wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

OTHER WORKS BY FRANTZ FANON PUBLISHED BY GROVE PRESS: Black Skin, White Masks A Dying Colonialism Toward the African Revolution THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH Frantz FanonTranslated from the Frenchby Richard Philcoxwith commentary by Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K Bhabha ~. • GROVE PRESSYork

I1"~AlDvmmt © 1963 by Presence Africainetranslation copyright © 2004 by Richard Philcox Foreword copyright @ 2004 by Homi K. Bhabha Preface copyright © 1961 by lean-Paul Sartre Originally published in the French language by Maspero editeur, Paris, France, under the title Les damnes de la terre, copyright@ 1961 by Fran90is Maspero editeur S.A.R.L. ContentsForeword: Framing Fanon, by Homi K. BhabhaPreface, by Jean-Paul SartrexliiiPublished simultaneously in CanadaPrinted in the United States ofAmerica I. On Violence IOn Violence in the International Context 52FIRST EDITIONII. Grandeur and Weakness of Spontaneity 63Library ofFanon, Frantz, 1925-1961.[Damnes de la terre. Cataloging-in-Publication DataIII. The and Tribulationsof National Consciousness 97The wretched of the earth / Frantz Fanon ; translated from the French by Richard IV. On National Culture 145Philcox ; introductions by Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K. Bhabha.Mutual Foundations for National Culturep. cm.Originally published: Damnes de la terrc. Paris: F. Maspero, 1961. and Liberation Struggles 170ISBN 0-8021AI32-3V. Colonial War and Mental Disorders 181I. France-Colonies-Africa. 2. Algeria-History-1945-1962. I. Philcox,185Richard. II. Title. Series ADT33,F313 2004 Series B 199960',097 1244-dc22 2004042476 Series C207Series D216Grove PressFrom the North African's Criminalan imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc,Impulsiveness to the War of National Liberation 219841 Broadway New York, NY 10003 235Conclusion05 06 07 08 09 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 IOn Retranslating Fanon, Retrieving a Lost Voice 241Vll

Foreword: Framing Fanonby Homi K. BhabhaThe colonized, underdeveloped man is a political creature in themost global sense of the term.Frantz Fanon: The Wretched of the EarthAnd once, when Sartre had made some comment, he [Fanon]gave an explanation ofhis egocentricity: a member ofa colonisedpeople must be constantly aware of his position, his image; he isbeing threatened from all sides; impossible to forget for an instantthe need to keep up one's defences.Simone de Beauvoir, The Force ofCircumstanceFrantz Fanon's legend in America starts with the story of his deathin Washington on December 6,1961. Despite his reluctance tobe treated "in that country oflynchers", I Fanon was advised thathis only chance ofsurvival lay in seeking the leukemia treatmentavailable at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.Accompanied by a CIA case officer provided by the AmericanEmbassy in Tunis, Fanon flew to Washington, changingplanes in Rome, where he met Jean-Paul Sartre but was tooFor my brother Sorab: doctor of my soul; healer of my mind.-HKBSimone de Beauvoir, The Force of Circumstance, Vol. II: The Autobiographyof Simone de Beauvoir, trans. Peter Green (New York: Paragon House,1992),317.vii

viiiFOREWORDenfeebled to utter a single word. A few daysFanon was admitted to the hospital as Ibrahim J:'anon, a supposedly"Libyan" nom de guerre he had assumed to enter a hospitalin Rome after being wounded in Morocco during a mission forthe Algerian National LiberationHis body was stricken, but his fighting days were not quite over;he resisted his death "minute by minute," a friend reported frombedside, as his political opinions and beliefs turned into thedelirious fantasies of a mind raging against the dying of the light.His hatred of racist Americans now turned into a distrust of thenursing staff, and he awoke on his last morning, having probablyhad a blood transfusion through the night, obsessed with the idea"they put me through the washing machine last night."z Hiswas inevitable. "We did everything we could," his doctorreported later, "but in 1961 there wasn't much you could do ...especially when he came to us so late.'" Perhaps it was the writingofThe Wretched ofthe Earth in a feverish spurt between Apriland July of 1961 that contributed to this fatal delay; when hisJosie Fanon, read him the enthusiastic early reviews of thebook, he could only say, "That won't give me back my bonemarrow."4 On the day ofhis death, the French police seized copiesofThe Wretched ofthe Earth from the Paris bookshops. 5 Afterdeath, Simone de Beauvoir remembered seeing Fanon'sphotograph all over Paris for a couple of weeks, "on the cover ofJeune Afrique, in the window of the Maspero bookstore, younger,calmer than I had ever seen him, and very handsome."6* * *2 Claude Lanzmann, as cited by David Macey in Frantz Fanon: A Life (London:Granta Books, 2000), 489-90. Much of the biographical detail and personalincident comes from Simone de Beauvoir's account ofFanon in The ForceofCircllmstance, and from David Macey's remarkably informed biography.3 Joseph Alsop, "Passing of New Left's Hero an Odd Facet of U.S. History,"in Washington Post, February 21,1969, AZL4 Macey, 489.5 rbid.6 de Beauvoir. 329.FOREWORDA colonized person must constantly be aware of his image, jealprotecthis position, Fanon said to Sartre. The defenses ofthe colonized are tuned like anxious antennae waiting to pickup the hostile signals of a racially divided world. In the process,the colonized acquire a peculiar visceral intelligence dedicatedto the survival of body and spirit. Fanon's two most influentialtexts, Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth,evoke the concrete and contrasting worlds of colonial racism asexperienced in metropolitan France in the 1950s and duringanticolonial Algerian war ofliberation a decade later. Is his workin a time warp? Is his impassioned plea that "the Third Worldmust start over a new history of man"7 merely a vain hope? Doessuch a lofty ideal represent anything more than the lost rhetoricalbaggage of that daunting quest for a nonaligned postcolonialworld inaugurated at the Bandung Conference in 1955. vVho canclaim that dream now? Who still waits in the antechamber ofhistory? Did Fanon's ideas die with the decline and dissolutionof the black power movement in America, buried with Steve Bikoin South Africa, or were they born again when the Berlin Wallwas dismembered and a new South Africa took its place on theworld's stage? Questions, questions ....we catch the religiosity in Fanon's language of revolutionarywrath - "the last shall be the first," "the almighty body ofviolencerearing up ..."8-and run it together with his descriptionof the widening circle of national unity as reaching the "boilingpoint" in a way that reminiscent of a religious brotherhood, achurch or a mystical doctrine,"9 we find ourselves both forewarnedand wary of the ethnonationalist religious conflicts ofourown times. When we hear Fanon say that "for the peoplefellow nationals are ever owed the truth,"l0 we furiously object7 Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (WE), 238. 8 WE, 2, 50. 9 WE, 84.10 WE, 14.ix-····"~'r".~'.........._.,......_"__.... ...-",.......,._~.._~._"'.~

