Refresher course in colonialism. Some interesting history here — a truly disgusting tale. Churchill may not have been Stalin, but.…...
At the beginning of the 18th Century, India’s share of the world economy was 23%, as large as all of Europe put together. By the time the British departed India, it had dropped to less than 4%.And then there was that opium "trade" forced on China at gunpoint.
The reason was simple: India was governed for the benefit of Britain. Britain’s rise for 200 years was financed by its depredations in India.
By the end of the 19th Century, India was Britain’s biggest cash-cow, the world’s biggest purchaser of British exports and the source of highly paid employment for British civil servants – all at India’s own expense.
The Greanville Post
Britain must pay reparations to India—and possibly others she victimised
Staff
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis thing is full of whinging about Indians, but not a single word about the British Working Class which was fairly well brutalized by The British Ruling Class and didn't see much of the 'loot of India'. And who the hell is going to pay this bloody debt? You know damned well it won't be The Rulers. *Their* money is safely Off-Shored.
ReplyDeleteAnd I expect it would not take much digging to see how ruthlessly the present Indian Ruling Class - which was perfectly happy to collaborate with The Raj - is exploiting its own people with the same callousness and brutality as the British once did.
The present should always pay reparations for for past mistakes ... to the past?
ReplyDeleteYet don't forget that the present also owes a debt to past lessons learned, and gets a chance to see where to go from here.
The dynamic summing eventually makes a whole greater than the sum of it's past & present parts. There's never been any point in going back more than 1-3 lifetimes, since future options always leave past mistakes in the dust.
Few would agree to go back and relive those times, with the expectation of doing better. It's not worth it now. It is worth being more honest with ourselves about exploring emerging options.
Tell that to the indigenous people that whose ancestors were exterminated and their surviving progency reduced to poverty in their own land. Tell that to people that were enslaved.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the commons that was enclosed was simply stolen. It's still going on today. Indigenous people that don't hold title to the land that their ancestors have used from time immemorial are being legally dispossessed.
Total BS
See, for instance,
Karl Marx. Capital Volume One, Part VIII: Primitive Accumulation
It's the same nonsense with the West and the ROW. We were successful first so we make the rules and you have to follow them or we, being more powerful, will whack you.
ReplyDeleteThis rising demand for reparations is just the tip of the iceberg. As these other peoples become more powerful and can take it back, watch out.
ReplyDelete"Tell that to the indigenous people that whose ancestors were exterminated and their surviving progency reduced to poverty in their own land. Tell that to people that were enslaved."
ReplyDeleteI have, Tom. I'm part Sami myself. Neither my Granddad, dad or siblings wanted to go back to Sami land. They/we, like 20th century USA better, all around. All that even though Scandinavians stole all of Scandinavia from the Sami.
I have Native American relatives too, from several tribes. While they honor their cultural history, none want to go back to what was stolen. What I hear far more often (& feel myself) is desire for equal opportunity to explore existing options.
If we stop the current prejudices (and rents), most old claims aren't worth pursuing. They mostly become Hatfield/McCoy-like feuds, keeping those involved from exploring even better, and constantly emerging, options.
If we follow the old-feud route too far, then it's obvious that the Earth should be returned to the Neanderthals. :) And they, of course, stole it from others, who stole from others ... back in an unbroken chain to some original organic chemistry that stole it from physical chemistry. And don't forget that some Big Probability Event marked a wholesale theft of some prior reality, with a new history written by the new victors. There was a big bang, and residents woke up with a new gang in charge. :( The past never ends, but NEITHER DOES THE FUTURE!
Mosler's constant refrain is that EVERYTHING is obsolete within about 50 years. I include human culture in that too. No one wants to go back. The future, no matter what was stolen, is more valuable than whatever was stolen (more than 50 years back).
My view is that, left to themselves, most grandchildren don't argue about what their respective grandparents stole from one another ... IF ... the grandkids share exploration of the future options they're interested in. Grandparents (and the stuff they feuded about) are obsolete. It's mostly in how gracefully they get out of the way.
ReplyDeleteIf the colonizers had actually given the colonized a fair deal, it would be moot. They did not. Nor did the exploiter their own people. The result is domestic revolutions and foreign wars to even up the score.
ReplyDeleteThis is just the way humans are judging from history. I am not convinced that "this time it is different." And I don't think that the exploiters are either judging from the military capabilities they are building to make sure that no one decides to take back their land and stuff.
Feudalism and imperialism were up front about might makes right. Capitalism is a just-so story about how its all "legal" and freedom, rational choice, marginal product, just deserts, and spontaneous order. Only fools buy into that BS by the tools.
There are a LOT of fools. Despite what John's been saying. :(
ReplyDeleteI'm part Sami myself. Neither my Granddad, dad or siblings wanted to go back to Sami land. They/we, like 20th century USA better, all around. All that even though Scandinavians stole all of Scandinavia from the Sami.
ReplyDeleteAlways thought that the Sami were Scandinavians. OK, I guess I have some learning to do ;)
It's possible to fool a few people most of the time and some people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.
ReplyDeleteRevolutions and wars may begin suddenly but they were some time in preparation. It's possible to see the factors and sense the trends building, but it's generally not possible to predict what the catalyst will be and when it will come.