• mathemachristian[he]@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    For all its faults and crimes, and Lord knows there are many, the country I’m in isn’t oppressing a people native to this region.

    • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      My point being, go far enough back, and you WILL have found a people or tribe that got wiped out so another group could claim their territory. Where do you (arbitrarily) draw the line?

      • mathemachristian[he]@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        Words like “colonialism” or “settler colonialism” serve the purpose of naming injustices committed by empires.

        They arent just bound to a space but also to a time. So the ongoing oppression against native palestinians, native americans etc is settler colonialism since it is about a people taking land from them without compensation. The roman empire also did settler colonialism. The difference is that the settler romans and indigenous population at this point are indistinguishable from each other. Through intermarriages and cultural exchanges there is not a roman-german and a germanic-german culture. And where there are cultural differences stemming from the days of roman settlerism these now coexist. There is no oppressor-oppressed dynamic anymore that characterizes settler colonialism.

        • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          The difference is that the settler romans and indigenous population at this point are indistinguishable from each other

          So what you’re saying is, if one side fully wipes out and/or swallows up the other fully, colonialism is then ok. How is that different from what Israel is currently trying to accomplish? If they succeed, in a century or two somebody would be saying the same thing you are now.

          • mathemachristian[he]@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            So what you’re saying is, if one side fully wipes out and/or swallows up the other fully, colonialism is then ok.

            no im not wtf

            • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 months ago

              Colonialism is not a rare event, it happens ALL THE TIME, EVERYWHERE. If you’re only finding fault with the ongoing efforts, and giving the rest a pass because they are no longer visible in your day-to-day life, you are effectively saying success justifies it. Otherwise, you’re just being arbitrary and inconsistent.

              • mathemachristian[he]@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                4 months ago

                giving the rest a pass because they are no longer visible in your day-to-day life you are effectively saying success justifies it.

                Huh? How does that follow? If there is no longer injustice from an oppressor-oppressed dynamic then what is there to do? And how does the fact that it’s no longer possible to make right justify the crime?

                Edit: I don’t even know what point you are trying to argue, my original statement was that states which are engaging in settler colonialism should be dismantled and dont have a right to exist. There can be other reasons to dismantle states forcibly (capitalism being the predominant one), this is but one of them. A rather egregious one.

                • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  4 months ago

                  The point that I and others have made, is that all states in existence today are ultimately founded on colonialism. It’s disingenuous to suggest that some are innocent of it. They are not, they merely finished earlier. Given that, why do some states deserve to be dismantled but not others?

                  If the purpose is to halt the process of colonialism, there are ways to do so that are less drastic and controversial, and more likely to have a net positive result for all parties involved (or happen at all).