Where Is the Royal Funeral for All the Victims of Queen Elizabeth’s Empire?

Queen Elizabeth II lies in state this week, after decades at the helm of the British monarchy. While the official mourning continues, what about countries around the globe that the British colonized, oppressed, and deprived of resources? This week on The Freedom Side, Eugene and Rania will speak with guests about several of those formerly colonized areas:

The British Empire infamously colonized India for centuries, subjugating its peoples, extracting wealth, and causing famine and the deaths of millions. NewsClick and Peoples Dispatch journalist Prasanth R. discusses the lengthy list of the empire’s crimes against India and the long-lasting effects.

In the first year of Elizabeth’s reign, 1952, the British brutally put down the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya, which continued for several years as the Kenya Land and Freedom Army fought for the self-determination of their people. National Vice Chairperson and the National Organising Secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya, Booker Ngesa Omole, sheds light on the real legacy of Queen Elizabeth and the British in Kenya.

During her reign, Elizabeth oversaw the brutal repression against Northern Ireland and the Irish Republican Army as they fought for national liberation. Following the Queen’s death, the newly-crowned King Charles began his tour of Northern Ireland on Tuesday. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland, Eugene McCartan, discusses Britain's legacy of violence and colonial repression in Ireland.

The Horn of Africa and members of its diaspora worldwide are protesting this weekend against the West’s support for the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, which violently ruled Ethiopia for 30 years and has since been at war with Ethiopians and the government. Hermela Aregawi, Ethiopian-American journalist of Tigrayan descent & organizer with #NoMore Movement, describes the devastation that the TPLF has wreaked and the current movement to end U.S. support.

Earlier this month, Chileans rejected a newly drafted national progressive constitution in a plebiscite. However, in 2020 voters had just approved in large numbers the drafting of a new constitution, and after that had overwhelmingly voted for progressive representatives to the Constitutional Convention. Patricio Zamorano, political analyst and director at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, explains what happened and what’s next.

Jackson, Mississippi residents are still on boil-water notice—now for more than six weeks. But this is a constant and systemic issue in a hundred-year-old pipe system that the mayor said last year needs to be fully replaced, which would cost more than a billion dollars. Danyelle Holmes, national organizer with the Poor People's Campaign & a Jackson, MS resident, shares what’s been going on in Jackson and in towns just like it around the country.

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