John Michael Lee's publications include Colonial Development and Good Government: a study of the ideas expressed by the British official classes in planning decolonization, 1939-1964 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967); African Armies and Civil Order (Instuitute for Strategic Studies, London, 1969) and (with Martin Petter) The Colonial Office, war and development policy, 1939-1945 (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London 1982).
Ralph Johnson Bunche b 1904; educated at University of California, Los Angeles (AB), Harvard University (AM, PhD); Chairman, Dept of Political Science, Howard University, Washington DC, 1928-1950; Director, Trusteeship Department, Unted Nations, 1946-1954; acting UN Mediator on Palestine, 1948-1949; awarded Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the Middle East, 1950; Professor of Government, Harvard, 1950-1952; UN Under Secretary for Special Political Affairs, 1954-1967; UN Special Representative in the Congo, 1960; UN Under Secretary-General, 1968-1971.
The African National Congress (ANC) was formed in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress (it changed its name to the ANC in 1923) with the aim of replacing tribal opposition to white rule with a united African force. At first its membership was narrow - its leaders drawn from among traditional chiefs and wealthy Africans, its aims were limited and its activities were law-abiding. An attempt by J.T. Gumede to create a mass anti-imperialist movement was defeated by the moderates in 1930, following which the ANC lapsed into inactivity.
With an enlarged membership, a new President-General, Dr A.P. Xuma, and the adoption in 1943 of a new constitution and political programme - calling for full political rights for the first time - the ANC began its transformation into mass movement. It began to co-operate with other organisations, like the Communist Party and the South African Indian Congress. The Congress Youth League, formed in 1944, played an increasingly powerful role within the ANC: in 1949, its Programme of Action, with mass opposition to apartheid at its heart, was adopted as ANC policy. The Defiance' campaign of 1952 was the result and, though eventually broken by the state forces, it did give the ANC a mass membership. Under the Presidency of Albert Lutuli and the leadership of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others, the ANC became the leading resistance force in South Africa. The alliances it developed with other organisations, including the South African Indian Congress and the Congress of Democrats, led to the formation of the Congress Alliance, whose delegates adopted the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in 1955. This was adopted as the ANC's programme in 1956. In the same year, the Charter was used as the basis of a charge of treason against 156 members of the Congress Alliance. All of the accused in the 'Treason Trials' were acquitted, but in April 1960 the ANC was forced underground when it was banned as anunlawful organisation' following the pass law campaign and the Sharpeville massacre.
Many leaders went into exile and an external mission under Oliver Tambo and a military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), under Mandela were formed. After the arrest at Rivonia in 1963 of Mandela, Sisulu and other leaders and their imprisonment, ANC activities were for a while based mainly on the work of the external mission and the development of MK. However, following the rise of mass opposition among workers and students in the 1970s and 80s, the ANC's position as the leading anti-apartheid force was confirmed after the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and his and the ANC's subsequent victory in the election of 1994.
The Barbados Workers' Union is a general workers union and was registered on 4th October 1941. It has a membership of 25,000 persons covering all areas of employment in Barbados.
John Patrick Cope, the son of C F J Cope, was born on Mooi River, Natal, South Africa, on 17 Mar 1906. He was educated at St Andrews College, Grahamstown and in 1924 joined the Rand Daily Mail as a reporter. In 1930 he joined the Natal Mercury as their parliamentary and political correspondent, and became friendly with Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, and other prominent political figures.
In 1935 he went to Abyssinia and discovered the Italian Plot to annex the country. In 1937 he went to China to cover the Sino-Japanese war for three South African papers. In 1937 he joined his former editor, R J Kingston Russell in his venture to found a political weekly Forum. On Russell's retirement through ill health he assumed the editorship, which he retained for 14 years under the chairmanship of Hofmeyr.
In 1951 Forum closed, and Cope rejoined the Rand Daily Mail as editorial assistant. He entered politics and was returned for Parktown in 1953 and 1958 as a United Party MP. In 1958 he was one of a group of UP members who broke away to form the Progressive Party, but he lost his seat after a smear campaign in the 1961 election.
Cope married Margaret Nancy Rouillard in 1939 and they have 3 children.
The Committee of African Organizations was a London-based group giving support to exiled politicians from all over Anglophone Africa. Dorothy Robinson was Administrative Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1962-1965.
