Mostly Monday Reads: Colonial Leftovers

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

The Fall is a time for Western Imperialism to play out the pantomime where we pretend that Western Europeans discovered and improved what was already there. Then, through disease and gunpowder, the “Great Nations” of Europe forced the indigenous peoples into the religion made up to ensure they would see their slave status as a good deal and enculturing them with the same. If you ever read the contemporary accounts of the Nicene Council, you’ll find it was the original attempt at defining a doctrine of what was acceptable and what was not.  Many historical documents of the day are hidden from most of our history classes.  I found it at University while doing an independent course on Romano Britain.  As a lifelong student of history and getting to what really happened on all levels, you’ll eventually become jaded.

The stories told by conquerors become the lies we live.

I always found the whitewashing of the pilgrims and Columbus as deep cultural insults to the indigenous here,  but we are not the only non-Europe places where they’ve moved on and managed to fuck up a good thing. I’ve often imagined what a different place the United Kingdom would be if the armies of  Claudius had stayed on the mainland.  Remember, we also celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, which is basically that same damned Roman culture that wiped on indigenous practices in Ireland.  Snakes were a fascinating metaphor for savages, don’t you think?

I gradually started seeing these holidays as a way to escape work.  You know I refuse to go along with the Crassmas season. Since I had a mother who showed me the truth of the California Colonial System, the Little Big Horn, and the Trail of Tears, it was always difficult for me to handle the Thanksgiving and Columbus Day Fairy Tales after I’d read all those history books with the genuine references to first-hand documents.

You may have noticed that I have been openly hostile to Columbus over the years. I didn’t realize how much I ignored Thanksgiving until I went to my Oldest Daughter’s school for my first Kindergarten parent-teacher meeting and was told my daughter was wonderful except the teacher found it curious she had no idea about the whole Pilgrim story.  It really was because the entire family went to an Estes Park Cabin with no TVs, played board games, ate whatever Dad cooked, and wandered the National Park looking for wild animals because Mother would pay us for whatever we spottted. I just chose over the years to ignore the whitewashing of what we did to Indigenous Americans.

I remember my Iowa Grade school was the place where I had learned that Washington never told a lie. That Abe was honest. I just wanted my kids to go to school and learn actual history.  This is what I see MAGA fighting for. Lies we tell our children to avoid making us all feel bad about our collective American history. But here we are with a boatload of the children of European conquerors wanting to get rid of the facts of history, I can see why that’s the case.

So, it’s not surprising when people start to see oppressed in this country as ungrateful and problem makers and the immigrants coming from places that still actively live the results of European Colonial rule as uncivilized because they’d like to have a say in the way their country develops. Hence, even democratic movements become menacing because it threatens the part of our brains that succumbed to the epic hero tales of the conquerors.  Most do not buy the stories of the glory days because growing up on a reservation is not a romantic situation bestowed by a benevolent Big White Daddy.  Growing up without the same access to education, health care, and wealth opportunities is a hang-over from Slavery Days.  Also, if you do manage to do well, you get the Tulsa Massacre treatment, or the men in your family get lynched.  The Great Nations of Europe have not done any favors for anyone.  This includes The British Empire, which “managed” both Jordan and Palestine back in the day after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.  There was no trouble between indigenous Jews, Christians, and Muslims when they decided to move a group of Europeans into Palestine and call it Israel.

This is the original set-up, and this is a link to the UK government.

Historical context. Britain conquered Palestine from the Ottoman Empire during 1917-18. Following the Great War, British rule in Palestine was administered under a League of Nations ‘Mandate‘ until 1948. Unlike other colonies, this Mandate aimed to lead the native population to self-government and independence.British support for a ‘Jewish national home’ in Palestine originated in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which promised to protect the civic and religious rights of Palestinians, but not their political rights. Fearing displacement in their own country, Palestinians resisted British policy through non-violent diplomatic means, such as boycott and civil disobedience, and in 1936, by force of arms. Palestinians sought to stem mass Jewish immigration to the region, which peaked as a result of persecution in Germany and Poland. The Palestinian leadership organised under the ‘Arab Higher Committee’ launched a General Strike in 1936, which escalated toward revolt. By September 1936, two divisions of the British Army were deployed to restore order.

