GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM | YouTube Creators for Change

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Introduce the British Empire as a mandatory part of the Key Stage 3 curriculum

(2) Check out the following books by British BAME writers:

(3) SUBMISSIONS are now closed for zine.

(4) BONUS POINTS ROUND - tell everyone. All of your friends. Your dog. Your local Spar till operator. Your family. Everyone. We need 100,000 signatures to get the petition to considered for a debate in parliament, so let's go!

MORE INFORMATION TO EXPLORE ON THIS TOPIC:

EDL leader Tommy Robinson takes on rapper Akala
Structural Racism and Privilege by Akala

(This for and against reparations debate at Oxford Union is super helpful - make sure you watch both points, and more speeches in the debate if you fancy)
Sir Richard Ottaway - Britain Does Not Owe Reparations
Dr Shashi Tharoor MP - Britain Does Owe Reparations

Young, British and Angry (this is a whole documentary, I found it really useful)
Why Brexit happened -- and what to do next | Alexander Betts
BREAKING DOWN BREXIT:
Independent: British Empire: Students should be taught colonialism ‘not all good’, say historians
Michael Gove redrafts new history curriculum after outcry
It’s right for Britain to reach out to Africa – wrong to send Boris Johnson

PEOPLE TO THANK:

Jette, The German - who put up with my questions:

Music was kindly provided by L-FRESH The LION - of whose music I'm a HUGE fan

Becca is a wonderful person and v skilled videographer, y'all should all watch her channel and also hire her:

Craig was also behind the scenes, helping with admin, shooting some of the footage and generally a great organisational wing-man:

You can see them all credit there.

Where did your clips come from, Leena?

All used under the Fair use and Copyright Act of 1988

[leenanorms]

Also if you're from another country outside of the UK, I'd love to hear your

[lucygardner]

2016 was so bad it was like a meme
2020: cackles

[SophieIslington]

Leena, you make big things seem so simple to start to fix. That's a bloody skill and a half. So much love for this video.

[vallentinac]

This video is absolutely fantastic. So well put together, great concept, great editing, great words. ❤️ sharing this!

[DKooks]

I believe the debate about what should be taught (according to political or ideological bias), misses the crucial point. The real issue I see is that children and young people are not being taught to think critically. It is true that with history that there are multiple sides to the same story. History is really more subjective art than objective science, which is why when you study it at university level you are introduced to the concept and study of historiography (the "history of history"). In fact, I think it is the absence of this on the school curriculum that is more problematic. Give young people the tools to critically analyse so that they are free to come to their own conclusions, rather than spoon feeding them narrow historical narratives. It's about broadening perspectives, not limiting them.

[literari_ness]

It's not even just in History at school in Germany. We read books about the WWII in German literature classes. We talk about it in RE or Ethics. Basically at any point you can insert it, it is talked about. I believe that we were taught about it every year at least once from Year 5 and the scope widens as you grow older and topics become more appropriate for you to learn about.

[ThisNarrowboatAdventure]

wow that was pretty mind blowing, what a wonderful thing you have made ( i want to say peice ?) i really liked what you had to say about white llirbals and the feeling of not relaiting to britishness it put alot of things i couldnt explain into words... It was very beautiful. thank you for making this ( and whome ever helped!)

[spaghetticat]

Thank you so so much for this video, Leena!! Very insightful X

[splitreads]

I love this. What struck me most is you mentioning/discussing how often we focus on the "moving" aspects of our histories (sacrifice & heroism in WW2) and how much we don't focus on and often sidestep discussing the inhumane and systematic ways marginalized people have been treated in the past.

[deanamatni]

I come back to this video essay every now and then. 14:26 and on always makes me frickin' emotional. Very, very well put together. <3

[Zaina_lmz]

Well Leena this is just bloody brilliant ! I'm going to take up on the reading recommendations and get learning, thanks girl xxx

[elise]

i love this. SO want you to make one on Australia tbh but this was so well-informed and presented so beautifully!

[raincityreads]

I just wanted to thank you for making this. I was thinking back over the things - videos, books, conversations, programs, etc - that have stood out to me in 2017. This is one of the top of the list. I'm Canadian, but I'm first generation Canadian. My parents came over from England a year before I was born. I've never really felt like I fit in here, but I'm not English either. Cultural identity is not as simple as where you were born or where your parents were born. And I'm saying that as someone whose cultural confusion didn't involve a different language or appearance. To try to make it simple is damaging. I think your message here is very important and will continue to be so. Thank you for the thought, time, effort and passion you put into this. You are helping make the world a more informed, considerate and accepting place. You rock. And happy new year!

