Power and Dominance  in the Colonial and Post-colonial Times Sunanda Sen

The recent uprising and protests, in a large number of the White-settled countries in connection with the murder of an unarmed Black-American, George Floyd  by a White policeman on duty in Minneapolis has re-opened pages of history relating to unequal power , with   state- sanction of White supremacy over ‘others’ having a subordinate status. As  history unfolds it, the over-powered included the slaves acquired from Africa, the indentured labour shipped from tropical Asia,  while colonies like India providing  the flow of unpaid ‘drain’ of surpluses from taxes collected within . The pattern of racial dominance seems to have continued , even today, in the incapacitated  Geoge Floyd’s choking to death.

One  observes the vehement reactions to the murder on part of the present generation, both Whites and the non-Whites, mostly from   Northern America  and Britain. This comes not only  with the claim that ‘Black Lives Matter’ but with questionings of repressive policies in the past, with oppression of the African slave community in US  and elsewhere, and of  labour from the tropics. The anger reflects itself in  massive protests by the youth in different corners of USA as well as in Canada, followed by the overthrown statues in UK.   The dismantling  include the statue of Edward Colson in Bristol ,  the Deputy Governor  of the then Royal African Company which had the monopoly in England, from 1662, of trade in precious metals and  slaves along the west coast of Africa. Colson . organised transport of 84000 Africans to  different parts of the world as slaves. Well- connected to the ruling elite including the Royalty, Colson made  a fortune  while leaving a mark in Bristol in terms of various buildings which continue to bear his name today.

Protests in England, spread beyond Bristol to Oxford and London, has not been just targeting the symbolic presence of the colonial era in  statues of   leading statesmen and wealthy traders of Britain  in  years of Britain’s global supremacy. The voices bring to the fore the need for a  re-read of colonial history –  the modality of the  colonial past engineered by statesmen like  Robert Clive, Cecil Rhodes and even Winston Churchill –  rewarded for the successful handling of colonial matters. While this may mean further academic research on issues relating to Colonialism , the anti-racist messages, hopefully, will also help in arresting the adversities faced by sections of society identified as the ‘other’ by the White community.

Digging up the historical records of oppression,  one recalls , in US, the African slaves in the background of the Civil War, and the Colonial past  for the British Empire, details of which may help in excavating further details of the mode of persecution. One comes across the loot of the taxed revenue from  Colonial India by Britain, the ruling nation , all in the pretext of meeting the so-called ‘Home charges ’ to meet  overseas expenditure.As pointed by Indian nationalists like Dadabhai Naoroji  the tribute paid could be characterized as  a Drain  of resources! One also needs to reckon ,in a similar context, the oligarchy between the Secretary of State for India in London and British silver merchants  who collided to keep out Bombay silver traders and banker like Chunilal  Saraya from  silver trade as needed for coinage in India. Similar instances of  coercion, malpractices and misappropriation abound in the history of British domination in Colonial India.

Parallel to the drain of resources which consisted of the unpaid  transfers of revenue from colonial India, there ran a parallel drain from India, which was the flow of  indentured labour. Those were  shipped to the British owned plantation islands in Mauritius, Demerera ( now Guyana) and Jamaica , to work in sub-human conditions , and to fulfil  the commercial interests of the British elite owning  such estates. The flow was  much needed in the plantations as slavery was banned all over the British Empire by an Act passed in the British Parliament in 1938 . Incidentally, the legislation, advanced by the slavery abolition lobby in England, was also motivated by their interest in achieving efficiency by having a ‘ free market’ of labour . However, the abotion of slavery, followed by other forms of deploying labour,  was  far from  delivering a free labour market. As for planters, the easiest way  to keep the former slaves attached to the estates was to have them as apprentices over a short period . It  was  virtually a forced scheme of four to six years for the  former slaves above age six and a half , thus in effect a form of compensation to the planters. Moreover, the   emancipated  slaves were forced to provide 40½  hours a week of unpaid labor to their former masters over the six years of apprenticeship. The scheme ended by 1838, largely with reluctance of ex-slaves to continue as plantation workers .

By this time  indenturing of labour from India  started almost immediately  with  a fresh stream of involuntary workforce procured  from there. Given the arduousness of the work and the sub subsistence wages the planters were ready to pay, it soon became apparent that it was only those who were too poor to pay their own passage to the islands would accept such employment . Thus  the planters’ targeted the denser populations of Asia which included those in the poverty and famine-stricken India.  “..Importation of East Indian Coolies “, as pointed out by the Royal Commission of Labor ( 1892), “did much to rescue the sugar industry from bankruptcy” .

Details are available on the miserable state  those workers faced in the distant islands, having been recruited with no knowledge of the destination or the terms of the make-believe contract. On reaching  the workplace, their movements were under strict control with penalties including the whipping by cat-o-nine tails to inflict severe punishments. On the whole, the flow of the recruited Indians as above signified a parallel process of drain from the subcontinent, of  people often ‘ignorant’ of the  destination or  the life waiting there.

Voyages to carry labour were organised ,among others, by  the well connected  Liverpool merchant , John Gladstone, familiar  with the earlier slave trade. Owning estates in plantations  and a  shipping company he  was responsible for initiating shipments  of indentured  labour  from India by using the contact of Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company in India with a request for the  “…supply of 100 young, active, able-bodied” laborers on contract  for his estates.” That he was powerful enough to stall a temporary ban on such shipping was evident with his success in persuading Robert Peel. British administration was very much supportive of the indenturing project which helped both  investments on those estates  by rich people in London  City and the mercantile trade in processing raw sugar from there.

Power, based on  proximity to ruling authorities, has been responsible for using race as a tool for subordination. This is evident in  the continuing pattern of oppression, from the colonial era down to  the current episodes of  brutality in the most advanced regions . Refusal and disapprovals, on part of  the current generation , to  accept the past , will hopefully help to  shape a future which conforms to humanity.

(This article was originally published in The Wire on June 27, 2020)