Great interviewing from the PBS team. Sathnam is a national treasure in the UK. He presents the facts of his research in a really balanced way here. It's clear he's striving to educate, reflect and unite. Not to divide.
A large # of the plantation slave catchers, buckra's were from Ireland/Scotland, hence a large # of West Indies have names that can be traced to this day to Ireland/Scotland...
Santhnam Sanghera, you are doing important work, so keep on speaking and writing on this subject! Thank you Amanpour and company for the informative interview.
Elisabeth II was the perfect “Last Monarch of Great Britain.” Prince Charles is the perfect “Last Prince of Wales.” The Twenty-first Century is the perfect period in world history to end monarchy on planet Earth.
The monarchy as a political force is long dead in GB & the democratic western world; this is obvious; current arrangements are purely symbolic, do no harm, & clearly provide something that even modern democratic ppl recognise as a historical artefact, like a living museum piece; & proper examination might reveal that there's more than symbolism in that the government must answer to a higher force, the crown, which at it's best, represents the people.
@@chrisfreebairn870 Thanks for taking the time to explain. I don't think I'll ever understand, but thanks. But then, not understanding the culture of others isn't uncommon.
Old Europe including Britain owe their fair amount for wealth to the lands they colonised and looted. Putting one's head in the sand does not wipe the history away. As the former colonies become important geopolitically, Britain and the likes will have more discomfort.
Princess Diana got it right when she said he wouldn't cope well with the restrictions placed on him. Going by his behaviour over a leaky pen the day he had to sign legally binding documents. Diana got it right !
... The biggest problem with the actions of Empire are not only the damage they did in the past, although those issues are no small thing, but what the cumulative results over time may have brought about ! How would the Nations of Africa, the British West Indies and the Indian subcontinent have fared ? ... How would their Political fortunes & their ownership of Resources have turned out if they had NOT been absorbed into a Colonial power ? And it's NOT just Britain. The French and the Belgians did their share of harm, Germany and Spain took part, and more recently the Americans and their sundry Annexations of the Hawaiian Islands, Texas, New Mexico, California and, to be completely open, the American Government's movement westward - aided and abetted by the Military of the day - into the whole of the American continent !
You are a very ignorant man. Or should I say child? (having said that, there are relevant things in what you say, just unburdened by any sense of reality).
Canada's history reflects the empire mentality of the British colonial behaviour as well, with the residential schools taking indigenous children out of the families, attempts to remove all the culture, history, spiritual beliefs and First Nations languages. The US had residential schools.
As an immigrant from a Commonwealth country to Canada in 1971 much of what Sathnam speaks about was my personal experience as well. This kind of reflection from the sons of immigrants (aren't we all?) of the ruling class imperialists that wove a vision of democracy but dished out a weaker version for Blacks, Indigenous and People of Color is required to begin to accept and reconcile the past if we are ever to move as a species forward.
I wonder how Sathnam “ copes with the reality” that there approximately 6 million slaves in todays India, which also harbours an abhorrent caste system.
Or all the Widows that are ritualistically burned alive by their in-laws when their husband dies under Hinduism? That died down under British rule but is currently making a come back. Does he care about that?
Its facinating, Roman empire marched across Europe and Africa colonizing and enslaving everyone, including the Brittons, and when it fell, British Dutch French and Spanish did the exact same. Every corner of the world, and every country, and all the worlds people were colonized at one time or another.
This topic of British imperialism is very pertinent today, because a lot of what Britain holds as defining aspects of government have filtered into our own governing system in the US, and the governing systems of most of the world today. The funny thing is that Britain doesn’t have a Constitution, even though they claim to have a Constitutional Monarchy, but this goes back to what exactly constitutes a Constitution. A constitution is the formalization of a participation versus compliance agreement between interested parties, not political parties, which establishes the benefits, privileges, rights of participation in decision making, and cost of membership in the Union formed as a result of the agreement, which is now rendered unalterable by any means short of unanimous agreement between the parties which formed the original agreement which is established and ordained in the Constitution. But before we can continue we must define the differences between authoritarian and democratic forms of government, and why authoritarian forms of government are excluded from the above definition of a Constitution. Authoritarianism is based upon the concentration of power, the peaceful transfer of power, the rule of law, and choosing those with power through competitive partisan elections with a qualified electorate composed by universal adult suffrage. If that sounds familiar it is the definition we currently associate with American (Western) Democracy. All democratic forms of government, which includes all republican forms of government, are collective governing systems based upon distributed power, and power is not consolidated or transferred, it is set unalterably even before how the legislative institutions are assembled, or how they function, is determined, in fact the assembly and function must meet the requirements of distributed power, quorum to participate, and majority consensus, before assembly and is the metric to qualify and operate all aspects the legislative institution, including the qualified electorate. In summary, authoritarian systems are based upon consolidated power, and democratic systems are based upon unalterable distributed power. In fact authoritarian systems are based upon mutability where those who assume power also make the laws, so every reassembly of the government by elections also changes the power to lead and govern, and also changes the making and interpretation of laws. And having a judicial system which interprets laws which is also assembled mutably to determine composition which is determined by those in power, only exacerbates the mutability of laws, see the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it may have taken 50 years to completely overturn that decision, but they have been chipping away at it, and circumventing it, for the whole of those 50 years. The two points I want to drive home are that you cannot have a democratic form of government where individuals and parties are empowered to lead, make decisions, or govern, and that a legislative system is a collective decision making system governed by legislative processes to reach a majority consensus of all that are assembled , regardless of if all are present, that’s why there is a quorum to operate to reach an agreement on the parameters of the matters to be decided, then a vote for assent which must achieve a predetermined majority consensus of all the members, note, representatives and senators are not members they only represent the members, and all the democratic legislative processes must have these two elements to qualify as a democratic, or republican, form of government. A constitutional monarchy is still an authoritarian form of government even with the transfer of decision making from the monarch, who is now only a head of state, to a partisan assembled and operated parliament! The Constitution of the United States does form a collective, democratic, governing system, even though we have bastardized, circumvented, and otherwise corrupted that governing system to form a party governing system much like the authoritarian governing system of the UK and other western nations!
