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Personally, I don't agree here that Karuka's rebranding & reconceiving of settler colonialism as "continental imperialism" is 'more accurate'. If anything, it seems to lead to less precision & more evasion of specifics. https://monthlyreview.org/2020/07/01/examining-the-wreckage
It's not that imperialism isn't foundational to settler colonialism, but that they also take specific forms (& logics). In Karuka's book, settler colonialism as a term, and also to some extent as a concept, seems purposefully replaced with "continental imperialism".
I very much agree with Estes & Dunbar-Ortiz here that "a core feature of settler colonialism" is "not just the elimination of the Native, but also the naturalization of unnatural settler states" I just find that neither of these concepts are well developed in most Leftist thought
Elimination & assimilation (not just simple outright violence) are not the focus of Karuka's book (in fact are barely mentioned as processes), but instead war, finance, isolation, exclusion & territorial conquest are centered.
My question: is it possible to separate elimination / assimilation from the naturalization of the settler state, which seems to need to integrate a colonized version of Indigeneity into itself as part of its story? Maybe this is more prevalent in Canada than the US.
Even with a huge reconciliation & integration industry in Canada (involving the State & corporations) the discussion remains centered on outright violence which is placed in the past, rather than ongoing assimilation (a primary function of reconciliation itself).
The other odd part of this article is the portrayal of Lee Maracle as an almost lone voice of Indigenous marxist feminist thought in Anglo North America, when in her own writing she talks about joining the already existing Native Alliance for Red Power, formed by Native women.
These women included her own sister, who told her about attending a meeting by Howard Adams, a Métis marxist from Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan. In fact, Lee and her sister's mother was also from Treaty 6 territory and was Métis/Cree.
Treaty 6 territory in fact has a long history of Indigenous marxists (or socialism-influenced Indigenous organizers), such as Jim Brady, Malcolm Norris, Mederic McDougall, Dan Campbell & Ron Bourgeault, etc. Several other women in NARP also expressed a critique of capitalism.
Estes & Dunbar-Ortiz say Maracle "was discriminated against by the deep-seated anticommunism that had infected the Indigenous movement" when fellow Treaty 6 socialist Vern Harper expressed almost the opposite in his 1979 book after learning of Dan Campbell's socialist background.
"I was amazed to learn that quite a few of the older people had at one time been in the Communist Party & had a history of knowing about socialism [...]. I had the feeling that our people were anti-communist, but I realized that this is wrong, [...] a misinterpretation [...]"
Ironically, as Estes & Dunbar-Ortiz uncritically engage w/ Lenin's theory of imperialism in their article alongside their mention of Maracle, an article riffing on & inverting perspective on Lenin's theory was written by Maracle in 1970 under another name. https://mgouldhawke.wordpress.com/2020/04/17/capitalism-the-final-stage-of-exploitation-1970/
Estes & Dunbar-Ortiz also treat Maracle's engagement with socialism as a thing of the past, when her 2017 book included a chapter on her friend & renowned Vancouver communist Jack Scott (and the Left), as well as her & a Squamish Nation member's critical take on Stalin.
The Red Path and Socialism – Asini Vern Harper (1979) https://mgouldhawke.wordpress.com/2019/11/08/the-red-path-and-socialism-asini-vern-harper-1979/
"There is no longer any question of whether the Native struggle should pursue a capitalist or socialist path of development. [...] However, we must not let ourselves be turned against socialism by weak or oppressive examples of it in other countries." https://mgouldhawke.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/the-form-of-the-struggle-for-liberation-howard-adams-1975/
Imperialism was also mentioned in George Manuel's 1974 book The Fourth World & in the opening dedication of Howard Adams' 1975 book Prison of Grass.
