WEBVTT - Colonialism Part 1 Ft. Andrew 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:07.880 Welcome to it can happen here. I am Andrew of 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.520 Thetube channel Andrewism, and today I like to take some 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:15.800 time to discuss nations, clonalism, and the people that constitute them. 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.840 That is of course quite broad, but in the end 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:21.360 I hope that folks are able to come away with 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.759 a sense of at least my version of the anarchist 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.080 position on nations, the impact of colonization and the psyches 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.440 of individuals within nations, and the role of national liberation 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.400 in social revolution. Today I'm joined by me Mia. 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.240 Who oh boy, A great topic. Interesting topic. 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:47.240 Yeah, indeed, indeed, indeed, I think part of what makes 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.880 the topic so interesting is because of how for lack 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:55.160 of a better term, how wiggly some of these terms are, 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.600 how hard to pin down some of these definitions are. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.959 It's very important to be clear at the outset what 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.760 you mean by a nation, what you mean by national liberation, 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:12.959 that sort of thing. So what is a nation? What 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.880 comes to mind for you? Yeah? 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:25.399 Oh god, yeah, I knows, have pre prepped an answer 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:29.800 to this. I have a very difficult time conceiving of 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.680 a nation as something that's separated from a state, which 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.160 I know is something a lot of people try to do. 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:39.399 For me, it's just been sort of permanently welded to 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:42.679 the nation state in a way that makes it hard 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.160 to sort of think about without conjoining the two. 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.800 That's fair. That's fair. I think that that really is 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.400 part of what we're going to end up discussing, because 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:55.400 for one, you know, as we'll see, a lot of 0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:01.600 nations were formed through the process of colonization and through 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:09.840 the process of incorporation into the global you know, superstructure, 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:18.760 global system. And secondly, it is seen to be the 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:24.320 ultimate aim of a nation, the greatest accomplishment of a nation, 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.000 to eventually establish their own state, to have a state 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.080 of their own. We call nations that don't have their 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.480 own state state less nations, the Kurds being one of 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.320 the most notable examples. But it really is commonly seen 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:44.440 that the ultimate accomplishment is for the libration of your people, 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.640 is that you establish a state to rule that people 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:54.600 for themselves. Of course, what for themselves actually means becomes 0:02:54.680 --> 0:03:01.240 quite clear, as in many cases foreign rulers and the 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:06.320 practices of foreign rulers just take on a local face. 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.840 Yeah, there's a there's a Curtis joke that goes roughly, 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.760 getting your own nation state means that you speak, your 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.360 police torture you in your own language. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:23.119 Oh that's fantastic, that is I like that. I like that. 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.240 And language really is one of the aspects of what 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:29.720 it is to be a nation, and it is not 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.720 it's not necessarily the only aspect or primary aspect, but 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.960 it is one aspect. For example, what is considered the 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:42.920 Basque nation, uh, those in northern Spain and part of 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:51.680 southern southwestern France. I believe their identity is not entirely, 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:57.560 but quite significantly tied to their language, because it is 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.880 a language that is completely distinct from any other language 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.800 found in Europe or really anywhere else in the world. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.040 The language is just one aspect the nation. A nation 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.520 I mean not in the sense of a state or 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.920 a country or political constitution, but in the sense of 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:21.159 an imagined community of people. An imagined community of people. 