According to the Real Academia Española, a euphemism is defined as a word or expression used in place of one that is harsh, unpleasant, or rude. Euphemisms are more and more rampant in political and economic debates (which is a way of describing what is often mere propaganda). The citizenry, passive and defenseless spectators, summoned only when there are elections and in the face of the enormous power of the mass media and social media, swallow them one after another, incorporating them into our everyday language as if they were undeniable truths. 

It’s very necessary to focus on the terms that are habitually used in economics - and the so-called social sciences in general - and that are often taken for granted. Because these terms almost always have a purpose, which can be difficult or even annoying to uncover. In other words, language, seemingly innocuous, defines a playing field and also, in a way, the rules of the game as well as the possible explanations and alternatives. And this is no small thing.

When Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with international media on October 30, he ostensibly sought to clarify Israel's objectives in its ongoing military assault in Gaza. In doing so, he revealed yet again how language grounded in colonial denial serves to clear the way for the most extreme, even genocidal forms of violence. He also revealed, however, that Israel's brutal bombardment of Gaza may be providing an opening for us to revive a different, more liberating kind of language, one that survives the propagandistic weapons of colonial discourse as embers in the rubble of generational trauma.

By Ellen Allerton

Ellen Allerton explores the complex cultural politics and public debates surrounding Māori Language Week, part of a larger effort to grapple with New Zealand’s history of colonization. While the promotion of te reo Māori (the Māori language) has generated both expressions of cultural pride and conservative backlash, it also involves troubling examples of what Allerton calls “commodification of the culture through performances and feasts that are meant purely to attract tourists.”