Colonialism, in the history books, is often described as "expanding" or "civilising nations", "bringing development". European powers often claimed they brought education, religion and law to the places that were colonised. And while some countries did gain infrastructure, or a fractured religion, many were left with corrupted governments and in an economically unstable state. Most are still developing after having their land, culture, resources and wealth snatched away through the colonisers' reckless exploitation.
By the book, terrorism is the use of violence, fear, and intimidation to achieve political or economic goals. So is colonialism not terrorism? Did colonialism not use violence and fear to achieve the political goals for their "one country"? Australia had many First Nations peoples face massacres and wars as colonisers expanded across their land. Sri Lanka has had people intimidated, exploited and forced into labour.
Many argue that it's not terrorism because the government was the one to do it. However, the British was not truly a legitimate government in the eyes of the First Nations Peoples, whose land they invaded. For Aboriginal Australians, British rule was imposed without any consent whatsoever, and the land was claimed despite it being inhabited for thousands of years. In that sense, this itself was unlawful, as the British did not actually own the land they took control over.
Many former colonialist countries are now amongst the world's richest and most developed countries, while the countries they colonised are still struggling with poverty, corruption and instability. This raises the question, "do nations that gained wealth through colonisation have a responsibility to help the countries they exploited?" Much of the wealth of these countries came from resources, labour and land taken away from the colonised countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Colonisers extracted gold, rubber, oil, cotton and other valuables while the local community remains poor. In many cases, the colonies were left in poor conditions.
Colonialism is written as history, yet for many communities its effects are still alive today. Which is why it is and was not a civilising mission, but a terroristic act of a system built on power, exploitation and fear.
