The major contradiction of colonial education was that while it educated Africans to be subordinate, at the same time it stimulated nationalism. In the Gold Coast a post-war educational bottle-neck and the creation of a mass of unemployed primary school leavers assisted the rise of Nkrumah's Convention People's Party. Similar situations in Kenya and Algeria helped to provoke armed rebellion. Thus lack of opportunity beyond a certain stage in education caused frustration and incited frustrated youth to turn more readily to the support of nationalist activity.

Colonial education stimulated nationalism in another way by producing Western- educated political journalists, who played a major role in the struggle for political freedom. Nkrumah's newspaper, the Accra Evening News, became a major instrument of agitation in the movement to increase African rights in the Gold Coast.

The newspaper proclaimed heroically, in almost Miltonic terms, that self-government with danger was preferable to servitude in tranquillity. Nnamdi Azikiwe in Nigeria was an even greater Journalist. As Ronald Segal observes in his profile of Zik:

It was by his journalism . . . that Azikiwe gave a new impetus to Nigerian nationalism. He started a chain of newspapers, the most important of which was the West African Pilot, and revolutionized West African Journalism by the daring and directness of his editorial and news coverage. Concentrating on racial injustices and the need for positive action to emancipate Africa, he energetically spread his message throughout the territory, nursing circulation by provincial news coverage and by efficient distribution, and establishing four provincial dailies, in Ibadan, Onitsha, Port Harcourt and Kano. 12

In East Africa, Jomo Kenyatta's journalistic experience went back to 1928, when, as general secretary of the Kikuyu Central Association, he started the first Kikuyu journal, Muiguithania.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his famous wife Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo (née Adelana)

Many of the slowly growing elite who did manage to make their way through the colonial education system responded to colonialism in an ambivalent way. But it is difficult to generalize about a host of individuals. Some of the elite tried to blend the best of Western culture with the best of African ways of thinking and living. It became quite normal for a Western-educated African to acknowledge his debt to European culture, in the realms of religion, philosophy and political ideas, and yet to work for the struggle for political independence and cultural assertion. For example, in Nigeria Obafemi Awolowo, a prominent post-war nationalist, frankly acknowledged the plays of the English sixteenth-century dramatist William Shakespeare as one of the influences which moulded him:

Shakespeare is my favourite. I have read all his plays, and have re-read some of them - like Julius Caesar, Hamlet, The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra and Henry V more than three times. Some of the mighty lines of Shakespeare must have influenced my outlook on life.13

This acknowledgement does not mean, however, that Awolowo was culturally alienated, because there is abundant evidence of his African-ness in his family life and social and intellectual interests. Awolowo was not prepared to reject or accept European culture for its own sake or as a whole, but wished to take from it what he considered worthy, while at the same time asserting the richness of African cultural achievements.

Already in the 1930s Western-educated Africans like Senghor in his poetry, Azikiwe in his book Renascent Africa (1937) and Jomo Kenyatta in his Facing Mount Kenya (1938) had used Western intellectual tools and methods to defend the values and virtues of African civilization. After 1945, these and other nationalist leaders continued to accept some European ideas without rejecting African culture.

Not all Western-educated Africans however, managed to avoid succumbing to the brainwashing effects of colonial education. The effects varied with each individual. In the schools provided by government or missionaries, right up to independence (and in many places after it) eurocentric syllabuses were taught and European values were imparted while African values were denigrated.

Faced with this constant barrage of anti-African propaganda and thought-control. it is not surprising that many African students (including some later political leaders) wilted under the impact and became alienated from their cultural heritage, or at least became alienated from large sections of it. After political independence was achieved, it became an imperative charge of the new leadership to transform the educational systems as part of a struggle to restore Africa's cultural independence.

Colonialism and the Rise of African Nationalism.

"The most disastrous aspect of colonization which you are the most reluctant to release from your mind is their colonization of the image of God." Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing

Colonialism is a situation where a more strong country conquers and rules another country which is considered weak militarily. The colonialists always establish their rule which is referred to as colonial rule. There are therefore two types of colonial rule namely, direct rule and indirect rule. Colonialism started in Africa after the Berlin Conference of 1884/5 and the partition of Africa.

African nationalism is as old as European colonialism in Africa. A number of African leaders and societies resisted the European scramble and partition of Africa during the 19^th century. These included Kabalega of Bunyoro, Mkwawa of the Hehe, Samoure Toure of the Mandinka, Abdel Kader of Algeria etc. Unfortunately they were all defeated. This was due to the superior weaponry of the white men and the tribal disunities between Africans at the time.

