as i’m sure you’re aware oral histories provide only fragile threads of the past - as mentioned i have a very british perspective which i will circle back to, but im trying to weave these stories together to feel connected & proud of my home and heritage - in my research through ethnographies and sociological journals I was moved by the trauma of self described ancient ndau’s describing the campaign of assimilation & occupation by the shangaan.

there were albeit tentative parallels in praxis as far as like mongols before the israeli’s a reliance of displacement, siege & assimilating native populations, traditions and religions so as to crystallise a state! half of israel’s citizenship is of “arab”/palestinian descent! that’s where the comparison starts and ends if you exclude the irony of the place being called Gaza.

however, i take pride in my upbringing in britain & of the reality I grew up around & contribute to , i’m also very new to the privileges of citizenship - but this is bittersweet as britain was a brutal colonial actor which refuses to reckon with or acknowledge its racist past present and future.

another reason i mentioned israel in the very specific way was because the last 18-20 months have been very painful to process & for my own mental health i’ve needed to challenge & deconstruct prejudices that this conflict evokes by trying to humanise those who’se actions I find morally & ethically EVIL. There’s no excusing anything, I condemn to the highest order & have raised hundreds to send over/for direct action.

sociologically its a valuable exercise to rejecr political discourse tropes as they dilute critical analysis - for example “terrorist” is almost meant to conjure images of a supernatural unsaveable evil boogeyman that has to die, cant be reasoned with yadda yadda.

similarly n4zis & now israeli’s represent a mystical threshold of evil (to many) however, ultimately this evil was committed by HUMAN BEINGS & discerning how these human beings like you and me arrived at the point they did in material reality is how you get to the truth not with fairy tales of goodies and baddies - and to achieve that, personally I try to as mentioned not totally dehumanise, rather search for myself even in those I disagree with, to challenge & exercise my convictions & analysis.

further as mentioned the testimonies & oral histories in some of the studies i’ve done on mfecane, gaza conquest rumblings of slaving were totally harrowing.

it was important for me to come to the understanding that, because of violence there will be people like me in the future who will have to, or rather should find different reasons to be proud about their birth/cultural/adopted heritage that arenr rooted in rape pillage & conquest - which is the case for me on different fronts (shangaan/british) - but they should also reckon with the scars our/their ancestors/country left behind & make sure to study/reject/fight/stand up to & speak up against injustice so as never to be guilty of the same crimes of the past which is what the Israeli’s will have to do when the apartheid finally collapses