xFOREWORDFOREWORDxito such a narrow and dangerous definition of "the people" and"the truth." To have Fanon uphold the that the building ofnational consciousness demands cultural homogeneity and thedisappearance or dissolution of differences is deeply troubling.Is he not dangerously outdated? Fanon's best hopes for the Algerianrevolution were taken hostage and summarily executed,first by a bureaucratized military rule that violated his belief "thatan army is never a school for war, but a school for civics ... ," IIand then by the rise of fundamentalist groups like the IslamicSalvation Front. Josie Fanon looked out of her window in the EIBiar district ofAlgiers in October 1988 only to find scenes of carnage.In violently quelling a demonstration in the streetthe army had enflamed the passions ofAlgerian youths, who respondedby torching police cars before they were felled by a barrageof bullets. Speaking to her friend the Algerian writerDjebar on the telephone, Josie sighed: "Oh Frantz, the wretchedof the earth again."12 The legacy of Fanon leaves us with questions;his virtual, verbal presence among us only provokes morequestions. And that is as it should be. "0 my body, make of mea man who questions!" was Fanon's final, unfinishedprayer at the end of Black Skin, White Masks.The time is right to reread Fanon, according to David Macey,his most brilliant biographer, because "Fanon was angry," andwithout the basic political instinct ofanger there can be no hopefor "the wretched of the earth [who] are still with us."13 Whathope does Fanon's anger hold for us today? Although times havechanged, and history never appears hvice in the emperor's newclothes, mais plus ra change. ... New global empires rise to enforcetheir own civilizing missions in the name of democracyfree markets where once progress and development were11 WE, 141. 12 Assia Djcbar, Le blanc de l'Algeriecited in Macey, 506.Albin Michel, 106-7,13 Macey, 503.seen as the shibboleths of a modernized, westernized salvation.As if such civic, public goods were exportable commodities; asif these "other" countries and cultures were innocent of the leaveningspirit of freedom; as if the deplorable tyrannies and dictatorshipsofour day, which must be destroyed, were not themselvespart of the intricate negotiations, and internecine histories, ofworld powers and their political interests; as if any civilizing misdespiteits avowed aims, had ever been free of psychologicalterror, cultural arrogance, and even physical torture. "The colonized,underdeveloped man is today a political creature in the mostglobal sense of the term,"14 Fanon writes in The Wretched oftheEarth, and it is purpose, almost half a century later, to ask whatmight be saved from Fanon's ethics and politics ofdecolonizationto help us reflect on globalization in our sense of the term.It must seem ironic, even absurd at first, to search for associationsand intersections behveen decolonization and globalizationparallelswould be pushing the analogy-when decolonization haddream of a "Third World" offree, postcolonial nations firmlyon its horizon, whereas globalization gazes atthe nation throughthe back mirror, as it speeds toward the strategic denationalizationof state sovereignty. The global aspirations of Third World"national" thinking belonged to the internationalist traditions ofsocialism, Marxism, and humanism, whereas the dominant forcescontemporary globalization tend to subscribe to free-marketideas that enshrine ideologies of neoliberal technocractic elitism.And finally, while it was the primary purpose of decolonizationto repossess land and territoriality in order to ensure thesecurity ofnational polity and global equity, globalization propagatesa world made up ofvirtual transnational domains and wiredcommunities that live vividly through webs and connectivities"on line." In what way, then, can the once colonized woman orman become figures of instruction for our global century?J4 WE, 40.

