Colonialism Archives - Friends of Socialist China

Britain’s century-long opium trafficking and China’s ‘Century of Humiliation’ (1839-1949)

This essay by Stansfield Smith, first published in MR Online, provides a detailed account of China’s Century of Humiliation, a crucial phenomenon to understand and one which continues to inform China’s anti-colonial politics. “For the Chinese, the trauma of the Century of Humiliation continues as a blunt reminder of their past defeat and neo-colonial servitude, as well as a reminder of the West’s self-righteous hypocrisy and arrogance.”

Stansfield describes how the British, later joined by other Western powers, used opium as a weapon to weaken China and reverse the flow of silver. In so doing, they caused untold suffering to the Indian as well as the Chinese people: “Britain taxed away 50% of the value of Indian peasants’ food crops to push them out of agriculture into growing Opium. This soon led to the Bengal famine of 1770, when ten million, a third of the Bengali population, starved to death. Britain took no action to aid them, as they did almost a century later with their orchestrated famine in Ireland.”

Once Britain defeated China in the First Opium War, the Treaty of Nanking gave Hong Kong to Britain as indemnity. Hong Kong “quickly became the center of Opium drug-dealing, soon providing the colony most of its revenue.” Such are the ignominious origins of British rule in Hong Kong.

China’s weakness was quickly leveraged by other Western powers, who imposed unequal treaties on China, and by the turn of the 20th century China was effectively a semi-colonial country. “The Eight-Nation Alliance (Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary) invaded again in 1900 to crush the nationalist Boxer Rebellion. An indemnity of 20,000 tons of silver was extracted, and China reduced to a neo-colony.”

Stansfield observes that “the blight of Opium on China was not resolved until the revolutionary victory in 1949.” Socialism has made China strong, and the Chinese people are determined to never again be humiliated by foreign powers. The article concludes:

The West now views China as a renewed threat, again seeking to economically disable it and chop it into pieces. However, this time, the Chinese people are much better prepared to combat imperialist designs to impose a new era of humiliation on them.

Stansfield Smith is an anti-war activist focused mostly on combating US intervention in Latin America. He is an activist with Chicago ALBA Solidarity.

For the Chinese, the trauma of the Century of Humiliation continues as a blunt reminder of their past defeat and neo-colonial servitude, as well as a reminder of the West’s self-righteous hypocrisy and arrogance.

In 1500, India and China were the world’s most advanced civilizations. Then came the Europeans. They eventually looted and wreaked havoc on both, just as they were to on the Americas and Africa. For India and China, Britain was the chief culprit, relying on state-sponsored drug-running backed by industrialized military power. The British Empire was the world’s largest producer and exporter of Opium—the main product of global trade after the gradual decline of the slave trade from Africa. Their “civilization” brought the Century of Humiliation to China, which only ended with the popular revolution led by Mao Zedong. This historic trauma and the struggle to overcome it and re-establish their country is etched in the minds of the Chinese today.

Before the British brought their “culture,” 25% of the world trade originated in India. By the time they left it was less than 1%. British India’s Opium dealing was for the large part of the 19th Century the second-most important source of revenue for colonial India. Their “Opium industry was one of the largest enterprises on the subcontinent, producing a few thousand tons of the drug every year—a similar output to Afghanistan’s notorious Opium industry [during the U.S. occupation], which supplies the global market for heroin.” Opium accounted for about 17-20% of British India revenues.

In the early 1700s, China produced 35% of the world GDP. Until 1800 half the books in the world were printed in Chinese. The country considered itself self-sufficient, not seeking any products from other countries. Foreign countries bought Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain, having to pay in gold and silver. Consequently, the balance of trade was unfavorable to the British for almost two centuries, like the situation the U.S. and Europe face with China today.

This trade slowly depleted Western reserves. Eventually, 30,865 tons of silver flowed into China, mostly from Britain. Britain turned to state sponsored drug smuggling as a solution, and by 1826 the smuggling from India had reversed the flow of silver. Thus began one of the longest and continuous international crimes of modern times, second to the African slave trade, under the supervision of the British crown.

(The just formed United States was already smuggling Opium into China by 1784. The U.S. first multi-millionaire John Jacob Astor grew rich dealing Opium to China, as did FDR’s grandfather, Warren Delano, Jr.)

The British East India Company was key to this Opium smuggling. Soon after Britain conquered Bengal in 1757, George III granted the East India Company a monopoly on producing and exporting Indian Opium. Eventually its Opium Agency employed some 2500 clerks working in 100 offices around India.

