Sathnam Sanghera: The culture war is over
The Empireworld author describes the threats he faces and says 鈥渇eelings are irrelevant鈥� to history
Writer Sathnam Sanghera told HARDtalk that he has faced 鈥渟talking situations and occasionally had to worry about my personal security鈥�, due to his writing.
Speaking to Stephen Sackur, the author of Empireworld, disclosed that his experiences had been 鈥減retty horrible鈥� and led him to stop doing certain events 鈥渂ecause of all the shouting and the screaming鈥�. But he said other historians had faced worse threats than him. Sanghera started receiving racist abuse when he began writing about Britain鈥檚 imperial history.
Nonetheless, Sanghera asserted that 鈥渢he culture war that has led to all this behaviour is kind of over鈥�. He said the public is more willing than politicians to re-evaluate Britain鈥檚 imperial history, citing a Savanta poll which indicated that 44% 鈥渢hink the royal family should pay reparations for slavery鈥�. Sanghera said he was 鈥渜uite optimistic that the population are over this culture war, way before the politicians鈥�.
Sanghera, whose latest book Empireworld explores the global legacies of British imperialism, said: 鈥渉istory is an intellectual exercise鈥�.
鈥淚t's got nothing to do with pride, shame: your feelings are irrelevant鈥�.
