Vergangenheitsbewältigung Outsourced

Censoring history is, as we know, a Bad Thing and contrary to Britishness; which doubtless explains why the 1823 Demerara slave rebellion is as prominent a part of our island story as the Bard of Avon or the liberation of Auschwitz by Mr Churchill and his American chums. The rebellion was put down by Britain's brave boys, and in the aftermath seventy people were tried and sentenced. Twenty-one were executed, and ten of those had their heads chopped off and displayed on poles as an object-lesson in civilisd values. The shadow foreign secretary has now requested an official gesture of forgiveness by Her Majesty's Government towards the rebels, which of course is jolly sensible and moderate of him: before his promotion to the shadow cabinet, he would most likely have demanded that the convictions be quashed. The Minister for Wogs, Beads and Trinkets responded that, since the events took place in what is now the Republic of Guyana, the granting of pardons would be up to the Guyanese president. The principle that present-day governments are retroactively accountable is certainly an interesting one; although it remains as yet unclear when Her Majesty's Government plans to make amends for the derelictions of our Roman and Norman conquerors, or to what extent Her Majesty's Government holds the current régime in Kiev responsible for the Holodomor.