Saturday, 16. May 2015
The sugar-coated view
annika heinze, 20:09h
In the eyes of many British citizens the Empire was the greatest thing there has ever been. They fail to see the faults in it.
One example, I already wrote about, is the Amritsar Massacre in 1919. Even the Prime Minister James Cameron is one of the people who seem so see the Empire in a "yes but" way: Yes horrible things happened but we left a legacy to the world - or something like this.
When Cameron visited Amritsar in 2013 he said that "Im my view, we are dealing with something that happened a good 40 years before I was even born". This might be true, that Cameron himself had nothing to do with the shooting of innocent men, women and children. Still many million Germans today weren't alive for the time of the Nazi regime. Still we feel sorry, we are ashamed of what happened and we apologize, whether we say so or pay respect or money to Israel and jewish people. Not having been born for a crime commited by the own country doesn't excuse us from apologizing and feeling ashamed and sorry.
To me it seemed like James Cameron, who was the first PM ever to visit Amristar, wanted to put a lid on this part of the Empires history. It happened a good 94 years ago and what's past is past, was what I felt Cameron was thinking.
But history can only be stopped from repeating itself if we look at it critically. Many British people lack this criticism. They tend to see the Empire and all that happened in the colonies in a generally sugar-coated view.
James Cameron did pay his respects at Amritsar and deemed it 'monstrous' by quoting Winston Churchill from 1919. Still he found again a 'but' in all this: "I think there is an enormous amount to be proud of in what the British empire did and was responsible for." He still acknowledged that not everything was good, that the British did while ruling over India but there was always that little silent 'but' in his speech.
Many Britons are proud of their Empire and I think that there are things to be proud of but also there are a great lot many things that they should acknowledge and be actually ashamed of.
Source: David Cameron defends lack of apology for British massacre at Amristar - The Guardian - Nicholas Watt - 20.2.2013
One example, I already wrote about, is the Amritsar Massacre in 1919. Even the Prime Minister James Cameron is one of the people who seem so see the Empire in a "yes but" way: Yes horrible things happened but we left a legacy to the world - or something like this.
When Cameron visited Amritsar in 2013 he said that "Im my view, we are dealing with something that happened a good 40 years before I was even born". This might be true, that Cameron himself had nothing to do with the shooting of innocent men, women and children. Still many million Germans today weren't alive for the time of the Nazi regime. Still we feel sorry, we are ashamed of what happened and we apologize, whether we say so or pay respect or money to Israel and jewish people. Not having been born for a crime commited by the own country doesn't excuse us from apologizing and feeling ashamed and sorry.
To me it seemed like James Cameron, who was the first PM ever to visit Amristar, wanted to put a lid on this part of the Empires history. It happened a good 94 years ago and what's past is past, was what I felt Cameron was thinking.
But history can only be stopped from repeating itself if we look at it critically. Many British people lack this criticism. They tend to see the Empire and all that happened in the colonies in a generally sugar-coated view.
James Cameron did pay his respects at Amritsar and deemed it 'monstrous' by quoting Winston Churchill from 1919. Still he found again a 'but' in all this: "I think there is an enormous amount to be proud of in what the British empire did and was responsible for." He still acknowledged that not everything was good, that the British did while ruling over India but there was always that little silent 'but' in his speech.
Many Britons are proud of their Empire and I think that there are things to be proud of but also there are a great lot many things that they should acknowledge and be actually ashamed of.
Source: David Cameron defends lack of apology for British massacre at Amristar - The Guardian - Nicholas Watt - 20.2.2013
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