Britain taxed away 50% of the value of Indian peasants’ food crops to push them out of agriculture into growing Opium. This soon led to the Bengal famine of 1770, when ten million, a third of the Bengali population, starved to death. Britain took no action to aid them, as they did almost a century later with their orchestrated famine in Ireland. Another famine hit India in 1783, and again Britain did nothing as 11 million starved. Between 1760-1943,

As per British sources, more than 85 million Indians died in these famines which were in reality genocides done by the British Raj.

At its peak in the mid-19th century, the British state-sponsored export of Opium accounted for roughly 15% of total colonial revenue in India and 31% of India’s exports. The massive revenues from this drug money solidified India as a substantial financial base for England’s later world conquests.

Quiet please! We’re decolonising

Events in the Sahel region of Africa seldom get the international attention they deserve. However, developments in recent years have started to draw greater attention from anti-imperialists. In Mali in 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger in 2023, progressive figures from the military have taken power, dealing a blow to the former colonial power France, which has long continued to maintain its effective domination of the region, and arousing renewed hope among the masses of people for independent development and social progress.

On 16 September 2023, these three countries formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as a mutual defence pact when military aggression was threatened against the new government of Niger. The AES joins a growing number of regional and international bodies formed by the countries of the Global South to strengthen their independence against imperialism on the basis of collective self-reliance.

As part of this process, all three countries are strengthening their ties, in the economic, military and other fields, with China, Russia and other anti-imperialist states.

These developments do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they have deep roots. Many people in the anti-imperialist movement know something of Thomas Sankara, the inspirational Marxist leader of Burkina Faso. Some know of Modibo Keïta, the first, socialist President of Mali. But probably very few know of the Sawaba Party, its leader Djibo Bakary, and the courageous armed struggle they waged in the 1960s for Niger’s true liberation.

In this special article, written exclusively for Friends of Socialist China, Dr. Sahidi Bilan, Senior Adviser of London-based Collectif de la Nigérienne Diaspora (Collective of the Nigérien Diaspora – CND), and Rob Lemkin, award-winning filmmaker, whose BBC2/BFI African Apocalypse documents the 1899 French invasion of Niger, bring the hidden history of the Sawaba Party to life, focusing especially on the strong internationalist support and assistance rendered by the People’s Republic of China to the Nigerien revolution – a relationship of solidarity that dates from 1954.

Bringing the story up to date, the authors conclude:

“It may be that the emancipatory force of history that Sawaba fought so hard to release is now beginning to be realised by the people of Niger. Let us hope that long-yearned-for freedom and justice can at last prevail without negative external interference…

“Today Niger and China have strong economic and political relations. Sawaba’s little-known history and connection with the PRC is an important foundation in the origins of today’s friendship.”

The struggle of the Sawaba Party was suppressed with extreme cruelty. But, facing execution at the hands of Spanish colonialists in 1781, Bolivian national hero, Tupac Katari declared: “I will return and I will be millions.”

Today, as their countries embark on the difficult road of building a new society, Thomas Sankara, Modibo Keïta and Djibo Bakary have returned. And they are millions.

When Niger’s military government last year expelled the troops and diplomats of the former colonising power France, some Nigeriens saw it as the resumption of a process rudely interrupted in September 1958. Sixty-six years ago, on the eve of independence, Niger’s first African government council was led by the Sawaba party (Sawaba means ‘liberation’ and ‘well-being’ in Niger’s main language Hausa) and its Prime Minister was a charismatic decolonial trade unionist called Djibo Bakary.

Sawaba’s overthrow in 1958 by France was Africa’s first modern coup d’etat. In no time the party was proscribed and driven underground; it went on to create a resistance movement with the support of African anti-imperialist states like Ghana and Algeria and developed a significant guerrilla training programme with help from the socialist bloc notably the People’s Republic of China.

‘Silence! On decolonise!’ is the title of Djibo Bakary’s great book, at once autobiography and manifesto for the radical decolonisation programme of which he was a principal. We use its title to explore a better understanding of the 26 July 2023 military coup and its unilateral severing of military accords with France and later the United States of America. It is vital to interrogate why no military coup in Niger’s post-independence history (and there have been eight of which five were successful) has had such popular support as that of the CNSP (Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie, National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland).

This article gives first a brief introduction to Sawaba’s history and vision for Niger; we then focus on China’s connections, in particular its role in and influence on Sawaba’s remarkably ambitious, but disastrously unsuccessful attempt to invade Niger in 1964; we then outline the intense repression that followed and conclude bringing the story up to the present.

The questions for today include: how aware are Niger’s current rulers of Bakary and Sawaba’s radical decolonial project? Are the recent expulsions of Western military forces part of genuine politics of anti-imperialism or are they merely a populist move by the military government? American and French military presences (Italian and German too) had been justified by the need to combat insurgency. But terror attacks have increased over the last decade. The government is now turning to Russia for military assistance.

