By Greig Robertson
Following Brexit, the figure of hate crimes reported to the police has increased by 57%. Britain is openly hostile to immigration in mainstream political discourse and Islamophobia in the media is rife. It has been decided that people from beyond the shores of Blighty have different values; strange and oppressive ways which impinge upon our native culture. But these concerns seem especially ridiculous considering that Britain, in the not too distant past, had an Empire which itself imposed political and cultural systems onto hundreds of millions of people against their will.
Something that captures this modern British double-standard perfectly is the From the Shadows of War and Empire exhibition at the People’s Museum in Manchester. It documents the experiences of the four million non-white men who were enlisted during World War One as well as considering the reconfiguration of women’s roles in the colonies. Poignantly, when visitors walk in, they are told that ‘not many know that the first and last shots of the war by British-commanded soldiers were fired not in Europe but in Africa.’
Though the British diaspora is owed so much for its efforts in both World Wars, it is recognised so little, and this directly feeds into the fundamental whiteness of British history. By airbrushing the contributions of others out of the popular consciousness, our nation is able to maintain a sense of superiority; a sense that Britain has and will always be fine on its own. Categorically, this is not, nor has it ever been true.
“Far from being dependent on Britain, Britain was dependent on its most maligned citizens to maintain its position in the world”
The second class citizens of the Empire; ‘the Indian Sepoys, the East African Askaris, the Jamaican volunteers to the West Indian Regiment, the Nigerians conscripted by their chief’ as the Shadows of War exhibition documents, were all integral to the British war effort. Far from being dependent on Britain, Britain was dependent on its most maligned citizens to maintain its position in the world.
In the modern day, Britain’s dependence on non-whites and non-Britons is undeniable. The NHS, for example, is composed of 11% foreign nationals, while 14% of professionally qualified clinical staff and 26% of doctors are from outside the UK. In fact, 600,000 of the 2.1 million EU migrants working in Britain were working in public sector jobs at the latest count. Beyond the practical, cornerstones of British culture are borrowed from around the globe; tea, curry and St. George to name but a few.
“Kelvin Mackenzie and Katie Hopkins are cogs in the illogical, post-truth machine which encourages us to react to complex world events in the basest fashion”
Yet the racist bile that we encounter on a daily basis in this country is conveniently ignorant of such facts. Zealots like Kelvin Mackenzie, who criticised a presenter for wearing a hijab on Channel 4 News during coverage of the Nice attack and Katie Hopkins who proclaimed ‘Islam disgusts me’ are cogs in the illogical, post-truth machine which encourages us to react to complex world events in the basest fashion. But should we really trust the opinions of a man who once accused victims of the Hillsborough disaster of looting the pockets of dead and urinating on police officers without any evidence? Or should we trust the opinions of a woman who called her daughter India and then criticised others for naming their children after geographical locations?
Fortunately, exhibitions like From the Shadows act as an antidote to such vitriol, helping us to reacquaint ourselves with reality and consider our present within an historical context. When we reflect on Britain’s imperial past, it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that because Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Africans, West Indians and others have been so integral to the protection of British interests, they should be able to express themselves freely and without question in this country.
So, the next time you hear someone complaining about how immigrants are coming here to steal or jobs, to sponge off the welfare state or to convert us all to Islam, tell them about how the British Empire raped and pillaged the world. Tell them that even after they had given their lives for the crown, Britain opposed the extension of autonomy to India and declined to implement reform in Nigeria. Tell them that while their parents and grandparents might have fought for their country, so did the grandparents of the Muslim doctor and the Sikh lawyer.
Ultimately, in 2016, we live in a Britain where difference is anathema to large swathes of the population, but surely history and truth are key tools in addressing prejudice and re-instilling the liberal values of tolerance and humanitarianism. If, however, a warped view of our national past is maintained, momentous decisions will continue to be informed by fantasy and Britain will continue its trajectory towards implosion.
* From the Shadows of War and Empire has now ended, but loads of other great exhibitions at The People’s Museum in Manchester are still running.
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