As an imperial historian, I think I know what ‘colonialism’ looks like. In my review of a book about the Mau Mau emergency of the 1950s, an early draft of which appeared here (https://bernardjporter.com/2023/11/09/kenya-book-review/), I hinted – very marginally – at a comparison between Britain’s colonising of Kenya in the 19^th and 20th centuries, provoking the savagery of Mau Mau and the reaction on the part of the imperial government that followed it; and, on the other hand, Israel’s seizure and settlement of parts of Palestine after 1948, with its recent and equally terrible aftermath. I believe this to be a fair parallel in many ways, which places both events in a useful context. On receiving a proof of the article yesterday, however, I found that that short sentence of mine had been excised.

The present Israeli authorities, of course, dislike words like ‘colonialism’, ‘imperialism’, ‘apartheid’ and ‘racism’ being applied to the Zionist project, even regarding them – or pretending to – as ‘anti-semitic’; which I, in common with many liberal Israeli and diaspora Jews, regard as a monstrous slur. But I’m wondering whether anticipation of this sort of criticism might have had a bearing on this minor instance of censorship by the Literary Review? On the other hand, it might just have been that the latter’s copy-editors felt the reference to Israel was irrelevant. Fair enough, perhaps; but it prevents my making a good point.

I’ve written to the editor to try to have the offending words reinstated. I’ll see – and pass on – what she replies.

*

[Here’s the relevant passage of the original. The Wambugu quote was also cut; together with one or two other quite innocent references.

…This is despite the principled opposition of many on the Left and liberal-Conservative sides of British metropolitan politics, as well as of a few of the more decent settlers; and the generous acknowledgement much later from one ex-inmate, Wambugu wa Nyingi, of the ‘many good things’ that ‘the British’ had also done in Kenya. (I wonder whether many Palestinians, to cite a superficial modern parallel, would say the same of their Israeli colonists.)]