1 00:00:04,969 --> 00:00:05,969 1945. 2 00:00:07,750 --> 00:00:14,350 The Empire has united behind Britain to fight and win a Second World War. 3 00:00:16,110 --> 00:00:21,530 But when the heady haze of victory has cleared, the British people are left 4 00:00:21,530 --> 00:00:22,530 exhausted. 5 00:00:23,770 --> 00:00:28,470 The nation shattered by austerity and debt. 6 00:00:34,220 --> 00:00:38,020 the prestige and ideals of empire are fading. 7 00:00:40,380 --> 00:00:45,420 As the empire crumbles, imperial attitudes live on. 8 00:00:47,180 --> 00:00:54,180 Britain and her empire must confront the legacy of intolerance, paternalism 9 00:00:54,180 --> 00:00:55,380 and prejudice. 10 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,260 Most of us are white in the head, but feel black inside. 11 00:01:04,489 --> 00:01:05,950 We are black or white. 12 00:01:06,710 --> 00:01:11,870 We are a lonely, lost, sad, and displaced group of people. 13 00:01:14,230 --> 00:01:15,910 Come and integrate, you say. 14 00:01:17,010 --> 00:01:18,230 But how can I? 15 00:01:19,270 --> 00:01:21,730 What is there in my culture you value? 16 00:01:24,930 --> 00:01:28,790 We were told England was the greatest country in the world. 17 00:01:31,010 --> 00:01:32,270 We came here. 18 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,900 And to our surprise, found you wouldn't accept us. 19 00:01:37,420 --> 00:01:44,080 The old idea of 20 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,180 empire is repugnant to us today. 21 00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:53,160 But the colonies are a legacy which we inherited 22 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,320 and which cannot just be thrown off. 23 00:02:30,850 --> 00:02:34,790 1953, the coronation of Elizabeth II. 24 00:02:35,110 --> 00:02:42,050 Her Majesty coming now under the Admiralty Arch, coming into the square, 25 00:02:42,050 --> 00:02:46,190 crowd receives them as only a British crowd in London could. 26 00:02:47,570 --> 00:02:52,830 Although imperial in its symbols and splendour, the event heralds a new 27 00:02:52,830 --> 00:02:54,910 multiracial Commonwealth of Nations. 28 00:02:56,790 --> 00:02:58,330 In 1949, 29 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,920 India had become the first non -white republic within the Commonwealth. 30 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:09,240 Amidst the coronation procession, India's Prime Minister, Jawaharlal 31 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:15,720 I think the development of the Commonwealth is of great significance. 32 00:03:16,420 --> 00:03:21,920 This kind of free association of countries with different interests, 33 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:26,600 outlooks, trying to understand each other is a very great thing. 34 00:03:29,580 --> 00:03:32,000 But life in post -war Britain is hard. 35 00:03:32,540 --> 00:03:35,020 People are struggling to rebuild their lives. 36 00:03:36,220 --> 00:03:38,180 Housing and jobs are scarce. 37 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:41,180 Wartime rationing continues. 38 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,620 In a letter to the Daily Worker, Mary Mullinder. 39 00:03:48,340 --> 00:03:51,520 I am fed right up to the teeth when I do my shopping. 40 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:56,520 I've got just enough money to get my bare rations. We should cut down on 41 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:57,540 coronation spending. 42 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,860 and on the armed forces why should working people suffer 43 00:04:02,860 --> 00:04:21,579 will 44 00:04:21,579 --> 00:04:27,780 you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of the United Kingdom of 45 00:04:27,780 --> 00:04:33,820 Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 46 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:41,080 Pakistan, and Ceylon, according to their respective laws and customs. 47 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:44,060 I solemnly promise so to do. 48 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:51,260 No longer Empress, the Queen is crowned Head of the Commonwealth of Nations. 49 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:10,920 From around the Commonwealth, people send radio messages to the new queen. 50 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,180 I am Haji Jamil from Singapore. 51 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,920 From Nigeria, I do congratulate you on the session of your coronation. 52 00:05:19,220 --> 00:05:24,200 In the West Indies. On behalf of the youth of India, I beg to bestow my 53 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:28,460 heartiest congratulations. On behalf of the entire seven million Africans of 54 00:05:28,460 --> 00:05:32,780 Tanganyika. Felicitations and good wishes of the people of Pakistan. This 55 00:05:32,780 --> 00:05:34,440 country from which Spain you sing. 56 00:05:44,869 --> 00:05:48,670 But the coronation celebrations are short -lived. 57 00:05:49,150 --> 00:05:52,670 The British people have had enough of post -war hardship. 58 00:05:53,330 --> 00:05:54,970 They want a better life. 59 00:05:55,410 --> 00:05:58,950 And Britain's white Commonwealth can offer it. 60 00:06:05,740 --> 00:06:08,100 He says that's the best place for me to get on in life. 61 00:06:08,420 --> 00:06:11,440 You too can go to Australia for only ten pounds. 62 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,680 Australian advertisement tempt Britain's workers to emigrate. 63 00:06:15,980 --> 00:06:17,580 I want to talk to you about immigration. 64 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:22,620 An underpopulated Australia fears encroachment from its Asian neighbours. 65 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,920 British workers are offered passage for just ten pounds. 66 00:06:29,820 --> 00:06:33,140 Australian Minister for Immigration, Arthur Caldwell. 