I don’t believe you can ever call colonisation “peaceful”, because it always means the forcible removal of land and resources from indigenous inhabitants to a more ruthless and powerful force.
Treaties, if they exist, are always after the fact, when there’s no choice about it. It’s why the metaphor of colonialism is so powerful when talking about women’s oppression; because the right to say no has already been pre-emoted by a stronger force.
This narrative of, as one newspaper, put it this morning, “the broken white man”, has to be taken apart. White men have committed the majority of mass shootings in about forever. It’s not about individual frustration, it’s systemic terrorism perpetrated by the patriarchy. In the same way rape is the perpetuation of female oppression, with individual men acting as the shock troops of that oppression.
Until we confront male terrorism and stop banging on lone wolves, the closer we might be to understanding it. And understanding it not as separate acts of outrage but as a campaign of violence and fear.
That’s my academic thoughts. My other thoughts are contemplation an off-shore solution for men, because right now, despite the nice men I know, the biggest threat to the planet, women and children, are people with penises.