About a month ago a pair of white South Africans ignited an international discussion about race and responsibility when they printed 10 t-shirts with the words “I benefited from apartheid” written boldly across the chest.
Those 10 were distributed at an art installation and were spoken for so quickly that another 30 were quickly produced. The gesture, a response to reactionary criticism of a supermarket’s hiring policy, elicited all manner of responses. Some suggested the t-shirt designers were motivated by a misplaced guilt; others felt they were unnecessarily digging up old history better forgotten; still others felt they were appropriating a struggle that whites had little place in.
One thing was undeniable: those 40 t-shirts prompted a debate about race and apartheid, guilt and responsibility. Uncharacteristically, the debate centered on the place of whites within post-apartheid South Africa, asking uncomfortable questions that seldom get asked. To what extent do whites today remain beneficiaries of the apartheid system? To what extent are whites responsible for its ongoing effects?
He benefited from apartheid.
More recently, a similar debate has emerged in Canada, ignited by the hunger strike of Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat, and the concurrent, nationwide Idle No More movement. From shopping mall drum circles to highway disruptions and hashtags, aboriginal activists and their allies have forced a discussion of Canadian colonialism in countless homes across the country this holiday season.
Naturally, the tone of those conversations will help to determine whether Idle No More will change the discourse on colonialism in Canada, or simply fade into the history books of forgotten social media movements.
It will be tempting for some to write the movement off, to see this as a First Nations issue to which settlers have little to contribute and less to gain. But there is a lesson to be learned from South Africa here, and Canadians would do well to listen.
To admit that we settlers have benefited from colonialism in Canada will seem a platitude to some and a provocation to others, but it is something that we are unused to hearing in our day-to-day lives. In the era of pressure group politics, it is too tempting to write off aboriginal demands as just another “special interest” with a circumscribed area of relevance. And yet, if this were so, the system of colonialism that exists in Canada would actually be far easier to dismantle as ceding sovereignty would have little effect on the daily goings on of Canadians.
The reality is that many businesses, communities, and individuals would be impacted if our country took a fairer approach to our longstanding colonial history. Resources extracted from unceded land benefit Canadian economies in the south, often to the expense of local communities that rely on robust ecosystems for basic sustenance. When royalties on these resources go to a federal government democratically responsible to southern Canadian populations, it is the “hinterland” that suffers most.
Similarly, by systematically neglecting rural and urban aboriginal populations alike, and by choosing not to honour treaties from coast to coast to coast, our government has “saved” millions of dollars. Properly speaking, however, that money was never theirs to begin with. There is a moral argument to be made here, but also a legal one that stretches back as early as 1763, when the Britain issued a Royal Proclamation prohibiting western expansion without Crown approval.
Idle No More protestors in Ottawa, Dec. 21, 2012.
What we have, then, are governments and businesses appropriating wealth from indigenous communities primarily to the benefit of settler communities in the south. Perhaps it doesn’t take the crossing of an ocean for resource extraction to constitute colonialism, though we are used to thinking of it in this way.
So, yes, I benefit from colonialism. And I don’t think it’s too great a stretch to say that colonialism has shaped my life as much as that of Canada’s First Nations, only in a vastly different, almost incomparable way. The very fact that I am writing this today on what was once Songhees territory might be proof enough of that uncomfortable fact. Colonization is a two-sided coin, with those benefit on one side and those who suffer on the other.
The question that “I benefited from apartheid” and Idle No More ask is whether decolonization might be a two-sided coin as well. We are too used to thinking of the effects of colonialism as an “aboriginal issue,” but its influences reach the lives of all Canadians.
If I benefit from colonialism, do I not have a moral responsibility to combat its oppressive effects? If there is one definitively Canadian issue, this may be it. The responsibility to challenge the mechanics of colonization and be “idle no more” lies with us all – settler and Songhees, colonized and colonizer.
Someone get me a t-shirt.
