Audre Lorde said it first. The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.

But people keep trying anyway. They think they can reform colonial systems, tweak a few policies, change the faces in power, and somehow that will lead to justice. It won’t. Because these systems weren’t built to serve us. They were built to control us.

Look at global politics. The same institutions that upheld colonial rule (e.g. governments, courts, banks) are the ones we’re supposed to rely on for justice? The IMF and World Bank, founded by former colonizers, still dictate the economies of the Global South. The UN Security Council, dominated by colonial powers, decides which conflicts matter and which don’t. These systems were designed to maintain power imbalances, not fix them.

Look at the education system. We’re taught European history like it’s the centre of the universe. We’re taught that colonialism was just an “era” instead of the violent economic project it was. Our textbooks sanitize the truth, and then people wonder why the next generation doesn’t question the world they inherit. The master’s tools – his schools, his narratives – are still shaping minds.

Look at electoral politics. Countries that were colonized were handed parliamentary systems, presidential models, legal frameworks – none of them created with their cultures, histories, or people in mind. And now, when these systems fail, the world calls it corruption or chaos. No. The foundation itself was flawed.

So what will dismantle the house? New tools. A complete rejection of the systems that never served us. Community-led movements that don’t ask for permission but take power. Reparations that aren’t “aid” but a direct transfer of stolen wealth. Education that tells the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it makes the former colonizers.

Decolonization isn’t about repainting the master’s house. It’s about burning it down and building something new. And that starts with understanding this: no system built to oppress will ever create freedom.