Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Box Ox" data-source="post: 5398413" data-attributes="member: 48469">[URL unfurl=&quot;true&quot;]https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2021/09/british-india-and-the-45-trillion-lie/[/URL]“Since late 2018 there has been a particularly pernicious myth circulating around the internet that Britain, during its reign over India, extracted $45 trillion from the subcontinent. The enormity of the figure is most likely the reason for its popularity: it provides a swift and easy indictment of the British in India for those who know very little history—after all, nothing good they did could hope to measure up against $45 trillion. The figure was “calculated” by Marxist economist Utsa Patnaik but was popularised by Jason Hickel (self-described anti-capitalist) in an Al-Jazeera article. And since then, it has spread: search ‘$45 trillion’ on Google and you get more than three million results ranging from articles published by news outlets like VICE to videos of India’s Minister of External Affairs referencing it. The figure has gone far beyond Marxist circles and has slowly percolated into Hindu nationalist circles (this synergy between Marxist and nationalist thought is no accident and has a long tradition in Indian history, where the two sides compete to paint the British Raj in the most negative light possible).”</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Box Ox, post: 5398413, member: 48469"] [URL unfurl="true"]https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2021/09/british-india-and-the-45-trillion-lie/[/URL] “Since late 2018 there has been a particularly pernicious myth circulating around the internet that Britain, during its reign over India, extracted $45 trillion from the subcontinent. The enormity of the figure is most likely the reason for its popularity: it provides a swift and easy indictment of the British in India for those who know very little history—after all, nothing good they did could hope to measure up against $45 trillion. The figure was “calculated” by Marxist economist Utsa Patnaik but was popularised by Jason Hickel (self-described anti-capitalist) in an Al-Jazeera article. And since then, it has spread: search ‘$45 trillion’ on Google and you get more than three million results ranging from articles published by news outlets like VICE to videos of India’s Minister of External Affairs referencing it. The figure has gone far beyond Marxist circles and has slowly percolated into Hindu nationalist circles (this synergy between Marxist and nationalist thought is no accident and has a long tradition in Indian history, where the two sides compete to paint the British Raj in the most negative light possible).” [/QUOTE]

Verification