美国国家公共电台 NPR--Queen's death renews calls for the monarchy to reckon with Britain's colonial past

Queen's death renews calls for the monarchy² to reckon with Britain's colonial past

Transcript³

NPR's A Martinez talks to associate professor Natasha Lightfoot of Columbia University about several countries moving to break ties with the Commonwealth⁴ now that Queen Elizabeth II has died.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The death of Queen Elizabeth is a moment for some countries to decide if they really want a King Charles. There is, of course, a Commonwealth of Nations, countries attached to the United Kingdom, in many cases by a history of colonialism. And within that Commonwealth is a smaller group, the Commonwealth of Realms (ph), 14 other countries that still recognize the British monarch¹ as their own sovereign.

A Martinez found that some countries are debating this question. He spoke⁵ with Natasha Lightfoot, who is at Columbia University and wrote a book about Antigua called "Troubling Freedom."

NATASHA LIGHTFOOT: It's possibly the outpouring of grief and calls for respect and dignity that tend to suggest whitewashing⁶ of the queen's legacy⁷ and essentially⁸ trying to paper over any sort of critical responses to what the queen's life signified in her time as monarch.

A MART?NEZ, BYLINE⁹: Queen Elizabeth ruled over the waning¹⁰ years of the British Empire. How can the monarchy disassociate itself from its colonial past, with most members being former colonies of the British Empire?

LIGHTFOOT: That would probably be a difficult prospect¹¹, given that for much of the colonized¹² world, the monarchy has been the symbol of land theft, human resource theft. It would take some form of apologizing. And the problem with apologizing is that such an apology could become a legal basis for lawsuits¹³ for reparatory justice, and that would probably end up costing the British Treasury¹⁴ millions, if not trillions of pounds. So I don't think the work that really needs to be done to atone¹⁵ for the atrocities¹⁶ of the colonial past will probably be engaged with under the new monarch.

MART?NEZ: So in a strange way, professor, it almost sounds as if for the monarchy, for King Charles, it's almost better as if he does not address it and just move forward.

LIGHTFOOT: Well, better for him, but is it better for the millions of people around the world who have suffered under the weight of British colonialism? It's actually quite worse for them because the result in many of these places has been pretty clear signs of underdevelopment, climate insecurity, economic insecurity. There's no way to really disconnect colonialism from all of this. And certainly, the queen's passing has become this important moment, trying to push past the idea that the monarchy is just merely symbolic¹⁷ and that there are real political and material consequences to this kind of political setup.

MART?NEZ: Yeah. King Charles is now the head of state for these nations in the Commonwealth. Is having someone with the title of king in 2022 just out of step with the times?

LIGHTFOOT: Well, certainly. There are many Caribbean nations inclusive of places like Trinidad and Tobago or Guyana or Dominica in the 1970s and, most recently last year, Barbados, who have taken the monarchy off of their paperwork but remain in the Commonwealth. Remaining a constitutional monarchy means that your independence is a bit fraught¹⁸. It's burdened with the shadow of the monarchy still in the background.

MART?NEZ: You know, I asked you that, professor, because it just seems strange that someone is the head of state for a nation where it's probably fair to say, at the very least, that it might be a stretch to think that he shares some of these nations' cultural values or customs.

LIGHTFOOT: Not just the cultural values and customs, but certainly the burden of taking care of the responsibilities of the state. There's definitely going to be a lot of distance, not just culturally, but also politically and economically, between what the current role is of the British monarch and what the prime ministers of these nations actually have to do on a daily basis.

MART?NEZ: For the nations that are former colonies who are in the Commonwealth right now, what do they get out of this?

LIGHTFOOT: The Commonwealth, as a collective of former colonized nations, represents a kind of strength-in-numbers approach. To postcolonial statecraft, it fosters collective trade agreements. It, you know, encourages collective climate solutions. But it should be said that these member countries, as a conglomerate¹⁹ of mostly developing nations, need these collective solutions provided by the Commonwealth in part because of the centuries of extractive colonialism. So it's a very circular thing, right? The Commonwealth is a dues-paying organization. So nations do not get these benefits simply by dint²⁰ of having been a British colony.

MART?NEZ: How do you think it might evolve now under King Charles?

LIGHTFOOT: That remains²¹ to be seen. It depends on how King Charles approaches his sense of what the British monarchy's responsibility is to the former colonies. What we've seen of King Charles' previous outreach as prince did not quite seem altogether radical²² as well, right?

MART?NEZ: And I know Antigua's going to have a referendum on this. How do you expect that they'll try to move forward on that?

LIGHTFOOT: Well, the island of Antigua and Barbuda - they've been independent for 42 years, preceded by roughly 350 years of British colonialism. So the imbalance is clear. To get the referendum to a place where it actually succeeds, it would take these ongoing²³ conversations. The story of decolonization in the British-held Caribbean was one where all of these islands had very similar constitutions. They were basically cookie-cutter, and they were often devised largely by the British, in negotiation²⁴ with some small amounts of leadership coming from each of the territories in the Caribbean. There's a real sense that independence needs to get under way by potentially attending to lots of different elements of these constitutions, and so not just the head of state issue, but multiple other issues.

MART?NEZ: That's Natasha Lightfoot, associate professor at Columbia University.

Professor, thank you.

LIGHTFOOT: Thank you so much for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF TUNDE JEGEDE'S "LES EAUX: THE ESSENCE")

1 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

2 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 whitewashing   

粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的现在分词 )； 喷浆

参考例句：

• Tom went on whitewashing the fence, paying no attention to Ben. 汤姆没有理睬本，继续在粉刷着篱笆。
• When whitewashing the wall, he painted with a roller in his hand. 刷墙的时候，他手里拿个辊子，挥舞着胳膊。

7 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

10 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

12 colonized   

开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The area was colonized by the Vikings. 这一地区曾沦为维京人的殖民地。
• The British and French colonized the Americas. 英国人和法国人共同在美洲建立殖民地。

13 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

14 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

15 atone   

v.赎罪，补偿

参考例句：

• He promised to atone for his crime.他承诺要赎自己的罪。
• Blood must atone for blood.血债要用血来还。

16 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

18 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

19 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

20 dint   

n.由于，靠；凹坑

参考例句：

• He succeeded by dint of hard work.他靠苦干获得成功。
• He reached the top by dint of great effort.他费了很大的劲终于爬到了顶。

21 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

22 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

23 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

24 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。