For decades, Britain sought, and even tried to force a compromise between Arabs, who feared displacement, and Jews, who wanted a safe haven from persecution. Britain also sought to protect its economic and political interests in this vital part of the Middle East. Communications Intelligence (COMINT) provided by GCHQ between 1944 and 1948 was to provide one of the main sources of intelligence for the British government and help shape Britain’s policy in the region.

British support for a ‘Jewish national home’ in Palestine originated in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which promised to protect the civic and religious rights of Palestinians, but not their political rights. Fearing displacement in their own country, Palestinians resisted British policy through non-violent diplomatic means, such as boycott and civil disobedience, and in 1936, by force of arms. Palestinians sought to stem mass Jewish immigration to the region, which peaked as a result of persecution in Germany and Poland. The Palestinian leadership organised under the ‘Arab Higher Committee’ launched a General Strike in 1936, which escalated toward revolt. By September 1936, two divisions of the British Army were deployed to restore order.

What was called Transjordan was eventually turned over to become the country Jordan in 1923; it became an emirate. And, yes, there were and still are Christians who have been there since they were under the Ottoman Empire and British “management. ”  Jordan got different treatment. So, the entire setup was bound to have issues.  Randy Newmann calls it the “Great Nations of Europe coming through.”  So, this was a country set up by Europeans with European settlers. Not a great prescription for success.  When anti-Jewish sentiment created the horrible situation in Germany, the diaspora logically moved to where they felt they were safer. Repeat this later when the USSR–soon to return to Russia–allowed their Jewish population to emigrate.

Today’s news shows colonial rule’s impact on the modern world.  Identifiers outside the old Roman set-up norms are still an issue for both the occupied and the children of settlers. It doesn’t have to be a winner/loser model yet, that persists.  And yes, I’m down a rabbit hole. You are not Anti-Semitic to see the power differential here.  The powerful do not care about ordinary people and children who are just trying to live their lives.  Ordinary people become their victims.

Israel exists. People live there. It’s not going anywhere.  Everyone deserves to live a life free of war. However, the forces in charge in power do not favor a two-state solution.  Bibi allows settlements on the West Bank despite the promise to leave it alone.  I know firsthand someone who has seen the IDF bulldoze the home of an elderly Palestinian couple with them inside. I also know the person who was filming this was threatened with disappearance.  We should be able to agree that there are harmful agents on both sides.  There are primarily innocents on both sides. The events of October 7th were shocking, horrifying, and evil. But, as my mother taught me, two wrongs do not make a right. The death and destruction in Gaza is not an example of the punishment meeting the crime. I hope our President can continue intervening to find a better path for everyone, but the powers that be do not represent the ordinary people. There’s never been a majority of voters on either side that supported these powers.

I cannot believe that we’ve returned to classifying groups of human beings as vermin to be exterminated is wrong. People of goodwill must speak out. I cannot help but love this Pope. He is a man of all peoples.  This is from last March, but it bears posting. “Vatican Rejects ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ Used to Justify Colonial Conquest and Land Theft. One Native American group hopes the historic move “is more than mere words, but rather is the beginning of a full acknowledgment of the history of oppression and a full accounting of the legacies of colonialism.”  This is a Big Fucking Deal, and it essentially went unnoticed in the commercial media.

In a historic shift long sought by Indigenous-led activists, the Holy See on Thursday formally repudiated the doctrine of discovery, a dubious legal theory born from a series of 15th-century papal decrees used by colonizers including the United States to legally justify the genocidal conquest of non-Christian peoples and their land.

In a joint statement, the Vatican’s departments of culture and education declared that “the church acknowledges that these papal bulls did not adequately reflectthe equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples” and “therefore repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery.'”

“The church is also aware that the contents of these documents were manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers in order to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities,” the statement added. “It is only just to recognize these errors, acknowledge the terrible effects of the assimilation policies and the pain experienced by Indigenous peoples, and ask for pardon.”

Indigenous leaders—who for decades demanded the Vatican rescind the discovery doctrine—welcomed the move, while expressing hope that it brings real change.

“On the surface it sounds good, it looks good… but there has to be a fundamental change in attitudes, behavior, laws, and policies from that statement,” Ernie Daniels, the former chief of Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba, Canada, toldCBC Thursday.

“There’s still a mentality out there—they want to assimilate, decimate, terminate, eradicate Indigenous people,” added Daniels, who was part of a delegation that met with Pope Francis last year in Rome and Canada.

This is from The Guardian.  “The war in Gaza has been an intense lesson in Western hypocrisy. It won’t be forgotten.”  This opinion is written by Nesrine Malik.

The images of hostages and prisoners being reunited with their families are almost too hopeful to absorb. Even as Israeli authorities explicitly try to suppress Palestinian “expressions of joy” at the return of their prisoners, the fact that they were released, and that some Israeli hostages are now safe and reunited, signals some small promise. But even if the wildest hope is realised – a lasting ceasefire – what has already unfolded over the past 52 days will be hard to forget.

There is a short video, posted on social media a few weeks ago, that I cannot get out of my head. In the clip, a man in Gaza is holding two plastic bags that carry the body parts of a child, presumably his. There are other details. The look on the man’s face. The way those around him avoid eye contact once they realise what he is carrying. I see these details often now, sudden and unbidden. The emotional and psychological impact of the war on those outside Gaza – no matter how intense – is a sort of privilege, happening, as it is, only on our screens. But there is something lasting about these images. Others I know are haunted too, by different visions. By the doctor who came across her husband’s body while treating bombing victims. By the father stroking and rocking a dust-covered baby on his chest one last time.

In the course of everyday life and in my social media feeds, I see people who say they feel they are going mad. That there are things they will never unsee. That they can’t sleep, that their interactions with the children in their lives have become tinged with a sort of queasy guilt. The feeling seems to be not just grief, but bewilderment at the fact that it has all carried on for so long. But they keep watching. To stop looking is to admit that you are helpless. It means you have resigned yourself to the fact that there is nothing you can do, and that you will eventually succumb to that enemy of justice – a fatigue that seems already to be setting in.

Are there any narratives out there convincing you that so many people should die?

Part of that inability to reach for convincing narratives about why so many innocent people must die is that events escalated so quickly. There was no time to set the pace of the attacks on Gaza, prepare justifications and hope that eventually, when it was all over, time and short attention spans would cover up the toll. Gaza has been a uniquely, inconveniently, intense conflict. “Experts say that the pace of death during Israel’s campaign has few precedents in this century,” the New York Times says. A military expert commented it was like nothing he’d seen in his career. The area is so densely populated that the toll of civilians is too high, and evidence for having undermined Hamas’s capabilities, the only possible justification for the casualties, is too low.

Humans can be taught to accept an awful lot that does not make sense, but there is a limit to what people can be plausibly told is not possible. Much of consent in politics is secured by popular agreement that there are things that are simply above the average citizen’s pay grade, and even beyond government control. Not being able to persuade “the only democracy in the Middle East” of something that seems plainly obvious, that the horrific events of 7 October cannot be erased by even more horror, is not one of them. The lesson is brutal and short: human rights are not universal and international law is arbitrarily applied.

So, this is good news.  This is from The New York Times. “Israel and Hamas Agree to Extend Truce, Qatar Says.” 

Israel and Hamas agreed on Monday to extend their fragile truce for two more days, an act of continued cooperation that could allow for additional aid to flow into Gaza and the release of more hostages, prisoners and detainees than initially expected.

The extension comes as a four-day truce, which had been set to expire on Tuesday, has proved largely successful at the stated goal of bringing people home. Israeli officials signaled that a fourth exchange of hostages and prisoners, the final round of the initial agreement, would go forward Monday.

And this. “After four days of calm, Gazans are hoping for a permanent cease-fire.”

Despite chilly weather, dozens of families flocked to the beaches of southern Gaza over the weekend. Children splashed around in the water and played in the sand while fishermen cast their nets into the sea — a fleeting return to normality after weeks of fighting.

Gazans were mindful that the calm would most likely not last. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has vowed to press on with the war after the truce expires. But there were signs on Monday that Israel and Hamas might agree to extend the pause in fighting.

“We are holding out hope that they would extend the truce,” Ms. Nseir said.

