The Black Lives Matter movement has inspired new movements across Western Europe. Specifically, BLM has brought attention to the continued lack of acknowledgement of Britain’s colonial history.
Where the horrors of slavery are widely known among US citizens, England’s general populace remains relatively unfamiliar with the subjection and enslavement of native populations by the British empire.
The defacement of a Winston Churchill statue is the latest evidence of rising anti - colonial sentiment. While Churchill is a beloved figure who led England through its most tumultuous years of World War II, it is thought that his policies as Prime Minister led to the Bengal Famine causing the starvation of 2 million Indians.
While this theory remains open to debate, this apparent lack of sympathy for the Indian population does not seem far fetched given Churchill referred to them as “a beastly people with a beastly religion”
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