– There are many emotions – VG

Less than 20 minutes ago

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Both in Norway and abroad, critical voices appeared on social media after the regent’s death.

Condolences e The tributes are coming, but several also point out the dark history linked to the British Empire, of which the Queen was a symbol. In recent years, there has been an increase in people who believe that the British monarchy must confront its past as a colonial power.

Reactions also in Norway

In Norway, comedian and actor Abubakar Hussain is among those who react. He grew up in Lørenskog but was born in Pakistan.

“The British monarchy doesn’t tear a tear from this South Asian here, ass. Morna, Elizabeth. she tweeted.

In response to a comment from another Twitter user, processed the message.

“Do you know the colonized area my ancestors came from? Destroyed nations and religions living together in peace by dividing, killing and raping? And now we hate each other as idiots. “

Painful background

To VG, Hussain says the reaction isn’t about being rude or celebrating the queen’s death. For him it is a long story and feelings.

– Even if something is close to us, it doesn’t mean that that person was a saint and didn’t do shit in his life. With my Norwegian-Pakistani background, I know how my grandparents viewed the British Empire, she says, adding:

– The background is that he was the leader of a country who robbed others for his benefits. The British Empire has really taken and taken. There are many emotions. It hasn’t been so good with people like me, or people in Africa or Asia. There has been a lot of racism in the monarchy, and she could have done something about it a long time ago, she was 96, she points out to VG.

When is the right time?

Some have reacted by saying that now is the wrong time for this type of criticism. Abu disagrees with this.

– There is never a wrong time to raise real issues that have been going on for a long time. And when to talk about it? Now the spotlight is on England, he says and continues:

– People forget that England has been in India for 300 years and has done many strange things, including natural resources. Not many people in Norway know how deeply it affects us from South Asia as people.

– Original sin

VG experts have spoken to believe that there is a distinction between Queen Elizabeth’s symbolic role, her role in establishing the royal house, and the queen as a person.

– When you are born at the top of the aristocracy in a colonial power, you have a kind of original sin about it, so I understand that criticism is advanced. But you have to look at what the space for action is, and the space for action for a regent with no political initiative is rather limited, says professor of philosophy and former associate professor of British cultural studies at the University of Bergen, Ole Martin Skilleås .

Accusations of racism

– His life surrounds decolonization. There’s nothing left of the empire, but it’s the legacy it acquired, says Astrid Rasch, an associate professor of English culture at NTNU.

He points out that there has been a lot of talk in recent years about the British royal house being racist. Both after they never commented on the Black Lives Matter movement, and after Meghan Markle was welcomed into the royal house.

– Meghan Markle said she understood that inappropriate question about the color of the child. There has been a lot of criticism that the Royal House is racist. It also emerged that the Royal Palace is exempt from the kind of discriminatory legislation that applies in the rest of the country, Rasch points out and continues:

There’s also something about the queen’s now deceased husband making fairly openly racist statements. She was very aware of his role and she didn’t say the same kind of nonsense in public that he did. But there are indications of problems, at least within the royal house.

Slavery

Rasch states that the Institution of the Royal House, represented by Queen Elizabeth, is closely linked to the empire. Although it has now passed to the voluntary Commonwealth of Nations, the queen has inherited its history.

– When she took office as monarch, she was at the head of an entire empire. Only India had gained independence at that time. In fact, she learned of her father’s death during a tour of the empire in Kenya, which soon after went through a violent war of independence in which Britain was responsible for horrific human rights violations against the local population, she points out. Rasch.

When Prince William was on tour this summer, according to Rasch, he was greeted in several places by local protesters who demanded an apology and compensation for the royal house’s role in slavery.

– The Royal House has been part of an imperial enterprise for several hundred years, as a representative of the nation engaged in colonialism and oppression. But the royal house also invested in slavery and various colonial projects, so that on a personal level they profited from slavery, Rasch says.

He calls Queen Elizabeth an “important diplomat” in the Commonwealth.

– She was a leader of the country, but it was not a politician, Skilleås points out.

– It must be remembered that the monarchy in Great Britain was largely ceremonial during his time as regent. To the extent that he has done something personally active, he has been maintaining friendly relations across the Commonwealth, he adds.

Mixed reactions

In the United States, a Twitter message from Professor Uju Anya at a Pennsylvania university received a lot of media attention. It has around 60,000 likes on Friday and has been retweeted around 17,000 times.

“If anyone expects me to express anything but contempt for the monarch who saw a government that supported the genocide that massacred and forcibly displaced half my family and what those who are still alive are working to overcome consequences to this day, may continue with wishful thinking. ”she wrote.

According to NBC News Anya explained that her mother was born in Trinidad and her father in Nigeria. They met in England where they were sent to go to university. You define yourself as “a daughter of colonialization”.

The Guardian he also wrote of the mixed reaction to the queen’s death.

“When the Pacific nations awoke to the news of the Queen’s death on Friday morning, there was a mixture of grief, longing, but also grief over the legacy of colonialism in their countries, many of which have become republics in the last decade. “writes the newspaper.

The Washington Post she writes that the queen has mainly a ceremonial role, that she herself has not changed the tide of history. “But in her role, she seemed to embody the history of the nation.”

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