(Find the Idle No More blog here. For more about “I benefited from apartheid” read this article, or listen to the Q interview, beginning at 4:20.)
Well said! I find it …interesting that you talk about Apartheid system in South Africa. Do you know that the Apartheid system in South Africa was constructed after it’s creators studied Canada’s mis-treatment of First Nation people? And Canada continues to harass and mistreat aboriginal people. I fully support Idle No More! I hope people like you will continue to challenge the exploitation of aboriginal people! Some day, I hope you will support reparation in relation to the slave trade and Cultural Healing for people of African decent too!-Izzie J
I have heard that about the Apartheid system (instructive history for a future blog post, maybe). It makes sense to me the two countries might learn from each other in their attempts to decolonize as well. And certainly, that requires addressing many facets of our history, and includes supporting people of African descent in Canada.
Excellent! Finally a reminder that all settler Canadians benefit from the ongoing colonization of Indigenous people! I would definitely wear that T Shirt. We are all treaty people – either as those who benefit from them or those who suffer because the treaties are not being honoured. It is clear who is on which side of this coin. Thank you!!
Your wish is my command:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/halfbreed/works/9821040-i-benefit-from-colonialism
Oh my goodness – is this actually a thing?
(!)
It is, indeed, lol.
Are we beneficiaries or slaves to it? I mean has colonization made nature better or made my life less risky or more natural or even more independent? I don’t think colonization benefits anyone other than the church/state partnership and the rich. The hierarchy is a false god which makes us as competitive to stay on “top” as we can be but are we benefiting? The world is trashed, nature is buckling, there is a false “economy” and slavery to the fed for all of us. I think it is a mistake to believe there is a more or less oppressed minority. We are the majority (women 51%) and women are not the oppressive/barbaric/warmongering colonizing complainant, children are a large percent of the world and 40% of children are hungry yet iti s not the children who are warmongers or the rich and powerful. I know who iti s that benefits from colonization and it is not MOST of humanity and none of the natural world does. I am always shocked by these sweeping statements that some how the majority have choices and this world industrial profit making order is seen to benefit us. If dirty water does not benefit the First Nations then it does not benefit me. If tar sands do not benefit the animals then it does not benefit me. The majority of the world’s male population also is not intentionally creating patriarchy or participating in it. They certainly do have by our social standards the “upper hand” but I am not sure they benefit from their imposed privilege when patriarchy is destroying our world.
Colonization is not a good thing at all so there is no benefit and saying that some of us are making out like thieves on the oppression of some others accomplishes nothing but competition and resentment. NO ONE BENEFITS FROM WAR OR ABUSE OR HATRED OR IMPERIALISM! EVEN THE IMPERIALISTS because it is wrong and damaging and it is going to kill us and our world.
Well said my friend!!! Unfortunately you are about right!! Neither aboriginal nor most most of humanity in general benefit from the destruction of our resources, our economy & certainly not from war!! There are certainly no simple answers to resolve the issues, however, it is very necessary for these problems to be recognized & sincerely addressed!!
It is time for things like our school curriculums to be adjusted to reflect a more realistic historical picture. Our children need to be educated with emphasis on the true history & to grow up recognizing the colonialism that has perpetuated & impacted on so many generations of all Canadians! We forget that there were well established social hierarchy long before Columbus ever “discovered” North America!! Our natural resources certainly need to be protected & there are simply so many other issues involved that Harper needs to address!! This meeting is just one “baby step” in the right direction, however, unfortunately I suspect that it will be more of a sop to Idle No More with very little resolution intended!! (At least on Harper’s part!) There certainly needs to be changes but there is no quick fix to the situation!!!
I wondered if you would mind if I reposted this article to Google+ as I think you make many valid points.
Stay strong my friend!!
Feel free to repost. Thanks for your comments and encouragement!
