Death by Mass Starvation

Across the world, colonial powers usedstarvation as one of their main weapons in trying to subjugate indigenouscommunities resisting colonization.

Hunger by Design

Starvation- a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake below the level needed to maintain an organism's life is one of the oldest weapons of colonization. The most extreme form of malnutrition, it includes destroying food, farms and water supplies and cutting off besieged indigenous populations.

Mindful of the fact that in humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death, starvation was used during the dark period of colonization as a means of torture and execution.

Across the world, colonial powers used starvation as one of their main weapons in trying to subjugate indigenous communities resisting colonization. From the outset of brutal colonial annexations, the strategy was “surrender or starve,” laying siege to countless villages, towns, and cities.

It’s tempting to think that only totalitarians would use food as a colonization. The Lieber Code of 1863, which President Abraham Lincoln issued to instruct the Union army on the limits of hostilities,provided-that it is “lawful to starve the hostile belligerent, armed or unarmed,” specifying that fleeing civilians could be driven back into a besieged location “so as to hasten on the surrender.” The U.S. Department of Defense did not formally renounce this legal position until 2015.

The U.S. went so far as to call its effort to encircle the Japanese homeland in 1945 Operation Starvation. Britain used the same phrase for its mass civilian relocation program designed to defeat communists in Malaya in the 1950s.

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Remembering Victims of Mass Starvation

Historians have established that tens of millions of Indians died of starvation during several considerable policy-induced famines in the late 19th century, as their resources were syphoned off to Britain and its settler colonies. Colonial administrators were fully aware of the consequences of their policies.

The Holodomor, also known as the Great Ukrainian Famine, was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians.

Adolf Hitler’s “Hunger plan” starved 4.2 million Soviet citizens to death in World War II. The tactics changed little over time. In 1977, Cambodia’s Pol Pot used mass starvation as a tool of titanic social re-engineering in his Year Zero effort to turn his country into a purely agrarian nation.

Colonization-driven famines in Nigeria’s break away Biafra region in the late 1960s and Bangladesh in 1972 and 1974 was not merely a paper doctrine. They involved destroying food, farms and water supplies and cutting off besieged enemy populations.

United Nations Colonization Memorial strongly believe that intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of colonization, by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, was wrong, unjust, and the victims will be remembered and honored.

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Death by Mass Starvation
Death by Mass Starvation
Death by Mass Starvation

UNCM MUSEUM

Mission

The mission of the United Nations Colonization Memorial Museum is to restore and make visible suppressed, destroyed, or underrepresented histories relating to colonization around the world. It will provide a comprehensive compilation of world history with a focus on the legacy of colonization.

The World's First Colonization Museum

From the brutal Age of Exploration and its impact across the globe, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and its impact in Africa, Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean, and the various genocidal wars of decolonization (not exclusively), the museum will provide detailed interactive content, compelling narratives and colonization will be examined in depth and brought to life through film, images, and first-person narratives.

Situated on a site where indigenous tribal Indian men, women, and children were slaughtered and enslaved Black people were forced to labor in bondage, UNCM Museum will offer an immersive experience with cutting-edge technology, world-class art, and critically important scholarship about world history.  

Along with the world’s first and only international memorial dedicated to victims of colonization around the world, the museum will present a unique opportunity for visitors to reckon with challenging aspects of our past. Colonization in Americas, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe - the five separate but interlinked wings of the Museum will include hundreds of sculptures and original animated short films narrated by award-winning artists from around the world.

An entire wing of the museum will explore the economics of colonization, the role of the League of Nations, and subsequently the United Nations Trusteeship Council in the violent enslavement of indigenous peoples of the Trust Territories, sexual violence against women and children in the colonies, the commodification of people, and the desperate efforts colonized people made to gain independence.

An expansive exhibit on the brutal assassination, of prominent pro-independence leaders around the world will document in detail timeline, short films, and first-person narrative accounts.

The museum's expansive content on the various wars of independence will be housed in a wing that examines the role of media during the era of racial terror by means of colonization. The last words of dying war victims will dramatize the suffering colonization imposed on entire communities. Facts about the starving to death of children will also help visitors understand the scale of terror and violence many families endured.

Visitors will hear first-person accounts from descendants of murdered pro-independence leaders and descendants of victims of some of the worst wars of independence, and learn about the heroic effort to challenge colonization that was led by legendary decolonization activists, including Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, Dr William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (W.E.B. Du Bois), and Kwame Nkrumah the father of modern Pan-Africanism.

The museum will bring to light various courageous decolonization movements that confronted colonization and eventually made new superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, to finally take positions against colonization.

Instrumental campaigns that confronted colonization, including Apartheid and Racial Segregation will be presented with an extensive exploration of the boycott campaigns and the Anti-Apartheid Movements. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the work of legendary civil rights activists will be showcased.  

