Above the Map of the British Empire.
And sadly I must say that he is not wrong. Almost all European nations have a history as imperialistic nations. Racism is the product of colonialism. The reason, why people who worked in the Congo River in Belgian Congo were extremely racist was that the conditions of African people in the "Leopold garden" were extremely bad.
Belgians and their mercenary henchmen treated Africans by using very inhumane methods. And of course, people must know that their actions were not acceptable. So racism was the way to numb conscience. This is one reason why colonists were extremely racist. They must confess to themselves that things that they did were right.
Racism made violence and robbing easier for those people who made the dirty work. The thing in colonialism is that the governments and businessmen, who invested in slave work could keep their hands clean. But they are not innocents. They should observe those plantations where slaves produced cotton. One way to excuse colonialism was the civilization of the African people.
When we are thinking about the history of separatism, we are seeing things like Luhansk and Krim and especially Sevastopol Naval base where separatists separated those areas from Ukraine. And then there was a referendum where those people decided to join Russia. Sometimes there are suspicions about the honesty of those referendums.
But Sevastopol and Luhansk are only the last cases of the sad history of colonialism ad separatism. We can remember when South Ossetia and Chechnya wanted to separate from Russia. And the Russian military and police crushed those attempts. Same time Russian military supports Separatists from all other countries.
But there was a long list about separatism also in Western Europe. The most important cases were Northern Ireland. And Basque Country in Spain. In those areas, reactions were not different from Russian reactions to its separatists. The police force has been a very popular way to handle separatists also in Western Europe. The Ireland area was the first colony of the British empire. And sometimes, Englishmen treated the Irish badly, and that caused rebellions on that island.
Somehow the reason for separatism is always clear. Bad economic situation, discrimination, and indifference from the central government cause pressure for separation from the homeland. The fact is that the separatist areas are usually been autonomic areas. There was its government, but for some reason, the central government caused hate against itself or the situation turned radical.
When somebody uses guns against police. That thing justifies the use of force against separatists. The use of weapons against authorities justifies the "counter-terror" operation.
When we are looking back on history. We must realize that almost every government in the world are been somehow imperialistic. The powerful military and powerful governments justified colonialism. People who lived in Africa had no weapons how to resist the invaders. And things like gold and diamonds offered the possibility to fund mercenary troops. Those mercenaries made the "dirty work". Those mercenaries are usually recruited from ethnic minorities.
Those people's mission was to collect gold and other riches from colonies. And of course, those people worked as "work leaders" for slaves. That allowed the wealthy businessmen who funded those actions could keep their hands clear of those actions. Racism was the tool, how to keep people separated so that "non-wanted" information was not spread. Also, things like hard work, murders, and other kinds of things could easily put over people who worked as slave whippers.
Things like powerful military forces play a key element in colonialism. Some nations are not using power in their foreign politics. But the reason for that could be that those countries have too small armies. And they are surrounded by more powerful neighbors.
When we are thinking about the Russian situation in Ukraine that nation is strong. The reason for that is its nuclear weapon arsenal. Those weapons are feared and powerful shields. So Ukraine's problem is how to deny Russia from making new military equipment? If Ukraine could hot to military factories that cause that Russia would not make new equipment immediately. So the Ukrainian war is "only" one case in the long and sad list of colonialism.
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