democracy Archives - Page 2 of 2 -

By Crispin Caldicot

Reblogged with the kind permission of The BFD

This tome represents not just a labour of love, but at nearly 600 pages a massive piece of scholarship. 101 of the territories that made up the British Empire are investigated for their fortunes, before, during and after they became British.

What makes this book stand out is that it asks questions that have not been asked, or have simply been avoided, and draws conclusions that should be uncomfortable for many. What was the American Revolutionary War really about? Could it be that the colonists were motivated by a perceived threat from Britain that slavery was going to be abolished? If so, they were correct, and successful. Their victory left them free to chase the former Indian inhabitants as far west as they desired, and maintain slavery in the name of Freedom and Democracy. As the author points out, of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, 41 including Washington and Jefferson were slave owners. As Doctor Johnson said at the time: “How is it that the loudest yelps for liberty come from the drivers of Negroes?”

Britain did of course abolish slavery and the cost to the nation in both lives and money of policing this policy through the Royal Navy was enormous. By mid-century, the squadrons dedicated to capturing the slave-traders accounted for half of all naval spending. Yet the Americans persisted – one US Congressman stated the persistence of British cruisers of the anti-slavery patrol was unwarranted and destructive to private interests. Britain however maintained the moral path and by 1890 the trade in slaves had been all but eliminated on both coasts of the African continent – though there was an incident as late as 1922 involving HMS Cornflower and 29 slaves in the Red Sea.

Britain began a ruthless disposal of its colonies, whether they wanted it or not, after World War II. There was pressure from many sources, but the case of Southern Rhodesia is illuminating in context. The nation had become highly successful, and a bread-basket for Africa. Ironically its economy boomed under sanctions, but why did the British Government insist this thriving nation be handed to a tyrannical African who rapidly turned it into a basket case? It is not wholly clear but the experience of empire building certainly did not prevent Britain from proving equally adept at chicanery and dishonour when pulling it all apart later. Rhodesia was not an atypical case.

Diligently researched, there is much to surprise and enlighten those who have any interest in history. McLean has cast a refreshing lens over the contemporary popular views that all empires are evil and Britain’s doubly so. His conclusion is that the British Empire was indeed a very positive force that enhanced the lives of millions. His book proves there is always another side – frequently hidden and/or shocking – to every story. Highly readable.

The tests of opinion on 14^th October – the General Election in New Zealand and the “Voice” referendum in Australia – showed a serious disconnect between the political/media establishment and the bulk of the people.

Right across New Zealand there was a movement to “Blue” by which I mean National, ACT and NZ First. But not in Wellington where the Bureaucracy resides. There the trend went the other way. Labour retained all its seats in the Wellington area except Hutt South, which went to National, and Wellington Central and Rongotai which went to the even more extreme Left Wing Greens.

Compare this with Auckland where there was an almost complete wipeout of Labour, with only four seats Red and sixteen seats Blue. This, of course, was largely the result of Jacinda Ardern’s totally unnecessary, economically disastrous and emotionally draining lockdown of New Zealand’s biggest city for 107 days in 2021 on the basis of one – yes, a single one – case of Covid. Not that the mainstream media, beholden to Ardern and Labour for so much of their funding, would ever admit that it was the lockdown that was largely responsible for driving Auckland “Blue”.

The result of all this is that Wellington, headquarters of bureaucratic control of New Zealand, has become completely out of step with the rest of the country. The danger here is that, despite the Election result, these power crazy civil servants will continue to expand their power over the lives of the citizens. This would undo the result of the Election unless the incoming Blue government takes a very serious stand with its civil servants, sacking those who are seen to be impeding the clearly expressed democratic will of the people. A good start in any wholesale dismissals would be all the neo-Marxists at the top of the Education Department who are more interested in indoctrinating school students than educating them – as has been documented by Roger Childs in his book, The New Zealand History Curriculum; Education or Indoctrination, available from Tross Publishing.

In Australia the political/media establishment tried to pull a fast one over the people by initiating a referendum to give those Australians with any Aborigine blood in them (about 3% of the population) a special “Voice” in government that would have been unavailable to others. Like all Australians, Aborigines already have a voice which can be expressed by such things as voting at election time, approaching their M.P. at Saturday morning “surgeries”, and making submissions to Select Committees of Parliament – all part and parcel of accountable democracy.

The essence of the “Voice” was to establish an Australian version of New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal, which would make endless recommendations to government so as to skew legislation the way of advancing this tiny group which, by definition, means disadvantaging all other Australians. It appealed to Canberra’s political elite as a way of moving away from open and accountable democracy towards the secret meetings behind closed doors which have become so much a feature of Treaty settlements in New Zealand, especially on the watch of National’s Treaty Minister, Christopher Finlayson, who seemed to prefer this method of governing rather than traditional democracy for which this List M.P. seemed to have an unnatural contempt – apparently because every time that he stood for Parliament in either Mana or Rongotai he was heavily defeated by voters even though in Rongotai they gave their party vote to National but couldn’t stomach the candidate.

The Voice referendum cost the Australian taxpayer A$400 million at a time when many people are having difficulty paying their bills and taxes. The “Yes” campaign to give Aborigines a special “voice” was directed by the political/media elite in Canberra and was supported by all sorts of virtue signallers from the Catholic Church to Woke corporates. It spent five times as much money on promoting its cause than the “No” campaign, which had a broader leadership that included Aborigines such as Senator Jacinta Price and Warren Mundine. These and other Aborigine supporters of the No campaign knew that the Voice was all about enriching and empowering the current Aborigine tribal elite rather than giving genuine help to Aborigines who might need it.

Sports stars and big companies used their profiles and power to urge Australians to vote “Yes” with Qantas, under the palsied leadership of Alan Joyce, being in the lead – even wasting its shareholders’ money in painting planes with “Yes” in big lettering. Local authorities draped “Yes” flags in their main streets and in a new variety of child abuse schoolchildren were given “Yes” badges to wear to school. In other words the whole Establishment was on side to tell Australians to vote “Yes” to this radical new undermining of both democracy and the principle of One Law For All.

So, what happened? Well, in all six states there was a majority of “No” votes, the average across the continent being 60% No and 40% Yes. The “little people” showed that they would make up their own minds rather than be told what to do by the Establishment. This was the first plebiscite on the new phenomenon of identity politics and the people of Australia showed that they didn’t want a bar of it. Better to keep Australia the way it is than to break it up on racial lines.

However, in Canberra the vote went the other way: 65% “Yes”. Since the Australian Capital Territory of Canberra is not a state this does not negate the earlier statement that all six states voted “No”. What it does show is that – as with Wellington going Red/Green when the rest of New Zealand went “Blue” – the civil servants and media wonks are at variance with the rest of the nation. So, how did they take the result? Oh, the vote was due to “misinformation” and “racism” by the No side. How naughty of the people not to do what they were told!

We need to be aware of just how removed this wretched political/media elite is from the rest of the country and be very wary of anything that comes out of their mouths. Their interest in upholding our hard-won democracy is not as strong as it is among the rest of the country. As the results on 14^th October showed, “Canberra” and “Wellington” are fast becoming dirty words in the lexicon of democracy.

A Wellingtonian.

Book Review – The British Empire; A Force for Good

A SERIOUS DISCONNECT