I see a lot of talk concerning how Israel should be supported by the USA and European countries for various reasons and, notably, none of them concern with material benefits for either native Europeans or long-time American citizens, instead focusing on abstractions and ideals. As Trump has led the USA into another forever war with Iran (at the behest of Israel, per the words of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio), it is pertinent to talk about a common anti-Zionist talking point that I find counterproductive. Namely: Israel’s colonialism is the same as that of American settle colonialism from the late 18thcentury to the early 20th century.
This is incorrect as, while America is a settler-colonial state, nonetheless was founded on the basis of enlightenment principles like equality before the law and liberty, considering how the American and French revolutions at the time were leftist at the time of the events, with the notion of equality of men itself being already extremely radical at a time when absolute monarchies were the standard in Europe. That’s not all, as contrary to popular opinion the Founding Fathers themselves weren’t conservative. Whether it’s the lack of any mention specifying the USA as a “white Christian country” founded on the basis of theology in the constitution and the federalist papers, George Washington himself coming to oppose slavery before the abolitionist movement began to gain momentum, many of said fathers being at best deists or nominally Christian, the USA being effectively the first democratic republic in history with limited suffrage being a short-lived experiment that was swept away in favour of universal male suffrage, Thomas Jefferson himself owning a copy of the Quran and a version of the Bible excised of all supernatural elements and among other examples show that the USA was far from the hotbed of reactionary politics both liberals and chuds tend to portray it as. Even the Indian Removal Act that led to the infamous “Trail of Tears” wasn’t unanimously agreed upon, with strong opposition by Christian missionaries and other politicians who opposed it based on the shared humanity and parity between white settlers Native Americans.
So it’s no wonder given all this that, despite the reproduction of reactionary politics like Manifest Destiny and Jim Crow laws, the notion of equality (or pretence to it) persisted throughout American history, which laid the seeds for the civil rights, feminist, and gay right
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