In Lib Dem circles there has been much talk of the need for ‘better education’ as a necessary (but not sufficient) path to more enlightened social and governmental attitudes when it comes to race, perceptions of a colonial past, and ‘neo-colonial’ thinking.

This is very positive; but education enlightening students about what, precisely?

My proposition is that there are three areas where education will benefit from a bit of ‘light shedding’. Those are, in chronological order, the histories of BAME communities in the UK; colonial histories related to those parts of the world to which many communities in the UK are connected; and importantly, relevant global pre-colonial histories.

First, there are many surprising histories of BAME communities in the UK.

For example, in areas of East London such as Canning Town, there are many people descendant from Caribbean-origin soldiers and others returning from world wars on behalf of the British, that were given passage back to the UK but faced difficulties obtaining passage back to their home countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad.

The Windrush generation is another example, that should be better understood.

These histories, when explored, make the poor treatment of such communities by the British state all the more hard to accept.

Second, colonialism, theory and practice, has a special place in liberal-democratic thinking. Liberal-democratic ideas were forged hundreds of years ago in opposition to the European pro-colonial mercantilist view that the quantity of wealth in the world was fixed, and that one country could only become ‘rich’ at the expense of another. This gave a rationale for subjugation, war and slavery.

The idea of mutual benefit, part of the early Enlightenment, contradicted that rationale. In the end it was the cost of world wars and of fighting independence movements, as much as the logic, that liberated the European colonies.

However, whilst Marxists hold to a narrative about colonialism being an inevitable consequence of ‘capitalism’, modern liberals point out that colonialism is not exclusive to Europeans. It was European sea power which created the first wave of ‘non-contiguous’ colonialism.

Almost all prior colonial adventures were contiguous, including Arabs in North Africa, Russia and its Far East, Han Chinese in Xinjiang and Tibet, Ottomans, and Aztecs, Incas, Mongols, Persians, and countless other empires.

Liberalism isn’t the cause, it is the remedy, part of the enlightenment; a point that needs airing.

Third, the extraordinary thing about pre-colonial history, especially in African and South Asian countries is that it is rarely taught in schools and colleges there, let alone in the UK.

It is as if in South Asia, Africa and elsewhere history only began with the arrival of the Europeans!

African students (and those in the UK) therefore miss hearing about how the Nok culture 2500 years ago (approximating Nigeria), was more advanced technologically than European societies. South Asians miss out hearing about the universities where advanced sciences were taught; in Taxila from 2500 years ago or Nalanda 700 years ago. What’s more Portugese traders travelling inland from the West African coast more than 500 years ago were wide-eyed at goods for sale from the Middle East. Should we not wonder why so much of our food originates from the pre-colonial Americas ?

As a candidate in the 2017 General Election I made presentations in Newham, London schools on pre-colonial African and South Asian history; schools where ‘White British’ were a small minority. In each case there were extremely lively debates and excitement. It was a subject being experienced for the first time.

The original European enlightenment from the 17th century onwards was part-fuelled by empricism and scientific exploration, in a struggle against established religious orthodoxy. There are some parallels today, with new scientific discoveries about human migration, genetics, and the true origins of individuals, contradicting race-based theories and ‘eugenics’. Discoveries include the revelation that the British at the time of Stonehenge were … dark-skinned from birth.

Indeed there is much to be enlightened about. Let’s hope Black Lives Matter protests lead us thus to a better future, successfully resisting a retreat to isolationism, race-hate and neo-mercantilism.

* Paul Reynolds works with multilateral organisations as an independent adviser on international relations, economics, and senior governance.