“Colonial relations do not stem from individual good will or actions; they exist before his arrival or his birth, and whether he accepts or rejects them matters little.” – Albert Memmi
Many in the colonized world, both the European colonized and the Arab colonized world, engage regularly in apologetics for Arab and European colonization – for Arabs, specifically the Levant (which started with the Rashidun Caliphate) and, for Europeans, specifically the continent they call “America.”
This Dakota tribal member and professor is right to point out that from “birth, they begin teaching their children myths regarding the righteousness of the existing social order.” [“We are Arabs and Muslims, and this is our land! The indigenous is the outsider.” “We are Americans and Christians, and this is our land! The indigenous is the outsider.”] These apologizers for conquest and ownership of lands not theirs would have you believe that the indigenous to the land are colonizers or the invaders.
There is direct parallel to “American” colonization with historic Arab colonization. Muslims would have the whole world believe that, under Islamic rule, Jews were always treated as a special and well-treated class of less-than citizens. They would have you believe that Jews all across the (Arab colonized) Middle East and North Africa, not just in historic Palestine (Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and Transjordan areas), voluntarily of their own free will left their two-to-three thousand year old communities (leaving everything behind) just to “colonize” less 10 percent of the Jewish ancestral lands and take this land from Arabs.
This isn’t making sense, is it? Especially, knowing that Islam itself recognizes that Palestine belongs to the Jews, and Al-Aqsa is in fact built on a portion of the Temple Mount. But, this is the nature of the apolegetics that must be engaged in by those who possess supremacy and power over a minority people. Even today, Jews in the Levant are still not free from intimidation and persecution and the ahistorical stereotyping by *both* the Christian and Muslim colonizers of this world! Israel is the only refugee nation of its kind, and is the only nation-size militarized (for survival) open air prison of its kind – on just a portion of our ancestral homeland.
When will the religious colonizers of this world allow the Indigenous genuine self-sovereignty and peace upon just a portion of ancestral lands? Free of national and religious terrorism, all for not assimilating into the Colonizers’ worlds? Kurds, ethnic Iranians, Jews, Dakota, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Hawaiians, etc., all need to support each other in our need to support the ancestral way-of-life and our respective nationhoods.
When will the religious colonizers of this world allow Israel to open her borders to a world of peace and acceptance of Jewish right of self-sovereignty?! It is time for Islam to decolonize the Levant and Africa. (Muslims, go home!) And it is time for Christianity to decolonize everywhere that is not Rome. (Christians, go home!) The remaining indigenous around the world would like their lands and sovereignties back.
Tunisian-Jewish writer Albert Memmi (ألبير ممّي), ז”ל taught the following:
“A colonial is a European living in a colony but having no privileges, whose living conditions are not higher than those of a colonized person of equivalent economic and social status.”
“The colonial does not exist, because it is not up to the European[/Arab] in the colonies to remain a colonial, even if he had so intended. Whether he expressly wishes it or not, he is received as a privileged person by the institutions, customs and people.”
And Waziyatawin, Ph.D, teaches:
“While the chasm between powerful and wealthy colonizers (such as corporate heads and politicians) and the poor, working-classes, for example, is certainly great, this still does not alter the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. … All colonizers, by continuing their occupation of another People’s homeland, remain colonizers, no matter their intent.”
“In the United States [and the Levant and Africa], nearly everyone has agreed to be a colonizer. From birth, they begin teaching their children myths regarding the righteousness of the existing social order. [“We are Arabs and Muslims, and this is our land! The indigenous is the outsider.” “We are Americans and Christians, and this is our land! The indigenous is the outsider.”] That message is reinforced throughout their lives. It is hard work maintaining such lies, so whenever the colonized [Kurds, ethnic Iranians, Jews, Dakota, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Hawaiians, etc.] threaten to disrupt their myth-making, they are quickly silenced, suppressed, and further subjugated.”
Kept in their corner of the world, their voices are drowned out by the social megaphones of propaganda and lies.
Hello Arab Islam (Caliphates)? Hello European Christianity (Crusaders)?
“Points to Remember for Indigenous Solidarity Activists:
1 – The movement for Indigenous liberation is a radical political struggle
2 – Being an ally does not mean signing up for Indigenous spirituality [which is why we Jews, First Nations, Polynesians do not proselytize – do not appropriate our ethno-religious rituals!]
3 – We need strong, solid individuals who are not floundering with their own spiritual struggles
4 – This is not a struggle for those people who believe it’s trendy to support Indigenous causes—we are in it for the long haul
5 – You can find Indigenous individuals who will support any position you want them to support—that is a direct result of the colonial experience
6 – Those indigenous individuals who encourage non-Indigenous participation in ceremonies are often (not always) those who are attempting to curry favor with white[/Arab] people for their own purposes
7 – Because this is a political struggle, it is essential to work in solidarity with critically minded and politically engaged Indigenous individuals
8 – Remember that decolonization is a process for both the colonizer and the colonized.”
Understanding Colonizer Status
Understanding Colonizer Status
“In the end, we must all recognize that we are full of contradictions, colonizer and colonized alike. Even those of us who have a greater critical consciousness are tormented by the contradictions and compromises with which we must live. In the end, we all have considerable work to do. As Indigenous Peoples, for thousands of years we have been the first defenders of our homelands. We must resume that role. Those who presume to be our allies, must join us.”
0 Comments