*Trigger Warning* Domestic violence, rape, empire, war

**Screenshot. Hindu Rohingya refugees turned away by the Indian government**

Here's how it works:

An empire is the macro level of a domestic violence situation.

Whatever the abuser is doing, they blame the person they're abusing for it. The way they even get together is predatory. The abuser targets someone they want to exploit, stalks them, gaslights them, pressures them, forces them into a relationship that's unsafe, and isolates them from anyone who would help them. The abuser extracts all their victim's money and independent means and uses it for themselves so the person they're abusing is entirely dependent on them. And when they beat the person they're abusing (this could be physically, emotionally, or mentally), they say it's for that persons own good, that person MADE THEM DO IT, that person doesn't love them enough, that person wishes them harm, that person isn't loyal enough, that person is evil, that person is a liar, that person is cruel. They project every flaw of their own onto the person they're abusing. If they're cheating, they say the other person is cheating. If they're spying, they say the other person is spying. If they're leeching money, they say the other person is leeching money. If they're raping, they say the other person is sexually assaulting them. If they're violent, they say the other person is violent and "scares them" - THIS IS A BIG ONE - and they tell this to all the people around them while presenting themselves as a saint who lives with this burden so no one believes a word their victim has to say.

Empire is domestic abuse on a macro level. Drone attacks and invasions in place of beatings. Propaganda in place of gaslighting. Secret intelligence in place of emotional manipulation. Economic sanctions in place of taking away someone's bank cards and phone and resources. Military bases in place of stalking. Genocide in place of rape. International media smearing in place of isolation from family and friends.

And through it all, the abused person is often so gaslit that even while they try to resist, they tell themselves its their fault, that they're the reason why this person is so violent, that they need to behave and learn so their partner doesn't have to keep reminding them, that they somehow have a responsibility to make their abuser happy. They make excuses after excuses for the never-ending violations. Their children blame them and take the side of the abuser and/or are abused themselves, so their children also grow up thinking this is what a relationship looks like and replicate the whole cycle.

Eventually, the abused either ends up dead or, through a miracle, homeless - a refugee from domestic violence. If they end up dead they’ll be remembered fondly even though no one helped them while they were alive. If they survive and become a refugee, they’ll continue to be vilified, blamed, gaslit, and attacked. And they may well end up dead that way too but no one will remember them fondly at that point. They will say “good riddance”.

Look around you. Look at all the stories in the media about Global South countries. Cuba. Venezuela. Syria. India. Haiti. All formerly colonized countries that you are being taught to blame or have already been taught to blame for their own pain. The abuser empire's media is directly telling you that these countries are the problem, projecting all their own flaws onto these countries, to manufacture consent to heap more abuse onto them. Blaming abused countries for their colonial trauma is a hallmark of empire.

It is domestic violence on a macro level.

And it's always been this way. Imperialism is a direct descendent of patriarchy.

So when are you going to wake up and do something about it?

My people are dying. The planet is in mass extinction as a direct result of imperialism and empire. We don’t have time for your denials and your fragility and your western supremacy. WAKE UP.