Misunderstanding Land Back
Another from my Cohost days, this time inspired by Land Back narratives being misrepresented by advocates for and against the liberation of Palestine from the occupation of the Zionist colony, and the sovereignty and reparations for native nations occupied by the Manifest Destiny colony.
April 24th, 2024
Post by me:
Really is a jolt to see how folks misunderstand the point of Land Back so thoroughly. This weird thing of martyrdom, proclaiming for everyone to see that you will happily and selflessly leave your house and life for the indigenous person you made up in your mind, is so utterly unhelpful. Widely speaking, indigenous folks across Turtle Island are not asking for your house or local farm. They're asking for sovereignty of peoples and lifeways, stewardship of land and resources. No, Land Back does not mean getting all the settlers deported. It is not about an impossible reversal of settler-colonialism. It is about looking beyond the settler state, its power, and its ideology. Decommodifying land, building more sustainable and habitable systems for mankind and other life, living in harmony with the Earth. Land Back is one praxis in the field of decolonization, a goal which requires every color and creed. I'm sure some land will see disputes. I'm sure some non-indigenous communities may see unfortunate fallout with treaty recognition. Nevertheless, the fight is for collective liberation. Land Back could very well lead the way for many across Turtle Island to move beyond the state and its neofeudal workings.
EDIT: Want to note that Land Back is literally about getting land back to indigenous people as well. There's a variety of ways of doing that and what it looks like, some more contentious than others, but it is a part of land back.
April 25th, 2024
Share(s) by Alex Tax1a:
it is Very Telling when white people insist that "land back" involves forced deportation/assimilation. absolute projection.
y'all really gotta get your heads out of this tit-for-tat mindset into one where you approach things as they are, not as you want them to be.
Comment by Chronos:
We're so indoctrinated with the idea that everything has a single owner who has absolute control over a thing, when the reality is that most forms of "property" (but especially land and living things) have a wide array of sentient beings who are affected by the choice of how to treat it, use it, and maintain it. None of us can live without Earth's ecosystems keeping the planet hospitable for all live to thrive. But that conflicts hard with the last few hundred years of Western philosophy, including folks like John Locke who were directly influential on the British colonialist project.