Well, That Explains It: The Set-Up of settler Colonialism

While human rights as a whole is my overarching interest, racism in particular has captivated me for years. At first I looked at racism as its own thing, able to be eradicated once understood, like a fungal infection or moth infestation. Of course, now I know racism a complexity of things: it's both tool and system, an ideology and actions taken. And always (can I claim that?), racism is in service to the hoarding of power, resources, and access.

“The infamous 1872 painting, ‘American Progress,’ by John Gast, depicting U.S. settler colonialism as a ‘sacred’ and ‘inevitable’ westward expansion of Anglo-American society.”

Settler colonialism is nothing if not this hoarding, and racism is an integral part of its ecology. The article The "Set-Up" of Settler Colonialism: How the rich and powerful have used settler colonialism to divide and rule over the global 99%, by political educator David Dean has given me a deeper understanding of what settler colonialism is, what purpose it serves, and how racism is both a tool and a by-product. I really appreciated how he drew parallels between three versions of colonialization: here in the U.S., in Ireland, and in Palestine.

He features this 1872 painting American Progress, an allegory of manifest destiny. I can more apt (and damning) terms than ‘Progress’...

July 2024 Back to Blog Home

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