The revolution of the mau mau against the british colonization

But an African history class put her on a different path.

Not related to medicine or health care, the following is a paper I wrote on the Mau Mau explosion and how it coincided with an agrarian revolution, ineffectiveness of nationalist politicians, and general radicalization……Carol Mau Mau: A Movement for Land Liberation The coincidence of an agrarian revolution, ineffectiveness of nationalist politicians, and general radicalization explain the Mau Mau explosion.

The Mau Mau was a nationalist movement with legitimate economic and social issues with the British colonial government. The British public relations launched a campaign to present the Mau Mau as a criminal organization who used irrational force of evil influenced by world Communism.

Rather than being a Kikuyu murder cult, as represented in the Western press, literature, and even movies, the Mau Mau was a broad based, sophisticated social and political movement, strong in economic, political, and social theory.

The Mau Mau nationalist struggle started long before the Kenyan state of emergency was declared on 20 October The Kikuyu mistrust of the British was in place by The ill trained IBEA forces were soon assaulting the local native population.

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Great care has been given to some writings to describe the individual attacks upon white settlers. Often names and descriptions of the white victims are given to personalize them to the reader. The settlers are described in such a way that they are almost innocent of whatever they had done to oppress the Kikuyu.

Britain propaganda also portrayed the Mau Mau revolt as a barbaric, savage revolt against benevolent white. Where native practices of money or goods exchange had worked for the Kikuyu, the British now demanded that the British pound would be the measure of currency and in order to have British currency the Kenyans would have to work for the British.

Hut and poll taxes imposed on the Kenyans created the situation where Kenyans were forced to work for the Europeans or be arrested for non-payment of taxes. Fifty years before the Mau Mau emergency the rage against the white settlers had reached a peak.

The Mau Mau torture and murder of a white man in one instance provoked the murder of an entire Kikuyu village. Before colonial arrival, the Kikuyu people had farmed the same lands that were given to the colonists and were a land and wealth conscious community.

Mau Mau (1952-1960)

Initially the Kikuyu thought that the British invasion would be for their good since they had guns and would be able to protect them from their enemies. The ownership of land then passed through British families rather than the Kikuyu who originally had possessed and farmed the land.

The Kikuyu were the Kenyan population that was most disrupted by Kenyan British rule because many lost their land and were forced to work for the colonists.

The Kikuyu were educated about the ways of the colonial system and were the most politicized African community in Kenya. The undermining of Kikuyu civilization by the presence of the British was caused by both denying the Kikuyu economic gains and by restricting the Kikuyu to a reservation blocked any expansion they may need to meet their increasing census.

As if the land confiscation was not enough, the British enacted legislation to control the Kikuyu both politically and financially. The settlers required cheap labor to work their hundreds of acre holdings and were able to convince the government to tax the Kikuyu.

The main aim was to insure that the Africans did not become self-sufficient or to become a threat to the monopoly the British had over the capital gains derived from Kenya. Kenyan colonial land policy was to establish a lucrative European managed agricultural area. The British never intended to engage in political negotiations with Mau Mau.

Ethnic Violence - Mau Mau Revolution

The government focused on harassing the Africans with night raids in which they entered homes and beat whomever they found there. The Kipande system was based on the enforced carrying of photograph identity card for any Kikuyu who was outside the native land unit. The pass was worn around the neck in a metal container.

Understandably the Kikuyu took offense at this forced social control. The Kikuyu called it mbugi goat bell and detested it as a mark of their servility.Legal action taken against the British government to secure compensation for four Kenyans allegedly tortured during the Mau Mau uprising will cast the spotlight on one of the Empire's bloodiest.

After the British colonial authorities unleashed a premature program of repression against the Kikuyu of Central Kenya they forced the militants’ hands. The Mau Mau was a nationalist movement with legitimate economic and .

Mau Mau Revolution. Search this site. Home. Pre-Revolution. Government Injustices. Harry Thuku () , and seventeen thousand Europeans at the time of colonization.

The British government pledged to guard African interests in British colonies and even though these interests should include improvements of status and education. Kenya's independence struggle in the s. The Mau Mau uprising against British imperialism.

In April four elderly black Kenyans appeared in the High Court in London seeking recognition of atrocities committed against them during British imperialism’s brutal colonial rule.

Uncovering the brutal truth about the British empire | Marc Parry | News | The Guardian

Mau Mau was a term given by British to the Kikuyu of Kenya -Around period when Britain was losing its colonies, trying to hold on to last colonies -Imperial Reckoning depicted graphic depictions of Mau Mau being tortured for information by the British Government.

He had recently spoken out against increasing Mau Mau aggression against colonial rule. October 19, The British Send Troops to Kenya The British government announces that it is to send troops to Kenya to help the fight against the Mau Mau.

The British must not rewrite the history of the Mau Mau revolt - Telegraph

One of the men was castrated by the British colonial government in Kenya. Handcuffed and pinned to the ground with his legs pulled apart, his genitals were sliced off by the white officers.