:"*!'1p~;:t:...0~'!BIi,~,xiiFOREWORDFOREWORDxiiiTo this end, there is an immediate argument to be made thatsuggests that the economic "solutions" to inequality and povertysubscribed to by the IMF and the World Bank, for instance, have"the feel ofthe colonial ruler," according to Joseph Stiglitz, oncesenior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank."They help to create a dual economy in which there are pocketsof wealth .... But a dual economy is not a developed economy."15It is the reproduction of dual, unequal economies as effects ofglobalization that render poorer societies more vulnerable to the"culture of conditionality," through which what is purportedlythe granting ofloans turns, at times, into the peremptory enforcementof policy. These dual economies claim to sustain diverseworlds of opportunity, consisting of global villages, silicon valleys,and oases of outsourcing dotted across the North and theSouth. The landscape of opportunity and "choice" has certainlywidened in scope, but the colonial shadow falls across the successesof globalization. Dual economies create divided worldsin which uneven and unequal conditions of development canoften mask the ubiquitous, underlying factors of persistent povertyand malnutrition, caste and racial injustice, the hidden injuriesofclass, the exploitation of women's labor, and the victimizationof minorities and refugees. For instance, "India shining," the2004 election slogan of the "high tech" Hindu nationalist BJPgovernment, failed to mention the darker, daily reality of the63 percent of rural households that do not have electricity andthe ten to fifteen hours of blackouts and brownouts that afflictthose that do on any given day.16Global duality should be put in the historical context ofFanon'sfounding insight into the "geographical configuration" ofcolonialgovernance,17 his celebrated description of the Manichaean orcompartmentalized structure of colonial society. The genericduality that spans the global world of colonized societies is "aworld divided in two ... inhabited by different species."18 Spatialcompartmentalization, Macey acutely argues, is typical ofthesocial structure of settler societies like Algeria, but demographicduality is also found in other colonial societies that were dividedbetween the club and the bazaar or the cantonment and the civillines. Fanon's emphasis on the racialization of inequality doesnot, of course, apply uniformly to the inequities of contemporaryglobal underdevelopment. However, the racial optic-ifseen as a symbolic stand-in for other forms of social differenceand discrimination-does clarify the role played by the obscuringand normalizing discourses of progress and civility, in bothEast and West, that only "tolerate" differences they are able toculturally assimilate into their own singular terms, or appropriatewithin their own untranslated traditions. As Fanon puts it inwhat is perhaps the most quoted (and quarreled over) passage inThe Wretched ofthe Earth:The singularity ofthe colonial context lies in the fact that economicreality, inequality, and enormous disparities in lifestyles never manageto mask the human reality. Looking at the immediacies ofthe colonialcontext, it is clear that what divides this world is first and foremost whatspecies, what race one belongs to. In the colonies the economic infrastructureis also a superstructure.1 9In my view, The Wretched ofthe Earth does indeed allow us tolook well beyond the immediacies of its anticolonial context-theAlgerian war of independence and the African continent-towarda critique of the configurations of contemporary globalization.15 Joseph E. Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents (New York: W. W.Norton, 2003), 40.16 Anil K. Rajvanshi, "Key Issues in Rural Electrification," published inProjects Monitor, 16 October 2003, http://pune.sancharneUn/nariphaltan/ruralelec.htm.17 WE, 3. 18 WE, 5. 19 Ibid.

