In the continuing debate on what it means to be British, Jonathan Steele makes some important points about what the British Empire was, and how it brought 'civilisation' to the savages at bayonet point. The empire struck back, and Britain has been reshaped by that fact. It is important, I agree to come to terms with how a quarter of the world came under the union jack. Steele concludes:
The real issue is to reclaim British history from the right. Tolerance of
others is a value that today's Britain boasts, but it is not the dominant
feature of recent centuries. Nor is Britain's new acceptance of multiculturalism the result of a willing or easy choice. It was necessitated by the arrival of tens of thousands of former colonial subjects and the demands of their British-born children for respect and equal rights. Fairness has been forced upon us.
That same fairness demands that we assess and teach our history
accurately. The growing number of Britons who are not descended from an empire-building or empire-running past know from their own families' oral reminiscences, and from the white-supremacist chauvinism they encounter, that the textbook story of Britain's past is a lie. Recognising our true history is what the chancellor's Britishness campaign should focus on.
No comments:
Post a Comment