Imperialism

With Queen Elizabeth II's death, there has been some discussion of the evils of monarchy and imperialism. Not just Black people, but Irish people too, have no love for monarchy. I did find some of the commentary from UK royalists to be over the top, about how everybody loved her. Elizabeth was not perfect; she was a terrible mother-in-law to Diana, after all, and that much-repeated 1947 clip of her pledging lifelong duty to the nation also included a reference to the "imperial family." Not just the royal family, but specifically the "imperial family," so she was supportive of the British Empire continuing. Obviously the Empire fell apart during her reign, so she adapted with the times in creating the Commonwealth, and it's not like Elizabeth had any actual political power over what the British government did. In general, I blame Queen Victoria more about British imperialism than I do Elizabeth II. There's something distasteful about Victoria keeping favorite Indian servants while knowing that the British Raj is fucking over India. Plus Britain started Opium Wars to force China to accept trade, not caring one bit about the moral degradation of destroying the nation with drugs.

But anyway, there are historical documentaries that give less glowing depictions of the royal family. Paramount+ includes content from the Smithsonian channel, including the 2019 show Britain in Color, which is just like America in Color. They colorize old news footage and home movies to give you an immediate feel of history from the early 20th century. Initially I was disappointed that the first episode was all about Royalty, fearing we'd just get hagiography and whitewashed history. But it's really just to give context to WWI and WWII, including how Edward VIII was a Nazi sympathizer.

The second episode, Empire, actually discussed war, colonialism, and racism. It's not afraid to be shocking or unflattering in its truth. It started with terrible images from Boer War concentration camps, featured nonwhite soldiers who fought for Britain in WWI, discussed Gandhi's protests in India,  depicted the harsh suppression of independence movements in Britain's former colonies, and addressed the Partition of India. Really interesting. The last episode is on Churchill. I hope they will do more topics eventually, like America in Color explored history from different perspectives.