West African Students' Union
The West African Students ' Union ( WASU ) was a combination of students from different countries of West Africa, who studied in the UK.
Origin
The WASU was founded on August 7, 1925 21 law students under the leadership of Lapido Solanke and Herbert Bankole -Bright in London. Solanke had been living in London for students who came from Nigeria founded back in the Nigerian Progress Union ( NPU ). Amy Ashwood Garvey With the support of the NPU had begun to improve the situation of all students who had come from Africa to London, deploy, and advertised the same for changes in the British colonies in Africa.
Already in 1923 Solanke had demanded that a Christian social organization, which was marked by students from the Caribbean, the National Congress of British West Africa ( NCBWA ) should join the Union of Students of African Descent ( Usad ). 1925 called Bankole -Bright from the NCBWA on to the fact that the Usad, the NPU, the African Progress Union and the Gold Coast Students Association should join together along the lines of Indian students in a common organization of West African students. The students responded to this call and founded the WASU whose first Secretary General was Solanke. J. B. Danquah was its president and JE Casely Hayford was her first official supporter.
The new organization raised the abolition of racial barriers in the lawyer system to their primary objective, they supported in their founding goals, Political Studies and the NCBWA and campaigned for the construction of a student residence.
The WASU began a Zetitschrift " Wasu " in March 1926 publish. Solanke and Julius Ojo - Cole wrote most of the articles in this imaginary as academic journal publication, both in Europe, should be disseminated as well as in Africa.
The goal to establish a dormitory, was acquired directly from the Usad and the NPU. Many students of African descent found that made it difficult for them racism, to find an appropriate sub- return. The competent for Africa colonial administration, the Colonial Office, had an interest in setting up such a residence, but the WASU wanted to have it under their control. 1929 Solanke went on a journey to collect donations in West Africa. Meanwhile, the Colonial Office appointed a secret commission, which should allow a dormitory under his control and you set out to search for private lenders.
The WASU was also politically active in the United Kingdom. 1929 prevented to an African village exhibition in Newcastle because they saw it as demeaning. The campaign against the exhibition was even worn by Shapurji Saklatvala, who sat for the Communist Party of Great Britain ( CPGB ) in the House of the Parliament. During the 1930s the WASU developed various connections to communist groups such as the League Against Imperialism (LAI ) and the Negro Welfare Association. In their efforts against the abolition of racial barriers in the lawyer system and in protest against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the WASU and the Communists worked together well.
During his journey through Africa Solanke founded more than 20 WASU Representations in gold coast colony, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Belgian Congo. Most of these groups existed only for a short time, but for them the Nigerian Youth Movement and the Gold Coast Youth Conference later went out.
The activities of the 1930s
As Solanke 1932 returned to the UK, the magazine Wasu had ceased publication and the number of members had fallen under the influence of a constant struggle between students from Nigeria and those of the gold coast. Solanke however, had collected so much money that in March 1933 a hostel in Camden with the name " Africa House " was opened. The hostel not only offered students an accommodation, but also visitors from West Africa a place to stay and there was also information about West Africa. The dormitory could not finish and Solanke was accused also of having wasted money when he was in Africa to want to control the dorm alone the disputes within the WASU. Almost all members of the GCSA left the WASU and even the intervention of William Ofori Atta could not finish the disputes.
The Colonial Office was further decided to open his own dorm, because there it was possible to control and direct the political debate. The WASU was against this residence and established a committee to " Africa House Defence Committee ," for it the support of Reginald Bridgeman of the LAI and the National Council for Civil Liberties with Paul Robeson, who was awarded the title of " Basal of the Union". The " Aggrey House " residence of the Colonial Office was opened in October 1934, but by boycotting that led the WASU, it remained empty until the Colonial Office of the WASU was offering them official recognition and financial support for the " Africa House " promised. The WASU was in financial difficulty and accepted the offer of support of the Colonial Office as well as other organizations such as the United African Company ( UAC).
In 1937, the Gold Coast Farmers Union turned to Solanke and asked for support to break the cocoa cartel of Cadbury and the UAC. The deputies of the Labour Party Reginald Sorensen and Arthur Creech Jones supported the WASU 1938 in support of their campaign small farmers on the Gold Coast, boycotted the big companies. This campaign convinced most of the GCSA members to rejoin the WASU.
In July 1938, the WASU opened with support from various West African States and of British companies a dorm at Camden Square. This solved the financial problems of WASU and enabled her to intensify the political work. The WASU was increasingly perceived as an anti- colonial group. The WASU called for the self-administration ( dominion status ) and universal suffrage in the West African colonies. Clement Attlee gave a speech to the WASU in which he explained that the Atlantic Charter applies to all nations, which he supported the view of the WASU. But Winston Churchill insisted that the right to self-determination applies only to European countries.
The activities of the 1940s
The WASU called 1942 a "West African Parliamentary Committee " to life, whose chairman Reginald Sorensen was. It was required to implement the internal self-government of the British colonies in West Africa immediately and the independence of the colonies should be achieved within five years after the end of the war. Harold Macmillan came personally to the Africa House, to explain the position of the British government on this issue.
The influence of WASU in West Africa rose again, as both the Nigerian Union of Students, as well as the Sierra Leone Students' Union joined her. The WASU represented also the Nigerian Union of Teachers in the UK. Through this connection with the Nigerian trade union movement, the WASU was an important supporter of the general strike in Nigeria, 1945.
Mid-1940s Solanke traveled again to West Africa for financial support to advertise and HO Davies became acting general secretary. The WASU joined the World Youth Movement. 1946, a conference was held jointly with the West African National Secretariat of Kwame Nkrumah. Nkrumah was the vice president of WASU and they adopted a joint statement in support of anti- imperialism and socialism. 1947 called for the WASU immediate independence of West African colonies and criticized the Labour government that they did not implement this.
The activities of the 1950s
As Solanke end of the 1940s returned from West Africa, he had. Collected enough money to open a new dormitory at the Chelsea Embankment. But Solanke fell out with the leadership of the WASU with mutual accusations of waste and put all his offices in 1949. During the election campaign for the leadership of the WASU 1951 he performed with an anti - communist group - but he did not make it, the largely communist leadership group to displace Joe Appiah and Ade Ademola. 1952 decided to WASU to close their residence in Camden, but Solanke took it over instead.
The WASU joined the International Union of Students ( IUS ) at its inception and WASU members regularly attended the World Youth Games. Although joined the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom in 1952 from the IUS, but the WASU remained a member.
1952, the WASU the publication of the " WASU News Service ," an openly Marxist replacement for the magazine " Wasu ". According to financial difficulties, the WASU completed her dorm at the Chelsea Embankment and opened a lighter to be financed residence on Warrington Crescent 1956. During the same year, the WASU was fundamentally reorganized. The WASU separated from all connection with any political organization. In 1958 joined the WASU the Committee of African Organisations and gradually lost its importance. The WASU remained active until the early 1960s.
Successor organization
A new West African Students' Union was founded in Ghana in 2004. Your goal is to unite all students of West Africa. She sees herself as the direct successor of the old WASU.