Professor David Anderson discusses Foreign Office release of colonial era files
David Anderson discussed how and why the first batch of thousands of lost colonial era files were recently released by the Foreign Office on BBC Radio 4s Today programme and on BBC World Service (18 April 2012). He was also quoted in articles in The Economist, BBC News, Morning Star online andPublic Service online on the same topic.
Speaking about the revelations of British actions at the time, David said one would expect nothing else from the politics of the period.
He discusses collective punishment methods, property seizures, and even chemical weapons testing plans. Going forward from here, David, who issued the first freedom of information request which led to the documents release, called for more vigilance on the release of sensitive documents by the government: What this is raising are questions about how we manage our own records and our own history.
The full discussions can be heard here (time: 0856) and here (0.05.45 on iPlayer clock). The Economist and BBC News articles can be read here and here.