Long overdue conversation. In the UK they look at empire through rose tinted glasses. The facts are quite sordid,and need to be taught. The Germans had to reconcile with their past, right now there is denial in the UK, but that has to happen.
I think it's more accurate to say the UK should revisit the HIDDEN or lesser-known history of Empire. But I'm scratching my head wondering what Sathnam is talking about when he says Empire is not taught, discussed, or reflected in films and culture. There are thousands of books written about the British Empire - analysis, criticism, debate, you name it, they're out there; not to mention the hundreds of movies and tv shows that challenge Empire. And if WW-II wasn't the dark night of the soul for the British Empire, I don't know what was. I see the backlash occurring precisely because the UK has embraced multiculturalism in a way that far outpaces the US. I'm glad that Sathnam is exploring these dark corners of history; they need to be exposed and this will move society into a more inclusive future, but to discount all the work that's been done to date to challenge Empire is probably not a great way to forward the debate.
Yeah and it's not like it was all bad. Does he realize in India it was common for Widows to be burned alive ritualistically? The Empire actually put a stop to that. Africa has practiced slavery for centuries and still does to this day?
A reckoning is always on the verge of happening. A reckoning is also on the verge of happening on a global scale as nations decouple and globalization as we've known it ends. For the smaller now detached states this could be significant. Best if all countries contemplate what will happen in the next five years rather than the last two hundred. The change will be significantly different. If they haven't noticed developed countries have already cemented global political n economic alliances meant to carry them into the future. It's critical to survival.
Can anyone tell me why Christianne only introduces programs now and passes the interview off to someone else? I know she has been doing this for a few years--no longer conducts the interviews herself.
England has a rich history of which this is only a small part. I don’t think this man fully comprehends the richness of the culture that was created in England and in which they get to participate, comes off sounding like an ingrate.
It's only a small part, to those who plundered. "richness of the culture", do tell. Unbelievable, that to this day, there are kids around the world not allowed to go to school, over the uniform requirement.
@@chrisfreebairn870 As a requirement to go to school, spread across the planet? Yes. England is madly in love with itself. "Proper" reverberates through my head, every time I hear it. Arrogant.
@@buzoff4642 m8, your depth of comprehension is lacking, again my point is broader & deeper than you seem to understand. Your agenda is blinding you; step back a bit.
Empire is a transfer of technology and ideas. It is a question who benefitted most from the interaction. The offspring of the recipients are now trying to pretend nothing was gained for their forbears. One of the things that must be considered is that the time of the British Empire there was not the ability to communicate. Radio and Air travel did not exist then.
Yes; empires have been a challenge for Humanity for many thousands of years. The most recent empires are but the tip of the iceberg. The really startling thing is that so many empires still exist today in morphed forms. Some are more benign some are more full of malice. India, as so many other parts of the world, have been dominated by many empires for a very long time. Humanity (all of us) keep doing the colonial thing and the empire thing. Slavery (low wage no wage labor, forced or otherwise) has been with Humanity for many thousands of years as well. It is staggering how little awareness we have of slavery across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and so on, for countless thousands of years. This is not something that Humans started to do in recent centuries. We have ancient traditions of such, across millennia. That is what all the conquering is about; grab people and gold and sell the people as slaves. Until we as one Human body come to grips with our ancient legacy of low wage no wage labor, we are doomed to continue it. For how many decades recently has the global economy been obsessed with low wage (no wage) labor around the world? It has been the norm; it has been the dominant economic force; right? We don't have to go back to old empires. This is happening now. And we all know that it is the business corporations that do the dirty deed and have always done the dirty deed. Monarchs come and go. Some are nice and some are not. Businesses have dominated the money game. Right?
A lot of wealthy individuals and families (and corporations) figured out that they do not have to be kings in order to have their empires and colonialism. Right?
