Commenting on the recent renewed debate about reparations for colonisation and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade that came out of Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer's attendance at the Commonwealth summit, Conservative Party leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick claimed the former colonies owed the UK a "debt of gratitude for the inheritance we left them".

His remarks have been widely criticised. Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations said: “These comments are deeply offensive and an obnoxious distortion of history. Enslavement and colonialism were not ‘gifts’ but imposed systems that brutally exploited people, extracted wealth, and dismantled societies, all for the benefit of Britain. To suggest that former colonies should be ‘grateful’ for such unimaginable harm disregards the legacy of these injustices and the long-term impact they still have on many nations today.”
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Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a lawyer and activist, described Mr Jenrick as a “political illiterate”, adding: “Britain would be nothing without colonised African and Asian nations.”

Read more here.

Reviewing the actual history, commentator Sean O'Grady, said: "In most of the empire... the British did not spend much time on building democratic institutions, and economic development was for the benefit of the mother country; a cheap source of food, raw materials and indeed troops in two world wars. Many colonies had been “independent” in the sense of not being dominated by anyone, and even if they were it doesn’t make it OK for the Europeans to take over. Their borders were defined by the people who lived there, and not by arbitrary lines on maps drawn by statesmen at international conferences in Europe. The scramble for Africa, in particular, left many future independent states politically unstable and economically unviable as a result of decisions made in London, Berlin, Paris, Lisbon and Madrid. By the time the British were forced out of their imperial possessions, many of these nations were poorly prepared for self-rule and some, notably British India, Ireland and Palestine, were partitioned with long-lasting consequences."

(MJR Trustee Paul Keeble writes)

This opinion piece in the Irish Times gives a perspective on the recent history of Britain (and the USA) is notable because of its viewpoint. Titled "We need to pay very close attention to what is happening in Britain now", writer Una Mulally is writing from an Irish context as a near-neighbour that has enjoyed (or endured?) a long relationship with Britain which gives a unique position from which to observe and comment. It's not a positive picture.

Very critical of the current political regimes in both Britain and the US and the process that has led to the ascent of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, as both countries "fall apart", a question is asked for others watching on: "we must interrogate how we can prevent falling as far as these two nations. How do we hold on to civility and decency, when it has evaporated elsewhere? What kind of environment gave rise to such toxicity?"

She continues: "The more we know ourselves, the less likely we are to betray ourselves, and each other. A lot of this is about empathy, but it is also about self-knowledge." For both Britain and the US a lack of self-knowledge is a barrier to progress. "If one does not confront the basic truths of one’s national identity, one will not be able to trace a path forward. Everything becomes a fiction, a narrative designed to block any kind of self-examination." For both nations a major basic truth is the "central malady" of racism.

"The toxicity at the heart of America is racism. It’s a country full of white people who have never confronted the fact that their so-called 'freedoms'. and their country’s economic power, were built on slavery. ... Similarly, Britain has never meaningfully confronted its racism, which is colonialism, building an 'empire' on the back of invading and pillaging and inflicting misery on whatever shores its brutal mercenaries... landed on." Including of course, Ireland.

Here I need to declare an interest. I grew up in Protestant Northern Ireland and was taught in school a selective history of the island. It was only in later life that I learned of the centuries of exploitation by the British and found out about Drogheda, The Famine, the Easter Rising and much more, arguably continuing to the present day in the dismissive attitude behind the "Irish Backstop" fiasco. I have lived in England for many years and continue to note the level of ignorance (which to an extent I used to share) about the island to the west... and how often Northern Ireland, a part of the UK, is casually referred to as "Ireland". A small symptom of a bigger problem?

It should give pause for thought that this observation made by a close neighbour is that our main root-problem is self-deception about our racism, an ongoing legacy of a history of colonialism, marked by exploitation and oppression. "The violence of British colonialism is embedded in the fabric of the world, in the horrors of illegal wars, in the consequences of bleeding nations of their resources, in the couldn’t-give-a-toss attitude towards Ireland."

​Read the full article here.

The Runnymede Trust, a race equality thinktank, is urging the government to make lessons on migration, belonging and empire mandatory in every secondary school in England. The Windrush scandal has exposed a “shocking lack of understanding” at government level about the winding up of the empire. At present just 4% of pupils taking GCSE history choose the “migration to Britain” option, which also covers the topic of the British empire.

The report states: “Migration and empire are not marginal events: they are central to our national story. As it stands the story we are telling is incomplete”. The reports findings are contested by the Department of Education, however historian and broadcaster David Olusoga said: “I find it hard to believe that the Windrush scandal could have been possible if we were a country that was aware of and educated in the history of empire, decolonisation and migration after 1945.” 

​Read more here and find the report itself here.

In this Guardian Opinion piece, Afua Hirsch, describes herself as "the party pooper who, while on holiday in destinations popular with Britons, has the audacity to ask: what actually happened here?" She believes that there is an opportunity "to be honest with and educate British tourists in parts of the former British empire, instead of which we are stuck in denial. Tour operators, hotel and museum owners think that visitors want to hear something that conforms to their already comfortable worldview. They then produce experiences that do so, and British holidaymakers come away with their preconceptions neatly confirmed." On recent trips to Jamaica and Kenya Afua has found herself giving "unofficial alternative history talks" to fellow British tourists and found that they were interested and curious to know more.

Things are changing in places like Auschwitz, Cambodia and Chernobyl. But the British can feel comfortably distant from tragedies in these places. "The problem with the former empire is that the questions of moral culpability it raises are a lot closer to home. It’s hard enough to get people to think about these questions here in Britain. But if Britons are still being helped to avoid the truth of empire in the places where it happened, and where local people are still living with the consequences, then what hope have we got?" Read the full article here.