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by sumedh 3236 days ago
I guess it's because of the timescales.

I am assuming the people who celebrate the wars of kings in their lands are more than 500 years old while Western colonialism sort of stopped just 50-100 years back.

So the Western atrocities are still fresh in the mind while people forget the 1000 year old atrocities.

2 comments

For example, the crimes of the British during the Mau Mau rebellion are within living memory. And, importantly, the current British government is a successor to the one that oversaw those crimes.
And conversely several African states have governments that either took part in the fight against colonialism personally, or are from families where family members fought the colonial powers.

E.g. when looking at Robert Mugabe's hostility towards Britain in particular (without wanting to justify his authoritarianism and violence) it is worth considering that he fought for independence, and though Britain as responsible for allowing Rhodesia to happen.

I guess this does make sense. I wish people stop glorifying violence distance past, recent past or present.