After colonizing Africa, the colonial masters namely; the British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Germans, Belgians and Italians introducing a number of policies that were oppressive and exploitative.

The contribution of colonialism to the growth of African nationalism is both positive and negative. These policies helped in awakening African national consciousness and nationalism in the following ways;

Africans lost their independence. Colonial masters created new boundaries and names for each of their colonies. The formerly independent Kingdoms such as Buganda, Zulu, Dahomey, Asante and Ndebele became mere provinces / district in the new colonial governments. In each colony, real political power lay in the hands of the governors, provincial and district commissioners all of whom were whites. They were the decision makers while traditional African chiefs who occupied the lower levels of administration became mere implementers of the colonial policies. It was this loss of political power that annoyed African chiefs and their subjects leading to the rise of African nationalism.

The abuse of African chiefs also led to the rise of African nationalism. African chiefs had to be co-operative. Short of this, they could be transferred, dismissed, imprisoned and at times were beaten in front of their subjects! This was common under German, Portuguese and Belgian colonial administration. This bred nationalistic feelings.

The unfairness of legislative councils: These were duty bound to advise the colonial masters on how to govern Africans. Unfortunately, they were biased in that they were largely made up of Europeans. The few Africans who sat on the legislative council / parliaments were appointed by the colonial masters to whom they were puppets. This annoyed the educated that called for an increase in the number of African representatives on the Legco.

Land alienation: Having taken over the administration of their colonies, colonial masters invited a number of poor whites to migrate to Africa and get free land for settlement. Accordingly, a number of whites infiltrated the African continent and grabbed African land. Europeans claimed that the land they occupied was idle or wasteland yet in the real sense this land had just been left to fallow. This annoyed Africans, more so because some of the grabbed land contained their ancestral burial grounds.

Forced labour: Having taken over African land, Europeans established large plantations of coffee, rubber sugar canes, G/nuts etc. On these, manual labour was resorted to forced recruitment. Africans were forced to work on European plantations for little or no pay and while at work, hey were often abused and beaten for example in Belgian Congo. This annoyed Africans and led to nationalistic feelings.

Forced growth of cash crops led to famine: Europeans made it a policy for each homestead to have a Shambaa for the selected cash crops for example cotton and sisal in Tanganyika. Most energetic young men who would have been useful in food production took up cash crop growing or went to work for a pay on the white man's plantations. The results were starvation, misery, disease, and resentment of the white man and the rise of nationalistic feelings.

The creation of reserve areas: In some parts of Africa for example Algeria, Kenya, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, there were large numbers of white settlers who occupied all the fertile and mineral rich land of the Africans. Africans were pushed into semi-arid, infertile, tsetse fly infested and over crowded areas. Life in these reserve areas/concentration camps was full of dirt. Poverty and disease. This stimulated the growth of African nationalism.

Extraction of African Minerals: Colonialists were real con men who took advantage of the ignorance of Africans to rob them of their mineral wealth. Gold and diamond in South Africa, diamonds and aluminum in Angola, copper in Uganda and Katanga province in Congo were extracted without permission from Africans. When the educated Africans learnt about the value of these mineral resources later, they got annoyed and decided to fight for self-government.

Over taxation: Colonialists introduced new types of taxes that were high and unknown to Africans before for example the dog tax for hunting communities in Namibia, the hut tax for each hut owned by and African etc. They hut tax was high and forced a number of Africans to destroy their huts and congest in one hut to avoid paying taxes of the extra huts! Africans started sharing houses with their in-laws, which was an abuse of African culture. This led to resentment and nationalistic feelings.

Harsh methods of tax collection also bred nationalistic feelings: For failure to pay taxes, a man would be flogged in the sight of his wives and children, his domestic animals would be confiscated and at times he would either be imprisoned or taken to serve on the white men's farms for an unspecified period.

The European divide and rule policy: annoyed Africans and led to the rise of nationalism. By this policy, colonialists promoted tribal divisions between Africans and in the process continued exploiting Africa's land, labour and mineral wealth. In Uganda, the British magnified the differences between the Baganda and Banyoro. In Angola, when the liberation war broke out in the 1960s, the Portuguese promoted suspicions and fears between the various tribes. The British did the same in Kenya when the Mau Mau rebellion broke out in the early 1950s. To colonialists, a disunited people were easy to administer. However, this didn't amuse the educated elite who condemned it leading to nationalism.

