Colonialismo (Continuación)

Una manifestación en Londres en la Plaza del Parlamento en 2020Credit...Isabel Infantes/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“Declaro ante todos ustedes que dedicaré toda mi vida, sea esta larga o corta, a su servicio y al servicio de esta gran familia imperial a la que todos pertenecemos”. Se cuenta que la princesa Isabel lloró cuando leyó su discurso por primera vez. Esas palabras, pronunciadas cuando cumplió 21 años, y retransmitidas por la radio en 1947 desde un jardín repleto de buganvillas en Ciudad del Cabo, proclamaban la futura encarnación del Reino Unido y su imperio y la Mancomunidad de Naciones en la joven integrante de la realeza.

En aquel momento, las demandas de independencia surgían por todo el Imperio de la posguerra.…  Seguir leyendo »

Las autoridades de Barcelona han anunciado la futura inauguración de un centro dedicado a la contracultura. Gracias a la insistencia de Pepe Ribas, esta iniciativa ha conseguido involucrar a varios sectores e instituciones, entre ellas el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MACBA), que integrará en su colección el legado libertario. El nuevo espacio vendría a ser el colofón de otros proyectos que han reivindicado este mundo en las últimas dos décadas, como las exposiciones dedicadas a Nazario, Ocaña y la revista Ajoblanco. O las recientes jornadas (dentro de otra exposición comisariada por el propio Ribas) que, bajo el lema Underground y Cultura, apremiaron a los poderes culturales hasta que por fin dieron su consentimiento a la creación del equipamiento.…  Seguir leyendo »

Indonesian veterans commemorate victims of massacres by the Dutch army in the 1940s in 2013. The Indonesian experience of colonial violence is often overlooked in the Netherlands. © Adek Berry / AFP

On February 17, researchers of the Independence, Decolonization, Violence and War in Indonesia 1945-1950 program (IDVWI) presented their results. They concluded that Dutch armed forces structurally and systematically utilised “extreme violence” to stamp out the Republic of Indonesia that had declared itself independent on 17 August 1945. They added that politicians, civilian and military authorities, including their legal systems, looked away, condoned and silenced colonial violence both in Indonesia and The Hague, the Netherlands’ capital city.

Reactions came fast and furious. Prime minister Mark Rutte apologised to “the people of Indonesia”, but also to Dutch veterans and all the communities violently touched by the war, from 1945 onwards.…  Seguir leyendo »

It should come as no surprise that the most powerful and clear condemnation of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has come from the representative of a country familiar with the devastating consequences of imperialism, colonialism and revisionist history tainted by dangerous nostalgia.

Late on Monday, during an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, Kenya’s U.N. ambassador, Martin Kimani, delivered a short but sharp speech that called out not only Russia but the general arrogance and perfidy of powerful countries broadly. “The Charter of the United Nations continues to wilt under the relentless assault of the powerful,” he said. “In one moment it is invoked with reverence by the very same countries who then turn their backs on it in pursuit of objectives diametrically opposed to international peace and security.”…  Seguir leyendo »

A statue portraying Belgian soldier and explorer Émile Storms was vandalized in Brussels, Belgium on 22 June 2020 during a wave of anti-racism demonstrations following the death of American George Floyd

It is quite something to be launching the January issue of International Affairs in this, our centenary year. The special issue, guest edited by Jasmine K. Gani and Jenna Marshall, looks at ‘Race and imperialism in International Relations: theory and practice.

Both race and imperialism remain controversial and, at times, uncomfortable areas for debate both within academia and in policymaking circles. As such they are frequently set aside and simply ignored.

Jasmine and Jenna have brought together a great collection to help rethink our understanding of international relations (IR). Their introduction to the issue highlights how colonial knowledge flows between academic and practitioner communities, and how we can move beyond it.…  Seguir leyendo »

A visitor looks at some of the royal treasures of Abomey, looted during the colonial era, now on display at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris and due to be returned to Benin in the coming months. © Christophe Archambault / AFP

Every society is full of cultural property of various kinds, and African societies are no exception. This cultural heritage is valuable in many different ways. It may be associated with a monetary value, especially today, but this does not detract from its other values – religious, historical and emotional, to name only those most difficult to convert into money. These values also vary over time. Today, Africans more readily value African art objects for decorative purposes, whereas they used to see them only for public places like palaces.

Some of these art objects are outside their societies of origin and this raises a debate.…  Seguir leyendo »

Pedro Castillo, durante su investidura en Perú

El nuevo presidente de Perú hizo un fuerte alegato anticolonialista y contra los siglos de explotación de España sobre América, y lo hizo (en esta ocasión) ante Felipe VI. Lo que le da un mayor dramatismo.

Pedro Castillo no es el primero en hacerlo. El presidente mexicano Andrés Manuel López Obrador fue más allá y señaló que la negativa de España a disculparse por los abusos cometidos durante la conquista no permitía "mejorar" las relaciones bilaterales.

