This also happened during the Portuguese conquest of Brazil. Colonial massacres, dispossession, subjugation. Some Indigenous resistance followed by more massacres. And for those who asked, “Why more massacres?” The Portuguese explained: “They are attacking us, they have killed some of us and we have the right to defend ourselves.”
And again, at the time, most white Europeans agreed with the Portuguese. They acted as if the difference between how many were killed by the Indigenous people and how many by the colonists was unimportant. They acted as if who invaded whose home was unimportant, and as if who was subjugating whom was not important either. The only thing that mattered was: “They are attacking us, they have killed some of us, and we have the right to defend ourselves.”
And again there were some who opposed this narrative, but who failed to see it for the warring incantation it was and who spent their time trying to ‘correct’ the colonisers, as if they were truth-seekers.
During the European conquest of North America the same thing happened with Native Americans. And the same thing happened with the British in Asia, the French in North Africa, the Germans in southern Africa, the Italians in Libya, and the Belgians in the Congo, and the Dutch in Indonesia, and, and.
They all conquered, massacred, appropriated land and when resisted they said, “they’re attacking us, they have killed some of us and we have the right to defend ourselves.” For those who are invaded and colonised can defend themselves only as best as they could. Only those who have invaded and institutionalised their laws can have ‘the right to defend themselves’.
I’ve left out quite a few examples but I won’t leave out what happened on the land from where I am writing. For, guess what happened here? The British came and conquered. And likewise, colonial massacres, dispossession and subjugation followed. So did a whole legal apparatus designed to legalise the theft of land and the right of the thieves. And again, Indigenous resistance was followed by more massacres styled as ‘retaliation’. And for those who asked, ‘Why more massacres?’ The Australian settlers explained that those Indigenous people were a serious murderous lot; “they are attacking us, they have killed some of us and we have the right to defend ourselves.”
And sure enough, most white Europeans agreed. They acted as if the difference between how many were killed by the Indigenous people and how many the Australian settlers killed was unimportant. They acted as if the only thing that mattered was the right to ‘retaliate’: "they are attacking us and they have killed some of us and we have the right to defend ourselves."
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