Colonialism

Class Struggle And Freedom Beyond Colonial Borders

February 13, 2022 Charisse Burden Stelly, Hood Communist. Organize! Africa, Class Struggle, Colonialism, Human Rights

The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief how truly interconnected our world is, how superficial colonial borders are, and thus how the struggle for freedom must link localized organizing to broader global insurgencies. Of course, this is not new. Though our epoch offers unique challenges, problems, and articulations of the dialectic between repression and resistance, history doesn’t repeat itself—but it rhymes. In a world structured by racial capitalism, white supremacy, and imperialism, Blackness has often been the antithesis of freedom. After legal emancipation from racial slavery, freedom for Black folks has generally meant freedom to die and suffer—or simply “slavery by another name.”

The ‘White Saviour’ Deal For Nature

January 5, 2022 Gert Van Hecken and Vijay Kolinjivadi, Green European Journal. Educate! climate crisis, Colonialism, Environment, White Savior

There is no denying that the world’s biodiversity is under serious threat. A recent proposal that has gained significant traction to address this decline is to designate 30 per cent of the earth’s surface as protected areas by 2030 (commonly referred to as the Global Deal for Nature, or the 30×30 Plan). This proposal will be discussed at the world’s top-most biodiversity summit expected in 2022 in Kunming, China. The 30 per cent reservation for “nature” is itself viewed as part of a roadmap towards the idea that “Nature Needs Half” – a campaign calling for half of the world to be dedicated to nature, rather than human activities. At first glance and given the urgent need to act to halt species extinction, nature conservation seems like a common-sense solution.

Native Mascots Are A Direct Result Of America’s Fabricated Colonial History

December 19, 2021 Kelsi Rae Barron, Last Real Indians. Educate! Colonialism, Education, Indigenous Peoples, Mascots

The negligence of our nation’s history has allowed for the continued racist representation of Native Americans, specifically when discussing their representation as mascots in amateur and professional sports. Several scholars have chosen to raise awareness to the ongoing misrepresentation and racist imagery that is present in amateur and professional sports by arguing against the allowance of such images, claiming such representation to be a by-product of a postcolonial society that allows for cultural imperialism, where the idea of Native American lives and presence are simply a thing of the past and not of the present day. The continued misrepresentation and racist portrayal that has plagued Native American communities simply reinforces a false image that does not fully and adequately reflect Native American cultures, peoples, epistemologies, and complexities.

Barbados: The Long Road To The Republic

December 12, 2021 Richard Drayton, Black Agenda Report. Resist! Barbados, Caribbean, Colonialism, Pandemic

On November 30, 2021, on the 55th anniversary of its political independence, Barbados will become a republic. It is commonly assumed this was some sudden decision by Mia Mottley’s government. The most bizarre suggestion came from British voices, who asserted this had to do with Barbados tilting to China. But the roots of this change go back decades, and are anchored in the politics of the wider Caribbean. Forbes Burnham’s decision in 1970 to proclaim the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, and Eric Williams’s push towards the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 1976, are the key precedents. Both were underpinned by the politics of what I have called ‘secondary decolonization’, for which, in the long 1970s, the global Black Power moment was central.

60 Years After His Death, Fanon’s Ideas Remain The Weapons Of The Oppressed

December 10, 2021 Danny Shaw, Toward Freedom. Educate! Colonialism, Frantz Fanon, Oppression, Revolution

Born and raised in what is still France’s Caribbean island colony of Martinique, Fanon was exposed to and shaped by the everyday class and race relations that characterized the island in the early 20th century. Forced to join a segregated column of Black troops, he fought in World War II. Upon continuing his studies in post-war France, he came face to face with the racism that dominates the European world. In his first book, Black Skin, White Masks (1952), Fanon reflects on coming of age in a world, where, “For the black man there is only one destiny. And it is white.” At the time of publication, Fanon had just turned 27. In 1953, the Martiniquais psychiatrist was assigned to Algeria, where he treated patients who were severely traumatized by the violence French colonialism had spun into motion.

