Living the High Life: Colonialism and Genocide under Her Majesty
Our website was down for maintenance this past week, and we were unable to publish. Here is what our columnist Monica Bassili sent to us last week before the Monarch was buried.
Despite the global call to mourn Queen Elizabeth’s death, many anti-colonial and anti-imperialists have decried the sympathies for a genocidal and colonial monarchy. For countless countries and governments internationally, the British monarchy reflects the violence and conquer required to obtain Indigenous landscapes, seascapes, and resources. Following the Second World War, historically oppressed peoples, such as those residing in the Indian subcontinent, sought to gain independence from British colonialism.
Although many international liberations and self-determination movements spurred from the end of WWII, the British did not simply grant these people their freedom. For instance, the 1947 partitioning of British India came to an immense human cost. Over one million people were killed and over 15 million people displaced, and the partitioning of British India continued to fuel deep tensions between Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists. Today, you would consider India a “developing country,” rife with religious conflict. Yet, it is British colonialism that enabled one of the largest mass movements of people in the world.
Intergenerational Trauma and Genocide
For many Indians today, the partition is a genocide perpetrated by the British.
Across the Indian diasporic community, Indian elders remember the horrors of the partition and what that meant for their futures in their homeland. For instance, Canada’s large Indian population speaks to the necessity for Indians to flee political instability and religious discrimination depending on where their “new” communities landed during the British partition of land.
Consequently, intergenerational trauma is evident in Indian diasporic communities as the genocide and mass displacement of Indians in 1947 left families torn apart and communities laid bare. India is not a case study or a simple example of British colonialism. Instead, Britain’s colonization and violent exploitation of India demonstrates Britain’s skill and experience in destabilizing entire continents.
For me, when I think of British colonialism and imperialism, I cannot go without mentioning Palestine.
The beautiful, rich, and vibrant culture of Palestinians quickly changed as Britain “granted” Israel the land of Palestinians as “reparations” for Germany’s terror against Jews. By 1967, Israel settled the whole of Palestine’s land and subsequently enacted violence against Palestinians to exterminate their peoples, enabling the sustained use of the land by Israel.
The destabilization of North Africa and the Middle East by the British Empire continues to perpetuate today in the form of government instability, resource mismanagement, and petty-burgeois colonialism by Arab leaders. With this in mind, the damage done to the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem continue to plague the region today with increased extremism, Islamism, and militancy.
Where was the Queen?
Throughout the second half of the 1900s, until her death, Queen Elizabeth served as the British monarch since she took reign in 1952. She was undoubtedly a symbol of British hegemony, colonialism, and continental imperialism. When she began her reign in 1952, more than 700 million peoples worldwide were under British rule. For this reason and many more, the Queen was not blameless in the extermination and exploitation of Indigenous peoples and their lands.
As such, I am not discrediting the fact that her family deserves time to mourn, as any family should when a beloved member dies. However, not everyone gets this chance. Not everyone gets to reflect on their elders with such love and admiration. Many former colonies lost their elders to genocide, brutal violence, forced displacement and dispossession.
Where can we mourn their lives? When can we commemorate the lives of racialized colonies lost to British imperialism?
Canada’s Dependence on the British Monarchy
Moving beyond the British monarchy means declaring independence and moving on to increasingly generative revolutionary ideas that reframe a nation’s governance. For Canada, this question remains challenging due to the fact that as a nation, Canada has 11 Numbered Treaties signed directly with the British Crown. For this reason, simplistic arguments to dismantle Canada’s relationship with the Crown must consider the impacts on Indigenous peoples residing within the historic Numbered Treaties.
A century before Queen Elizabeth took power, her predecessors pillages Turtle Island (North America) and attempted to exterminate the Indigenous population. Through colonial violence, Residential Schools, the Indian Act, the reserve system, and the government departments dedicated to “managing” Indigenous peoples, Britain’s impact on Indigenous peoples in Canada persists today. With this in mind, any meaningful government changes following Her Majesty’s death must place Indigenous leaders, chiefs, scholars, and workers at the forefront of change.
