the British, fueled by racism toward the Irish.In The Last Conquest of Ireland, 1861, John Mitchell wrote:“The Almighty indeed sent the potato blight but the English created the famine.” Mitchel further observed that “a million and a half men, women, and children were carefully, prudently, and peacefully slain by the English Government. They died in the midst of abundance which their own hands created.”Many have questioned the stand the British took in helping the famine victims and have concluded that the British looked the other way as millions died. Nothing was sent to help the Irish, no free food, no money to develop infrastructure or subsistence. Sadly, many died as a result of the actions committed by the “most powerful and wealthy empire the world has ever known.”VII. Britain: Guilty of passive or opportunistic genocideThe term famine leads people to believe that the blight in Ireland was caused by no more than the devastating weather, crop failure due to fungus, overpopulation and the wrath of God. The term famine, according to Frank O’Conner is “a useful word when you do not wish to use words like ‘genocide’ and ‘extermination’.”Starvation has been said to be a more accurate portrayal of what happened to Ireland between 1845 and 1852. While there were up to eight ships leaving daily with large quantities of food, such as wheat, oats, barley, butter, eggs, beef, and pork; the peasants of Ireland were dying of starvation. The real reason so many died was because the British empire had a racist attitude toward the Irish, made them dependant on the potato, and refused to take adequate action when the situation called for it.The British policies at the time were targeted for small regional crop failures, and when a large-scale national famine occurred, they refused to amend these policies and increase their aid, resulting in the death for millions. ...
