In his research for the Genocide Convention, Raphael Lemkin proposed that distribution of alcohol was one of several tools (such as forced relocations, destruction of cultural symbols, and "re-education" of children) by which European-American colonists committed cultural genocide in North America. Lemkin theorized that the availability of alcohol undermined social integrity, promoted violence, impeded organized resistance, and contributed to the belief that Native Americans were culturally inferior. Lemkin argued that once a people becomes dependent on alcohol "the desire for cheap individual pleasure [would] be substituted for the desire for collective feelings and ideals based on a higher morality."