#pre-independence

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Mawra Hocane in Aangan (2018)

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Ahad Raza Mir in Aangan (2018)

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Sonya Hussyn in Aangan (2018)

[5007kodjoafelitghana]

mini documentary of Yaa Asantewaa

Yaa Asantewaa is one of the pioneers of the Ghanaian emancipation. She began her rebellion from when the king of ashanti was exiled as a way to gain the Gold Stool to bring it into the possession of the Queen of England. She began fighting with her tribe in honour of the legacy that comes with the Gold Stool. I will write on Yaa Asantewaa’s life and her part in making what Ghana is today - her impact is still recognised till this day making her one of Africa’s most iconic leaders.  As a girl from the Ashanti tribe it is an honour to know I am apart of a lineage that fought for its people, culture and legacy no matter the costs.

[5007kodjoafelitghana]

I drew most of my archives picture research from pinterest which led me to endless websites and people who had pictures dated all the way to the 1800 and that I could use in my book. I thought it is important to gather a strong selection of images pre-independence to give the reader a visual image of how people looked like and lived like before Ghana was ‘born’. I also featured a selection of family pictures - with the consent of family members as this is a personal book it allows me to let the reader into my world.

[5007kodjoafelitghana]

Mobile Library in Ghana 1950. The shot is quite powerful seeing people of that time be educated and dressed in white - their fashion being similar to the Western World. Ghana was still Gold Coast at this time.

Ghanaian women have always had to cut their hair due to school and now I can see that was an established rule even back then.

[cajabo]

Political Parties in Pre-Independence Somalia

The political situation of the parties was complicated, however, because there were no elections until 1951. Real power was unknown and this created confusion. The "Rapport sur la Somalie sous administration Italienne" stated that:

Certain parties pretend to have a composition of thousands of members and an influence spread al over the country. Others claim an influence exclusively in the main cities or in the rural villages, a few others claim an influence just over small groups of people. Then there are parties created exclusively among tribes or small groups of tribes to oppose the influence of metropolitan parties.

According to the SYL, when Italy began its mandate in Somalia the League had 150,000 members, composed mainly of Darod based in Migiurtina, Lower Jubba, and Ogaden. In contrast, the administration stated that the League probably had no more than 12,000 members in 1951. The SYL was strongly anti-Italian and it accused AFIS of not applying the trusteeship agreement. It also refused application of the Italian legal code until it had been seriously modified.

Hisbia Digil-Mirifle (HDM) party members came mainly from Digil and Mirifle people who were from the regions between the Shabelle and Jubba Rivers. This party was created to push the administration for Somalia independence and, according to the administration, it had forty-five sections in the country. The aims of Hisbia Digil-Mirifle were both political and economic. It supported the creation of a federal state and demanded equal treatment for Somali civil servants and soldiers. The main difference between the SYL and the HDM was their membership. The former had a large pan-Somali base and the latter was a regional party. Although 50 percent of SYL's membership were Darods, 30 percent were Hawiye and 10percent Digil Mirifle. The HDM membership was mainly Digil and Rahanwin clan families. This party expressed the sense of independence and identity of these two clans with a commitment to the creation, in southern Somalia, of a separate and autonomous Digil Mirifle state. 

The Lega Progressista Somalia (Somali Progressive League) had fourteen local branches and supported the administration. This party wanted to preserve clan organization and was opposed to SYL because of its strong anti-Italian attitude. The Unione Africani Somalia (Somali African Union) supported the Lega Progressista Somalia position. In fact, the main point of its program was cooperation with the administration, and the party secretary stated that Italy was making a significant contribution to economic development. Afterwards, he maintained that the SYL adopted an overly nationalist political line. Also, the Unione Africani Somalia was in favor of preserving the clan system that was, according to the party, the principal structure and best system of organization of Somali society. The remaining parties had less influence because of their low membership. The existence of such a large number of political formations became a constant feature of Somali political life from the 1954 administrative election, through independence, and until Siad Barre's coup in 1969. The SYL, the strongest declared pan-Somali movement in this period, had political supremacy but did not manage to eliminate clanism from political competition. Following independence it failed to promote a process of real democratization and the search for power, a traditional feature of clanism, eventually involved the government and the chamber of deputies. The degeneration of the political system coupled with widespread corruption paved the way for Siad Barre's military dictatorship. 

P. Tripodi, 'Back to the Horn: Italian Administration and Somalia's Troubled Independence', International Journal of African Historical Studies, (1999).