67 00:06:34,060 --> 00:06:38,800 It is my hope that for every foreign migrant there will be ten from the 68 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:45,360 Kingdom. These millions of new citizens will push back our frontiers, expand our 69 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,060 industries and build us into a powerful nation. 70 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:56,360 Thousands of disillusioned Britons apply for the £10 scheme. 71 00:06:58,540 --> 00:07:00,600 A foundry worker in Wales. 72 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,680 I've decided to make a move. 73 00:07:04,580 --> 00:07:09,740 I'm only working a 44 -hour week just now, with no overtime or bonus. 74 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,740 Really, it's a hand -to -mouth existence. 75 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:18,340 I'm a young man yet, and good for another 20 years' work out there. 76 00:07:21,620 --> 00:07:23,820 A young mother from Newcastle. 77 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:27,640 The children will have a better chance. 78 00:07:28,980 --> 00:07:30,560 There's no class distinction. 79 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:33,400 Accent had nothing to do with it. 80 00:07:34,900 --> 00:07:38,840 What their mother and father were will not stop them getting on out there. 81 00:07:39,740 --> 00:07:41,160 If they've got a brain. 82 00:07:46,740 --> 00:07:53,640 In just ten years following the war, over 500 ,000 Britons emigrate to 83 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:54,680 and New Zealand. 84 00:07:56,300 --> 00:07:58,880 More than 400 ,000 to Canada. 85 00:08:05,290 --> 00:08:08,930 On board the liner, Astorius, a ship's steward. 86 00:08:10,390 --> 00:08:13,030 It's always distressing watching the final farewell. 87 00:08:14,590 --> 00:08:18,850 They often play old songs over the tannoy, and everyone weeps. 88 00:08:19,810 --> 00:08:22,790 A lot of them feel they won't ever see their loved ones again. 89 00:08:24,010 --> 00:08:26,350 Australia really is a long way away. 90 00:08:52,930 --> 00:08:56,810 From Chesterfield, Albert Walker, bound for Melbourne. 91 00:08:58,150 --> 00:09:02,770 I took my last view of England and tears were very near. 92 00:09:04,470 --> 00:09:08,230 I thought of all its beauty and all those lovely times I'd had. 93 00:09:09,450 --> 00:09:12,130 I suddenly realised that I may never see it again. 94 00:09:14,870 --> 00:09:17,530 And then I thought of all the advantages I was going to. 95 00:09:18,430 --> 00:09:19,530 A new country. 96 00:09:20,090 --> 00:09:21,150 A new job. 97 00:09:21,770 --> 00:09:22,790 New people. 98 00:09:23,830 --> 00:09:25,070 A new life. 99 00:09:51,180 --> 00:09:57,020 How did we, a young family from Northumberland, come to be on board this 100 00:09:57,020 --> 00:10:01,540 liner, en route to a distant continent to start a new life? 101 00:10:02,700 --> 00:10:07,480 The decision to emigrate from England to Australia is not an easy one to make. 102 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:10,460 It means leaving friends and family. 103 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:12,940 and leaving the country in which you were born? 104 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,200 Do I think I've done a wise thing? 105 00:10:17,260 --> 00:10:21,580 Ask me in ten years' time, when the Bairns are leaving school, and I'll tell 106 00:10:21,580 --> 00:10:22,580 you. 107 00:10:23,380 --> 00:10:25,820 Matt Dickinson, en route for Melbourne. 108 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:30,780 Many of the migrant ships are luxury liners. 109 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:36,100 With everything free except drinks at the bar, the five -week voyage to 110 00:10:36,100 --> 00:10:38,300 Australia is like a holiday cruise. 111 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,940 At the equator, Matt Dickinson and his family enjoy the traditional crossing 112 00:10:45,940 --> 00:10:46,940 -the -line ceremony. 113 00:10:52,580 --> 00:10:58,200 The children were amazed by the sight of Neptune's Court and the antics of the 114 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:00,220 crew and the normally staid passengers. 115 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:06,840 The sight of big -built Scotchmen in brassiers and small -built lasses in 116 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,460 oversized men's pants is really quite funny. 117 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,980 All the band got a real ducking by Neptune's helpers. 118 00:11:17,420 --> 00:11:19,100 And I got my share. 119 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:26,160 After 120 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:33,100 five long 121 00:11:33,100 --> 00:11:35,560 weeks, they arrive in their new home. 122 00:11:40,580 --> 00:11:43,470 Entering Sydney Harbour, Marjorie Black. 123 00:11:45,110 --> 00:11:46,810 Everyone held their breath. 124 00:11:47,130 --> 00:11:49,310 My first view of Australia. 125 00:11:49,810 --> 00:11:55,370 The sun was brilliant and warm. Blue sky and sparkling water. 126 00:11:57,210 --> 00:11:59,850 Most people were impatient to get ashore. 127 00:12:00,830 --> 00:12:02,590 But I was a little frightened. 128 00:12:06,210 --> 00:12:09,970 A ship's welfare officer calms the growing fear. 129 00:12:12,490 --> 00:12:16,950 We had to tell them that kangaroos wouldn't be jumping down the streets. 130 00:12:19,610 --> 00:12:24,670 A couple of elderly ladies were scared to death that there would be nothing but 131 00:12:24,670 --> 00:12:26,990 hordes of aborigines to greet them. 132 00:12:29,170 --> 00:12:35,670 I felt a pang of despair that I could never cope in this strange place and 133 00:12:35,670 --> 00:12:37,270 the whole trip was a mistake. 134 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,840 On arrival, families are sent to government hostels. 135 00:12:49,380 --> 00:12:52,920 From London, 17 -year -old Susan Jenkin. 