“I believe it is our duty is to inform the representatives of France of the will and thought of the overwhelming majority of the people we claim to work for; to serve the interests of the greatest number and not to use it as a springboard to satisfy desires for luxury and power. For this, we need to grapple with our problems by ourselves and for ourselves and have the will to solve them first on our own, later with the help of others, but always taking account of our African realities (…)

For our part, we have said it again and again: we have been, we are and will remain always for and with the Nigérien “talaka” (peasant)”
Djibo Bakary, Editorial in The Democrat 4 February 1956

Nowadays the history of Sawaba is little known or spoken of in Niger. In fact, it was not until 1991 after the end of the Cold War that the full list could be published of Sawabist political prisoners who had died in detention through the 1960s and 70s. According to Mounkaila Sanda, Djibo Bakary’s nephew and a later leader of Sawaba, there has long been a concerted effort to expunge the memory of Sawaba’s struggle from national consciousness along with the systematic repression of its members.

Kanak people resist French colonial rule in New Caledonia

In this interesting article for Struggle La Lucha, Sharon Black details the recent uprising of the Kanak people in New Caledonia, a French colony in the South Pacific. The immediate trigger for the uprising was a vote by France’s National Assembly on a constitutional amendment that will introduce significant new hurdles on the path towards New Caledonia’s independence; however the underlying cause is longstanding: “the deep economic divide between the wealthy French population and the Kanak people and the unsolved and bitter question of sovereignty and independence for New Caledonia.”

Sharon notes that, in response to the pro-independence rebellion, “France has deployed an additional thousand troops to its overseas territory of New Caledonia, joining the 1,700 police and military personnel already present. The French gendarmes have meant the death of seven and the arrests of hundreds following a declaration of a state of emergency and the imposition of a curfew.”

Aside from the direct economic importance of New Caledonia – which as the article points out produces one-third of the world’s nickel and holds around 11 percent of the world’s total nickel reserves – the struggle of the Kanak people for independence also has geopolitical significance, given that the archipelago is located “in Australia’s backyard, patrolled by the US military, and in the crosshairs of Western capitalist machinations against China’s Belt and Road initiative.”

French opposition to independence has explicitly been framed in terms of the need to prevent China from gaining a foothold in the region. Visiting the capital Nouméa in 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that independence from France would essentially mean handing sovereignty over to China. “If independence means choosing tomorrow to have a Chinese [naval] base here or to be dependent on other fleets, good luck!”

Sharon further cites right-wing French politician Xavier Bertrand as saying that New Caledonia “either stays French or it will become Chinese.”

In other words, the French ruling class is hoping to hold on to their South Pacific colonies as part of the US-led strategy to encircle China. The Kanak people’s struggle for independence is therefore not only a struggle against French colonialism, but is connected to the broader global struggle against imperialism and for a multipolar world.

In response to a popular uprising led by pro-independence Indigenous Kanak youth, France has deployed an additional thousand troops to its overseas territory of New Caledonia, joining the 1,700 police and military personnel already present. The French gendarmes have meant the death of seven and the arrests of hundreds following a declaration of a state of emergency and the imposition of a curfew.

Roadblocks have shut down key arteries to Nouméa, the capital city, and the airport. Australian and New Zealand tourists have hunkered down, and French settlers in wealthy areas in Nouméa have brandished weapons to protect businesses.

The rebellion has followed weeks of major demonstrations and growing frustrations fed by the French parliament’s arrogant passage of a constitutional amendment that would further liquidate the voting power of the country’s Indigenous population and stall independence.

While the French bourgeoisie may temporarily solve the immediate crisis by force — which remains to be seen — it is a pyrrhic victory.

Crushing the rebellion will not solve the root cause fueling anger: the deep economic divide between the wealthy French population and the Kanak people and the unsolved and bitter question of sovereignty and independence for New Caledonia.

At the time of this writing, May 23, French President Emmanuel Macron and Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu have landed in New Caledonia, and some limited flights have taken out tourists. Macron said he would delay the implementation of the anti-Kanak constitutional amendment (a delay is only temporary) while snarling that French troops would remain “as long as necessary.”

What’s at stake is how long France’s occupation forces remain in the archipelago.

Dien Bien Phu victory through the memory of Chinese Senior Lieutenant General

Vietnam has been staging major commemorations of the 70^th anniversary of the country’s victory at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. This epic confrontation, which has been compared to the Battle of Stalingrad, and which raged for more than 50 days, from 13 March-May 7 1954, saw the Vietnamese liberation forces, led by Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap, comprehensively outwit, outmaneuver and finally crushingly defeat the far more powerful forces of French colonialism.

