#colonial terrorism

[ochipi]

When is a dead human a crime - and when is it archaeology?

Inspired by @rainneondecay thanks for asking!

Edit: written from the 21th century POV of a Western European field archaeologist.

There’s no real set of rules or standards or… but there is logic. And a seriously long post coming up. Ready? Set? Go!

First of all, archaeology is reading the remains of human activity within the soil. If you can read it from a book or… you know… ask someone, than it’s not really archaeology. You need to kinda be dead long enough to become archaeology. The people/institute who were alive with you/responsible for you have to be gone long enough and there should only be a skeleton left of you. Archaeologists will never use the word “corpse”. Only “human remains”. Because that’s what you need to be. Just bones and additional grave goods. No soft tissue apart from maybe hair and the utmost rarity of mummies.

A human becomes archaeology based on three things: place, date and context.

1) place. if you dig in a (former) church yard: bodies overload. It’s no surprise to find any human remains there. If you dig a Roman house, not so likely to find any remains there. But medieval people are weird and police are not stupid. When they come and look at the bones, they’ll confirm it’s old and we can continue

2) date. We look for any clues that tell us that a body is old. Sand is too acidic and eats your calcium build bones. If the bones are in super bad shape, it means the body has been there for at least centuries. Grave finds such as jewelry and dress elements provide us with datable evidence for when a person died. The grave filling is important too. If it’s compacted and light in color, it’s quit old already. If it’s loose and the finds are recent and … bodies don’t decay that that fast… it’s recent. And we for sure need police.

3) context. This is such an important one. People luckily don’t commit deadly crimes left, right and centre. But crimes committed in the past can reach archaeologists. Medieval people who committed crimes were buried on their stomachs. People who are not baptized are buried outside of church grounds. There’s plagues and war. You want those dead people as far away from your village as possible. Kind of a positive that victims of those kind of events are not just a single person but rather a bunch all at once.

When does it become dodgy? Starting from WW1 and even more so WWII because we didn’t do a lot of nice things to each other back than. There’s colonialism and racial segregation. You can do archaeology on them, but there’s still people who you can take accountable for. Nunneries and red light districts are also kind of creapy because both institutions were notorious for getting rid of unwanted children. Christian institutions/beliefs are guilty of a looooot of crimes towards humanity. And Christian power has only been decreasing since veeeeeeery recently.

On a more positive note, people are usually nice enough to give no matter who a burial. And usually they will do it in or near a place where other people have been burying people since ages. There’s Frankish graves around Bronze Age burial mounts. That’s a time span between 3000 BC and 1000 AD. Than we had church yards and Muslim and Jewish graveyards where we as humans took the time and effort to dig identifiable graves. That’s actually beautiful when you think about it.

[rhythmgamer]

My empathy is wack so I think I can handle it probably. Obviously I'll feel bad about what happened but I think I can handle most topics.

okay so. tw for massacres and artificial famine. answer will be under the cut

okay so. first of all there's a Wikipedia page about list of massacres in India. you can go to the colonial India section and look.

in particular, i want to draw your attention to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. I'll copy paste the introduction from Wikipedia here.

"The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large, peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, British India, to protest the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independence activists Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal. In response to the public gathering, the temporary brigadier general R. E. H. Dyer, surrounded the protesters with his Gurkha, Baloch, Rajput and Sikh troops from 2-9th Gurkhas, the 54th Sikhs and the 59th Scinde Rifles of the British Indian Army.[4] The Jallianwala Bagh could only be exited on one side, as its other three sides were enclosed by buildings. After blocking the exit with his troops, he ordered them to shoot at the crowd, continuing to fire even as the protestors tried to flee. The troops kept on firing until their ammunition was exhausted.[5] Estimates of those killed vary from 379 to 1,500 or more people[1] and over 1,200 other people were injured of whom 192 were seriously injured.[6][7]"

this was like the turning point for Indian Independence movement. the sheer cruelty of the British soldiers at a peaceful gathering shocked the colonial world at that time. the perpetrator, General Dyer, was dismissed from service after this. no other punishment. none. in fact, wait!

this is what he got for massacring over a thousand unarmed people. yeah.