Albie (Albert Louis) Sachs was born in Johannesburg on 30 January 1935, matriculated at the South African College School (SACS) in Cape Town in 1950, and attended the University of Cape Town, where he obtained the degrees BA. and LL.B. He started his practice as an Advocate at the Cape Town Bar in 1957 and worked mainly in the civil rights sphere until he was himself twice detained without trial by the Security Police. In 1966 he went into exile in England where he completed a Ph.D at the University of Sussex (1971) and taught in the Law Faculty of the University of Southampton (1970 - 1977). He was the first Nuffield Fellow of Socio-Legal Studies, at Bedford College, London, and Wolfson College, Cambridge.
In 1977 he took up a position as Professor of Law at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. From 1983 onwards he served as Director of Research in the Ministry of Justice. After nearly being killed by a car bomb in 1988 he returned to England. In 1978 Sachs became the founding Director of the South Africa Constitution Studies Centre, based at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. In 1992 the Centre moved to the University of the Western Cape, where he was made Professor Extraordinary. He was also appointed Honorary Professor in the Law Faculty at the University of Cape Town. He took an active part in the negotiations for a new Constitution as a member of the Constitutional Committee of the ANC and of the National Executive of that organisation. He is currently a Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Benjamin Turok, born Latvia, 1927; came with his family to South Africa, 1934; educated at the University of Cape Town; taught in London, 1950-1953; returned to South Africa, and became a full-time political activist; served with a banning order, 1955, and arrested for treason, 1956 (the charges were withdrawn in 1958); elected unopposed to represent Africans of the Western Cape on the Cape Provincial Council, 1957; during the 1960 emergency Turok evaded arrest, and went underground to help reestablish ANC organisation; in 1962 he was convicted under the Explosives Act, and sentenced to three years in prison; after his release he escaped via Botswana; resident in the UK from 1972; currently a member of the South African Parliament.
The Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee (BABC) was set up in 1984 by the British Government through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to supervise the British involvement in the Australian Bicentennial. It was chaired by Sir Peter Gadsden. Initially a steering committee was set up, which later became the BABC. In 1985 the Britain Australia Bicentennial Trust was set up to deal with the public money raised, at this time the BABC also set up a number of National Task subcommittees and regional subcommittees.
One of the tasks of the BABC was to make a recommendation for the UK gift to Australia for the Bicentennial. Several ideas were put forward for consideration, notably a re-enactment of the voyage of the First Fleet under Admiral Arthur Philip, This was decided against, although the re-enactment fleet did sail from the Isle of Wight, 13 May 1987 and arrived in Australia 26 Jan 1988, without the support of the BABC. The UK gift to Australia was eventually decided on as the sail training schooner STS Young Endeavour, proposed by Arthur Weller. The building of STS Young Endeavour, was supervised by the Schooner Trust, supervised by Weller. The Bicentennial events in the UK were widespread including balls, banquets and church services, notably at Westminster Abbey led by Archbishop Robert Runcie, 14 Jul 1988.
Born 1889; educated Oxford; Ceylon 1925-1935; appointed by the Secretary of State, 1926; Divisional Inspector, 1929-1930; Assistant Director of Education (Supply and training of teachers), 1930-[1935].
At the International Labour Conference, 1978, it was agreed that a Commonwealth Trade Union Council (CTUC) should be established. A special working party was set up to decide the form the body should take. Their proposals were agreed by the Commonwealth Unions, Nov 1979 and the CTUC was established in Mar 1980. Dennis McDermott, President of the Canadian Labour Congress was elected President and Carl Wright was appointed Director. Patrick Quinn took over as Director of the CTUC, Aug 1988 and Arthur Johnstone became Director in 1994. The executive body of the CTUC was its Steering Subcommittee, on which sat trade union leaders from the UK and Mediterranean, Canada, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Australasia and the Pacific. A general session was held annually to maintain contacts between member countries.
The CTUC aimed to strengthen links between trade unions in the Commonwealth and to provide practical assistance to trade unions in developing countries. It also undertook a programme of Development Education with Trade Unionists in developed countries, aiming to raise awareness of international issues.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions withdrew funding for the CTUC in Jan 2003 and the Canadian Labour Congress reduced its contribution in 2002, halved it for 2003, and made no commitment beyond 2003. The UK TUC agreed to raise their contribution to compensate for reductions, but this payment was to end at start of 2005. A decision was taken in Jun 2004 to wind up CTUC at end of 2004 and it was closed Jan 2005.
