https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemicide
Epistemicide is the destruction of knowledge systems, where episteme means knowledge. Epistemicide has been a part of colonialism, in which a coloniser destroys the existing knowledge systems of the colonised, to replace them with knowledge systems controlled by the coloniser.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It is closely related to epistemic injustice. Cognitive justice seeks to challenge epistemicide.
The concept was developed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos in his 1998 La Globalización del derecho: los nuevos caminos de la regulación y la emancipación.[1]
Ramón Grosfoguel has argued that epistemicide was an important part of European colonialism around the world—including in the Americas—whereby European philosophy had an “epistemic privelege” at the expense of other knowledge systems, becoming a “new foundation of knowledge in the modern/colonial world.”[9][8]
The term has been used to describe Israel’s destruction of Palestinian knowledge systems, including its attacks on schools and universities.[9] Rebecca Ruth Gould argues that “epistemicide exists in relation to genocide as scholasticide exists in relation to war: it attempts to erase not just educational institutions in their current state, but the very possibility of education in the future, in order to entirely erase the existence of a people from the Earth.”[10]
Introduction:
The destruction of not just knowledge itself but of the foundation of knowledge has been a tactic of misguided humans for centuries.
The Library of Alexandria
Founded in the 3rd century BCE, the library was envisioned as the intellectual heart of the ancient world, housing hundreds of thousands of hand-copied scrolls covering everything from science and philosophy to literature (1:00-4:40).
Key takeaways include:
The Ambition: The library was more than a storage facility; it was a research think tank that employed scholars who made breakthroughs in math, astronomy, and medicine (3:03-3:55).
The Mystery of Its Destruction: Historians agree the library didn’t burn down in one single event. Instead, it suffered a slow, painful unraveling over centuries due to war, shifting religious ideologies, and simple neglect (5:42-9:33).
The Suspects: While popular myths blame Julius Caesar (48 BCE), religious fanatics (391 CE), or the Muslim conquest (642 CE), the reality is likely a combination of these events and a long period of decay (6:14-8:50).
The Loss: The destruction represents the loss of invaluable human knowledge, including lost plays, advanced engineering blueprints, and historical records that could have fundamentally altered the pace of human progress (9:43-10:48).
The video concludes by noting that the library remains a powerful symbol of the fragility of knowledge. It serves as a reminder to prioritize the preservation of our modern archives, data, and academic institutions to ensure that the intellectual breakthroughs of our own time are not lost to history (10:48-12:10).
The Case of Nalanda University
Pettiness and Jealosy As a Great Destroyer of Knowledge
This video explores the historical destruction of Nalanda University by the Turkic invader Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 AD, a tragedy that marked a significant decline in ancient Indian intellectual heritage.
Another factor was that the Brahmin Class opposed the classless nature of Buddhist teaching, which promoted the idea that everyone, not just privileged classes has the right and ability to advance their own consciousness. So professional jealousy played a part in the deterioration of support for the University.
Overview of Nalanda University
Founding and Significance: Established in the 5th century in present-day Bihar, Nalanda was one of the world’s oldest residential universities (0:57-1:05). It was a global center of learning, attracting students from across Asia (1:50-1:56).
Academic Excellence: Under the guidance of thousands of teachers and monks, it taught subjects like Buddhism, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and medicine without charging fees (1:39-2:14). It is believed that legendary scholars like Aryabhata led the institution (2:26-2:33).
The Destruction of Nalanda
The Invasions: Nalanda survived two previous attacks by the Huns and the Gauda dynasty, but was rebuilt each time (2:51-3:51).
Khilji’s Motive: The video recounts a legend where Bakhtiyar Khilji, suffering from an illness, was cured by the university’s principal, Rahul Shribhadra. Upon learning that the monks possessed greater knowledge than his own physicians, Khilji grew jealous and decided to destroy the source of that knowledge (4:09-5:47).
The Burning: Khilji led an attack in 1193 AD, killing thousands of monks and burning the university’s massive library, Dharmaganja—which housed 9 million manuscripts across three buildings. According to the historian Minhaj-i-Siraj, the library burned for three months (6:28-7:03).
Legacy and Restoration
Impact: The destruction was not just a loss for India, but for the world, as it erased an entire repository of ancient knowledge (7:52-8:02).
Nazi Book Burning and the Death of German Culture
Since I was born from Jewish grandparents, and knew about the death of their relatives, I had to ask myself, what happened?
How did a culture that produced numerous musical composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schuman, Mendelsohn; as well as great writers and thinkers like Goethe, Schiller, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kant, Wittgenstein, Marx and later, people like Thomas Mann, Herman Hesse, Bertolt Brecht, Freud, Jung; scientists like:
Physics: Albert Einstein (emigrated to the US), Max Born (UK), Leo Szilard (UK/US), Otto Frisch (UK), Rudolf Peierls (UK), Hans Bethe (UK/US), Edward Teller (US), and Eugene Wigner (US).
Biology/Medicine: Hans Krebs, Ernst Chain, and Wilhelm Feldberg fled to Britain, contributing significantly to medical research.
