Just finished “How to Hide an Empire,” by Daniel Immerwahl
I’m often surprised by how much I don’t know, but this #book really astonished me with my own ignorance. I’m embarrassed to say how little I knew of US colonialism, territories, and global military bases
Immerwahl explains the post WWII #decolonization / #recolonization as a product of technological innovation in a clear (and very readable) way. Highly recommend!
🆕 Eight new research contracts were awarded to the IHC under by the FCT: six in the Junior Researcher category and two in the Assistant Researcher category, which will result in five new members joining the Institute. 🥳
Excited to be on a great round table on the production of space in contested territories. So many great scholars with me - Matthew Worsnick, Pamela Ballinger, Karolina Follis, Marta Verginella.
What does it mean to think about empire and the decolonial approach in territories contested between empires? Considering we live in a world of multiple competing empires, I believe this to be quite relevant!
is this month's #OpenAccess publication in the spotlight.
Read our interview with author Flávio Eiró on what changes he would advocate for in global #KnowledgeProduction to address inequality.
Does the open science movement sufficiently consider perspectives of the Global South?
I have read Nnedi Okorafor's novella, Binti, and I found it wonderful (as well as very entertaining). Also, with a witty reflection on the decolonization of museums.
A Christian missionary went to a tree that people worshipped as sacred, cut it down, and told them to worship a fir tree instead.
Now, billions of people cut down trees every year, just to throw them away after a month.
Don’t cut down a Christmas tree. Plant a native tree instead, and worship that. We’ll need them.
^ I want to turn this into a simple illustrated meme / one-page comic. Anybody know someone with art / graphics / meme chops, who could be up to turning this into an image we could distribute?
As the far right is attacking decolonization, e.g. Rufo and Musk, here's a free resource: Whose Land Is It Anyway? A Manual for Decolonization.
"We are pleased to announce the publication of Whose Land Is It Anyway? A Manual for Decolonization; inspired by a 2016 speaking tour by Arthur Manuel, less than a year before his untimely passing in January 2017. The book contains two essays from Manuel, described as the Nelson Mandela of Canada, and essays from renowned Indigenous writers Taiaiake Alfred, Glen Coulthard, Russell Diabo, Beverly Jacobs, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Kanahus Manuel, Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour, Pamela Palmater, Shiri Pasternak, Nicole Schabus, Senator Murray Sinclair, and Sharon Venne. FPSE is honoured to support this publication.
> This book focused on decolonization of multiple justice-related areas, such as policing, the court system, prison, restorative justice, and the studies of law and criminology.
The decolonization narrative is dangerous and false. It does not accurately describe either the foundation of Israel or the tragedy of the Palestinians.
It does not accurately describe either the foundation of #Israel or the tragedy of the #Palestinians.
By Simon Sebag Montefiore
“…Whatever the enormous complexities…, one truth should be obvious among decent people: killing 1,400 people & kidnapping >200, including scores of #civilians, was deeply wrong.
“Some of this is happening out in the open, some behind the masks of #humanitarianism & #justice, & some in code, most famously ‘from the river to the sea,’ a chilling phrase that implicitly endorses the killing or deportation of the 9M #Israelis. It seems odd that one has to say: Killing #civilians, old people, even babies, is always wrong. But today say it one must.”
“How can educated people justify such callousness & embrace such #inhumanity? All sorts of things are at play here, but much of the justification for killing #civilians is based on a fashionable #ideology, ‘#decolonization,’ which, taken at face value, rules out the negotiation of 2 states—the only real solution to this century of conflict—& is as dangerous as it is false.
“The lack of decency & respect for human life is astonishing: Almost instantly after the #Hamas attack, a legion of people emerged who downplayed the slaughter, or denied actual atrocities had even happened, as if Hamas had just carried out a traditional military operation against soldiers. #Oct7 deniers, like Holocaust deniers, exist in an especially dark place.
“The #decolonization narrative has #dehumanized Israelis to the extent that otherwise rational people excuse, deny, or support barbarity. It holds that #Israel is an ‘imperialist-colonialist’ force, that Israelis are ‘settler-colonialists,’ & that #Palestinians have a right to eliminate their oppressors. (On #Oct7, we all learned what that meant.) (& by association #Hamas, despite the fact it in no way safeguards the Palestinian people’s interests.)
“If the ideology of #decolonization, taught in our universities as a theory of history & shouted in our streets…, badly misconstrues present reality, does it reflect the history of #Israel as it claims to do? …Indeed, it does not accurately describe either the foundation of Israel or the tragedy of the #Palestinians.
“Acc/to the decolonizers, Israel is & always has been an illegitimate state because it was fostered by the #BritishEmpire & because some of its founders were European-born Jews.
An important point by Moshe Behar (via email) about the description of the #Hamas attack as a decolonial struggle: never in the history of #decolonization had a liberation movement killed more than 1,000 civilians in one day. No one even came close. #Israel#Palestine
France and Germany Forge Joint Fund for Colonial-Era Research by Angelica Villa (ARTnews).
"On Tuesday, government officials from Germany and France’s culture ministries forged an agreement for the two countries to jointly launch a fund centered on researching the provenance records of museum artifacts deriving from formerly colonized African regions."
"Officials of both European nations have publicly pledged to return art objects uprooted from former colonized African territories, with each restituted objects flagged as having been looted from their museums. In 2021, France returned more than 20 objects looted by the British military from the Republic of Benin. Last year, Germany returned more than 1,000 Benin bronzes to Nigeria."
Husam Zomlot, Ambassador, Head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK answer to the question what he sees as the solution: "International law. The equal application of international resolutions and law and legitimacy. As you did in Ukraine."