Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Decolonizalion I 21
decolonization. If the colonial regime's structures of oppression
were not simply to be reopened fo r business
under new local management, yielding a new generation
of authoritarian dictatorships and cultural chauvinists, a
different logic of anticolonial struggle was imperative.
But should we object to a group's self-identifying as a
nation per se?
Where ethnicity is brutalized and culture decimated, it
is callous to discount the value of ethnic pride, asserting the
right to exist as such-not fo rgetting that cultural expression
must include the right to redefine the practices of one's
own culture over time, in dialogue with multiple internal
and external influences, rather than sanctifying a fixed
tradition. In the colonial context, the defense of ethnic
identity and cultural divergence from the dominant is a key
component of resistance, with the caveat that it's equally
crucial to pay attention to who's dictating the "correct" expression
of culture and ethnicity. No culture is as homogeneous
or static as the invented traditions of nationalism.
Precolonial reality was dynamic, multifarious, and also
horrible for some people. The decolonization of culture
shouldn't mean rewinding to a "pure" original condition
but instead restoring the artificially stunted capacity freely
to grow and evolve without fo rcible outside interference to
constrict the space of potential.
In any case it's possible to concede a strategic identity
politics, evoked by the context of resistance, where the
assertion of collective existence and demand fo r recognition
functions as a stand against genocide, apartheid, systemic
discrimination, or fo rced assimilation to a dominant norm.