Petitioning for our Rights, Fighting for our Nation. The History of the Democratic Union of Cameroonian Women, 1949-1960: The History of the Democratic Union of Cameroonian Women, 1949-1960

1. Introduction Cameroonian Women and the Writing of a Popular Nationalism

1 Chapter 1 Introduction Cameroonian Women and the Writing of a Popular Nationalism After the United Nations (UN) Charter of 1946 established the British Cameroons and French Cameroon as trusteeship territories under the international supervision of the UN, Cameroonians began to address the UN Trusteeship Council by way of petitions. These petitions originated from individuals and groups in diverse regions throughout the country, and reflected the ambivalent attitudes of the petitioners towards their European administrators. The Trusteeship years ushered a new political consciousness into the Cameroons, manifested by the formation of political parties, social organizations, and labor unions following the Second World War. The conservative Evolution social camerounaise (ESOCAM) and the anti-colonial, nationalist Union des populations du Cameroun (UPC) represented the two extremes of political thinking during this formative era. ESOCAM, comprised of a handful of elite evolués, 1 1 French assimilationist colonial policy designated as évolués those Africans who qualified as “literate elites” who lived under the jurisdiction of French civil code. The Ministry of the Colonies’ purpose was to promote the assimilation of “civilized” European values, and thereby ensure colonial elite’s permanent loyalty to France. The remaining majority of the population were “subjects,” and were therefore subject to greater disciplinary measures and a stricter penal code than the évolués, including, after 1924, the forced donation of labor to the administration, known as the indigénat. See Edward Mortimer, France and the Africans 1944-1960: A Political History, London, 1969, 37-40; Hubert Deschamps, “French Colonial Policy in Tropical Africa Between the Two World Wars,” in 2 supported the French administration in cautious preparation for eventual autonomy in a civilization that would closely resemble France’s. On the opposite end of the political spectrum, Ruben Um Nyobé’s UPC organized as a popular movement, with several collaborating wings, including the Union démocratique des femmes camerounaises (UDEFEC), the Jeunesse democratique camerounaise (JDC), and the Union des Syndicats Confédérés du Cameroun (USCC). From its inception, UPC leaders and members understood that Trusteeship status differentiated the Cameroon territories from other British and French colonies in Africa. UPC activists promoted an awareness of this international status along with its nationalist and anticolonialist message, creating a multi-layered ideology that spread throughout the territory during the 1950s. Ruben Um Nyobé and other leaders of the UPC familiarized themselves with the UN Charter, focusing on Article 76 that promised eventual autonomy to the Trusteeship territories. The UPC demanded independence for the Cameroonian territories, with a target date of 1956, and the reunification of the British and French territories. Ruben Um Nyobé served as the fountainhead of the movement from its inception, and his ideas for political and economic emancipation of French Cameroon guided the movement until his death in 1958. Born in the SanagaMaritime around 1913, Ruben Um Nyobé attended Prosser Gifford and William Roger Louis, eds., France and Britain in Africa: Imperial Rivalry and Colonial Rule, New Haven and London, 1971. For an analysis of this policy and an enlightening contrast with British administrative policy in Cameroon, particularly as it affected literacy rates in the two territories, see Richard Bjornson, The African Quest for Freedom and Identity: Cameroonian Writing and the National Experience, Bloomington, 1991, chap. 2. 3 Presbyterian schools in the area, but was primarily selfeducated . By the 1930s he had acquired a position as a low level civil servant, and eventually served as a court clerk in Yaounde and Edea. 2 The UPC and its affiliates were organized in a pyramid structure, from local committees in small villages or urban neighborhoods, to larger regional committees, with a directors’ committee at the top. Committee leaders were elected by members’ votes at meetings, and traveling delegations updated local meetings on the activities of UPC, UDEFEC, and JDC members beyond their region. The movement gained in grassroots level popularity throughout the 1950s, as local committees formed across the territories. The popularity of the party was linked to Um Nyobé’s charismatic leadership. In the SanagaMaritime rumors circulated about his supernatural powers, and beyond, his popularity increased as he traveled to New York in 1952 and 1953 to speak on behalf of the Cameroonian people before the UN General Assembly, the Fourth Committee devoted to colonial questions, and the Trusteeship Council. Upon his return from trips abroad, he organized UPC congressional meetings throughout the territory to give public accounts of his hearings at the UN...