Proud of Britain and its Empire? Think again!

After all, what group of people wants to be ruled by strangers? So, those who wish to acquire new lands and colonies need to “persuade” others to join their project. Often this “persuasion” takes the form of extreme violence.

We are often told the British Empire was different. There may have been a few missteps along the way but, by and large, the Empire was a force for good. If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you.

Let’s look at a typical example of the violence it takes to build an empire. Remember the Boers? They were a bunch of Dutch farmers who settled in South Africa. The locals were not necessarily overjoyed by this incursion. At that time, the British had little interest. The discovery of gold and diamonds in Boer areas changed all that. London decided it was time for the Boers to move aside. But the Boers thought otherwise, and they had guns. And, unlike the British, they knew the land.

Thus, the Boer conflict of 1899 to 1902 began. A war against farmers. Faced with arguably the biggest army in the world, Boer men understandably took to the hills and fought a very effective guerrilla campaign. As the Boers continued to be uncooperative, the British Empire turned up the violence. This included a scorched-earth policy that meant burning Boer farms, leaving women and children with nowhere to go.

Winston Churchill on horseback during the Boer War

But the Empire had a solution. These civilian families were put into concentration camps. According to historical records, these camps were overcrowded and unhygienic, resulting in thousands of deaths owing to malnutrition and disease. The camps were described in reports as “appalling with grossly inadequate food, healthcare and living conditions.”

We know that 28,000 white and 20,000 black people died in these camps. Between July 1901 and February 1902, the rate was, on average, 247 per 1000 per year in the white camps. It reached a high of 344 deaths per 1000.

What isn’t so well known is the treatment the British meted out to black South Africans. A total of 66 black concentration camps were set up across the Transvaal and Free State, where conditions were just as bad and the death rates similar to those in the so-called white camps.

The aim of these camps was to get black people off their land so that the Boers couldn’t obtain supplies from them.

Violence breeds violence and also leads to almost unthinkable levels of desensitisation. It is said that starving women in a concentration camp asked for the floorboards from a disused British army dance hall to make coffins for their children. The request was refused.

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The concentration camps were given some unlikely names. Here is an account of conditions in the Balmoral camp in Transvaal, where the tents had dung floors. In a report in November 1901, the British medical officer stated: “The children came to Balmoral from other camps, most had had measles, which left them weak, liable to contract other infections, and unable to digest the camp food. Children born since the outbreak of the war were usually frail, probably because of the malnutrition of the mothers.”

After Lord Kitchener arrived to take charge of hostilities the number of camps grew steadily. In the end, there were more than 100 concentration camps across South Africa. Children suffered the most. Of the 28,000 Boers that died, 22,000 were children.

Now, you may think that even Empire loyalists would be ashamed of these atrocities. You’d be wrong. Jacob Rees-Mogg claims that the death rates in South Africa were comparable with Glasgow at that time.

Predictably, this statement is factually wrong. The Glasgow Centre for Population Health gives the death rate of people in the city as 21 per 1000 per annum in 1901. Nothing to be proud of, for sure. But not comparable with the numbers dying in British concentration camps. He may have been on more solid ground had he noted the very poor shape of British volunteer recruits serving in the Boer war. Their physical condition was so rundown it led to a review of social provision in the UK.

Such comparisons are sometimes odious. What is not in dispute is the fact that the concentration camp system found an avid enthusiast in Adolf Hitler, who found British conduct in South Africa commendable.

Despite this shameful record, Britain still lauds the “Empire” in its honours system. An independent Scotland could do so much better.

Savan Qadir is next week’s guest on the TNT show. Join us on IndyLive at 7pm on Wednesday, August 9