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This phenomenon was also described by Foucault, and is now usually called Foucault's Boomerang[0]: "It should never be forgotten", Foucault said, "that while c

This phenomenon was also described by Foucault, and is now usually called Foucault's Boomerang[0]: "It should never be forgotten", Foucault said, "that while colonization, with its techniques and its political and juridical weapons, obviously transported European models to other continents, it also had a considerable boomerang effect on the mechanisms of power in the West, and on the apparatuses, institutions, and techniques of power. A whole series of colonial models was brought back to the West, and the result was that the West could practice something resembling colonization, or an internal colonialism, on itself” On a practical note there isn't anything mystical or karmic about this. If you have a bunch of people with experience acting in a certain way in an overseas setting, and then those same people come back to positions of power in a domestic setting, they're going to act according to their past experience. If you have a surplus of weapons, armor, and vehicles developed for overseas engagements being given out to domestic police forces, they will be used according to their design. Sometimes the link is even direct and explicit: Israel trains American police forces in tactics they've developed in Palestine[1]. [0] https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opensecurity/foucaults-boomerang-new-military-urbanism/ https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opensecurity/foucaults-boom... [1] https://progressive.org/dispatches/us-police-trained-by-israel-communities-of-color-paying-price-shahshahani-cohen-191007/ https://progressive.org/dispatches/us-police-trained-by-isra...

dkarl 6y ago
One way of seeing the Nazi treatment of Jews and ethnic Slavs is as colonialism brought a little bit too close to home, against people who looked too similar to the colonizers. When directed against white people in Europe, forced labor, mass executions, and an ideology of superiority felt as abhorrent as they should have felt, but didn't, when directed against dark-skinned people on other continents. (Sure, the Irish had to become white and all, but it's plausible that invisible differences, or differences only visible to race scientists, do not afford as much emotional distance from brutality as visible ones.)
kingkawn 6y ago
Or in other words, “the chickens have come home to roost.”
pattusk 6y ago
A whole series of colonial models was brought back to the West, and the result was that the West could practice something resembling colonization, or an internal colonialism, on itself I keep thinking a lot of today's identity politics are the direct result of colonialism and its racial hierarchies. A lot of post-Apartheid South Africa's affirmative policies transferred some of the priviledges of the former whites to the groups that Apartheid had marginalized, but the legitimacy of identities developed by a colonial system were never really questioned. (Saying this as a coloured man, who still can't see how such a category could ever be considered meaningful). You could even say that affirmative action evolved as a kind of colonial science of imperial management. Following brutal colonial repression and subsequent rebellion in the late 19th century European empires adopted a softer type of rule that - on the surface - provided more advantage or more recognition to colonized people. Japan itself learned the technique from Europe and implemented a similar ruling style for its Empire until WWII, giving more visibility to Manchu, Koreans... and representing itself as a multicultural Empire. A historian called the USSR the "Affirmative Action Empire"[0] because this was their preferred way to maintain control over minorities while giving them the sense that they could "make it" in the Soviet Union. I think affirmative action dates back to the 60's in the US, which follows its rise as a global empire with the Japanese occupation, Korean War, Vietnam War and influence over South America... [0]https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Affirmative_Action_Empire.html?id=rdlSX2hsb1kC https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Affirmative_Action_...
varjag 6y ago
Did you have to include the antisemitic whistle? American police needs no lessons in brutality from anyone.
- ahelwer 6y ago
  Israel is an extension of American interests in the Middle East, an esteemed member of the empire. Palestine is, among other things, used as a test lab for riot control tactics & equipment [0]. Maybe you're from the UK where it's become fashionable to cast anything but glowing reviews of Israel as antisemitism, but others can see clearly what's happening there with eyes unclouded by hate. [0] https://www.wrmea.org/013-september/the-lab-israel-tests-weapons-tactics-on-captive-palestinian-population.html https://www.wrmea.org/013-september/the-lab-israel-tests-wea...
  - varjag 6y ago
    Unjust things in apartheid Israel have little bearing to U.S. domestic issues. The article you cited above is an attempt to hijack BLM and make it about the Jews rather than authentic grassroots American policing methods. From your FA: These incidents nearly doubled in the state, up 77 percent between 2017 to 2018. By May 2018, Georgia was already reportedly experiencing a more rapid rise in officer-involved shootings than the rest of the country. Like, what other change could possibly happen in 2017 America? Nah, it sure must be the Jews again, right?
    - ahelwer 6y ago
      You acknowledge the state of apartheid in Israel, so why is it mysterious to you that people might have reasons for being against Israel other than it being a Jewish state?
      - varjag 6y ago
        Bringing up Israel in causes that have nothing to do with Israel politics is antisemitism. The way your question is formulated suggests you think it's OK to toss Israel to any discourse unrelated to Palestinian cause, and is highly problematic. Every time there is a broad popular movement, all kind of people come out of the woods and try to freeride their sometimes less than noble cause on that. Certainly the cause with BLM: you see people making it about socialism, "anti-imperialism", and of course the good old fallback of anti-semitism.