xviFOREWORDor ancient, despite the date of its independence. "New" national,international, or global emergences create an unsettling sense oftransition, as if history is at a turning point; and it is in such incubationalmoments-Antonio Gramsci's word for the perceived"newness" of change - that we experience the palimpsestical imprintsof past, present, and fuhIre in peculiarly contemporary figuresof time and meaning. Fanon's description of the "crude,empty fragile shel1" ofemergent national histories quickens thelong shadows cast by the ethnonationaIist "switchbacks" ofour Own times, the charnel houses of ethnic cleansing: Bosnia,Rwanda, Kosovo, Gujarat, Sudan. Less spectacular, but no lesstragic, are the regressions that lead to the "tribalisms" of religiousfundamentalism. And then there are those deeply disabling thesesof "the clash of civilizations" once turned against Islam andnow targeting migrants, refugees, and minorities more generally.Fanon's vision of the global future, post colonialism and afterdecolonization, is an ethical and political project-yes, a planof action as well as a projected aspiration-that must go beyond"narrow-minded nationalism" or bourgeOis nationalist formalismbecause "if nationalism is not explained, enriched, and deepened,if it does not very quickly hIm into a social and politicalconsciousness, into humanism, then it leads to a dead-end."23Now many readers have held that The Wretched ofthe Earth islong on prophecy and polemics and short on policy and planning- a deliberately universalized level ofanalysis that has led TheWretched ofthe Earth to become, as ShIart Hall has remarked, the"Bible of decolonisation."24 It has also been justly argued thatFanon's Third World is an iconic evocation ofAfrica, a symbol ofPan-African solidarity composed ofhis syncretic experiences oftheMaghreb, West Africa, South Africa, and the Antilles, with scantFOREWORDxviiawareness of Latin America (with the exception of Cuba), Asia,or the Middle East. 25These fine historical readings have greatly enhanced our understandingof the universalizing, generalizing tendency in Fanon'swritings. There is more to be said, however, about Fanon's universalismif it is read, as I have proposed, in relation to a conceptofthe Third World as a project marked by a double temporality.Decolonization demands a sustained, quotidian commitment tothe struggle for national liberation, for when the high, headywind of revolution loses its velocity, there is no "question ofbridging the gap in one giant stride. The epic is played out ona difficult day to day basis and the suffering endured far exceedsthat of the colonial period."26 But the coming into being of theThird World is also a project offuturity conditional upon beingfreed from the "univocal choice" presented by the cold war.Fanon's invocation of a new humanism - "Let us endeavour toinvent a man in full, something which Europe has been incapableof achieving"27- is certainly grounded in a universalist ontologythat informs both its attitude to human consciousness and socialreality. The historical agency ofthe discourse ofThird Worldism,however, with its critical, political stance against the imposedunivocal choice of "capitalism vs. socialism," makes it less universalistin temper and more strategic, activist, and aspirationalcharacter:The basic confrontation which seemed to be colonialism versus anticolonialism,indeed capitalism versus socialism, is already losing itsimportance. What matters today, the issue which blocks the horizon,is the need for a redistribution ofwealth. Humanity will have to addressthis question, no matter how devastating the consequences may be. Z823 WE, 144.24 Interview with Stuart Hall in Frantz Fanon; Black Skin, White Masks.dir. Isaac Julien (UK: Arts Council of England, 1996).25 Macey, 469. 26 WE, 90. 27 WE, 236.28 WE, 55.

xviiiFOREWORDFOREWORDxixFanon's call for a redistribution of wealth and technologybeyond the rhetorical pieties of "moral reparation"29 is a timelyreminder of the need for something like a "right" to equitabledevelopment (controversial though it may be) at a time whendual economies are celebrated as ifthey were global economies.And coming to us from the distances of midcentury decolonization,Fanon's demand for a fair distribution of rights andresources makes a timely intervention in a decade-long debateon social equity that has focused perhaps too exclusively onthe culture wars, the politics of identity, and the politics of recognition.Fanon's call has certainly been heard by popularmovements and social institutions committed to debt relief orforgiveness; it has led to health initiatives that sec the availabilitygeneric drugs for HIV-AIDS as an economic necessity forthe "right" to life and human capability; and his influence isfelt amongst reformist bodies that seek to restructure internationaltrade and tariffs, and democratize the governance of globalfinancial institutions, in favor of equitable assistance andredistribution.actors and agents of these global initiatives of an internationalcivil society in the making, whether they are NGOs, humanrights organizations, international legal or educational bodies,or national and transnational popular movements, have donebest to resist the coercive cultures of univocal choice. Sometimesthey succeed; often they fail; most likely they survive uncertainlybetween success and failure. By seeing the need forequitable distribution as part of a humanistic project, Fanontransforms its economic terms of reference; he places the problemof development in the context of those forceful and fragile"psycho-affective" motivations and mutilations that drive ourcollective instinct for survival, nurture our ethical affiliations andambivalences, and nourish our political desire for freedom.I want to turn now to Fanon's exploration of the psychoaffectiverealm, which is neither subjective nor objective, but aplace of social and psychic mediation, and -ifI may quoteout of context-"the glowing focal point where citizen and individualdevelop and grow ...."30 It is Fanon's great contributionto our understanding of ethical judgment and politicalexperience to insistently frame his reflections on violence, decolonization,national consciousness, and humanism in termsofthe psycho-affective realm-the body, dreams, psychic inversionsand displacements, phantasmatic political identifications.A psycho-affective relation or response has the semblance of universalityand timelessness because it involves the emotions, theimagination or psychic life, but it is only ever mobilized into socialmeaning and historical effect through an embodied and embeddedaction, an engagement with (or resistance to) a givenreality, or a performance of agency in the present tense.nervous conditions and political agitations of psychoaffectivitycompose and decompose the compartmentalizedworlds of colonialism and metropolitan racism. In Black Skin,White Masks, Fanon dramatically explores the psycho-affectivepredicament of the Antillean Negro as he is assailed by the depersonalizing,discriminatory gaze of racist recognition: "Look,a Negro . .. /" The black person, a free French citizen from anoverseas department of the republic, is assailed on a public thoroughfarein Lyon or Paris. He is forced to inhabit an alienatingand fragmented reality as soon as "the white man's callsthis "other" being who is "battered down by tom-toms, cannibalism,intellectual deficiency, fetichism, racial defects ...."31Black citizens are fixed as dyes in the personae of stereotypeswhose persecutory force creates a sense of social death; or theyare vaporized into a more general "climate of opinion" where29 WE, 40.30 WE, 40.31 Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks (New York: Grove Press), 116.

