If we want to build a better future, we need to understand our past, and how it led to our present. As a global species facing global crises, that means learning the history of places far from where we live. There’s so much to learn, this is necessarily a lifelong process. That’s doubly true when you account for ongoing efforts to mislead people, in order to maintain the current global power structure. As I learn, I try to learn from those people who’ve been hurt by the the way things are, as it’s hard not to hear the perspective of those whose lives and countries are doing well.

You should all be following Andrewism’s youtube channel, and contributing to his patreon if you can afford it. I’ve learned a huge amount from him. One of the many things discussed in this video is the concept of underdevelopment as a weapon that has been used against former colonies, to force them to continue generating wealth for colonial empires. Just as the creation of capitalism protected the power of the feudal lords, so did the “liberation” of colonies protect the power of the former empires that had ruled over them. This is everywhere on this planet right now. It’s so ubiquitous, and so normalized that a lot of people in wealthy nations don’t even seem to realize it’s a thing they don’t think about.