Caesar Augustus 31 B.C. - 14 A.D.  Roman Empire's Colonizer   

 (Source, with thanks:  Pexels/Thomas K.)

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP):

“The General Assembly, affirming …that all doctrines, policies and practices based on or advocating superiority of peoples or individuals on the basis of national origin or racial, religious, ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust, ….

Solemnly proclaims the following United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a standard of achievement to be pursued in a spirit of partnership and mutual respect…”  (Preamble)

Colonialism Continues

Immersing myself in the relationship between Indigenous and non-indigenous Settler inhabitants of northern Turtle (Canada), I have become increasingly aware of colonialism as a malignant human endeavor, which from a theological and ethical perspective can only be labelled as “sin”. 

To be sure this “ism” is often dressed up in benevolence and best intentions.  As in the scourge of war, there are many benevolent actions that can and must be acknowledged - even within the context of colonialism.   But the overarching reality in colonialism is a pervasive and empowered, and usually racist, quest for self-interested power and control - aggrandizement - over and at the cost of other nations and peoples, and too often persons.

Today the human family is cursed to witness a most blatant and bloody example of this evil. Putin’s Russian war on Ukraine is an archetypal example of one nation’s  hubris-based attempt to reclaim and effect through conquest its self-interested colonizing control over another sovereign nation and people.

 Empowered by the Russian Orthodox Church’s arrogant and blasphemous blessing, by a  history of brutal colonial control,  by a powerful and vast military machine, and by money flowing freely from the sale of earth destroying fossil fuels, Putin’s Russia would rather murder the nation and people of Ukraine than allow them to determine their own future. The Russian bear is ferocious as too many of the former soviet “republics” have learned only too well.

Genocide is far too often the ultimate goal of the superior colonizing entity. Either eliminate or assimilate the presumed inferior nation/people to extinction.  Imposing dominant self-interested uniformity is the colonizer's goal.

Russia's war on Ukraine may be the clearest example of our time, but there are many other blatant examples – current and historic – that can be cited.

Here’s a brief sample:

People’s Republic of China:  Extending the modern Han empire based on communist capitalism is pre-occupying autocrat Xi Jinping and his followers.  The Dalai Lama’s Tibet has been a long-time victim of this aggression, not likely to be reversed.  Add to that the subjugation and “re-education” of the almost 12 million Muslim Uighur people, plus the constant threat to re-integrate Taiwan into the PRC fold and we have another current example of imperial colonialism.

To be sure, China probably learned many  lessons from western European colonial powers and from Japan’s pre-World War II expansionism, but the People’s Republic of China has developed its own multi-dimensional strategic military, economic, technological, and political initiatives to advance its imperial goals. Those high-flying balloons we saw earlier this year are not as benign as the PRC would have us believe – but are multi-valent symbols of PRC’s hegemonic intentions.

United State of America: Close relations with our southern neighbour may incline Canadians toward more benevolence  than warranted toward American foreign initiatives. But the USA has a long history of expansionism which ensured its territorial control from Atlantic North America to Pacific - with little room for Indigenous rights.  The War of 1812 may have helped to block its northern ambitions – “Manifest Destiny” – but its political, economic, and cultural  influence over Canada should never be underestimated. More clearly colonial has been the USA’s war of aggression in Iraq, its coup d’états of the 1950s in Iran and Guatemala, its ongoing efforts to undermine the independence and self-determined existence of Cuba, and its continual military and economic support of autocratic governments in Latin and Central American nations – too often at great cost to Indigenous People like Mayans in Guatemala. The American Eagle flies high and wide to spread it power and influence.

Brazil:  Bolsonaro’s presidency gave us a vivid example of subjugating and disempowering Indigenous Peoples.  Amazonia's native peoples are experiencing the worst of colonialism's racist disrespect and violence. Economic development for the benefit of the rich and powerful at the expense of the environment, wildlife, and local residents are dominant characteristics of Brazil’s colonialist project.  There is no partnership in this evil tangled dance. 

Israel / Palestine:  Colonialism's creation of the state of Israel gave birth to the modern struggles plaguing the “Holy Land”.  But the current unjust arrangement is no less marked by colonialism’s malignant characteristics.  The “inferior” Palestinian people are subjugated by “superior” Israeli political and military forces in an enforced apartheid arrangement.  Extremist Israeli leaders are now voicing genocidal goals.  Israel's failure to comply with international standards and United Nations’ declarations threatens Palestinians’ well being and their human and property rights, especially in the illegally occupied territories, in Jerusalem, and, for ultra-nationalists, even in parts of Jordan.  The current government’s “judicial reform” initiatives exacerbate the already dangerous  threats to Palestinians.  Biblically-based shalom rooted in justice is increasingly hard to imagine for both Palestinians and Israelis.