Por supuesto, las palabras de Castillo y la actitud de López Obrador son merecedoras de análisis y debate, tanto en América como en España. Pero desde el plano político hay que entenderlas más como el resultado de un proceso político que como una afrenta contra España.…  Seguir leyendo »

Visitors look at the Rosetta Stone next to social distancing markers on the floor at the British Museum in August 2020 in London. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

In June, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet offered a reminder that “systemic racism needs a systemic response.” She called for the immediate dismantling of the systemic racism that Black people face around the world and set out a four-point agenda for this transformation.

Just over a year after the killing of George Floyd, the report was widely discussed. But a key aspect was not as visible in public discourse as it should have been. Among other points, the report recommends the necessity of reparations for colonial injustices.

This poses a significant question for European countries, which have benefited greatly from wealth stolen in the colonial era.…  Seguir leyendo »

Una mujer visita las ruinas de Templo Mayor en Ciudad de México en 2019.picture alliance / GETTY IMAGES

El 13 de agosto de 1521 es una fecha memorable: Hernán Cortés conquistó Tecnochtitlán. La capital de los aztecas había resistido durante dos años. Ya en 1519 Moctezuma había agasajado a Cortés con un lujoso banquete que dejó a los españoles atónitos. Pero de nada sirvió, ya que los forasteros no se dieron por satisfechos con los regalos obtenidos y siempre pedían más, sobre todo oro. Los códices dan cuenta de esta avidez con palabras poco halagüeñas: “lo buscaron como cerdos”.

Tenochtitlán, situada en el lago de Texcoco —igual que Tlatelolco, el pueblo hermanado— estaba unida con la tierra firme por cinco calzadas.…  Seguir leyendo »

Namibian schoolgirls walk by a memorial to the victims of the genocide committed by German forces against Herero and Nama people in Windhoek, Namibia, in June 2017. (Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images)

In late May, more than 100 years after German colonial forces killed tens of thousands of the Herero and Nama peoples in what is today Namibia, the German government formally acknowledged the atrocities as genocide.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas declared that, owing to Germany’s “historical and moral responsibility,” the country asks “Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness.” In addition, Germany will contribute more than $1 billion in aid for development projects in Namibia over the next 30 years. All of this will be finalized in a bilateral agreement.

Why the major step toward reconciliation? My research details the decades-long silence in Germany about the atrocities and the slow and incomplete process of reconciliation since the early 2000s.…  Seguir leyendo »

‘There must be a process where those affected can give evidence on the crimes that initiated and sustained colonialism.’ A still from African Apocalypse. Photograph: African Apocalypse

During the French presidential campaign of 2017, Emmanuel Macron told a young Algerian that colonialism was “a crime against humanity”. His mailbox was immediately filled with angry letters from former French-Algerian settlers. A few weeks later, he retracted his remarks. “I’m sorry for wounding you, causing pain. I did not want to offend you”, he assured the colonists.

Last year, after George Floyd’s killing sparked widespread demonstrations against French police brutality, Macron commissioned the historian Benjamin Stora to compile a report on the memory of the colonisation of Algeria and the Algerian war. Stora handed in his study, France-Algeria: Painful Passions, in January, and it will be published as a book next month.…  Seguir leyendo »

Patrice Lumumba, Premier ministre du Congo, assassiné le 17 janvier 1961 au Katanga en sécession. © BELGAIMAGE

Le 17 janvier 1961, au début de la nuit, l’ancien Premier ministre Lumumba et ses deux compagnons, Maurice Mpolo et Joseph Okito, sont exécutés par un peloton de la gendarmerie-armée katangaise commandé par un officier mercenaire belge, en présence de plusieurs ministres du Katanga en sécession.

Patrice Lumumba, devenu Premier ministre du Congo le jour de l’indépendance, le 30 juin 1960, l’a été pendant 67 jours seulement, avant d’être révoqué en septembre, puis assigné à résidence, arrêté ensuite, et transféré enfin au Katanga, pour y trouver la mort le soir même.

Soixante ans plus tard, grâce surtout au minutieux travail de la commission d’enquête de la Chambre des représentants belge et de ses experts, une part de lumière peut éclairer et permettre de mieux comprendre ces événements tragiques, leur enchaînement et les responsabilités tant au Congo qu’à l’étranger, y compris celles, irréfutables, de responsables belges.…  Seguir leyendo »

Scientists now have data concerning the entire genomes of more than 260 people of the ancient Caribbean. Credit Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times

In 1492, Christopher Columbus touched land for the first time in the Americas, reaching the Bahamas, Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti) and eastern Cuba. After he returned to Spain he reported that he had encountered islands rich in gold. A few years later his brother Bartholomew, who also traveled to the Americas, reported that Hispaniola had a large population whose labor and land could be put to the advantage of the Spanish crown. He estimated the population at 1.1 million people.

