Decolonize To Liberate/definitions: Difference between revisions

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<span style="font-size: larger">Syed Hussan, a Toronto-based activist, states: “Decolonization is a dramatic reimagining of relationships with land, people and the state. Much of this requires study. It requires conversation. It is a practice;<span style="font-family: monospace"></span>it is an unlearning.”</span>
<span style="font-size: larger">Syed Hussan, a Toronto-based activist, states: “Decolonization is a dramatic reimagining of relationships with land, people and the state. Much of this requires study. It requires conversation. It is a practice;<span style="font-family: monospace"></span>it is an unlearning.”</span>
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<div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: larger"><br/></span></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: larger">"Decolonization is the process whereby we create the conditions in which we want to live and the social relations we wish to have. We have to commit ourselves to supplanting the colonial logic of the state itself. Almost a hundred years ago, German anarchist Gustav Landauer wrote: “TheState is a condition, a certain relationship between human beings, a mode of behaviour; we destroy it by contracting other relationships.” Decolonization requires us to exercise our sovereignties differently and to reconfigure our communities based on shared experiences, ideals and visions. Almost all Indigenous formulations of sovereignty – such as the Two Row Wampum agreement of peace, friendship and respect between the Haudenosaunee nations and settlers – are premised on revolutionary notions of respectful coexistence and stewardship of the land, which goes far beyond any Western liberal democratic ideal.</span></span>"<br/></div>
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Revision as of 14:59, 19 January 2012

What does "decolonize" mean?  No it doesn't mean turning back the clock or sending the Europeans back to Europe. 

There are many definitions and ways to explain it.  I decided to start this page to gather definitions and explanations in an effort to elucidate the meaning of "decolonize"...



Eric Zimmerman, Occupy Wall Street or Decolonize Wall Street

Decolonizing is about the culture we’ve allowed to calcify around us. A culture that holds private property as sacrosanct above public welfare. Where an individual’s greatness is put above the community, no matter how much wealth that individual amasses, no matter how much the community suffers. It’s the culture that Christopher Columbus brought with him, and every great man who came after him supported, built up, and used to increase their personal gain at the expense of the meek, thepoor, the brown, black, and every female regardless of color or creed.  


From Decolonizing Together

Syed Hussan, a Toronto-based activist, states: “Decolonization is a dramatic reimagining of relationships with land, people and the state. Much of this requires study. It requires conversation. It is a practice;it is an unlearning.”


"Decolonization is the process whereby we create the conditions in which we want to live and the social relations we wish to have. We have to commit ourselves to supplanting the colonial logic of the state itself. Almost a hundred years ago, German anarchist Gustav Landauer wrote: “TheState is a condition, a certain relationship between human beings, a mode of behaviour; we destroy it by contracting other relationships.” Decolonization requires us to exercise our sovereignties differently and to reconfigure our communities based on shared experiences, ideals and visions. Almost all Indigenous formulations of sovereignty – such as the Two Row Wampum agreement of peace, friendship and respect between the Haudenosaunee nations and settlers – are premised on revolutionary notions of respectful coexistence and stewardship of the land, which goes far beyond any Western liberal democratic ideal."