Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent

Product Information

In many ways, this is well-trodden ground in metropolitan and anticolonial historiographies—bodies of work that have expanded our knowledge of actors and movements transimperially in the last quarter of a century and upon which Gopal liberally draws. Priyamvada Gopal examines dissenting politics in Britain and shows that it was influenced by rebellions and resistance among the colonies in the West Indies, East Africa, Egypt, and India. These include land use, economic redistribution, the meaning of human rights, the undoing of race thinking and racism, ecological and resource protections, the expansion of knowledge bases and traditions of inquiry, the meanings of ‘development’, and justice for minoritised groups.

It is widely recognised and understood today that colonial dictatorship was resisted from the moment of its imposition. It aimed also to think about the quite varied definitions of freedom that constituted the content of anticolonial struggles.A compelling account of how anti-colonial ideas were repeatedly re-litigated in the face of fierce opposition and shows the tireless work of these groups and individuals in slowly constructing and deconstructing concepts of liberty and equality. From there, he made his way to India, witnessing a “white” mutiny as the Europeans of Calcutta vetoed the viceroy’s attempt to open up the courts to native Indian magistrates. This book is a must read if you want to know the history of dissent in Britain during the days of the Empire. The Part II: Agitations and Alliances discusses Shapurji Saklatvala and other voices of dissent in Britain (Chapter 5), British Internationalism from Meerut and the League against Imperialism (Chapter 6), Black figures of dissent in Britain (Chapter 7), internationalizing of African Opinion (Chapter 8), prominent dissenting voices like George Padmore (Chapter 9) and the suppression of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya (chapter 10). Here Anglophone empire is neatly bracketed between the successive conquests of territories and peoples from the seventeenth century forward and the “granting” of independence in the mid-twentieth century.

Nowhere in the world has decolonisation come to fruition: instead, it is often found in an ‘arrested’ condition, a process that was initiated but then diverted, hijacked, or morphed into something else entirely. Gopal has little time for their brand of liberal piety, one that believed colonialism to be acceptable, as long as white men shouldered their burdens like responsible gentlemen.In addition, a pivotal role in fomenting resistance was played by anticolonial campaigners based in London, right at the heart of empire.