It is possible to recognise colonialism as a formative, indeed potent, social force without conceding that its power was ever absolute. Even in situations of radical oppression, when human beings are relentlessly and ruthlessly degraded and abused, resourceful subjects find ways of defying and resisting the will of their oppressor. In her extraordinary book, Insurgent Empires (2019), Priyamvada Gopal insists that resistance in the colonies needs to be reckoned with not only to sharpen our conceptual tools for imagining ‘modes of constructive agency’ (Bignall, 2010), but equally as a critical step towards recognising the formative contributions of the colonised to notions of liberty, freedom, democracy, and justice. Through a striking variety of genres – petitions, pamphlets, letters, ceremonies, memorials and speeches (p. 87) – colonised subjects articulated grievances and raised demands that challenged imperial authority and helped to awaken metropolitan sympathies. These forms of public rebuke made visible an alternative social reality – a world of maimings, beatings, torture, rape, starvation and disease – that shattered the cosy conceit that empire was a selfless venture done to ‘benefit the natives’.

中文翻译：

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殖民证词和反殖民批评的空间

可以承认殖民主义是一种形成性的，确实是有力的社会力量，而不必承认其力量是绝对的。即使在极端压迫的情况下，当人类残酷无情地堕落和虐待时，机智的主体仍会找到反抗和抵抗压迫者意志的方法。在她的非凡著作《叛乱帝国》中（2019），Priyamvada Gopal坚持认为，殖民地的抵制不仅需要加强我们的构想工具，以构想``建设性代理机构的模式''（Bignall，2010），而且是迈向认识到组织建设性贡献的关键一步。自由，自由，民主和正义观念的殖民地。通过各种各样的体裁（请愿书，小册子，信件，仪式，纪念馆和演讲）（第87页），被殖民的主体表达了不满，并提出了要求，挑战了帝国权威并激发了大城市的同情心。这些形式的公开谴责使人们看到了一种替代性的社会现实-一个充满残废，殴打，酷刑，强奸，饥饿和疾病的世界–打破了人们自以为帝国是“无私奉献”以“造福于当地人”的自以为是的想法。