Imperialism

Written Feb 3, 2023, tagged under post

I find myself increasingly uncomfortable with aspects of the "British Empire".

My naive understanding of imperialism is that, broadly, the British Empire grew in stature, importance and wealth as it expanded into new territories. Simplistically, this growth was fuelled by the process of taking various kinds of resources from the territories that were taken over, and using them to create wealth in the heart of the Empire. This wasn't really a sustainable process, and thus required a continuing expansion programme to keep the wealth flowing.

While some in the Empire profited greatly from this process, correspondingly there were many who suffered terribly at its hands. It can be argued that slavery, the theft of land from native populations and mining of precious minerals were all examples of this process. Similarly, the relocation of historical artifacts from their cultural homes into British museums might have been presented as a process of fearless exploration and scientific acquisition, but now feels an awful lot like theft.

I really enjoy visiting some of the London museums and seeing the spectacular objects that have been accumulated there. However this is right at the heart of my discomfort; the artifacts I see aren't really ours to hold on to. In fact they are a symbol of the unfairness and "we know best" that drove the expansion of the Empire.

I don't know how to set about redressing some of the past wrongs perpetrated by the Empire. And I'm horribly aware that, while I might be too close to be really aware of them, there are going to be continuing similar kinds of things going on. But it is clear that there are populations who have been materially wronged in a way that ought to be addressed in some way. And society as we know it now is in a way out of kilter: its existence is a consequence of this imperialist process of plundering resources.

The thought that really triggered this blog post, though, was that looking at our energy usage these days I realise that we are right now operating what I've been calling "energy imperialism". Society is being powered forward (literally) through the plundering of a limited resource, which is creating great wealth and prosperity for some people while setting the scene for horrific results for others in different places and times. It's not really a stable situation - we all use too much energy for many things, like personal transport, mainly because we aren't paying the true cost of it but rather kicking those costs down the road for someone else to worry about.

Like the trappings of Empire, we need to take a cold, hard and impartial look at the way we're running things, and try to get back onto a more sustainable footing where we aren't condemning people to a future nightmare. I have absolutely no idea how to really set about this. I know it isn't going to be easy, though. While I'd love to think there is a better way to do it than some of the extreme campaigning approaches we've seen eg with Extinction Rebellion, I have a horrible feeling that it's going to take that kind of in-your-face activism to really make something happen.

I'm very much on the lookout for better ideas, though. Suggestions?

Photo by Nicole Baster on Unsplash