this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Lidia Thorpe is not wrong when Briitish colonialism fucked the world. The British should be held accountable for that. However, this arguement can be made to absolve the Australian government of their fuckery with indigenous people.

Sure, Australia didn't become federate until the early 1900s. However, I would imagine sometime prior to that Australia was acting more or less as an independent country.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

What do you mean by "The British should be held accountable"?

Who, exactly? And how, exactly?

The monarch, the government, the entire population?

Reparations? If you sell everything - crown estates, crown jewels, all the art, everything - are you going to deliver $7.28 to every single person in a former colony?

How about we look forwards, instead? There's little to be gained in trying to make current-day nations pay reparations for things that their ancestors did.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Interesting take. Let's not hold anybody to account by that logic. So what if the car I drive is stolen, I didn't steal it. So what if the lady that I paid to have sex with was coerced, I didn't force her. So what if the wealth that I stole from others is used to persecute the rest of the world...

[–] stephen01king 1 points 1 month ago

So in your two hypothetical situation, what benefit does punishing you provide to any of the victims?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There’s little to be gained in trying to make current-day nations pay reparations for things that their ancestors did.

"We will not blame [King George] for the crimes of his ancestors if he relinquishes the royal rights of his ancestors; but as long as he claims their rights, by virtue of descent, then, by virtue of descent, he must shoulder the responsibility for their crimes.".
-James Connolly

How about we look forwards, instead?

How about we look at the present? Because colonialism isn't over. People are still suffering from it right now. The global south is still actively being colonized and exploited right now.

You can't drive a knife into someone's ribs then say "what's in the past is in the past, we need to look forward instead" when your hand is still holding the blade. How can you hope to start the process of healing if you haven't even taken the knife out all the way?

Now, I don't have all the answers for how that healing process is going to work for the world, but I'm pretty sure a billionaire dancing around in a golden hat and velvet robes with a title that says "God made my bloodline special so I can stab whoever I want" isn't a part of it.