egafd.com

I've read this book twice, written by an old lady who grew up in the debauched Happy Valley in Kenya in the 1930s and 40s. Very interesting:

People have commented on how many of the things done in the days of Empire were bad, and I've conceded that there were bad things done, I've also given the example of how some countries benefited - like what the woman from Swaziland told me about the legacy of colonial times there. My view is that from the year-dot up until about two generations ago any country that could invade/colonise another always did, and what Britain was doing in the 1700's and 1800's was not very differnt to what many countries had done over the previous 1,200 years. If not for invasion/colonisation during the 6th or 7th century, and subsequently, most of western Europe would either now be empty or very sparsely populated. This sort of thing was just what people did years ago and invading and settling people, and the building of Empires by many European countries (although we had the biggest Empire) was just what was done in those days.

videokim wrote:

> Violent crime has always been in Jamaica, when we were out
> there last Jamaican friends showed us a colonial house that had
> torture chambers & much worst.
> The British for sport used to chase slaves through the sugar
> plantations which sliced them to shreds, if this didn't kill
> them they set the dogs on them to finish them off.
> As we said to out friends we can't understand how the Jamaicans
> can even like us but amazingly they don't hold a grudge, the
> only thing good (if you can say this) that came out of the
> British & Dutch slavery abomination is that these people now
> have an identity of their own.
> I would be the first to say America are shits but in this case
> they have kept these proud people going with help to hospitals,
> schools etc after we left them high & dry in 1962.
>
>

First off, Britain abolished slavery in 1837, so this must be a pretty old story. Slaves were very valuable items, so any landowner who really treated them like that was mad, they were his workforce, who else was going to gather in the sugar crop?

As for Britain leaving them high and dry in 1962, well, did they expect us to stay or what?