Social Sciences: Karl Mannheim, Max Horkheimer, and Paul Tillich were among those who left due to political unreliability or Jewish ancestryEinstein
The Cause and the Effect
1933 Purge: The “Law for the Restoration of the Career Civil Service” i
Scientific Impact: The exodus devastated German scientific research while enabling the US to win the race for atomic technology.
The Rape of Iraq
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeological_looting_in_Iraq
Archaeological looting in Iraq refers to archaeological looting in Iraq and the historical region of Mesopotamia. This looting has affected museums and the numerous cultural and archaeological heritage sites that recognize Iraq's history and location within the "Cradle of Civilization".[1] Especially noteworthy is the looting that occurred as a result of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, such as the theft of nearly 15,000 artifacts from the Iraq Museum in April of 2003.[2]
Destruction of Universities and Educational Institutions
Looting and Vandalism: Universities were largely unattended during the initial invasion, leading to the destruction of laboratories, libraries, and administrative buildings.
Security Crisis: Following the invasion, the deterioration of security forced many students and faculty members to stop attending classes. The education system experienced a roughly 50% drop in attendance by 2006, according to a Global Institute for Conflict and the Environment (GICJ) presentation.
Loss of Intellectual Capital: Faculty and staff, particularly those in higher education, became targets of violence, forcing many to flee the country, causing a massive brain drain.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) +3
Impact and Aftermath
Failure of Protection: Critics blamed the US-led coalition for failing to secure key cultural institutions, with looting occurring while troops were nearby.
Long-term Losses: Although many items were returned through amnesty programs, many more are suspected to have been sold into the international black market.
Continued Damage: Later, during the rise of ISIS (2014-2017), ancient sites like Nimrud and Hatra were deliberately destroyed, creating a secondary wave of cultural loss, according to Sapiens.org
Gaza’s University Following Israeli Airstrikes
By late March 2024, the United Nations recorded more than 200 Israeli attacks on schools in Gaza, with at least 53 schools totally destroyed.[1][2] By July 2024, all 19 Gaza universities had suffered severe damage with 80% of university buildings destroyed, 103 academics killed, and 90,000 students enrolled in higher education no longer able to pursue their studies.[3][4] In June 2024, UNOCHA stated 76% of Gaza’s schools required “full reconstruction or major rehabilitation”, and in August 2024, UNICEF stated 564, or 85%, of all schools in Gaza had been hit by Israeli attacks.[5] In May 2025, an estimated 95% of school buildings had been damaged or destroyed.[6]
The IDF states it targets schools because Palestinian militants use them for military purposes. Researchers looking into IDF’s claims concluded the claims either lacked evidence, or the evidence presented was misleading.[7] When the IDF destroyed the last university in the Gaza Strip, it destroyed it in a controlled explosion.[
Attacks on Iranian Universities and Schools
As of April 2026, U.S.-Israeli strikes during the ongoing conflict have targeted Iranian academic and research infrastructure, with reports of over 30 universities and 857 schools hit. Key institutions, including Sharif University and Isfahan University of Technology, sustained significant damage to research facilities.
University World News +3
Key Impacts on Education and Research
Targeted Infrastructure: Attacks have focused on research-intensive universities, specifically targeting AI, computing, and physics laboratories. The Laser and Plasma Research Institute at Shahid Beheshti University was destroyed.
Human Cost: Reports indicate that 60 students and five professors have been killed, while at least 110 students from the Islamic Azad University system were reported killed.
Scientific Setback: The strikes have caused severe damage to critical academic infrastructure, including the high-performance computing center at Sharif University.
School Damage: Schools, such as the Shaghayegh Girls’ School, have been hit, causing damage to educational facilities.
Research Targeting: Facilities involved in “dual-use” research, such as the Pasteur Institute of Iran (vaccine/diagnostics) and specialized engineering hubs, were targeted due to suspected links to military development.
University World News +3
International and Local Response
Iran’s Science Minister described the targeting of universities as a violation of international law.
The attacks have raised concerns about war crimes and the targeting of civilian infrastructure.
Some analysis suggests that the attacks are part of a deliberate strategy to curb Iran’s scientific development.
While some, like the World Health Organization (WHO), reported significant damage to institutions, other reports detail the destruction of data centers and academic laboratories.
Conclusion
One of the main themes of my work is to show the extremely destructive and nihilistic nature of modern Western socalled civilization. As Gandhi remarked when asked his opinion of Western Civilization, he said, “It would be a good thing”.
This worrisome trend is becoming increasingly clear. You could say it started even in the US with the Scopes trial about evolution, where reactionary Christian theology refused to acknowledge scientific inquiry into evolution in the 1920s.
The came the destruction of the German intellectual class in the 1930’s and 40’s from which it has never recovered. Followed by the US war on intellectuals with the McCarthy era following WWII. The attack on Leftist progressive thought, marked by the untimely death of FDR and the initation of the Cold War under the untutored and narrow minded shopkeeper, Harry Truman, the assassination of JFK, MLK, RFK and other leaders of the Civil Rights and Peace Movement.
Followed by attacks on the free press, Julian Assange, whistleblowers, the constant torrent of lies leading to wars, and as noted here, the destruction of whole cultures in Iraq, Palestine and Iran begs the question, where is this all headed? It looks like a dystopic, totalitarian society.
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