Indigenous Anti-Communism #2: State Terror in Latin America w/ Alexander Aviña

Excellent discussion. I learned a lot too. I was an solidarity activist with liberation movements in Latin America and the Caribbean in the late 1970s and 1980s. I'm non Indigenous and Canadian. I didn't fully grasp colonialism in Canada until my experience with the revolution in Grenada in 1979. I've been decolonizing my mind ever since. It's an ongoing process.
I would live to listen to a discussion on settler colonialism in Canada and the US.

I really like this series, these conversations.
While I know some communists see (if asked) that the old, indigenous ways are "proto-communism". I see that communism/socialism/anarchism are reflections of their era: these ideas are been invented after creation of scientific methods, but also, when and where capitalism was taken in power, focusing on countering the cancer, "capitalism". But also, all those three siblings (socialism/communism/anarchism) are by core connected to "humanism" by heart (note: in here by "humanism" I mean what is natural for humans as species, what been "normal" for humans most of last 300.000 years). So, there is deep connection to "humanism", the old ways. But those three siblings focus on countering capitalism. They do not know so much, what they want, but they know what they do not want.
So, in one had, there is lot of great things, like analysis from Marx and Engels, which help people to understand society, economics, power structures… But there is so many questions, where also the three siblings are blindfolded, or even reflect colonialist attitudes. For example, I remember mention of Lev Trotsky saying that cultures are reflections their environment, and because once communism is achieved we can shape all the world as we please, so cultures will die and cultures does not matter. Without caring how people love or hate Trotsky, I would say that he was brilliant mind, but asshole as person (and his assholeness set his own destruction), but in this question he reflects colonialist "we are above everything else" attitude – instead of "we are part of this world" attitude. And I also think, that this kind of attitudes are possible in the three siblings, because they do not really have definition what they want, and they they too are products of their time, environment, and therefore are also reflecting some aspects of capitalism, colonialism, etc, even when they try to undo them.

At least in here (I am Sámi person from part colonised/occupied by Finland today), at least in current era, socialists and communists are very scared to tell anything of what kind of society should be. (I do not know about anarchists, only anarchist I know are through internet and they are Yankees). I think it is quite much of PR loss from end of USSR, but it does not help anything. And that lack of courage is also their doom. In Finland, most "red" region is Lapland (Sámi land – Lap(p(ee)) means kind of "outer side of edge", so Lapland is kind of "colonised lands"). I mean in sense, that communists and "people's-democratic-league" socialists (=more radical than social democrats) – those who had good relations with USSR – been always more popular than in any other region. Even when there been focused suppression politics and try to use Christianity (and religious fanaticism) against the ideas in the region. And they been successful on these anti-communist politics, but still just some years ago third of population still voted for Left Alliance political party, till their last publicly visible communist of the party retired because of old age. But in Sámi land… the colonialist kind of partially adopted indigenous culture, in sense, that they feel often alienated from rest of colonisers. And also, colonisers do not really care about Lap(p)lands… They just like to see it painted in their colours in the maps. And maybe take gold and other metals from the land… Maybe drown some villages under waters because of dams (and prevent fishes to keep moving to upper stream of the river).

A much appreciated study. I'll have to go back through and pick out keywords for future study. Thank you!

excellent presentation!!

Fire, really appreciate this

Link for the 1st episode ❓

How could these horizontally organized people's cram themselves into these vertical hierarchical structures

Amazing detailed and generative discussion. The synthesized history organized around the agrarian question was illuminating. Look forward to the third installment, great work!