Page 21 - Colonization and Decolonization: A Manual for Indigenous Liberation in the 21st Century

Many forms of internalized violence arise from European colonial society itself. Widespread sexualabuse among Indigenous peoples in Canada and the US, for example, was first introduced through the Residential School system. Children who experienced abuse by school staff (priests & nuns) returned to their communities and began abusing their own family members, resulting in intergenerational patterns ofabuse that continue to this day.
Alcohol, Drugs and Suicide
Arising from the oppressive social conditions that colonialism creates (i.e., poverty, loss of identity, feelings of inferiority, etc.), Indigenous peoples suffer from high rates of alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide, in both rural and urban communities. These are common methods of temporarily escaping the oppressive routines of day-to-day life, of suppressing trauma or tension, or ending feelings of despair and hopelessness (suicide).
High rates of violent death & imprisonment among Indigenous peoples are both attributed to alcohol and drug abuse.. In Saskatchewan, a study found that alcohol was involved in 45 % of suicides among those 15-34 years of age; 92 % of fatal motor vehicle accidents, over 38 % of homicides, and over half the deaths by fire and drowning ((First Nations in Canada, p. 86).
Rates of suicide among Indigenous peoples in Canada are estimated at 33 per 100,000 population, compared to the national average of 13 per 100,000. Among Indigenous youth 15-24 years of age the rate is 114 per 100,000, compared to 26 per 100,000 among the general population (First Nations in Canada, p. 83 & 85).
According to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, a multi-million dollar investigation into the conditions ofIndigenous peoples in Canada,
"We have concluded that suicide is one of a group of symptoms ranging from truancy & law breaking to alcohol and drug abllse~and~famil¥--violenc-e,-that-areJn~lar.ge part interchangeable as expressions of the
burden of loss, grief, and anger experienced by Aboriginal people in Canadian society" (RCAP, 1995:90, quoted in First Nations in Canada, p. 83).
Health
A primary argument in favour o f colonialism was that it brought the benefits o f civilization to Indigenous peoples, greatly raising their standard of living. The genocidal practices of colonialism easily dismiss such claims, and yet they persist, based largely on an incorrect view that Native peoples barely managed to survive, scraping out a meager existence and victim to all sorts ofinjury, disease and death. In fact,
"Anthropologists have long recognized that undisturbed tribal peoples are often in excellent physical condition" (Victims ofProgress, p. 144).
aSFORE..
Colonialism, far from raising the living standard of Indigenous peoples, instead plunges them into economic impoverishment, disease, and rapidly deteriorating health conditions. Drastic changes in diet resulting from limited access (or destruction) o f traditional food sources, & dependence on European food items, has caused extensive health problems for Indigenous peoples.
After exposure to white flour, sugar,
milk, etc., Indigenous peoples began to suffer
rapid tooth decay and mouth diseases. After
generations of dependence on European food
products, Indigenous and other colonized
peoples today suffer from high rates of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and heart problems. Indigenous peoples also suffer the highest rates of diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, cancer, AIDS,.hepatitis, etc.
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