Settler Colonialism: A Globally Genocidal & Imperial Agenda by Sachi Azadi

Settler Colonialism refers to the process of replacing a native or pre-existing population with a new population. Many of us are aware of how in the heart of where we reside, Turtle Island, this took place when the white europeans came and settled on the land that once belonged to the indigenous peoples. It is vital to recognize that this was not simply a one-off event but rather part of a larger phenomenon that exists in an enmeshed manner globally. Settler colonialism in its various manifestations is tactfully carried out with aims to displace and wipe out the original caretakers and assert dominance, power, and control. It is an inherently genocidal and imperial measure which strips the very people it harms of their livelihoods while simultaneously vilifying both their existence on their own land and the resistance forces they develop in response to the systems of oppression crafted to inflict violence and harm against them.

Kashmir & Palestine: How Can Two Regions Thousands of Miles Apart Be So Deeply Interconnected in Their Struggles?

As I write this, Kashmir and Palestine are both still burning.

Immediately after the last ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was reached, the IOF (israeli occupation forces) killed 82 people (Sen 2025). In a similar manner, just minutes after the ceasefire agreement was recently declared between India and Pakistan, Kashmiris were still hearing explosions (Kleiderman 2025).

What does it mean for a ceasefire to be nothing short of a distraction for something much scarier and evil happening behind the scenes? What does it mean for policy and power to continue its harm without any sort of repercussions or accountability?

Looking at the cases of Kashmir & Palestine can help us explore the suppressed realities of settler colonialism and form our own narrative based on the hidden truths.

Is History Repeating Itself or is it Ongoing?: The Struggle Against Ethnic Cleansing and Displacement

Only a select few people know about the existence of Kashmir at all which is quite appalling as Kashmir is currently the most heavily militarized region on earth with countries such as India and Pakistan striving to seize control. Similarly, Palestine is the longest settler colonial project to date with israel carrying out a plan that centers expanding its empire. These dynamics did not come out of thin air and to better understand these settler-colonial projects, we must look at their historical contexts with a vision that accounts for geopolitical and global dimensions.

It was as a result of the aftermath of British rule and during the 1947 partition that Kashmir became a point of contention. During the divide of India and Pakistan, the ruler of that time (Maharaja Hari Singh) had to make several decisions. Although he is said to have stood for a sovereign and independent Kashmir initially, he eventually signed the Instrument to Accession which granted India control over the Jammu and Kashmir region. Today, Kashmir is said to have one armed person for every seventeen civilians (Harvard Law Review 2021) and for years, the Indian state has knowingly coined narratives to disparage the indigenous population of the region it occupies. The agenda upheld aims to strip Kashmiris of their humanity and deem them as being incapable of having self-determination to further the Hindu nationalist project.

Comparably, the origins of Palestine’s occupation can be traced back to the late 19th century with the rise of Zionism. As a colonial ideology, Zionism strives to create a homeland of Jewish people but at the expense of the native Palestinian population. The British also strongly supported political Zionism through various means- lobbying was greatly influential and british foreign policy was used to expand the movement. The earliest leaders of the settler colonial project clearly laid out their intentions and made it clear that as a result of their values rooted in European supremacy and imperialism, the Palestinian people were not seen as “people worth considering” (Masalha 2018). Fast forward to present times, it was just announced on April 25,2025 that the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) ran out of its food stocks for families in Gaza (WFP 2025).

by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish

On Normalization

As a result of globalization, various overlapping systems of harm work together to create and maintain unjust power dynamics in various contexts worldwide. Kashmir and Palestine show us that the normalization of settler colonialism exists in a multitude.

The dominant narratives deeply condition large factions of the global population to see Muslims as a threat and violent beyond need which leads to the violence against them being seen as justified and also neglects the nuances affiliated with their resistance.

The negligence towards forced disappearances of Kashmiris and mass graves are examples of the normalization of their deaths (Alternative Radio 2012).

What does it mean for a people to not be dignified even after their passing?

It is heartbreaking for individuals to be reduced down to a mere statistic but how do you even grapple with a reality where countless peoples are entirely unaccounted for in the death toll?

Moreover, it is not a mere coincidence that state propaganda focuses on the beauty of the occupied regions while tearing apart the land; romanticizing tourism in occupied regions helps to generate revenue and encourage more settlers thus creating a self-sustained system.

How Do We Move Towards a World Where Kashmiris and Palestinians Are Not Treated as Collateral Damage?

It is important to first reflect on how we perceive oppressed people. We must humanize them and contextualize their actions. Resistance is a key instance of this. Reaching a free world is not sunshines and rainbows and when our understandings are deeply tied to colonial notions, our solidarity is conditional to “perfect victims”.

As a result, we allow for the vulnerable to be further subjugated and misunderstood and treat decolonization as a metaphor rather than a tangible action. The 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People validates that indigenous people have the right to resist and fight back against their occupiers (United Nations 2007). However, our contemporary layout of political globalization has led to international laws not being legally binding and nations are able to opt in and out as they please. The nature of the justice system is arbitrary and given that colonial courts exist to advance the empire through global capitalism and imperialism, we must begin to define concepts and ideas for ourselves.

We can allow those directly affected to take control of the narrative. The media we consume can be a good place to start. From the books we read to the sources we use to get our information, centering the suppressed perspectives can aid in decolonizing our perspective. It is however also important to take into account that heavy surveillance often exists within occupied territories. As a result, at times the majority of unfiltered voices end up being those who are a part of the diaspora and not residing on the ground. It is of value to hold space for both of these positions and also to keep in mind that even oppressed people can have opposing approaches to the same situation or event– they are not a monolith.

The diversity of tactics can be effective and help us build a widespread movement to challenge the harm as using a range of methods can help us cover various fronts. In the imperial core, our universities are complicit and our tax dollars help fund these settler colonial projects (Not My Tax Dollars). In the last few years, solidarity protests and actions have been taking place all across the Global North as the atrocities in the Global South escalate at horrifying rates. From protests and teach-in sit-ins and taking over buildings and starting encampments, there have been centralized and decentralized efforts to not let business carry on as usual.

It is more important than ever to keep this up and to not put the most vulnerable factions of our society on a backburner for our personal comfort and convenience. We all have a responsibility to stand on the right side of history at all costs.

In the words of Maya Angelou, “None of us are free until all of us are free”.

Everything is deeply interconnected but simultaneously my heart breaks every time an oppressed person has to over-explain the parallels of their brutality for others to give it even a sliver of attention.

(double tap to watch)

https://youtube.com/shorts/iuALWwFSjME?si=CBQrgqstrCgpwDz_

References

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