Timestamp 1:30:23 through 1:35:35. Captions will help to hear the question
Interesting take by Vijay here. I think I agree with him, although not surprised to hear him say that he had pushback from others.
He was asked what he thinks of settler-colonialism as a framework and how, or whether, it can be theoretically combined with imperialism.
His answer was that settler-colonialism is not useful. In the case of Israel, he thinks it is better addressed as a supremacist ethnostate and should be dismantled on that basis. If the issue is compressed into a settler-colonial model, then the implication is that the solution is to remove all Israelis from the land, which he finds objectionable. Furthermore he doesn’t want “a world of Israels”, a world of ethnically defined nations who are entitled to resist intrusion by other groups. Vijay instead argues that the end goal needs to be plurinational states that can tolerate diversity.
“Settler Colonialism means settlers should go home.” Does it though? This feels like the same tired argument that white people make on Turtle Island when talking about the same subject. “So I’m just going to be kicked out? Where will me and my family go?”
My understanding of the Settler Colonialism framework is who has power. Do we just allow the settlers to maintain their domination or is that power given back to the people it was stolen from? And once they retain the power it is up to them to decide what is best for the land.
Most Palestinians in the diaspora know from which street they came from. Unfortunately this isn’t the case with a majority of native americans.
I don’t think this comparison makes any sense in the context of North America. There were not streets and cities in most cases, many groups were nomadic and had temporary villages they bounced between with the seasons and broke down when they left. For the nations that did have permanent settlements, they know exactly where those settlements were and have every right to that land today as they always have. The Palestinian context may have literal houses that they were kicked out of which they can trace back to, but more Palestinians will be rebuilding in rubble than returning to a street or house that their grandparents lived in. They still have every right to that land
Well yeah its not really that the native americans are completely unaware of their native lands and that they did not have an western style housing situation. In an “international law” sense (I know) the Palestinians have an easier time, if you only count returning then the Native Land Areas Judicially Established back into indigenous hands then maybe.
Yeah, beginning with just the treaties being upheld would be an easier start. I definitely have some concerns about how realistic it will be to get broader support for anything more than that, even if it is obviously the correct thing to do. It is hard to imagine how we get there from our current position and trajectory
It’s 100% the same. Whenever someone asks where the settlers will go I always point to South Africa where, despite living under apartheid, they did not kick the settlers out.
No notable Indigenous movement in North America I’m aware of has advocated for sending back settlers, it’s about self determination.
It’s late and I can’t watch the video right now but I think we’ve seen plenty of examples that decolonizing doesn’t mean ethnic nationalism. Decolonizing Israel doesn’t need to mean kicking out all the “Israelis,” it means taking away their power over everyone else. Calling it a supremacist ethnostate over a settler colony implies that “Israelis” are from there and have a right to be there, which is not the case. Not having the right doesn’t mean you can’t have the privilege, but you need to be able to live in a place which has preexisting culture, customs, and norms which you won’t necessarily have a say in. This is what immigration entails everywhere and should be no different for Europeans and Americans who decide to immigrate to Palestine.
I believe this is more or less what he means and wants. There are many recent and obviously unjust scenarios of Israeli settlers having stolen land/homes from living Palestinian families. These wrongs should be righted as a prerequisite of any long-term solution. Vijay argues that settler-colonialism does not really capture the complexity of Israel and also does not afford new insight not offered by an imperialist framework.
The last part is, I believe, a miss on his part. The settler nature of the ideology adds specific variables which are unaccounted for in the imperialist framework
He’s spot on as usual
Vijay is usually spot on, but in this case he’s being naive, the line has been crossed, every single Israeli in the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Height and Negev should be deported immediately for the physical safety of Palestinians living in those areas and the rest of Israel placed under military occupation no different from the one Germany was placed under
Social experiments in harmony can take place between Israelis that renounce fascism and decide to stay and a United Palestine, but before that can ever happen, any possibility of a repeat of Israeli fascism and genocidal intentions towards Palestinians has to be excised completely
Eh there are at least some amount of people with Israeli citizenship who have always been staunch supporters of Palestine and can probably stay, a lot of orthodox for example, and maybe Ethiopian, mizrahi, Sephardic, etc. By and large I agree though, since the genocidal culture is so ingrained in many Israelis, they would probably need to be deported back to US and Europe purely because they are incapable/rejecting of remaining without doing harm to the people around them.
Edit : just realizing you were specific enough with the areas you mentioned that the types of people living there in general are probably not the ones I’m talking about
Uncharacteristically bad take from Prashad here. Settler colonialism is inextricably linked to capitalist imperialism, if you don’t believe one I don’t think you can credibly believe in the other. And mistakenly conflating nations with ethnicities and doing the “where are the poor settlers supposed to go?” strawman nonsense! Unbelievable!
The Indigenous peoples of North America are not ethnically homogeneous, but they all went through shared historical experiences under settler colonialism that constitutes a distinct nation in contrast to the settler nation that established a nation-state. The nation the state was formed around does not contradict the mode of production and that it is still the bourgeoisie in the position of power.
At least he still makes the reasonable conclusion that we need to move away from the nation-state model towards a plurinational model.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
