Educated Indians are aware of the ghastly 2-century imposition of British colonialism on India. However, because history is generally written by non-scientists, most Indians are utterly unaware of the horrendous human cost (1.8 billion violent and non-violent avoidable deaths in the period 1757-1947).
The “avoidable deaths” (from violence, deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease) in British India totalled 1.5 billion (or 1.8 billion if you include the so-called Native States). About 20% of the victims (about 350 million) were Muslims.
For a recent account see that reproduced below by DrDr H Gideon Polya, “Racist White Australian ABC media giant ignores Indian Holocaust, Bengali Holocausts & Climate Genocide", Sulekha, 15 April 2009: http://gideon.sulekha.com/blog/post/2009/04/racist-white-australian-abc-media-giant-ignores-indian.htm .
Dr Gideon Polya (2009): "I am a 4-decade career research scientist (and still giving theory and laboratory courses to second year university science students at a leading Australian university). I have addressed this British carnage in India in a quantitative fashion, using the parameter of “avoidable death” (excess death, avoidable mortality, excess mortality, untimely death, deaths that should not have happened) which is defined as the difference between the actual deaths in a country and the deaths expected for a pweaceful, decently run country with the same demographics (see my book “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ).
The “avoidable deaths” (from violence, deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease) in British India totalled 1.5 billion (or 1.8 billion if you include the so-called Native States).
Major British-imposed genocidal events in India included the Great Bengal Famine (10 million dead, 1769-1770), successive famines that killed scores of millions of Indians up to the World War 2 Bengal Famine (6-7 million dead in Bengal and surrounding provinces; see the recent BBC broadcast involving me, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open2.net/thingsweforgot/bengalfamine_programme.html ), the estimated 10 million Indians murdered by the British in reprisals for the so-called Indian Mutiny (in which 2,000 British were killed) and the underlying British-imposed condition of “living on the edge” that was responsible for most of the “avoidable deaths” (see my book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 1998, 2008: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ).
A cogent summary has been given by outstanding Indian ecofeminist and physicist Dr Vandana Shiva (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva ) : “The British created a group of owners of land who would then be the rent collectors, who would then finance the empire and meantime people were losing their land. And this had simultaneous impact on hunger because if all your surplus is being extracted to pay taxes then the very producers of food go hungry, which is why 2 million people [6-7 million] died in the Bengal famine of 1942 [1943-1945]. Not because there wasn’t enough rice in India — we were exporting rice for the war — but because of the way the free trade rights of commerce were higher than the rights of people to eat. And the entire force of the British empire was being used to extract the last amount of paddy from the peasants” (see Dr Vandana Shiva, “Colonisation and Independence”: http://www.abc.net.au/specials/shiva/pg04.htm ) .
Even mass murderer and Indian-hater Winston Churchill who deliberately starved 6-7 million Indians to death in the World War 2 Bengal Famine (see “Media lying over Churchill’s crimes. British Indian Holocaust: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/26713/42/ and “Anglo holocaust commission, ignore and denial. Churchill’s crimes from Indian Holocaust to Palestinian Genocide“: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/28002/42/ ) confessed to this “living on the edge” reality for Indians under the British back in 1935 in a speech to the UK House of Commons: “In the standard of life they have nothing to spare. The slightest fall from the present standard of life in India means slow starvation, and the actual squeezing out of life, not only of millions but of scores of millions of people, who have come into the world at your invitation and under the shield and protection of British power” (see Chapter 14, “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 1998, 2008: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ).
History ignored yields history repeated and the continuing horrendous carnage of 16 million global avoidable deaths annually (3.7 million in India alone, 5.3 million in South Asia) still stalks the world due to violence, deprivation, disease and LYING. Just as the British Mainstream has largely deleted British atrocities in India out of history books and public consciousness, so Western Mainstream media, politician and academic lying about current Western atrocities in the Occupied Palestinina, Iraqi and Afghan Territories ensures their horrendous continuance.