xxfOREWORDfOREWORDxxiperson is seen as a threat, an infection, a symptom"overdetermined from without ... dissectedeyes ... I am fixed ... and my long antennae pickup the catch phrases strewn over the of things ...."32 It isthe peculiarity of regimes of racial oppression that they make immediatelyvisible and vivid the more mediated and abstracttices of power such as class division, theand social hierarchies of status. "Looking atthe colonial context," Fanon writes, "it becomes cleardivides this world is first and foremost what species, what raceone belongs to. In the colonies the economic infrastructure isalso a superstructure. The cause is effect: you are rich becauseyou are white, you are white because you are rich."33It is the Manichaean mentality that goes with such racialculturaldiscriminations, and the economic divisions set up toaccommodate and authorize them, that create the violent psychoaffectiveconditions that Fanon describes in The Wretched ofThe colonial vocabulary is shot through with arroanxiety:those hysterical masses; theirfaces; this vegetative existence. 34 The colonized, who areoften devoid of a public voice, resort to dreaming, imagining,acting out, embedding the reactive vocabulary of violence andretributive justice in their bodies, theircolonial world to smithereens is henceforth athe grasp and imagination of every colonizedcate the colonial world .... To destroy the colonist's sector. ...Challenging the colonial world is not a rational confrontationof viewpoints. It is not a discourse on the universal, but the impassionedclaim by the colonized that their world is fundamentallydifferent."3532 Ibid. 33 WE, 5. 34 WE, 7. 35 uro 6.There is more to the psycho-affective realmofviolence, which has become the cause celebre ofthe first chapterof The Wretched ofthe Earth, "On Violence." Hannah Arendt'sassault on the book in the late sixties was an attempt at staunchingthe wildfire it spread across university campuses, while she readilyacknowledged that it was really Sartre's preface that glorified violencebeyond F anon's words or wishes. Sartre fanned the flames"We have certainly sown the wind; they are the whirlwind. Sonsviolence. at every instant they draw their humanity from it"36that despite the doctrine of liberatory violence,man, deep down hated it."37 It is difficult to do justiceto Fanon's on violence, or to appreciate his passionateapproach to the phenomenology of decolonization, withoutacknowledging a profound internal dissonance, in French colonialthought, between the free standin2: of the citizen and thesegregated status the subject-thethe same colonized person. Indeed, I want to arguetroubled traffic between the psychic body and the body politic-the subjective experience of objective reality38 so typicalof Fanon's style-suggests that the psycho-affective relation isalso "the glowing focal point where citizen and individual developand grow...."39 When Fanon insists that the colonized'simpassioned claim to difference is a challenge to the discourserational confrontation and universality, he is both using andvery words and values - rationality, universalismFrench mission civilisatrice founded its governpracticesof colonial assimilation, associationism, andintegration.36 Jean-Paul Sadre, Colonialism and Neocolonisalism. trans.Brewer, and McWilliams (London: Routledge,37 Ibid., 158.38 Robert J. C. Young, Postcolonialism: An Historical IntroductionBlackwells, 2001), 274. Young provides a most cogent and clarifVimrductory account of Fanon's life and work.39 WE, 40.

xxiiFOREWORDFOREWORDxxiiiThe originality of the French phenomenological approachto colonialism and decolonization lies in its awareness of theabiding instability of the system, however stable its institutionsmay appear. "If one chooses to understand the colonial system,"Albert Memmi writes in The Coloniser and the Colonized, "hemust admit that it is unstable and its equilibrium constantlythreatened."40 The civilizing mission is grounded in a profoundsense of instability-not a surmountable or sublatable "contradiction"-asthe French Republic gazes anxiously upon its ownmirror image as a world power. On the one hand, France is thesupreme bearer of universal Rights and Reason-"bearer even ofa new category of time for the indigenous populations";41 on theother, its various administrative avatars-assimilation, association,integration-deny those same populations the right to emerge as"French citizens" in a public sphere of their own ethical andcultural making. The principle of citizenship is held out; thepoesis of free cultural choice and communal participation iswithheld.The fear of instability and disequilibrium between freedomand fealty, as I have described it, is evident in the history of colonialAlgeria. Citizenship becomes the unstable, unsustainablepsycho-affective site in the conflict between political and legalassimilation, and the respect for, and recognition of, Muslimethical and cultural affiliations. Between 1865 and 1936, fewerthan three thousand Algerian Muslims had availed themselvesof Napoleon's senatus consulte, which extended French citizenshipto those Muslims who agreed to divest themselves of civilstahlS under Islamic law. 42 Again, the Algerian statute of 194740 Albert Memmi, The Coloniser and the Colonised (Boston: Beacon Press,1967) 120.41 James D. LeSueur, Uncivil War: Intellectuals and Identity Politics Duringthe Decoloni:zation of Algeria (Philadelphia: University of PennsylvaniaPress, 2001), 22.42 Ibid., 20. I am indebted to this excellent work for historical informationon the civilizing mission.made a "grand" gesture, which was no more than a sleight ofhand. The electoral system was divided into two colleges: onefor Europeans and a small number of Muslims who were grantedfull political rights, the other for the majority of the Muslim population.Fearful of the increase in the Muslim vote, the statuteallotted half the seats in the Algerian assembly to the first college,and in 1948 and subsequent years, the colonial administration43rigged the ballots to prevent further Muslim participation. Such. widespread disenfranchisement bred a deep distrust in the Muslimpopulation, leading a number of dissident groups to amalgamatein 1954 to form the Front de Liberation Nationale (FiN).Hussein Bulhan describes the process: "Gradually those who fordecades sought assimilation into French society and the traditionalnationalists joined forces in the FLN."44 When "integration"was proposed by the last governor-general, JacquesSoustelle (after the Algerian War of Independence began in1954), the "Algerian fact" of diverse regional cultures, languages,and ethnicities was recognized, so long as these "provincial"-provisional?-French citizens could be kept "secure"under the surveillant eye ofthe paternalistic colonial power that45deeply distrusted what it saw as the regressive zealotry oflslam.Such a threatened equilibrium leads to a phenomenologicalcondition of nervous adjustment, narcissistic justification, andvain, even vainglorious, proclamations of progressive principleson the part of the colonial state; and it is these very psychoaffectivesymptoms that reveal the injustices and disequilibrium, that haunts the colonial historical record. Fanon was quick tograsp the psycho-affective implications of a subtly punishing anddisabling paternalistic power:43 Paul Clay Sorum, Intellectuals and Decolonization in France (ChapelHill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), 60.44 Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan, "Revolutionary Psychiatry of Fanon," in RethinkingFanon: The Continuing Dialogue, ed. Nigel Gibson (Amherst, NY:Humanity Books, 1999), 155.45 LeSueur, 23-27.

