'WOULD YOU SAY THAT TO A JEW?'

Britain not being forced to reckon with colonialism and slavery has helped sanitise British imperialism and dilute the historical scale of its destruction of societies. This video clip shows the cognitive dissonance of former British member of Parliament and GB News host @Jacob_Rees_Mogg, who argued with @AytonImarn that British imperialism was a force for good. He ignored the exploitative nature of colonialism, whereby the British empire imposed its systems primarily for its benefit, dispossessing colonised populations of natural-resource wealth.

The claim that Britain ‘gave’ the Caribbean rule of law, democracy, and capitalism is a selective historical narrative that downplays colonialism’s impact on millions of victims. These communities had working systems before the British imposed theirs, with British hegemony influencing generations of Global South people to erase from their collective minds the archives of knowledge and tradition.

By suggesting Caribbean nations should be grateful for British colonialism, Rees-Mogg minimises the devastating impacts of forced labour, resource extraction and systemic racism, creating inequalities still present to this day in formerly colonised countries. In 2023, as part of 'international reconciliation,' 15 Caribbean countries announced they sought $33 trillion in slavery reparations, with Britain alone billed for $19.6 trillion.

Have a watch, and please share your thoughts.

Video credit: @gbnews

SOURCES

Impact of British imperialism
https://www.historytools.org/stories/the-deadly-impact-of-british-rule-in-india-a-comparative-analysis

Indigenous community already had systems
https://fiveable.me/key-terms/environmental-biology/impact-of-colonialism-on-indigenous-communities#:~:text=Colonialism%20significantly%20disrupted%20the%20social,power%20dynamics%20to%20maintain%20control

The victims of capitalism
https://jacobin.com/2014/11/capitalisms-victims/

Amount owed
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/caribbean-countries-seek-trillion-slavery-reparations-b1106585.html