Folly of judging Empire by modern standards

By Amit Roy

BLACK LIVES MATTER (BLM) may score minor victories here and there, but is likely to fail in the long run because it is making the British feel bad about themselves.

The BBC dropped Rudyard Ki­pling’s poem, Mandalay, from events to mark the 75th anniversary of ‘Victory over Japan’ Day (VJ Day). It came after the Jamaica-born op­eratic bass baritone, Sir Willard White, who was going to sing the words at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, complained that one line in particular was “derogatory to people of colour” – An’ a-wastin’ Christian kisses on an ’eathen idol’s foot.

The BBC is acutely aware the ra­cial climate is very sensitive because the BLM movement is seeking almost to press the delete button on Britain’s colonial history.

Mandalay was written in 1890, when Kipling, then 24, had arrived in England after seven years in In­dia. The ship had stopped briefly in Burma [now Myanmar], then part of British India.

The protagonist in Mandalay is a Cockney working-class soldier, back in grey restrictive London, recalling the time he felt free and had a Bur­mese girlfriend, now unattainably far away but whom he had once kissed.

The author of The Jungle Book was born in Bombay on December 30, 1865. His father, John Lockwood Kipling, was the principal and pro­fessor of architectural sculpture at the newly founded Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art in Bombay.

Plans to turn Kipling’s birthplace into a museum have been put on hold because the author is now vili­fied by his critics as a racist and an imperialist. This troubles me be­cause I have always loved The Jun­gle Book, first taught to me at school in India by Father Cleary, our Eng­lish teacher who gave us a love of the language.

Not everyone is happy that the BBC caved in over Mandalay.

Expressing dismay on behalf of the Burma Star Association, which still has 1,400 members worldwide, its administrator, Phil Crawley, said that Mandalay, a favourite march­ing tune for the men of the 14th Ar­my in Burma, has intense emotion­al significance for them.

“In 2015, a major part of the ser­vice on Horse Guards Parade was a reading of Mandalay by Charles Dance,” said Crawley. “Many mem­bers have asked for it to be played at their final commitment.”

Visiting Myanmar as foreign sec­retary in 2017, Boris Johnson was reprimanded by the British ambas­sador, Andrew Patrick, when he be­gan to recite Mandalay at the sa­cred Buddhist Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon (Yangon). He was stopped before he could get to the line about a Bloomin’ idol made o’ mud/ Wot they called the Great Gawd Budd – a reference to Buddha.

Now comes the disclosure that the BBC is thinking of axing the pa­triotic anthems, Rule, Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory, from the 125th anniversary this year of the flag-waving Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Both are viewed as glorification of the British Empire. The Finnish-born conduc­tor, Dalia Stasevska, 35, is said to be a BLM supporter.

Rule, Britannia originates from a poem of the same name by the Scottish poet and playwright James Thomson, and was set to music by English composer Thomas Arne in 1740. It gained popularity in the UK after it was first played in London in 1745 and became symbolic of the Empire, most closely associated with the British Navy. It includes the lyrics, Rule, Britannia! Britan­nia, rule the waves!/ Britons never, never, never shall be slaves. Critics find the line ironic, given Britain’s involvement in the slave trade.

With Land of Hope and Glory, the tune is from Elgar’s Pomp And Cir­cumstance March No 1 and the words were written by the poet Ar­thur Benson in 1902. Its first verse contains a line vowing that Britain’s Empire shall be strong.

If Asians are to find acceptance in this country as an integral part of society, they should try not to make the British feel bad about themselves. Apart from a minority of right-wing historians, who insist the Em­pire was a civilising influence and a force for good, most young Brits to­day are broadly sympathetic to the ant-racist movement. But Asians should not provoke resentment by campaigning, say, for the removal of statues, especially that of Win­ston Churchill, or scrapping of pa­triotic songs with words written in the time of Empire. After all, I do not know of many Asians who turn down CBEs, MBEs and OBEs with their references to “Empire”.

It is wiser for Asians to make the British feel good about themselves. They should therefore part compa­ny with those from BLM who are seeking to change Britain’s past with all its colonial connections be­cause this cannot be done.

Breaking news: Faced with a furi­ous backlash, the BBC announced it will keep the tradtional anthems, though as orchestral versions only, without any lyrics, in Last Night of the Proms. This is the right decision but there is now bound to be a backlash to the backlash.