The victory of the Vietnamese revolutionaries destroyed French colonial rule in the three countries then collectively known as Indochina, namely Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, which was then codified in the Geneva Accords of July 21, 1954. And, coming less than a year after the Korean people’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War, the Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu powerfully inspired oppressed peoples and nations throughout the world in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism. Not least, the Algerian people commenced their war of liberation against French colonial rule less than six months later.

The Vietnamese Communist Party’s newspaper Nhân Dân recently summarised the significance of the Dien Bien Phu victory as follows:

“The Dien Bien Phu Victory became the sound of thunder that shook the world, tearing through the dark clouds of colonialism and imperialism, bringing a great source of encouragement to oppressed peoples to stand up to regain independence. The three words ‘Vietnam’, ‘Ho Chi Minh’, and ‘Dien Bien Phu’ resounded everywhere, becoming the pride and hope for freedom of progressive forces, a symbol of great bravery, and a shining star of the national liberation movement, signalling the collapse of colonialism.

“The Dien Bien Phu Victory is even greater because it is a victory of a fledgling army of a weak nation which defeated a colonialist giant with outnumbering troops and weapons. During the 56 days and nights of the battle, our army eliminated more than 16,000 enemy troops and demolished a group of strongholds regarded by the West as an invincible fortress. It was also the first time in history that a major expeditionary army of a western imperialist country was exterminated in a colonial country.”

Vietnam’s victory was immeasurably aided by the internationalist support and assistance of the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union, particularly the Military Advisory Delegation of China, which was embedded with the Vietnamese command.

It was commanded by Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing (September 2, 1913-June 14, 1989). An outstanding Chinese revolutionary, Wei also served as Vice Chairman of the 4^th and 5th National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committees; Vice Chairman of the 4^th and 5th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conferences (CPPCC); Alternate Member and Member of the 8th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC); Member of the 9th Central Committee of the CPC; and member of the 10th, 11th and 12th Political Bureaux of the CPC Central Committee.

Marking the 70^th anniversary, Nhân Dân recently interviewed Wei Guoqing’s son, Wei Xiaoyi, and his widow, Xu Qiqian.

Wei Xiaoyi said: “Before leaving for Vietnam, Chairman Mao Zedong met with the delegation’s leaders in Zhongnanhai [the compound where the top Chinese leadership live and work]. He asked the delegation’s members to support the Vietnamese revolution impartially and purely, just like serving the Chinese revolution. My father remembered Chairman Mao Zedong’s notes. After coming to Vietnam, he contributed his opinions to the construction and operations of the Vietnamese army”.

Regarding the significance of the Dien Bien Phu Victory for Vietnam, China and the world, Wei Xiaoyi said that the victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign forced the French army to withdraw from Indochina, leading to the success of the cause of national liberation. The growth and maturity of the Vietnamese forces, from a guerrilla army gradually becoming a regular army, created the foundation for the struggle against US imperialists’ invasion and later the national liberation and reunification.

For China, in the 1950s, the maintenance of stability in the situation of Korea bordering north China and Vietnam bordering south China created favourable conditions for the building of socialism. In addition, the Dien Bien Phu Victory also had an impact on the national liberation movement around the world. Vietnam’s struggle to defeat the French colonialists and later, the American imperialists to reunify the country, was a great encouragement for the national liberation movement in the world.

The following article was originally published by Nhân Dân. Additionally, its timeline of the battle can be seen here.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper’s reporters in China interviewed Wei Xiaoyi, a son of Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing, former Head of the Military Advisory Delegation of China during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

Wei Xiaoyi and his mother, Xu Qiqian (over 90), were very moved when they recalled their memories of the Chinese Senior Lieutenant General, who was attached to and devoted much love to Vietnam.

Recalling Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing’s account of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, Wei Xiaoyi said following the failures in campaigns, such as the Border Campaign and Upper Laos Campaign, France appointed General Henri Navarre as Commander-in-Chief of the French army in Indochina. Navarre developed a military plan named after himself to turn the tide of the Indochina war, with the assumption that by capturing this land, they would be able to control the entire northwest region of Vietnam and cut off communication between the Vietnamese army and people with Laos and China, while making it difficult for the Vietnamese to supply logistics.

In late 1953, the French army began sending garrisons to Dien Bien Phu, including mercenaries and later paratroopers. Faced with that situation, at Vietnam’s request, China sent a military advisory delegation to help the Vietnamese army. Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing was the Head of the Chinese military advisory delegation to the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

Wei Xiaoyi said: “Before leaving for Vietnam, President Mao Zedong met with the delegation’s leaders in Zhongnanhai. He asked the delegation’s members to support the Vietnamese revolution impartially and purely, just like serving the Chinese revolution. My father remembered President Mao Zedong’s notes. After coming to Vietnam, he contributed his opinions to the construction and operations of the Vietnamese army”.