It is startling how few people know for just how long low wage no wage labor, especially forced, has been the Human norm. The above author would do well do encompass 3000 years of global history in his research. Empires have shaped Humanity. Right?
I would disagree with the gentleman/historian from Great Britain in one respect and it is a common theme that seems to permeate all of society; finishing your education, either at the high school level or college, does not mean that you are fully prepared to enter life and you know all that you need to know. High school and college gives you the bare minimum, let me repeat, the bare minimum, that a person needs to know to enter society. You are taught the basics of society that one needs in order to function in your society; some basic knowledge of your society's history, its governing structure, how to read and comprehend written knowledge, how to do basic math and basic critical thinking and analysis. That's about it. Most importantly, your education should have given you the tools to teach yourself about additional subject matters that may interest you; like history, or science or engineering or welding or carpentry or plumbing, etc, etc. People really need to stop thinking that all learning ends when you graduate from high school or college. It does not and seems to be doing harm to members of our respective societies.
I disagree with the inference that we can't be doing far better/more in our education topics through high school and college. It is deliberate hiding of unflattering history. And this occurs East to West.
@@buzoff4642i assume you mean globally, as in all civilisations & cultures do this? If so i agree. And of course this would be akin to the stories we tell ourselves, our kids etc about life, death etc; ie humans finding a virtuous narrative to minimise our faults, guilt & fears. Which is to say, very human behavior of which we all are 'guilty'. One could also propose that a positive spin on existence is fundamental to success against the potentially depressing odds of life; South Africa's handling of the immediate post apartheid situation speaks eloquently to the reality of humanity, & the potential of the human spirit inspired by a positive vision, which was especially wise in the context of the very likely alternative - a bloodbath of retribution. The deep complexity of the human condition is why religion, & simple historical narratives, are so seductive - bc the truth if the human condition is almost impossible to face! This is a hard fact found in every mirror, not just in someone else's.
@@chrisfreebairn870 There is no "moving on", unless/until the one doing/having done wrong admits so. Adults call it culpability, and it is essential, to civil relationships.
@@buzoff4642 this is nonsense: I present a broader context within which to think about human & state behavior & you respond with pop psychology; most ppl learn early in life that the concepts of fair play, morality etc are great ideas & have real merit in creating harmony etc, but they also learn that life often fails to meet those lofty aspirations or ideals, that ppl & govts always fall short, that pushy ppl & dangerous power exist & must be dealt with, & resilience is about getting on with life despite its' unfairness; the idea that moving on can be assisted or hindered by perpetrator contrition or redress is fine & has psychological merit, but to say there is no moving on is pop psych, not reality. This seems to be self evident; perhaps you didn't get the memo.
The reason why nobody really wants to talk about the empire is the dark British past that should be forgotten instead of discussed. Prof Dorling of Oxford University summed up a few of the atrocities commited in the empire as follows: Lord Palmerston sent the gunboats in to allow free trade. Free trade of what? Free trade of the opium we were growing in India so we could destroy the Chinese civilization because we were the biggest drug dealer the world has ever known. Why were we growing opium in India? Because we needed the Indians to raise some money somehow to buy the textiles. Why were they buying the textiles? Because we destroyed their textile industry because we had textiles to sell them that we were making in Manchester. Why were we making them in Manchester? Because we shipped people from Africa - because we encouraged slavery more than ever a country - over to the Americas so that they could pick cotton so it could be shipped back to Manchester so it could be woven and sold in India so that the drugs could be sent to China.
As an American, i feel i likely know more about the British slave trade than most Brits… this was required reading in high school World & American hisory class.(in blue democratic states at least it was)… we Americans were a product of British colonialism/imperialism… we were just tough enough to kick ‘em out.
Well that's highly dependent on what school one goes to. And the US was and still is no better, colonialism/imperialism moving west. Suggested reading: Slavery By Another Name, and White Trash.
Most people don’t want to spend the time to read, learn and integrate their cultural history and this is world wide not just England - China, India, Pakistan, Russia, the US - and most people want to live their lives in present time.
The fact is that in Britain people DO talk about the British Empire- the entire BREXIT debate was based in the longing of those far off days when "the sun never set" on the Empire. For many right wing politicians and their supporters the Empire myth sits right at the core of their beliefs. The real issue is the skewed view most Brits have of the Empire- the propaganda and white washing of the history relating to that period when Britannia ruled the waves. Like every country on earth our people are fed a distorted view of our nations history- one that elevates certain key dates, events and people that helped "shape our nation"- the collective official history. It of course edits out the most difficult and highly embarrassing events that show us in the most unflattering light. It is a sanitised, idealised and romanticised narrative. It really is only in the last 20 or so years this official narrative- the fairy tale- King Alfred and the Cakes, King Cnut attempting to hold back the sea, Agincourt, The Somme, Dunkirk and the Blitz Spirit are fundamental stories associated with the myth are being challenged and placed within a wider perspective. Our deep connections with the trans Atlantic slave trade are conveniently overlooked and we offload slavery onto the USA and the Deep South- avoiding completely the fact that Great Britain was instrumental in the trade in the colonies long before they became the USA, inheriting and continuing the practice. Any work in this area that hi lights and brings greater awareness should be praise. Sathnam Sanghera is most certainly worthy of such praise. It is also important to mention that no one including King Charles is too old to learn truth and dispel the long stablished myths.
