Ireland Has Yet to Come to Terms with Its Imperial Past

I came across an interesting article about Ireland and British imperialism, so I’m sharing it here. For Korea, which was colonized by a neighboring imperialist nation, there is something to reflect on as well.

In any case, as of 2020.12.31. 01:08, the most-liked comment on the article read: ‘Ireland as a nation had no parliament. (…) Put simply (…) the Irish state has no imperial past.’

Below is a summary.

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How should Ireland’s role under British imperialism be assessed? Ireland’s past is already being forgotten, but Brexit and the Black Lives Matter movement prompt us to look back on it. Britain’s policy toward Ireland served as a testing ground for the colonial policies it would later apply to India and other colonies. The Irish served in the British military and government, taking part in imperialist policy. For the Irish, it was a kind of opportunity. On the other hand, the view of Irish indentured laborers in the New World as slaves was misappropriated by American white supremacists, distorting the true meaning and misery of Black slavery. The Irish fought in World War I. In 1919 they took part in the Amritsar Massacre in India. The Irish acted as landlords in the colonies, and some supported slavery. Even so, the Irish turned away from the empire and erased it from memory. As Ireland marks the 100th anniversary of its independence, how should the Irish look upon the empire?

Source: The Irish Times, ‘Ireland has yet to come to terms with its imperial past’, 2020.12.29.