On the 60th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Wei Xiaoyi visited the ancient Dien Bien Phu battlefield. He said he felt all he heard about Dien Bien Phu through the relic sites such as Dien Bien Phu Campaign Headquarters, where General Vo Nguyen Giap and others of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign Command often worked and rested, or the workplace of the Chinese Military Advisory Delegation.

Just like his father, Wei Xiaoyi greatly admired the spirit of heroic fighting and overcoming difficulties and hardships of the Vietnamese army and people, especially the transportation of weapons, ammunition, and food during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, relied entirely on human strength amid the scarcity and a large difference in force with the enemy.

Regarding the significance of the Dien Bien Phu Victory for Vietnam, China and the world, Wei Xiaoyi said that the victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign forced the French army to withdraw from Indochina, leading to the success of the cause of national liberation. The growth and maturity of the Vietnamese, from a guerrilla army gradually becoming a regular army, created the foundation for the struggle against US imperialists’ invasion and later the national liberation and reunification.

For China, in the 1950s, the maintenance of stability in the situation of Korea in North China and Vietnam in South China created favourable conditions for the building of socialism in China. In addition, the Dien Bien Phu Victory also had an impact on the national liberation movement around the world. Vietnam’s struggle to defeat the French colonialists and later, the American imperialists to reunify the country was a great encouragement for the national liberation movement in the world.

Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing (September 2, 1913 – June 14, 1989) was Head of the Chinese Military Advisory Delegation in Vietnam; Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for fourth and fifth tenures; Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference for fourth and fifth tenures; Alternate Member and Member of the 8th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC); Member of the 9th Central Committee of the CPC; and member of the 10th, 11th and 12th Politburo of the CPC.

Wei Xiaoyi is the second child of Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing. He joined the army and retired. He is now a researcher on Chinese military and revolutionary history.

British and US hypocrisy over Chagos Islands exposes the true nature of their ‘values-based alliance’

The following article, which originally appeared in the Global Times on 9 December 2023, exposes the utter hypocrisy of the US and Britain in relation to their supposed ‘values-based alliance’ and its role in upholding a ‘rules-based international order’.

The article discusses the recent press conference by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, at which Cameron refused to say whether Britain would return its Chagos Islands colony to Mauritius – as required by international law – and Blinken said that Washington “recognises UK sovereignty” over the territory. As the author points out: “The Chagos Islands do not belong to the UK; they belong to Mauritius. This has been formally determined by a UN resolution and a ruling of the International Court of Justice. It is also the general consensus of the international community and there is no dispute about it.”

Britain split the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 in advance of the latter’s independence, essentially so that it could fulfil a promise to lease Diego Garcia – the largest of the islands – to the US as an airbase. Incidentally, this thoroughly unscrupulous act was carried out by Harold Wilson’s Labour government. The approximately 2,000 indigenous inhabitants of the islands were forcibly relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles.

Mauritius has long fought for the return of Chagos to its sovereignty, and the Chagossian people have long fought for the right to return to their homeland. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that Britain’s separation of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius was illegal, and ordered the UK to return the territory to Mauritius as soon as possible. The UN General Assembly passed a resolution by large majority calling for the same (the only six countries to vote against the resolution were Britain, the US, Australia, Israel, Hungary, and the Maldives).

The author notes that Diego Garcia has become an “‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ for the US military in the Indian Ocean. It has been used for bombing missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and plays a crucial role in the later-introduced ‘Indo-Pacific strategy'”. Meanwhile, bizarrely, Britain and the US “argue that the island is crucial for the US, so it cannot be returned, and are even suggesting that returning it might benefit China.”

It is clear that these upholders of ‘democratic values’ are only too happy to flout international law in the pursuit of hegemony. As the article rightly concludes, “these new and old Anglo-Saxon empires still persist in attempting to apply imperialistic practices in many international affairs in 2023, treating their self-interest as international norms.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and visiting British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Thursday local time in a joint press conference that they had discussed the “vital” US-UK Indian Ocean air base at Diego Garcia. Cameron did not give a specific response when asked if the UK was dropping plans to return the Chagos Islands, of which Diego Garcia is the largest member, to Mauritius, while Blinken said that Washington “recognizes UK sovereignty over British Indian Ocean Territory.”

The word “recognize” here is full of darkness, injustice and irony. This immediately makes people think of the past and ongoing political deals between the UK and the US on the issue of the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands. The deals are extremely dirty and shameful. This is why Blinken and Cameron dare not speak clearly or elaborate.

