1930s–1941: (Territorial Nationalism and Its Ethnic Fractures — Herbert Macauley’s Nigerian National Democratic Party, the Nigerian Youth Movement Calling fo…

1930s–1941: (Territorial Nationalism and Its Ethnic Fractures — Herbert Macauley’s Nigerian National Democratic Party, the Nigerian Youth Movement Calling for Autonomy Within the British Empire, the 1941 Split Along Yoruba-Igbo Lines, Anti-Ganda Protest in Uganda, and the Ominous Question of Whether Nationalist Leaders Could Overcome Tribal Divisions): Territorial movements began to emerge, positioning their arguments within the framework of national rather than merely local politics. Herbert Macauley founded the Nigerian National Democratic Party, and in 1936 the Nigerian Youth Movement broke away under younger leaders critical of Macauley himself, calling for complete autonomy within the British empire — notably not total independence from it — and advocating the creation of a united Nigerian nation. The movement won considerable support during its brief lifespan, but ominous signs soon appeared: in 1941, it was split asunder by inter-ethnic rivalry between Yoruba and Igbo, each suspecting the other of seeking domination. Whether nationalist leaders would be able to overcome this kind of tribal division — or even possess the political will to do so — would haunt nationalist politics from the late 1930s onward. In Uganda, anti-colonial protest was as often directed at the dominant position of the Ganda as at the British themselves, and the ongoing controversy surrounding Buganda and the kabaka did not bode well for Ugandan national unity. These fractured movements nonetheless signified the increasing importance of youth in political developments — empowered by education or economic migration or both, African youth were in the vanguard of forging new identities and resistance, even as they inherited their forefathers’ conflicts that would resurface with independence.