786
Brit here. It's great to be part of a country that brings so much joy to so many people.
this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
786 points (98.5% liked)
Memes
50273 readers
665 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
American here, proud to see we started a trend. (And that’s pretty much the only thing to be proud of as an American)
Technically the british parted from their own government first...
Pro tip: there's no need to wait for a holiday to celebrate your independence from Britain. I'm going to celebrate it right now.
It still amazes me that a country as tiny as the UK was this ambitious and powerful to expand like that. Like if any of those other countries banded together and were like Yeah, No, it's not on mate. Their numbers would eclipse the UK. maybe somebody with mechanics of colonization can explain how the UK was "succesful" at this venture
Look up the CCPgrey video about who holds the keys to the kingdom. Napoleon wasn't necessarily being dismissive when he called England a nation of merchants. They were very good at organizing power structures in ways that benefited them.
I think the title of that video is "The Rules for Rulers"
Thanks
It's a long story, and my entry point into understanding the breakup of the British sterling system was history about post-WWI shift from colonial empires to Harry Truman "development" (really maldevelopment, the language used for capitalist NGO aid today is very similar to his inaugural address).
Long story short it involves merciless application of death and torture to enclose a region and keep costs down, as well as ruthless exploitation of civilians to try to crack guerillas, the Phoenix Program's main innovation over what was implemented in the Congo and Malaysia was a proto-internet communications system,and a methodical operations system escalating above that to commando squads and air strikes. The philosophy of anti-colonial torture has only grown more severe and incorporated electrical wires, clinical psychology, and evasion of human rights organizations. Look up "The Five Techniques".
This is in order to establish a top-down system where colonies do not trade with one another, but only interface with the rigged colonial economy. Wall st + world bank + imf system has just taken this to further extremes with Blackrock and Vanguard against 84% of the population of the world plus 90% of the population of the remaining 16% in global north countries. The currency system being used is less crude and there is also the technological dependency on the payment systems like Swift to consider.
the British sterling system
Me: the British stealing system
Thanks
America out there doing it before it was cool.
Then bankrupting the Empire by selling it guns to defend the Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_that_have_gained_independence_from_the_United_Kingdom says the current count is 65 countries, but cites https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-countries-to-have-gained-independence-from-the-same-country which says 66 (4 + 62).
France and Spain are in second and third place with 28 and 17, respectively.
I like how this implies that France never became independent and is still a vassal state.
Lol, you're right. In fact it's a US vassal now
Googled. Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan post a brutal holocaust and not from Britain.
Wow they really have some geniuses over at lemmy.world, you should probably check with Bangladeshis
Canada is wrong here. I think 1971 is referencing when our new constitution was prepared (which we didn't have the right to implement or edit without British OK until 1982, but this is not celebrated). What is celebrated is Canada Day, 1 July 1867 but that celebrates Confederation into Canada under British rule, not Independence.
Technically, Canada is still under British rule since our constitution is tied to the monarchy, and all bills must receive royal assent by the Governor General which is the King's official representative. Sure, we essentially govern ourselves, but the monarchy still holds the reins.
Fun fact: According to our governing documents, the Governor General is the Queen's representative, and King Charles is just fulfilling the role and duties of the Queen. Evidently, those who wrote is assumed Victoria would never die.
Also the graphic looks atrocious
Britain is the abusive relationship you finally free yourself from, only to realize they are gonna keep the mattress.
Not a meme.
It's an image with a caption 😤 couldn't find another comm
Did you try your face?
Gottem.
[airhorn x3]
Fuck you, man - I did not need my head to recreate that...
[airhorn x4] [foghorn] [car awooga x2] [glass breaking] [wilheim scream] [airhorn x2]
I am a true menace.
How many people celebrate Christmas, comparatively?
So, I was going to do that math but it's 65 fucking countries and I'm bored but I ain't got that much battery left on my phone.
At one time Britain ruled over 1 out of every 5 people on the planet. If we carry that forward to today it's roughly 1.6 billion people. Let's call that the lower bound.
If we take the average population of any given country, which is fair given that China wasn't but India was one of them, and divide that by the number of countries and then multiply it by the number Britain used to rule, we get 2.6 billion.
Let's call that the upper bound.
There are roughly 2.6 billion christians worldwide. But not all of them celebrate Christmas. In the US, 85%-95% do. Let's just use that for the upper bound and say 2.2 to 2.5 billion people celebrate Christmas worldwide. Let's say 50% is the lower bound, at 1.3 billion people.
Which means that it's possible, and not even unlikely that more people celebrate independence from Britain than celebrate Christmas.
What about all the non christians that celebrate Xmas...
... Rounding error. That number is gonna be pretty small, and mostly limited to majority Christian, Western countries.
Don't call me a rounding error!!!
I have and will continue. Don't worry I'm also a rounding error. Honestly rounding error could sum up my entire generation
Could there be one in the future how x country has now stopped oppressing them?
Do you mean could there be a better infographic posted? With more info about decolonization?
I have some resources there, people are competing to make the flashiest infographics about it now which is nice. Extremely fringe benefit of YouTube and TikTok.
Or did you mean poorer countries celebrating a new kind of independence day once they stop relying on Washington or get rid of military bases from Euros?
Because I hope the Sahel states will celebrate their alliance with by establishing a new holiday if they haven't already. For getting rid of the damn French.
There are various ways of oppression occurring everywhere and all around the world. Like embargos, e-waste, textile waste etc. so yes to what you mentioned. But this is an amazing share. A bit blurry to read.
Oh hell yeah, I'll get you some infographics on imperialism. I've got maps of world trade and whatnot. When I clock off I'll upload them.
Do you think they hate it when we celebrate the 4th?
No, we literally could not care less.
By they I ment your government or whatever. I bet the queen was salty.
I really don't think it matters what she tasted like. She's dead, leave her be
The US empire took over for the British empire and they absolutely, like, they LOVE us dude, to an annoying extent our pop culture feeds off each others'