Wind of Change (speech) - African Nationalism

African Nationalism

African nationalism escalated throughout the Second World War. The British needed to secure their control over their colonies in Africa in order to benefit and utilize its essential resources to fight against the Axis powers. The African colonies wanted to receive rewards for their help throughout the war, they were after political and economical opportunity. They became bitter when these rewards were not presented to them and they started rioting, the colony stood on the edge of a revolution. Shortly after this West African political leader Kwame Nkrumah's Convention People's Party (CPP) orchestrated a campaign of civil disobedience to start a system of self government. In the 1951 election, the CPP won thirty-four of thirty-eight seats and Nkrumah became the prime minister, resulting in the colony's independence under Nkrumah's leadership as the state of Ghana in 1957.

Although this is a significant victory for this area there were still many parts of Africa left with all the want of a self ruling nation but containing quote a few hostile white settlers in the area. These white settlers dominated the economic and political powers at this time. They asserted this dominance by denying universal suffrage to African's and by trying to persuade the British government to consolidate colonial territories into federations. Although, this sense of African nationalism could not be contained by a minority of white settlers. There were warnings that without a quick transfer in power the African nationalism would undermine British rule. Understanding that in order to encourage a collaboration from the African governments they would need to decolonize and leave them to self rule which is thought to be a good substitute for direct and total control of the area.

By 1960 Macmillan's Conservative government was becoming worried about the effects of violent confrontations with the African nationalism in the Belgian Congo and French Algeria. This became a concern because the Conservatives were in fear of this violent activity spilling over into British colonies. This is when Macmillan goes to Africa to circulate and delivers his famous speech "Wind of Change", which is named for its famous line "The wind of change is blowing through this continent and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, an our national policies must take account of it." Following this speech with surprising speed Iain Macleod, Colonial Secretary in 1959-61 increased the original timetable for independence in East Africa by an entire decade. Independence was granted to Tanganyika in 1961, Uganda in 1962 and Kenya in 1963.