The main scope of this thesis is the use of the State of Emergency as a tool in colonial counterinsurgency. The State of Emergency allows us to draw connections between three colonies in three...Show moreThe main scope of this thesis is the use of the State of Emergency as a tool in colonial counterinsurgency. The State of Emergency allows us to draw connections between three colonies in three different continents, Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus. The comparison, assists in adding the Cyprus Emergency within the colonial framework and analyse it as a colonial case. The state of emergency is seen as a tool in counterinsurgency. Finally, the thesis is also connected to scholaraship on Human Rights.Show less
The story of Iqbal Masih is intricately linked to the history of child labour and enslavement in Pakistan. Any history of the exploitation of children for labour in Pakistan is incomplete without...Show moreThe story of Iqbal Masih is intricately linked to the history of child labour and enslavement in Pakistan. Any history of the exploitation of children for labour in Pakistan is incomplete without studying the short life of Iqbal Masih, a person who has become the face of political activism against the practice of child labour in the country. Iqbal Masih was born into a Christian family in 1983 in Muridke, a city close to Lahore. Given the poverty of his family, he was put to work at the age of four to pay off mounting debts. He was sold to a local carpet weaver in return for $12 where he worked every day from dawn to dark in the hopes of paying off the debt. Like other children there, he was tied to a carpet loom with chains to prevent his escape. At the age of ten, he managed to escape the factory where he was held. With the help of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), a local NGO working to free children from bonded labour, who took him in and sheltered him, he enrolled in school to pursue his studies despite the physical and mental breakdown he had suffered during the years of abuse. Whilst studying, he helped in the release of about 3,000 other children from bonded labour, and travelled the world raising awareness about the problem. He hoped to become a human rights lawyer in order to better be able to fight bonded labour in Pakistan. But his life was tragically cut short on Easter day, 16 April 1995 by a gunman whilst he was visiting relatives in Muridke. His legacy remains and he has been a source of inspiration for many fighting against child and bonded labour in Pakistan and the rest of the developing world. During the 1990s there was a worldwide movement for the eradication of the worst forms of child labour with countries moving from complete denial of the problem and abject lethargy in trying to curb it towards legislation and positive action.Show less
Navigating the early Cold War during the 1950s was no easy task for states and international organisations, given the changing dynamics and intrigues of Cold War geopolitics and the onset of...Show moreNavigating the early Cold War during the 1950s was no easy task for states and international organisations, given the changing dynamics and intrigues of Cold War geopolitics and the onset of decolonisation across Asia and Africa. In this period, a number of national, regional and international political organisations emerged across the “Third World” which sought to establish their own movements and support based on their own ideology. The Asian Socialist Conference, 1953-1960, was one such organisation which came into existence in this period and attempted to navigate the early Cold War. Significant limitations faced organisations like the ASC as they addressed the “great problems”, relating to European colonialism and the Cold War, facing the world. In a broader context, the limitations the ASC faced explain the difficulties “Third World” Afro-Asian networks in navigating the Cold War. Through a more Asian-centric approach, the purpose of this analysis will therefore be to analyse and explain the limitations the ASC faced in its endeavour to resolve the great world problems of the 1950s and how those limitations show the difficulties “Third World” Afro-Asian networks had in navigating early Cold War.Show less
Sport is never just a game. In an imperial context, it connotes a host of ideals and values directly linked to foreign political authority. In treaty port Shanghai, competition between the city’s...Show moreSport is never just a game. In an imperial context, it connotes a host of ideals and values directly linked to foreign political authority. In treaty port Shanghai, competition between the city’s many national communities was similarly conceived of as a tool to strengthen foreign power. The practice of protest at international sports events by Shanghai’s Chinese population subverted these attempts and enabled protestors to undermine foreign legitimacy. This thesis applies the lens of political culture to examine how meaning was attached to protest at international sporting events and analyse how this was received by Shanghai’s foreign community. Sport has frequently been overlooked in the wider historiography of protest. However, an investigation of the practice of sports protest is highly relevant for providing valuable insights into the nature of social relations. While historians have generally assumed that Shanghai’s foreign society was insular, studying protest shows not only that there was significant contact, but that this was exploited for political aims. Sport provided a unique avenue for protest by encapsulating foreign rituals of rule, which could be spontaneously usurped to mount a symbolic challenge. Comparison with formal colonial contexts illustrates that sport as a channel for protest was shaped by Shanghai’s semi-colonial arrangement, illuminating the broader complexities and vulnerabilities of semi-colonial control.Show less
