unfit for self government- and they soon would have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was”(Doc C). The United States saw the Philippine as unfitted for self- government and the Philippines needed the United States to be a parent government, and guide them to a more fit

The Filipino people had helped the US fight the Spanish-American War in hope to gain independence in return. However, instead of gaining independence the Philippines was annexed to the United States on December 10, 1898. When the Filipino’s had found they were going to be ruled over once again they were very unhappy, after all they had helped the US. When Aguinaldo had found out that the Philippines were going to be controlled by the US, he had declared war on the United States.

The bald red, white, and blue eagle of American Democracy is coming for you Phillipines, run while you can! Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was so infatuated with the idea of democracy, and he wanted every country to have a little taste of American freedom! After America's victory in the Spanish American War, George Dewey and his 11,000 American troops marched into manila and were unsure whether to liberate or occupy the filipino people. Thinking the they were here to help, the Filipino rebels trusted the Americans, but were soon betrayed as Dewey decided to occupy the land. The United States had three choices to determine what they wanted to do with the Philippines: Give it back to Spain, Give the filipino people their freedom, or to annex the whole country itself. With much debate ranging from artists, influential citizens, and government officials, the US ultimately decided it would annex! The United States should not have annexed the Philippines but rather should have given them their independence. While others may think the annexation of the Philippines would have benefited them, what the Philippines really needed was

Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, where a nation establishes and maintains its domination over dependent territories. In the words of Fanon, in the reading The Wretched of the Earth, “National liberation, national reawakening, restoration of the na­tion to the people or Commonwealth, whatever the name used, whatever the latest expression, decolonization is always a violent event.” (Fanon, 1). Frantz Fanon was one of many authors who supported decolonization struggles occurring after World War II. He breaks down decolonization into two senses: one being the physical act of freeing a territory from external control of a colonizer, and the other being the psychological act of freeing the consciousness of the native from the alienation caused by colonization. Fanon particularly advocated that violence was justified by overthrowing colonial oppression. In his reading, The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon wrote on why and how colonialism must be stopped. Fanon argued that the colonial infrastructure must be destroyed. “Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is clearly an agenda for total disorder. But it cannot be accomplished by the wave of a magic wand, a natural cataclysm, or a gentleman’s agreement. Decolonization, we know, is an historical process: In other words, it can only be understood, it can only find its significance and become self coherent insofar as we can discern the history-making movement which gives it form and substance,”

Southern Asia was one of the first areas to undergo decolonization. One reason was due to nationalist resistance that was already occurring in Southern Asia. Countries were displaying nationalism and some were unwilling to cooperate with the imperialist government. Another reason was the effects of World War II on many Western countries. Many countries were exhausted after the war and lost much of their dominance and control over the rest of the world. Many did not want to take risks by keeping colonies as operating a government was expensive. Some countries were eager to pull out of their colonies. This was the case for some colonies in Southern Asia. All of these factors contributed to Southern Asia becoming one of the first areas to undergo

 1942: Occupied by the Japanese  1945: Liberated by American and Filipino forces  1946: Attained independency and founded a democracy

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Destruction, death, and havoc, mixed with brothers fighting against brothers and fathers fighting against sons, make up what is known as a civil war. However, the similarities in civil wars most likely end there as, although categorized under one name, civil wars can be unique and drastically different from all others of their kind. Nevertheless there are certain similarities that every civil war shares. Two perfectly comparable civil wars are the Papua Civil War and the American Civil War. Although they share common features such as the want for resources and money, and the fear of succession as well as a common pride shared between members of each side, they have very clear differences. Among some of these differences are the contrasts in the original relationship between the two sides of each war before the civil wars, the obvious difference in the period in history during which the wars took place, as well as the difference in the interactions between the two sides in each war. Although the Papua Civil War and the American Civil War bear a few important similarities, the differences among the Papua Civil War and the American Civil War are clear.