WTF: What’s The Future? Alternatives to British North American settler-colonialism?
On the Metaviews podcast the guests are asked: What’s the Future?
Some episodes have included conversations about the Death of the Future: how different people act if they don’t believe there is a future.
I felt that in the 2010’s, and was quite depressed as I didn’t believe, given what I was told was “human nature”, that there could be a future given the patterns I was seeing (governance, economic theories, individualism, androcentrism, anthropocentrism, climate emergency, etc).
It was actually my deep-dives on anti-racism and anti-colonialism starting in 2020 that gave me hope for the future, given I now see worldview and ideology problems (software problems unique to some cultures, not universal) where once I was told these views were “human nature” (hardware problem with the species).
On Metaviews Episode 43 from February 9, 2025 , Jesse made the prediction that Canada probably doesn’t have a future. That it would be, in one way or another, end up merged with the United States.
43: From News to Resistance: How Journalists Can Mobilize the Public with Jeremiah Patterson
I don’t see Canada or the United States as names of places or groups of people, but only the names of governments created as part of ongoing British North American settler-colonialism.
I agree with what Jesse said at that time. I don’t see a future for the Dominion of Canada government, as that government was more honestly called when I was born and declared a citizen by that government. However, I’m not convinced (or maybe I’m just hopeful) that there are alternatives other than the status-quote of the continuation of Canada and/or the United States governments having dominion over this land, or if there is the possibility of something else entirely.
This brings me to the words of Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman , as included in the introduction of what has become one of my favorite songs.
I quoted from his speech on my Mastodon account on November 6’th in response to the US election.
We were told long ago that we would see America come and go.
I often wondered what generation that would be.
What would be the signs?
that we would see America in its fading times
And I think we are in that.
And I think that this kind of exploitation is more recognizable and identifiable.
The cultures are getting stronger
And we began to realise that it is about our own survival
its not about America so much
But the more pollution there is the more cancer there is
So you begin to see a nation dying from within
I am aware “Commonwealth” King Charles is in Ottawa to give the Speech from the Colonial Throne.
I’ll offer thoughts from 2020, early in my anti-racism and anti-colonialism learning.
My thoughts on the 2020 Speech from the colonial Throne
This afternoon, on unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory currently the subject of treaty negotiation, a British colonial ceremony was held. With parliament only retaining British tradition, we were reminded by a "speech from the throne" that to this day the settler-state doesn't fully recognize the two groups who make up Canada: European colonialists/s…