136 00:12:55,320 --> 00:13:00,400 When we got out of the bus at the hostel and saw all these huts, we felt like 137 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,620 we'd arrived at some sort of concentration camp. 138 00:13:06,260 --> 00:13:08,240 Our first reception in Australia. 139 00:13:11,630 --> 00:13:15,150 Then there were these people talking in really strong Australian accents. 140 00:13:17,070 --> 00:13:18,690 I didn't like it at all. 141 00:13:19,870 --> 00:13:21,370 It was a dreadful place. 142 00:13:22,970 --> 00:13:26,730 I began to think I'd spend the rest of my days in this tin hut thing. 143 00:13:31,730 --> 00:13:36,890 But most migrant families soon find homes in the suburbs and begin the 144 00:13:36,890 --> 00:13:37,890 for work. 145 00:13:38,470 --> 00:13:40,150 Manual jobs are plentiful. 146 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,180 Matt Dickinson was a grocer in Northumberland. 147 00:13:46,260 --> 00:13:49,580 In Australia, he finds work with a railway gang. 148 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:54,780 You have no idea what a relief this new start is. 149 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:58,580 I drew my first pay on the 24th of January. 150 00:13:58,980 --> 00:14:01,740 It was £19 .06 for the week. 151 00:14:02,180 --> 00:14:05,320 My last pay in England was £7 .06. 152 00:14:08,420 --> 00:14:11,940 19 -year -old Duncan Fisher works in a foundry. 153 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:13,160 in Western Australia. 154 00:14:14,540 --> 00:14:18,140 There's a certain amount of hostility at work towards poms. 155 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:24,100 They say things like, the only good pom is a bloody dead pom, that sort of 156 00:14:24,100 --> 00:14:25,100 thing. 157 00:14:25,500 --> 00:14:29,180 It's taken me a long time to work out how the Australian mind works. 158 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,180 The word bastard is a term of endearment. 159 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:36,640 For instance, bloody pom or bloody pommy is an insult. 160 00:14:37,060 --> 00:14:39,180 But pommy bastard is okay. 161 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:54,240 Australia welcomes 100 ,000 European immigrants a year, but refuses entry to 162 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,140 almost all non -white applicants. 163 00:14:58,900 --> 00:15:05,080 The government imposes a policy known as White Australia, which even 164 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,660 discriminates against those of Commonwealth origin. 165 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,060 Australian Secretary of Immigration Peter Hayden. 166 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:20,600 Only those applicants who can be regarded as being of European origin may 167 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,240 permitted to settle in Australia. 168 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:30,380 Australians are nervous about minorities who form ethnic colonies in our cities. 169 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:39,100 The white Australia policy provokes strong opposition from Britain and the 170 00:15:39,100 --> 00:15:40,100 Commonwealth. 171 00:15:40,860 --> 00:15:42,740 In a letter to the Times, 172 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:51,260 It's all wrong for Australia to bar immigrants from coloured Commonwealth 173 00:15:51,260 --> 00:15:52,260 countries. 174 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:59,100 India is overpopulated and starving, and yet when Australia needs immigrants, it 175 00:15:59,100 --> 00:16:00,640 goes to Germany and Greece. 176 00:16:01,340 --> 00:16:05,300 A few years ago, the Germans were hated all over the world. 177 00:16:05,860 --> 00:16:07,780 Now they're welcomed in Australia. 178 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,300 But it isn't just would -be immigrants who are affected by the concept of a 179 00:16:17,300 --> 00:16:18,400 white Australia. 180 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:28,220 For decades, Australia's indigenous population, the Aborigines, have 181 00:16:28,220 --> 00:16:33,760 racial discrimination, the removal of their homeland, and the destruction of 182 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:35,400 their traditional way of life. 183 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,560 Auburn Neville, Commissioner for Native Affairs, 1937. 184 00:16:43,020 --> 00:16:45,680 The problem is one that will eventually solve itself. 185 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,540 There are a great many full -blooded Aborigines. 186 00:16:50,380 --> 00:16:55,520 They are not getting enough food and they're being decimated by their own 187 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:56,520 practices. 188 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:03,300 In my opinion, no matter what we do, they will die out. 189 00:17:05,859 --> 00:17:12,280 The population of so -called full -blood Aborigines is rapidly being outnumbered 190 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:13,560 by those of mixed descent. 191 00:17:16,380 --> 00:17:20,900 It is planned that eventually all will be absorbed into white society. 192 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:29,980 For 40 years, the government follows a policy of assimilation. 193 00:17:31,340 --> 00:17:37,500 Many children identified as of mixed descent are removed from their families. 194 00:17:38,010 --> 00:17:43,770 and placed with white foster parents or in church missions and orphanages run by 195 00:17:43,770 --> 00:17:44,770 whites. 196 00:17:46,590 --> 00:17:52,210 We have the power to take any child from its mother at any stage of its life. 197 00:17:54,110 --> 00:17:59,550 I have no wish to break up families, but other aspects must be considered 198 00:17:59,550 --> 00:18:00,610 besides sentiment. 199 00:18:01,690 --> 00:18:05,010 We must weed out the light -coloured children. 