Another way 'Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain' and demonstrates its racism, is that it has an ethnic Indian Hindu Prime Minister, who read a the lesson from a Christian bible at the coronation. 🤣
This guy talks about Britain, but I think he means English and its annoying. However I shall read his book Empireland. .Ms. Martin I do like your hair.
I know the Brits like to pretend the British Empire was the biggest empire in human history but nah. It wasn't. The biggest empire to Brits envy was the Spanish Empire in the 1500s under Charles V King and Emperor. He was called the "Caesar" and it was said that in his reign the sun never sets because it was such a vast territory. He would joke about the fact saying that he "controlled" the sun and he would never let it set. Go look it up before talking nonsense. Then the Brits of course, became an empire but this empire was smaller in size and became even smaller after the American colonies rebelled against the King and became the United States. History matters. Read some.
The money and assets should be seized from the English monarchy and they should repatriate items. The money seized should be used to set up reparations trusts to advance descendant's lives.
Sanghera fits nicely into the American woke view of the world, where everything bad originates in Britain, the place where he actually seems to be doing rather well. The idea that no one has ever written about the Empire and no one ever talks about it or criticizes it is frankly incredible, yet here he and his interviewer are indulging these fantasies.
?!? American woke view of the world includes US' exploitation, which the far Right fight to keep out of US text books. As for "no one has ever written" is your misunderstanding. He was saying it isn't common content in our school history books - the decimation of other populations.
Should we be aware of our history, the good and the bad? Sure. Good work there. But to hear mr. Sanghera say that the very diverse politicians in the Conservative Party can't be true to themselves because their views don't align with his, well that's more than a bit biased. It's the idea that every immigrant, every person of color, has to hold one view, one "correct" opinion on British history, imperialism and the current political and social situation. It's belittling, honestly.
“Reparation”? This is a darling word among the descendants of the American slaves. How a descendant from the coolies managed to hit upon this obscene word? They ought to be grateful that they aren’t trapped in the lands of the sorcerers just as he should be thankful for keeping a safe distance from the suicide bombers of Islamic world. Reparation? Oh, please!
Great interviewing from the PBS team. Sathnam is a national treasure in the UK. He presents the facts of his research in a really balanced way here. It's clear he's striving to educate, reflect and unite. Not to divide.
I am British and It just made me buy the book! Great interview PBS
Exploitation and enslaving people was a thing back in the day! Every nation that could, Did!
It is so great to see people of colour from two different sides of the world speaking on this topic. Huge love from anti-colonial Ireland 🇮🇪
Yeah, no Irish were involved in the Empire or slavery, right?
A large # of the plantation slave catchers, buckra's were from Ireland/Scotland, hence a large # of West Indies have names that can be traced to this day to Ireland/Scotland...
Santhnam Sanghera, you are doing important work, so keep on speaking and writing on this subject! Thank you Amanpour and company for the informative interview.
Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate you!
Excellent & very informative interview. I hope Sathnam does other in depth interviews. (I see from the comments why he is selective.)
“Knowledge brings us together.” Well said.
Just went to Audible and purchased this book
Elisabeth II was the perfect “Last Monarch of Great Britain.”
Prince Charles is the perfect “Last Prince of Wales.”
The Twenty-first Century is the perfect period in world history to end monarchy on planet Earth.
Totally weird, Kings, Queens, no justification, just legacy artifact, and at phenomenal cost.
The monarchy as a political force is long dead in GB & the democratic western world; this is obvious; current arrangements are purely symbolic, do no harm, & clearly provide something that even modern democratic ppl recognise as a historical artefact, like a living museum piece; & proper examination might reveal that there's more than symbolism in that the government must answer to a higher force, the crown, which at it's best, represents the people.
@@chrisfreebairn870 Thanks for taking the time to explain. I don't think I'll ever understand, but thanks. But then, not understanding the culture of others isn't uncommon.
A Monarchy prevents a Republic which would destroy the country.
Great interview! Thank you👏👏👏👏👏
Old Europe including Britain owe their fair amount for wealth to the lands they colonised and looted. Putting one's head in the sand does not wipe the history away. As the former colonies become important geopolitically, Britain and the likes will have more discomfort.
OK, dismantle your railways and New Delhi and all the rest, return them 'home', then maybe we can come to a reckoning.
@@jimmyhillschin9987 The discomfort is so obvious that no reply is required. Enjoy. 😀
@@jimmyhillschin9987 They are at home where they always belonged
Your discomfort at and reluctance to accepting facts have made my day
@@jimmyhillschin9987 What's England going to return in the exchange?
