France mismanaged their colonies. In 1958 a new French republic was formed to deal with it. Part of that was an option of a vote in the colonies whether to continue a relationship with France. Only one colony, Guinea opted to end the French relationship immediately. It did not go well for them. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The first issues or a new country coming out of colony status are often the best. The issues are not yet the farm out topicals that always come later but show the country and it’s leaders at a time when there is still hope for a better future. In addition to nature scenes, this issue of stamps showed cultural objects and hard working Guineans working for a better future. Stamp issuance in Guinea seems to have stopped but among their last known issues honored the anniversary of Elvis’s death. I like Elvis as much as anybody, but what does he have to do with Guinea.
Todays stamp is issue A14 a 25 Guinean Franc stamp issued by Guinea in 1959. It was part of a 8 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.25. This seems to be one of the most valuable stamp issues from the country, so lucky me.
Ahmed Sekou Toure was born to subsistence farmers and his education ended at age 15. He however was the great grandson of the last African ruler of the area in the 1890s. He was literate enough to get hired by the French colonial postal service and become involved in trade union organizing and had contact with a major French communist trade union. He was quite anti French but that did not prevent him from being appointed the mayor of Conarky, the capital. He organized a successful strike in 1957. France was tiring of its Empire and the new Fifth Republic President Charles De Gaulle proposed the colonies vote on a new constitution that granted self rule leading to independence in a decade with continued French aid and assistance. A no vote meaned immediate independence with the French washing their hands of the area voting that way. Toure campaigned for a no vote and Guinea voted that way 86% and was immediately granted independence with Toure as the first President. Toure indeed had no relations with France but accepted aid from the East and West. Progress and stability did not come fast enough and Toure banned all politics but his own and set up a brutal prison called Camp Boiro run by his brother. This did not prevent close relations with Ghana President for life until coup Nkume and American civil rights leaders Stokey Carmichael and Malcolm X.
Toure also supported anti government forces in neighboring Portuguese Guinee and held several Portuguese POWs at Camp Boiro. In 1970, the Poruguese Army raided Conarky and freed their prisoners but could not find Toure. After they left, Toure claimed a military victory over them and sent many of his staff to Camp Boiro as disloyal collaborators where many were starved tortured and killed. As many as 50,000 died at Camp Boiro and another 500,000 went into exile. Toure was elected with no opposition to 4 seven year terms as President but died at Cleveland Clinic after a heart attack in 1984. His successor fell to a coup a few months later.
Guinea has still failed to prosper after Toure. There is a large deposit of iron ore that the Chinese, an American hedge fund, and Australian mineral giant Rio Tinto have competed to develop. The competition seems to be bribing government officials for rights to proceed but nothing ever happening. Surprisingly, Guinea has never moved to change it’s colonial name as many African countries did post independence. Guinea comes from Portuguese and referred to any black person from below the Senegal River. The Arabic Berbers from north of the Senegal river were referred by the Portuguese as tawnys. Guinea no longer has elephants or any other large animals in it’s nature preserves left over from the French
Well my drink is empty and President Toure doesn’t get a toast. Instead I will toast De Gaulle for allowing Guinea a vote and then immediately leaving them alone when that was what they wanted. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.