A recent global survey showed that a third of the British believed that the British colonies were in a better position, because they are part of the Great Empire, which is higher than any of the other major colonial powers. A poll by YouGov found that the British are more willing to keep their country an empire, compared to those surveyed in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Japan.
The results were released as Britain prepared to find a new place in the international system, after its exit from the European Union. Observers have interpreted this trend as indicating high levels of national sentiment. The conservatives represent the weakest supporters of the Labor Party, in Britain, of those who long for the empire.
Activist Oko Ikionion described the results as "alarming" as the activist leads a British campaign to erect a new memorial to the transatlantic slave trade, which has so far failed to attract government support. Equipion said that the survey results raise questions about education in Britain, on colonial issues, and highlight the orientation of a segment of citizens towards nostalgia.
Only the Netherlands seems to be more proud of its imperial history than the United Kingdom, with half of respondents saying there that the colonial era calls for pride rather than shame. Defenders of the empire saw the numbers differently. Nigel Biggar, professor of moral theology at Christchurch College at Oxford University, said that the fact that only 32%, said that the empire is something to be proud of, means that “people who crave the imperial flag, should look at the Dutch” .
"Some say that we British suffer from selective amnesia regarding the British Empire, as we remember the good parts and forget the bad," Bigar added, adding, "But are most Britons unaware of our involvement in slavery during the 17th and 18th centuries?" When the majority of respondents (37%) said they think it is not something to be proud of or ashamed of, ”he added,“ This may mean that they are fully aware of the moral ambiguity of the empire. ”
When the Germans were asked about their country's empire between 1871 and 1918 (sometimes known as the Second Reich), they were less proud of their colonial past, while Belgians felt that the Democratic Republic of the Congo was left worse off.
Ikionion wonders: "What is going on in the minds of these people when they say better?" She explained: "There is a nostalgia for the empire, and Britain still considers itself a major power, and it is worrisome that 33% believe that the countries that colonized were in a better position."
John Wilson, a professor of modern history at King's College, in London, said the belief that leaving better former colonies would be linked to the openness of the national debate on the empire. "Some people talked about the violence of the empire - Belgium in the Congo, France in Algeria, Italy in Ethiopia - and in the Netherlands like Britain, this debate did not take place," he said.
In the UK, the survey showed that people over the age of 64 are twice as proud of the empire as those between the ages of 18 and 24, which Wilson attributes to improved education, explaining, “There are approaches that do not marginalize brutal truth ( Colonialism), but the wider public debate about the empire is very weak, and it is being used in the interests of nationalism. ”
Lisa Nandy, a candidate for Labor leadership, pledged last month to remove references to the Empire in the Charter of Honor, and to change the "Order of the British Empire", for example, to the "Order of British Excellence".
Meanwhile, right-wing historian and biographer Winston Churchill, Andrew Roberts, argued that Britain's exit from the European Union was a moment to restore the meaning of the empire as a country “where no foreign power is able to alter or nullify the laws here.” Members of the Conservative Party said that Britain’s exit from the European Union was a moment of “revenge for the empire”.
33%
Some of the British believed that the colonial states were in a better position.