tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post8918274823126866389..comments2024-02-02T00:21:02.687+13:00Comments on stargazer: the spirit of 45: what's missingstargazerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00430290445762377335noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post-28122356041498099592013-12-27T12:56:49.076+13:002013-12-27T12:56:49.076+13:00Britain in 1945 was still overwhelmingly a white c...Britain in 1945 was still overwhelmingly a white country, especially outside London.U Thant Clubnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post-16373174465728267402013-12-27T01:02:36.514+13:002013-12-27T01:02:36.514+13:00thanx for the extra details maia. i did study bri...thanx for the extra details maia. i did study british history at school, but it was the elizabethan era & king james 1. so i'm not really up-to-date with the post WWII stuff.<br /><br />and yes, the way the british left india - carved up, impoverished and with a lot of sectarian violence going on - was pretty atrocious.stargazerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00430290445762377335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post-66680700641055520192013-12-27T00:52:55.219+13:002013-12-27T00:52:55.219+13:00Thanks for this post I've been really frustra...Thanks for this post I've been really frustrated by what is left out of the spirit of '45 (and I haven't seen it). You say you don't know much about British history - so I'm just going to add some information that I think underlines how fucked-up this exclusion is.<br /><br />1945 was before mass-migration to the UK from former colonies. A little googling suggests that in 1951 (the census year) the British Chinese, South Asian, African and Afro-Carribean population combined were 0.2% of the total population. <br /><br />It's important that the film is uninterested in that history - does not draw attention to it - and doesn't have PoC experts - to represent the way things of change. It seems to me really dangerous to create nostalgia for a whiter Britain in such an explicit way. <br /><br />In addition, Attlee's government aimed to pay for its domestic policy with additional funds from its overseas colonies. It de-colonised from Palestine and India/Pakistan in a less than ideal way - given the history (supposed to be understatemnt obviously).<br /><br />Whereas in Africa in doubled-down on repressive colonisation in order to get more income. Kenya, in particular, has received attention for hte human rights attrocities committed by the British int he lead-up to decolonisation. A lot of those were initiated by the Attlee government - who chose a path of centralisation and control.<br /><br />For all I've heard Spirit of '45 portrays the Britain of 1945 as an embattled lonely island. And that's so historically wrong - and white supremicist.Maiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17212711843307060731noreply@blogger.com