The flags of India flying at half-staff in mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II evoke today, September 11, the complex history of the United Kingdom and the country that was considered the "jewel in the crown" of the British Empire .
The day of national mourning decreed by the Government of Delhi during this day constitutes, without a doubt, a show of respect towards the head of the State of the power that served as the metropolis until 1947, when India achieved independence from which this year they are 75 years old.
The gesture of paying official tribute to the late queen is not, however, intended to recall any privileged relationship stemming from a shared colonial past: India's flags were also flown at half-staff on the occasion of the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
creator of the Indo-Pacific concept that inspires a substantial part of the current world geostrategy.
Like other territories victims of European expansion in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, India considers that the time has come to close the colonial chapter once and for all, avoiding a victimization without an expiration date but also the recognition of a necessarily singularity ambiguous in relations with the capitals of ancient empires.
Colonialism existed and was a scourge, one thinks of India, but there are countries that, through their own effort and determination, have come to be able to treat the heirs of those who subjugated them on an equal footing.
That would be its own case with respect to the United Kingdom.
Like other territories victims of European expansion in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, India considers that the time has come to close the colonial chapter once and for all, avoiding a victimization without an expiration date but also the recognition of a necessarily singularity ambiguous in relations with the capitals of ancient empires.
Colonialism existed and was a scourge, one thinks of India, but there are countries that, through their own effort and determination, have come to be able to treat the heirs of those who subjugated them on an equal footing.
That would be its own case with respect to the United Kingdom.
Like other territories victims of European expansion in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, India considers that the time has come to close the colonial chapter once and for all, avoiding a victimization without an expiration date but also the recognition of a necessarily singularity ambiguous in relations with the capitals of ancient empires.
Colonialism existed and was a scourge, one thinks of India, but there are countries that, through their own effort and determination, have come to be able to treat the heirs of those who subjugated them on an equal footing.
That would be its own case with respect to the United Kingdom.
avoiding a victimization without expiration date but also the recognition of a necessarily ambiguous singularity in relations with the capitals of ancient empires.
Colonialism existed and was a scourge, one thinks of India, but there are countries that, through their own effort and determination, have come to be able to treat the heirs of those who subjugated them on an equal footing.
That would be its own case with respect to the United Kingdom.
avoiding a victimization without expiration date but also the recognition of a necessarily ambiguous singularity in relations with the capitals of ancient empires.
Colonialism existed and was a scourge, one thinks of India, but there are countries that, through their own effort and determination, have come to be able to treat the heirs of those who subjugated them on an equal footing.
That would be its own case with respect to the United Kingdom.
In the Indo-Pacific region identified by Shinzo Abe, the disappearance of Elizabeth II has accentuated the uncertainties that had been projected on the Commonwealth and the role of the British monarchy in some of the States that comprise it.
The changing international reality during the seven decades that Elizabeth II reigned was turning the Commonwealth into a kind of abstract empire that the now-deceased monarch was able to adapt and manage with indisputable intelligence, and, it is fair to say, for the benefit of world peace and stability. .
Over the years, Queen Elizabeth knew how to make the Commonwealth the ideal setting to manifest, through symbolic gestures made in legendary silence, the personal convictions that she always avoided revealing in the internal politics of the United Kingdom,
adhering to a rigorous political neutrality and that now, after his death, analysts and politicians have begun to reveal.
Isabel II was contrary, thus, to the British participation in the Suez War of 1956, no matter how much she adhered to her parliamentary role, bending to the decision of the Government.
Her 1995 trip to South Africa to celebrate the end of
Apartheid
, in addition to her public proximity to a figure like Nelson Mandela, one of the few people authorized to call her
Lizzy
- the familiar name by which her inner circle addressed her - revealed an unequivocal commitment against racism, expressed without words.
This same commitment would be expressed again in his 1997 trip to India, the third and last one he would make during his reign.
On that date, India was commemorating half a century of independence and Elizabeth II not only wanted to be present, but, addressing the crowd in one of the few speeches of her public life, she referred to the "difficult episodes" that had marked the British colonial rule.
