The big idea is moving away from the mistakes of colonisation, and colonialism as an idea to something better. Decolonisation is that process of bringing humankind into the future, with specific attention paid to not repeating the mistakes of the past.  

Throughout human history we have been slicing the past up into easier to describe eras. A lot of the time these eras are defined by the kind of technology they employed, like the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Other times we break up time based on what is happening around us, or the material conditions of the time. This way of thinking crosses over with the kind of economy the people live within. The Industrial Revolution is a great example of one of those economically and technologically defined times.

For centuries, theorists and historians made a few assumptions about how human societies commonly move through these ages. In the past it was wrongly thought that all human cultural, political and economic progression was linear, and different societies could be directly compared to one another. It was this thinking that also underpinned our more modern but now out of fashion concepts of First, Second and Third World countries. There was an expectation that countries could climb toward the top, and join the rest in the First World. Development agendas in the 20th and 21st centuries assumed that if you helped a nation through some of the more challenging political and economic phases, those nations could transform themselves into modern liberal-democracies. For a lot of historians and theorists liberal-democracies are the final evolution or close to it for human society and our level of technological advancement brings us closer to a more united, fair, and peaceful world. 

There are two key problems with this line of thinking. Firstly, it assumes that First World countries are the pinnacle of human progress, which invariably leads to a supremacist view of the world. This is a view held despite the rampant destruction, consumption and waste produced by modern nations. When we only value riches, only the richest countries are valued. The second key problem, and the most important one to consider, is that many modern nations are the product of the Imperial and Colonial era of human history. 

When whitewashed, this era might be called the Age of Exploration or Discovery, or the beginnings of modern globalism. This period of human history was really a violent, greed driven scramble to control natural resources across the globe. Labour was sorely needed to turn those resources into riches, and as a result we saw slavery become a global trade that spanned across continents and oceans. This was the same playbook used across the world, decimate populations, control land, exploit labour and extract resources and riches from the land. In Australia, the British were no different as Captain Cook rushed to claim terra nullius as soon as he could with an eye to establishing a colony. 

Ironically, both mining and agriculture would then rely on Aboriginal and Torres Strait labour, before stealing wages. The Stolen Generations, missions and stations were just as much about establishing control and creating oppressed and disorganised labour as it was about erasing culture and causing harm. This is why events like the Cummeragunja Walk Off, the Wave Hill Walk Off and the Pilbara Strike are such important historical events to commemorate and learn from. This common experience of invasion, exploitation and oppression is shared by Indigenous peoples around the world. 

Today, we are not much better. Resources are still ripped from the ground like they are infinite, land is measured by its dollar value, and people are either being killed for resisting the tide of greed. Some call this neo-colonisation, but the result is the same. Colonisation is the past and present, and decolonisation is the future.

That is not to say that decolonisation is inevitable. When we think of the future, some of us imagine unequal technologically advanced societies like in Cyberpunk 2077 or Elysium where political rights are dissolved and corporations and elites rule. Other possible futures could look like The Last of Us, where the risks of globalism and pandemics break our connections and fray the fabric of society. 

Another possibility is that we are honest with ourselves and each other about the trajectory of the world and its people. Climate scientists and Indigenous peoples around the world have been sounding the alarm that change has been needed for decades. Thanks in no small part due to the rampant consumption that drove colonial empires and the industrialisation of the world, the world is changing. As we respond to climate change we must invariably rethink our relationship with the world, and thus with each other. It is our next step in progress as a species to move on from the mistakes of the past, and transcend the greed, pride and fear that brought us here. 

Fundamentally, this means ending the culture of consumption and exploitation that threatens our existence. Stop exploiting Country, stop exploiting workers. End our obsession with the profit margin and growth at any and all costs. Even on paper, that sounds almost impossible. Yet together, we are rushing towards renewable energy, more sustainable land management practices and we are handing land back to traditional custodians everyday. Climate action and decolonisation are the two faces of the same coin. The job is far from over though, and many still cling to the old ways. Kings and queens were enablers of empire hundreds of years ago, and the ultra-wealthy are their contemporary equivalent. It is hard to think of anyone else’s future when you sit upon a pile of gold, and that pile only grows by the day.    

If we embrace the truth we have an opportunity to evolve our nations beyond the dangerous ideas, economies and technologies of the past, away from the clutches of colonialism. This is a scary prospect for some, to step into a new future of our own design. Like every ancestor of this ancient planet, we will be judged harshly for our efforts in dismantling the colonial machines that threaten our world. Decolonisation is the path towards our future if we are brave enough to walk.