class-struggle-anarchism:

I think the Indian example is the most telling when it comes to British ignorance about Empire, because it was so recent, and because there is simply no conceivable metric by which you could argue that the Empire benefited Indians. It doesn’t matter what facet of life you look at, whether you look at economic history, social history, cultural, whatever. There are literally no facts you can draw on to make the case that British rule was a good thing for the Indian people, and yet… British people generally know nothing about it beyond a vague idea that we might have helped them. 

Ask a British person whether they think Britain did a good job being in charge of India and the most likely reaction is a shrug, perhaps a request for more information…  ‘we were in charge of India’? They might have seen the film Gandhi once, that’s about it.

It’s not taught in schools or discussed at all. It makes me so angry, like yes, fellow Britons – up until 1947 our country was in charge of India, one of the most heavily populated countries in the world, we left it in flames, ravaged by displacement division and death after 200 years of brutal exploitation – and yes, it is not fucking unreasonable to expect you to have an opinion on this!