Filibustering from Africa to the Americas: non-state actors and empire

Abstract

This article looks at dominant definitions of empire, in particular those emphasizing large polities as the sole agents of imperial expansion. By doing so, it draws attention to the overlooked role of filibusters: private, non-state actors who initiate unauthorized military endeavours, either in an attempt to carve out empires for themselves or for their home state. It demonstrates that filibustering is not a practice unique only to the Americas or to the nineteenth century as so much of the literature suggests. Lastly, it scrutinizes the cultural and historical impact of the phenomenon. In terms of the former, it argues that filibustering had an important literary and filmic influence. Regarding the latter, it advocates that it frequently led to further violent intercessions in many of the countries occupied and influenced a particular style of proto-fascistic and charismatic militarism.

Keywords:

• Filibusters
• empire
• Military History
• irregular forces
• fascism
• science fiction

Notes

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2. Taithe, Killer, 211.

3. Darwin, Unfinished Empire, xi–1.

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6. Münkler, Empires, 4.

7. Doyle, Empires, 45.

8. Douglas Peers, “Imperial History,” 576–579.

9. Bush, Imperialism and Postcolonialism, 1–2.

10. Howe, Empire, 14.

11. Thomson, Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns, 2.

12. Ferguson, “The Unconscious Colossus,” 18–33.

13. Stern, The Company-State, 14.

14. Burbank and Cooper, Empires in World History, 161.

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19. Blanken, Rational Empires, 7.

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23. See note 10 above.

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28. Quoted in Thernstron, A History of the American People, 574–575.

29. Chomsky, Pirates and Emperors, vii.

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31. See note 6 above.

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37. Ibid.

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41. Ibid., 145–146.

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51. Thomson, Mercenaries, 22.

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56. Bialuschewski, “Pirates,” 413.

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59. Thomson, Mercenaries, 118.

60. See note 57 above.

61. See note 38 above.

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64. See note 57 above.

65. Bialuschewski, “Pirates,” 412–419.

66. Gallagher and Robinson, “The Imperialism of Free Trade,” 8.

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69. Thomson, Mercenaries, 124.

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75. See note 70 above.

76. Thomson, Mercenaries, 43.

77. Saionz quoting Bradley (105).

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81. See note 36 above.; Thomson, Mercenaries, 122.

82. See note 57 above.

83. Ibid.

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85. Thomson, Mercenaries, 123.

86. Nute, “James Dickson,” 127–140.

87. Ibid.

88. See note 36 above

89. Thomson, Mercenaries, 118.

90. See note 57 above.

91. Thomson, Mercenaries, 118–119.

92. Gardier, “Take Pity On Our Glory,” 241–268.

93. Fieldhouse, The Colonial Empires, 357.

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95. See note 38 above.

96. Thomson, Mercenaries, 142.

97. Gane-McCalla, “Ron Paul Was Implicated In Failed White Supremacist Island Invasion.” Newsone for Black America (January 20, 2012) http://newsone.com/1805245/ron-paul-was-implicated-in-attempted-white-supremacist-island-invasion/ (Accessed July 15, 2015).

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99. See note 57 above.

100. Jameson, Archaeologies of the Future, xiii.

101. Butcher, Jules Verne, xix.

102. Arthur C Clarke quoted in Butcher, Biography, xvi.

103. Alessio and Meredith, “Pandora.”

104. Arthur C Clarke quoted in Butcher, Biography, xvi.

105. Butcher, Jules Verne, 155.

106. Ibid., 297.

107. Ibid., 233.

108. Verne and Verne, The City in the Sahara, 63.

109. Taithe, Killer, 17.

110. Ibid., 26.

111. Ibid., preface.

112. Ibid., 31.

113. Ibid.

114. Ibid.

115. See note 38 above.

116. Ibid.

117. See note 94 above.

118. Ibid.

119. Saionz.

120. Verne and Verne, Sahara, 81.

121. Phillips and Achebe, “Was Joseph Conrad Really a Racist?” 59–66.

122. Alessio and The Inhabitant, The Great Romance, xiviii.

123. Verne and Verne, Sahara, 135.

124. Verne and Verne, Sahara, 63.

125. McLeod, Beginning Postcolonialism, 51.

126. Rich, “Introduction,” 570 & 564.

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128. Andrade, “Koxinga’s Conquest of Taiwan,” 122–140.

129. Jameson, Archaeologies, xv and 416.

130. See note 57 above.

131. See note 39 above.

132. Ibid., 58.

133. Ibid., 69.

134. Thomson, Mercenaries, 140.

135. Solomon, 107 & 112.

136. Dunning, “Manifest Destiny and the Trans-Mississippi South,” 124.

137. May, Manifest Destiny’s Underworld, 8–9 & 39.

138. Friedman and Long, “Soft Balancing in the Americas,” 120–156.

139. Tamarkin, “Milner, the Cape Afrikaners,” 393.

140. Conrad, Darkness, 104.

141. Bosworth, Mussolini, 145.

142. See note 38 above.

143. Quoted in Gottlieb and Linehan, The Culture of Fascism, 9.

144. Mann, Fascists, 16.

145. Baranowski, 200; Baranowski, Nazi Empire, 200.

146. See note 44 above.

147. Conrad, Darkness, 94.