dkarl 6y ago

One way of seeing the Nazi treatment of Jews and ethnic Slavs is as colonialism brought a little bit too close to home, against people who looked too similar to the colonizers. When directed against white people in Europe, forced labor, mass executions, and an ideology of superiority felt as abhorrent as they should have felt, but didn't, when directed against dark-skinned people on other continents. (Sure, the Irish had to become white and all, but it's plausible that invisible differences, or differences only visible to race scientists, do not afford as much emotional distance from brutality as visible ones.)

kingkawn 6y ago

Or in other words, “the chickens have come home to roost.”

pattusk 6y ago

A whole series of colonial models was brought back to the West, and the result was that the West could practice something resembling colonization, or an internal colonialism, on itself I keep thinking a lot of today's identity politics are the direct result of colonialism and its racial hierarchies. A lot of post-Apartheid South Africa's affirmative policies transferred some of the priviledges of the former whites to the groups that Apartheid had marginalized, but the legitimacy of identities developed by a colonial system were never really questioned. (Saying this as a coloured man, who still can't see how such a category could ever be considered meaningful). You could even say that affirmative action evolved as a kind of colonial science of imperial management. Following brutal colonial repression and subsequent rebellion in the late 19th century European empires adopted a softer type of rule that - on the surface - provided more advantage or more recognition to colonized people. Japan itself learned the technique from Europe and implemented a similar ruling style for its Empire until WWII, giving more visibility to Manchu, Koreans... and representing itself as a multicultural Empire. A historian called the USSR the "Affirmative Action Empire"[0] because this was their preferred way to maintain control over minorities while giving them the sense that they could "make it" in the Soviet Union. I think affirmative action dates back to the 60's in the US, which follows its rise as a global empire with the Japanese occupation, Korean War, Vietnam War and influence over South America... [0]https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Affirmative_Action_Empire.html?id=rdlSX2hsb1kC https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Affirmative_Action_...

varjag 6y ago

Did you have to include the antisemitic whistle? American police needs no lessons in brutality from anyone.

ahelwer 6y ago
Israel is an extension of American interests in the Middle East, an esteemed member of the empire. Palestine is, among other things, used as a test lab for riot control tactics & equipment [0]. Maybe you're from the UK where it's become fashionable to cast anything but glowing reviews of Israel as antisemitism, but others can see clearly what's happening there with eyes unclouded by hate. [0] https://www.wrmea.org/013-september/the-lab-israel-tests-weapons-tactics-on-captive-palestinian-population.html https://www.wrmea.org/013-september/the-lab-israel-tests-wea...
- varjag 6y ago
  Unjust things in apartheid Israel have little bearing to U.S. domestic issues. The article you cited above is an attempt to hijack BLM and make it about the Jews rather than authentic grassroots American policing methods. From your FA: These incidents nearly doubled in the state, up 77 percent between 2017 to 2018. By May 2018, Georgia was already reportedly experiencing a more rapid rise in officer-involved shootings than the rest of the country. Like, what other change could possibly happen in 2017 America? Nah, it sure must be the Jews again, right?
  - ahelwer 6y ago
    You acknowledge the state of apartheid in Israel, so why is it mysterious to you that people might have reasons for being against Israel other than it being a Jewish state?
    - varjag 6y ago
      Bringing up Israel in causes that have nothing to do with Israel politics is antisemitism. The way your question is formulated suggests you think it's OK to toss Israel to any discourse unrelated to Palestinian cause, and is highly problematic. Every time there is a broad popular movement, all kind of people come out of the woods and try to freeride their sometimes less than noble cause on that. Certainly the cause with BLM: you see people making it about socialism, "anti-imperialism", and of course the good old fallback of anti-semitism.