Conference for the Promotion of the Pan-Bahian Idea
The Conference for the Promotion of the Pan-Bahian Idea (Gaullican: Conférence pour la Promotion de l’Idée pan-baïenne), sometimes referred to as the Pan-Bahian Congress of 1907 (Gaullican: Conférence pan-baïenne de 1907) was a conference of key Bahian and Diasporic authors, intellectuals, colonial secretaries, religious figures, and journalists which met in Sainte-Germaine, the capital of the Baséland colony in order to discuss the political future of the Bahian subcontinent. It was organised by Daniel Amankose, a Mirite author who was living in Verlois at the time, in coordination with several of his friends among the diaspora in Gaullica. Over the four days of the conference topics such as reparations for slavery, racial equality, democracy and the viability of peaceful reform to the colonial system were discussed. At the closing of the conference, a treatise was drawn up which would form the ultimate basis of the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party's constitution several months later. This document was widely published in the media and translated into Estmerish as well as several native Bahian languages.
Background
While resistance to colonial control of Bahia had always been present, this primarily took the form of localised revolts based around individual Karanes or religious authorities and did little to menace the colonial structure. The Sougoulie was the first large-scale uprising against colonialism and saw many initial successes, before divisions among the rebels led to their defeat one by one. In the aftermath of the Sougoulie many Bahians were disillusioned with violent resistance towards the Eucleans, seeing it as futile due to the strength of the Euclean armies. For a large number of Bahian and diasporic intellectuals, however, the failure of the Bahians had not been their technological inferiority but their lack of unity. This line of thinking was strongly represented by much of the Bahian diaspora, as their experiences of slavery and racism had led to the formation of a far more expansive Bahian identity as opposed to the more narrow clan or religious identities present in Bahia. In 1898, 10 years after the failure of the Sougoulie, Daniel Amankose published The Revolt of the Métis, a novel in which he outlined his belief in a united Bahian identity through the character of Cacambo, a Métis in Gaullican Asteria who fights in court to defend the rights of Bahians in the colony. This led to an increased interest in the potential for a Pan-Bahian identity, with several other writers expressing their support for the movement.
In 1904, having received correspondance from Bahian diasporic associations such as the Bahio-Imaguan Party in Imagua, Amankose began preparations for a conference in order to delineate this new political current and to begin to organise political actions with the goal of Bahian independence. While Verlois, the capital of the Gaullican Empire, was initially chosen as a location for the conference, it was moved to Sainte-Germaine (modern day Mambiza) due to the sympathies of the governor Charles Dumont and Sainte Germaine's significance as the center of colonial rule in Bahia. The event went ahead the 13th of May 1907, hosted in Saint-Pierre Hall, with participants from across Bahia, Euclea and Asteria.
Objectives
The conference had several key objectives. First among these was to assemble the prominent voices calling for Bahian sovereignty and racial equality together in order to facilitate greater connectedness, with the goal of creating a network of like minded thinkers who could work together in order to further the cause. To this end, participants from across the world were invited. The conference counted 76 attendees, with around half coming from the diaspora. Amankose urged the participants to share their addresses and to fraternise with as many new people as they could in order to make sure that people would make new friends or find new people who they could work with. While there was no formal organisation established after the Conference of 1907, it was due to Amankose's networking that the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party was able to be founded several months later.
Another objective of the conference was to come to a consensus on several key points of contention amongst the Bahian and diasporic intelligentsia. Among these were the status of slavery, which had been a key feature of Pre-Colonial Bahia, and the continued existence of the caste system. These were fiercely debated, as they represented to many a core part of Bahia's culture while others saw them to be oppressive and in violation of fundamental human liberties. The liberal wing would eventually win out on the day, with the final declaration rejecting any efforts to reinstitute Hourege in an independent Bahia. This would be the position of the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party, despite the presence of a smaller reactionary wing within the party. The rejection of Hourege is seen by many academics to represent an acceptance by the conference that Bahia was no longer the prestigious region of the Bahian Golden Age and had to engage with Euclean political systems if it wished to succeed. Another key point of contention related to the preferred means of attaining independence. While many sought a violent and revolutionary end to colonial rule, the failure of the Sougoulie weighed heavily on the minds of the participants. A majoritarian vote called for a peaceful and reformist path to indepence through engagement with colonial authorities and political structures. Many of the dissenting voices would go on to form the Pan-Bahian Section of the Worker's Internationale in 19??.
