Jackie Walker | Decolonizing Your Mind: Mental Health, Gaslighting and the Scars of Empire

Jacqueline Walker, British and American political activist, educator, and author joins Ileana Chan for episode 48 of the Global Majority for Peace podcast.

In this episode, Jackie delivers a searing analysis of the psychological and political toll of empire, arguing that true liberation requires a "decolonization of the mind." She frames the implosion of the UK's new left party as a symptom of a movement unable to break from the imperial core it inhabits. Jackie, a veteran anti-racist activist expelled from the Labour Party over weaponized allegations of antisemitism, masterfully connects the dots from the genocide in Gaza to the daily gaslighting that sustains the imperial system. She exposes Zionism as the "ethical mask" for modern imperialism, a mechanism that provides ideological cover for genocide abroad while being used to silence dissent domestically.

Drawing from her memoir, Pilgrim State, she presents a radical reframing of mental health, arguing that her mother's schizophrenia was not an individual medical failure but a direct consequence of state violence and colonial oppression. She makes the compelling case that the mental health crisis, particularly within the diaspora, is a scar of imperial gaslighting and a rational response to an insane system.

We also unpack the reality that opposing individual atrocities like the genocide in Gaza is insufficient without opposing the entire imperial system responsible for it. Jackie also breaks down the effective strategies from her anti-racist training, demonstrating that awakening people to these realities is not only possible but can be achieved with remarkable speed through empathy and narrative.

For more from Jackie:

X: https://x.com/Jackiew80333500

Read "Pilgrim State": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilgrim-State-Jacqueline-Walker/dp/0340960787?ref_=ast_author_dp

Read Asa Winstanley's "Weaponising Antisemitism": https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/weaponising-anti-semitism/

Follow Ileana Chan: Instagram/X/Tiktok: @ileanacforpeace

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