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British empire killed 165M Indians in 40 years: How colonialism inspired fascism

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Re: British empire killed 165M Indians in 40 years: How colonialism inspired fascism

#31

Post by stevezsa8 »

colinb wrote: post #25
stevezsa8 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's been a lot of studies done on racism in the UK. Basically a victim is less likely to be punched in the face as compared to the past, but racism shows up in school grading, job finding success, hospital treatment, justice system etc... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/more-than-1200... https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/dec/15/job-discrimina... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/aug/28/f…

I believe you. There are racists in Britain. There are all manner of bigots there. Between people who thought I was fair game for being Irish (I've heard all the potato jokes I promise) to those who don't like me for being Jewish, I fully believe there are bigots. But again, racist compared to what? Do you have an example of a much less racist society? I.e. I'm not claiming it's ok. But the phrasing 'deeply racist' i…

I get what you mean about the "compared to what". And yeah I do reckon it's better in Britain than say the 50s when an Irishman or a Blackman couldn't even rent a place to live easily.

When I reread your comment, I can clearly see I got the wrong end of the stick last night. Sorry about that.

Re: British empire killed 165M Indians in 40 years: How colonialism inspired fascism

#32

Post by jodrellblank »

aebtebeten wrote: post #9

I once read a very cynical take that the Nazis had not done anything particularly novel; their big mistake lay in doing that sort of thing to melanin-deprived people. (that said, I don't think the brits went in for obviously direct genocides; they seem to have been more the sort who would choose indirectly genocidal policies, eg encouraging opiate addiction or buying up all the potatoes?)

I don't think Britain bought up all the potatoes in Ireland, Britain bought all the beef leaving the Irish only potatoes and cabbage to eat. Then with a monocrop of potatoes as the staple diet, the potato blight caused a famine and mass deaths.

Re: British empire killed 165M Indians in 40 years: How colonialism inspired fascism

#33

Post by aebtebeten »

jodrellblank wrote: post #32
aebtebeten wrote: post #9

I once read a very cynical take that the Nazis had not done anything particularly novel; their big mistake lay in doing that sort of thing to melanin-deprived people. (that said, I don't think the brits went in for obviously direct genocides; they seem to have been more the sort who would choose indirectly genocidal policies, eg encouraging opiate addiction or buying up all the potatoes?)

I don't think Britain bought up all the potatoes in Ireland, Britain bought all the beef leaving the Irish only potatoes and cabbage to eat. Then with a monocrop of potatoes as the staple diet, the potato blight caused a famine and mass deaths.

My bad. However, my understanding of the situation is that there was a british debate at the time as to what to do, if anything. The bleeding hearts suggested food relief for the starving irish, but were overridden by the libertarians of the day, who were horrified that anyone should attempt to trump economic considerations with moral ones, and insisted that one should not tamper with markets: the price of foodstuffs was the price. (if the irish could not afford to keep that beef or to import other food, they had obviously made a poor decision when selecting their parents!) Therefore nothing was done.

Edit: in the case of government response, my recollection does seem to have been a reasonable oversimplification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Governm...

Re: British empire killed 165M Indians in 40 years: How colonialism inspired fascism

#35

Post by thunkshift1 »

n1b0m wrote: post #3

Somewhat ironically the current British Prime Minister who is of Indian descent recently proposed bringing in laws so that anyone expressing “anti-nationalist” views could be referred to Prevent, the government’s anti-radicalisation scheme.

It might have to do something with acrimonious ‘partitions’ brewing in ireland and scotland.. the brits cant suffer what they inflicted on others..
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