Engaging in anti-colonial practices is crucial to challenging and disrupting colonial intent.
The notion of a colonizing power claiming self-defense is deeply flawed and perpetuates colonial practices.
There are significant parallels between the experiences of Palestinians and Black communities in the United States, emphasizing the need for international solidarity.
Deep dives
Importance of Anti-Colonial Practices
Engaging in anti-colonial practices is crucial to challenging and disrupting colonial intent. By recalibrating everyday practices, we can work against the pervasive coloniality in various spheres of life. This includes reevaluating protocols in our jobs, such as teaching, to dismantle colonial forms and refine pedagogical approaches. Experimenting with alternative learning spaces and protecting vulnerable individuals can further advance anti-colonial practices.
The Fallacy of Self-Defense and the Right to Exist
The notion that a colonizing power, like Israel, can claim self-defense in the face of disproportionate aggression is deeply flawed. Settler colonial powers always believe they are defending themselves because their presence inherently requires constant aggression. Similarly, the concept of a right to exist is problematic as it presupposes an aggressive intent that justifies displacement and invasive actions. Instead, we should challenge the very idea of the human, as it is entangled with latent raciality and perpetuates colonial practices.
Linking Palestine and Anti-Blackness
There are significant parallels between the experiences of Palestinians and Black communities in the United States. Both grapple with settler colonialism, displacement, and resistance. Encouraging a robust understanding of these connections expands our internationalist practices and solidarity. By engaging in conscious anti-colonial practices, we can disrupt the pervasive colonial intent, advance ethical practices, and work towards liberation and justice.
Importance of Refusing Claims of State's Right to Exist
It is important to refuse the notion that states have a right to exist, as this perpetuates colonialism. The speaker believes that everything will be better when states no longer exist and expresses concern that the Jewish people are tied to an ideological state that represents colonial dominance.
The Implications of Statements and the Need for Constant Conversation
The speaker questions the effectiveness and limitations of making declarative statements. They argue that statements are inherently imperfect and should always be followed by more statements. They emphasize the importance of considering intentions and desires behind statements, and suggests that we should constantly refine how we talk with each other and our habits of assembly. The speaker also urges for caution when it comes to proving humanity and refusing to engage in futile arguments on the oppressors' terms.
This is the slightly cleaned-up audio of our most recent conversation with Fred Moten.
This was recorded on October 25th. Given the evolution of this struggle and the increasingly genocidal character as well as the ongoing resistance, our comments if we were to hold this discussion today on November 11th would undoubtedly be different.
Nonetheless I think a lot of what we cover remains important and we wanted to try to create an audio version of this conversation which held true to the character of the original which we will link in the show notes, but also share it with our broader audience, much of whom prefer the audio format. The audio quality of this version is hopefully also slightly better than the original YouTube version.
I would note that we now have fourteen of these livestreams up on our Youtube channel which everyone can check out. All of them are related to this current struggle for Palestinian liberation as well as the struggle against the genocidal settler violence we see unleashed on Gaza with full support material, ideological, military of the US as a settler empire in particular and the institutions and governments so-called Western World writ large.
I want to acknowledge and shout-out everyone who is taking action and trying to deepen and expand their own anticolonial practices in these times until Palestine is free, until we all are free.
Once again thank you to Fred Moten for this conversation
If you like our work of course you can as always support our work on patreon or by becoming a member of our YouTube channel. Thank you for listening and I hope you are finding new comrades in the streets every day.