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.120 I think that imagined aspect of it is quite important 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.640 as well. Student see, but an imagine the community of 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:33.440 people formed on the basis of a common language, history, ancestry, society, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:38.960 or culture, who are conscious of their autonomy. So it's 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.480 not enough that a group of people merely share a language, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.880 or share history, or share ancestry, or share society, or 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.839 share culture. It's important that firms we defined as a nation, 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.520 that they are conscious of the fact that they share 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.120 those things in common, and that they use that consciousness 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:01.120 to develop some sense of an imagine shared identity, imagined community, 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.520 whether or not each individual in that community knows all 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:09.240 the other individuals in that community. Nations are not necessarily 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:15.239 geographically bound, like you know certain conceptions of nation maybe, 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:21.400 but rather often diasporic, and some nations even united under 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.280 a banner of nations, such as in the case of 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.240 Pan Africanism, which is a form of nation movement or 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.839 pan nation movement that seeks to unite the thousands of 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:37.440 ethnic groups and also the diaspora of the consonants of 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:45.240 Africa in response to the exploitation of outsiders. In fact, 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.680 the Pan Affic nation is really a quintessential example of 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:55.000 how colonism creates nations while exploiting them. And although Native 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.600 America and populations retained slightly more of their heritage than 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:05.400 the placed African population in North America, though this is 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:11.200 not to deny what was lost their force displacement also 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.480 created something of a shared ethnic identity, which is where 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.880 you see movements like Red Power popping up during the 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:24.559 heightened Soviets era. Prior to the process of colonization, they 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:30.880 were distinct in their cultural groupings. This group would be blackfoot, 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:36.239 this group would be Cree, this group would be Sioue 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.800 or something right, this group would be Sue. But then 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.720 as they had the shared experience of colonization, they can 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.360 to develop a sense of shared identity against those that 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.960 were colonizing them, a sense of solidarity that transcended their 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:57.320 previous cultural distinctions and designations. Not that those designations don't 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.200 still exist, but many have adopted a sort of of 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.520 panor nation above that as a vehicle through which they 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:10.760 can undertake their struggle. However, mere opposition between a colonized 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.280 group and a colonizing force is not the only way 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:20.640 that clonism creates new nations. Also through social stratification, through hybridization, 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.120 through the imposition of new religions, through new education systems, 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:29.360 new languages, and new administrative boundaries. All of those are 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:33.600 ways in which cluonism can develop unations. For example, the 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:41.760 case of the meets, a cultural intermingling and intermarriage between 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.600 two radically different groups ended up with the birth of 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:51.120 the new nation of the meets in the unique colonial 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:56.080 history of Canada and as we've see in nations or 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.320 often the targets of subpraction and of subjugation and Eurasia, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.320 African peoples were stolen from the constant and thoroughly stripped 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.360 of their languages, histories, and cultures, and continues to be 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.320 oppressed throughout much of the so called New World. In 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.800 the United States, African Americans faced centuries of systemic racism. 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.640 In Brazil, the afric Brazilian population also faced similar historical discrimination, 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:26.280 similarly in Colombia and so on and so on. Indigenous 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.360 nations across the world also continue to be denied their 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:34.600 autonomy as minorities within a domineerian state. Palestinians and Israel 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:40.640 have faced a long standing conflict due to the raisia 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.760 of their self determination. Colds and Released, as I've mentioned, 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.920 spread across several countries and do not have a country 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.080 of their own, so they have historically sought independence or 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:56.480 at least autonomy. Aboriginal Australians have faced struggles related to 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.640 land rights, cultural preservation, and self governance, and although New 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.160 Zealand has made progress in recognizing the rights of the 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:07.840 delicious Mari people. Marian New Zealand have also dealt with 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:12.760 issues related to land ownership and cultural preservation, whether be 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.640 the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in the past, or 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:20.360 the current subjugation of Hawaiian in Puerto Rico under the US, 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.160 or the Tibetan population still under the firm of the 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.920 Chinese state. Really could go on and on. I really 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.560 could go on and on. Across the world, struggles have 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:34.400 been an arbi and fought by nations for the liberation 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.880 and much of the suffering a struggle is thanks to 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:42.680 the process of colonization. Our present national borders and demographics 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.520 were largely shaped and dictated by the colonization and conquest 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:53.120 of a few nations from Europe. But what is colonialism Exactly? 