And this is just one incident. one incident of colonial British cruelty upon Indians because we were inferior to them.

oh, I haven't talked of the Bengal famine right?

quoting this article here:

"Policy lapses such as prioritising distribution of vital supplies to the military, civil services and others as well as stopping rice imports and not declaring Bengal famine hit were among the factors that led to the magnitude of the tragedy, historians have maintained."

again, towards the end,

"According to experts, following the Japanese occupation of Burma in 1942, rice imports stopped, and Bengal's market supplies and transport systems were disrupted. The British government also prioritised distribution of vital supplies to the military, civil servants and other "priority classes".

The policy failures began with the provincial government's denial that a famine existed. Humanitarian aid was ineffective through the worst months of the food crisis, and the government never formally declared a state of famine.

It first attempted to influence the price of rice, but these measures created a black market and encouraged sellers to withhold stocks."

so they literally caused a famine in Bengal. my home area. which caused the death of about 1-4 million people. i kid you not

And this does not even scratch the surface of what went on in colonial India

This is. not even 1% of what the British did to colonial India

they never teach you these things because they don't want you people to know the atrocities they'd committed in the past. they just want to paint the picture of a proud nation. no hate to you btw im just a bit mad that they do not teach y'all whatever wrong things they did to other countries. sigh

[african-international-magazine]

WHITE SAVIOURISM GONE WRONG IN DRC

In recent weeks, the renowned author and academic Siddharth Kara released his latest book, Cobalt Red: How the Congo Powers our Lives. The book sheds light on the labor conditions and living standards in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where cobalt mining is prevalent. Cobalt is a crucial metal in the global energy transition, and the book argues that Western consumers who use products containing Congolese cobalt are complicit in a human rights and environmental catastrophe.

The book has received widespread acclaim in the US and UK, becoming a New York Times bestseller in its first week of release. Publishers Weekly has hailed it as a "tour de force exposé," and Foreign Affairs has called it "a thorough and insightful investigation." Kara was even invited to discuss the book on the Joe Rogan podcast, which has garnered over four million views on YouTube in just one month. The book has also been featured in major news outlets such as CNN, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Daily Mail.

Commenting on the book's wide readership in the West, journalist Howard French once said, "It allows us, meaning the general public [in the US], to become interested in Africa in ways that respond to some pre-existing notions we have of Africa. That Africa should be a certain kind of way. That Africa should provide an escalating sense of horror in order to get us interested in it."

True to French's opinion, the book has garnered widespread attention in America and Europe, quickly becoming a bestseller and receiving accolades from numerous publications. Kara has even been invited to speak about the book on a popular podcast. However, the book's popularity stems from its ability to tap into pre-existing Western perceptions of Africa. Cobalt Red employs vivid language and imagery to evoke sympathy for the Congolese people.

Unfortunately, the book follows a well-worn narrative of Western writers traveling to Africa to tell stories that paint the continent as a place of suffering and despair. This narrative also perpetuates the idea that the Western world is the only hope for Africa. This is a grossly unfair portrayal of Africa, as the continent is not helpless and does not need saving by the West.

While Cobalt Red has brought much-needed attention to the plight of cobalt miners in the Congo, it is crucial to remember that Africa is not a continent in need of rescue by the West. We must be mindful of falling into the trap of viewing Africa solely through a lens of suffering and despair.

Nothing New, History Repeating Itself

Kara's story follows the same pattern as the conflict minerals playbook from the 2000s, which did not end well. Christoph Vogel's Conflict Minerals Inc. delves into the multiple drivers of violence in the Congo, unlike the simplistic single narratives that Western advocacy on "conflict minerals" relied on. These colonial frames led to policies that perpetuated structural violence, and the crude misrepresentation of conflict in the eastern Congo as being driven by greedy warlords trying to access minerals fed into equally blunt policies that harmed many of the people they sought to support.

However, the reality was that mining was the largest employer in the region after agriculture, and for all the mine sites with links to conflict financing, there were just as many without such links. These mines provided a vital source of income to hundreds of thousands of workers and their households, often at a wage level higher than available alternatives and in a context of widespread local unemployment. Unfortunately, these nuances did not fit into stereotypical Western stories or the simplistic campaign against conflict minerals, which drove down demand for eastern Congolese minerals. The impact of this on people in the region was severe, sustained, and widespread. Meanwhile, the conflict itself continued unabated, making international headlines in recent months with the resurgence of M23.