Born in Ceylon, 1913; higher education, England, 1932; joined Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP); attended Pan-African Conference held in Manchester, 1947; elected to parliament of Ceylon, 1947; left LSSP, 1955 and joined Independent Socialist Party; Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence and External Affairs, 1956-1959; resigned and joined the opposition party, 1959; ran as an independant candidate, 1960; Speaker 1960; Ambassador to the USSR, 1960-1965; Ambassador to the UN; MP for Sri-Lanka Freedom Party, 1965; Minister of Industies and Scientific Affairs; 1970-1977; retired 1977; died 1995.
The Caribbean Banana Exporters Association evolved from the Commonwealth Banana Exporters Association which was formed in 1972. The CBEA established a London lobby in 1988 to defend its rights during pending trade discussions and the lobby is still active in 2008. The CBEA comprises representatives of banana growers and exporting companies from all the Caribbean countries that are involved in the banana export trade. These are Belize, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Surinam and the four Windward Islands- St Lucia, Dominica, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Grenada.
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The Commonwealth Journalists' Association was founded by a group of journalists in 1978 following a conference of Commonwealth non-governmental organisations held at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, to cater for the needs of individual journalists in Commonwealth countries. The CJA's objectives include the raising of journalistic standards by the provision of training courses, the encouragement of an interest in and knowledge of Commonwealth affairs and the defence of the independence of journalists where a threat is perceived. The CJA takes a particular interest in safeguarding the rights of journalists in countries where press freedom is restricted and has intervened on several occasions, sometimes in collaboration with other interested bodies, to secure the re-opening of a newspaper or the release of journalists from prison. The CJA's main activity is the provision of training courses for journalists in developing countries. Other activities include holding conferences, open to the whole membership, every three years. Where there is sufficiently large individual membership in a given country or region members are encouraged to set up local branches or chapters to organise their own activities and, where possible, organise their own training. A newsletter devoted to subjects of professional interest is published and distributed to members three times yearly.
The Sword of the Spirit was founded in 1940, in response to the rise of fascism. Although founded by lay Catholics and supported by Cardinal Hinsley the organisation was ecumenical from the start. Its focus was on a just social order. At that stage it looked primarily to Europe. In the 1950s, it widened its brief to inform people in church and society about the international agenda.
In 1965, The Sword of the Spirit was renamed the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) with an education section and an overseas volunteer programme. In 1966, the overseas volunteer programme became part of the UK government's British Volunteer Programme and was in the most part funded by the Government's Overseas Development Administration (ODA, later the Department for International Development, or DFID). At first, volunteer placements were linked to the church, but the overseas programme gradually took on more of a serious developmental perspective and was not limited to any particular religious affiliation. The programme worked closely with other sending agencies (through the British Volunteer Agencies Liaison Group).
Throughout its history, the organisation has sought to influence church and state, most notably to support liberation struggles, grassroots developments and to strengthen a moral voice against human rights abuses. In the 1970s, following the Second Vatican Council and the statement of the Catholic Church's commitment to the option for the poor, progressive elements in the Church came increasingly to support grassroots liberation movements. CIIR's then education department supported the progressive elements of the Church in various liberation and human rights struggles in Central America, southern Africa and Asia. CIIR published booklets on liberation theology and promoted progressive church speakers. The CIIR, in collaboration with others also undertook detailed policy analysis and innovative work on issues such as drugs, debt and trade.
Early in the 1990s, the overseas programme was renamed International Cooperation for Development (ICD). ICD continued to have ODA funding. Around this time ICD started having national staff in country offices - a vanguard move among development agencies, most of which were still run locally by expatriate staff. Throughout the 1990s, CIIR's education department (by this time renamed the international policy department) faced difficulties. Funding sources were drying up and there was a proliferation of agencies and academic institutions undertaking development policy work. The two approaches remained separate and distinct departments within CIIR until January 2000. After an internal process of reflection, CIIR brought the two departments together into one programme department, combining skill-share and advocacy. In 2006 CIIR changed its name to Progressio.