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:58.240 As one anthropologist, Chris quote Right put it, colonialism is 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.640 the establishment and control of a territory for an extended 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.080 period of time by a sovereign power over a subordinate 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.360 and other people which are segregated and separated from the 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.160 rule and power. He goes on to say that features 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.360 the colonal situation and include political and legal domination over 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:18.440 the other society, relations of economic and political dependence, and 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:23.760 institutionalized racial and cultural inequalities to impose their dominant physical 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:28.720 force through raids, expropriation of labor and resources, Imprisonment and 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.880 objective murders. Enslavement of both the indigenous people and their 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:40.560 land is the primary objective colonization. Through colonization, theseive cultures 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:46.160 must be destroyed either strict crushed, emptied, subsumed, cooperated, or dismantled. 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:51.479 And since colonism relies on a dichotomy of superiority and inferiority, 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:56.360 the colonialists must impose their own culture over the native population, 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:03.000 from language to dressed daily practice, that culture, which, by 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.080 the way, becomes native through that process of colonization. And 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:11.080 that already gets into the whole discussion of what makes 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:16.079 something native, what makes a people native. There are two 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:20.800 definitions that I balance or try and dance between, one 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:25.520 being indigenity through land relationship and the other being indignity 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:29.160 through colonial relationship. And so I'm referring to the indignacy 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.880 through colonial relationship when I say that a culture or 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.680 people becomes native through that process of colonization, because prior 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:43.800 to colonial inclusions, there was no non native to define 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.920 themselves against. They just will. You'll need to define yourself 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.280 as native to a place when an outsider or an 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:56.320 invasive force is pushing you out of that place or 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:01.320 trying to dominate you within that place. The old forms 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:08.559 of colonization are largely over, but the spirit of colonization 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.800 still linkers. It is a specter in the spheres of 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:18.640 culture and politics and economics. The colonial complex created the 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:24.440 world we see today and left quite the impression psychologically 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:30.640 on both the colonized and the colonizer. French Tunisian writer 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:36.160 Albert Mami wrote but against it to be a very 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:42.120 essential work on the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.920 That work, that book is called The Colonized and the Colonized. 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.800 It was published in nineteen fifty seven, and it was 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:52.560 written and of course in a very important time, in 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:56.000 a time when many national liberation movements were quite active. 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:58.720 And so this work is often held up with other 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:04.839 important words in that anti colonial milieu, including France phen Noons, 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.240 the Direction of the Earth, Black Skin, White Masks, and 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:14.800 A's discourse on clonialism. In the book The Colonized and 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:19.920 the Colonized, now mean he spent some time discussing the 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.680 psychology of both, and he splits the condition psychological conditions, 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:28.480 the colonizing the colonized into four parts, the colonizer who accepts, 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:34.400 the colonizer who refuses, the colonized who accepts, and the 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:50.360 colonized who refuses. So first there's the colonizer who accepts. 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:59.920 I've called that colonizer Christopher for obvious reasons, that being Columbus. 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:05.800 And so the Christopher accepts his role as a colonizer, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.800 he becomes a colonist. That means he has to accept 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.320 the fact that his position of privilege is non legitimate. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.280 So the any way he could really enjoy his position 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.120 would be to absolve himself of the conditions, of the guilt, 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.520 of the conditions under which he was attained. That's why 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:26.760 Christopher forcifies history, creates racist mythology, rewrites laws, and attempts 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.960 to whitewash his legacy. That's why he emphasizes his superiority 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.880 while castness, persions and the colonized. He has to do 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.920 whatever it takes to justify his evils, to uplift himself 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:42.680 to the skies while grinding those below him underground. Deep down, 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.240 Christopher knows all this semester, but he can't admit that 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.880 to himself. He has to keep degrading the colonized, and 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.840 so just as the colonal situation manufactures the colonized, Christopher 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:59.120 the colonialist is also transformed. Now he chairs on torture, discrimination, 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.160 and massacre. He becomes a reactionary, a conservative, and a fascist, 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:06.480 But the condemnation that he carries in his heart can 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:10.880 ever truly be raised. It pisses him off that he 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.680 relies on the colonize to maintain the colony, even though 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.240 he came looking for profit and already has a homeland. 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.040 But he has to direct his anger somewhere, so it 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:23.080 becomes a racist, and not just any racism, a racism 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.360 so fundamentally ingrained in his personality. Racism built on three 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:33.000 major components. One there exists some major gulf between him 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:36.760 and the colonized. Two that he can exploit these differences 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.840 to his benefit, and three that these differences are absolute 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.040 and cannot be changed. Therefore, he's able to remain separate 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.440 from the community the colonized by holding any social mobility, 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:53.080 and he's able to continue to justify superiority because honestly 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.440 circular logic. Right, these people are inferior because they aren't 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.480 at my level, and they answered my level because I 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:00.600 keep them in it, because I keep them in their 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.480 inferior position, and on and on and on. Added bonus, 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.280 of course, he gets to feel good about himself. While 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:12.640 doing so, he becomes a humanitarian. Surely the colonize needed 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:17.040 him to bring the light of civilization. Look at them, 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:22.240 so stupid and servile. All this is natural and e tonal, 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:26.560 So he has nothing to worry about. It is divine 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.320 grace that has brought him to this place. It is 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:36.600 a manifest destiny that he continues this tradition. And I 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.320 mean if he enjoys a couple of perks in his 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:45.080 quest to civilize them, well, surely is just justice. Colonized 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:50.280 should be grateful Christopher benevolent master of the natural order, 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:57.440 no question. And really, this is why missus there was 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:02.960 right to say. The colonization dehumanizes even the most civilized man. 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.159 It inevitably tends to change him who undertakes it that 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.680 the colonizer, who, in order to ease his conscience, gets 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.320 into the habit of seeing the other man as an animal, 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.679 accustoms himself to treating him like an animal, and tends 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:24.200 objectively to transform himself into an animal. No offense to animals, 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:31.600 of course, I'm just Cootins. There. On the flip side 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:38.080 of the coin is the colonizer who refuses John. You see, 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:45.040 not every colonizer becomes a colingless. John tries to resist 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:49.960 the role, but he is still a colonizer. He tries 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.560 to ignore his position of privilege, but he kind of 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:57.040 escaped mentally from a concrete situation. He kind of refused 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:01.320 the ideology of crinalism while continuing to live with actual relationships, 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:09.040 while continuing to benefit from the privileges he half heartedly denounces. See. 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:14.080 Colonial relations can't be boiled down to individual feelings, so 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:18.719 it doesn't matter much materially if John accepts or rejects it. 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.080 It doesn't matter if he feels guilty or not. His 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:26.400 identity is fundamentally defined in relation to colonization. He's still 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.400 part of the oppressant group. He shares in their good 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:34.600 fortune and will likely share their faith. Makes it clear 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:38.560 that the truth is between colonizer and colonized. There is 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:44.520 only room for forced labor, intimidation, pressure, police, taxation, theft, rape, 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:51.280 compulsory crops, contempt, mistrust, arrogance, self complacency, swinishness, brainless elites, 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:56.639 degraded masses, no human contact, but relations of domination and 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.960 submission or shin the colonizing man into a classroom monitor, 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.840 an army sergeant, a prison guard, a slave driver, and 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:09.760 the indigenous man into an instrument of production. Even if 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:13.560 John is a leftist, a progressive trying his best to 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:16.879 assist the national liberation, to colonize people's he's still in 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.880 a rough situation. Of course, not many colonizers have actually 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:24.239 been you know about it like that. But even if 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.840 John was to create a world or colonization, it maybe 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.359 hard for him to picture his situation change in all 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:35.080 that much. He's accustomed to privilege, and so equality is 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.600 probably going to feel like oppression. You can't imagine not 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.560 being who he is with the comfortable domination of his 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:45.439 culture and language. He's never had to accommodate others before. 