Nationalism and Secession

Abstract

Throughout the Third World there are political movements campaigning, in many cases through armed struggle, for political self-determination on behalf of minority groups. In the Western Sahara, Polisario fights for liberation from Morocco. In Western Somalia the Liberation Front aims to restore the Ethiopian Ogaden to Somalia. The Kurds of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria seek an independent and united Kurdistan. The National Resistance Council in Iran aims to establish an autonomous Baluchistan. In India there are movements for autonomy among the Sikhs, Nagas, Mizos and Tripuras as well as in Kashmir. The Shanti Bahini of Bangladesh seek autonomy for the Chittagong tribes. In Burma the programme of the Federal National Democratic Front includes a federal union based on self-determination for the Shan, Karen, Mon, Arakan, and Kachin peoples. The Tamil minority in Sri Lanka have been waging civil war with the objective of forming a separate state in the north of the island. Indonesia has three movements struggling for independence – in West Papua, East Timor and Acheh. In the Philippines the Moro National Liberation Front seeks independence of the Muslim Moros in the south. There has been a strong ethnic revival since 1960 and a corresponding growth of interest among social scientists (Brown, 1989, p. 1).