I feel like not enough leftists really kinda dig into the weird murky complex waters of the legacy of internalised colonialism. like this is obviously something that is massive in British history, but you can still see very clearly in Spanish history, and even French. where colonial policies turned inwards against different cultural and linguistic groups within the metropole, as both a testing bed for them, a function of Empire to let the empire keep going, or the policies of Empire coming home to roost.

Britain is where you can point to this most clearly. Ireland is the go to example, it was the testing ground for English policies that would go on to be the day to day functioning of the British Empire. and I think most people can agree on that. you can see the genocidal policies against the Celtic peoples of the British isles through violence, through policy, and through class, to crush and erase them. the land policy, the clearances, the seizing of land for English landlords, the wealth extraction to the point of famine and demographic collapse, religious oppression and enforcement, systemic disenfranchisement.

but then you come to this complex area; much like the first world proletariat are at once the slaves of the bourgeoisie, we also can see we are rich beyond a lot of peoples wildest dreams in terms of material wealth, consumer goods, and safety. and this is the legacy of empire. I have always been very very poor, and yet I'm on a £900 PC typing this right now. and much the same as we see this tiered structure in exploitation, one can't overlook the same for the home countries in Britain. Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Mann, (and Cornwall), are not in the same levels of poverty and exploitation as much as many Bengalis still are in producing cheap textiles for British markets some 75 years since independence. hell the Irish Republic is a massive tax haven for Google and Facebook (yes, I'm deadnaming them). nor could the British empire have existed without Irish shipwrights, Scottish infantry and Welsh coal, with the produce of that being reinvested into those respective places that still provides them material gain.

And so, we can see there's complexity, and nuance, to the history and legacy of colonialism. a balance needs to be struck in the analysis and ways we discuss things. and I think a lot of leftists don't really know where to start with all of that when it really comes to a deeper analysis and narrative of this history. even myself, somebody who I think is quite well ready personally especially on Marxist theory and history, has not come across a lot on this in which we look at the European internal colony as at both once oppressed, and oppressor, especially as these relationships and history of oppression flare up more and more in separatist movements. that's not to say it's not there, but I think all of us have seen the classic 'the Irish were slaves too' all too often, and an attempt to whitewash that history of Empire in these reformist national liberation movements, sans parts of the IRA, as just the sole work of the English. and at the same time, one doesn't want to argue against these historical injustices or attack these, largely, left wing movements to bring impoverished people more autonomy. it's a thin line to tread, and too far one way or the other can erase the suffering of millions.

Tiocfaidh ar la, but when it does, will we conveniently forget our role as oppressors?