Death to monarchy

Across the world, sycophants and apologists for colonialism have spent today mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

I celebrate her death, as I would the demise of any monarch.

Monarchy has been antithetical to human rights since its inception. It invited no end of horrors—from plunder and pillage to ransom and rape—for millennia before most countries finally repudiated it. Some, like the United Kingdom, preserved it while at least modifying the divine right of kings to place the whims of monarchs beneath the decisions of democratically accountable institutions.

Yet, even though the United Kingdom’s “constitutional monarchy” limits the avarice and arbitrariness of monarchical rule, it remains a blight on humanity. I say this as a child of the British colonial empire, and one among the many diasporas it unleashed across the world.

Shahid Buttar for Change @ShahidForChange

Having been born in the UK as a result of the continuing legacy of colonialism, I celebrate the death of Queen Elizabeth—and every monarch. Monarchy has no place in the world today. It never did, and was nothing more than an excuse for theft and brutality.

AJ+ @ajplus

King Charles III is now head of state in 14 countries outside the UK — a legacy of British colonization. But some have indicated plans to cut those ties: In Jamaica, officials have said they plan to become a republic and seek $10 billion in reparations for the slave trade. https://t.co/pBcCbxjxDH

September 8th 2022

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The British crown enjoys vast wealth accumulated over centuries. Much of it was stolen through conquest and appropriation. Reparations have never been offered, and the continuing legacy of that era of British colonialism continues to drive international conflict from South Asia to the Middle East.

Queen Elizabeth may have been a less terrifying leader than her predecessors, but that’s largely because British aristocrats extracted concessions that have over time dramatically limited the power of the throne. Even if her political power paled in comparison with that of her predecessors, however, her wealth certainly did not. Her personal net worth in 2019 was over half a billion dollars, plus $25 billion in land and estates.

That has all been inherited by someone who—with a straight face, in the year of our Lord 2022—claims the title of “King Charles III.”

Charles [I refuse to sincerely use a monarchical honorific for yet another generation of entitled parasites] also inherits an annual subsidy worth over $115 million in 2021. Upon the death of his mother, he became the head of state in 14 countries well beyond the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth was the longest-lived and longest-reigning monarch in British history. Only one documented monarch in world history outlived her. That is to say, she benefited from the parasitic scam of monarchy, skimming off the top of the British—and world—economies, for longer than anyone else in history.

Many gave her medals. She’ll likely gain further posthumous honors.

As a child of British colonialism, here’s the song I wish our dear departed Queen could hear. She, and every other monarch around the world who clings to an archaic mode of government that spits in the face of democracy and human dignity, could learn a few things from the West African musical visionary who wrote it...