Comments on: The Defence of Duffer’s Drift, Third Dream, Outcome

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Mon, 12 May 2014 15:41:30 +0000

Though that’s the Kaffirs, not the Boers of course.

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Mon, 12 May 2014 15:40:01 +0000

See the passing comments about piles of litter on the periphery of the kraal, for instance.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Mon, 12 May 2014 15:31:25 +0000

I don't know if the Boers' biggest problem in British concentration camps was their lack of experience living in enclosed spaces, but it seems surprisingly credible to me after seeing a small Indian village firsthand. Any and all trash went straight to the ground there, whether it was biodegradable or not — presumably because everything was biodegradable a generation earlier. And I know Singapore took extreme measures to inculcate modern notions of cleanliness decades ago, with its infamous laws against spitting, chewing gum, etc.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 12 May 2014 13:38:43 +0000

John Buchan, who was in charge of a concentration camp, thought the big problem was farmers unused to keeping a small enclosed living space clean. Establishment apologist, man on the ground who knew what he was talking about, both?

By: Toddy Cat

Toddy Cat — Mon, 12 May 2014 13:30:53 +0000

I have no brief for the British Army, seeing as how my ancestors fought against it twice, but I think that you’ll find that almost every military in history has committed at least some war crimes, especially during insurgencies, and the Brits are far from the worst. Why such a focus on the British? Yes, the Boer War is terrible, but it was hardly unique. And yes, colonialism is so unpopular these days, one can say almost anything about it and be believed, so all claims such as Monbiot’s deserve special scrutiny. The man is not exactly a high-powered intellectual.

By: Zhai2Nan2

Zhai2Nan2 — Sat, 10 May 2014 00:22:35 +0000

Certainly it is possible that many people have told lies about British troops. Certainly it is possible that Monbiot is a fool who has been tricked by false reports of atrocities that never happened in fact. But there is an awful lot of evidence that the British military was a high-powered atrocity machine for centuries. Its scorched earth policy led to the destruction of about 30,000 Boer farmhouses and the partial and complete destruction of more than forty towns. Thousands of women and children were removed from their homes by force. They had little or no time to remove valuables before the house was burnt down. They were then taken by oxwagon or in open cattle trucks to the nearest camp. Conditions in the camps were less than ideal. By all means, let's presume Monbiot is incompetent and subject all of his claims to great criticism. I am confident that there is more than enough evidence for perfidy.

By: Toddy Cat

Toddy Cat — Fri, 09 May 2014 13:34:42 +0000

With all due respect, Monbiot is deeply prejudiced against the British Empire, and many people regard his main source concerning the Mau Mau Uprising, Caroline Elkins, to be an anti-British propagandist. You might want to read this for a little balance: Daniel Goldhagen and Kenya: recycling fantasy. David Elstein is a leftist and hardly an apologist for the British Government, but he is unconvinced about the scale of atrocities in Kenya.

By: Zhai2Nan2

Zhai2Nan2 — Fri, 09 May 2014 08:23:04 +0000

The detention described in Duffer's Drift presumably would not be grounds for a war crimes trial. I presume the author understood the relevant regulations and presented a picture of civilized British soldiers that his superiors would praise. However, Duffer's Drift is fiction, and the actual conduct of the British during the actual Boer War included many, many war crimes. Over the weekend I plan to start a series of posts on how a culture of "plausible deniability" can lead to war crimes. Some of my source texts will be from Monbiot, e.g. Dark Hearts.

By: Toddy Cat

Toddy Cat — Thu, 08 May 2014 21:52:32 +0000

It’s not a war crime to detain potentially hostile civilians.

By: Zhai2Nan2

Zhai2Nan2 — Thu, 08 May 2014 21:10:22 +0000

Bad writing on my part: I forgot to connect my quote to my rant.

The quote above, “When collecting the friendly stranger…” has a humorous tone with Biblical allusions. It suggests that the speaker is a Bible-reading Christian who jokes around a lot. This is public relations for Brit soldiers at home who have to answer criticisms from Brit civilians.

The propagandistic use of humor and sarcasm — e.g. “friendly stranger” meaning “hostile stranger who won’t fight openly” — is worthy of at least one full-length analysis.