Morocco: This kingdom was assigned administrative responsibility (presumably by the United Nations) in 1979 for Western Sahara or Sahrawi Arab Republic,   But Morocco  has exploited the trusteeship role as an opportunity to add territory and to extract natural resources at the expense of Sahrawi's people.  The self-determining aspirations of the Polisario independence movement are opposed and protesters brutally imprisoned.   

The Netherlands and Belgium:   For me it is unavoidable to mention that these "low countries" (part of my heritage)  used their political, military, and economic power to magnify themselves at the cost of millions of people in, respectively, Indonesia or the Dutch East Indies and "The Congo" (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).  There is no rationale to justify such a relatively small population of Europeans disempowering and subjugating the peoples, now independent nations.  Leopold II,  King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, raised the colonizers' racism hubris bar by presuming to be not only the founder but the sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885-1908! 

Former British Colonies:   Nations conquered or declared colonies as part of the former British empire are many indeed.  South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, India/Pakistan, Ghana, Belize, Jamaica, Barbados, and others coloured the world map red to demonstrate their part in the British Empire. In many countries it took armed rebellions to effect the transition from dependence and subjugation to independence and self determination. 

Now, all these nations must invest their time, money, and efforts to extinguish colonialism’s persistent negative impact on their indigenous culture, lands, and legal rights.   South Africa became a classic example of colony where the dominant white settler minority with armed power and money prescribed how  Black and Coloured people were to live.  The Afrikaans term Apartheid has become  internationally recognized policy to describe the separate and grossly unequal racist relationship between racial communities.  Apartheid, inspired by Canadian Indian Act pass laws for Indigenous Peoples, describes similar situations where race or religion unjustly and unequally separate indigenous folk from the governing colonizers. 

Former colonies, like Australia and New Zealand now dominated by settlers from British and other European nations have ongoing legal and political struggles to achieve social peace based on respectful and justice-based relations.

Northern Turtle Island (Canada):   Relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples for the first two centuries after Contact seemed promising.   But by the middle of the 19^th century, there was an erosion of respectful goodwill and the emergence of a Settler movement to assimilate and “erase” Indigenous presence in the emerging Canadian nation. With the proclamation of the Indian Act of 1876 (variously amended) an apartheid regime was legislated to benefit of Settler society and at great cost to Indigenous Peoples.  We are currently living in an era where there is growing hope that a new “reconciled” relationship may be possible and that Canadian Confederation might fully include Indigenous Peoples as intended in the UNDRIP standards and spirit.

Is It Natural?

Probing further into history of colonization reveals many, many more stories of colonial powers' self-interested aggrandizement and subjugation of less powerful peoples.  Colonialism in its political, military, and religious guises has filled history books.  Economic colonialism usually was part of these stories, but in our time this form of colonialism has proliferated aided by the digital revolution and global transportation. 

Pushing the power-based dynamic further into more familiar terms, we are only too familiar with dominance and subjugation in personal relations whether in corporate and collective contexts or in domestic situations.

What all this raises for us is the question:  is this ubiquitous power dynamic just simply part of the natural order of life on Earth? Or is this the redeemable corruption of what the Creator intended for the human family in the larger context of the natural order? Theologically, we might ask: is this what is meant by the biblical Genesis stories of “the fall”, the murder of Cain, and other sin narratives by which humanity degrades itself and breaks the peace and justice the Creator meant for All?

Gospel Critique

To maintain a critical perspective on the ways of colonization, I keep being called back to the story of the birth of Jesus. Caesar Augustus in his imperial palace is referenced as the emperor of the widely expanded Roman empire. Military and economic power have established it and “pacified” it. 

But Luke 2 has the temerity to suggest that it is the powerless baby born in the stable who is “the anointed one” – the Christ -  who is the expression of God's power called "love".   The angels  celebrate not the dominating emperor and his version of peace, but the little child, who as the incarnation of God's love is Lord and the harbinger of God’s sway of peace.

The Ubiquitous Spirit of Life

I believe that the Divine Spirit – best revealed for me by the life and Spirit of Jesus – invites, calls, prods, and yearns for the human family to transcend the temptation to dominate, subjugate and control other nations, other peoples, and other persons.

The Spirit calls us all to  implement what has been grafted into our being and have learned to trust, namely:   justice, creativity, peace-making, humility, generosity, gratitude, and compassion. These and many other qualities and characteristics are gifts of the Spirit to foster relationships of respect, inter-dependence, and cooperation for the well-being of All.  Is is to much to imagine and press for a time when the powerful forego the oddity and destructiveness of colonizing domination and instead respectfully, generously, freely seek mutual benefit and well-being?   

On the Way

UNDRIP is a huge step in the right direction, if taken seriously.   Humans paying attention are learning that Earth is too small for the spirit of fear, aggression, domination, greed, and control.  It's time to live with respect for and in Creation, and, for the entire human family to live the abundant life the Creator intends for all of life.   Embrace the gift.  Walk the Way.