The Chagos Islands do not belong to the UK; they belong to Mauritius. This has been formally determined by a UN resolution and a ruling of the International Court of Justice. It is also the general consensus of the international community and there is no dispute about it. As early as 2019, a UN resolution required the UK to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius within six months, but the UK has delayed it until today, and it obviously wants to delay it further. In November last year, the UK and Mauritius decided to start negotiations, giving Mauritius some hope, but now various signs indicate that the UK is likely to change its mind again, and the negotiations are turning into a deception.

The Chagos Islands were Britain’s last colony in Africa and seen as the final “holdout” of colonialism. Britain occupied the Chagos Islands for over 200 years, during which illegal and inhumane acts of violence, plundering, and deception against the indigenous Chagossians were rampant. As the outcome of a war between colonial empires, the islands first came under British rule in 1814 after a British-led coalition defeated Napoleon, taking possession of Mauritius, including the Chagos Islands, as colonies. When Mauritius gained independence, Britain attempted to deceive Mauritius into relinquishing its sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, but this ploy was unsuccessful. It was at this point that the US entered the picture.

In 1965, the UK forcefully “acquired” the Chagos Islands. The following year, it transferred the largest island in the Chagos, Diego Garcia, as a “gift” to the US, leading to a grave humanitarian tragedy. In order to meet US military demands to “clear” the islands, the British authorities created an artificial famine by cutting off water and food supplies, prohibiting ships carrying food from reaching the island, and other measures. This forced over 2,000 indigenous people on the island to leave their ancestral homes, fleeing to Mauritius and Seychelles thousands of miles away. Many islanders resorted to suicide. Over the years, the Chagos Islanders and the Mauritius government have continuously sought justice through various avenues, including the British High Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and relevant courts and institutions in United Nations. They have achieved almost every legal victory, including the 2019 UN resolution, but remained limited to this.

After the US established the military base, the situation became even more complex. Diego Garcia Island became an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” for the US military in the Indian Ocean. It has been used for bombing missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and plays a crucial role in the later-introduced “Indo-Pacific strategy.” Some US media outlets even refer to Diego Garcia Island as “one of the most strategically important and secretive US military installations outside the US,” a description that may not be an exaggeration.

Therefore, whether the UK will return the Chagos Islands depends on the US attitude. If the US does not agree, the UK, even if willing, may not dare to return them. However, the reasons given by the UK and the US for refusing to return the islands are peculiar. They argue that the island is crucial for the US, so it cannot be returned, and are even suggesting that returning it might benefit China. This is akin to stealing someone’s belongings and then claiming it’s essential, so the stolen objects cannot be returned. What logic and reasoning is that? In the Chagos Islands issue, both the UK and the US have trampled on human rights, international norms, morality, and international law, subjects that they always talk about.

The US and the UK have one foot in the 21st century while the other remains planted in the 19th century, revealing the true nature of their “values alliance.” These new and old Anglo-Saxon empires still persist in attempting to apply imperialistic practices in many international affairs in 2023, treating their self-interest as international norms. However, they are not dealing with a “weak” Mauritius, but countless awakening developing nations. Fairness and justice are no longer dictated solely by powers like the US and the UK.

Chinese UN envoy calls for collectively addressing the harm caused by colonialism

A senior Chinese diplomat has made a rousing call to carry the struggle against colonialism through to the end.

Speaking at a general debate of the United Nations Special Political and Decolonisation Committee, also known as the Fourth Committee, Geng Shuang, China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, urged “the international community to end colonialism’s harm and legacy and promote a fairer international order.”

“We urge the international community to collectively address the harm caused by colonialism, eradicate its lasting legacy, uphold international fairness and justice, and foster the establishment of a fairer and more equitable international order.”

Geng went on to say that: “Colonialism stands as the darkest chapter in human civilisation’s history, leaving an enduring scar in the course of human development. During that era, a few Western countries promoted slavery overseas and engaged in the slave trade for their own selfish interests, amassing wealth and happiness at the expense of countless lives and untold human tragedies. Even today, the legacy of colonialism endures, colonialist ideologies persist, and the world we inhabit has yet to fully emerge from the shadow of colonialism.”

He added: “China urges those countries that have implemented the colonial system or benefited from it to show political will, shoulder historical responsibilities, compensate for the consequences of colonisation, and stop pursuing colonial thinking in international relations, manipulating power politics, and harming the interests of other countries.”

Stressing the unity of the Global South, Geng noted that: “Common experiences give rise to common demands, common demands give rise to common interests, and common interests call for common actions.”

He also called for the promotion of gender equality.

The following article originally appeared in China Daily.

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday called on the international community to end colonialism’s harm and legacy and promote a fairer international order.

“We urge the international community to collectively address the harm caused by colonialism, eradicate its lasting legacy, uphold international fairness and justice, and foster the establishment of a fairer and more equitable international order,” said Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN.

Geng spoke at a general debate of the UN Special Political and Decolonization Committee, or Fourth Committee, on Tuesday.