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:47.680 He's never had to think, oh wait, maybe I should 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:52.840 try and learn their language, try and incorporate elements of 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:58.399 their cultural mores. He still holds the subtle vessiges of 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.639 the racist ideology that his country was built on, and 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:04.840 he will have to fight his own class interests and 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:11.840 his own fellow colonizers. Revolution would require the decimation of 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:17.720 his current identity and the rebooth of another. And that decision, 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:24.000 that gargantuan task maybe too challenging for some people to undertake. 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:27.359 So Mia, what do you think of the position of 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:33.119 the colonizer who accepts and the colonizer who refuses. 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.040 One of the things that I think is interesting about 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:40.159 this is that the original concept of privilege was something 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.280 that came out of like this specific kind of analysis 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:47.480 was about like like it was it was it was 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:52.760 about French settlers in Algeria, and you know, it was, 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:54.359 it was, it was, it was. It was originally something 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.600 along basically along these similar lines where it's like it 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:02.400 doesn't really matter what your ideological beliefs are if you're 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.320 sort of like a French settler in Algeria, like you 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:09.720 just automatically have privilege that like other people didn't. And 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.720 this has been sort of like I don't know, I like, 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:17.000 the original sort of context of what this analysis was 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.920 has been sort of worn down. But I think I 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.120 don't know, Like I think I think it is colonizers, 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:25.280 like this is this is a structural position, right, like 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:29.560 you know, the sort of you can't sort of individualism, 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.359 you're way out of a structural condition. Yeah, And I 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.720 think that's something people sort of have this incredible capacity 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.080 to sort of believe about themselves and it's just not 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:44.360 really true. And that's something that's very difficult to sort 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:48.320 of like actually substantively confronts. But I think it's why 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:50.520 this analysis of stuff. 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:56.200 Is useful exactly exactly. It's not enough to just say, oh, well, 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:58.760 I don't think this is right, I think this is wrong. 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:03.760 That hasn't changed any thing materially. It's when you act 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:10.840 to challenge, to dismantle, to confront, and to act in 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:17.600 solidarity with those facing these challenges in a material way 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:23.520 that any of it really matters. I think it was 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.880 particularly Poltin, and of course Mami is writing this, and 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:33.400 Cesaire wrote in a time when colonization is really at 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:40.399 or rather the confrontation against colonizations really added zenith. And 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:42.600 so for those of us in the twenty first century 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:46.639 in twenty twenty three now who are looking back, were saying, 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:50.120 we might think, oh, well, surely this is a data analysis, 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:55.600 a dated way of looking at these relationships. But upon 0:22:55.800 --> 0:23:03.000 further inspection it really continues to be quite topical when 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:09.840 you look at, for example, self proclaimed allies. Looking at 0:23:09.880 --> 0:23:15.119 how Mami discusses the colonizer who refuses really gives you 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:19.520 a sense of I think, at least how far you 0:23:19.600 --> 0:23:23.760 need to be willing to go in your allyship versus 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:28.880 how far most people have reached even today. We can 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:34.760 ask ourselves and those who maybe see themselves a bit 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:40.359 in the colonizer who refuses, Ask yourself how far I 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:45.119 mean you may recognize your privileges even while still you know, 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:50.240 enjoying them, But how far might you be willing to 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:55.400 go to see an end to this system? We speak 0:23:55.440 --> 0:24:00.320 about how the loss of privilege can make equality feel 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:04.800 like oppression, but truly grappling with that, what would it 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:11.439 mean for, for example, English to no longer be the 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:16.080 dominant language, you know, what would it mean for us 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:20.560 to get used to will in which we might have 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:24.400 to learn another language? And then I've been thinking about recently, 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:30.639 even while occupying the position of a colonized subject, I 0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:35.720 speak English, and that is a privilege. I speak English natively, 0:24:36.960 --> 0:24:38.720 and I mean I'm trying to learn another language. I'm 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:43.000 trying to learn Spanish, which is another colonized language. 