Dismantle the Commonwealth: Queen Elizabeth’s Death Prompts Reckoning with Colonial Past in Africa

I can hardly express my gratitude and the breath of fresh air that I experienced in listening with my husband to this broadcast. Ron and I had been consistently turning off the endless news glorifying Queen Elizabeth in the wake of her death. Corporate funded media consistently neglected to present the larger picture, a larger picture so essential for us to know, understand, absorb, and transform if the endless suffering and death, racism and entitlement, injustice and inequality is to be seen for what it is and finally, finally!, ended. This massive silence was especially disturbing given the vast opportunity that the death of Queen Elizabeth presented to highlight the full expanse of what has transpired under her watch. 

As long as the truth about colonialism and empire is denied, is held in silence, is not given the light of day there can be no healing, no justice and reparations, no transformation of the deadly status quo that permeates so much of our world and perpetuates the ignorance and apathy, greed and entitlement, racism and cruelty and violence that is rooted in the profound suffering, displacement, and death of millions. 

This must change. It must. We need to care! We need to stop justifying, glorifying, and colluding in the toxic poison of empire and colonialism. Another is possible! — Molly

The death of Queen Elizabeth II has focused global attention on the British royal family and renewed criticism of the monarchy both inside the U.K. and abroad, especially among peoples colonized by Britain. “There’s a degree of psychosis that you can go to another people’s land, colonize them, and then expect them to honor you at the same time,” says Kenyan American author Mukoma Wa Ngugi, who teaches literature at Cornell University and whose own family was deeply impacted by the bloody British suppression of the Mau Mau revolution. He says that with Queen Elizabeth’s death, there needs to be a “dismantling” of the Commonwealth and a real reckoning with colonial abuses. We also speak with Harvard historian Caroline Elkins, a leading scholar of British colonialism, who says that while it’s unclear how much Queen Elizabeth personally knew about concentration camps, torture and other abuses in Kenya during her early reign, the monarchy must reckon with that legacy. “Serious crimes happened on the queen’s imperial watch. In fact, her picture hung in every detention camp in Kenya as detainees were beaten in order to exact their loyalty to the British crown,” says Elkins.

Please go here for the original program: https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/12/queen_elizabeth_dead_british_colonialism_africa