The iconography of colonization as the global face of racism will be dramatically presented in a collection of actual signs and notices collected from around the world. RHI will compile colonial laws and statutes that codified racism worldwide for visitors to read and experience.

A wing on the disenfranchisement of Black Soldiers will feature the Forgotten Colonial Forces of World War II for example that the Allied powers relied on to defeat the Axis but were never recognized. This wing will feature in the museum as a central component of how equal rights were undermined throughout the colonization era.

Colonial forces fought in every theater of World War II - from North Africa to Europe, and as far east as Hong Kong. They died and went missing in the tens of thousands, but despite their sacrifices, they were never treated as equals. These colored forces were largely under the command of White officers, although they were skilled fighters and even helped patrol the streets of London, Paris, Brussels etc. It was difficult for them to move up the ranks and become officers. Their compensation was far less than that of their White peers, and it worsened the darker their skin was.

Visitors will learn about some of the worst civil wars/conflicts around the world and how their origin is embedded in the way colonial powers drew national boundaries, forcefully merging peoples of different religions and ethnic groups together.  

The Reflection Space will honor hundreds of people who worked throughout their lives to challenge colonization (racial injustice). In a grand space that will feature world music and powerful images, the history of struggle will inspire all to reflect on what we can do to make a difference.

The Museum will include a world-class art gallery with major works from some of the most celebrated artists from around the world. The gallery will include pieces created specifically for the UNCM Museum, and its entire collection will be curated in dialogue with the museum's historical narrative.

Collaborations with Western and non-Western world music - quasi-traditional, intercultural, and traditional music will explore the role of music and dance in understanding our world's history and the role of the arts.

As a physical site and an outreach program, the Museum will be an engine for education about the legacy of colonization and racial inequality and for the truth and reconciliation that will lead to real solutions to contemporary problems.

Lets Unveil Our Dark History

Something happened around the world under UN TrusteeshipCouncil watch that was wrong and unjust, and too few people have talked aboutit. We recognize that the world can still be a better place even though therewas colonization, but if we don't speak the truth, acknowledge the dark partsof our history, and commit to reconciliation and healing, we're not going to get there.

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Knowing the facts #1

Do you or anyone you know speak English, Spanish, French, Dutch, or Portuguese language? Are you aware that these languages which carry culture, and embody the beliefs, values, and identity of European nations were imposed on conquered populations around the world that were disproportionately of color?

Are you conversant with the fact that across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East, colonization was not solely economic and linguistic imperialism but the global face of racism - a brutal and nefarious public crime witnessed, even celebrated by millions of White folks?

Do you realize that the United Nations Trusteeship Council which was assigned under the UN Charter to supervise and promote the advancement of Trust Territories towards self-independence was grossly undermined by colonial powers, and under its watchful eyes Trust Territories across the world were drenched in the blood of their revolutionary heroes, who were killed in the worst of circumstances - from targeted assassinations to extrajudicial executions, massacres, and genocide?

Are you aware that under colonization folks of color were reminded that if they try to resist enslavement, if they try to prevent the partition of their kingdoms, deny their master’s language, or insist on gaining independence - in other words, if they do anything that upsets or complicates White supremacy, White dominance, and political power they will be killed?

Are you conscious that colonization was not just an uncomfortable footnote in history but reflected the belief in racial differences that reinforced Apartheid, Jim Crow Segregation, and systemic racism that has done real psychic damage not just to Black people, but to White people too?

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Regardless of Direct Impact #2

Do you believe that the killing of men, women, and children under the banner of colonization was wrong, unjust, and though most people would rather forget, this dark period of racial terrorism in our past casts a shadow across the world and compromise our commitment to reconciliation and healing

Regardless of direct impact, if you could, would you do something to commemorate victims of colonization and help the world recover from centuries of racial injustice? If you answer yes to one of the above, you are exactly who we are looking for to join us and to get involved

You can become a volunteer, or an intern by sending us an email: info@uncm.org

You can also connect with us on social media and join the global conversation on colonization (racial injustice) and much more

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Partner with us #3

Business:
The international business community is embracing corporate responsibility and can work side by side with us to heal racism and make the world a better place. Partnering with the international community to help tackle racial injustice is good global citizenship, and good business. Please contact us: info@uncm.org

Civil Society:
UNCM recognizes the importance of partnering with civil society/non-profits and will are inviting you to join us in building a better, safer, equitable and more sustainable world. Please contact us: info@uncm.org

Donate:
Do you want to contribute towards the world's first and only colonization memorial? You can support us by donating to Racial Healing International, the 501(c)(3) IRS public charity EIN 86-3844927 that initiated UNCM.

Connect With Us
Social Media: For the social-media inclined, please share on any of our platforms - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, or just say hello!

Jan 27, 2023
Feb 27, 2023