Racial Segregation: Europeans took themselves as superior to the Africans in all aspects. They lived separately from them, discriminated against them in schools, hospitals, restaurants and churches, abused Africans as primitive, slaves of the white men, etc. Colour bar / discrimination was worse in South Africa and the Portuguese colonies of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau. By 1939 in the gold mines of South Africa, a black man received only an eight of the wages given to a white man for the same job. Such discriminations led to the upsurge of nationalism.

Provision of inferior: In order to rule Africans effectively, Europeans denied them of higher and good quality Education. In most cases for example in South Africa and Portuguese colonies, Africans were mostly entitled to vernacular education and in any case not above primary level.

Discouragement of industrialization: Prior to colonial rule, African technology had enabled them produce pots, spears, hoes, bark clothes, cowhide sandals, mats, wooden beds etc. However, Europeans who had come to search for markets for their industrial products looked this at a dangerous. Hence African craftsmanship was undermined by selling them imported shoes, sauce pans, clothes etc. In Belgian Congo, those who instead on manufacturing traditional spears had their hands amputated! All this bred nationalistic feelings.

Foreign religions and cultures: Were introduced to replace the indigenous ones. The African gods, belief in ancestral spirits, African dressing, names, ceremonies and the like were abused as barbaric and panic. Students in schools were taught to praise the white man's God and culture and to hate African ones. Protestantism and Catholicism were further used as tools of promoting divisionism.

All these were however later resented by both the educated and conservative Africans leading to nationalism.

The use of the brutal colonial police also bred nationalistic feelings. Everywhere on the African continent, colonialists created a well-trained and equipped police force whose duty was to enforce obedience to the colonial masters. Any demands for reforms, any complaints against the white man's oppression and exploitation, any peaceful demonstrations by Africans were all crushed by this cruel police force. It could shoot Africans in chests and heads.

The denial of employment to the educated Africans in West Africa in preference for the illiterate and docile traditional chiefs annoyed the elites and led to nationalism.

The careless division of African countries during the partition exercise also led to nationalistic feelings. Africans were never consulted and hence mistakes were made for example the Ewe tribe was split between Ghana and Togo, the Luo were split between Uganda, Kenya and Sudan etc. The divided Africans felt indignant and nationalistic.

However on the positive side of it, the colonialism came up with some developments in Africa that made it easy for Africans to fight them. In otherwords we can say that colonialism defeated itself. This can be observed in the following ways:

Provision of formal education helped Africans to understand the fundamental freedoms of man, new ideas such as the causes of the French revolution of 1789 as well the weaknesses of the whites. Education also helped Africans to unite since some of them had gone through the same schools. Africans also became more ambitious politically.

Africans realised a common cause: The people therefore realised common nation‑wide burning issues among themselves.

Ethnic groups: Uganda being a heterogeneous nation, people could not easily unite against the foreigners.

High stand of living: Africans got jobs that helped them to earn some income to be used in politics. The economic backwardness reduced such there was money for transport from place, accomodation and maintenance. Ben Kiwanuka worked as a court clerk, earned some money to go for further studies abroad and turned into a serious politician.

Easy communication: The problem of language barrier was solved such that African found easy to communicate with others in the new languages such as French, English and among others.

More exposure: African were exposed to new ideas outside Africa especially in USA and USSR. There was more exposure to freedom fighters worldwide.

Methods employed by the Colonialists to suppress African resistance to foreign rule

Establishment of strong espionage networks such as the PIDE (International Police for the Defense of Estardo) by Portugal, Boss (Bureau of States Security), PISCO (Parliamentary Security Commission) in South Africa. Such organizations cracked down all pockets of resistance and carried out massive tortures of Nationalists.

Arrests and detentions without trials, African Nationalists were on many occasions arrested by the colonialists to silence the opposition for example Nelson Mandela in 1963 in South Africa, Kenyatta in Kenya, Nkrumah of Ghana and Agostinho Neto in Angola.

They also banned political parties, which were the voice of the oppressed Africans. This greatly affected the mobilization of the masses for example in the Portuguese colonies. South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The colonialists enacted bulk racists laws and introduced backward ideologies like; Apartheid and semi- Apartheid in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia respectively. These included the homestead laws, mixed marriages loss, pass book laws, the public safety act, etc. All these were to maintain the Africans inferior and the whites superior as well as perpetuating their dominance-

They withdrew the rights of voting from Africans and also imposed un realistic requirements for Africans in colonies i.e. a minimum annual income and education level was set for the Africans to qualify.