For some observers of the time, to refer in this way to the violent repression exerted by the London Government against the Indian masses faithful to the doctrine of
ahimsa,
of non-violence, preached by Gandhi, was a way of eluding what was really imposed at that time, which was an express request for forgiveness from the former colonial power.
The reality is that neither the queen was in a position to go further without interfering in British internal politics, nor was the step she dared to take with the allusion to repression during the colony irrelevant.
The demonstrations called by some political forces against the presence of Elizabeth II in India were never held, while British society had to accept, thanks to those terse words, the harshest realities of colonialism.
To such an extent,
More information
Last minute after the death of Elizabeth II, live
Since its more or less formal constitution in 1931, when a group of former British colonies signed the Statute of Westminster, the Commonwealth governed by Elizabeth II came to integrate more than fifty countries and up to 2,500 million people worldwide, the half of them in India.
And although India came to participate in the negotiations that led to the signing of the Statute of Westminster, by which the United Kingdom recognized the self-government of Canada, Australia or New Zealand, while maintaining the head of the British monarchy as head of state, its incorporation into the Commonwealth did not take place until 1950, once independence had been achieved.
A year earlier, in 1949, London had sent its former colony an invitation to join this community of nations, which, moreover,
It would serve as a remote inspiration for the Francophonie sponsored by Paris, the Ibero-American Community promoted by Spain since 1992 or the Lusophony articulated by Portugal.
The only condition imposed by the then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was not having to pledge allegiance to the British crown, giving continuity to the position of full independence maintained by the Indian delegation at the Westminster negotiations.
During recent times, some members of the Commonwealth, such as Barbados in 2021, have decided to become republics, ending the recognition of the holder of the British monarchy as head of state.
This tendency to review the 1931 Statute is also present in integrated countries in the Indo-Pacific region, such as Australia, where the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has created a government portfolio in charge of preparing the separation of the country from the British crown. .
Elizabeth II was able to adapt the Commonwealth to the demands of its members, making it survive.
Her successor, Carlos III, will surely face the same challenge, only in a context aggravated by two pressing political circumstances.
One internal
constituted by the contradiction that Brexit represents in the face of the desire for inclusion that is at the origin of the Commonwealth: after having left the European Union, how will the United Kingdom be able to convince the countries that want to leave the community of nations created in Westminster?
The second circumstance is of an international nature, and has to do with the consolidation of the Indo-Pacific strategic concept.
If a Commonwealth led by the new British king does not identify a clear value to add to other regional alliances such as the Quad, of which India and Australia are part, the peculiar empire led by Elizabeth II may become even more abstract, becoming a barely perceptible echo of the past or even vanishing into thin air.
after having left the European Union, how will the United Kingdom be able to convince the countries that want to leave the community of nations created at Westminster?
The second circumstance is of an international nature, and has to do with the consolidation of the Indo-Pacific strategic concept.
If a Commonwealth led by the new British king does not identify a clear value to add to other regional alliances such as the Quad, of which India and Australia are part, the peculiar empire led by Elizabeth II may become even more abstract, becoming a barely perceptible echo of the past or even vanishing into thin air.
after having left the European Union, how will the United Kingdom be able to convince the countries that want to leave the community of nations created at Westminster?
The second circumstance is of an international nature, and has to do with the consolidation of the Indo-Pacific strategic concept.
If a Commonwealth led by the new British king does not identify a clear value to add to other regional alliances such as the Quad, of which India and Australia are part, the peculiar empire led by Elizabeth II may become even more abstract, becoming a barely perceptible echo of the past or even vanishing into thin air.
and it has to do with the consolidation of the Indo-Pacific strategic concept.
If a Commonwealth led by the new British king does not identify a clear value to add to other regional alliances such as the Quad, of which India and Australia are part, the peculiar empire led by Elizabeth II may become even more abstract, becoming a barely perceptible echo of the past or even vanishing into thin air.
and it has to do with the consolidation of the Indo-Pacific strategic concept.
If a Commonwealth led by the new British king does not identify a clear value to add to other regional alliances such as the Quad, of which India and Australia are part, the peculiar empire led by Elizabeth II may become even more abstract, becoming a barely perceptible echo of the past or even vanishing into thin air.
José María Ridao
is a writer.
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