Edward Trevor Dyson: born 1886, educated at Ruthin Grammar School, University College Wales, Aberystwyth (BA) and Jesus College Oxford (BA); Cadet, Ceylon Civil Service, 1910; office assistant to Government Agent, NW Province, 1912; Police Magistrate, Kurunegala, 1913; Police Magistrate, Kandy, 1920, Assistant Government Agent, N Eliya, 1921; Assistant Government Agent, Jaffna, 1924; District Judge, Matara, 1926; Assistant Government Agent, Kalutara, 1926; Government Agent, Anuradhapura, 1928; Government Agent, Jaffna, 1930; Government Agent, Central Province, 1934; Government Agent, Northern Province, 1935.
Called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, 1938. Judicial Service. HM Overseas Judiciary: Jamaica, 1941; Magistrate, Turks and Caicos Islands, 1944-1947; Assistant to Attorney-General, and Legal Draftsman, Barbados, 1947-1949; Magistrate, British Guiana, 1949-52; Nigeria, 1952-62: Magistrate, 1952-54; Chief Magistrate, 1954-56; Chief Registrar, High Court, Lagos, 1956-1958; Judge of the High Court, Lagos, 1958-62; retired. Temporary appointment, Solicitors Department, General Post Office, London, 1962-63; served Northern Rhodesia (latterly Zambia), 1964-1967; Judge of the High Court, Uganda, 1967-1971; Deputy Chairman, Middlesex Quarter Sessions, July-Aug., 1971; Chief Justice, Belize, 1973-74; Judge of the Supreme Court, Anguilla (part-time), 1972-1976; part-time Chairman, Industrial Tribunals, England and Wales, 1972-1985.
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Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982. A British Task Force was despatched on 3 April, the first troops landing at San Carlos Bay on 21 May. Argentine forces surrendered on 14 June following fierce land, sea and air battles.
From Independence until 1987, Fiji was governed by the Alliance Party, which was pledged towards policies of multiracialism. The only challenge to its rule occurred in 1977, when Fijian voters were attracted by Fijian nationalist candidates. This led to the Alliance Party losing ground in the April General Election, and the Indian-dominated National Federation Party obtaining 26 of the 52 seats in Parliament, with 24 seats for the Alliance Party. However, owing to a leadership dispute the NFP split into factions, and the Governor-General in a surprise move, asked the Alliance Party leader and former Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, to form a minority administration. These events caused considerable political debate in the press, and increased factionalism in the FNP. A further General Election was held in September of the same year, and the Alliance Party was restored to power with a substantial majority.
Abdullah Abdurahman was born December 18, 1872? in Cape Town, South Africa. He married Helen Potter James and they had two children, of whom the younger, Zainunnissa Abdurahman, like her father, was a prominent figure in Cape Town municipal affairs. After the dissolution of his first marriage, Dr. Abdurahman in 1925 married Margaret May Stansfield. They had a son and two daughters. Dr. Abdurahman was educated at Marist Brothers School and the South African College School. In 1888 he went to Glasgow University, where he obtained the M.B., Ch.M. medical degree in 1893.
In 1895 he returned to South Africa and acquired an extensive practice in Cape Town, among both Coloured and White people. In 1904 he was elected to the Cape Town City Council, and was the first Coloured person to become a Councillor. Except for two years (1913-1915) he remained a member up to the time of his death. Dr. Abdurahman was also a member of the Cape Provincial Council from 1914 until his death, and was largely responsible in establishing a system of school medical instruction for the Cape Province. In 1905 Dr. Abdurahman founded and was president of the South African Native and Coloured People's Organization, later known as the African People's Organization.
In 1909 he was a member of a delegation led by W. P. Schreiner to London. He was also a member of the Indian National Congress and in 1925 went to India to discuss the Indian's position in South Africa with the National Congress and Viceroy.
In 1934 he was appointed a member of the coloured People's Fact-finding Commission and served on the Cape Coloured Commission of 1937. He died in Cape Town in 1940
Marion Valerie Friedmann was born in 1918, and was a founder member of the Liberal Party of South Africa. The multiracial Liberal Party of South Africa was founded in 1954, and was forced to disband under the Prohibition of Political Interference Act of 1968.
World in Action, produced by Granada Television, is one of Britain's longest running current affairs programmes. First launched in 1963, World in Action was the first weekly current affairs programme in Britain to pioneer pictorial journalism on film and to risk taking an independent editorial stance.
