11 September 2022 GMT https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-iii-africa-caribbean-slavery-50f9175b541f307adb2e494fcccc80f5 NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Upon ascending the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II inherited millions of subjects around the world, many of them unwilling. Today, in the former colonies of the British Empire, her death brings complex emotions, including anger. Beyond official condolences praising the Queen’s longevity and service, there is some bitterness about the past in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and elsewhere. The debate has turned to the legacies of colonialism, from slavery to corporal punishment in African schools to looted artefacts held in British institutions. For many, the Queen has come to represent all of this during her seven decades on the throne. In Kenya, where decades ago a young Elizabeth learned of her father’s death and her massive new role as queen, a lawyer named Alice Mugo shared online a photo of a fading document from 1956. It was issued four years after the reign. of the Queen and well in Britain’s harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule. “Permit to move,” the document says. While over 100,000 Kenyans were herded into camps under squalid conditions, others, like Mugo’s grandmother, were forced to seek British permission to go from place to place. “Most of our grandparents were oppressed,” Mugo tweeted in the hours after the queen’s death on Thursday. “I cannot mourn.” But Kenya’s outgoing president, Uhuru Kenyatta, whose father, Jomo Kenyatta, was jailed during the queen’s rule before becoming the country’s first president in 1964, has overlooked the problems of the past, as have other African heads of state. “The most iconic figure of the 20th and 21st centuries,” Uhuru Kenyatta called her. The anger came from ordinary people. Some apologized for past abuses like slavery, others for something more tangible. “This commonwealth of nations, this wealth belongs to England. That wealth is something that is never shared,” said Bert Samuels, a member of the National Compensation Board in Jamaica. Elizabeth’s reign saw the hard-won independence of African countries from Ghana to Zimbabwe, along with a number of Caribbean islands and nations along the edge of the Arabian Peninsula. Some historians see her as a monarch who helped oversee the mostly peaceful transition from empire to Commonwealth, a voluntary union of 56 nations with historical and linguistic ties. But it was also the symbol of a nation that often rode roughshod over the people it subjugated. Cyprus 1957 – Violence flares again as angry Turks take revenge for the murder of a Turkish policeman. they set seventy fires in the Greek part of Nicosia before British troops cleared the streets. (AP Video) There was little sign of public grief or even interest in her death across the Middle East, where many still hold Britain responsible for colonial actions that set many of the region’s borders and set the stage for many of its modern conflicts. On Saturday, Gaza’s Hamas leaders called on King Charles III to “correct” British mandate decisions they said oppress Palestinians. In ethnically divided Cyprus, many Greek Cypriots recalled the four-year rebel campaign waged in the late 1950s against colonial rule and the Queen’s perceived indifference to the plight of nine people executed by hanging by British authorities. Yiannis Spanos, president of the National Association of Cypriot Fighters, said that the queen is “considered by many to be responsible” for the tragedies on the island. Now, with her death, new efforts are being made to confront the colonial past or to hide it. India is renewing efforts under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove colonial names and symbols. The country has come a long way, surpassing even the British economy in size. “I don’t think we have a place for kings and queens in today’s world because we are the biggest democratic country in the world,” said Dhiren Singh, a 57-year-old businessman in New Delhi. There was some sympathy for Elizabeth and the circumstances under which she was born and then squeezed. India 1947 – In these rare photographs of the famous Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi performs his evening prayers, a regular feature of the holy man’s daily life. Hundreds come to watch and listen as he reads from holy books. (AP Video) In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, resident Max Kahindi recalled the Mau Mau uprising “with great bitterness” and recalled how some elders were detained or killed. But he said the Queen was “a very young lady” at the time and believes someone else was probably running British affairs. “We cannot blame the queen for all the suffering we had at that particular moment,” Kahindi said. Timothy Kalyegira, a political analyst in Uganda, said there was a lingering “spiritual connection” in some African countries from the colonial experience to the Commonwealth. “It’s a moment of pain, a moment of nostalgia,” he said. The queen’s dignified personality and age, and the centrality of the English language in world affairs, are strong enough to moderate some criticism, Kalyegira added: “She is seen more as the mother of the world.” Mixed views were also found in the Caribbean, where some countries are removing the British monarch as head of state. “You have a conflicted consciousness,” said Maziki Thame, a senior lecturer in development studies at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, whose prime minister announced during a visit this year by Prince William, now heir to the throne, and Kate that the island intended to become fully independent. The younger generation of royals appears to be more sensitive to the effects of colonialism, Tame said — during the visit, William expressed his “deep regret” about slavery. Ghanaian ruler Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Ghana in 1972. (AP Video) Nadeen Spence, an activist, said the esteem for Elizabeth among older Jamaicans is not surprising, as the British portrayed her as “this benevolent queen who always looked out for us”, but young people are not in awe of the royal family. “The one thing I noticed about the Queen’s death is that she died and never apologized for slavery,” Spence said. “He should have apologized.”
Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report.
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