this British co-worker in management once announced in a loud and cheerful voice to the entire restaurant bar where staff was having drinks, when the topic turned to the English breakfast: "Beans and Toast! WE BUILT AN EMPIRE ON THAT!" (and i drily added "and tea. don't forget about tea.") Somehow i have a hard time picturing a Belgian, Dutch, German, or citizen of any other former power making quite such a proud proclamation in public...
And it's of course not only about direct violence. the British empire gets credit for a slew of important innovations which were used subsequently through out the colonial era by many toward their ends, in terms of divide and rule, in terms of building bureaucratic framework for systematic exploitation, in terms of establishing legal parameters and legislation which justified atrocities.
Side note: my South African friends have on different occasions expressed the same sentiment: that the Boers were out right horrible, but the Brits would smile, shake your hand, and as soon as you turn around stab you in the back. And they were also more interested in economic control rather than the overt racism of apartheid...
Also: has the British complicity in the Palestine/Israel conflict EVER been properly addressed?
And it's of course not only about direct violence. the British empire gets credit for a slew of important innovations which were used subsequently through out the colonial era by many toward their ends, in terms of divide and rule, in terms of building bureaucratic framework for systematic exploitation, in terms of establishing legal parameters and legislation which justified atrocities.
Side note: my South African friends have on different occasions expressed the same sentiment: that the Boers were out right horrible, but the Brits would smile, shake your hand, and as soon as you turn around stab you in the back. And they were also more interested in economic control rather than the overt racism of apartheid...
Also: has the British complicity in the Palestine/Israel conflict EVER been properly addressed?
Last edited: