• mathemachristian[he]@lemm.ee
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          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
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            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
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              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
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                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
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                  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
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                    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.