THE COLONISER NEVER LEFT

This week, world leaders gathered to celebrate the Commonwealth - a club of 56 nations supposedly united by shared values and mutual prosperity. But behind the fanfare lies a brutal truth - the Commonwealth is simply the British Empire in new clothes. Pan Africanist scholar PLO Lumumba has long called out this illusion. In this clip, he argues that the Commonwealth was simply a way for the British Empire to rebrand while still maintaining the oppressive, exploitative system it benefited from.

Indeed, Commonwealth Day was known as Empire Day before the name was changed in 1958. While the Commonwealth promotes itself as a vehicle for unity and justice, there is nothing ‘common’ in the ‘wealth.’ Britain, like many colonial powers, refuses to atone for historical injustices. The Caribbean, for instance, has demanded $24 trillion for Britain’s role in slavery. By some estimates, the UK owes India alone $45 trillion for its colonial-era plundering of the nation. Despite this, various administrations across Britain’s political spectrum have rejected calls for apologies and reparations.

The UK also perpetuates the oppressive status quo left in place after flag independence. It’s one of the IMF’s richest members, yet in 2021, the Fund granted London $27.5 billion in Special Drawing Rights - more than was allocated to all low-income countries combined ($21 billion). The IMF is hellbent on implementing neoliberalism on our continent, cutting funding for critical sectors such as healthcare and education, while deregulating labour and imposing privatisation - to disastrous effect.

Why, then, would any self-respecting sovereign country choose to be a part of the Commonwealth?

Video Credit: Africa Web TV (YouTube)

Sources

Caribbean demands

https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/trillions-owed-in-reparations-for-slavery-says-report/

India bill

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/12/19/how-britain-stole-45-trillion-from-india/

Rejection of reparation

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65401579

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlnrjd3087o

Britain in the IMF

https://debtjustice.org.uk/news/joint-statement-on-uks-re-channelling-of-special-drawing-rights-sdrs-allocation

IMF in Africa

https://actionaid.org/publications/2023/fifty-years-failure-imf-debt-and-austerity-africa