[marthapukallus]

Just discovered this channel and I'm instantly a fan. Great storytelling in this video, I just love the fact that there are people on YouTube using their platforms to talk about bigger issues! <3

[Sophie-ucvh]

I'm Irish and here's some info on the British Empire from this side of events: at the end of the 16th century, Ireland and England fought the 9 years war. It was pretty even until in the last two years one big battle gave the English an advantage. They won the war. At the time in Ireland, Irish was spoken by everyone, and Irish culture was so strong. Poets were hugely respected in our society, we had 'kings' and nobility (which obviously also came with a lower class - we weren't perfect!). Poets received intensive education and were highly intelligent and creative. Then, after the English won the war, some of the Irish 'kings' fled - 'The Flight of the Earls' - to Europe to seek help from international forces to try and fight back against the English again. While they were gone, however, their homes were left vacant and the English began plantations. The poets no longer had anyone to employ them. The English then brought in laws called the penal laws. These forbade the Irish from many things including many forms of respected work (including work as poets), it also forbade us from speaking our native language. From that time on, the Irish language has declined and declined until the present day when it is barely clinging on just trying to survive. Centuries of oppression, violence and decimation of culture followed. Many many attempts at revolution were made. None succeeded until 1916, at which point an uprising got the attention of the nation because the English brutally murdered the leaders of the uprising. This turned the tide in favour of the Irish and after a long and bloody war we managed to claim our independence in 1939. Nonetheless just as the British granted us our independence, a civil war began because of the terms the British gave us for our independence - they maintained a claim on six counties in the North. This civil war was just as brutal as the war of independence but this time somehow the British had managed to pit us against each other - just like they did in India when they granted them independence, if my understanding is correct. After the civil war decades of 'troubles' in the North caused even more violence and death. Eventually, peace was restored but there is still a lot of tension regarding the North. Cities such as Derry/Londonderry are segregated by religion and often nationalists/unionists. Many people want the North to return to Ireland, many want it to remain in the UK. It's a pretty sore spot. Our culture is still trying to resurrect itself. Our language is hanging by a thread. Many of our significant place names have been lost to history because we weren't allowed to use place names in our own language for centuries. Ireland was not innocent in all of this, we caused a lot of death and violence in our uprisings, but the difference is that the British leave lasting repercussions of their actions. No cultures have been decimated because of us, no languages have died out, no civil wars started. When the British colonised in the past, they didn't just damage the people then and there, they damaged the cultures for centuries to come, and in my opinion that is the greatest evil in the world. Not even Nazi Germany, with all the awful, horrific things they did, managed to have the same kind of impact on the culture of Judaism as Britain had on Ireland (and I assume the other cultures they colonised). At the moment, the Irish speakers in Northern Ireland have no language rights. In Ireland, Irish speakers are legally entitled to many things such as sitting examinations in their native tongue, doing their taxes in their native tongue, having their documentation in their native tongue, etc. Irish speakers in the North still have no such rights and the unionists are point blank refusing to grant them their language rights. The fact that British people today could deny people the right to use their native tongue after centuries of forbidding them to use it is absolutely appalling and goes to show that what happened wasn't just in history books, wasn't just centuries ago, it's still happening today. And that's frightening. Obviously I don't blame British people today for the actions of their ancestors but those British people out there who would deny rights such as this, or deny refugees shelter, is terrifying. And here and now I blame them for those awful actions that I can only assume (and hope) are based solely on a lack of accurate information about the situations at hand. (I say blame, I mean disagree with strongly).

Essay and a half I know, but you asked for opinions/views/etc and I think the Irish perspective is worth hearing! Hope this is helpful and/or informative!

[lauram.]

I'm ethnically Korean, grew up in Yorkshire but I know Korean culture enough to understand my "birth right"

Although I know I'm not ethnically British I will still say I am British. If a British family moved to South Korea two generations ago and still stay live there today EVERYONE there would assume they've just lived there for a few years, Native Koreans wouldn't accept them as Korean.
Imo The West is too forgiving and is too calm on refugees.

I believe everyone should be proud of their nationality, race, heritage etc and it isn't wrong to want to preserve that. Everywhere other than the west does...

Edit: if they ever teach about the British Empire I'd expect them to teach both the positives and negatives of the British Empire then possibly see the similarities of it with the Ottoman Empire, Roman Empire, French Empire and so on.

[jenniferlachs]

Wow, this video blew me away! Even more relevant now than when you first made it. You're doing amazing work!

[creativereindeer]

I loved being 'held' by this piece of art. Like the engaging, pace-changing, thought-provoking wholeness of the thing. I valued seeing the world through your lens. Thank you.

[dinakonysbayeva]

Okay, the line has been crossed - from now on, I can't UNLOVE you Leena. What you shared here is inspiring, to the point of scary - because as I see you talking, I understand - sitting on my sofa in Almaty, Kazakhstan, - that the world is truly changing, and I feel drawn even more to do my bit. I know what I am doing, but it's been a slow process. The energy of your message is complex, open, practical and mysterious (ok, British Empire to schools, but the whole thing...how exactly....?) all at the same time.
Thank you for being so immediate and up-to-date. I mean, compared to this, the majority of sources of information seem really overdue.
Much love to you from your Kazakh-Russian subscribers from Almaty (me and my sister). We haven't been British Empire's colony, but I feel this a global issue and a process, so I am very engaged.

[readswitharavenclaw]

This was an incredible video! Both in message and in editing. I just loved watching it and felt extremely, extremely moved.