The history of British warfare is inseparable from the history of Empire. On Remembrance Day, it is important to remember the victims of colonial wars, as well as challenging the legacies of colonialism today.

We believe Remembrance Day should be about remembering all victims of war, both civilian and military, of all nationalities – including those whose histories are systematically erased.

The victims of colonial wars are rarely, if ever, mentioned at mainstream remembrance occasions. The uncritical portrayal of war and militarism at these events glosses over the history and violence of colonisation.

To remember the victims of colonial wars, we must actively challenge pervasive nationalist narratives that ignore or whitewash colonialism. We also need to oppose the racist legacies of colonialism that continue to influence whose histories and experiences are marginalised and erased.

Decolonising Remembrance is an ongoing project. We welcome input from others, including PPU members and supporters. If you would like to contribute or help us improve this work, please get us in touch at mail@ppu.org.uk

Remembering victims of colonial wars

Every year, mainstream remembrance events focus on British and allied military victims of war, primarily from the First and Second World Wars. According to the Royal British Legion, who distribute the red poppy, remembrance “honours those who serve to defend our democratic freedoms and way of life.”

This version of remembrance leaves little room to examine the human cost of colonial conflicts. The majority of those impacted by these conflicts around the globe, including civilians and people of many nationalities, are omitted.

Even the First and Second World Wars are gravely distorted by ignoring their colonial contexts. Both wars had deep impacts throughout the Empires of the imperial powers, as they drew labour and resources from vast areas of the globe.

During the First World War, millions of colonial troops were deployed, as the British recruited from India and the West Indies, France from West Africa, Algeria, Indochina and elsewhere, and Germany from East and West Africa.

Likewise, during the Second World War, colonial forces were critical to the war effort, with Britain recruiting 2.5 million people from the Indian subcontinent alone. Whilst Germany and Japan fought to expand their imperial domains, the Empires of all the major imperial powers became battlegrounds for territory and resources. The human consequences were often disastrous, from the racist regimes imposed across North Africa to the Bengal Famine in India.

Beyond the World Wars, the many colonial conflicts of the Inter- and Post-War periods are rarely acknowledged in mainstream remembrance. Major British colonial war crimes – such as widespread torture in Kenya during the Mau Mau Emergency, chemical warfare during the Malayan Emergency, or collective punishment in Mandatory Palestine – have barely begun to receive official public recognition.

Remembrance Day is a time for reflection on the full human cost of war and should make room for these histories. We must remember the experiences, both past and present, of those affected by colonial wars and listen to the voices of those who keep their memory alive.

Challenging colonial legacies

The history of colonialism continues to shape who is commemorated on Remembrance Day and how. Mainstream remembrance events celebrate the British armed forces, whilst those at the receiving end of colonial violence and British militarism, both in the past and today, are never mentioned.

This reflects the fact that the histories of colonialism and militarism are deeply intertwined. Colonisation relies on the threat and use of armed force. Simultaneously, military institutions and warfare have themselves been shaped by colonialism. Whether in the continuing military intervention of Western powers in their former colonial domains, or the colonial names of British military barracks, the legacies of colonialism persist in militarism today.

At a basic level, colonialism has influenced which lives are valued and which are not. Some victims of war are recognised by those in power and in the media. Others are ignored, dehumanised or trivialised as a statistic – a direct legacy of colonial racism. This continued ‘othering’ affects not only people in conflict zones around the world, but many lives and experiences within the UK.

Remembrance is part of this history. The nationalist version of British history usually promoted on Remembrance Day has no place for most of those affected by colonial conflicts. British troops who fought in colonial wars are memorialised, as are military and political figures involved in the British Empire such as Winston Churchill and Bomber Harris, while colonial atrocities are ignored.

In recent years there have been some official attempts to address these disparities. A landmark inquiry by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission blamed ‘pervasive racism’ for the unequal commemoration of black and Asian war dead. The Royal British Legion has made increasing efforts to acknowledge the role of Commonwealth troops.

But as long as Remembrance has a military and nationalist focus that shields the armed forces from criticism, it will inevitably exclude the lives and experiences of the majority of those affected by colonial wars around the world.

We believe that remembering the victims of war should go hand in hand with working for peace and opposing militarism. This requires us to challenge the ongoing legacies of colonialism, which distort the way war is remembered and continue to fuel violent conflict around the world today.

Action and Resources

We are encouraging white poppy wearers to raise awareness of the impacts of colonial wars and the ongoing legacies of colonialism, in the run up to Remembrance Day.

If you are distributing white poppies or organising a remembrance ceremony, please consider how to include the victims of colonial wars in your remembrance, so that proper space and attention is given to this issue.

Below is an open-ended list of resources, including in depth histories of colonial conflicts as well as campaigns challenging the legacies and ongoing effects of colonialism today.

This list includes resources linked to the PPU as well as external resources, which we hope you will find useful. Inclusion on the list does not imply endorsement by the PPU.

This list will be added to in the coming months, as we seek further input from our supporters.