200 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:12,300 In 1949, Millicent is taken from her family. 201 00:18:14,140 --> 00:18:16,820 I was so afraid and unhappy. 202 00:18:17,780 --> 00:18:20,020 I didn't understand what was happening. 203 00:18:21,780 --> 00:18:23,700 I was four years old. 204 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,260 That night we would cry ourselves to sleep. 205 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,020 It was the last time I was to see my parents. 206 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:45,980 Tens of thousands of children, both those identified as full -blood and 207 00:18:45,980 --> 00:18:49,680 mixed descent, have been sent to institutions for assimilation. 208 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,080 Many are subjected to brutal treatment. 209 00:18:57,100 --> 00:18:58,160 Philip Prosser. 210 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:04,300 Every little thing you did was a sin and you were punished. 211 00:19:06,260 --> 00:19:08,720 They hit you with anything they could get hold of. 212 00:19:11,630 --> 00:19:17,630 I was accused of something I hadn't done and was given sex across my arms and 213 00:19:17,630 --> 00:19:20,190 flogged from my shoulders down to my legs. 214 00:19:22,910 --> 00:19:29,070 All they contributed to our future was an unrepairable scar of loneliness, 215 00:19:29,230 --> 00:19:31,550 mistrust and hatred. 216 00:19:32,930 --> 00:19:36,090 Fears that have been with me all my life. 217 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:46,400 Many Aborigines suffer from unemployment, depression, addiction. 218 00:19:48,420 --> 00:19:53,260 Welfare authorities will take many of their children away from them. 219 00:19:59,380 --> 00:20:00,380 1926. 220 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:05,400 Stony Indians parade in the streets of Banff in the Rocky Mountains. 221 00:20:07,390 --> 00:20:11,170 Canada's indigenous peoples are also victims of discrimination. 222 00:20:12,950 --> 00:20:16,010 Stony Indian, Isaac Rolling in the Mud. 223 00:20:17,230 --> 00:20:21,410 When we gave up the land, we gave up our right. 224 00:20:23,990 --> 00:20:26,810 That is why we feel as if we're in confinement. 225 00:20:28,190 --> 00:20:31,150 With all the white people's laws and regulations, 226 00:20:31,770 --> 00:20:36,480 we were brought up. free. 227 00:20:37,980 --> 00:20:40,560 Now we feel the imprisonment. 228 00:20:45,540 --> 00:20:48,480 Canada has become independent from Britain. 229 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,220 But, like Australia, it inherits the prejudices of empire. 230 00:20:57,060 --> 00:21:02,920 By the 1940s, large numbers of white Canadians are moving further north. 231 00:21:04,910 --> 00:21:10,450 The Canadian government encourages the nomadic Eskimos, the Inuit, to live in 232 00:21:10,450 --> 00:21:11,910 small, fixed settlements. 233 00:21:14,610 --> 00:21:18,250 In a report on settlement life, Henry Larson. 234 00:21:20,190 --> 00:21:21,590 Conditions are appalling. 235 00:21:23,190 --> 00:21:28,330 Destitution, filth and squalor are gradually undermining the health of 236 00:21:28,330 --> 00:21:33,690 people and, if not checked, will result in their extermination. 237 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:45,000 Inuit Abe Ukpik There are only very few of us Eskimos, 238 00:21:45,140 --> 00:21:49,380 but millions of whites, just like mosquitoes. 239 00:21:51,380 --> 00:21:55,520 It is something very special and very wonderful to be an Eskimo. 240 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:57,980 We are like snow geese. 241 00:21:59,460 --> 00:22:05,040 If an Eskimo forgets his Eskimo ways, he will be nothing but just another 242 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:06,040 mosquito. 243 00:22:09,930 --> 00:22:12,150 A white resident in Frobisher Bay. 244 00:22:13,130 --> 00:22:18,490 This may be a doomed culture, but we're not replacing it with anything 245 00:22:18,490 --> 00:22:19,490 worthwhile. 246 00:22:20,490 --> 00:22:23,890 We've made every mistake in the British colonies. 247 00:22:25,090 --> 00:22:26,310 And then some. 248 00:22:32,150 --> 00:22:36,030 Many native people throughout Canada struggle to survive. 249 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,460 One third are dependent on welfare. 250 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,060 The infant mortality rate is double the national average. 251 00:22:45,700 --> 00:22:49,760 Life expectancy is one of the lowest in the world. 252 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:02,000 Over the next 30 years, the indigenous peoples of the empire will struggle 253 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,720 to overturn the legacy of racism. 254 00:23:09,100 --> 00:23:11,940 Chief Dan George of the Coast Salish People. 255 00:23:15,020 --> 00:23:17,940 Do you know what it's like to have your race belittled? 256 00:23:19,300 --> 00:23:21,840 What it's like to be without pride in your race? 257 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,400 It's like not caring about tomorrow. 258 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:28,000 For what does tomorrow matter? 259 00:23:30,260 --> 00:23:32,860 It's like having a reserve that looks like a junkyard. 260 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,020 Because the beauty in the soul is dead. 261 00:23:40,300 --> 00:23:41,780 Come and integrate your faith. 262 00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:44,800 But how can I? 263 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,380 What is there in my culture you value? 264 00:24:08,460 --> 00:24:14,320 By the end of the 1950s, black nationalism is weakening Britain's hold 265 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:15,320 African colonies. 266 00:24:18,140 --> 00:24:22,400 In southern Rhodesia, power lies with the white settlers. 267 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:29,020 They are determined to maintain the heritage of their founding father, Cecil 268 00:24:29,020 --> 00:24:30,020 Rhodes. 