this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2025
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Americans seem determined to bring our old ways back 🤔

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[–] Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Yes, and Canada and South America as well. They are simultaneously an extension and exacerbation of European imperialism.

The point is, there is rarely any acknowledgment to the colonial legacy nor to the continued subjugation of the third world by the West. Germany remains reluctant to formally acknowledge and compensate for the Herero genocide in its former African colony; Western museums still hold the many artefacts colonizers stole from other cultures; Canada and the USA commited many massacres against indeginous populations even throughout the 20th century through the residential school system, deplacement and expropriation; Romani populations deal with abhorrent discrimination in Europe, and so forth. Despite all that, your governments and people still have the nerve to claim virtue against the rest of the world, boasting about human rights when they're the number one perpetrator of violations in the global south.

[–] verdi@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Actually, the number one perpetrator in the global south is the global south. Last time I checked Didi Amin and many like him were not made of wood nor did they have strings attached to their hands. This whole myth of the global south being one independence away from wakanda is pure unadulterated ignorance. That doesn't absolve the europeans from the responsibility for yet another dark period of history, it's just tiresome to keep hearing the old tropes when history shows as hegemonic regions go, their existence always resulted in suffering for those unfortunate enough to meet them. Gengis Khan, Cao Cao, Osman, Xerxes, ibn Yasin, Suharto, and like these, an infinity more.

[–] Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

The legacy of colonialism still lives on for the simple fact that the colonial institutions are yet mostly in place: European missionary schools, banana "republics", colonial banks, unfair agreements between the Western powers and their ex colonies, and so forth. The local elites of the Global South play an intermediary role between the West and the Global South. They are first taught Western values and ideologies by prestigious Western institutes then sponsored and brought to power by either "international" financial institutes like the IMF and the World Bank or foreign political bureaus, in order to act in the service and interest of the West. Their entire pedagigical and political formation is brewed outside their respective nation and tailored in way that is suitable for the West to continue its hegemonic role in a more discrete manner.

And the cold war leaders you mentioned (Amin and Suharto) further prove my point, both being dictators that were propped up by the British colonial army and the United States, respectively, and both having led crackdowns against (leftist) native uprisings. (And please do not conflate historical personalities from different historical periods with their own specificities that cannot be liberally contrasted with the modern era.)

I say all of this not because of some ancient, historical hatred to the West, nor as an apologia for our corrupt, western-backed governments. This is just the reality we third world citizens are still experiencing to this day. To quote Michel-Rolph Trouillot:

Injustices made to previous generations should be redressed: they affect the descendants of the victims. But the focus on The Past often diverts us from the present injustices for which previous generations only set the foundations.

[–] Melchior@feddit.org 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The article clearly states that the Herero and Nama people, the ones who were victims of the genocide refused this settlement because it adds insult to injury (1 billion euros aid over a thirty year period).

Furthermore, from Wikipedia:

Negotiations between the German and Namibian governments led to a deal in 2021 in which the German government agreed to contribute 1.1 billion euros (USD$1.3 billion) in the form of ex gratia development aid, while rejecting any legal responsibility for the genocide.[129]

The deal was vocally rejected by most of the organizations representing Herero and Nama people, who had demanded their own right to negotiate directly with Germany over any settlement.[130] In 2023, the Landless People's Movement and traditional leaders from the Herero and Nama communities sued in Namibian court to nullify the National Assembly's resolution of approval for the settlement.[131] Although favorably contrasting the deal with more limited British and Dutch efforts at confronting past colonial crimes, German sociologist Henning Melber refers to the joint German–Namibian statement as "a soft version of denialism" that "offers no true reconciliation".[130] International law expert Matthias Goldmann suggested that the deal may not have been as selfless as it initially appears, while it "seemingly confirms [Germany’s] civilizational superiority".[132]

Edit: I should've clarified in my original comment what I meant with reluctance in acknowledged and compensation is failure to take actual accountability and pay out fair reparations, not merely bribing an African government and calling it a day. This is the same government that has sent billions in aid to Israel over the years.

[–] Melchior@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Germany paid something like $90billion to Holocaust victims and their families. On a per person bases it is actually pretty comparable.

[–] Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And yet you're adamant on ignoring the demands of the Herero and Nama communities. As if your utilitarian nonsense can measure what good compensation for ethnic cleansing is.

[–] Melchior@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

Because the Namibian government wants to cut them out, so they can steal the money. That is why the Herero and Nama do not just want to sit on the table, but cut them out.