She died. Aged 96.
"Now that she is gone, the imperial monarchy must end too. ... That would be an end to celebrate"https://t.co/ebYBESvarf
— Sriram K (@congoboy) September 9, 2022
The following is a re-post from March 2022:
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In the post-WWII Anglo-American world, two events happened in 1952. On the eastern side of the Atlantic, Princess Elizabeth ascended to the throne after the death of her father. Later in the year, General Eisenhower won the presidency in a landslide victory over his Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson.
The former had a "divine right" to the throne. In what was once a colony of the British monarch, Eisenhower campaigned and convinced the electorate that he was the best man for the job.
After serving the maximum eight years, Eisenhower returned to life as a regular citizen of the United States. Elizabeth has been holding on to the throne at a ripe old age of 95.
The Queen continues to be the titular head of many of her former colonies. So, she sent her grandson and his wife on a goodwill tour to a couple of them in the Caribbean.
The royal grandson made some waves even before reaching the blue Caribbean waters. When commenting on the situation in Ukraine, he forgot that we do not live in a world in which the king is always correct. We are only too happy to remind the royalty if they are walking around in the nude.
He said that it was “alien” to see war in Europe.
Those of us who did not sleep through the history classes in high school know well that if anything Europe has been a battlefield for ever. And the bloodletting was so massive across Europe that even though there are conflicts in Africa that involve a few countries, the phrase "World War" refers only to the horrible wars in Europe.
Alien to see war in Europe?
This gifted royal grandson and his wife headed to the warm Caribbean, where the reception was not always pleasantly warm.
In Belize, for example, the royal couple had to cancel their first engagement after Indigenous Q’eqchi Maya villagers protested plans for the royal helicopter to land on a local football field. ...
Protesters in Kingston carried or wore signs telling the British to SehYuhSorry, and, in honor of 60 years of Jamaican independence, groups posted 60 reasons the British should formally apologize for slavery and more than 400 years of exploitation.
The Queen's representative 'expressed “profound sorrow" and said that “slavery was abhorrent, and it should never have happened.”
You see how he distanced himself from all that? Like a Nixonian "mistakes were made." It is not without reason that English teachers stress using the active voice. Tell us who did it!
Of course, the royal grandson did not personally enslave humans. He did not colonize alien lands. But, his royal status is intimately tied to all that and more.
So,what should be done to move forward?
What we now need is for the west, especially the United Kingdom, to seriously engage with us on this matter. And, it’s not just lip service that we require. Flowery words and artful symbols not only do not placate us, but words without action will also offend us. We need leaders in civil society, in politics and in the monarchy to not only acknowledge historic exploitation and the consequences thereof but to begin to make concrete steps to rectify it.
Work has already been done. The Caricom Reparations Commission has outlined a clear 10-point action plan with a tangible plan forward for creating justice.
Here in America, to seriously engage on such matter is what the inheritors of Eisenhower's political party do not want to do. In fact, Republicans have actively passed laws, in the states where they are in power, that ban any sincere discussion of the past and how that past has brought about the present. Further, they believe that this ban on history will be a critical part of their campaign to win back the Congress and the White House!
These two countries on either side of the Atlantic are supposedly the beacons of democracy!
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