On Monday, September 19th, 2022, the national day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth in Canada, please spend your time thinking beyond Britain’s boundaries. Think of Ireland. Think of Palestine. Think of Indigenous peoples. There is no shortage of pain and despair found in Britain’s brutal colonial and imperial history. Please, have these challenging conversations and reflect deeply on the news media emerging today on the praise and love adorned to the Queen.
The below list illustrates the immense impact British colonial rule has had internationally:
1 Aden Protectorate 1967
2 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1956
3 Auckland Islands 1931
4 Bahamas 1973
5 Bahrain 1971
6 Bangladesh 1971 (From Pakistan)
7 Barbados 1966
8 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1966
9 Bechuanaland (Botswana)1966
10 Bermuda 1995
11 British Borneo (Brunei) 1984
12 British Cameroon 1961
13 British East Africa
(Kenya) 1963
14 British East Africa
(Uganda) 1962
15 British Egypt 1922
16 British Guiana 1966
17 British Honduras (Belize) 1981
18 British India 1947
19 British Malaya (Malaysia) 1957
20 British Solomon Islands 1978
21 British Somaliland
(Somalia) 1960
22 British Togoland 1957
23 British Western Pacific
Territories 1976
24 Burma (Myanmar) 1948
25 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1948
26 Colonial Fiji 1970
27 Colonial Nigeria 1960
28 Colony of Newfoundland 1949 (Became a province of Canada)
29 Cyprus 1960
30 Emirate of Transjordan
(Jordan) 1946
31 Gambia Colony
and Protectorate 1965
32 Gilbert and Ellice Islands
(Kiribati and Tuvalu) 1978
33 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1957
34 Helgoland 1890 (Now part of Germany)
35 Hong Kong 1997 (part of China)
36 Ionian Islands 1830
37 Ireland 1921
38 Island of St. John
(Antigua and Barbuda) 1981
39 Jamaica 1962
40 Kingdom of Rarotonga
(Cook Islands) 1965 (self-governing island state in free association with New Zealand)
41 Kingdom of Sarawak 1963 (now a state of Malaysia)
42 Leeward Islands 1983
43 Malta 1964
44 Mandatory Iraq 1932
45 Mandatory Palestine
(Israel, Jordanian annexation
of the West Bank,
Palestine Protectorate) 1948
46 Menorca (Spanish Island) 1802 (now part of Spain)
47 Mosquito Coast 1860 (now part of Nicaragua and Honduras)
48 Muscat and Oman 1951
49 Nauru 1968
50 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1906
51 New South Wales 1901 (state in Australia)
52 Nigeria 1960
53 Niue 1974 (from New Zealand)
54 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1964
55 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1964
56 Oregon Country 1846 (became a US territory, then a state)
57 Pakistan 1947
58 Phoenix Islands 1979 (now part of Kiribati)
59 Province of East Florida 1783 (became a Spanish colony, later a US territory
60 Province of Nova Scotia 1867 (one of the founding provinces of Canada)
61 Province of Quebec 1867 (one of the founding provinces of Canada)
62 Province of West Florida 1783 (became a Spanish colony, later a US territory
63 Qatar 1868
64 Queensland (state in Australia)1901
65 Rupert’s Land 1869 (became part of the Canadian confederation)
66 Sheikhdom of Kuwait 1961
67 Sierra Leone 1961
68 Singapore 1963 (became a state of Malaysia, then separated in 1965)
69 Solomon Islands 1978
70 South Africa 1931
71 South Arabia 1932
72 South Australia 1901 (state in Australia)
73 South-West Africa 1931 (South Africa territory until 1990)
74 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1980
75 Straits Settlements
(Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo) 1946 (Separated and passed to other nations)
76 Sultanate of Zanzibar 1963
77 Swan River Colony 1901 (Western Australia, state in Australia)
78 Swaziland 1968
79 Tanganyika Territory (Tanzania) 1961
80 Territory of New Guinea 1975
81 Thirteen Colonies (USA) 1776
82 Tokelau 1949 (Became a territory of New Zealand)
83 Tonga 1970
84 Trucial States (Oman) 1951
85 Uganda Protectorate 1962
86 Unfederated Malay States 1957
87 Van Diemen’s Land 1856
88 Victoria (State in Australia) 1901
89 Western Samoa 1970
90 Windward Islands 1979
