The author is a historian, sociologist, writer, teacher at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi in the history, sociology, anthropology, political science and international cooperation programs and holder of the Canada Research Chair on collective imaginations.
As many commentators have pointed out, it will be agreed that Elizabeth II was a great lady. No one has exaggerated his qualities, nor the homage paid to him, nor his reputation for distinction and nobility. And yet.
the New York Times, which is not exactly known to be a left-wing newspaper, reported on September 12 under the pen of Maya Jasanoff (Harvard historian) that, precisely thanks to her eminent qualities, the queen had contributed a great deal to throwing a veil on the murderous past of British colonialism. This is not the place to go into the details (they are recorded in many books), but Britain is probably the country which, on a world scale, was most closely associated with the war, with slavery, racism, torture and pillage, while maintaining an image of distinction, refinement, dignity, intellectual and moral superiority.
Even today, in many parts of the world, one can observe its legacy of unceasing divisions and conflicts due in large part to the borders imposed on the new States, borders apparently arbitrary, but in reality carefully drawn to serve the interests of London. . However, by pushing the art of dissimulation and seduction very far, the country has been able to preserve its veneer of respectability in the eyes of many.
I return briefly to Queen Elizabeth II to recall all the same that, under her reign, violent repression and torture were practiced on a large scale in countries engaged in the struggle for decolonization. On another level, will you find me petty to mention that, still according to the New York Timesthe queen’s personal fortune amounts to nearly US$1 billion, that of the new king to 1.5 billion and that of the royal family to 28 billion, to which is added a substantial secret fund, all of this not taxable while poverty is growing at an alarming rate in the country?
The impressive display of pomp and pomp that accompanied the ten days of homage to the Queen is nothing less than trickery: grandiose parades, serious, august faces, gleaming costumes, sumptuous sets, speeches imbued with sobriety and dignity. With despite everything an eye on business, hence the long detour of the procession in Scotland, where we pushed the insolence to wrap the coffin in the Scottish national flag.
Admittedly, these demonstrations wanted to hide an unsavory past, but they also wanted to deceive them by diverting attention from the precarious state of a deeply disoriented country. The forced halt to colonization led to strong waves of immigrants to the metropolis where, thanks to a providential laxity, the latter were able to recreate in large part their ways of life within communities which substantially changed the face of this society.
Added to this was devolution, which created major cracks in the political architecture of an increasingly disunited kingdom. Finally, supreme humiliation: integration into the European Union, which meant renouncing the old arrogant insularity. Accustomed to dominating the world, the country now found itself suffering, in the position of the beggar.
Here, then, is a fragmented, weakened nation, which no longer knows what it is and which is looking for a future, having had to renounce its principal titles of nobility: model civilization, mistress of the world, descended from a superior race. However, it carefully preserves in the attics of its castles the ornaments of its past, which it dusts off on occasion to replay the simulacrum of its grandeur.
The fact remains that the holder of this operatic throne is indeed the head of the Canadian state and of its armies, which forces applicants for Canadian citizenship to swear allegiance to the monarch, to the members of his family and to their descendants. Passionate about democracy, freedom and equality, hostile to anything that humiliates and subjugates, we Quebecers are nonetheless loyal, docile and consenting subjects of Her Majesty. For how much longer ?