My Take | If Boudica and Spartacus were alive today, they would be called terrorists too
- In the old days, those who resisted empire and colonialism were called savages and barbarians, all the better to enslave and murder them and their families and steal their lands. Things haven’t changed much, only different words are used
History is mostly propaganda in the short term but truth-telling in the long run.
So in their days, those who fought Rome were called savages and barbarians. And indeed, what they did was often savage and barbaric. But what their subjugators, torturers and exterminators who claimed to have civilisation and enlightenment on their side, unleashed on them was in truth incomparably more savage and barbaric.
In such moments, empire and colonialism were forced to take off their masks and reveal the face of the true monster behind the prettified concealment and nicely constructed myths.
History is currently repeating itself. Those masks are again falling off before our very eyes.
When Boudica rebelled against the Roman yoke, she burned down what is now Colchester, St Albans and parts of London. Her followers supposedly massacred tens of thousands of Roman colonisers, including many women and children, and their native collaborators. They also annihilated Rome’s 9th Legion.
Spartacus and his followers tortured to death slave owners and their family members. They forced captured legionaries to fight each other like gladiators or be crucified. Often, the survivor of the fight was crucified anyway.