269 00:24:32,020 --> 00:24:35,020 The white farmer, Hamish Usher. 270 00:24:35,980 --> 00:24:41,040 Cecil Rhodes was a man with a vision. An inner voice beckoned him to build a 271 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,980 great country here, in a land once abandoned to savagery. 272 00:24:46,140 --> 00:24:50,200 My great -grandfather helped carve a living out of the virgin forest. 273 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:58,040 The silence of centuries was broken at last by the sound of civilization, by 274 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:02,060 ring of axe and hammer, and the beat of steam engines. 275 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:14,100 220 ,000 white Rhodesians rule over 4 million Africans. 276 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:21,300 White farmers control 70 % of the best land, leaving most Africans with small, 277 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:22,940 infertile holdings. 278 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:27,600 In Guelo, George Endente. 279 00:25:29,460 --> 00:25:35,220 The way in which the blacks are being treated by the whites is the cause of 280 00:25:35,220 --> 00:25:36,220 the unrest today. 281 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:43,360 The Europeans have cheap native labor, which they exploit at the expense of 282 00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:44,360 African advancement. 283 00:25:48,140 --> 00:25:53,800 The white man has deprived us of all our rights in the land of our birth. 284 00:25:55,020 --> 00:25:57,540 Our state is pitiable. 285 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:08,440 Throughout the 1960s, a wave of nationalism sweeps across Africa. 286 00:26:09,660 --> 00:26:15,300 But fearful of South Africa's racist influence, Britain refuses to grant 287 00:26:15,300 --> 00:26:17,080 southern Rhodesia her independence. 288 00:26:18,460 --> 00:26:23,120 Until Ian Smith's white government yields to black majority rule. 289 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,160 Smith's supporters are incensed. 290 00:26:29,260 --> 00:26:32,960 I most certainly think the British government is... 291 00:26:33,230 --> 00:26:36,390 Let us down, and personally, I think they stink. 292 00:26:36,670 --> 00:26:39,890 I think it's a disgrace, and I'm terribly ashamed of the fact that I was 293 00:26:39,890 --> 00:26:42,690 born in England. They could have really built up the empire, instead of which 294 00:26:42,690 --> 00:26:45,270 they seem to have gone out of their way to destroy their empire. 295 00:26:45,850 --> 00:26:51,810 The basic African definitely is not in a position to take over government. 296 00:26:52,090 --> 00:26:57,110 The African, in no other sphere, have proved themselves capable of anything. 297 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,560 Why is it that in Britain they seem to think the one thing the African is 298 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:02,780 capable of doing is governing? 299 00:27:05,220 --> 00:27:10,300 In a letter to the Rhodesian Herald, Harry Hart, July 1964. 300 00:27:12,740 --> 00:27:15,600 I don't know what Mr Smith is waiting for. 301 00:27:16,780 --> 00:27:21,000 England has continually shown itself to be treacherous to deal with. 302 00:27:21,980 --> 00:27:25,780 If Mr Smith decides to take independence... 303 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,000 then we are all behind him. 304 00:27:30,700 --> 00:27:33,440 This is the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation. 305 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,540 Here is the Prime Minister of Rhodesia. November 1965. 306 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,360 Ian Smith seizes power. 307 00:27:40,660 --> 00:27:43,400 A unilateral declaration of independence. 308 00:27:43,900 --> 00:27:48,180 We are the first Western nation in the last two decades to have the 309 00:27:48,180 --> 00:27:52,500 determination to say so far and no further. 310 00:27:52,980 --> 00:27:54,500 God bless you all. 311 00:27:58,410 --> 00:28:02,370 Rhodesia embarks on a path to South African -style apartheid. 312 00:28:03,710 --> 00:28:08,930 Britain has lost control to white nationalists in her last remaining 313 00:28:08,930 --> 00:28:09,930 colony. 314 00:28:16,670 --> 00:28:22,090 Over the next 15 years, Rhodesia is engulfed by violent civil war. 315 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:32,460 Ian Smith's Rhodesian army fights against two African guerrilla factions. 316 00:28:39,220 --> 00:28:40,220 1972. 317 00:28:41,500 --> 00:28:44,820 Protesters riot against the government's racist policy. 318 00:28:47,580 --> 00:28:52,000 Leader of the communist -backed ZANU guerrillas, Robert Mugabe. 319 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:57,320 Our objective is the liquidation of imperialism. 320 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:04,580 and colonialism through armed struggle we will 321 00:29:04,580 --> 00:29:11,280 set up a democratic state as 322 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:18,080 the battle rages in the countryside 323 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,100 african civilians are caught in the middle 324 00:29:27,340 --> 00:29:28,460 An African village. 325 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,940 If we report the terrorists, they come and kill us. 326 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,060 If we do not report them, the soldiers come to torture us. 327 00:29:40,380 --> 00:29:42,700 We just don't know what to do. 328 00:29:46,540 --> 00:29:51,480 A soldier in the Rhodesian army patrols a village suspected of harboring 329 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:52,480 guerrillas. 330 00:29:53,860 --> 00:29:55,240 You go into a village. 331 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,100 after one of your mates has been killed and you feel bad. 332 00:30:00,820 --> 00:30:03,540 And they say they've never seen or heard of a terrorist. 