Eritrea Versus AFRICOM: Defending Sovereignty From Imperialist Aggression

December 7, 2021 Dina M. Asfaha And Tunde Osazua , Black Agenda Report. Educate! Africa, AFRICOM, Colonialism, Eritrea, US Imperialism

The U.S. has built military-to-military relations with 53 out of the 54 African countries that include agreements to cede operational command to AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command. The broad network of AFRICOM military bases, as well as those from France and other world powers, are examples of how African states are surrendering their sovereignty through neocolonial relationships with Western countries. African self-determination and national sovereignty are impossible as long as the U.S. and its European allies are allowed to use military power to control African land, labor, and resources. As Netfa Freeman pointed out in a recent article, “an indoctrination about the inherent goodness of the U.S.-European role in Africa accompanies this military training with blindspots about the true legacy of colonialism.”

Land Acknowledgements To Honor Indigenous People Often Do Opposite

October 14, 2021 Elisa J. Sobo, Michael Lambert, And Valerie Lambert, The Conversation. Educate! Colonialism, Indigenous People, Land Acknowledgement, Sovereignty

Many events these days begin with land acknowledgments: earnest statements acknowledging that activities are taking place, or institutions, businesses and even homes are built, on land previously owned by Indigenous peoples. And many organizations now call on employees to incorporate such statements not only at events but in email signatures, videos, syllabuses and so on. Organizations provide resources to facilitate these efforts, including pronunciation guides and video examples. Some land acknowledgments are carefully constructed in partnership with the dispossessed. The Burke Museum at the University of Washington in Seattle describes this process: “Tribal elders and leaders are the experts and knowledge-bearers who generously shared their perspectives and guidance with the Burke. Through this consultation, we co-created the Burke’s land acknowledgement.”

Empty Words And Colonialism, Or Treaty Rights And Self Determination?

October 14, 2021 Charmaine White Face, Red Abya Yala. Educate! Colonialism, Indigenous Peoples Day, Indigenous Sovereignty, Joe Biden

On Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, United States President Joe Biden issued a first-ever Proclamation for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The first two sentences state: “Since time immemorial, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians have built vibrant and diverse cultures – safeguarding land, language, spirit, knowledge, and tradition across the generations. On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, our Nation celebrates the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples, recognizes their inherent sovereignty, and commits to honoring the Federal Government’s trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations.” Right off the bat, that second sentence is an insult to our Nations. We never did call ourselves “tribes”. That is a moniker put on us by the United States in the first place. It was an easy way to NOT recognize us as the NATIONS we are. It was also easier to force us to live under THEIR form of government, a Tribal Council form of government.

Deepening The Resistance To Police Terror

October 14, 2021 the Black is Back Coalition. Resist! Black is Back, Colonialism, Prisoner rights, Washington DC

The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is holding its annual rally, March on the White House and conference on November 6 and 7, 2021. It is part of the continuous work to destroy the colonial stranglehold the U.S. has on African people. This is a call for you to join in this escalating struggle of the oppressed to overturn the colonial-capitalist system that thrust itself into existence 600 years ago with the 1415 Portuguese initiation of the European trade in black bodies that were colonized in Africa and dispersed throughout the world. The colonial enslavement of our people was the bridge between European feudalism and capitalism that wreaks havoc on the happiness, lives and resources of all the peoples of the world.

Six Nations Lawsuit ‘Will Result In A Significant Damage Award’

October 10, 2021 Brett Forester, APT National News. Resist! Canada, Colonialism, Indigenous Rights, Land Reform

Officials at Crown-Indigenous Relations worry the Crown may lose a lawsuit launched by Six Nations of the Grand River’s elected council over the community’s numerous outstanding land claims, internal documents suggest. Negotiators with the Treaties and Aboriginal Government branch informed their deputy minister, the department’s top public servant, of the law department’s opinion in an August 2020 briefing package obtained by APTN News. “The First Nation is claiming approximately 900,000 acres of land that was improperly surrendered in southwestern Ontario,” the memo explained. “Justice Canada advises that portions of the Six Nations litigation claim poses high risk for the Crown, and will result in a significant damage award.”

