Africans Demand Autonomy From Colonial Powers

Colonial rule stands in the way of Africans' search for dignity and economic well-being, three speakers told a weekend conference on "Africa: Toward Freedom" in Agassiz Auditorium.

The meeting, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, heard Jean Fairfax, regional chairman of the group, tell of her impressions during a recent tour of Africa.

Human Dignity Lost

"Most Africans I met," Miss Fairfax said, "thought Africa had benefited from contact with Europe, but that the benefits had often been achieved at the cost of human dignity."

In discussing the general arrogance of Europeans in Africa, she commented that colonialists "have failed to communicate the greatness of Western civilization, which is something more than wearing shoes, and clothes, and balancing teacups."

A labor organizer from Kenya, Tom Mboya, also told the conference that "so long as our country is under English rule the possibility of our developing our own country for our citizens is very remote."

English Own Fertile Land

Commenting on the Mau Mau incidents in Kenya, Mboya said, "By the use of military power, we have suppressed the militant wing of revolt, but we have done nothing to eliminate the conditions of the present crisis."

He pointed out that English own virtually all the fertile land in Kenya, and that the per capita average income for Englishmen is $1,800 yearly, while that for Negroes is $120.

The other main speaker at the meetings was William Worthy, former CBS representative in Africa and presently a Nieman Fellow.

"It's bad to personalize foreign relations," Worthy commented, "but I feel that an awful lot of our troubles must be laid at the shifting feet of John Foster Dulles."