333 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,000 And you beat the hell out of them. 334 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,000 We're going to take this man with us for questioning, but he won't be harmed, 335 00:30:16,140 --> 00:30:17,140 you're right. 336 00:30:18,740 --> 00:30:20,960 Atrocities are committed by both sides. 337 00:30:21,940 --> 00:30:24,620 30 ,000 African civilians are killed. 338 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,520 White Rhodesians are also victims. 339 00:30:36,940 --> 00:30:39,640 48 ,000 decide to leave. 340 00:30:40,420 --> 00:30:42,480 Many move to South Africa. 341 00:30:46,060 --> 00:30:47,580 April 1980. 342 00:30:48,060 --> 00:30:50,480 The war in Rhodesia is over. 343 00:30:51,980 --> 00:30:57,020 Robert Mugabe's ZANU -PF party has won the country's first free election. 344 00:31:00,910 --> 00:31:03,870 Britain's empire in Africa has gone. 345 00:31:07,350 --> 00:31:14,350 As leader of independent Zimbabwe, Mugabe extends a hand of friendship to 346 00:31:14,350 --> 00:31:16,710 100 ,000 whites who choose to stay. 347 00:31:18,130 --> 00:31:25,010 Oppression and racism must never again find scope in our political and social 348 00:31:25,010 --> 00:31:26,010 system. 349 00:31:26,690 --> 00:31:29,190 It could never be a correct justification. 350 00:31:30,220 --> 00:31:36,340 But because the whites oppressed us yesterday, when they had power, the 351 00:31:36,340 --> 00:31:38,060 must oppress them today. 352 00:31:40,660 --> 00:31:43,360 Long live our independence. 353 00:31:59,690 --> 00:32:04,190 As thousands leave Britain for the white Commonwealth, the British government 354 00:32:04,190 --> 00:32:08,250 calls for workers from the Caribbean to help build the post -war economy. 355 00:32:10,570 --> 00:32:17,550 By 1962, over 250 ,000 West Indians have arrived in Britain, tempted by 356 00:32:17,550 --> 00:32:19,810 the promise of work and a better life. 357 00:32:24,230 --> 00:32:26,450 Jamaican poet, Louise Bennett. 358 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:32,060 What a joyful news, Miss Matty. I feel like my heart going burst. 359 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:36,260 Jamaica people colonizing England in reverse. 360 00:32:38,580 --> 00:32:40,560 They're my poor old Jamaica. 361 00:32:41,460 --> 00:32:48,000 Everybody's future plan is to get a big -time job and settle in the motherland. 362 00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:51,580 To live in London, you are rarely comfortable. 363 00:32:52,980 --> 00:32:56,120 Because the English people are very much closer. 364 00:32:56,780 --> 00:33:01,940 But the government's open -door policy awakens prejudice within many Britons. 365 00:33:03,460 --> 00:33:06,560 Reporting for the Kingston Star, Richard West. 366 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:12,780 At Waterloo Station on Saturday afternoon, a policeman watched the 367 00:33:12,780 --> 00:33:15,000 West Indians who had just come off the boat train. 368 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,120 Well, that's the last of them, he said with a pleased smile. 369 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,880 But his taxi driver friend replied, Too bloody late, mate. The country's been 370 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:25,880 overrun already. 371 00:33:29,660 --> 00:33:33,020 Arriving in London from Barbados, Colin Jemmott. 372 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:38,840 The English are clever. They ran their empire by a confidence trick. 373 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,200 We were given an English education. 374 00:33:42,540 --> 00:33:46,480 We were told England was the greatest country in the world. 375 00:33:46,820 --> 00:33:52,540 We came here, and to our surprise, found you wouldn't accept us. 376 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,920 Many British people have struggled to rebuild their lives since the war. 377 00:34:03,740 --> 00:34:06,820 They resent the growing influx of black immigrants. 378 00:34:08,679 --> 00:34:14,540 The British working class fought for 70 years and more to drag itself up to a 379 00:34:14,540 --> 00:34:15,960 decent standard of living. 380 00:34:16,580 --> 00:34:19,560 Now they come in and reap all the benefit. 381 00:34:25,100 --> 00:34:26,820 A landlady in Salford. 382 00:34:28,300 --> 00:34:29,620 I don't take blacks. 383 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:32,820 I'm sorry for the darkies, but I am. 384 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,699 But I know what the neighbours would say. 385 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,120 Look at Mrs So -and -so. 386 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:40,980 He really has come down in the world. 387 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:49,940 Most immigrants are offered menial jobs, regardless of their training and skill. 388 00:34:51,620 --> 00:34:53,020 They want us to work. 389 00:34:53,690 --> 00:34:54,690 But not anywhere. 390 00:34:55,310 --> 00:34:58,270 Look at all the West Indians in London transport. 391 00:35:00,130 --> 00:35:05,570 When I look around the city of London, I do not find educated, coloured men 392 00:35:05,570 --> 00:35:08,130 working in banks or as policemen. 393 00:35:08,550 --> 00:35:14,110 You can't get a good job, the sort of job you are capable of doing. You have 394 00:35:14,110 --> 00:35:18,530 take what you can get, what other people don't want. 395 00:35:20,630 --> 00:35:21,990 West Indian activist. 396 00:35:22,570 --> 00:35:24,430 campaign against the growing racism. 397 00:35:25,170 --> 00:35:27,470 From Trinidad, Claudia Jones. 398 00:35:29,130 --> 00:35:34,270 If all the coloured people were thrown into the sea, it wouldn't solve the 399 00:35:34,270 --> 00:35:36,630 housing problems or provide enough jobs. 400 00:35:37,910 --> 00:35:44,030 One reason behind the race prejudice is that Britain is an imperial country. 