Colonialist Europe. “Discovering” new lands, subjugating its people, and stealing their resources for God and King.
Princess Diana got it right when she said he wouldn't cope well with the restrictions placed on him. Going by his behaviour over a leaky pen the day he had to sign legally binding documents. Diana got it right !
... The biggest problem with the actions of Empire are not only the damage they did in the past, although those issues are no small thing, but what the cumulative results over time may have brought about !
How would the Nations of Africa, the British West Indies and the Indian subcontinent have fared ? ... How would their Political fortunes & their ownership of Resources have turned out if they had NOT been absorbed into a Colonial power ?
And it's NOT just Britain. The French and the Belgians did their share of harm, Germany and Spain took part, and more recently the Americans and their sundry Annexations of the Hawaiian Islands, Texas, New Mexico, California and, to be completely open, the American Government's movement westward - aided and abetted by the Military of the day - into the whole of the American continent !
*And the difference between them and us, is they didn't have a CIA to keep it from THEIR plebeius*
You are a very ignorant man. Or should I say child? (having said that, there are relevant things in what you say, just unburdened by any sense of reality).
Absolutely well stated!
@@ttacking_you ... True ! ... what's a plebeius ?
@@bobbart4198 the volk , the common people
the power of the throne is wealth. what ever its called .
Canada's history reflects the empire mentality of the British colonial behaviour as well, with the residential schools taking indigenous children out of the families, attempts to remove all the culture, history, spiritual beliefs and First Nations languages. The US had residential schools.
Surprisingly, the residential schools in Canada only closed in the 1990s.
Great interview. Really enjoyed it. Just bought the book!
Brilliant discussion thank you.
And about time. Should be compulsory reading at schools and tertiary education.
As an immigrant from a Commonwealth country to Canada in 1971 much of what Sathnam speaks about was my personal experience as well. This kind of reflection from the sons of immigrants (aren't we all?) of the ruling class imperialists that wove a vision of democracy but dished out a weaker version for Blacks, Indigenous and People of Color is required to begin to accept and reconcile the past if we are ever to move as a species forward.
No, we are not all immigrants .... unless you are talking about Americans.
I wonder how Sathnam “ copes with the reality” that there approximately 6 million slaves in todays India, which also harbours an abhorrent caste system.
Being British, not sure he'd know much about it. Much like other migrants' limited information on where their ancestors came from.
That's just cosmic forces at work.
Or all the Widows that are ritualistically burned alive by their in-laws when their husband dies under Hinduism? That died down under British rule but is currently making a come back. Does he care about that?
Smart guy. Seems like a good guy as well. Doing a lot of interesting and important work, keep going!
Most Americans are not obsessed with the British royals (so called).
Maybe not, but certainly obsessed to the british accent!
The British are quick to avoid their culpability in the slave trade!
Sigh too bad the slave trade is ongoing in Africa to this day.The British at least ended the transatlantic slave trade.
Really interesting interview and only wish we could have had a peek at that amazing painting behind him!
Its facinating, Roman empire marched across Europe and Africa colonizing and enslaving everyone, including the Brittons, and when it fell, British Dutch French and Spanish did the exact same.
Every corner of the world, and every country, and all the worlds people were colonized at one time or another.
West Indians have been writing about this for a long ling time
Each nation has no problem identifying bad behavior ... of others.
fascinating and revelatory
Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
Charles III looked lost beneath all that excessive luxury.
This topic of British imperialism is very pertinent today, because a lot of what Britain holds as defining aspects of government have filtered into our own governing system in the US, and the governing systems of most of the world today. The funny thing is that Britain doesn’t have a Constitution, even though they claim to have a Constitutional Monarchy, but this goes back to what exactly constitutes a Constitution.
A constitution is the formalization of a participation versus compliance agreement between interested parties, not political parties, which establishes the benefits, privileges, rights of participation in decision making, and cost of membership in the Union formed as a result of the agreement, which is now rendered unalterable by any means short of unanimous agreement between the parties which formed the original agreement which is established and ordained in the Constitution.
But before we can continue we must define the differences between authoritarian and democratic forms of government, and why authoritarian forms of government are excluded from the above definition of a Constitution. Authoritarianism is based upon the concentration of power, the peaceful transfer of power, the rule of law, and choosing those with power through competitive partisan elections with a qualified electorate composed by universal adult suffrage. If that sounds familiar it is the definition we currently associate with American (Western) Democracy. All democratic forms of government, which includes all republican forms of government, are collective governing systems based upon distributed power, and power is not consolidated or transferred, it is set unalterably even before how the legislative institutions are assembled, or how they function, is determined, in fact the assembly and function must meet the requirements of distributed power, quorum to participate, and majority consensus, before assembly and is the metric to qualify and operate all aspects the legislative institution, including the qualified electorate.