Less contientious were the discussions of Toubacterie's many excesses. The conference issued a unanimous condemnation of the idea of colonialism, in particular its ideological rootings. Racism was criticised as "denying the eternal fraternity of all peoples, being as we are descended from a common ancestor", while the economic inequalities of the colonial system were decried both as injust and as a handicap to the function of a true free market. Other issues to receive condemnation were the closures of Irfanic religious establishments, the genocides of fetishists in Riziland and modern day Mabifia, the indiscriminate killings of suspected Sougoulie sympathisers, and the taking of valuable cultural treasures from Kambou and other kingdoms by Euclean explorers.
Reception
In Bahia
The conference was well received in Bahia. Updates about it were published in several local newspapers in Baséland, with news of the final declaration being spread across Bahia both by newspapers and the return of the conference's participants. While there were some efforts to suppress the message of the conference, its advocacy for a moderate and peaceful movement meant that many colonial figures cast a blind eye towards the conference in the belief that a tame Bahian independence movement would direct people away from more active and violent resistance to colonial rule. Copies of the conference's final declaration were translated into many Bahian languages and distributed across the subcontinent, as well as works of many of the conference's attendees. This in turn led to a frenzy of interest and optimism for Bahian political advancement, most notably in the establishment of several smaller political parties in major urban areas. Just seven months after the conference, the groundwork was laid for the establishment of the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party. This party, which was organised by a network of Bahians who had met at the conference, would fight for Bahian representation and Pan-Bahianism in local politics. It maintained a presence within the diaspora as well, and made numerous petitions to Euclean governments in favour of Bahians.
In Euclea and Asteria
News of the conference reached the attention of many in Euclea even before the conference took place, but there was little fear that this conference would be a real threat to Euclean control of Bahia because of Amankose's known pacifism. Despite this, several informants were placed within the conference and the local constabulary in Sainte-Germaine were placed on high alert throughout the duration of the conference. When news reports were published of the declaration of the conference, reactions were varied. While many liberal newspapers lauded the conference as "the first steps towards a brighter future for Bahia", the conservative press was highy critical and even mocking of the declaration. While the conference had very little effect on Euclean policy, due in part to the lack of influence of the Bahian diaspora there, it was far more important in Asteria Inferior and Asteria Superior due to their larger diasporic communities and the existence of a diasporic middle class. In many Asterian nations, the conference marked the beginning of a greater interest among the Bahian diaspora in their Bahian roots and the situation there. Many Asterian delegates were present at the founding of the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party, while several Asterian diasporic associations began to advocate for more political involvement among Bahian diasporists.
Legacy
The Conference for the Promotion of the Pan-Bahian Idea is seen as having been highly influential in the history of Bahia, as it represented the first time that Bahians had come together regardless of ethnicity, tribe, religion or geographical origins in order to seek a common goal. The conference was responsible for a major rise in political activism within colonised Bahia, cumulating in the foundation of the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party just a matter of months later. It gave a certain degree of legitimacy to the Bahian struggle in the eyes of many white Euclean and Asterian thinkers, marking the change in perceptions of Bahian anti-colonial resistance from a reactionary revolt to a liberal and peaceful political struggle. Many who supported a paternalistic approach to colonialism deemed the conference to be evidence that their duties in Bahia were finished. Covering the conference in the colonial paper Le Soleil de Bertholdsville, Luc Bellay wrote that:
The negro has finally grown up. He has thrown off the savage garb of his jungle kingdom and slavery and now walks as a man. He wears a suit, he speaks of liberty and the fraternity of peoples. If we were to leave this country today, we would do so in the proud knowledge that we have carried our burden to the end and civilised this formerly savage territory. The negro has reached his maturity.
Despite this change in attitudes and the foundation of the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party, little tangible progress was made towards the betterment of Bahian rights in the aftermath of the conference. This has led some intellectuals to be critical of the conference, deeming it to have been mere words which rejected the type of strong action which the colonists feared. Daniel Amankose's Mirite ethnicity was a leading cause of criticism of the conference by Mabifian dictator Fuad Onika, who condemned the conference as being conciliatory towards the colonial regime and a betrayal of Bahia's true interests. In the modern era, the conference is recognised by several key Bahian states as having been an important step towards independence. The 13th of May is recognised by the Congress of Bahian States as Bahia Day, with several events held across Bahia and the diaspora in memory of the event. Memorial stamps have also been issued.
In Asteria, the conference has an important legacy as it provided a large impetus for diasporic rights movements to come together and push for change to their own societies which were affected deeply by the colonial system and racism. In the aftermath of the conference, several key movements began to push for greater equality and rights for Bahian-Asterian citizens. While Gowsas were not recognised as Bahian by the congress, many of them sympathised with the goals of the conference and began to agitate for increased rights as well.