Gnome Alice, there was a typo in your post. Here I’ve fixed it for you:
“…children are a large percent of the world and 40% of children are hungry yetis…”
Very much enjoyed this post. I’ve often bridled at being labelled a ‘colonizer’, and at the politics of blame attached to such a sentiment; but I cannot deny that I have benefitted from colonization, and being able to phrase things that way gives me a much more plausible position from which to consider my own responsibility and power to create change – currently, and constructively. What I’m left wondering about is something you touched on briefly, which is the notion of *de*colonization. Is such a thing possible? If so, what would it look like? If not, what would the alternatives be? A great deal of post-colonial literature worldwide deals with this very question, and I expect it lies at the heart of the success Idle no More may achieve: the extent to which a vision of the future can be built, which recognises and pays due respect to the past (which is a multiple past, after all, of different First Nations as well as settler and immigrant communities), and which resonates with – and mobilises engagement and commitment from – the wide variety of players we find in our contemporary communities. I think you’ve made a strong case that *all* of us need to find ways to be involved in this en-visioning process, and have given us a useful way of thinking to begin.
In 1990/91 I interviewed a man who had previously been the Assistant Native Affairs Commissioner in what was then Southern Rhodesia/Rhodesia. He was a very, gentle reflective man who, for all the faults of the system in which he lived and operated, wanted to do good for Africans – and senior government people of the post-independence era note this about him too. In the 50s he had had the opportunity to travel to the USA to learn lessons from there on how Africans in Southern Rhodesia could be better treated – learning from mistakes or good practice. He landed in NYC and the hosts took him off to Harlem to see how Negroes lived. He was astounded, “This isn’t a race issue, this is about living conditions. I want to visit your reserves.” The hosts were shocked to say the least.
Ahhh..the white man’s endless burden. Look around the world and you will see that wherever the white man landed and colonized, the indigenous people suffer even today. How does one put an end to this misery heaped upon the natives? First, stop using the excuse of economy to run aground any treaties created to protect native lands. It is time for the white man to place the First Nations as equal partner in ALL activities involving their lands, rivers, lakes and seas. Being equal means accepting their concerns and proposals – NOT ignoring them. Is there hope? Probably not – as I find the white man continues to believe that he is better than them – the most ARROGANT position he takes each time.
We benefit from having rights on someone else’s land…But i disagree that we’re all benefiting from resource extraction. Resource prices are determined by derivatives trading, which is governed completely by the monopolized issuance of credit. As a result, we pay a fortune for our energy and goods despite living in the world’s greatest resource stockpile. . .We’re also saddled with ever more public debt despite a supposed benefit to government coffers. . . Of course there’s also the environmental concerns. If you believe in the threat of CO2, the oil sands project has the potential to destroy much much more than the sustainability of small northern communities.
But all in, good article. I’m also uncomfortably Canadian.
Thanks, remistevens. I think that all non-natives neither automatically nor systematically benefit from the oppression of native peoples. “White” privilege can be seen as a passive sort of oppression; “white” people should acknowledge and subvert it at all times.
Reblogged this on Unsettling America.
Americans would do well to listen too. Great article.
I also like the comparison to Israel’s ongoing colonization of Palestine with the help of U.S., Canada. EU., only that colonization benefits no one but the warmongers and bankers. In all cases……follow the money! I applaud the South Africans who recognize Israel as an Aparthied State and support divestment and sanctions. Support Indigenous Peoples’ right of self-determination, vote with the wallet.
Having Cherokee ancestors confuses the issue for me. I don’t wanna seem like “Chief Whiteboy”, but I support the dialogue of Colonization. In Canada you hear Imperial and Crown, however in the States, It seems settled, and we rarely use Colony, Colonial in discussion at all.
Thank you writing such an insightful article.
Uncomfortably First Nation’s (Dineh/Navajo) and Uncomfortably Canadian.
[...] via I benefit from colonialism. [...]
Thanks for the article! I take a divergent position that parallels yours in some ways and explores a larger question. What does benefit really mean? “Whites” were colonized a long time ago and have grown to accept colonial systems as not only as normal but desirable. Sure, take someone else’s person or property and profit from them at no cost to you but at a silent and invisible and unimaginable cost to them. First Nations see these with much fresher eyes. All of our ancestors were aboriginal somewhere and we are all still Native to Earth. There are no humans that live separate from the Earth no matter how far from the Earth their conscience lies. Everything we eat, drink, breathe and wear comes from the Earth. Everything made around us is extracted and manufactured from the Earth. Those who live with and protect the Earth are marginalized while those that join the colonial systems “benefit”. I would question the term “benefit” because it leaves out what the costs are to our so-called benefits. Not only to the First Nations but to all of us. While the world was much larger these costs were much easier to hide and dismiss. That is changing. Sure I enjoy comforts and privileges but the cost to my health and well being as well as to that of countless other life forms is staggering. My life style is changing. My choices are changing. I don’t “enjoy” many of those “benefits” any more by choice because to continue to do so would do further damage to my self and to my Earth Community. I’m not perfect, but it is a very important process. I completely support Idle No More and have donated money as well as time to this. This movement is a huge step in bringing about a “post-colonial” world and is asking tough questions about what it means to be alive and conscious… and what “benefit” really means. I hope it continues to grow and strengthen for all of our sake.
what is the content of the moral obligation of the settlor once we accept that we benefit enormously from the current arrangement?
The responsibility is to ensure you understand the issues – to not rely on the myths, stereotypes, lies that have sustained us for generations. Think critically about the issues as presented – when a non-Indigenous person questions Chief Spence’s integrity, ask yourself what the agenda might be – ignorance is the foundation upon which colonization continues unchecked in Canada. Attend IdleNoMore events – talk to the people most impacted by Canada’s “benevolence”. Thank you
Gupdawg. Thank you for your response. To be honest I find it very difficult to get more than a superficial understanding of the issues. What seems obvious is that aboriginal communities face a number of challenges and that this is very much related to the colonial history of the country. I cannot understand what Idle No More aims to achieve. It appears that the movement was begun, at least in part, to challenge the leadership of the chiefs. (Perhaps I am wrong about this). What is the relationship between Idle No More and Chief Spence, if any? What is the movement’s criticism of the legal relationship that governs the relationship between the federal government and aboriginal Canadians? I appreciate any thoughtful answers. Thank you.
Thank you Idle Curiosity. I don’t have it all figured out either. The movement started to protest the unilateral passing of Bill C45 which basically is a modern day version of the 1969 White Paper intended to eradicate Indigenous people as a distinct group in Canada. The French have distinct status -Harper actually granted them sovereignty. The English have distinct status – just look at our institutions – all modelled after the British system. Why do the original people of this land have to keep fighting for their place in their own land?
Pam Palmeter has some excellent articles out there right now that cover the issues. For me, living in British Columbia where much of the land was never ceded, I am increasingly concerned that the waterways that are no longer protected just “happen” to follow the proposed Enbridge pipeline route. What little land was left for First Nations before it was thrown open for preemption by mainly White settlers is under siege by the government and gas/oil/mining companies.
What I find offensive is not only how openly the contempt for Indigenous is expressed but also by how stupid the government wants me to be. Releasing Band audits without providing context is a deliberate attempt to distract us from the truth.
I believe the Idle No More gatherings are the first wave and opportunity for Indigenous people to stop being laterally violent with each other and start targeting their discontent in the right direction. It is also an opportunity for those like you and I to come down on the side of truth and refuse to remain in ignorance. Thanks or coming back and remaining curious.
Just returning from Idle No More support at Centennial Square, Victoria, BC – powerful gathering! Very strong message for change, for the youth & for future! Good to see!
The youth who started this movement are the children post Oka Crisis. These First Nations youth are walking hand in hand with the Grandmothers who raised them who are the connection we have to the past and the language of the ancestors. This language came from the earth and when the earth begins to speak Money will not be able to translate the message. The earth is speaking and the message is for all to be IDLE NO MORE to the greed of the few that affect / effect all people. This movement is a wake up call to all. Is this clear enough.
Miigwetch for Clarity in this important message.
– Ignorance is the foundation upon which colonization continues unchecked in Canada.
– Continue to Ignore = You Choose to be idle, that which does not change – DIES.
– Learning = Change, Sharing = Healing.
[...] the Huffington Post here. Hamilton’s own Public Intellectuals Project shared an interesting article about this topic on their facebook page as well. Get informed and join the discussion! This could [...]
Sorry. Being half native I do not benefit from either. The natives don’t want me, and neither do the whites. As soon as either group finds out I have part of the other, I’m labelled, stereotyped, resented and told I should feel ashamed, or guilty, for being part native, or having “benefited”. This argument is so South African and American where their is little to less intermarriage among the races. In Canada, especially the west, there’s almost no-one who isn’t “half breed” or Metis. Take a lesson from India, those who were mixed white and Indian still are not welcome in either. Some benefit.
I wish all the Afrikaaner musicians in “Searching For Sugar Man” wore those tees…
Settlers? How are people that were born here and don’t even know when they’re ancestors got here settlers? The difference is Canada was colonized before anyone alive today was alive, most people alive in South Africa can remember the brutal apartheid system. Not everything is black and white, my grandmother was forced from her home, everyone from her country deported and another country annexed their land that had belonged to them for just as long as the Natives lived in Eastern Canada, she got no compensation and many of her family died in the forced marches to their new settlements where they were viewed as poor and a burden by the locals. It’s the worlds largest ethnic cleansing and almost no one knows about it; she’s still alive too, this happened 65+ years ago, Prussian dialects and culture are now dead as intended. My point is this stuff happens all the time and people have to move on. Will we be talking about it when the Settlers have been here for just as long as the Natives were when Europeans first landed in North America? I want the best for everyone, guilt and blame doesn’t do that though.
You’re certainly right in pointing out that colonialism is as complicated and multilayered an issue as one cares to make it, and there histories of it all over the world.
I can’t speak very authoritatively on Prussian history, but the bottom line in a Canadian context is that colonialism isn’t just something that happened in our past. Its processes continue to threaten indigenous cultures today, and for that reason I don’t think we’re ready to ‘move on.’ Maybe one day.
As for using “settlers,” there are a number of alternatives one could use: “whites” doesn’t seem to encapsulate all the groups that benefit from aboriginal oppression. I’d use “newcomers” in some contexts, but it feels a little touchy-feely here.
Thanks for your comments, anyways.
It will be the grassroots people who stop the governments and the corporations from destroying the environment. The government is just another business looking for profit. Its the people who have to exercise their own power and come together to save the environment and thereby, saving themselves and their great grand children.
This is no coincidence that I spent the better part of today watching the South African struggle with apartheid and how it reached the U.S. It is a powerful 5 part series that really is inspiring (at the same time gutwrenching). As First Nations people…how can we learn from and join spiritually with other people of color Nations to break the back of racism? It is going to take all of us working together. Who benefits by keeping a race construct in place..is a question we ask evry time in Undoing Racism workshops. Who benefits at whose cost too? We have to get to the heart of racism. This year is a good time. I talk about race-racism at evry opportunity. I continue to grow and others around me either grow too…or go away. Their choice. We have an opportunity to grow and learn together. One wheel.
Should Indian status be abolished as a necessary step in deconstructing the social construct of race? Thank you.