In summary, authoritarian systems are based upon consolidated power, and democratic systems are based upon unalterable distributed power. In fact authoritarian systems are based upon mutability where those who assume power also make the laws, so every reassembly of the government by elections also changes the power to lead and govern, and also changes the making and interpretation of laws. And having a judicial system which interprets laws which is also assembled mutably to determine composition which is determined by those in power, only exacerbates the mutability of laws, see the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it may have taken 50 years to completely overturn that decision, but they have been chipping away at it, and circumventing it, for the whole of those 50 years.
The two points I want to drive home are that you cannot have a democratic form of government where individuals and parties are empowered to lead, make decisions, or govern, and that a legislative system is a collective decision making system governed by legislative processes to reach a majority consensus of all that are assembled , regardless of if all are present, that’s why there is a quorum to operate to reach an agreement on the parameters of the matters to be decided, then a vote for assent which must achieve a predetermined majority consensus of all the members, note, representatives and senators are not members they only represent the members, and all the democratic legislative processes must have these two elements to qualify as a democratic, or republican, form of government.
A constitutional monarchy is still an authoritarian form of government even with the transfer of decision making from the monarch, who is now only a head of state, to a partisan assembled and operated parliament! The Constitution of the United States does form a collective, democratic, governing system, even though we have bastardized, circumvented, and otherwise corrupted that governing system to form a party governing system much like the authoritarian governing system of the UK and other western nations!
Excellent and informative interview, thank you! 🌹
To my mind, the British Empire has its roots in the1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada
End the Monarchy.
Long overdue conversation. In the UK they look at empire through rose tinted glasses. The facts are quite sordid,and need to be taught. The Germans had to reconcile with their past, right now there is denial in the UK, but that has to happen.
I think it's more accurate to say the UK should revisit the HIDDEN or lesser-known history of Empire. But I'm scratching my head wondering what Sathnam is talking about when he says Empire is not taught, discussed, or reflected in films and culture. There are thousands of books written about the British Empire - analysis, criticism, debate, you name it, they're out there; not to mention the hundreds of movies and tv shows that challenge Empire. And if WW-II wasn't the dark night of the soul for the British Empire, I don't know what was. I see the backlash occurring precisely because the UK has embraced multiculturalism in a way that far outpaces the US. I'm glad that Sathnam is exploring these dark corners of history; they need to be exposed and this will move society into a more inclusive future, but to discount all the work that's been done to date to challenge Empire is probably not a great way to forward the debate.
Yeah and it's not like it was all bad. Does he realize in India it was common for Widows to be burned alive ritualistically? The Empire actually put a stop to that. Africa has practiced slavery for centuries and still does to this day?
This would be a great movie.
A reckoning is always on the verge of happening. A reckoning is also on the verge of happening on a global scale as nations decouple and globalization as we've known it ends. For the smaller now detached states this could be significant. Best if all countries contemplate what will happen in the next five years rather than the last two hundred. The change will be significantly different. If they haven't noticed developed countries have already cemented global political n economic alliances meant to carry them into the future. It's critical to survival.
Can anyone tell me why Christianne only introduces programs now and passes the interview off to someone else? I know she has been doing this for a few years--no longer conducts the interviews herself.
Charles & Camilla don't deserve their crowns.
England has a rich history of which this is only a small part.
I don’t think this man fully comprehends the richness of the culture that was created in England and in which they get to participate, comes off sounding like an ingrate.
That's funny, not. How do you manage to cross the street dude?
It's only a small part, to those who plundered.
"richness of the culture", do tell.
Unbelievable, that to this day, there are kids around the world not allowed to go to school, over the uniform requirement.
@@buzoff4642 so the brits invented that did they? Uniforms, or uniformity have far deeper human roots; to suggest otherwise is just ignorant.
@@chrisfreebairn870 As a requirement to go to school, spread across the planet? Yes. England is madly in love with itself. "Proper" reverberates through my head, every time I hear it. Arrogant.
@@buzoff4642 m8, your depth of comprehension is lacking, again my point is broader & deeper than you seem to understand. Your agenda is blinding you; step back a bit.
Empire is a transfer of technology and ideas. It is a question who benefitted most from the interaction. The offspring of the recipients are now trying to pretend nothing was gained for their forbears. One of the things that must be considered is that the time of the British Empire there was not the ability to communicate. Radio and Air travel did not exist then.
Yes; empires have been a challenge for Humanity for many thousands of years. The most recent empires are but the tip of the iceberg. The really startling thing is that so many empires still exist today in morphed forms. Some are more benign some are more full of malice. India, as so many other parts of the world, have been dominated by many empires for a very long time. Humanity (all of us) keep doing the colonial thing and the empire thing. Slavery (low wage no wage labor, forced or otherwise) has been with Humanity for many thousands of years as well. It is staggering how little awareness we have of slavery across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and so on, for countless thousands of years. This is not something that Humans started to do in recent centuries. We have ancient traditions of such, across millennia.
That is what all the conquering is about; grab people and gold and sell the people as slaves.
