• jsomae@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Yes. The overall damage through the centuries caused by western colonialism, in my estimate, is far greater than Israel’s.

    That in and of itself is not a good reason to wish America/Canada/Australia not to exist. Should we wish China to de-exist because of the Yangzhou massacre of 1645?

    Genocide is happening right now in Israel/Palestine and we can do something about it. There are modern injustices happening today which we should occupy ourselves with, not meaningless finger-pointing. Let’s tear down the western world sensibly, please.

    • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Should we wish China to de-exist because of the Yangzhou massacre of 1645?

      There’s a pretty clean break between the PRC and the Chinese dynasties of the 17th century. I’d have to brush up on my history but that’s borderline pre-Qing even. Very different than holding the U.S. (or Australia, etc.) to account for a genocide it did under the same constitution and form of government it has today.

      There are modern injustices happening today which we should occupy ourselves with, not meaningless finger-pointing.

      I don’t think it’s meaningless finger-pointing to say that the continuing harm the U.S. (or Australia, etc.) is doing to indigenous people (among others) is a live issue that should be addressed. Israel actively killing people right now does not mean those other wrongs should be dismissed.

      • jsomae@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Of course those wrongs should not be dismissed. Those are serious wrongs and need to be fixed. I’m of the belief that the entire western world needs to be dismantled and it’s causing great harm. But “occupying other people’s land” is not a good justification here, since that land has by and large traded hands many generations ago. Israel is different.

        I do not wish to see hundreds of millions of non-indigenous people shipped out of North America back to wherever their ancestors used to live in order to re-establish the sovereignty of a small minority of people. Let’s solve inequality and inequity in sane and non-violent ways instead.

        • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          14
          ·
          8 months ago

          I do not wish to see hundreds of millions of non-indigenous people shipped out of North America back to wherever their ancestors used to live

          Who’s calling for this?

          When people said “the Russian Empire should not exist” in 1915 they were talking about replacing the existing political structure with something like the USSR, not depopulating the country in its entirety.