Settler Colonialism and Transatlantic Slavery

Post-Colonial Studies Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation How Colonialism, Settler Colonialism and Transatlantic Slavery Shaped the Human Understanding of Violence and Insecurity. During the colonial period, people struggled to decolonize their nations which were occupied by the colonialists using different methods. The methods were not as peaceful as the process of decolonization involved two opposing forces. During this time, people always talked of national renaissance, national liberation, the Commonwealth and even the restoration of the sense of the nationhood to people. But whatever they might have called it, all this was violence and insecurity of one man against the other. Decolonization was not an easy task as it involved replacing a particular group of men with another group of men. The settler colonization oppressed the natives, and this caused insecurity in the colonies (Estes, 2016). The insecurity heightened as the settlers continued demanding and exploiting more resources from the natives. That means that the exploitation of the natives was carried on by the settlers. The process of decolonization never took place in silence (Fanon, 1963). The truth is that when people recall of decolonization, they remember the bloodstained knives and the searing bullets which evoked violence between the settlers and the natives. That is why by its very nature, colonization shaped the human definition and understanding of violence. In the year 1962, the French were evicted by the Algerian nationals, but the process never went unnoticed as it led to the death of millions of people during the armed struggle for independence. The FLN ascended to power led by its founder who was Ben Bella. Ben had experienced the war since he was young because he had joined the French army in the world war two. The Algerians succeeded politically by evicting the French but the damage caused was too significant (Prashad, 2007). The violence between the natives and the colonial power led the killing of between hundreds of thousands and one million people. The Algerians wanted freedom, and therefore they were willing to pay any price to evict the French autocracy from their land. There is no doubt that the experience with the colonial masters was awful, and it has for several decades lingered in the minds of the people. The colonialism is the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of humanity since it brought widespread suffering and committed atrocities towards humanity. The idea again helped to shape the meaning of insecurity and violence towards people. Human understanding of the violence, conflict and the insecurity continued to be defined by the political instability and torture that was inflicted towards people. For example, the illegitimate Cuban dictator known as Batista mistreated people and tortured them during his reign. The guerrilla forces led by Fidel Castrol organized a terror group that was fighting the government of the day. People continued experiencing all sorts of torture and violence each day. The guerrilla tactics were employed to oust the dictatorial government (Debray, 1967). For Cuba, the revolutionary movement that was determined to liberate the people from the tyrannical oppression used the guerrilla tactics which also led to the mass killing of people who opposed the movement. The protracted struggle between the two forces brought a new meaning of insecurity as people killed and murdered each other without any sense of sympathy. The guerrilla war is also another form of struggle that has been used by Africans and the Asians to fight the colonial power. The guerrilla war was also used to fight neo-colonialism in Cuba by Fidel Castrol army. This form of war has also shown the humanity what violence between two opposing forces means. For example, when the guerrilla soldiers in Africa used this method to fight colonialism, people suffered, and they witnessed their loved ones going through torture and struggles. In Cuba, a similar situation was present that people’s rights were violated and they opted to confront the political power using guerrilla warfare. The guerrilla soldiers have used a tiny group against a large national army like in the case of Cuba. Therefore, the people determined effort to defeat their common enemy is the quality that wins (Guevara, 1963). In essence, the guerrilla war is a war of people against their common enemy. That means that the enemy deals with the entire population at large thereby using force and violence against people. The violence and mistreatment are what that brings insecurity as people fear the experience of a war against them. Up to the present day, people continue to suffer from the modern colonialism which is the so-called neo-colonialism. There are many injustices today which are committed against people such as racism (Ellison, 2016). Racists are not different from colonizers as they see themselves are superior citizens and therefore treat a particular group with contempt. For example, the violence against the native Indians in Latin America has continued to thrive even though colonialism in these countries ended a long time ago. That shows that the colonialism and the settler-colonialism have persisted up to the present day but now in a new form such as neo-colonialism and racism. The transatlantic slave trade is another way that human beings have experienced violence. The slave was treated as inferior human beings and therefore went through all forms of abuse under their masters. The slaves could do manual labor for their masters without any payment (Galeano, 1997). Their right was violated as those who could boycott going to work were violently harassed. Therefore, it can be concluded that the colonialism, the settler-colonialism, and the transatlantic trade shaped the definition of violence and insecurity among human beings. Definition of the Postcolonial Moment in Security Studies and its Significance The term postcolonialism generally refers to human identity, ethnicity race and culture in modern times. The use of the term was adopted after the colonized countries attained independence. The post-colonial moment, therefore, is the time and the events that are taking place after the colonialism. The postcolonial moment is defined by the events and the insecurities surrounding the former European colonies (Barkawi & Laffey, 2006). The events which followed the colonies in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia include the struggle for citizenship, the education of the masses and the land reforms. Studies about the postcolonial moment show that the colonialism shaped the face of the nations that they colonized. The postcolonial moment was a period where the former colonies were actively trying to rebuild their nations and repair their culture. The approach of the postcolonial moment is fundamental and significant because it helps the people to understand the historical role of colonialism and how the colonialism helped to shape the modern world (Hagen, 2016). Postcolonialism moment has presented the scholars with a framework with which they can do research about the future and provide solutions to the threats facing the world today such as terrorism and the global insecurity. Postcolonialism does not necessarily mean the decolonization of the European colonies by their colonizer, but it derives its reference to the formerly colonized states. Security studies were developed after the year 1945 by mostly the European powers and that why they are mostly deemed to have as Eurocentric opinions and viewpoints. The post colonialism gives a substitute to the previously dominating Eurocentric approach to the security questions. In the post-colonial moment, the scholars from the decolonized countries were able to critique the previous Eurocentric security studies and approaches (Mйndez, 2018). The reason is because of the postcolonial moment, and the post-colonialism put into consideration the historical geography that help in underpinning the security studies which have not been taken seriously by the Eurocentric security studies. The post-colonial moment helps the developing countries to understand how the developed countries still use neo-colonialism up to date without having to impose direct imperialist rules. Neo-colonialism is a way of controlling the former colonies without necessarily exerting the imperialist force. It can be described using as a way of controlling the developing countries by powerful countries (Rasch, 2007). The method applies incentives to the weaker states and institutes punitive measure to the countries that do not follow their will all for the benefit of the former colonial masters. For example, the Soviet republics expanded their political influence through military conquest, but the united states of America used the invitation the cooperation methods to spread its influence which was very successful, the American method of cooperation has proven to be very successful since it helped them to achieve the most significant influence in the world up to date. The post-colonial moment has been very vital to those people who went through the colonial brutality as they have joined hands during this time to demand their rights. For example, the black people, the Indians and the Asians who live different parts of Europe and North America still face the human injustices. Due to the knowledge about their rights and also the postcolonial moment wave, they can join hands and demand their freedom collectively (Salamanca, 2016). This collective bargaining of ...