Until we as one Human body come to grips with our ancient legacy of low wage no wage labor, we are doomed to continue it. For how many decades recently has the global economy been obsessed with low wage (no wage) labor around the world? It has been the norm; it has been the dominant economic force; right? We don't have to go back to old empires. This is happening now.
And we all know that it is the business corporations that do the dirty deed and have always done the dirty deed. Monarchs come and go. Some are nice and some are not. Businesses have dominated the money game. Right?
A lot of wealthy individuals and families (and corporations) figured out
that they do not have to be kings in order to have their empires and colonialism.
Right?
It is startling how few people know for just how long low wage no wage labor, especially forced, has been the Human norm. The above author would do well do encompass 3000 years of global history in his research. Empires have shaped Humanity. Right?
Oh yeah; 8 billion people are not going to figure this "better way" out spontaneously.
The work ahead of us is staggering.
Maybe the most important thing Charles iii can do is to make the British Monarchy relevant again, or dissolve it.
I would disagree with the gentleman/historian from Great Britain in one respect and it is a common theme that seems to permeate all of society; finishing your education, either at the high school level or college, does not mean that you are fully prepared to enter life and you know all that you need to know. High school and college gives you the bare minimum, let me repeat, the bare minimum, that a person needs to know to enter society. You are taught the basics of society that one needs in order to function in your society; some basic knowledge of your society's history, its governing structure, how to read and comprehend written knowledge, how to do basic math and basic critical thinking and analysis. That's about it. Most importantly, your education should have given you the tools to teach yourself about additional subject matters that may interest you; like history, or science or engineering or welding or carpentry or plumbing, etc, etc. People really need to stop thinking that all learning ends when you graduate from high school or college. It does not and seems to be doing harm to members of our respective societies.
Well I think he took your words to heart and did the difficult work of writing a book about all the things he did not know about British history.
I disagree with the inference that we can't be doing far better/more in our education topics through high school and college. It is deliberate hiding of unflattering history. And this occurs East to West.
@@buzoff4642i assume you mean globally, as in all civilisations & cultures do this? If so i agree.
And of course this would be akin to the stories we tell ourselves, our kids etc about life, death etc; ie humans finding a virtuous narrative to minimise our faults, guilt & fears.
Which is to say, very human behavior of which we all are 'guilty'.
One could also propose that a positive spin on existence is fundamental to success against the potentially depressing odds of life; South Africa's handling of the immediate post apartheid situation speaks eloquently to the reality of humanity, & the potential of the human spirit inspired by a positive vision, which was especially wise in the context of the very likely alternative - a bloodbath of retribution.
The deep complexity of the human condition is why religion, & simple historical narratives, are so seductive - bc the truth if the human condition is almost impossible to face!
This is a hard fact found in every mirror, not just in someone else's.
@@chrisfreebairn870 There is no "moving on", unless/until the one doing/having done wrong admits so. Adults call it culpability, and it is essential, to civil relationships.
@@buzoff4642 this is nonsense: I present a broader context within which to think about human & state behavior & you respond with pop psychology; most ppl learn early in life that the concepts of fair play, morality etc are great ideas & have real merit in creating harmony etc, but they also learn that life often fails to meet those lofty aspirations or ideals, that ppl & govts always fall short, that pushy ppl & dangerous power exist & must be dealt with, & resilience is about getting on with life despite its' unfairness; the idea that moving on can be assisted or hindered by perpetrator contrition or redress is fine & has psychological merit, but to say there is no moving on is pop psych, not reality.
This seems to be self evident; perhaps you didn't get the memo.
The reason why nobody really wants to talk about the empire is the dark British past that should be forgotten instead of discussed.
Prof Dorling of Oxford University summed up a few of the atrocities commited in the empire as follows:
Lord Palmerston sent the gunboats in to allow free trade. Free trade of what? Free trade of the opium we were growing in India so we could destroy the Chinese civilization because we were the biggest drug dealer the world has ever known. Why were we growing opium in India? Because we needed the Indians to raise some money somehow to buy the textiles. Why were they buying the textiles? Because we destroyed their textile industry because we had textiles to sell them that we were making in Manchester. Why were we making them in Manchester? Because we shipped people from Africa - because we encouraged slavery more than ever a country - over to the Americas so that they could pick cotton so it could be shipped back to Manchester so it could be woven and sold in India so that the drugs could be sent to China.
“Anti-anti-racist” yawn. Can we have a dialogue about history grounded in something other than a personal sense of victimhood?
The truth is painful. Injustice needs to be addressed.
There’s an opening for a new word.
Fire and evict them all.
As an American, i feel i likely know more about the British slave trade than most Brits… this was required reading in high school World & American hisory class.(in blue democratic states at least it was)… we Americans were a product of British colonialism/imperialism… we were just tough enough to kick ‘em out.
Well that's highly dependent on what school one goes to. And the US was and still is no better, colonialism/imperialism moving west.
Suggested reading: Slavery By Another Name, and White Trash.