Hi again Idle Curiosity. This is an interesting question (and a loaded one). Does status determine race? What does that mean for all those White folks who have status as a result if pre-1985 legislation? The social construct of race is what White folks use to separate the “us” from the “them”. White, until recently, was considered neutral, not a race – we were defined not by what we are, but by what we are not (mainly, Black, or any other colour). Despite all of the attempts to assimilate Indigenous people (with destructive consequences) most Indigenous people do not desire to be “White” – they know who they are, where they belong, who they belong with. Many White people will never allow them to be White anyway – this is known as racialization. Assimilation does not make racism, stereotyping, violence, oppression, and marginalization magically disappear. Status was a colonial system set up with the intent of one day ridding Canada of Indians – in the legal sense. To ensure no ongoing fiduciary responsibility. Personally, I think people are realizing that many mistakes were made but simply stopping now would not solve the problem. Indigenous people have rights in Canadian and International law. Status is one of the few tenuous links left that protects those rights…
hey, this is a great piece, thanks for your words. I’m curious reading it, and wonder if you could speak to, why the article seems to be saying that unceded land where resources are used are in the north? Lots of the south is also stolen and used to benefit settlers like me. I live in Vancouver, for instance, and this entire city – in the south – is unceded land.
I was just curious whether the article intends to make that distinction between ‘exploited’ land in the north and seemingly not-exploited land in the south? or is it just unclear by accident…?
thanks, and again, really valuable piece and a welcome perspective. i think it’s super helpful as settlers to share what we’re learning, cuz the learning goes on and on once you begin, once you accept that we directly benefit from the current arrangement in so many ways. (even though of course it’s also true that the colonizer is also harmed by the exploitative relationship – harm to our spirits and our humanness, but benefit to our material circumstances).
Hey Naava – A little bit of unclarity there on my part. I was trying to use ‘south’ as a bit of a shorthand for the areas where settler populations are predominantly concentrated, but I definitely wouldn’t want to suggest that those areas are somehow absolved from the processes of colonialism in Canada. Might have to do some editing there… Thanks for your comment!
Wonderful article . . . turns over many important stones to reveal truths that are left too often uncovered . . . wish I had more time this morning to reflect and share and challenge but suffice to say that I appreciate the piece but even more so the considered and considerate comments that follow. There is so much vitriol and exposed raw emotions when matters such as these are brought to the surface, it is reassuring to read albeit in a quick skim manner, everyone’s comments. I’ll be back . . . and keeping my eyes out for the t-shirt to buy somewhere soon!
[...] I Benefit from colonialism [...]
Ok, now what though? Many Canadians have benefited from colonialism. So we accept that. So what’s next? Everybody likes to draw attention to the issues, but the issues are known, they are already being discussed. The PROBLEM is that nobody has a good SOLUTION for them. Nobody has any idea about how to reach a compromise that makes everybody happy. I also think it’s disingenuous to say that only “white” Canadians have benefited from Colonialism. I guess native people never go to the doctor? They probably all build their own houses from scratch by hand with their own money?
Very few interactions in life are all one sided, with one “bad guy” and one “good guy”. So this post is yet another one drawing attention to the issue, but offers no solutions. This article is like many others seems to me to be like saying “Well guys the house is on fire, SOMEBODY should really do something about that.”. Yeah SOMEBODY should, but what to do? In the case of a fire the solution is simple and obvious.
One thing Idle no more accomplished was allowing us to see the terrible accounting going on at these reserves, nobody can answer the question, Where is all the money going? Why did you spend money on that? What was the payment for?
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/07/attawapiskat-audit-shows-questionable-spending-practices-after-receiving-more-than-100-million-in-federal-funding-in-six-years/
I think that Canada needs to rethink it’s relationship with native peoples, for our mutual benefit. I think the reserve system hurts natives more than helps them, and also receiving federal monies all the time doesn’t help the situation either. I think everybody needs to accept that traditional native ways of life ARE GONE, and they are not coming back. So natives will need to adapt themselves to live in the culture in which they find themselves. You can rage and cast blame about how this situation has come to be, but it’s pointless and accomplishes nothing. So yeah I benefited from colonialism, so now what? Should we give them Ontario? or pay them cash in perpetuity? What’s the answer???
