This is superb stuff Helen, as always, and is a great teaser for the zoom call. My only quibble is you and Lorenzo don't post any near as much as Matt Goodwin.
Neither of us is that sort of writer, while Lorenzo has a dayjob and I write and consult elsewhere. Matt has left his university job and now writes his substack full-time.
Like any good intellectual, these settler-colonialism theorists don't let people's lives get in the way of the execution of a good idea (or person).
Underlying so much of the settler-colonialist talk is the vapid idea that "all cultures are equal".
This is ridiculous.
Haiti would be better off being the 51st state of the USA.
Hawaii is much better off for being the 50th state of the USA.
Papua New Guinea is worse off for being independent and not subject to Australia.
Underlying all this is the unproven conjecture that those who look like you will rule you better. This is DEI nationalism that is often very false and should be considered true only on a case-by-case basis.
Mao caused more death and destruction in China than the British ever would have. Had the British had power over the whole country rather than just Hong Kong, Chinese history would have been much rosier on pretty much all dimensions.
This DEI nationalism is often the cause of death and destruction politically not the bulwark against it.
Just ask the Mytilenaeans and the Melians! It's very likely that if the Persians had conquered Greece, it's rule over the Greeks would have been a light touch, much lighter than what many members of the Delian League suffered through.
And I mention the Delian League in particular because it's not only settler-colonialists who talk too glibly about nationhood, democracy and the supposed right of one group to rule. No, it's even in the foundations of the Western tradition to presume rule by confreres is always better than rule by foreigners.
I've often wondered whether the developing/post-colonial world would be better returning to some variety of mandate or trust governance - maybe you could call it "voluntary neo-colonialism".
Each dysfunctional entity would be adopted by a competent sponsor and governed for the benefit of its people. No more kleptocrats, juntas or peoples-democracies. Everybody wants the outcomes of what the West has and West-influenced nations like SKorea have achieved, but they don't have the cultural competence to attain it.
SPac microstates would naturally be governed by Aus & NZ just like PNG was till the 70s. Politically, economically & militarily they are effective dependencies in all but name.
Because they don't make a habit of invading other countries and their immigrants to other countries do not increase the crime rate. Remember, you're dealing with a pair of intervention-skeptics here. We're not "never go in aid" types (unlike some), but we do think anyone who proposes invading Afghanistan to stop it doing what it's doing to women is on a hiding to nothing.
I recall the journalist Mehdi Hasan citing Indonesia as an example of a peaceful Islamic democracy on Question Time a while back. I just think, as women, we should be skeptical of these 'warm and cuddly' descriptions of countries that mutilate and debilitate their girls, that's all.
This is superb stuff Helen, as always, and is a great teaser for the zoom call. My only quibble is you and Lorenzo don't post any near as much as Matt Goodwin.
Neither of us is that sort of writer, while Lorenzo has a dayjob and I write and consult elsewhere. Matt has left his university job and now writes his substack full-time.
I was being lighthearted, we all know you and Lorenzo are properly busy
*Faints*
Like any good intellectual, these settler-colonialism theorists don't let people's lives get in the way of the execution of a good idea (or person).
Underlying so much of the settler-colonialist talk is the vapid idea that "all cultures are equal".
This is ridiculous.
Haiti would be better off being the 51st state of the USA.
Hawaii is much better off for being the 50th state of the USA.
Papua New Guinea is worse off for being independent and not subject to Australia.
Underlying all this is the unproven conjecture that those who look like you will rule you better. This is DEI nationalism that is often very false and should be considered true only on a case-by-case basis.
Mao caused more death and destruction in China than the British ever would have. Had the British had power over the whole country rather than just Hong Kong, Chinese history would have been much rosier on pretty much all dimensions.
This DEI nationalism is often the cause of death and destruction politically not the bulwark against it.
Just ask the Mytilenaeans and the Melians! It's very likely that if the Persians had conquered Greece, it's rule over the Greeks would have been a light touch, much lighter than what many members of the Delian League suffered through.
And I mention the Delian League in particular because it's not only settler-colonialists who talk too glibly about nationhood, democracy and the supposed right of one group to rule. No, it's even in the foundations of the Western tradition to presume rule by confreres is always better than rule by foreigners.
I've often wondered whether the developing/post-colonial world would be better returning to some variety of mandate or trust governance - maybe you could call it "voluntary neo-colonialism".
Each dysfunctional entity would be adopted by a competent sponsor and governed for the benefit of its people. No more kleptocrats, juntas or peoples-democracies. Everybody wants the outcomes of what the West has and West-influenced nations like SKorea have achieved, but they don't have the cultural competence to attain it.
SPac microstates would naturally be governed by Aus & NZ just like PNG was till the 70s. Politically, economically & militarily they are effective dependencies in all but name.
This is excellent.
Bring back light-touch, professional and voluntary colonialism!
I'm a paid subscriber. It's now 37 minutes before start of the Chatham House session. When will I see the invitation link?
I sent it out last night UK time; here it is again however as it would appear there has been a technical snafu: https://www.notonyourteam.co.uk/p/youre-invited
Found it. No snafu. I just didn't look closely enough. Thanks. I've brought up the Zoom app. It's waiting to start.
Excellent. I also found your paid subscriber chat and sent you the link directly, so if that's arrived we know it works in extremis.
Helen, how is Indonesia perceived as "gentle" when Muslim girls are formally subjected to FGM?
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/nov/18/female-genital-mutilation-circumcision-indonesia
Because they don't make a habit of invading other countries and their immigrants to other countries do not increase the crime rate. Remember, you're dealing with a pair of intervention-skeptics here. We're not "never go in aid" types (unlike some), but we do think anyone who proposes invading Afghanistan to stop it doing what it's doing to women is on a hiding to nothing.
I recall the journalist Mehdi Hasan citing Indonesia as an example of a peaceful Islamic democracy on Question Time a while back. I just think, as women, we should be skeptical of these 'warm and cuddly' descriptions of countries that mutilate and debilitate their girls, that's all.