THE VALUE OF WHITENESS
Colonialism row is not about history but the attitudes of tepid liberalism
Those who see colonisers as the bearers of gifts are deaf and blind to the lives most of their countrymen live
The brawl over colonialism rumbles on because it has less to do with the past than our messy present. This is a proxy fight. On one side are those, mostly black, who perceive the claim of "some good" in colonialism as a defence of inherited white privilege. From the other side, mostly white, come complaints that accusations of racism shut down debate. Yet it is absurd to pretend that this represents a historical debate, despite even the Roman Empire being dragged in. Of course, closing down debate is neither desirable nor defensible, but if you can’t understand the sensitivity of this topic then, once again, you’re simply not living in the same country as the majority of the population. Some recent justifications of colonialism are remarkably crass, with repeated boasting about a nirvana of cars and democracy. This boils down to the assertion, "To get the gain, you had to take the pain." Others unconsciously mirror a common white complaint about post-apartheid "black entitlement". T...
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