401 00:35:44,910 --> 00:35:50,830 But coloured people are now demanding their freedom and expect to be treated 402 00:35:50,830 --> 00:35:51,830 equals. 403 00:35:53,140 --> 00:35:58,920 But in 1962, the Conservative government passes the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, 404 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,240 restricting entry to Britain from within the empire. 405 00:36:04,180 --> 00:36:07,560 West Indians dub it the Colour Bar Bill. 406 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,640 Many white Britons are appalled. 407 00:36:13,140 --> 00:36:16,460 Is this really the best way to integrate people? 408 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:24,630 How do immigrants already here feel to be told, Yes, you can stay, but we don't 409 00:36:24,630 --> 00:36:26,470 want any more of your thought. 410 00:36:28,110 --> 00:36:33,470 These policies will lead to exactly the social disaster they want to avoid. 411 00:36:36,970 --> 00:36:43,050 But racial hostility towards black Britons continues to grow. 412 00:36:51,790 --> 00:36:58,270 By 1968, the entry of thousands of Asians into Britain, many expelled from 413 00:36:58,270 --> 00:37:02,550 former colony of Kenya, prompted the Labour government to pass a second 414 00:37:02,550 --> 00:37:04,130 Commonwealth Immigrants Act. 415 00:37:06,550 --> 00:37:10,050 For some, however, the controls are not enough. 416 00:37:12,790 --> 00:37:16,770 In a speech in Birmingham, Conservative MP Enoch Powell. 417 00:37:17,530 --> 00:37:23,460 In 15 or 20 years, There will be, in this country, three and a half million 418 00:37:23,460 --> 00:37:24,780 Commonwealth immigrants. 419 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,000 Whole areas will be occupied by the immigrant population. 420 00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:37,400 It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral 421 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,020 I am filled with foreboding. 422 00:37:40,380 --> 00:37:46,300 Like the Roman, I seem to see the river Tiber foaming with much blood. 423 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:54,640 Powell is thrown out of the shadow cabinet the day after his rivers of 424 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:55,640 speech. 425 00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:05,220 But a national poll shows that 74 % of the population agree with him. 426 00:38:07,500 --> 00:38:11,260 I think it is monstrous that the man has been sacked from the shadow cabinet for 427 00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:12,260 telling the truth. 428 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:17,920 We want a complete ban on immigration, or we want all post -war immigrants sent 429 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:19,100 back to their homelands. 430 00:38:31,270 --> 00:38:34,930 Oscar Hahn of the West Midlands Race Relations Board. 431 00:38:36,050 --> 00:38:41,630 If Mr Powell wants to tell more than one million citizens of this country that 432 00:38:41,630 --> 00:38:45,800 because they're coloured, they're unwanted here... This is an act of 433 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:49,380 from which this country could never morally recover. 434 00:38:53,580 --> 00:38:59,200 Throughout the 1970s, many Commonwealth immigrants become increasingly isolated 435 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:00,740 within British society. 436 00:39:03,740 --> 00:39:06,920 Indian -born factory worker, Rampal. 437 00:39:08,140 --> 00:39:14,420 I often wonder in my heart, why English people do not think well of colored 438 00:39:14,420 --> 00:39:15,420 people. 439 00:39:16,740 --> 00:39:22,480 My children will think of themselves as Indian and will live as Indian 440 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:29,000 because so long as their color is not white, English people will not regard 441 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:30,000 as British. 442 00:39:40,730 --> 00:39:41,730 1997. 443 00:39:42,250 --> 00:39:48,290 After 155 years, Britain hands over the rule of Hong Kong to China. 444 00:39:49,030 --> 00:39:53,270 Now, Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong. 445 00:39:55,130 --> 00:40:01,150 That is the promise, and that is the unshakable destiny. 446 00:40:04,170 --> 00:40:09,190 At the stroke of midnight, the Union Jack is lowered for the last time. 447 00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:13,160 In the Daily Mail, Alan Mattis. 448 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:16,360 Now it really is the end. 449 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:23,660 A few islands too small and poor to manage on their own may still be 450 00:40:23,660 --> 00:40:24,860 pink on the world's map. 451 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:31,180 But with the return of Hong Kong to China, the lights of the Empire have 452 00:40:31,180 --> 00:40:32,180 extinguished. 453 00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:35,900 What then is the legacy? 454 00:40:43,630 --> 00:40:48,590 The 20th century saw the British Empire reach its greatest extent and might. 455 00:40:53,210 --> 00:40:56,730 But two world wars weakened Britain's power. 456 00:40:58,430 --> 00:41:03,590 In just 20 years, most of the Empire was handed back to its people. 457 00:41:07,890 --> 00:41:13,370 Many of those who served the Empire are proud of the legacy they left behind. 458 00:41:16,630 --> 00:41:20,550 Diplomat's wife, Joan Alexander, was in Africa for ten years. 459 00:41:22,270 --> 00:41:28,610 I know the popular image of old colonials is gin -swilling so -and -sos, 460 00:41:28,610 --> 00:41:29,850 wasn't like that at all. 461 00:41:30,430 --> 00:41:33,590 I honestly feel that we were doing something. 462 00:41:34,590 --> 00:41:37,710 We felt we were making a contribution to the country. 