xxivFOREWORDAt the level of the unconscious, therefore, colonialism was notto perceived as a sweet, kind-hearted mother who protects herfrom a hostile environment, but rather a mother who constantlyprevents her basically perverse child from committing suicide or givingfree rein to its malevolent instincts. The colonial mother is protectingthe child from itself, from its ego, its physiology, its biology, and itsmisfortune. 46'French colonial policy acknowledges the naked right of thecolonized as individual-divested of cultural differences-to beidentified as a citizen ofthe republic. But there exists, at the sametime, a discriminatory denial or disavowal ofthe colonized citizen'sright to be represented and recognized as a culturally clothedsubject who may not conform to the norms and practices of Frenchcivil society. Without the rights of representation and participation,in the public sphere, can the subject ever be a citizen in thetrue sense of the term? If the colonized citizen is prevented fromexercising his or her collective and communal agency as a full andequal member of civil society, what kind ofshadow does that throwon the public virtue of the French republic? This does not merelymake an ass of the law of assimilationist colonialism; it createsprofound ethical and phenomenological problems of racial injusatthe heart of the psycho-affective realm of the colonial relation.As Sartre perceived the problem, "One of the functions ofracism is to compensate the latent universalism of bourgeoiseralism: since all human beings have the same rights, the Algerianbe made a subhuman."47 It is this anomalous and ambivalentsituation of universality-with-racism, and formal citizenshipwithout-equality,that is an unresolvable embarrassment withinthe ideals and ideologies ofthe civilizing mission. I use theembarrassment advisedly, to return to the question of colonial"instability" and my discussion of the psycho-affective sphereThe Wretched ofthe Earth.46 WE, 149.47 \:nrh= 45.FOREWORDxxv"On Violence" describes the struggle between brute realitiesand resistant bodies in a prose that rises off the page to take youthe hand, "to touch my reader affectively, or in other wordsirrationally or sensually. For me words have a charge. I findmyself incapable of escaping the bite of a word, the vertigo ofa question-mark."48 The colonialist declares the native to be"a corrosive element ... distorting everything whichaesthetics or morals ... an unconscious and incurable instrumentof blind forces."49 Such an ontological obliteration of the"other" results in "the colonised's affectivity lbeing put1on edgelike a running sore flinching from a caustic agent,"50 as the psycheretreats into muscular spasms and hysterical symptoms. Treatthenatives as something less than human-settler vigilantegroups called their wanton killing of Muslim Algerians "rathunts"51-resultsin a process of depersonalization that createsa sense of bodily memory and a violent corporeal agency:shanty-town is the consecration of the colonised's biological decisionto invade the enemy citadel at all costs, and if need be, bythe most underground channels" (my emphasis).52 These violentaspects of the realm of psycho-affective conflict and defensedo not, however, tell the whole story to be found in The Wretchedofthe Earth.Much of the book is devoted to exploring the processes bywhich decolonization turns into the project of nation building;and by delving into the "bubbling trepidation"53 that exists in themoment of transition, The Wretched ofthe Earth opens up possiforpositive and productive psycho-affective relations. "Reclaimingthe past does not only rehabilitate or justifY the promiseof a national culture," Fanon writes, "it triggers a change48 Macey, 159. 49 WE, 6. 50 WE, 19. 51 Bulhan, in Gibson, 155. 52 WE, 81. 53 WE, 161.