I find it curious that people are wanting to know ‘where the money’ goes that First Nations receive to administer programs agreed to in the treaties – but they never ask how much money has been extracted in resource exploitation or what happens to the royalty monies held in ‘trust’ by the federal government on behalf of those First Nations – people assume that the funding is from tax payers – no one even questions this lie. Just because the money comes out of general revenues doesn’t mean it is tax payer money. These are the issues I urge people to inform themselves about. Attawapiskat receives about 6 Million to administer treaty promises – about 6 billion is extracted from their traditional territories every year. Why aren’t you asking where that money goes? You want to rethink a relationship with First Nations – one that maintains the status quo in terms of your comfort. Why don’t you spend time with those most affected by Canada’s colonial/assimilationist agenda and hear from their own mouths what they think the solution is?
Reblogged this on Many Politics and commented:
This post contextualizes Idle No More by arguing that settlers benefit from colonialism, and that we (settlers) have a responsibility to confront it. Colonialism isn’t an ‘Indian problem;’ it’s a ‘settler problem:’ the problem is that we came, appropriated land, murdered and dominated peoples, settled, and never left.
Well written. It is writing like this that helps to change perspective. Thank you for sharing
[...] http://uncomfortablycanadian.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/i-benefit-from-colonialism/ [...]
[...] “If I benefit from colonialism, do I not have a moral responsibility to combat its oppressive effects? If there is one definitively Canadian issue, this may be it. The responsibility to challenge the mechanics of colonization and be “idle no more” lies with us all – settler and Songhees, colonized and colonizer.” I benefit from colonialism – uncomfortably canadian [...]
I’d just like to say that here on the west coast we are all treaty people. Particularly here on Vancouver Island we are bound by the Douglas Treaties that were made by Sir J Douglas. Local first nations are still trying to affirm rights guarenteed by those treaties.
No one is “milking ” the system. One tier of government is providing only 2 thirds of the funding non aboriginal people receive from 3 levels of governments. DINA is solely responsible for %100 of funding for aboriginal people that makes for an easy target. Douglas treaty people are largely transparent and forward thinking. We are all responsible in this partership
[...] problem.” In spite of the mainstream media, many Canadian settlers are learning that they are implicated in an ongoing colonial relationship. For me that’s encouraging, because I didn’t grow up in a context where colonialism is [...]
[...] Some settlers do realize that we benefit from this genocide, that our plush lifestyle is as direct a result of colonialism as is First Nations deprivation. It is an important acknowledgement at the same time that it leaves us where this blog post began. Yet, there is nothing within the current polity that I can advocate with any faith or passion because our current polity is inherently flawed. There is no Justice for First Nations people just as there is no Justice for any oppressed group. The focus of our system is not Justice; it is profit and growth. So long as we continue to devote our being and society to growth and profit there will be no Justice for those very same peoples that our veneration of profit and growth have harmed. [...]
[...] problem.” In spite of the mainstream media, many Canadian settlers are learning that they are implicated in an ongoing colonial relationship. For me that’s encouraging, because I didn’t grow up in a context where colonialism is [...]
The issue of benefiting from colonialism is very interesting. I remember my days of studentship in primary and secondary school in the 1970s. Those were years our country Tanzania was emerging from colonialism as we gained our flag independence in 1961. One of the jokes that teachers used in class rooms was: “…imagine a thief come to your house for purposes of taking your properties. The thief takes away the first trip, the second trip, and the third trip. On the fourth trip the thief do a mistake and you wake up. You start chasing the thief off your house. In so doing the thief leaves behind one of his/her shoes. In the morning can you claim to your neighbors to have benefited from the thief because of the one shoe that the thief has accidentally left in your house?
I remember we used to say no and the teacher would conclude that OK colonialists were like thief. They took away so many resources from our country. What you might see as benefits from colonialism are just things that were happened to be left behind by them. They would wish to take with them everything.
How can you link this with the article.