i want to see the big essay takes so i can
from reddit:
For starters (and I do mean for starters- this is kind of a Unicorn spoiler. KIND OF.), the Universal Century Charter was supposed to grant the colonies independence from the very beginning- until it was lost after the terrorist attack on Laplace. Some elements of the Federation used this to their advantage in later years, and independence was never actually granted, or really even requested by any of the colony groups.
Now, it's true that a large amount of the resources available to Earth are harvested in space. Primarily, Helium-3 fuel from Jupiter, which fuels the Minovsky-Ionesco reactors that power most of the planet, and nearly all spacebound activity. However it is still noted that within the colonies themselves, Earth still has a greater mineral resource advantage, especially since it controls the moon separate from the rest of the colonies. Aside from that, asteroid mining seems to be used primarily as a method for maintaining the colonies, with very little coming to Earth itself. And it's also a major point that most Earthbound farming is done on Earth itself. That's why the colony drop onto the North American midwest, as part of Operation Stardust, is such a key victory for Zeon remnant forces- it practically wiped out the food supply of the largest constituency and home of the capitol of the Earth Federation. (Of course this was turned into further anti-Zeon animosity by the administration, in a military coup) So while resources are an issue, they're not a primary issue.
Actually, the Earth Federation didn't interfere much in the daily operation of any of the colony groups, least of all Side 3, the farthest group form Earth in which Zeon formed. Much of the conflict arises from this point. The Federation wasn't really in the business of expending resources to exert control. It levied taxes and gathered resources to a single pool, for the general benefit of the entire population- Earthnoid or spacenoid. The independence Zeon sought was two-faced. They wanted freedom from the Federation's constitution and the civil liberties it guaranteed, but they wanted the assurance of Federation resources. The Federation took a pretty hands-off approach, but that's a ridiculous demand to make, so it was pretty well-known by the Zeon that it would be denied.
And, of course the Zeon philosophy evolved in the decades leading up to the One Year War. In the beginning, in the days of Zeon Deikun, the notion of spacenoid independence was a rallying call to move the rest of the population into space, independent of Mother Earth, and with "our souls not weighed down by gravity" into a new era of human evolution in which the Newtype would thrive and lead humanity to greater things. (Though Deikun's definition of Newtype was vague and theoretical) After his assassination, the Zabi family began a campaign of propaganda against the Federation and against Earthnoids, claiming the Federation had assassinated their beloved Zeon. A rapid militarization began, and the first mobile suits were developed as combat weapons. This is all still 15 years prior to the One Year War, mind you. Over time, Side 3, which had taken to calling itself the Principality of Zeon in hushed tones, fell into a more and more totalitarian state resembling the Third Reich, with very little Federation intervention. It's hard to say whether the Feds would have stepped in at some point on their own, but they probably would not have, given the hands-off approach they would even carry through the war. (Despite having general control over the colonies, Side 6 declared itself neutral immediately when the war began- a move which the Federation allowed in lieu of potential resource benefits to be gained from it- in fact it had declared its own independence from the Federation in 0077)
By the time the breaking point was reached, the Principality of Zeon was a militaristic dictatorship that the Earth Federation wasn't very keen to pay attention to. The Zeon carried out their plans, regardless, declaring war against the Earth Federation and immediately attacking a helpless colony in Side 2 (Iffish), which they proceeded to drop on the Earth in an attempt to wipe out the Federation's military headquarters- Jaburo, South America. While this failed and struck Sydney, Australia instead, it was viewed universally as an atrocity against humanity. The Federation could not stand idly by for this or the regime that commanded it, the people of Earth were horrified at the atrocities Zeon would commit, and demanded a full-scale war to stop it from ever happening again, and the people of the colonies, now vulnerable to the sort of attacks that turned Iffish into a weapon, wanted to eliminate the threat against themselves. And so, with a heightened resolve, the Federation went to war against the Zeon, who had committed atrocities in the name of a false independence.
It isn't so much, then, that Earth wanted to deny colonial independence- they would still reap trade benefits- as they wanted to stifle a corrupt regime claiming to be the voice of Space's beloved Zeon Deikun, despite having been the ones who killed him in the first place. If Zeon hadn't started out by saying "Make us independent or we'll kill you" and then immediately dropping a colony on the planet to try and kill them (and everyone else) the Federation may have just let them be.
