Colonialism, Liberalism, and “suicidal empathy”

I don't subscribe to the friend/enemy distinction for fellow humans, but I do treat certain ideologies/worldviews as malware that requires removal

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

I posted a comment to the article, but thought I would post as an article as well.

On The Bonfire of The Empathies:

For reasons I only recently began to understand (deep dives into anti-racism and anti-colonialism, as well as accepting I’m Autistic), I have never really understood either Western European “individualism” or much of the mainstream Canadian friend/enemy distinction. I am a settler of primarily Irish and Scottish descent, Assigned Canadian At Birth on lands claimed by the Ontario and Canadian crowns.

So I found this article very interesting.

I’m throwing some thoughts in here in the hope of extending the conversation.

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Where I remain confused (or concerned?) is in the limits of “left wing” thought under settler-colonial institutions.

What "Left" and "Right" Actually Mean

This is especially true in regions where subjects of Westphalian settler-colonial governments outnumber citizens of pre-existing Indigenous relational nationalities.

Some say that Canada is a nation of immigrants, but immigration and naturalization to domestic relational nationalities and the laws of THIS land has been blocked by colonialism for centuries.

What is happening is something very different than immigration.

I have heard the term “Progressive except Palestine” (often abbreviated as PEP). I am uncomfortable, and I think it is dangerous, to center out Israel from the other 4 sibling institutions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States (collectively abbreviated as CANZUS.)

I have regularly bumped into individuals and groups that strongly self-identify as “left wing” or even “progressive”, but when it comes to racism (a system, not merely hyper-individualized racial prejudices) and colonialism, they are as defensive (and regularly as offensive) as self-identifying conservatives.

Progressive except Colonialism?

Progressive except Eurocentrism/Racism?

Or is this all merely referencing Western European Progressivism, and not something that can legitimately be considered “left wing” when these ideologies are imposed outside of Western Europe?

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I also note this article used the term “Liberals”, which is a term that means different things to different people.

If we are talking about Western European Liberalism, then from the perspective of CANZUS and Israel we are talking about effectively “right wing” concepts such as Individualism, Anthropocentric/Androcentric property rights, and other foreign ideologies being imposed against the pre-existing laws of a land and its peoples.

I think there is a need to separate Western Conservatism and Liberalism from concepts such as “right wing” and “left wing”, hopefully recognizing political spectrums that are not narrowly tied to Western Eurocentrism.