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:45.120 Yeah, that's of one of the other things is like, 0:24:45.359 --> 0:24:47.399 you know, for me, it's like, okay, you have English, 0:24:47.440 --> 0:24:48.480 it's this colonial language. 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:49.600 You have Chinese, which. 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:53.359 Is like also colonial language, and I learned some Spanish. 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:56.200 It's like, well all right, and that's a third colonial 0:24:56.280 --> 0:24:57.560 language that struct the towers. 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:11.800 Yeah, exactly. And this will we get into this sort 0:25:11.800 --> 0:25:17.560 of discussion about like actually postclualism and anti colonial struggle 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:24.959 and how you go about anti clualism, right, because there 0:25:25.000 --> 0:25:27.520 is one of their different approaches. One could take different paths. 0:25:27.560 --> 0:25:31.040 I suppose we could follow. There's an anticlonal approach where 0:25:31.040 --> 0:25:35.760 we could say, you know what, let's just try and 0:25:37.640 --> 0:25:42.160 recreate pre colonial society. Right, so everybody tries to learn 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:45.280 the languages that they feel as though they might have 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:50.680 spoken if not under clonal system, if not, if clual's 0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:54.119 history had not happened. And then we try to re 0:25:54.320 --> 0:26:00.920 implement those languages and reimpose those languages and mantle certain 0:26:00.960 --> 0:26:04.280 institutions and structures and whatever the case may be, try 0:26:04.320 --> 0:26:11.760 to basically erase the impact of colonization from history. And 0:26:11.800 --> 0:26:19.359 then there's another path where we recognize, well, maybe we 0:26:19.440 --> 0:26:27.520 cannot undo colonization, and truthfully we can't write. But going forward, 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:34.320 how do we intend to dismantle and to rework and 0:26:34.440 --> 0:26:40.919 to create a new you know, taking from the past 0:26:41.359 --> 0:26:45.200 to build the future, but not being bound to that past. 0:26:47.280 --> 0:26:58.440 How do we, for example, let go of certain binds 0:26:58.480 --> 0:27:05.200 on language, or certain ways of communicating, or certain ways 0:27:05.280 --> 0:27:10.080 we organize systems, or certain customs and roles and obligations. 0:27:12.640 --> 0:27:17.399 And I'm varying a bit from the intended topic of 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:22.800 psychology of colonization, but I do want us to think 0:27:22.800 --> 0:27:25.679 about whether what role we regardless of what role we 0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:29.199 see ourselves in this discussion, how do we pursue an 0:27:29.240 --> 0:27:32.000 anti colonial future? What does that look like? What path 0:27:32.040 --> 0:27:37.520 should we be taken? And how might that path chafe 0:27:37.600 --> 0:27:43.160 against our current identity? How amight that path chafe against 0:27:43.160 --> 0:27:48.520 our current privileges, our current comforts. Yes, we are, as 0:27:48.600 --> 0:27:55.880 workers all oppressed and exploited, but at the same time, 0:27:56.240 --> 0:27:59.040 as we recognize there are certain privileges that some have 0:27:59.200 --> 0:28:02.240 over others, whether it be in the realm of race 0:28:02.680 --> 0:28:08.080 or gender, or ability or language. And if we are 0:28:08.080 --> 0:28:10.320 going to be pursuing artechulan, so we have to ask ourselves, 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:16.399 how might those privileges be affected? And have we truly 0:28:16.440 --> 0:28:21.760 confronted our comfort level with those privileges being affected. I 0:28:21.760 --> 0:28:26.479 think that's part of the broader effort of decolonizing the mind. 0:28:26.680 --> 0:28:30.040 And when I speak about in my video and why 0:28:30.040 --> 0:28:33.920 Revolutionary's therapy, the idea of like really truly breaking down 0:28:33.960 --> 0:28:37.280 a lot of these ideas that we have about ourselves 0:28:37.280 --> 0:28:42.600 and about the world and questioning all of it, deconstructing, 0:28:42.680 --> 0:28:45.640 reconstructing all of it. But then when I get too far, 0:28:45.720 --> 0:28:52.280 of course, sincere called the colonization thingification. So let's turn 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:56.800 our attention now to those things. Let's discuss this situation 0:28:57.080 --> 0:29:03.240 of the colonized in this case, and and that defined 0:29:03.240 --> 0:29:05.800 by the images and myths that surround them and tell 0:29:05.840 --> 0:29:12.320 them who they are. The colonized have no way out 0:29:12.320 --> 0:29:16.640 of their condition within the colonial order. They aren't free 0:29:16.680 --> 0:29:19.600 to choose between being colonized or not being colonized. They 0:29:19.680 --> 0:29:24.280 just are colonized. And so Candice understands this in her 0:29:24.280 --> 0:29:26.680 whole life, She's had to grapple with the negative portraits 0:29:26.680 --> 0:29:30.680 of herself. They were created by the colonizer, all the 0:29:30.720 --> 0:29:34.200 images that were used to support the clonal situation that 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:40.120 raised the colonizer and humbled the colonized, That justified the 0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:44.120 colonizer's privilege, that painted the colonized as inerate and the 0:29:44.160 --> 0:29:50.880 colonizer as active. That made it seem as though the colonizer, 0:29:51.560 --> 0:29:56.800 as the colonizer, was doing the colonized a fever, that 0:29:56.880 --> 0:30:00.479 their labor was actually and the employment was actually necessary, 0:30:00.560 --> 0:30:05.160 that it was charity that the colonizer was bringing to 0:30:05.880 --> 0:30:11.480 their otherwise lazy masses. Being exposed to that kind of 0:30:11.480 --> 0:30:15.600 message and from a young age, really does a number 0:30:16.280 --> 0:30:20.640 on people, not just in the realm of colonization, but 0:30:20.680 --> 0:30:24.520 in other spheres as well. We see that with patriarchy, 0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:28.880 of course, how messages from an early age affect how 0:30:29.120 --> 0:30:36.480 boys and girls and others perceive themselves and perceive the 0:30:36.520 --> 0:30:41.840