"Colonized countries rarely ask for redress over past wrongs − the reasons can be complex" - by CWP alum Manjari Chatterjee Miller
The king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, apologized in July 2023 for his ancestors’ role in the colonial slave trade.
He is not alone in expressing remorse for past wrongs. In 2021, France returned 26 works of art seized by French colonial soldiers in Africa – the largest restitution France has ever made to a former colony. In the same year, Germany officially apologized for its 1904-08 genocide of the Herero and Nama people of Namibia and paid reparations.
This is, some political scientists have observed, the “age of apology” for past wrongs. Reams of articles, particularly in Western media, are devoted to former colonizer countries and whether they have enacted redress – returned museum artifacts, paid reparations or apologized for past wrongs.
https://theconversation.com/colonized-countries-rarely-ask-for-redress-over-past-wrongs-the-reasons-can-be-complex-214626 - Published: December 1, 2023 8:38am EST
-
Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations/Associate Professor of International Relations, Boston University
Photo Credit: Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey by Francis Hayman, depicting Robert Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the battle of Plassey. The victory at Plassey marked the start of a period form Company expansion which saw them seizing control over the Indian subcontinent and Burma over the next century
