Down Memory Lane in honor of Late Dr. Walt Landry. Amazing how time passes and how we've stood our grounds.
Justice
THE LEGACY OF AMBAZONIA (UN Trust Territory of British Cameroons): The Parliamentary Opposition, ...forged for itself a new role noteworthy for its dignity; and the government,..never attempted to withdraw...the legal recognition that was its due. Thanks to this...West Cameroon has won for itself the prestige of being the one place in West Africa (if not all of Africa) where democracy, in the British style, has lasted longest in its genuine form. --Prof. Bernard Nsukika Fonlon, The Task of Today, p. 9
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: EDWIN NGANG <ednngang@hotmail.com>
To: ambasos@yahoogroups.com; scmg-noticeboard@yahoogroups.com; camnet@listserv.cnr.it
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2005 8:06 AM
Subject: [AMBASOS for APEM] Make Ambazonia's Affirmation of our Rights of Self-determinationNOW!!
The Right to Self-determination and Its General Acceptance
World Background and Future Projections
Speech for delivery to the Conference entitled "International Human Rights and Sindhiyat", sponsored by the Sindhi National Council at Hyderabad, Sindh, December 10-12, 2004, by Walt Landry, J.D., Ph.D. (This is the formal speech; salutations will precede it)
Self-determination, as a principle of government, belongs to our current world that has been evolving since 1750. In that year a young man, Jean Jacques Rousseau, achieved a French reputation as a philosopher by winning a literary prize and another, Robert Clive, achieved a British military reputation by defending a small town in southern India until help arrived. Rousseau developed the modern concept of self-determination and Clive enabled Britain to conquer Bengal and amass the wealth that James Watt's mechanical genius and Adam Smith's economics were able to put to good use to create the first industrialized state. It is in such a state that Rousseau's theory, amplified by the thought of Johann Gottfried Herder, could be applied generally. Rousseau's concept has been internationally recognized since 1945, and especially since 1992. However, it is still not been generally accepted even though it has come a long way toward universal acceptance. It is the idea that a distinct people has the right to constitute itself as a body politic and self-determine who shall rule it.
In 1750 an "Old Order", consisting mainly of State Monarchies, was generally in place. France was the dominant power, not only in the Christian West, but also in the world. Its home population exceeded that of any other independent state of the time except that of a Japan that lived in relative isolation. The French Monarchy and the French Enlightenment were copied by other European monarchies. The French King ruled under the Western theory of "Divine Right" and "Hereditary Succession"--and French Kings had reliably produced heirs for a thousand years. Its Aristocracy has inter-married with the other Aristocracies of Europe creating a loose larger realm. With colonies in Asia, America, and Africa, France was the dominant world power even though the Manchu Empire that dominated China was larger in population as well as being the dominant power in the Buddhist East. The Eastern ruling theory was the "Mandate from Heaven"; its loss would result in "Chaos" until a new Monarch received a new Mandate from Heaven. For the majority Sunni Muslims--in the Muslim Center—the Caliphal Dignity was by election by an elite group, based on written revelation in the Koran. In 1750 the leading Muslim Power was the Ottoman, which had begun a decline along with the Moghul Empire of India. Both were adversely affected by the development of shipping from West to East around the southern coast of Africa.
Within a few decades after 1750, France lost its preeminent world position to Britain, which in turn ended up as a third-rate power after World War II when compared to the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union subsequently dissolved; and China is now a rising power that could surpass the U. S. in the future. No power is forever dominant.
The concept of self-determination (although not the term itself) emerges in the "Discourse on Inequality" written in 1754 by Rousseau, a native of the small Republic of Geneva. He was then living in France, but, because of censorship, he had it published in Amsterdam in 1755. It became known as the Second Discourse because an earlier discourse published in 1750 had made Rousseau famous in literary circles in Paris. It is as the Author of the Second Discourse that Rousseau has been held responsible for the French Revolution by many influential figures including Burke, Hegel, and Napoleon. In 1781, a new United States of America emerged with French help in overthrowing British Rule along the eastern Atlantic Coast south of Nova Scotia. In many respects, the new United States was a modified Old Order ruled by an elite. Meanwhile, the Old Order ended in France with the French Revolution of 1789. Monarchy returned to France from time to time thereafter beginning with Napoleon, but it was never quite the same. The French Revolution was far reaching in its effect and France finally became a Rousseau-type centralized republic of undivided sovereignty toward that end of the 19th Century as their Peasants were turned into Frenchmen.
