On January 8th, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress outlining principles for peace that would be used in negotiations to end World War I. Wilson’s Fourteen Points contained the seeds for a global organization that would secure the “political independence and territorial integrity [of] great and small states alike" and “
Though not American nor in the US, nor have any sort of connection with Israeli/Palestinian issue, I enjoyed reading your piece as it well put a major and important aspect of it into context. Context is often what is missing from the BIG issues we've faced especially recently, including covid. Context can include history and precedents, but most over-reactive people don't really care unfortunately. But there are those who will appreciate context, so thank you.
Living in CA, this refrain is often used against current residents. Sometimes the accuses have surnames such as Reyes, which I find amusing. At a subway stop, a tile mural outlines some cogent facts. During the early part of the Spaniard colonization, there were only 10,000 inhabitants of the entire territory. I was surprised by the low number. The Spaniards divvied up the land with large land tracts and off to the missionaries the Indians went. The people would later rebel against Spain creating Mexico. The CA territory was only under their rule for four years. Despite this timeline, the author of this narrative oddly proclaims that they people who settled CA were Mexican. Like many intellectuals, Wilson had a dismissive view of those below his class and believed in Eugenics.
Thanks for the comment. Lately it seems that both self-determination and “settler-colonialism” are used as rhetorical cudgels rather than to intellectually advance legitimate claims. The lack of an understanding of the pertinent history of a region only makes matters worse. Given the complicated history of many regions, unless both sides are genuinely interested in resolving their differences peacefully, armed conflict will remain the norm.
Agreed. The rhetoric is always rooted in revenge which leads to only more blood. Rwanda's model for reconciliation could serve as a pathway going forward.
Though not American nor in the US, nor have any sort of connection with Israeli/Palestinian issue, I enjoyed reading your piece as it well put a major and important aspect of it into context. Context is often what is missing from the BIG issues we've faced especially recently, including covid. Context can include history and precedents, but most over-reactive people don't really care unfortunately. But there are those who will appreciate context, so thank you.
Thanks for reading it. I agree that context is important. The downside is that it requires thought which so many appear unwilling to engage in.
Living in CA, this refrain is often used against current residents. Sometimes the accuses have surnames such as Reyes, which I find amusing. At a subway stop, a tile mural outlines some cogent facts. During the early part of the Spaniard colonization, there were only 10,000 inhabitants of the entire territory. I was surprised by the low number. The Spaniards divvied up the land with large land tracts and off to the missionaries the Indians went. The people would later rebel against Spain creating Mexico. The CA territory was only under their rule for four years. Despite this timeline, the author of this narrative oddly proclaims that they people who settled CA were Mexican. Like many intellectuals, Wilson had a dismissive view of those below his class and believed in Eugenics.
Thanks for the comment. Lately it seems that both self-determination and “settler-colonialism” are used as rhetorical cudgels rather than to intellectually advance legitimate claims. The lack of an understanding of the pertinent history of a region only makes matters worse. Given the complicated history of many regions, unless both sides are genuinely interested in resolving their differences peacefully, armed conflict will remain the norm.
Agreed. The rhetoric is always rooted in revenge which leads to only more blood. Rwanda's model for reconciliation could serve as a pathway going forward.