• letsgo@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Brit here. It’s great to be part of a country that brings so much joy to so many people.

  • Rolando@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    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.

  • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    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

    • FilterItOut@thelemmy.club
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      8 months ago

      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.

    • ivy@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 months ago

      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.

    • ivy@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 months ago

      Lol, you’re right. In fact it’s a US vassal now

  • mastermindowl@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Googled. Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan post a brutal holocaust and not from Britain.

    • ivy@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 months ago

      Wow they really have some geniuses over at lemmy.world, you should probably check with Bangladeshis

  • Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml
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    8 months ago

    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.

    • Bonehead@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      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.

      • LordPassionFruit@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        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.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      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.

    • ivy@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 months ago

      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.

      • dan42O@infosec.pub
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        8 months ago

        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.

        • ivy@lemmy.mlOP
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          8 months ago

          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.