At this time, it is useful to note that the actual term self-determination was first coined in the German Language as "selstbestimmungsrecht" by fellow German and other East European followers of Johann Gottfried Herder. The latter had supported the national aspirations of the territorial ethnic groups of Eastern Europe in his major work in German "Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man"(1784-91). The term was incorporated in a resolution of the 1896 London Socialist Congress that upheld the right of "self-determination (selbstbestimmungsrecht) of all nations".
In the United States, it was not until 1828 that the mass of the people--at least the white male majority--was able to vote for their political leadership (Andrew Jackson and his political wizard, Martin Van Buren) who created in effect the first mass nation-state. It was different from later ones in Europe in that it was composed of relatively recent immigrants no longer tied to ancient homelands. The U. S. modified Rousseau's ideal concept, that sovereignty was indivisible, by establishing a strong federal state consisting of constituent units with a common heritage. It became a second type of self-determined State
In Europe, another State was emerging from a league of independent Swiss republics that had banded together for mutual protection. These small republics or cantons were quite different from each other, including having such different languages as French, Italian and German. There were also differences of religion, Catholic and Protestant, and politics, conservative, liberal and radical. In 1845, seven predominantly Catholic cantons concluded a separate pact of defense—the Sonderbund. War broke out in 1847 with the Swiss Confederacy naming a wise and moderate sixty-year-old Guillaume Henri Defour as its military leader. He concentrated on a quick war while avoiding civilian casualties. In just over three weeks he brought his campaign to a successful conclusion with less than 200 people being killed. The reconciliation was also quick; the defeated cantons were invited to participate in adjustments to the Swiss Constitution in an effort to alleviate grievances. No vengeance was taken against them. The resultant Constitution of 1848 was overwhelmingly approved. It provided for decentralized governments in the cantons and a relatively weak central government that respected differences among the cantons. Switzerland remained essentially a Confederacy in which strong power resides in the cantons. This is essentially different from the United States which has a more centralized Federal State, especially so after the U. S. Civil War of 1861-65. It is a third type of self-determined State.
In 1867, Rousseau's concept had become feasible in another European State following developments after Robert Clive's conquest of Bengal that provided wealth to Britain. It enabled the commercial and industrial revolutions developed by the Scots Adam Smith and James Watt to take place in Britain. Without them, a people ruling itself, as envisioned by Rousseau would not have been possible except in very small vulnerable states. Britain became the first industrialized nation-state with the adoption essentially of household suffrage in 1867. The cry then became "We Must Educate Our Masters" with a massive expansion of public education. By retaining a Monarchy that reigned while a powerful Parliament ruled, Britain became a fourth type of self-determined State. Other states of Europe became in the succeeding decades nation-states in the sense that the mass of the people now identified with the state. At the same time, however, a new imperialism came to the fore with talk of the "white man's burden" and a "civilizing mission". This period may be called "Western Cooperative Imperialism" in which the Western Powers sought to cooperate with each other to a certain extent in their respective conquests in Africa and Asia. The zenith of such cooperation was reached about 1893. Thereafter, "Aggressive Competitive Imperialisms" ensued. In 1895, Russia, France and Italy demanded a Japanese retreat from its Chinese conquests so they could pick up the pieces. Britain, the largest colonial power, stood aside and then negotiated separate arrangements in 1902 with Japan, and with France in 1904.
Before and during World War I, Lenin and Wilson came to the fore calling for self-determination. In 1919, however, Wilson retreated suggesting that self-determination should only apply to Europe. Lenin limited self-determination to cultural and linguistic rights, reorganizing the Russian Empire along ethnic and linguistic lines in the organization of its subordinate units while retaining a highly centralized political and economic system for the emerging Soviet Union. Of his two principal successors, Stalin, a Georgian, emphasized greater centralization, while Molotov, a Russian, called for more self-determination for the subordinate units. During World War II, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin ignored self-determination. However, within three weeks of Roosevelt's death, Molotov and Truman had the "principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples" added as an Amendment to Article 1, Section 2 of the UN Charter on May 5, 1945. The British, then in an exceptionally weakened condition, had no choice but to go along with it.
Twenty six years later, the United States, having been the most powerful state in the world, found itself on the losing end of a seemingly endless war in Vietnam. Its President, Lyndon Johnson, had been effectively brought down by the conflict in 1968, and the new President, Richard Nixon, was determined to find a way out. He finally reversed U.S. policy toward China in 1971 (which should have been done much earlier based on the principle of self-determination) sending his security chief on a secret mission to China via Pakistan to cement the deal. This enabled the U. S. to retreat from Vietnam. It left painful memories with the American people.
