A 20th century history to be proud of!
"The United Kingdom, is one of the few countries in the European Union that does not need to bury its 20th century history" #scc16
— Dr Liam Fox MP (@LiamFoxMP)
March 4, 2016
This might be one of the most ignorant things ever said by a Secretary of State, and if I may add, does not reflect well on the kind of education one would expect from a University of Glasgow graduate.
Sadly, this does reflect a trend confirmed by a YouGov poll finding that a large portions of the British population are now proud of their colonial history. Unfortunately Brits never confronted themselves with their past in the same way the Germans have, so here a short list of only some atrocities:
1900 - 1902 Boer concentration camps
The British rounded up around a sixth of the Boer population in overcrowded camps, prone to outbreaks of disease, with scant food rations. Of the 107,000 people interned in the camps (mainly women and children), 27,927 Boers died, along with an unknown number of black Africans.
1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre
When peaceful protesters defied a government order and demonstrated against British colonial rule in Amritsar, India, on 13 April 1919, they were blocked inside the walled Jallianwala Gardens and fired upon by Gurkha soldiers.
1920 - 1922 Iraqi revolt
British used chemical weapons in Mesopotamia in 1920, during the Iraqi revolt (Ath Thawra al Iraqiyya al Kubra), in the period of the British Mandate. Aerial bombing of Kurdish villages: British Bombing of Civilians as a means of Imperial Control.
1943 Bengal famine
Between 12 and 29 million Indians died of starvation while it was under the control of the British Empire. At the same time millions of tons of wheat were exported to Britain.
1947 Radcliffe Line
After Cyril Radcliffe split the subcontinent along religious lines, uprooting over 10 million people, Hindus in Pakistan and Muslims in India were forced to escape their homes as the situation quickly descended into violence. Estimates of the number of people who died range between 200,000 (official British estimate at the time) and two million, with the consensus being around one million dead.
1948 Malaya & Batang Kali massacre
As part of the Briggs' Plan devised by British General Sir Harold Briggs, 500,000 people (roughly ten percent of Malaya's population) were eventually removed from the land, had tens of thousands of their homes destroyed, and were interned in 450 guarded fortified camps called "New Villages".
1952 - 1960 Mau Mau Uprising
Members of the Kikuyu tribe were detained in camps, since described as "Britain's gulags" or concentration camps, where they allege they were systematically tortured and suffered serious sexual assault.
Estimates of the deaths vary widely: historian David Anderson estimates there were 20,000, whereas Caroline Elkins believes up to 100,000 could have died.
Eric Griffith-Jones, the attorney general of the British administration in Kenya, wrote to the governor, Sir Evelyn Baring, detailing the way the regime of abuse at the colony's detention camps was being subtly altered. He said that the mistreatment of the detainees is "distressingly reminiscent of conditions in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia".
... to name just a few. In fact, there is a whole wikipedia entry about the subject.
Yes Liam Fox, something truly to be proud of!