u_xxviFOREWORDFOREWORDxxviifundamental importance in the colonised's psycho-affective equilibrium."54The psycho-affective equilibrium achicved throughthe creation of a national culture passes through a "nationalstage" on its way to constructing a world-system based on theideals of global equity. "This cold war ... gets us nowhere,"Fanon argues repeatedly. "The nuclear arms race must bestopped and the underdeveloped regions must receive generousinvestments and technical aid. The fate of the world depends onthe response given to this question."55 If the anticolonial movementaims at establishing national sovereignty and culturaldependence, the visionary goal of decolonization is to dismantlethe "either-or" of the cold war that dictates ideological optionsand economic choices to Third World nations as an integral partthe supranational, xenophobic struggle for world supremacy.Cold war internationalism, with its dependent states and its divisionof the spoils, repeats the Manichaean structure of possessionand dispossession experienced in the colonial world.The unraveling of the Soviet system saw the rapid emergenceethnoregional patriotisms and nationalisms of a fissionarykind that destroyed the existence of the very possibility of civilsociety in the midst of civil war and ethnic cleansing.Fanon was committed to creating a world-system of ThirdWorld nations that fostered a postcolonial consciousness basedon a "dual emergence" of national sovereignty and internationalsolidarity, for "it is at the heart of national consciousness thatternational consciousness establishes itself and thrives."56 Thehopeful symmetry of Fanon's dual emergence was based not ona "metaphysical principle" of cultural authenticity or geopoliticalexceptionalism (the African "tradition," the Asian "temperament,"the Latin American "spirit") but on the politicalethical principles of independence and security-a regional54 WE, 148. 55 WE, 61. 56 WE, 180. solidarity extended to any nation that seems to be internallynerable to antidemocratic governance or externally threatenedby hegemonic, quasi-colonial powers.57 In many ways, Fanon'scherished ideals of regional integration and economic collaborationon broad socialist principles of urban and agrarian developmentwere sullied by the corrupt and nepotistic practices ofthe colonial bourgeoisie that he despised for its hedonistic appropriationof the role of the settler, its small-time racketeering,its lack of the "pioneering aspect, the inventive, discoverer-ofnew-worldsaspect" of a progressive national bourgeoisie. (Accordingto a World Bank Working Report, almost 40 percentSouth Mrican private wealth is held outside the country.)58 ButFanon's belief in the critical importance of economic and technologicalsupport for "underdeveloped regions" "the fate of theworld depends on the response given to this question" - is a troublingissue that returns each time a new famine occurs, or a developingcountry is shackled by unredeemable debt, and theseproblems have had no satisfactory solution across the half centuryfrom his day to ours.Witl1 a few exceptions, the cartography of the global south followsthe contours of the Third World. The unanswered call for"development as freedom,"59 to use Amartya Sen's excellentphrase, has a long history of failure (for which national governmentsmust share responsibility with the international community).However, Fanon's proleptic proposal that the postcolonialnarrative of independent nation building could enter its internationalphase only after the end of the Cold War telescopes that longhistory of neglect into our times, whence it reveals the poignantproximity of the incomplete project of decolonization to the57 WE, 179.58 Paul Collier, Anke Hoeffler, and Catherine Pattillo, "Flight Capital as aPortfolio Choice," World Bank Policy Research Working Paper no. 2066mary 1999).59 See Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (New York: Anchor Books),Oxford UP, 1999).b 'I! f nO' ~__u