In 1991, it was the Soviet Union that faced defeat; it simply dissolved into its constituent Republics.
Meanwhile, many European States since World War II have been gradually forming an economic and defense union now known as the European Union. They have devolved some of their sovereignty in small portions to a larger international body. Each State retains much of its power, much more than the subordinate units of the United States or Switzerland. It represents a fifth type of self-determined entity.
The United States ratified the UN Civil and Political Rights Covenant in 1992 and China followed suit in 1998 by signing it. Presumably China will ratify it upon resolution of the Taiwan Question. This Covenant is much more explicit about the right to self-determination. It has now been signed by all five of the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council and ratified by four of them. Some 144 of the 191 Member States of the UN have now ratified it. Despite the commitments implicit in the Covenant, the major powers still pay attention to self-determination primarily when it is in their interest to do so. International public opinion has not been sufficiently aroused in my country and others. Of the 47 UN Member States that have not ratified the Covenant, the most populous are China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey and Myanmar (aka Burma). All of the other Member States with a population of 30 million or more have ratified it.
What is the future of self-determination and its prospects for general acceptance?
I would suggest that such a goal is actually feasible by the year 2050. Because Asia is developing rapidly and such development is virtually a prerequisite for de facto self-determination, Asia is the region where dramatic changes are now likely to take place, followed later by Africa.
Let us summarize self-determination developments and project them into the future:
1. 1750-1789. Decay of the Old Order in France. Commerce and Industry grow in Britain.
2. 1789-1828. Fall of the Old Order in France. Rousseau's concept of an indivisibly
sovereign self-determined state initially fails. Type 1.
3. 1828-1867. In a peaceful revolution in 1828, the United States become a mass
Federal State and rapidly industrializes. Type 2.
4. 1828-1867. Switzerland becomes a modern State but retains its Confederacy, a weak central government with powerful cantonal constituent units. Type 3.
5. 1867-1893. Britain becomes a mass State with adult male suffrage but retains a weak Monarch with dominant power in its Parliament. Type 4.
6. 1893-1919. Period of Aggressive Competitive Imperialisms. Lenin establishes Soviet system of cultural and linguistic territorial self-determination while centralizing real power in Moscow. International Recognition of Self-determination rejected.
7. 1919-1945. Renewed World War ends with UN Charter and International
Recognition of Self-determination and two Superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
8. 1945-1971. Period ends with major U. S. defeat in Vietnam over issue of Self- determination.
9. 1971-1991. Period ends with the breakup of the Soviet Union.
10. 1991-201? The European Union, a new Government but not a State, evolves in Europe with a close association of at least 25 States. Type 5.
11. 201?-203? Self-determination advances in Asia by one or more of
types previously utilized or by some new type.
12, 202?-2050 Self-determination advances in Africa similarly and finally
results in general acceptance of the right to self-determination of peoples.
This is a vision for the future that I believe is realistic. It is not a panacea.
It will not result in the elimination of war. At best, it may result in smaller wars between smaller neighbors. In the modern world, it is difficult to see how we can reduce the number and intensity of war without first moving toward greater self-determination of peoples. Self-determination is certainly preferable to a totalitarian world government that seems to be one of the fearful alternatives of greater rather than less concentration of power.
Respectfully submitted,
Walt Landry
Arlington, Virginia, USA
November 30, 2004
------------------>THE TRIAD PRINCIPLE<-------------------------
**Only when we acknowledge and remain steadfast to the TRUTH**
**Only when we recognize and never negotiate away our RIGHTS**
**Only when we accept the realities of our one and unique IDENTITY**
Only by adopting these TRIAD principles of survival and propagation
Can we expect to harness and maintain the power that belong to us as the people, the nation, the state and as the REPUBLIC OF AMBAZONIA (The United Nations Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration).
THIS IS OUR INALIENABLE RIGHT WHICH MUST BE RESTORED BY EVERY 'MEANS' POSSIBLE! We have only two options, the Ambazonia's Sovereignty-equality/Sovereignty-recognition model (the option-ONE) is here to enable us take advantage of the law as we mobilize our people to recognizing their rights to their Ambazonian nationality The other alternative left for us, the option-TWO, being the conflict model, still must be FULLY ENGAGED recognizing that it has its own set rules! CAUTION!! we must get our people "hurriedly" mobilized TO ACTUALIZED THEIR RIGHTS TO THEIR NATIONALITY as AMBAZONIANS and not fight Cameroon as 'southern cameroonians". To call ourselves 'SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS', can hardly be recognized by observers as an act of "self-determination". It is time to think SMARTER even while getting ANGRIER!
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