Ridiculous
Sad part is that the Europeans did not invade India. I the Indians allowed the Europeans in for trade.
Yup - let's look at all of the things the empire did -
Restore everything. Its a beginning.
Most people don’t want to spend the time to read, learn and integrate their cultural history and this is world wide not just England - China, India, Pakistan, Russia, the US - and most people want to live their lives in present time.
"Most people ..."
And you know what most people want?
❤
Prince Charles has to investigate the British Empire and Slavery.Are ya kidding me🤯
✊🏿❤
The fact is that in Britain people DO talk about the British Empire- the entire BREXIT debate was based in the longing of those far off days when "the sun never set" on the Empire. For many right wing politicians and their supporters the Empire myth sits right at the core of their beliefs. The real issue is the skewed view most Brits have of the Empire- the propaganda and white washing of the history relating to that period when Britannia ruled the waves. Like every country on earth our people are fed a distorted view of our nations history- one that elevates certain key dates, events and people that helped "shape our nation"- the collective official history. It of course edits out the most difficult and highly embarrassing events that show us in the most unflattering light. It is a sanitised, idealised and romanticised narrative. It really is only in the last 20 or so years this official narrative- the fairy tale- King Alfred and the Cakes, King Cnut attempting to hold back the sea, Agincourt, The Somme, Dunkirk and the Blitz Spirit are fundamental stories associated with the myth are being challenged and placed within a wider perspective. Our deep connections with the trans Atlantic slave trade are conveniently overlooked and we offload slavery onto the USA and the Deep South- avoiding completely the fact that Great Britain was instrumental in the trade in the colonies long before they became the USA, inheriting and continuing the practice. Any work in this area that hi lights and brings greater awareness should be praise. Sathnam Sanghera is most certainly worthy of such praise. It is also important to mention that no one including King Charles is too old to learn truth and dispel the long stablished myths.
Another way 'Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain' and demonstrates its racism, is that it has an ethnic Indian Hindu Prime Minister, who read a the lesson from a Christian bible at the coronation. 🤣
This guy talks about Britain, but I think he means English and its annoying. However I shall read his book Empireland. .Ms. Martin I do like your hair.
I know the Brits like to pretend the British Empire was the biggest empire in human history but nah. It wasn't. The biggest empire to Brits envy was the Spanish Empire in the 1500s under Charles V King and Emperor. He was called the "Caesar" and it was said that in his reign the sun never sets because it was such a vast territory. He would joke about the fact saying that he "controlled" the sun and he would never let it set. Go look it up before talking nonsense. Then the Brits of course, became an empire but this empire was smaller in size and became even smaller after the American colonies rebelled against the King and became the United States. History matters. Read some.
Why be forced to choose between syphilis or herpes?
The money and assets should be seized from the English monarchy and they should repatriate items. The money seized should be used to set up reparations trusts to advance descendant's lives.
But Meghan & Harry need that Money. Life in Southern California is very expensive. 😏
Sanghera fits nicely into the American woke view of the world, where everything bad originates in Britain, the place where he actually seems to be doing rather well.
The idea that no one has ever written about the Empire and no one ever talks about it or criticizes it is frankly incredible, yet here he and his interviewer are indulging these fantasies.
Woke(aka awake) and very glad to be. Sad that hate & ignorance sells.
@@judykinsman3258 hate is what you don't agree with; which legitimizes hate.
He is just trying to bring the guilt out of you lot.😂😂😂😂
?!?
American woke view of the world includes US' exploitation, which the far Right fight to keep out of US text books.
As for "no one has ever written" is your misunderstanding. He was saying it isn't common content in our school history books - the decimation of other populations.
🟧♾️🟧 No such thing as "WOKE"- it's a wacko drug glitter dust for the American right wing rage grievance hysterics. 🟧♾️🟧
Should we be aware of our history, the good and the bad? Sure. Good work there. But to hear mr. Sanghera say that the very diverse politicians in the Conservative Party can't be true to themselves because their views don't align with his, well that's more than a bit biased. It's the idea that every immigrant, every person of color, has to hold one view, one "correct" opinion on British history, imperialism and the current political and social situation. It's belittling, honestly.
My take is that he was unaware of the FULL history of the country by way of convenient omission during his admittedly “high quality” education.
British raj zindabad
“Reparation”? This is a darling word among the descendants of the American slaves. How a descendant from the coolies managed to hit upon this obscene word? They ought to be grateful that they aren’t trapped in the lands of the sorcerers just as he should be thankful for keeping a safe distance from the suicide bombers of Islamic world. Reparation? Oh, please!
Nothing new
TOMORROW BABY !!🎉🎉 I WANT TO SEE ALL THE ROBES AND SCEPTRES AND STUFF! This is going to be VERY rare
England and the Uk are having a identity crisis
Is Jimmy Saville going to be there? Asking for a friend.
NO IT IS NOT
Charles can't issue anything other than hypocrisy. 🟥♨️🟥