It is crucial to understand local mining in the Congo as Wainaina's landscape in which people laugh, struggle, and make do in usually mundane circumstances, rather than Kara's "grim wasteland of utter ruin." Otherwise, history will repeat itself, and the impact on people in the region will be severe, sustained, and widespread. Western tech and electric vehicle companies always put their faith in foreign-owned industrial mines or dubious mineral traceability and certification schemes to secure Congolese cobalt, which only soothes their consciences.

[sarroora]

“OhH maH GUrrrD aRe yOu SaYiNg IsRaEL hAs No RiGhT to EXisT”

You bet I am. Decolonize Palestine. All of it. From the River to the Sea. Uproot Settler Colonialism from our region. End Zionism.

Since the US and the West love Zionists so much to the point of worship, they can give them their own lands. Be my guest.

—

UPDATE: Here’s the original artist’s instagram! Thanks, glitteraorta!

[cavalierzee]

All Colonized People

All Colonized People

See Themselves

In Palestine.

They See Same Aspect Of What Was Done To Them In Palestine.

All Colonizers

See Themselves

In Israel.

[dayinadream]

2021 : South African diplomat Lesiba Machaba argues with an Israeli soldier attempting to stop Palestinian farmers harvesting olives near AlKhaleel (Hebron) occupied West Bank

[mysharona1987]

Quite a eulogy: “You were the happiest war criminal any of us ever knew!”

[houseofpurplestars]

"...in 1948 "israel" had not only expelled the Palestinians from their country but also frozen all their bank assets. Not content with depriving the Palestinians of their homes and taking over their country, "israel" was also pursuing them across the border and depriving them of the means to live in the countries where they were exiled. "Israeli" officials were working on the principle of "no money, no country." They wanted to turn the Palestinians into beggars."

-Raja Shehadeh, "We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I"

[valtsv]

>dies anyway

[justacynicalromantic]

Kids with the hardest childhood imaginable, having traveled half the country to receive treatment for cancer, now having to receive treatment for shrapnel wounds and be dug out from under the rubble.

[bossymarmalade]

CBC video: Stolen Children | Residential School Survivors Speak Out

Since their first arrival in the “new world” of North America, a number of religious entities began the project of converting Indigenous Peoples to Christianity. This undertaking grew in structure and purpose, especially between 1831 and 1969, when the governing officials of early Canada joined with Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, United, and Presbyterian churches to create and operate the residential school system. The last federally-run residential school, Gordon Indian residential School in Saskatchewan, closed in 1996. One common objective defined this period: the aggressive assimilation of Aboriginal peoples.

[ legacy of hope ]

[jckielantern]

Screaming the name of a foreigner's god

Screaming the name of a foreigner's god

Screaming the name of a foreigner's god

The purest expression of grief

[panimoonchild]

"Don't escalate" - they said

Say that fucking Russians for who peace talks never work. Especially now, when aid to Ukraine keeps postponing. 

Today, my hands are shaking and my heart hurts, even though it shouldn't. The fear of the number of human victims because of Russia is killing me. 

Please keep spreading our voices and donate to our army and combat medics (savelife.in.ua, prytulafoundation.org, Serhii Sternenko, hospitallers.life, ptahy.vidchui.org and u24.gov.ua).

The Ukrainian mental health is held on this every day. 

Yes, please don't be ignorant. Ukrainians need that energy and hope boost to hold on now.

[sarroora]

This is a really interesting analogy video on Gaza by Egyptian media figure Joe Hussen. It’s about 8 minutes long but I really recommend it.

I’ve mentioned before that the west only sees what’s going on in Palestine through a small window, because of bias, manipulation, and the simple fact that much of the news isn’t translated into English.

I hope this video gives you something to think about.

[cavalierzee]

France Supports Israeli Genocide

Apparently committing genocide is applauded in France whereas helping those genocided isn't!

Rania