The Republican Right continues to enable our own terrorists. Three Palestinian University Students were the target of a possible hate-crime-related shooting in Vermont. The suspect has been arrested and indicted today. It’s pretty much just what you’d expect. “Man pleads not guilty in Vt. shooting of college students wearing keffiyahs”.  This is from the Washington Post, and I love the by-line for obvious reasons.  This was jointly reported by Maham Javaid and Michelle Boorstein.

A Vermont man suspected of shooting three college students of Palestinian descent pleaded not guilty Monday to three counts of attempted second-degree murder.

Jason Eaton, 48, made the plea in a brief, televised appearance in Chittenden County Superior Court. A court affidavit quoted a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent who went to Eaton’s Burlington apartment Sunday as saying Eaton “made a statement to the effect of: ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’”

The three victims — Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmed — were in the Vermont capital to visit Awartani’s grandmother for the Thanksgiving holiday. The men, all in their 20s, were takinga walk before dinner Saturday when they were shot, according to court documents. They told police that they were speaking a mixture of Arabic and English and that two of the three wore kaffiyehs — headdresses worn across the Arab world, including a black-and-white version that has come to be associated with Palestinians.

During a meeting with New York-based law enforcement Monday morning, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI and ATF were investigating the “tragic” shooting of the three men, including whether it was a hate crime. Two of the victims are U.S. citizens; the third is a legal resident, police said.

“As always, but especially right now, the Justice Department is remaining vigilant in the face of the potential threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism,” Garland said. “All of us have also seen a sharp increase in the volume and frequency of threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities across our country since October 7th.”

He said that there is understandable fear in communities across the country.

Some things stand out to me in this Forbes article that briefly describes The Daily Beast‘s interview with the shooter’s mother and uncle.

The gun Eaton used in Saturday’s shooting was acquired legally a few months ago, Murad said.
Eaton, 48, reportedly had “a lot of struggles in his life,” his mother, Mary Reed, told the Daily Beast Monday, adding that she was “shocked by the whole thing.”

Reed told the Daily Beast that her son had struggled with mental health issues including depression but was in “such a good mood” and “totally normal” when she saw him on Thanksgiving.

Eaton did not mention the war in the Middle East at Thanksgiving, Reed told the Daily Beast, but she noted that her son was “a very religious person” who often reads the Bible and “like all of us, thinks the world is a mess.”

Hate Crimes have been ramped up since the beginning of the conflict. This is from CNN.  “The Israel-Hamas war is driving a surge in US hate crimes. These Jewish Americans say it’s changing the way they live.”  Again, we have this ongoing assault on U.S. citizens because of their religious beliefs.  This is the 21st century.  Why can’t we get beyond all of this?

Leaders from the Jewish Federations of North America acknowledged there is widespread fear among Jewish families. Sarah Eisenman, chief community and Jewish life officer for the organization, said she empathizes with Jewish Americans who are changing their normal routines or hiding markers of their Jewish heritage to avoid being targeted.

“I do think they are rightfully fearful,” Eisenman said. “I think it’s a scary environment right now and we should all be outraged at what we are seeing.”

CNN recently asked Arabs, Muslims and Jews in America how they are facing the new reality of increased hate-motivated attacks against their communities. Nearly 800 people responded from across the country.

Some Jewish Americans told CNN they are now hiding their kippahs, refusing to wear their Star of David necklaces and changing long-held traditions for religious holidays.

Some practicing Jews have said they are even afraid to visit one of the most sacred places in their faith — the synagogue — out of fear ofbeing killed, attacked or harassed because of their religion. These are their stories.

Meanwhile, the white male overseer class carries on unless they are jailed for the crimes they commit.

In other news, Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis and most responsible for creating “Black Lives Matter”, was stabbed in prison last week.  This is from Sky News.  “Derek Chauvin: Former police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd stabbed in prison. The 47-year-old was attacked by a fellow inmate in prison in Arizona on Friday, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the incident.”

Derek Chauvin was attacked by another inmate while in prison in Arizona, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the incident.

The US Bureau of Prisons confirmed an inmate had been assaulted at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Tucson at around 12.30pm local time on Friday.

