Today we know with what sufferings humanity has paid for every one of their triumphs of the mind.įanon rejects the humanism proclaimed in Europe. That same Europe, where they were never done talking with humanity, never stopped proclaiming that they were only anxious for the welfare of humanity. Fanon considered this a product of the crisis of thought, the lack of a philosophy of liberation. So, comrades, how is it that we do not understand that we have better things to do than follow Europe?įully cognisant of the fact that neocolonialism can wear a Black or Arab face, Fanon is critical of how newly independent African countries, even when they used the language of socialism, didn’t do much more than follow Europe’s model, looking to take over the colonial apparatus – its states and institutions – for their own interests. Those universal values are expressed in the four-page conclusion to The Wretched of he Earth: Rather, national consciousness “enriched and deepened into humanism…is the only thing that will give us an international dimension.” For him the building of a nation has to be “accompanied by the discovery and encouragement of universalising values.” The party, a true instrument of power in the hands of the bourgeoisie, reinforces the machine, and ensures that the people are hemmed in and immobilised.Īt the same time, wary of the rising xenophobia and chauvinism in newly independent West African nations, Fanon argues that national consciousness is not in fact nationalism. Privileges multiply and corruption triumphs…Today the vultures are too numerous and too voracious in proportion to the lean spoils of the national wealth. Given that he was writing at a moment when more than half of Africa had recently gained independence, his critique of the nationalist middle class and nationalist parties reads like a script which has been repeated over and over: The nationalist bourgeoisie and their organisation He calls the militant’s logic shocking and inhuman. The preference for this shortcut, in which spontaneity and over-simple sinking of differences dangerously combine to defeat intellectual elaboration, frequently triumphs. It sometimes happens at meetings that militants use sweeping, dogmatic formulas. He was brutally honest in his criticism of the revolutionary militant:

It was not only the leaders who were subject to Fanon’s anger. If the rationality of revolt becomes the material force of revolution where “violence represents the absolute line of action,” the “new politics is in the hands of… who use their muscles and their brains to lead the struggle for liberation”.īut it is the cowardice and apathy of the “elite” and their “incapacity” to “rationalise popular practice” and “attribute it any reason” that leads to the postcolonial tragedy. The insurrection proves to itself its rationality and demonstrates its maturity every time it uses a specific case to advance the consciousness of the people in spite of those within the movement who sometimes are inclined to think that any nuance constitutes a danger and threatens popular solidarity. The centrality of the “rationality of revolt” to a “new politics” is highlighted by these two quotes, from the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3. The rationality of revolt and the philosophy of organisation The following year Fanon became ambassador to Ghana and by then the crucial problem for Fanon was the lack of ideological clarity among leaders, regardless of their position on violence and nonviolence. If we examine closely this system of compartments…its ordering and its geographical layout will allow us to mark out the lines on which a decolonised society will be reorganised.įanon rocked the All-African Peoples Conference in December 1958 when he raised the issue of violence in contrast to Kwame Nkrumah’s nonviolent “positive action” agreed upon by many delegates. He then adds an important measure of decolonisation, The colonised’s sector is a famished sector, hungry for bread, meat, shoes, coal, and light. It’s a world with no space, people are piled one on top of the other, the shacks squeezed tightly together. The shanty town, the Medina, the reservation… a disreputable place inhabited by disreputable people.

Franz fanon excerpts