HT remarks on Straw's comments about Britian's colonialist crimes.
Straw comments on Britain's colonial past whilst continuing upon colonialism
The UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw in a recent interview with a British magazine, the New Statesman commented on Britain's colonial past. He focussed on the legacy of physical colonialism in an attempt to portray Britain as remorseful of its past.
He said the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which Britain pledged support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and the contradictory assurances given to Palestinians were not entirely honourable.
"The Balfour declaration and the contradictory assurances which were being given to Palestinians in private at the same time as they were being given to the Israelis - again, an interesting history for us, but not an honourable one," he said.
Mr Straw acknowledged "some quite serious mistakes" in India and Pakistan. He said, "We were complacent with what happened in Kashmir, the boundaries weren't published until two days after independence. Bad story for us. The consequences are still there."
In regards to Afghanistan he commented, - "where we played less than a glorious role over a century and a half..."
He mentioned Iraq, the region which was governed by Britain under the mandate of the League of Nations after the defeat of the Khilafah in World War I. "The odd lines for Iraq's borders were drawn by Brits," he said.
These statements attempt to portray Britain as regretful of its past so that it is seen in a better light in the international arena whilst ignoring the reality of its present colonialism. The pursuit of material interests lies at the heart of capitalism. Colonialism is therefore an inherent part of it as it is the enforcement of political, military, cultural and economic control over weak nations in order to exploit them. Therefore Britain like all capitalist states primary aim in foreign policy is furthering national interests.
Britain’s current alliance with America and its warmongering towards Iraq is spurred by its material, economic and strategic interests. Corporate interests are definitely a key factor for this impending war. Recently Lord Browne, chief executive of BP and one of New Labour's favourite industrialists warned Washington not to carve up Iraq for its own oil companies in the aftermath of any future war. He said:
"We have let it be known that the thing we would like to make sure, if Iraq changes regime, is that there should be a level playing field for the selection of oil companies to go in there if they're needed to do the work there."
Britain’s attack upon the Muslims of Afghanistan was driven by its competition with America over the vast resources of Central Asia. The vast oil and gas supplies hosted by the Central Asian Republics are estimated at a staggering $5 trillion, including 6.6 trillion cubic metres of natural gas. Amoco, BP, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil and Unocal are all engaged in a multi-billion dollar frenzy to extract resources from the Central Asian republics. The importance of controlling the route out of Central Asia was highlighted by energy expert, James Dorian, on 10/9/01 in Oil & Gas Journal, “Those who control the oil routes out of Central Asia will impact all the future direction and quantities of flow and the distribution of revenues from new production.”
Britain continues to support the illegitimate state of Israel whilst Sharon butchers the Muslims of Palestine. Since the time of Balfour, the British have aimed for Israel to be a dagger in the heart of the Islamic world that acts as a threat to any potential Islamic uprising. The call for a Palestinian state that Straw mentioned is aimed at the Muslims fundamentally accepting the existence of Israel and being content in having a totally dependent, weak Palestinian non-entity.
Britain is a leading member of the IMF and World Bank which enslaves the third world by interest based loans and makes their economies dependent upon the West via structural adjustment programmes and the like. It is the West’s colonialism that has led to a situation where over 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day.
Britain along with America attempts to culturally colonise the minds of the Muslims by promoting the corrupt values of capitalism in order that the Muslims accept the status quo and to ensure that the Islamic state does not return to challenge their hegemony. In order to intellectually enslave the Muslims they promote the ideas such as secularism, freedom, democracy, pluralism, compromise and inter-faith dialogue. Tony Blair in a recent speech given at the Lord Mayor’s banquet said in response the Islamic threat:
“…we need to create bridges of understanding between religious faiths also. Part of the fanaticism is religious. Part of the solution lies in religion too. George Carey's work in the inter-faith field was pioneering especially in the Alexandria Process, which I commend. Within Islam, moderate voices are now speaking up, the world over. They need encouragement.”
“The interdependence of the modern world has never been clearer; the need for a common response never greater; the values of freedom, justice and tolerance of our diversity never more relevant…”
If Britain was truly remorseful of its colonialism then it would immediately stop interfering in the political affairs of the third world including the Muslim world, it would break its alliance with America against Iraq, pay reparations for the damage it has caused and return the stolen property from the third world such as the Kohi Noor diamond exhibited in the Queen’s crown and many other stolen jewels and artefacts.
Although Britain and America attempt to portray their foreign policies as ‘just’ or ‘ethical’, the reality demonstrates that the old form of colonisation that manifested in physical occupation of lands has been replaced by a new imperialism, which uses employs different styles for the same aim. This was clearly expressed by Tony Blair’s foreign policy adviser Robert Cooper who said, “The challenge to the post-modern world is to get used to the idea of double standards. Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open cooperative security. But when dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside the post-modern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century world of every state for itself. Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle…What is needed then is a new kind of imperialism, one acceptable to a world of human rights and cosmopolitan values. We can already discern its outline: an imperialism which, like all imperialism, aims to bring order and organisation but which rests today on the voluntary principle…” [Robert Cooper, The New Liberal Imperialism, the Foreign Policy Centre, 2002]
In contrast to the materialistic centric approach of foreign policy, Islam seeks simply to spread its ideas and system so that the injustices of human inspired legislation are removed. The Islamic conquests under the Khilafah were for conveying the message of Islam to the world and making the word of Allah (swt) the Highest. They were not designed to exploit and colonise people, or to pillage the resources of a land. The Khilafah never launched a war to secure jobs for its citizens, to gain contracts for its companies or to line the pockets of the ruling class with riches. The Khilafah never looked to people as conqueror and conquered or winners and losers, but rather as citizens. This is how a state that began in Madina expanded to cover Persia, North Africa, Central Asia and as far as Indonesia, until today the people in these lands are one Ummah that long for the return of the Khilafah. In contrast, the hatred of Western imperialism amongst those who lived and live under the shackles of the colonialists exists to this day and none of them are calling for its return.
As Muslims it is our duty to expose the colonialism of Britain as well as the other capitalist nations whilst simultaneously explaining how true justice can only return to the world by the implementation of Islam.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
21 November 2002
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