Are you joking? I live in London now, and I aint paying some slaves great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids for stuff my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfathers were doing hundreds of years ago

Um, No. The British left a worthy legacy to many of their colonial lands. most flourished with the assistance of the Commonwealth. Compared to the French and Spanish, they're not so bad.

^^Yeah, I don't think the Empire has anyone to compare with Cortes..... When did the English actually commit genocide?

The current generation doesn't have much control over what their ancestors did, and shouldn't have to be responsible for that.

On 9/2/2007 11:07:49 AM mightyrhinox wrote: ^^Yeah, I don't think the Empire has anyone to compare with Cortes..... When did the English actually commit genocide?

Cultural genocide occurred throughout Africa in British colonies. If you look at British East Africa for example (I give the example of Kenya), even the most minor resistance to colonial takeover by the various ethnic groups was met by bloody punitive expeditions that killed thousands in each encounter. Then the British would confiscate their means of survival; namely livestock.

"The Myth of 'Mau Mau': Nationalism in Kenya" by Carl G. Rosberg and John Nottingham details the brutality in just one of Britain's colonies. But you can find examples of this kind of repression in any of their colonies.

Thing is many of the British today are descendants of their former colonies.

The British tended to avoid direct involvement with their colonies in any case.

The responsibility for administration would lie with The East India Company or The Virginia company for example.

The colonies weren't under direct control of the Government, if anything they would have to sue the Queen because the colonies were Crown property and it was the Crown that issued the charters.

The English/British were a bunch of clever bastards.

Ha!
I wonder how much the US would get?

Nah, most countries got some good stuff out of it. The people who actually suffered are all dead now.

See, this is why I don't want to be told America needs to give all black people a bunch of money to apologize for the harm. Qpax said it best - the people who suffered (and the people who committed the crime) are all dead now. x_x

On 11/24/2007 2:06:04 PM Qpax wrote: Nah, most countries got some good stuff out of it. The people who actually suffered are all dead now.

Hmmm... I think I see a loophole in the whole "international justice" thing... if we kill all the people we make suffer, then there'll be nobody for us to apologize or make reparations to.

To be honest, I'm living in the here and now. Why should Britain pay America when its actions have lead to the wealthy country America is today? True, my descendants (well, maybe not mine - i'm only half English...) caused damage to many people, but they are gone now; and the successful effect of many colonies - along with many other great factors - has lead to 'the land of the free'. Which, all in all, is pretty good for all concerned, I think.

On 9/2/2007 11:07:49 AM mightyrhinox wrote: ^^Yeah, I don't think the Empire has anyone to compare with Cortes..... When did the English actually commit genocide?

Cultural genocide is rather different.

But it's just stupid, none of the offenders have been alive for over 100 years.

I don't think anybody is really serious about America in this context... the American colonies were peopled by European immigrants, not indigenous peoples. And the latter kind of colonies were not ancient history... India only became independent in the late 1940's, many African and Carribean nations in the 1960's and later, and even Ireland was only in the 1920's.

I really don't think that the descendants of people who commited atrocities should feel guilty for the actions of their anceastors. A big apology would suffice, at this point.

Like Minor Threat (greatest straight edge band ever (even though I'm not straight edge)) said in the song Guilty of Being White:
"I'm sorry
For something I didn't do
Lynched somebody
But I don't know who
You blame me for slavery
A hundred years before I was born"

I don't think Britain should pay for something the actual England society has nothing to do with.

The problem is, just like with slavery in the US, many people living today are benefitting from that horrible system which is based on the burdens of slaves long ago.

On Wednesday 11/18/09 - 11:29:40 AM DoMo wrote: The problem is, just like with slavery in the US, many people living today are benefitting from that horrible system which is based on the burdens of slaves long ago.

but those slaves are dead and gone. and so are the slave masters.

i, personally, never cracked a whip to anyone's back.

Yes, but you have benefitted mightily from those whose backs were whipped. And their descendants also received a legacy of racism and segregation based on their ancestral slave status from the majority population

Nah. I'm sure my ancestors were persecuted at some point in history-doesn't mean I deserve cash for it.