“Colonialism stands as the darkest chapter in human civilization’s history, leaving an enduring scar in the course of human development. During that era, a few Western countries promoted slavery overseas and engaged in the slave trade for their own selfish interests, amassing wealth and happiness at the expense of countless lives and untold human tragedies.

“Even today, the legacy of colonialism endures, colonialist ideologies persist, and the world we inhabit has yet to fully emerge from the shadow of colonialism,” said Geng.

Geng noted that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has emphasized the direct correlation between today’s social and economic inequalities and centuries of colonial exploitation.

During the recently concluded general debate of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, leaders from developing countries voiced their grievances about the serious disasters colonialism had brought to their countries and the world, and called for the matter of compensation to be addressed, a sentiment that found resonance across many countries in the Global South, Geng said.

“China urges those countries that have implemented the colonial system or benefited from it to show political will, shoulder historical responsibilities, compensate for the consequences of colonization, and stop pursuing colonial thinking in international relations, manipulating power politics, and harming the interests of other countries,” the envoy said.

Geng also quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks at the closing ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum 2023, held in South Africa in August.

Xi said: “Many emerging markets and developing countries have come to what they are today after shaking off the yoke of colonialism. With perseverance, hard work and huge sacrifices, we succeeded in gaining independence and have been exploring development paths suited to our national conditions. Everything we do is to deliver better lives to our people.”

“Common experiences give rise to common demands, common demands give rise to common interests, and common interests call for common actions. As a member of the Global South, China is willing to work with other developing countries to defend the hard-won independence, freedom and development achievements, pursue the better life expected by the people,” said Geng.

“We aim to secure our rightful representation in international affairs and global governance, promote gender equality and amplify our voices, and collectively advance the construction of a shared future for humanity, ushering in a new chapter in human development,” he said.

Keith Bennett: Conditions are maturing for the final defeat of neo-colonialism

Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett spoke at the Global Conference on Multipolarity, held online on Saturday April 29. The conference, which was jointly convened by organizations from China, Türkiye, Russia, Brazil and elsewhere, and coordinated from Moscow, was addressed by more than 120 speakers from over 60 countries.

Addressing the theme of neo-colonialism, Keith said that the founding of the People’s Republic of China was among the great historic events which made the persistence of the old colonial empires untenable.

The collapse of the Soviet Union temporarily gave colonialism and imperialism a new lease of life, but a number of factors had served to make the moment of imperialist triumphalism a fleeting one. In particular, the People’s Republic of China, far from changing its class character, had deepened its socialist orientation and has continued its steady rise, remaining on course to overtake the United States as the world’s single largest economy, a change unseen in well over a century. Keith recalled that President Xi Jinping first said in 2017 that socialism with Chinese characteristics, “offers a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence.”

We reproduce below the text and video of Keith’s speech.

Dear Friends and Comrades

First, I would like to thank Nova Resistência of Brazil, the New International Order Initiative of Türkiye, the International Eurasian Movement of Russia, the Thinker’s Forum of China, and the International Russophile Movement for organizing today’s Global Multipolarity Conference and for inviting me to share some thoughts on the sub-theme of the Struggle Against Neo-Colonialism in a Multipolar World.

The themes you have chosen for today’s deliberations are the central questions of contemporary global politics. Indeed, I would argue, they are among the most vital issues facing humanity for centuries.

What is most significant about the present conjuncture is that the conditions are maturing for the final resolution of this historical problem, through the creation of a truly multipolar, or pluripolar, world, with independence as its foundation and at its core.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the great African-American scholar and revolutionary, Dr. WEB DuBois said that the defining issue of that coming century would be what he termed the ‘colour line’. He spoke just a few short years after the European colonial powers had met in Berlin to carve the continent of Africa between themselves like so many slices of cake.

Marx’s writings on the Opium Wars and capital accumulation in the Global South, with Lucia Pradella

In the interview below, Lucia Pradella engages with Joseph Mullen of The Cadre Journal on the subject of Karl Marx’s understanding of colonialism and capital accumulation in the Global South, with particular reference to China.

Dr. Pradella is a Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy at King’s College London and the author of ‘Globalization and the critique of political economy: New insights from Marx’s writings’, published as part of the Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy series. The Cadre Journal is a student-run journal and podcast on anti-imperialism and communism.

Lucia explains how in her study for her master’s and PhD degrees, as well as a period spent working on the major project to publish the Complete Works of Marx and Engels, she acquired greater understanding of the breadth and depth of Marx’s studies of pre-capitalist societies and of the central role played by colonialism, and not least the Opium Wars, in primitive capital accumulation and his value theory. Whilst greater attention has tended to be paid to Marx’s writings on India, it is significant that Marx’s positive attention to, and appraisal of, the first stages of the Taiping Revolution essentially coincides with the defeat suffered by the European revolutions of 1848. Arising from his study of the Taipings, Marx postulated the possibility of a republican revolution in China.

