The Savage/Victim/Civilizer Triad in Action
Spikes in hate crimes against Jewish, Asian, Muslim, and LGBTQ+ people are not isolated incidents of bigotry but symptoms of a festering colonial order that constantly produces and reproduces the “other.” Mamdani’s critique of the “savage/victim/civilizer” triad is essential here. The settler state, through its policies and rhetoric, designates certain groups as the “savage” threat or the “helpless victim,” never as political actors. This creates a fertile ground for vigilante violence from elements of the “settler” and “native” populations who internalize this logic. The state’s response is often a carceral one, using the police to punish individuals while leaving the ideological structure intact. A Marxist analysis sees this as a tool to divert class anger onto scapegoats. A feminist and Muslim perspective lives with the daily reality of this threat. The solution is not more policing, but the dismantling of the ideological apparatus of othering. This requires a mass political education movement that names the state and capital as the primary sources of violence and organizes a multi-ethnic, multi-faith working-class movement to fight for a city where our safety comes from solidarity, not from the very forces that create the conditions for hate.
Originally posted 2025-10-15 00:35:34.
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