Comparison of the views of Mike Davis and Niles Ferguson on Britain's colonial actions in India
...but just can’s help justifying their actions with some sort of praise. # “ But the balance sheet of the British Imperial achievement does not omit the credit side either. It seeks to show that the legacy of the empire is not just ’racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance- which in any case existed long before capitalism-but * The triumph of capitalism as the optimal system of economic organization; * The Anglicization of North America and Australia; * Internationalization of the English Language; * The enduring influence or the Protestant version of Christianity: And, above all * The survival of Parliamentary institutions, which far worse Empires Were poised to extinguish in the 1940’s” #”For better, for worse-Fair and foul-The world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain’s Age of Empire. Although I agree with some of Ferguson’s statements that much of the world was shaped by British Imperialism, I think he places too much credit and accolades on Britain. The world would have continued to grow Empire or not. Also, The map of today has been altered and reshaped by war and by treaty long since Britain was the Empire builder. The treaties after the world wars as well as South America and Africa have moved there boundaries and are still being shaped today. All of this has happened since 1920 which is about when Great Britain became plain ole England. A major Contrast between Ferguson and Davis can be seen in these two excerpts from their works. Davis Writes #It seems an anomaly, that with her famines on hand, India is able to supply food for other parts of the World”. This is a statement from an English witness commenting on India’s situation. This clearly shows England’s ignorance of what was really going on or better put the concern they really had for their colonies. Furthermore Davis makes no excuses for this he just writes the facts. On the contrary, Ferguson makes this statement #”The British soldier who witnessed this murder loudly condemned the officer’s action, at first crying ’shame’ and giving vent to ’indignation and outcries’ when the gun went off. It was seldom, if ever, that German soldiers in a similar situation openly criticized a superior.” Here Ferguson as usual admits to Britain’s sins but makes some excuse to justify it. Another prime example of Ferguson’s blind eye to what British Imperialism really was is #”Morel’s campaign against the Belgian regime was, he said, ’an appeal to four principles; human pity the world over; British Honour; British Imperial Responsibilities in Africa; [and] international commercial rights coincident with and inseparable from native economic and personal liberties.” He in essence says that we had the right to do this in the name of British Honour and Imperial Responsibility. He then States that #”True, the British Empire had not treated the African slaves much better in the eighteenth century, but the correct comparison must be between these other empires and the British Empire as it was in the twentieth century.” His justification here is that it was ok then but not now. To add further insult he later states #”The French did not behave much better than the Belgians in their part of the Congo”. #”In Algeria, New Caledonia and Vietnam too, there was a policy of systematic expropriation of native land.” #”German overseas administration was no more liberal when Hereros sought to resist the encroachment of German colonists in 1904.” #”Japanese colonial rule in Korea- a protectorate from 1905 and a colony ruled from Tokyo from 1910-was conspicuously illiberal. #”Yet all this would pale in insignificance alongside the crimes of the Russian, Japanese, German and Italian empires in the 1930’s and 1940’s.” These all illustrate Ferguson’s need justify British Imperialism by saying they did it to. LIKE THIS MAKES IT OK!! The culminating point is his use of the inscription on the gates of the Viceroy’s Palace in India #”Liberty does not descend to a people. A people raise themselves to liberty. It is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.” This is the true epitome of British arrogance and Ferguson’s views of the British Imperialism. In contrast Davis continually shows the more harsh reality of British...