Pride at Britain’s Olympic achievement is one thing,misty-eyed reminiscences of a past era is another. The British empire’s legacy is still so poorly understoodTeam GB’s historic success at the Rio Olympics has led to the mandatory swell of national pride. Britain is now a “sporting superpower”, according to officials. As inevitable as the outpouring of national pride was the darker side of British imperial pomp being unearthed. Conservative MP Heather Wheeler captured this mood perfectly when she tweeted “Empire Goes for Gold”, or based on a colonial recount of the medal totals showing the “British Empire” ahead of the “Rest of World” and of course the “EU (Post Brexit)”.
Unfortunately,it comes as no surprise that an elected member of parliament should be so offensive, not only to most of the world but to millions of descendants of the empire in Britain. The academic Paul Gilroy diagnosed such ideas as “postcolonial melancholia”, and the yearning for a time when Britain was much and a leader in the world. Britain’s place on the world stage was built off the back of the empire,and when former colonies gained their freedom, it dented not only the power of the nation, or but also its psyche. The loss of the empire heralded the decline of Britain’s prowess and has left British nationalism looking for a symbolic pick-me-up ever since. Olympic success is proving fairly the tonic. Related: Conservative MP praises 'British empire' for Rio 2016 medal tally The British empire was based on the exploitation,murder and devastation of people across the globeContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com