In the Communist Manifesto, she notes, Marx and Engels proceeded from the premise that the industrial proletariat of Europe constituted the agency of the international revolutionary process, but developments post-1848 created two possible paths to revolution, on the part of the industrial proletariat and on the part of the colonised peoples. However, she contends that Marx did not abandon his view that a developed capitalism was necessary for there to be a socialist revolution.

The views and contributions of a range of people, including Rosa Luxemburg, David Harvey, Immanuel Wallerstein, Giovanni Arrighi, Andre Gunder Frank and Samir Amin are touched on, with Lucia arguing that the dependency theorists and proponents of world systems theory overlooked some aspects of Marx’s Capital. Asked for her views on the theory of combined and uneven development, and its applicability, she expresses the view that Trotsky did not understand the centrality of colonialism in Marx’s analysis.

Noting Marx’s acuity with regards to the potential impact of developments in China on the world economy, she says that some of the developments we see today are processes that Marx already analysed at a very abstract level in Capital Volume One.

The full interview is embedded below.

Speech of W.E.B. Du Bois in Beijing University in 1959

On the 154th anniversary of his birth, we are pleased to republish this speech given in Beijing by the great African-American communist, Pan-Africanist, scholar and freedom fighter W.E.B. Du Bois on the occasion of his 91st birthday.

By courtesy of the government of the 600 million people of the Chinese Republic, I am permitted on my 91st birthday to speak to the people of China and Africa and through them to the world. Hail, then, and farewell, dwelling places of the yellow and black races. Hail human kind!

I speak with no authority; no assumption of age nor rank; I hold no position, I have no wealth. One thing alone I own and that is my own soul. Ownership of that I have even while in my own country for near a century I have been nothing but a “nigger.” On this basis and this alone I dare speak, I dare advise.

China after long centuries has arisen to her feet and leapt forward. Africa, arise, and stand straight, speak and think! Act! Turn from the West and your slavery and humiliation for the last 500 years and face the rising sun.

Justin Podur: Why comparing Chinese Africa investment to Western colonialism Is no joke

We are very pleased to reproduce this article from FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) in which Justin Podur dissects a recent broadcast by South African comedian Trevor Noah, which made facile claims that China was colonising Africa. Whilst not hesitating to acknowledge shortcomings and mistakes, Podur presents a detailed refutation of Noah’s claims and, in so doing, draws apt comparisons between China’s contributions to Africa’s development and the truly murderous and rapacious history of imperialism and colonialism on the continent.

“Why China Is in Africa” (12/16/21) is a question Trevor Noah took up last month for Comedy Central‘s Daily Show. As with many of the topics taken up by the Daily Show, the issue is no joke: China has a large and growing economic presence in many African countries. The China/Africa deals cry out for analysis: Are they different from the deals on offer from Western countries like the US, Britain or France?

Post-independence Africa’s economic relationship with the West has been mediated through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Funding for projects comes with a range of conditionalities; when Western loans come due, the IMF demands painful cuts to health and education programs as the price of refinancing. In the past, the IMF has taken outright control of African governments. At other times, the US has sponsored coups, assassinated leaders and fomented civil wars on the continent.

China calls on the UN Human Rights Council to address impact of colonialism

Republished from CGTN

The United Nations’ Human Rights Council should work to eliminate the negative impacts of colonialism on people around the world, a group of 21 countries and regions has urged.

Economic exploitation, inequality, racism, violations of indigenous peoples’ rights, modern slavery, armed conflicts and damage to cultural heritage are among the legacies of colonial repression, according to a statement read by China’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva Chen Xu.

The signatories to the statement come from across the globe including Russia, Egypt, Syria, Argentina, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Iran, Sri Lanka, Armenia and Myanmar.

“We call on the Human Rights Council, the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant Special Procedures to pay continued attention to the negative impact of legacies of colonialism on the enjoyment of human rights,” the statement read.

Nicaragua, Palestine, Comoros, Tajikistan, Laos, Belarus, DPRK, Burundi, Venezuela and Cuba also put their names to the statement.

The period 2021-2030 marks the fourth decade the UN has dedicated to the eradication of colonialism. The first being 30 years after the pioneering 1960 Declaration on Decolonization.

A separate statement delivered by Jiang Duan, a minister in the Chinese delegation also on behalf of a group of UN members, called for nations that have conducted illegal military interventions to pay reparations. Without naming any states, he pointed out that such action had severe consequences for social and economic development.

Crimes committed during such interventions need to be fully investigated, he added.