In a statement, the agency said prison staff performed “life-saving measures”, before the inmate, who it did not name, was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.

The FBI said it was aware of an assault at the prison – though it also did not name anyone involved.

Chauvin, 47, was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to serve a 22-year sentence for the second-degree murder of Mr Floyd.

He was also sentenced to a concurrent 21-year sentence for violating Mr Floyd’s civil rights.

Tools of institutions with roots in colonial power frequently enjoy their overseer status because, under other circumstances, they would have no raison d’etre.  These are the people who fall prey to the likes of Donald J. Trump, a sideshow huckster and fraud.

Meanwhile, the Instigator-in-Chief of Hate Crimes remains loose, running his mouth amok.  Today, CNN has reported this.  “Trump tells appeals court that threats to judge and clerk in NY civil fraud trial do not justify gag order.”

Donald Trump urged a New York appeals court to continue to pause the gag order against him in his civil fraud trial, saying that threats to the judge and his law clerk do not “justify” limiting the former president’s constitutional right to defend himself.

Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office and the court last week urged the appeals court to put the gag order back in place following “serious and credible” threats that have inundated Judge Arthur Engoron’s chambers since the trial began in October.

Trump’s attorneys wrote in a filing Monday that the former president has never threatened the judge or his principal law clerk and they can’t be held responsible for actions taken by others. They argued that Trump’s First Amendment right to criticize and call out his perception of bias by the judge and his law clerk without retribution is “essential” to maintaining public confidence in the trial.

“At base, the disturbing behavior engaged in by anonymous, third-party actors towards the judge and Principal Law Clerk publicly presiding over an extremely polarizing and high-profile trial merits appropriate security measures,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. “However, it does not justify the wholesale abrogation of Petitioners’ First Amendment rights in a proceeding of immense stakes to Petitioners, which has been compromised by the introduction of partisan bias on the bench.”

Monday’s filing was the first since hundreds of harassing messages against Engoron and a law clerk were made public last week. Engoron’s clerk has received 20-30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and 30-50 messages daily on social media platforms and two personal email addresses, according to court papers.

This is from Business Insider and the thoughts of NYU Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat. “Historian says Trump has been ‘re-educating’ his followers to embrace violence and that Matt Gaetz is now doing the same.”

The forces of the right in Chile first spent years working to “discredit democracy and build an appetite for authoritarian rule,” according to Ben-Ghiat, who teaches at New York University. It’s the same kind of campaign she accused Trump of leading himself since he announced his first run for the presidency, setting the stage for the January 6 insurrection with years of aggressive rhetoric.

Trump “has been re-educating Americans since 2015,” Ben-Ghiat said, “using his rallies, using his events, to see violence differently; to see violence in a positive light.” He’s a “superb propagandist,” she said, and in his appeals to the baser emotions — of resentment and vengeance — he’s helped his followers come to view “violence as necessary and patriotic.”

“That’s why he went to Waco,” she said, referring to where Trump rallied his followers in March. Waco is where dozens of cult members died in a confrontation with the FBI under President Bill Clinton. It has ever since been a rallying cry for anti-government extremists. “That’s why he went the gun store,” she continued (the former president said he wanted to buy a Glock handgun but ultimately, according to his campaign, did not). “His campaign is a radicalization vehicle.”

Some certainly took the president’s comments on January 6, 2021, as a license to storm the US Capitol and try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, having already lost at the ballot box and in the courts. Prosecutors also accuse Trump of encouraging violence against anyone involved in the federal case over his efforts to stay in power, intimidating not just court staff but prospective jurors.

Violence, Ben-Ghiat argued, has indeed been normalized in MAGA politics. And it’s not just Trump anymore. That’s a troubling sign, she said, pointing to a rise in anti-democratic thinking.

“You have extremism that becomes mainstream,” she said. “We’re seeing that in our country. You have violence seen as the only way to change history and move things forward.”

I highlighted that last point because it sums up what I feel as I watch TV and read the news these days.  Violence is the path to power for these people who want things their way. It occurs at all levels, and we must vote against it and not let them desensitize us.

Thanks to those of you who bear with me when I just have to rant about what’s going on.  Welcome to the Rabbit Hole.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?