Article I missed the1st time: A QUICK REMINDER OF WHY COLONIALISM WAS BAD
SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
Ignoring or downplaying colonial atrocities is the moral equivalent of Holocaust denial
by NATHAN J. ROBINSON
Perhaps the easiest way to understand why colonialism was so horrific is to imagine it happening in your own country now. It is invaded, conquered, and occupied by a foreign power. Existing governing institutions are dismantled and replaced by absolute rule of the colonizers. A strict hierarchy separates the colonized and the colonizer; you are treated as an inconvenient subhuman who can be abused at will. The colonists commit crimes with impunity against your people. Efforts at resistance are met with brutal reprisal, sometimes massacre. The more vividly and accurately you manage to conjure what this scenario would actually look like, the more horrified you will be by the very idea of colonialism.
One would think this revulsion was now universally shared. But that is far from being the case. The majority of British people are still proud of colonialism and the British Empire. Americans continue to show an almost total indifference to the lasting poverty and devastation inflicted on the countrys indigenous population. Being pro-colonial is no bar to success in academia; Harvard historian Niall Ferguson has long defended the British Empire as a force for good in the world. And now, Princeton PhD and Portland State University professor Bruce Gilley has published an unapologetic Case for Colonialism in Third World Quarterly, a respected academic journal.
Gilleys article takes a very clear stance: not only was colonialism a force for good in the world, but anti-colonial sentiment is preposterous. Whats more, Gilley says, we need a new program of colonization, with Western powers taking over the governing functions of less developed countries. Gilley says he intends to overturn or revise three lines of criticism directed against colonialism: that it was objectively harmful (rather than beneficial), that it was subjectively illegitimate (rather than legitimate), and that it offends the sensibilities of contemporary society. Thus he is not just concerned to prove that colonialism was good and should be revived. He also wants to prove that it was legitimate, i.e. that there is nothing inherently unjust about invading and dominating a people.
Gilleys article is a truly extraordinary piece of work. Its hard to believe, at first, that it isnt a Sokal-esque satire intended to prove how normalized abhorrent opinions are. But it appears to be sincere. And because it appeared in a mainstream journal, and the sentiments it expresses are somewhat common, its worth responding to the case Gilley makes.
More:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/09/a-quick-reminder-of-why-colonialism-was-bad
(Please take a moment to note the photo later in the article, and consider the information about it. It's possible the image will stay with you for a while. Thank you.)
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,002 posts)DBoon
(22,366 posts)The very term "concentration camp" was coined for facilities used by the British to control the South African population during the 1980s Boer War.