British settlement in Rhodesia began in the 1830s, and Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company assumed control in 1890s. Britain took over administration from the Company in 1923 and granted self-government to white colonists. Southern Rhodesia federated in 1953 with Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland with a view to achieving independence as a unified country. The Federation dissolved in 1963, and the three constituent countries pursued separate paths to independence. Britain rejected independence for the white Southern Rhodesia regime 1964, and the government unilaterally declared independence (UDI) in 1965 as Rhodesia. British colonial rule was briefly reimposed in 1979 in order to achieve a settlement, and independence was granted in 1980 under black majority rule as Zimbabwe.
'World in Action', produced by Granada Television, is one of Britain's longest running current affairs programmes. First launched in 1963, World in Action was the first weekly current affairs programme in Britain to pioneer pictorial journalism on film and to risk taking an independent editorial stance. Guyana achieved independence in 1966, the 1968 General Election was won by the People's National Congress, led by Forbes Burnham.
Canon Leslie Gready was born in 1933, educated at Southampton University and Wells Theological College, and ordained priest in 1957. After working in Liverpool, 1956-1959, he was based in Isandhlwana, South Africa, 1959-1960, and subsequently worked as a priest in Rhodesia ( he was Director of Training in Matabeleland, 1961-1973). In 1966 he photographed two policemen beating a black african in the Lukampa Rest Camp. He had a conversation with the local police troop commander, and reported the incident to the Ministry of Justice.
J R Granville Bantock: Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ceylon, 1931-1928; Superintendent, Crime Branch, Colombo, Ceylon, 1931-1936.
Jack Halpern was born in 1927 in Berlin. Because of the Nazi persecution of the Jews, his parents emigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was educated. His interest in the problems of developing countries was stimulated by two and a half years spent in Israel, where his was a member of a Kibbutz, and later joined the technical staff of a company bringing water to the Negev Desert. Returning to South Africa he became a journalist and married. After editing technical and industrial journals he became Editor and Publications Officer of the South African Institute of Race Relations. In 1960 he was appointed editor of the Central African Examiner in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, and became the Central African correspondent of the Observer, the New Statesman, Dagens Nyheter, and Politiken. In September 1963 with the Rhodesia Front in power, he and his wife were arbitrarily expelled from the disintegrating Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland by the Prime Minister, Sir Roy Welensky. After arriving in Britain Halpern served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International, 1964-1965, and, writing under his nom-de-plume of James Fairbairn, as Africa Correspondent of the New Statesman. He died on 11 May 1973.
Sir (William) Keith Hancock was born in Melbourne, Australia on 26 June 1898. and obtained his BA at Melbourne University. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, 1922-1923, and obtained a BA with 1st class honours in modern history. In 1923 he was the first Australian to be awarded a Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, and in 1924 he returned to Australia to be professor of modern history at Adelaide University. He was professor of modern history at Birmingham University from 1933-1944, and professor of economic history at Oxford University, 1944-1949. He was appointed to the War Cabinet Offices as Supervisor of Civil Histories, 1941, and thereafter editor of series. In 1949 he became the first director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, and professor of British Commonwealth affairs, London University. In 1954 he headed an inquiry into constitutional problems in Buganda. The Report was published by HMSO in 1954 as Cmd 9320, Uganda Protectorate Buganda [Namirembe Conference].
In 1957 he became director of the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University (ANU), and was created the first University Fellow of ANU on his retirement in 1961. He was knighted in 1953, and awarded the KBE in 1965.
Publications: Ricasolo 1926), Australia (1930), Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs (1937, 1940 and 1942), Politics in Pitcairn (with M M Gowing) (1947); British War Economy (1949), Country and Calling (1954), War and Peace in this Century (1961), Smuts: The Sanguine Years, 1870-1919 Vol 1 (1962), The Fields of Force, 1919-1950 Vol 2 (1968), Discovering Monaro(1972), Professing History (1976), Perspective in History(1982), Testimony(1985).
Neil Alcock was born in 1919 at Underberg, Natal. After war service, he became a farmer in Natal. In 1962, he founded Kupugani, a national welfare organisation whose object was to increase the amount of South African food available to the country's African population. From 1967 until his death he devoted his life to helping Africans with rural agricultural schemes, developing agricultural training and encouraging African ownership, home industry and literacy. In 1967 he established a Church Agricultural Project among Zulu farm people at the Maria Ratschitz Mission farm in northern Natal. In 1975 he moved to another farm, Mdukutshani, in the Msinga district near Weenen in the Kwa Zulu `bantustan'. Work at the farm, which included innovations to combat drought and pests, was described in regular newsletters from Alcock and his wife, Creina (Bond), a well-known writer on South African wild life and conservation. Alcock also acted as a representative of Africans in their dealings with white farmers and as a peace maker in local feuds. He died in an ambush on 28 September 1983 when returning with elders from a meeting he had organised to end fighting between factions.
