Lies my teachers told me (2), or the cruelty of the British Empire


Of course they only taught us of the glories of the British Empire. 

 Clive of India Cecil Rhodes and others were the heroes;  the British were utterly pure in the so-called Boer War, etc., etc., etc.  Oh the wonders of all that pink on world maps.  

 It was all very seductive:  "Land of hope and glory, mother of the free .... God who made thee mighty, make the mightier yet".

 "Mother of the free?"  - says who?  In truth the Empire was nothing short of disastrous for the indigenous peoples of North America, Africa, South Asia and Australia.

 (Yes, yes, I know that the Ottoman, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, French and Belgian Empires were horrid. But we English school children were led to believe that our Empire, unlike the others,  was unimpeachably just, fair and enlightened)

 Today (26th January 2019) happens to be AUSTRALIA DAY, a national holiday for some Australians, a celebration of the English "discovery" and colonisation of the continent.

 But not for all.  How could something be discovered as "Terra Nullius" (** see below)  when the indigenous peoples had been there for 60,000 or more years.  Was their land "just for the taking"?

 There is a lively and often bitter debate about this in Australia to this day.  There are those who assert that the day is not about the discovery  of Australia, but about the invasion of that land. by the English/British.

 They believe that it should be commemorated as INVASION DAY, not AUSTRALIA DAY.

 As one who is fiercely anti-colonialist I am with them!  Empire building and colonisation has wrought unimaginable disaster for many of the world's peoples. What ticks me off is that my teachers said that the British Empire had brought only unparalleled benefits.


 In due course I will say more about the English colonisation of Wales and Scotland, and the Scots/English colonisation of Ireland.  

 My thoughts today are focused on Australia because it is their Australia or Invasion commemoration day.

via my Australian friend Nicole E.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

** P.S.  The dangerous myth of Terra Nullius


https://treatyrepublic.net/content/terra-nullius-0

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shoe insults

Last year I consulted with a local podiatrist: Dr. Robert F Herbold Jr. D.P.M. 4717 Swift Rd., Sarasota , FL – 34231  because I was being bothered with a couple of bunions  (yes I am at that age). I was very impressed with this Doctor.  He agreed that I had bunions, but he ventured that it was much too soon for surgery. (Now there’s a first). Instead he recommended some “arch supports” to relieve the tension for my feet, a tension which was exacerbating the bunions. What’s more -  he told me that he sells these arch supports at the miserly sum of $2.50 each (about 1/5 of the price in the local pharmacies). He is an honest man, and I recommend him to anyone with foot problems. So, a couple of weeks ago, having purchased some new walking shoes, I knew that I needed to buy a couple of new arch supports I took myself to his office. Once there, my mind went blank. I wanted to ask his front desk Clerk if I could buy some “shoe inserts” , as I could not rem...
Read more

It began in Bristol U.K. "A man dies" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Image
I well remember the swirling controversy in Bristol, U.K. when a (Presbyterian) Minister the Revd, Earnest Marviin created a ":Rock Opera", called "A Man Dies"  in and for his congregation in the Lockleaze area of Bristol, U.K. Earnest Mrvin I was a sixteen years old member of the Plymouth Brethren Church back in those days, so I most likely disapproved of "A Man Dies" .  We, (the Plymouth Brethren),  disapproved of everything! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had forgotten all about "A Man Dies" until earlier today when saw these pictures on the "Bristol, Then and Now"  Facebook page.   St. James Presbyterian Church, Lockleaze, Bristol  The Bristol Then and Now page includes the following commentary: Lockleaze, Bristol  -  'Jesus Christ Superstar' began at St.James (Presbyterian) Chur...
Read more

The background, the couple, my friends, the wedding ceremony, the Shaykh, the Priest,

Image
The background   I have known the Keller/Bonsey family since 2000 when I became the Rector at St. James's, Cambridge, MA. They (Elisabeth Keller and the Revd. Steven Bonsey with their four children Noah, Sam, Josiah and Annie) had come back to Cambridge from Hawaii where Steve had been the Rector of an Episcopal parish. Steve had just been appointed as a Chaplain at Tufts University (no Sunday morning duties) so the entire family was able to enrich our common life at St. James's - which they did with great love and joy. I count them as friends and have stayed in touch with them since my retirement.  Noah, the oldest son is eloquent in Arabic (he spent a year in Damascus when Syria was a safe place).  He has developed a super career as an analyst of social media in the near East.    Noah worked in Tampa for a while a few years ago, so he and I were a...
Read more