This thesis investigates the interwar anti-communist cooperation between the European colonial governments in Southeast Asia by examining its origins, functioning and underlying ideology and...Show moreThis thesis investigates the interwar anti-communist cooperation between the European colonial governments in Southeast Asia by examining its origins, functioning and underlying ideology and connection to the Cold War. In doing so, it connects the historical debates on the origin of the Cold War to imperial history. While ample literature exists on the crossroads between Empire and the Cold War with regard to decolonisation, literature that examines the imperial roots of anti-communism remains scarce. This thesis aims to fill that gap. The first chapter analyses how the European colonial officials in Southeast Asia created a transnational anti-communist, information-sharing network. The impetuses for cooperation, both internally and externally, are central to this chapter. Starting at its origins in 1924, the chapter traces the build-up period of the cooperation until 1931. The second chapter follows chronologically on the first but delves into both the merits and limitations of the cooperation by focussing on the outdated imperial legal systems that ultimately prevented optimal cooperation. Finally, the third chapter analyses the underlying ideas and principles of the anti-communist imagined community. The chapter treats the construction of the false binary of communism/anti-communism and connects it to the imperial experience. All three chapters combined provide unique insight into the creation and maintenance of the anti-communist transnational network in colonial Southeast Asia. It is argued that this network can be seen as a microcosm that prefigured both the later Cold War alliances and understanding of the Soviet Union as a subversive expansionist empire.Show less
Within the centers of Black internationalism epitomized by the I.T.U.C.N.W in Hamburg, Black seafarers came into contact with Pan-Africanism and Communism. It looks at how and why Pan-Africanism...Show moreWithin the centers of Black internationalism epitomized by the I.T.U.C.N.W in Hamburg, Black seafarers came into contact with Pan-Africanism and Communism. It looks at how and why Pan-Africanism was adopted by seafarers through the articulation and dissemination of literary production and the consequences that followed. These consequences are highlighted as a means to shed light upon the seafarer’s unique role in the Black internationalist network due to their mobility and their specific role in forms of organized Marxism that emerged.This study looks at the intellectual phenomenon of Pan-Africanism in the 1930s and how this body of ideas was incorporated by Black seafarers as they travelled between Freetown, Hamburg and Britain, with the intention of recovering their historical agency in the process.Show less
This dissertation explores the interaction between Australian foreign policy and the Indonesian Revolution. Central is the point that Australian foreign policy was shaped by the Indonesian...Show moreThis dissertation explores the interaction between Australian foreign policy and the Indonesian Revolution. Central is the point that Australian foreign policy was shaped by the Indonesian Revolution to an extent that few historians have recognized so far. After the Second World War, the Indonesian Revolution both posed a threat and was an opportunity for Australia. They wanted to create a stable region and were aware of how important it was to have Indonesia as a defensive ally, especially after the quick Allied defeat at the hand of the Japanese. They also saw a chance to build up a trade relationship with a country that was both rich in natural resources and had a lot of potential customers of Australian products. Before the Revolution, Australia had mainly counted on the British and their stronghold Singapore for their defence, and had been unable to conduct trade with the Netherlands East Indies on large scale, due to the protectionist policies of the Netherlands. Australia became aware that its own interests conflicted with those of the United Kingdom and the colonial system. It was because of this old colonial order that the Netherlands East Indies and Australia did not maintain extensive contacts with each other politically and diplomatically speaking, but were both still very much focussed on the countries that had colonized them. Even though those were on the other side of the globe, and Australia and the Netherlands East Indies were neighbours. With the Indonesian Revolution this could all change, and Australia saw the opportunity. However, the United Kingdom had dominated Australian foreign policy for so long, that Australia was still unsure what its own opinions on the situation were. But these developed pretty quick, after Australia was dragged into the conflict. The result of the Borneo Campaign was that they had to assume responsibility over the eastern part of Indonesia after the war, until the Dutch would return. A polarizing, nationwide dockworkers’ strike in the meantime made sure that everyone in Australia itself knew what was going on in the Netherlands East Indies. While they initially tried to work together with the Dutch to find a solution for the conflict, the Australians soon became fed up with their stubbornness and the relation soured after a couple of diplomatic incidents. The British consequently denied the Australians a place at the negotiating table, and though they accepted their position at first, their frustration grew with each failed British attempt to mediate an agreement between the revolutionary leaders of the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch. When the Dutch launched a military attack on the Republican areas in July 1947, the Australians decided that it was time to act. Breaking through all traditional boundaries that divided countries in political allegiances at the time, it referred the Indonesian dispute to the Security Council, directly defying requests from their closest ally the United Kingdom not to do precisely that, in support of a non-white, non-Western, and non-Christian country that did not even exist yet. This was both a symbol of an emerging Southeast Asian – or Pacific – region, of maturing Australian independence, and of the unavoidable demise of the colonial system, but it was also a momentous development in the Indonesian struggle for independence. The Renville Agreement that was signed after the ensuing negotiations between the Netherlands, the Republic, Belgium, the United States, and Australia was itself not such a success for the Indonesians, but it would have far-reaching effects. For the first time since the outbreak of hostilities after the Second World War, the international community had committed itself to a peaceful ending to the Indonesian Revolution. And this support would turn out to be crucial in the subsequent episodes that would ultimately lead to Indonesian independence. This thesis shows that studying the Indonesian Revolution and its impact through emerging power structures, instead of along the traditional lines, can provide surprising new insights, both in the significant role Australia has played in the Indonesian Revolution, and how that revolution would help bring about a more independent Australian foreign policy.Show less
