Nov 2, 2022
24 October 1997 The Royal Family and the Prime Minister with the delegates from 51 of the 54 Commonwealth States at Holyroodhouse after the opening day of the Commonwealth Summit in Edinburgh. © Chris Bacon
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24 October 1997 The Royal Family and the Prime Minister with the delegates from 51 of the 54 Commonwealth States at Holyroodhouse after the opening day of the Commonwealth Summit in Edinburgh. © Chris Bacon
The Prince of Wales told me I don’t look like I’m from Manchester. If this is how he thinks, he shouldn’t be the next head of the Commonwealth, says writer Anita Sethi
And where are you from?” asked the prince.
“Manchester, UK,” I said.
“Well, you don’t look like it!” he said, and laughed. He was then ushered on to the next person.
Although I have experienced such off-the-cuff, supposedly humorous, comments before, I was stunned by the gaffe.
This is exactly why some people, including the prince, urgently need a history lesson about immigration, the British empire, the Commonwealth and colonialism. Because I do look like I’m from Manchester, actually – a city in which many people of colour have been born and bred. Growing up in Manchester, and going to school in Rusholme, a multicultural area in that city, I remember being taught nothing in history lessons about the Commonwealth (I have four different Commonwealth countries in my heritage). If such vital knowledge was more ingrained there would not be so much racism and ignorance.
Whatever the prince meant or didn’t mean in our fleeting encounter, since it happened I have been through all the feelings – from shock to humiliation to rage. Most of all, I feel angry that there could be such casual ignorance in the corridors of power, an ignorance that also permeates society – not least because some British people of colour invited here have been threatened with deportation. They don’t look like they are from here, according to some.
So what does a British person look like? A British person can look like me. A British person can have black or brown, not only white, skin and still be just as British (this shouldn’t need to be spelled out in black and white). I could have proven that I was born in Manchester and that I am British, as I had my passport in my handbag – I’d needed it to get through the venue’s security.
Hounding Commonwealth citizens is no accident. It’s cruelty by design | Gary Younge
Yet I can’t tell Prince Charles exactly where I am from originally – that old chestnut. Why? Because the British destroyed much of the evidence that my ancestors were shipped over from India in the 19th century to toil for the empire as indentured labourers on sugar colonies in the Caribbean.
I have been to the National Archives in Georgetown, Guyana, to search for my ancestral history and stared down a gaping hole where records of lives should have been. The British destroyed so much that could properly explain and evidence our identities.
We need to skip a generation so that Prince Charles does not become king of England or head of the Commonwealth, and these privileges pass to leaders more enlightened (don’t forget, the role of head of the Commonwealth is not hereditary).
I have a message for Prince Charles. Your Royal Highness, you asked me: “Where are you from?” To adapt a phrase from the late Ambalavaner Sivanandan: I am here because you were there.
Britain's King Charles deflected calls to atone for his country's colonial past Friday, as a summit of Commonwealth allies turned into a factious debate about the legacy of slavery and empire. Leaders from the 56-nation Commonwealth -- made up mostly of British ex-colonies -- gathered for a summit in Samoa, hoping to prove the bloc is united and still relevant. But instead of finding common cause on pressing issues like climate change, Charles III's maiden summit as king has been overshadowed by history. Many African, Caribbean and Pacific nations want to see Britain -- and other European powers -- pay financial compensation for slavery, or to at least make political amends. They want UK leaders to commit to a discussion on reparatory justice -- which could involve financial payments. It is a debate Britain's cash-strapped government has worked hard to avoid.
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Naturally, the split is between WASP members and the Global South members.
There's as much chance of the UK coughing up the cash as there is it will cough up cash for climate crisis impacts, that is to say none at all.
I heard some twat on BBC radio say that it was madness to pay for the sins committed hundreds of years ago. Apparently, it's okay for the countries where those transgressions were committed to still suffer the consequences of those wrongs. Not to mention the huge tax breaks the colonisers arranged for themselves when they left, e.g. British companies still operating in the colonies after independence were not required to pay any tax whatsoever to the governments of the ex colonies.
South Africa riots force President Cyril Ramaphosa to leave Commonwealth Summit in London South African President Cyril Ramaphosa cut short his participation in the Commonwealth summit where he was leading a government delegation yesterday in London to tackle violent demonstrations in his country, …
The Prince of Wales told me I don’t look like I’m from Manchester. If this is how he thinks, he shouldn’t be the next head of the Commonwealth, says writer Anita Sethi
This man really is a disgrace.
PM Narendra Modi lands at Buckingham Palace to go to CHOGM
PM Narendra Modi lands at Buckingham Palace to go to CHOGM
London, Apr 19 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has landed at the Buckingham Palace to go to 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
The Prime Minister was received by British partner Theresa May and Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Patricia Scotland.
The Commonwealth Summit will be formally opened by Queen Elizabeth at 10 a.m. (nearby time) trailed by an official welcome of the…
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