Massive massacres and destruction of African villages was also carried out in some countries. These brutal and inhuman acts demoralized the masses for example the Sharpeville massacres of 1960 and the Soweto massacres of 1974 in South Africa.

They also embarked on the violent suppression of African revolts for example in I960 in Angola, in Mozambique 1956 and in 1959 in Guinea-Bissau.

They also eliminated African Nationalists who had posed a threat to their administration for example- Abraham Tilo of South Africa 1968, Steve Biko the leader of the Black Conscious Movement, Amilcar Cabral of Guinea- Bissau 1973, Edwardo Mondlane in 1969.

They also concluded informal alliances such as the ASPRO commonly known as the Triumvirate comprising of South Africa, Portugal and Southern Rhodesia to suffocate the African interests of independence.

They also imported their conflicts to Africa. For example the cold war politics which used the continent as a boiling point for their conflict. The two super powers USA and USSR with their ideological misunderstandings led to the delayed de-colonization of some countries Viz. Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Eritrea.

They established settlement camps where Africans were gathered living in poor conditions and heavily guarded by armed men. This affected the development of African consciousness in the Portuguese colonies.

They subjected all Africans to absolute poverty which would affect their guerilla activities. The colonialists like the Portuguese extended the concessions to American and British companies to further the exploitation.

They embarked on the policy of heavy militarization for example Portugal spent 45% of it's annual budget on defense and 5/6 of their soldiers were deployed in the colonies, South Africa also increased its defense budget and in 1979, it became a nuclear power.

Methods Employed by African Nationalists to Fight Against The Colonialists.

1. The coming of the colonialists on the continent of Africa received both forces of collaboration and resistance as a way to safe guard their independence that's before 1900 but from 1945, Africans greatly opposed colonialism in the strongest terms possible.

2. Through the formation of political parties and trade unions in order to mobilize the masses and have a common voice to air out their grievances. These included the CPP of Ghana, PAIGC of Guinea-Bissau, ANC in South Africa, UNC in Uganda TANU in Tanzania. They also adopted Gandhi's policy of passive resistance which supported the idea of non-violence as a way of pinning down the colonialists. These included strikes, matches and boycotts, For example CPP of Ghana mobilized people to bum the cocoa plantations. The PAC of South Africa carried out anti-pass campaigns in Sharpville.

3. Through filing petitions, African nationalists managed to expose the evil deeds of colonialists. For example, the MPLA of Angola in 1960 petitioned the Lisbon government, in Tanzania 1951, the TAA petitioned the visiting UN missions.

4. Nationalists also employed militarism as a way of attaining independence. For example the FLN of Algeria 1954, the MPLA 1961 of Angola, FRELIMO 1964 of Mozambique and PAIGC 1963 of Guinea- Bissau used the guerilla war- fare to attain independence.

5. Nationalists also resorted to requesting for financial and military assistance from the communist block. In other words, they adopted the communist ideology, which resulted into the massive inflow of the communist aid from countries like USSR, China and Czechoslovakia- This was useful in counteracting the NATO aid, which was being provided to the white settlers and the Portuguese.

6. African nationalists also formed continental organizations to spearhead the de-colonization of the continent. These included the PAM in 1900, the NAM in 1955 and the OAU in 1963, which emphasized the idea of complete decolonisation of Africa with all its manifestations. For example, the OAU formed the liberation committee in 1974, which provided assistance to liberation movements in Africa.

7. They also used the UNO as a platform for demanding for their independence. Quoting article 11 and 13 of the UN charter that supported the idea of respect of fundamental human rights and complete decolonisation. Furthermore, African nationalists and states dragged the colonialists to the international court of justice showing their dissatisfaction over their practices.

8. African nationalists also made alliances in order to strengthen their resistance. For example the MPLA, PAIGC, FRELIMO. ANC, and ZANU coordinated in their struggles against colonialism. Africans also embarked on the policy of attaining western education, which enabled them to be acquainted with the principals of democracy, peace and unity. African nationalists like Nkrumah, Mandela, Musaazi, Mondlane, Nyerere, Kaunda, among others got the chance to be exposed to the western system of politics which was full of freedom and therefore upon their return, they became great advocates for such a free society.

9. They also used the mass media for example Newspapers and Radios to decampaign the colonialists and sensitize the masses about the need for independence. For example Radio Cairo, the Accra Evening News were used to reduce the influence of the colonialists-

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12 Ronald Segal, African Profiles, Penguin Books, London. 1962, p. 199

13 A. Awolowo, Awo: The Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Cambridge University Press, I960. pp. 70,85-6,90-1.