Thread by @OmanReagan

"Settler colonialism seeks to eliminate Indigenous populations in order to monopolize resources for the sake of capital. It operates through laws and racist ideologies, but also through conceptualizations of the natural world as white men’s for the human taking." —@NatalieMAvalos

"Settler colonialism operates from its own metaphysic, producing what I call a settler ecology, which dispossesses peoples but also lands."

"If settlers want to understand how to effectively address environmental crises, then they have to interrogate the logics of settler colonialism—racialization, white supremacy, and myths of development—as structural dimensions of modern life."

"Our collective quarantine has dovetailed into an all-out revolution; one that is an all-out indictment of colonialism itself.

This time is ripe for this very conversation."

— @NatalieMAvalos

"Personally, I have grown weary of the liberal left handwringing that expresses horror and concern for dispossessed peoples yet makes little to no effort to challenge or transform these structures of oppression."

"In this essay, I call on all settler allies... to refuse the structures that uphold settler colonialism in solidarity with Indigenous peoples by building on the ideological and ethical connections forged since Standing Rock, such as land-based ethics and ecological wellness."

"My intention is to help connect the dots between settler ideologies/praxis and the material dispossession of peoples/lands for settler allies, so that they may use this period of quarantine and crises to recognize their power and mobilize to these ends."

"If we, collectively, want to fight climate crises, then we need to reclaim land-based ethics—ethical relationships to the land and the other-than-human.

These ethics are earth-centered, meaning they are driven by the immediate needs of the land, not peoples."

— @NatalieMAvalos

"Land-based ethics in an Indigenous context can be understood through the stand-off at Standing Rock itself, particularly through the discourse of 'protector, not protester.'"

"Native peoples are citing a sacred responsibility to care for the land—to act as its stewards, responsible for protecting and nurturing the life force within it. In short, the needs of the people are met through the land, so the needs of the land must be met by the people."

"This is a struggle for power that we are all entrenched in, depending on our positionality and access to power and privilege."

"Indigenous peoples are cueing others to recognize an earth-centered metaphysic, an interconnected and sentient reality that is already recognized by many Buddhists and is emerging among other like-minded allies."

— @NatalieMAvalos

"Settler allies have the power and means to boost Indigenous voices and views.

The forced stillness that Covid-19 has brought to the most privileged among us can and should be used to strategize.

To re-assess how to move forward equitably with more coherent ethics."

"How might we, collectively, use this time of reflection but mass protest against racist extrajudicial killings to better ground into our sense of reciprocity and find ways to support the most vulnerable among us?"

"How might we interrogate and challenge all forms of bias and corrupt power?

How might we deepen our awareness that we are the ecological world?"

"These ideological shifts are our future; may their recognition help us dismantle settler structures of dispossession as if our lives are at stake. Because they are."

— @NatalieMAvalos

A beautiful must read article:
oneearthsangha.org/articles/dives…