Racist White Australia was a loyal, racist, “white” part of the racist British Empire and is now a loyal associate of the “politically correct racist” (PC racist) US Empire (that mass murders Asians while pretending that it is bringing them “democracy”) .
The racist White Australian Mainstream Establishment is remorselessly (albeit secretly) committed to a sustained policy of complicity in US-imposed genocides coupled with holocaust ignoring and holocaust denial.
The following self-explanatory letter about the Indian Holocaust, Climate Genocide and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) holocaust denial has been sent to media, MPs and to the Australian taxpayer-funded ABC, unfortunately the best of the awful Mainstream media in Australia, the Land of Flies, Lies and Slies (spin-based untruths). The silence has been deafening.
Dear Sir/Madam,
In the 1943-1945 Bengal Famine 6-7 million Indians were deliberately starved to death by the British in British-occupied India in a forgotten Bengali Holocaust that occurred at the same time as the Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation) that was part of a wider but forgotten WW2 European Holocaust in general (30 million Slav, Jewish and Roma dead). [1]
Yet a search of over 3 million pages of the Australian taxpayer-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) records reveals only 4 ABC broadcast references to the “Bengal Famine” and due to Dr Gideon Polya (2), Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen (1) and ecofeminist physicist Dr Vandana Shiva (1), respectively – whereas a search for “Holocaust” reveals 25 ABC broadcast references to the Jewish Holocaust in the first few months of 2009 alone. [2]
Indeed there are zero (0) ABC broadcast references elicited by Searches of the following binomial terms in quotes for past, present and future atrocities in which Australia has been/is variously complicit (violent and non-violent excess deaths in millions in parentheses): Palestinian Holocaust, Palestinian Genocide (0.3 million, 1967-2009), Iraqi Holocaust, Iraqi Genocide (4.1 million, 1990-2009, 2.3 million 2003-2009), Afghan Holocaust, Afghan Genocide (3-7 million, 2001-2009), Bengali Holocaust (10 million, 1769-1770; 6-7 million, 1943-1945; 3 million, 1971), Indian Holocaust (1.8 billion, 1757-1947), Muslim Holocaust (0.4 billion, 1950-2009) and (prospective) Climate Genocide (10 billion globally, 2 billion Indians this century due to unaddressed, man-made global warming) – indeed there are only 3 ABC broadcast references to “Aboriginal Genocide” (circa 2 million, 1788 onwards; 9,000 annually) . [3]
Any holocaust denial is repugnant and is also dangerous because “history ignored yields history repeated”. The appalling Australian ABC record of dishonest, racist and unethical holocaust denial demands urgent exposure and redress – Australian holocaust denial threatens Australia, the Developing World and the Planet. [4]
Yours sincerely,
Dr Gideon Polya, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
[1]. “Bengal Famine”, BBC Radio 4 broadcast (with Dr Gideon Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and other scholars), 4 January 2008: http://www.open2.net/thingsweforgot/bengalfamine_programme.html ; Gideon Polya “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 1998, 2008: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ .
[2]. ABC Search of 3 million documents for “climate genocide”: http://search.abc.net.au/search/search.cgi?form=simple&num_ranks=20&collection=abcall&query=%22climate+genocide%22 .
[3]. Gideon Polya “Australia’s secret genocide history. La Trobe, “Bundoora Eucalyptus” and black crimes of White Australia”, MWC News, 2008: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/22128/42/ ; Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” , G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); Gideon Polya, “Aboriginal Genocide. Racist White Australian child abuse and passive mass murder”, MWC News, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/15140/42/
[4]. Gideon Polya, “Climate Disruption, Climate Emergency, Climate Genocide & Penultimate Bengali Holocaust through Sea Level Rise “, Yarra Valley Climate Action Group, 2009: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/climate-disruption-climate-emergency-climate-genocide-penultimate-bengali-holocaust-through-sea-level-rise .