463 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:43,380 The growing generation should seek out those colonial men and women who have a 464 00:41:43,380 --> 00:41:50,140 tale to tell, because whether they liked it or not, they followed the flag and 465 00:41:50,140 --> 00:41:51,280 did their duty. 466 00:41:55,340 --> 00:42:02,300 Education, technology, sport, law and democracy, all are positive 467 00:42:02,300 --> 00:42:03,380 legacies of empire. 468 00:42:08,780 --> 00:42:13,020 Commonwealth countries which once oppressed their indigenous peoples are 469 00:42:13,020 --> 00:42:15,420 striving to redress the wrongs of the past. 470 00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:26,460 In 1992, Australia's Prime Minister, Paul Keating, acknowledged the suffering 471 00:42:26,460 --> 00:42:27,640 of the aborigines. 472 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:34,420 We took the traditional land and smashed the traditional way of life. 473 00:42:34,980 --> 00:42:36,740 We brought the diseases. 474 00:42:37,770 --> 00:42:38,770 and the alcohol. 475 00:42:40,850 --> 00:42:42,550 We committed the murders. 476 00:42:43,390 --> 00:42:45,810 We took the children from their mothers. 477 00:42:46,970 --> 00:42:50,390 We practiced discrimination and exclusion. 478 00:42:52,550 --> 00:42:55,550 It was our ignorance and our prejudice. 479 00:43:04,620 --> 00:43:10,020 But the negative legacy of the British Empire still blights the lives of many 480 00:43:10,020 --> 00:43:11,020 the former colonies. 481 00:43:15,020 --> 00:43:21,060 In 1947, Britain lost its greatest possession, India. 482 00:43:22,780 --> 00:43:23,820 Amitabh Pav. 483 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:31,780 As their final act before relinquishing colonial control, the British decided to 484 00:43:31,780 --> 00:43:32,900 divide India. 485 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,400 The result was a human catastrophe 486 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:45,360 Independent India and Pakistan have 487 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:48,020 to deal with this legacy of partition 488 00:43:48,020 --> 00:43:55,000 In January 2002 people 489 00:43:55,000 --> 00:44:00,180 flee across the border once again as India and Pakistan fight over the 490 00:44:00,180 --> 00:44:01,480 possession of Kashmir 491 00:44:06,990 --> 00:44:13,230 British journalist Peter Preston. New Delhi and Islamabad are locked in the 492 00:44:13,230 --> 00:44:14,650 warp of half a century ago. 493 00:44:16,710 --> 00:44:19,910 Only the nuclear warheads in their arsenals are new. 494 00:44:20,930 --> 00:44:24,490 Kashmir is the world's most punishingly futile crisis. 495 00:44:26,710 --> 00:44:33,150 Fifty years on, the mess that we Brits left behind returns to haunt us all. 496 00:44:45,580 --> 00:44:50,840 Twenty years after Rhodesia's independence, Robert Mugabe had the 497 00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:52,200 regime in Zimbabwe. 498 00:44:54,880 --> 00:45:00,960 His war veterans, some former guerrillas from the 70s War of Independence, are 499 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:02,860 seething land from white farmers. 500 00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:09,020 The land is ours. We are not part of the British Empire. 501 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:12,440 We are not an extension of Britain. 502 00:45:12,780 --> 00:45:14,500 So, Mr Blair, 503 00:45:17,660 --> 00:45:20,840 Farmer Cathy Buckle, March 2000. 504 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:27,900 Dozens of farms have been invaded by huge crowds wielding accidents, shouting 505 00:45:27,900 --> 00:45:30,560 and singing and demanding land. 506 00:45:34,580 --> 00:45:40,260 My initial reaction was to get out, evacuate the farm. 507 00:45:42,190 --> 00:45:48,070 But how do you make the decision to walk out on your life, your home, everything 508 00:45:48,070 --> 00:45:51,530 you've worked for, all the people that depend on you? 509 00:45:55,470 --> 00:46:02,090 By 2002, 95 % of white farms had been seized by Mugabe's forces. 510 00:46:08,610 --> 00:46:12,990 But the legacy of empire is most evident in Britain itself. 511 00:46:14,490 --> 00:46:18,730 In 50 years, the face of Britain has been transformed. 512 00:46:22,930 --> 00:46:29,910 Britain's multicultural society embraces people, cultures and religions from all 513 00:46:29,910 --> 00:46:31,190 over the former empire. 514 00:46:34,270 --> 00:46:38,610 But sometimes this diversity ignites racial tension. 515 00:46:41,130 --> 00:46:47,750 In the summer of 2001, violent race riots between whites and Asians flared 516 00:46:47,750 --> 00:46:49,670 Britain's northern towns and cities. 517 00:46:53,030 --> 00:46:56,210 In Bradford, Manohar Jan Khan. 518 00:46:57,790 --> 00:47:00,930 The empire has faded from the subcontinent. 519 00:47:01,590 --> 00:47:06,150 But within our streets, the white sahibs still make the decision. 520 00:47:10,220 --> 00:47:15,480 We are the new generation of Asian young people, British citizens born and bred, 521 00:47:15,660 --> 00:47:21,200 free from the shackles of empire, yearning to be given fair and equal 522 00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:31,040 Today, white, black and Asian Britain search for a new national identity 523 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:32,500 within Europe. 524 00:47:34,700 --> 00:47:38,700 The prejudices of empire are finally fading. 525 00:47:40,750 --> 00:47:43,690 Oxford Professor Papan Rai Chowdhury. 526 00:47:45,230 --> 00:47:50,410 Of course there are problems when people from very different cultures come to 527 00:47:50,410 --> 00:47:51,410 live together. 528 00:47:53,350 --> 00:47:56,830 The picture 50 years ago was very different. 529 00:47:59,990 --> 00:48:06,010 But the problem today owes more to deprivation than to intolerance and 530 00:48:06,010 --> 00:48:07,010 bigotry. 531 00:48:08,150 --> 00:48:09,690 In my experience, 532 00:48:10,410 --> 00:48:13,490 This is the most tolerant society in the world. 533 00:48:14,850 --> 00:48:19,250 I am deeply optimistic about the future of multicultural Britain.