Colonization

I am not the first or thousandth person to say this, but as we continue to deal with the violent, impoverishing, and divesting consequences of "post-colonialism" around the world I think it is always important to remember:

The first goal of a colonizer is to control, extract, or utilize the wealth (natural resources, labor, strategic placement) of the colony. The second goal, if ever forced to leave the colony, is to create institutions that will guarantee the continued control and funneling of those resources to the ex-colonizer after “independence,” if possible making those institutions foundational to the creation of the newly independent ex-colony, and therefore constitutionally irreversible . The third goal is to leave the newly freed colony divided by religious/tribal/regional differences - traditional, fomented, or completely manufactured by the ex-colonizer - so the citizens will be too distracted to be aware of the success of the second goal - that they are still being robbed.

The reason I'm thinking about this right now is not just because of the daily evidence of the continued misery caused by past and present geo-political imperialism, but also the ongoing trauma of psychological colonialism suffered by those in colonized states, and those who endure in the country of their colonizer, kidnapper, and enslaver.

At abroad, at home, or in your head colonization is about the same thing: Control.