Where Flowers Find No Peace Enough To Grow

September 24, 2021 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! Colonialism, Human Rights, Racism, Slavery

On 13 July 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a landmark resolution on the prevalence of racism and for the creation of an independent mechanism made up of three experts to investigate the root cause of deeply embedded racism and intolerance. The Group of African States pushed for this resolution, which had emerged out of global anger over the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police on 25 May 2020. The discussions in the UNHRC considered the problems of police brutality and went back to the formation of our modern system in the crucible of slavery and colonialism. A number of Western countries – such as the United States and the United Kingdom – hesitated over both the assessment of the past and the question of reparations; these governments were able to remove the requirement to investigate systematic racism in US law enforcement.

The Horrific Truths About Indian Boarding Schools Are Gaining Attention

June 28, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast American genocide, Colonialism, Indigenous culture, Residential Schools

Due in part to Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the horrific truths about what children and their families endured and the graves of the children who were murdered in the residential schools are being uncovered. The residential schools originated in the United States, which has yet to recognize their existence and what happened in them. That may be starting to change after many decades of activism to raise awareness and now an initiative by Secretary of the Interior Haaland. Clearing the FOG speaks with Matt Remle, an indigenous human rights activist about the history of the boarding schools, their purpose to enable the exploitation of resources and how they are connected into the bigger picture of genocide and colonization.

Capitalism Cannot Exist Without Imperialism

June 14, 2021 Rania Khalek, Breakthrough News. Resistance Report Capitalism, Colonialism, Democratic Socialism, Finance and the Economy

Prahbat Patnaik, professor emeritus at JNU, joins Rania Khalek on her program Dispatches to discuss the argument he lays out in his book A Theory of Imperialism, which argues that capitalism was always a function of imperialism. But today’s imperialism takes a subtler less visible form than during colonialism, keeping large parts of the world in poverty through mechanisms like income deflation so that the wealthy nations can maintain access to the cheap commodities only tropical regions can produce. Imperialism also requires an army of unemployed people in the third world that are even more essential to capitalism than the army of reserve labor in the global north. Patnaik also addresses the democratic socialist ideal of turning America into Denmark but that too cannot happen without imperialism.

How To Wreck A Black Nation In The Age Of ‘Black Lives Matter’

June 13, 2021 Taytu Bitul, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Black misleadership class, Colonialism, Ethiopia, US Imperialism

Folks, having spent much time navigating my way through the twilight zone that is American Foreign Policy, I feel compelled to share with you all how the cynical (but very real) game of sabotaging and undermining a large African country is played while loudly proclaiming that Black Lives Matter. Here is the international playbook. Note, this playbook requires meticulous alignment and careful coordination amongst vicious terrorist groups, their trolls, paid Washington DC lobbyists, US and European Union (EU) government officials, major western media outlets, UN agencies, and Amnesty International. It seems impossible to achieve this level of coordination, but apparently it can be done! In fact this playbook is being executed right now as we speak.

Toward An Abolitionist Approach To Anti-Asian Violence

May 9, 2021 Dylan Rodriguez, Society and Space. Strategize! Abolition, Asian Americans, Colonialism, Racism

Atrocities targeting people and bodies we identify as our own tend to incite powerful feelings of exception. A shared sense of singular vulnerability and violation circulates virally, and the epidemiology of toxic intimacy with violence is simultaneously social and personal. The sheer quantity of casualties matters less than the bare fact of unexpected cruelty. Singularity and exception yield to righteous outrage, communal mobilization, and militant demand on surrounding authorities. Something must be done now. A famous few may issue bounties for individual culprits, with no regard for the collateral consequences of such grandstanding. A larger narrative quickly forms, condensing in precious keywords: hate, hate crime, justice, ignorance, safety, policing, prosecution, inclusion, education, criminal.

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