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Decolonise


There is an interesting phrase I heard, that Britain colonised itself before the rest of the world. How can a country colonise itself? Well Britain was an island of many cultures, many nations, before the United Kingdom was created and a uniform British culture imposed on everyone here. Regional variations were extinguished, while amateur folklorists attempted to record the dying traces. What a huge sacrifice for the sake of homogenisation. To this day, we feel that one part of Britain is ruling over the rest, sucking up all of the wealth, leaving the rest of us impoverished. This is the same process of colonisation which was then inflicted upon other countries captured by the British Empire. I would say that London and the surrounding South East area is the "Imperial Core" of an Empire which still exists, although in a neo-colonial form. 

Poka Laenui suggests five stages of decolonisation:

  1. Rediscovery and recovery
  2. Mourning
  3. Dreaming
  4. Commitment, and
  5. Action


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Location: United Kingdom

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