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Description:
With names like Mau Mau and Kikuyu, you might think this was a fun video about cats. But it's not. It's very not. Today's lesson is on the terrible conflicts surrounding the decolonization of Kenya.
Transcript
- 00:04
The Brits were in a pickle when it came to decolonizing Kenya. [British men in a pickle jar]
- 00:08
Over the years, they’d sent over plenty of British settlers.
- 00:10
So there was a whole group of white people who’d been born in Africa and felt like
- 00:14
it was their home, too. [British men holding home sweet home signs in Africa]
- 00:16
But if Britain finally let Kenya govern itself, the whites were afraid they’d lose all their
Full Transcript
- 00:21
rights and privileges.
- 00:22
And then their relatives wouldn’t vote for whoever it was that…threw their colonial [Man in an arena with a lion]
- 00:27
kin to the lions.
- 00:28
Of course, a growing number of natives didn’t give a hoot about all that business.
- 00:32
With more and more African states becoming free, they wanted their land back, and they
- 00:36
wanted it now.
- 00:37
First, the native Kenyans tried peaceful negotiations. [Kenya and British negotiating]
- 00:40
When the Brits said…
- 00:41
“No way”…some Kenyans said…
- 00:44
“Guess we’ll do this the hard way”…
- 00:46
Several rebel groups formed, but the most powerful and ruthless was called the Mau Mau. [Mau May group with rifles]
- 00:51
Sounds more like a tropical dance than a group of ruthless killers, but okay.
- 00:54
The Mau Mau were unified by the native religious beliefs of the Kikuyo, the dominant
- 01:02
ethnic group in Kenya.
- 01:04
Like the Xhosa in South Africa, the Mau Mau wanted to hit Britain where it [Mau Mau soldier hits Britain]
- 01:08
hurt most.
- 01:09
No, not there.
- 01:10
They struck at white property, killing or stealing white-owned cattle herds. [Mau Mau tribe stealing cattle herds]
- 01:14
It’s hard out there for a cow…
- 01:17
The violence spread from cows to people in late 1952, when Mau Mau fighters killed a
- 01:21
white woman defending her home. [Mau Mau soldier shoots woman]
- 01:23
Even fellow Africans began to feel the wrath of the Mau Mau, after they assassinated two
- 01:27
white-sympathetic, native politicians.
- 01:30
Things got bloodier and bloodier over the years as the Mau Mau tortured and murdered
- 01:34
other Kenyans who said no thanks to joining the rebellion, or were seen as lovers of the [Mau Mau rebels killing Kenyans]
- 01:39
white man.
- 01:40
To fight back, the Brits forced Kenyan civilians into what they called “protected villages”…
- 01:45
which were basically concentration camps.
- 01:48
These places were full of fun stuff like systematic torture, and disease that was spread by unsanitary [Kenyan child eating unsanitary food]
- 01:53
conditions.
- 01:54
So your average ordinary Kenyan was stuck in a terrible position.
- 01:58
They could help the Mau Mau and run the risk of being tortured and murdered in a British
- 02:03
camp.
- 02:04
Or they could refuse to help the Mau Mau and risk being tortured and murdered, uh…in [Kenyan in the middle between two Mau Mau soldiers]
- 02:08
the comfort of their own homes.
- 02:10
No way around it…back then, it sucked to be Kenyan.
- 02:13
At long last, in 1961, the Mau Mau was defeated.
- 02:17
But back in Britain, public opinion had changed. [Mau Mau fighters waving white flag]
- 02:19
British voters were scared of another, bloodier war in Kenya, and they were like…enough
- 02:24
already.
- 02:25
In 1964, Kenya finally became independent.
- 02:29
So even though the Mau Mau lost, they also… kinda won.
- 02:32
Yeah, history is complicated like that.
- 02:34
The legacy of the Mau Mau still affects Kenyan politics today. [Politicians thinking of Mau Mau rebels]
- 02:37
Many non-Kikuyu Kenyans blame the Kikuyu for the radical, bloody Mau Mau.
- 02:44
Non-Kikuyus also aren’t cool with the amount of power the Kikuyu claimed through force
- 02:50
after Independence.
- 02:51
The bad blood has erupted into violent outbreaks over the years, most recently in 2009. [People protesting in 2009 in Kenya]
- 02:56
It’s just another example of how colonialism keeps on damaging a country even after it’s [Colonialism banging Kenya with a hammer]
- 03:01
gone.
- 03:02
It’s like an unwelcome guest who eats everything in your fridge and then wonders why everyone
- 03:06
else is hungry... [Man eating food and woman is angry]
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