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Because the royal procession escorted Queen Elizabeth II on her final journey from Buckingham Palace to lie in state in Westminster Corridor, on high of her coffin rested the Imperial State Crown. It’s one of the vital well-known Crown Jewels and symbolises the wealth, energy and status the British monarchy amassed by means of the systemic plunder of colonies and the transatlantic slave commerce, a criminal offense towards humanity.
It didn’t fill me with awe.
It gave me pause for deep reflection on the legacy of the queen. For some, this event marked the mourning of a much-loved sovereign, whereas others consider she had blood on her palms. She was the final colonial queen, in whose identify unspeakable acts have been undertaken even after the formal finish of colonialism, when the playbook of British imperialism was executed underneath the guise of modernisation and commonwealth.
The queen’s legacy is now so whitewashed and shrouded with exaggerated epitaphs that, whereas respecting folks’s proper to mourn her passing, I really feel compelled to shred this revisionist historical past with some pointed truth-telling.
Right here’s what we must be asking: What’s the relevance of the monarchy?
The British monarch is an unelected head of state, a place incompatible with a progressive and superior society within the twenty first century. What’s worse is that the British monarchy actually lives off wealth constructed on the backs of enslaved Africans. It looted trillions of {dollars} of wealth from Asia and Africa and plundered nations for his or her pure sources. The queen was the allure offensive wheeled out to present a face of respectability to the monarchy’s racism and anti-Blackness.
One other irrefutable legacy of the queen is her failure to take duty for the actions of her authorities whereas reaping energy and advantages from it. “Britain is the nice nation it’s in the present day due to her,” Liz Truss, the brand new prime minister, mentioned final week.
The queen can’t be the rationale for Britain’s greatness with out additionally taking possession for atrocities dedicated by governments underneath her – for which she by no means personally apologised. Not for the brutal suppression of the Mau Mau riot in Kenya, by which torture, rape and the imprisonment of 1.5 million folks have been instruments deployed by the British. Not for Britain’s horrific position in nearly one million deaths within the Biafran struggle with a purpose to defend its strategic pursuits in Nigeria. Not for the injustices, poverty and underdevelopment that former colonies nonetheless endure due to British colonialism. Not for the jewels and artefacts stolen from Asia and Africa that adorn the partitions of Buckingham Palace and British museums.
Apologists for the monarchy have referred to as me “spectacularly traditionally ignorant” for holding the queen accountable for the acts of her authorities. But, historical past reveals that Queen Elizabeth knew she was finally accountable. In 1995, she signed an apology to New Zealand’s Maori for atrocities and land theft dedicated within the identify of her ancestor, Queen Victoria. When a private apology was demanded, New Zealand’s minister of justice on the time mentioned: “The queen acts by means of her governments and doesn’t do issues personally.”
He mentioned the quiet half out loud. Certainly, the queen at all times acted by means of her authorities. The buck stopped along with her. If she might signal an apology to the Maori for crimes underneath an ancestor, she might have performed the identical for atrocities dedicated in Kenya, Nigeria and Northern Eire underneath her rule.
Right here’s the factor, although. Whereas Queen Elizabeth might keep away from scrutiny, transparency and accountability underneath the cloak of reverence and deference, none of her successors will be capable to. We stay in a special time: The British folks have earned rights which are incongruent with the existence of a monarchy they’ve largely outgrown.
Certainly, surveys present that younger Britons are significantly clear about not wanting the monarchy to proceed. A regressive establishment of entitlement just isn’t sustainable. As an illustration, it is senseless that within the worst cost-of-living disaster in latest historical past – with hundreds of individuals homeless and depending on meals banks, and tens of millions paying exorbitant vitality costs – we the British folks can pay a mini fortune for the queen’s funeral. Keep in mind, the queen’s private value was greater than $500m and the royal household’s belongings quantity to $28bn. We pay for our personal funerals. Why can’t her property pay for hers?
The lengthy queues of individuals lining as much as see the late queen mendacity in state are indicative of the ability of indoctrination that the monarchy nonetheless holds over Britain. Nonetheless, a brand new technology that has grown up comparatively detached to the royal household is waking up, asking questions and demanding adjustments to the entrenched systemic inequalities that the monarchy symbolises.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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