Was this figure accurate? It soon was a matter of dispute. Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish monk and colonist who became the first chronicler of the human disaster that unfolded in the Americas after the arrival of Europeans, estimated a far larger number: three million to four million.…  Seguir leyendo »

The pedestal for a statue of Queen Victoria that was knocked down in 2015 in Nairobi on June 10. (Khalil Senosi/AP)

On June 11, a significant anniversary quietly passed. It was the centenary of the day Britain officially annexed parts of East Africa to found the Kenya colony, the precursor to today’s Kenyan state. Over the course of the next four and a half decades, the British would consolidate their brutal, parasitic rule and establish a racist, colonial administration that would, in many ways, become the template for the government of the modern Kenyan nation.

It is perhaps not surprising that few Kenyans remember, or wish to be reminded, of that time. At independence in 1963, statues of British monarchs and settlers were hastily taken down and hidden away.…  Seguir leyendo »

Corbis via Getty Images. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with his son James, meeting to draw up the Atlantic Charter, August 1941

On June 26, the United Nations celebrates its seventy-fifth birthday. The initiative that led to that moment in 1945 began nearly four years earlier, at an August 1941 meeting between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, on a boat moored off the coast of Newfoundland, a British colony. For FDR, winning the war would necessarily mean a new, post-imperial world order. “I can’t believe that we can fight a war against fascist slavery, and at the same time not work to free people all over the world from a backward colonial policy,” he told Churchill. The British leader, an unrepentant imperialist for whom Canada, just across the water, was a recently lost British dominion, was apoplectic—but he desperately needed the United States first to get into the war (Pearl Harbor was still months away), and the two leaders signed their “Atlantic Charter.”…  Seguir leyendo »

In two months, many corners of the world have gone from fighting over toilet paper to fighting against racism and white supremacy.

Just days after George Floyd’s killing sparked protests against police brutality, a possibly bored but observant and resourceful Egyptologist, Sarah Parcak, seem to read the tense mood in the air and posted on Twitter some advice on how people could get some, well, hands on experience in the fight against racial injustice. Her tweet on how to take down monuments went viral and, as the streets began to fill up, statues of those that upheld racism and white supremacy around the world began to come down.…  Seguir leyendo »

A woman leaves a convenience store at the Elias Motsoaledi informal settlement in South Africa on Tuesday. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

Last week on French television, two doctors sparked anger with their comments. While speaking about finding a cure against the novel coronavirus, Jean-Paul Mira, the head of the intensive care unit at the Cochin Hospital in Paris, asked, “If I could be provocative, should we not do this study in Africa where there are no masks, treatment or intensive care, a little bit like it’s done, by the way, for certain AIDS studies or with prostitutes?” He was addressing the research director of France’s national health institute, Camille Locht, who promptly agreed.

Although they were speaking about putting human lives at risk, the two doctors sounded totally casual.…  Seguir leyendo »

Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s increasingly repressive government uses colonial-era laws to silence dissent. EFE-EPA/ EPA/Phillipe Wojazer

The impact of colonial rule on sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the subject of intense debate and controversy. Barely a year goes by in the UK without a public figure igniting a furore by arguing that colonialism somehow benefitted the people it oppressed.

But our new book, “Authoritarian Africa: Repression, Resistance, and the Power of Ideas”, paints a very different picture. We re-evaluate the political legacy of colonialism and find that it had a profound impact on African political systems.

The colonial era strengthened the power of “Big Men” – powerful local leaders – over their communities. This undermined pre-existing checks and balances.…  Seguir leyendo »

A painting depicting the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, a walled garden in Amritsar, India. Credit Narinder Nanu/Agence France-Presse; Getty Images

On April 13, 1919, Gen. Reginald Dyer led a group of British soldiers to Jallianwala Bagh, a walled public garden in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. Several thousand unarmed civilians, including women and children, had gathered to celebrate the Sikh New Year.

Viewing the gathering as a violation of the prohibitory orders on public assembly, General Dyer ordered his troops to fire without warning. According to official figures, the 10 minutes of firing resulted in 379 dead and more than a thousand injured.

As news of the massacre became public, many British officials and public figures hailed General Dyer’s actions as necessary to keep an unruly subject population in order.…  Seguir leyendo »

Hemos escrito en más de una ocasión sobre la Leyenda negra por antonomasia, la que injusta y arteramente se focaliza en los supuestos excesos que cometió España en América (y en Europa). Hoy toca hablar de una de las leyendas negras más reales, y tal vez por ello, más ocultada por la Historia: la de las potencias europeas en el continente africano. No se trata de compensar relatos, sino de hacer justicia histórica y de paso ofrecer una explicación alternativa al fenómeno de la emigración africana que sufre (toda) Europa.

A pesar de su cercanía con el continente africano, España fue excluida por las potencias dominantes de su entrada en África.…  Seguir leyendo »