No independence before majority rule (NIBMAR) was a policy adopted by the United Kingdom requiring the implementation of majority rule in a colony, rather than rule by the white colonial minority, before the empire granted its colony independence.
In particular, this position was advocated with respect to the future status of Rhodesia as a sovereign nation. British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was pressured into adopting the approach during a conference in London. Wilson was not initially inclined to do so, fearing it would slow down the rate at which Rhodesia could be granted independence, but Lester Pearson, the Prime Minister of Canada, formulated a draft resolution committing Wilson to NIBMAR. Wilson defended the policy when it was attacked as disastrous by opposition Conservatives. The accomplishment was short-lived, however, as Wilson continued to extend offers to Ian Smith which Smith ultimately rejected.
Famous quotes containing the words independence, majority and/or rule:
“To drive men from independence to live on alms, is itself great cruelty.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“To say then, the majority are wicked, means no malice, no bad heart in the observer, but, simply that the majority are unripe, and have not yet come to themselves, do not yet know their opinion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every writing career starts as a personal quest for sainthood, for self-betterment. Sooner or later, and as a rule quite soon, a man discovers that his pen accomplishes a lot more than his soul.”
—Joseph Brodsky (b. 1940)