Ruth Hayman was a lawyer in South Africa, and a campaigner for racial equality and justice. After she was banned for her work in South Africa, she settled in North London, and in 1969 set up the pioneering organisation, Neighbourhood English Classes, to help newly arrived immigrants settle into the UK. In 1977 she was a founding member, and honorary secretary of the National Association for the Teaching of English as a Second Language to Adults. After her death in 1981 the Ruth Hayman Trust was established in her memory.
Baruch Hirson was born at Doornfontein near Johannesburg, South Africa on 10 December 1921, the son of a Jewish electrician. Between 1944 and 1946 he worked as the political organiser for the Workers' International League, and subsequently he combined his politics with an academic career as a physicist at the University of the Witwatersrand. Towards the end of the 1950s he joined the Congress of Democrats, the white arm of the African National Congress-led congress alliance. Highly critical of its leadership and policies, with other disaffected left-wing congress activists Hirson formed the Socialist League of Africa just before the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, and later the National Committee for Liberation/African Resistance Movement (ARM). The ARM was broken in 1964, and Hirson and other leading activists arrested and imprisoned for nine years. After his release he moved to Britain, he taught physics at Bradford and Middlesex Universities, and devoted much of his time to history and the publication of Searchlight South Africa (1988-1995), a left-wing analysis of South African politics. He wrote several books or aspects of South African history and an autobiography, Revolutions in my Life (1995). He died in London on 3 October 1999.
The multiracial Liberal Party of South Africa was founded in 1954, and was forced to disband under the Prohibition of Political Interference Act of 1968.
I O Horvitch was an architect and active member and later Chairman of the South African Communist Party (SACP.) The SACP was founded in 1921 and was always at the forefront of the struggles agains imperialism and apartheid. In December 1956 over 150 men and women were arrested and flown to Johannesburg to face charges of communism and high treason. The preparatory examination and trial lasted from December 1956 until March 1961, when all the accused were found not guilty and discharged.
John Campbell Horsfall was the author of a number of books on Australian economics and politics.
The International Transport Workers' Federation was founded in London in 1886 by European seafarers and dockers' union leaders who realised the need to organize internationally against strike breakers. In 2001 it is a Federation of 570 trade unions in 132 countries, representing around 5 million workers. The ITF represents transport workers at world level and promotes their interests through global campaigning and solidarity. It is dedicated to the advancement of independent and democratic trade unionism, and to the defence of fundamental human and trade union rights. It is opposed to any form of totalitarianism, aggression and discrimination.
Henry Isbell, 1858-1930 was employed on the Belvidere and Diamond estates in Antigua, 1878-1891.
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The history of meteorological observations in Ceylon, in the form of rainfall measurement, dates back to year 1850. Systematic recording of observations started during 1866-1883 under the Survey General of Ceylon. The Colombo Observatory was set up in 1907 on Bullers Road (Bauddhaloka Mawatha) in Colombo. Since 1948 it has been part of the Government Department of Meteorology.
In 1961 Basutoland was one of three British High Commission Territories in South Africa. In the original treaties between the British Government and Chief Moshoeshoe [Mshweshwe] on behalf of the Sotho people in 1843 and 1862, a British Protectorate was established. In 1871, after Moshoeshoe's death, Basutoland became part of Cape Colony without the consent of the Sotho, and then in 1884 was relinquished to British rule, becoming a High Commission Territory. During the 20th century there was increasing concern among the Sotho people about continued colonial rule, not least because the changes in status of Basutoland had not been subject to their agreement and were contrary to the original treaties. Also, there were serious fears about the possibility of the territory becoming part of the Union of South Africa, which became acute when the Republic of South Africa was due to be created at the time of the memorandum in 1961. The memorandum details these issues, and seeks UN aid in making the voice of the Basuto nation heard. It was written by Josiel Lefela, a member of the National Council since 1916. In the event, Basutoland remained outside the Republic of South Africa and became independent as Lesotho in 1966.
