Banning freedom of assembly drove West African politics underground and worsened repression.
Evidence
The French had never promulgated the Third Republic’s r881 law on freedom of association in the federation, and it remained illegal to assemble without permission from the colonial administration. This prohibition effectively drove most political activity underground in the interwar period, making the French that much more out of touch with African discontent as it developed-and that much more ready to use force to repress it. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 560
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEFINE: Clarifies how the metropole’s 1881 association law was deliberately not applied in the federation — a key mechanism of colonial control.
- XREF: Connects to the broader pattern in this book of selective application of French republican law in the colonies.
Related
- Banning political assembly in French West Africa drove opposition underground and bred French repression (similarity 0.95)
- French interwar association policy left few proud legacies because it was highly coercive (similarity 0.79)
- French colonial policy shifted from emancipation to gradual political initiation (similarity 0.78)
- French colonial assemblies reserved all final policy authority for the colonizer (similarity 0.78)