Pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong waved union jacks and sang “God save the Queen” outside the British consulate before violence erupted in the province again.

Are you going to say that 156 years worth of people born there weren't British citizens because their ancestors weren't British citizens in 1841?

I'm not disputing the racism, but this one is debatable and not that simple. What makes someone a citizen or "British", especially in a colonial empire, is defined by more than for how long and where you lived.

E.g. my father who was born in Portuguese Angola. Of portuguese descent and in the colonialist's "side", he became a refugee and came to Portugal during the Colonial War.

Now, is he portuguese because he was born in "Portugal", or is he angolan because he was born in Angola? Is his nation Angola, which fought for independence from the ethno-political group he belonged to, or is his nation Portugal, root of his cultural heritage and the group who enslaved, exploited and held dominion over the natives of Angola?

To me it's clear that he's portuguese, but not just because he was technically born in "Portugal"... it is mostly a matter of culture, assimilation and social status. Society in Angola was obviously geared towards the european men, or at least the balance of power as a whole was.

Now, with all being exposed here regarding the UK and HK... were those HKs british simply because they were born under the empire or was some kind of "britishness" missing? Doesn't their segregation further prove they weren't really british?

/r/worldnews Thread Parent Link - independent.co.uk