Cyril Lionel Robert (CLR) James was born in Trinidad on 4 January 1901. He trained as a teacher, and worked as a teacher and journalist in Trinidad. James left Trinidad in 1932 at the instigation of the cricketer Learie Constantine (later Lord Constantine) and went to stay with him in Nelson, Lancashire. He worked as a cricket correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, 1933-1935, and also became a prominent member of the Trotskyist movement. For a time he was a member of the Independent Labour Party, and he campaigned actively against the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. He moved to the United States in 1938, and spent 15 years there writing and lecturing mainly on the Pan-African Movement. He left the Trotskyist movement in 1951, though he remained a convinced Marxist. He was expelled from the US because of his Communist views in 1953, returned to Britain and became active in the African independence movement. In 1958 he returned to Trinidad at the invitation of Dr Eric Williams, to edit the People's National Party newspaper. He also became secretary of the West Indies Federal Labour Party, and campaigned unsuccessfully against the break-up of the Federation of the West Indies. James soon quarrelled with Williams, and left Trinidad in 1963. In the 1960s and 1970s he lectured extensively in the United States and Europe. In 1963 he published Beyond a Boundary which explored the place of cricket in popular culture, especially in the colonial context, regarded by many as the greatest book ever written about cricket. He died in Brixton, London in 1989.
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In 1957 Kenya was a British Crown Colony, governed by a Legislative Council with 54 Members. The 1957 election was the first in which African members were elected to the Legislative Council through a restricted franchise. A Luo trade unionist, Tom M'boya, together with other Africans promoted to ministerial posts, refused to assume official responsibilities. A constitutional conference was held in London in January and February, 1960, that led to a transitional constitution legalizing political parties and giving Africans a comfortable majority on the Legislative Council.
Professor Bryan Wooleston Langlands (1928-1989) was Professor of Geography at the University of Ulster at Coleraine and was killed in the British Airways crash of BD092 at Kegsworth. He had spent much of his time in Uganda and accumulated a large library on various aspects of African historical geography.
2nd Lt H M C Ledger, the son of Horace and Kathleen Ella Ledger, and husband of Ellinor Ledger was commissioned in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers, and served initially in a Regiment of the Egyptian Army before training as an Observer in the Royal Flying Corps. In 1915 he was attached to the French Seaplane Squadron in Palestine. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre in Nov 1915 and twice mentioned in the Commanding Admiral's 'Ordre du Jour'. He was shot down and killed near Beersheba on 22 Dec 1915.
Lesotho, formerly known as Basutoland, became a British Protectorate in 1868. It was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, but became a separate British Colony in 1884, and was administered as one of the High Commission Territories in Southern Africa (the others being Bechuanaland , now Botswana, and Swaziland). Modern party politics began in 1952 with the founding of the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP, renamed the Basotho Congress Party in 1966) by Dr Ntsu Mokhehle. At the first general election in 1965 the majority of seats in the new legislative assembly were won by the Basutoland National Party (BNP, renamed Basotho National Party in 1966), a conservative group, which had the support of the South African government. Following the election, Moshoeeshoe II, the paramount chief, was recognised as king. The BNP leader, Chief Leabua Jonathan, becamer Prime Minister. Basutoland became independent, as the Kingdom of Lesotho in October 1966. A General election was held in January 1970, when the opposition BCP appeared to have won a majority of seats in the National Assembly. Chief Jonathan declared a state of emergency, suspended the constutution and arrested Dr Mokhehle and other leaders of the BNP. The election was anulled and the county effectively passed under the Prime Minister's control. In Jan 1974 Chief Jonathan survived a coup attempt but he was deposed by the military, led by Maj Gen Justin Metsino Lekhanya in Jan 1986.
Born, South Africa, 1919; as he young man he became concerned about the injustice of the treatment of the local black population; worked at Johannesburg's newly established Sunday Express, 1934; became political correspondent, 1937; joined the South African Labour Party and edited its journal, Forward; elected to Johannesburg City Council, 1942; an opponent of apartheid, Legum moved to Britain; diplomatic editor and its Commonwealth correspondent, Sunday Observer, 1951; editor of the annual Africa Contemporary Record, 1968; returned to South Africa, 1991; continued to work as a journalist, author and visiting lecturer; died 2003,
Publications:
South Africa: Crisis for the West, with Margaret Legum (1964)
Congo Disaster (1960)
Pan-Africanism: A Brief History (1962)
Africa: A Handbook of the Continent (1962).
Africa Since Independence (1999)