".~~....."'""".=,~_ + ............ '"_......"'.~~'"'•.L .•j.'.• "xxviiiFOREWORDPOREWORDxxixdispossessed subjects of globalization. Caught up in this spiral ofhistory, the wretched of the earth, in our time and Fanon's, enterthe zone of psycho-affectivity and echo the horrifying call tolence. Fanon for ourAnd Fanon for other times and places ...* * *In 1966, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton read The Wretched oftheEarth in a house in Oakland, and -so the story goes 60 - when theywere arrested some months later for "blocking the sidewalk," thetext provided foundational perspectives on neocolonialism andnationalism that inspired the founding of the Black NationalistParty. In A Panther Isa Black Cat, written in 1971, Reginald Major(Kelley) acknowledges Fanon's influence on the Panthers.a sexist swagger that was part of the macho style of the times, Majorpraises Fanon's analysis of the colonial mentality in understandingthe yardstick of"whiteness" that devalues black consciousness andresults in a "cultural and psychic genocide"61 that leads to theinadequacy ofblack manhood. Gillo Ponte corvo' s Battle ofAlgiersbecame a cult film among the Bay Area Panthers because it was"Fanon-linked," and young revolutionaries attentively watchedDiction of terrorist acts and the organization of covert cells.found satisfaction in the flick. The natives won."62* 0;< *In the early seventies, Steve Biko's room in the student residenceat the University of Natal became the meeting place for membersof the South African Students Association; it was also theintellectual center of the black consciousness movement. Thatroom in Durban was the place where Biko, "the personwho bro'ught ideas,"63 first circulated The Wretched of the Earthto his friends and comrades-writers, activists, community workers,actors, students-who were also conversant with the poetryand the politics of the Black Panther movement. Fanon's singucontributionto the theoretical understanding of the blackconsciousness movement lay in his extension of the economistictheories ofMarxism toward a greater emphasis on the importanceof psychological and cultural liberation - the psycho-affectiverealm of revolutionary activism and emancipation.* * *In a prison cell in the notorious H-Block of Belfast prison, sometimeafter 1973, a young apprentice coach builder and memberof the Irish Republican Army, Bobby Sands, first read Fanon'sThe Wretched of the Earth, of which there were multiple copieson the H-Block shelves. A historian of the lRA64 suggests thatFanon's incendiary spirit may have set alight IRA passions becauseof passages like this:last shall be first and the first last." Decolonisation is the puttinginto practice of this sentence .... For if the last shall be first, this willonly come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle betweentwo protagonists. That affinned intention to place the last at the headthings ... can only triumph if we use all means to turn the scale,including, of course, that of violence.* * *Shiite revival ofthe 1960s and 1970s, which developed intothe Iranian revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini, was based ona revision of Shiite doctrine influenced bv Marxism and com60ed.,AfricanAmerican Culture MI: Gale Research,1996), 50-51.61 Reginald Major, A Panther Is a Black Cat (New York: William Morrow,1971),138-39.62 Ibid.63 N. Barney Pityana, M. Ramphele, M. Mpumiwana, and 1.. Wilson,Bounds ofPossibility: The Legal.')' ofSteve Biko and Black Consciousness (CapeTown, South Mrica: David Phillip, 1991),28-29,109,147.64 Richard English, Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (New York:Oxford University Press. 2003), 197-99,234-35.

ew*.".___.._~...__xxxFOREWORDFOREWORDxxxito the ideology of Third World liberation. 65 Noor intellectual was more respected among the student militantswho followed the People's Muiahideen than Ali Shariati, whohad read Fanon during his student days in Paris and translatedWretched ofthe Earth into Persian. According to Giles Keppel,a historian of political Islam, "Shariati rendered the differencebetween 'oppressors' and 'oppressed' with the Koranic termsmostakbimie (the arrogant) and mostadafine (the weakened ordisinherited), thus transposing the theory of class struggle intothe terminology ofIslam."66 This "translated," hybrid termKhomeini's political rhetoric - via Shariati's translation ofFanon-after 1978, in his attempt to broaden the appeal of hismessage and address a more diverse audience.* * *Finally, on September 19, 2001, Richard Perle, former U.S. assistantsecretary of defense (1981-87), wrote the following threepassages:There is an air ofVichyite defeatism about some ofthe commentaryon the current war on terrorism.We constantly hear the reiteration ofsuch themes as "We don't knowwho the enemy is," "We don't know where to strike them" ... and that"Wretched ofthe Earth" (to use the title of Frantz Fanon's famousanti-colonial tract) are so desperate that they would not honorabledeath at the hands of what they see as the Great Satan.u.s. Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld ...say that it is a totallv new kind ofwar which the Free65 Gilles Keppel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam, trans. Anthony F.Roberts (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002). Mv account derivesfrom this book.66 Ibid.67 Richard Perle, "Get Governments out ofTerrorism Business," NationalPost, September 19,2001, A16.* * *Fanon acknowledges the enormous significance of this phenomenologicallevel of life when he opens his essay "On NationalCulture" with one of his most enigmatic and inspiring pronouncements:"Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it orbetray it, in relative opacity."68 I turn to that issue by first returningto my beginning: What forms of unhappy consciousnessprevail among the colonized who feel threatened from all sides?How does the body speak in extremis, how does the mind withstand?"Colonialism forces the colonized to constantly ask thequestion: 'Who am I in reality?"'69 Fanon writes in The Wretchedofthe Earth. From where does the spirit of revolt arise in the midstof the confusion of "myriad signs of the colonial world"?70 Howdo the oppressed discover the enduring strength to found a freesociety, a national consciousness, if they are continuouslyaware of their own anxiety and fragility?The Wretched ofthe Earth emerges, year after year, in Oakland,Belfast, Tehran, Washington, Paris, to say nothing ofBombay, where I first read it, or wherever you may be today as thisbook falls into your hands. Fanon is invoked repeatedly by liberalstudents, radical activists, human rights workers, cultural historians,literary scholars, journalists, even a former U.S. assistant defensesecretary. It could be said that Fanon's street fighting dayscame to an end in the 1970s and 1980s, and that he now takes hison the bookshelves alongside CLR James, Sartre, Memmi,Marcuse, Guevara, Angela Davis .... Those who claim to followin Fanon's footsteps, it is often said, only absorb his abstract argumentsand stirring sentiments; they fail to understand his selflessengagement with the Algerian War of Independence andturn a blind eye to his failure to consider the possibilitystate built on the revolutionary violence of the FLN68 WE, 145.69 WE, 182.70 WE, 16.

xxxiiFOREWORDFOREWORDxxxiiimorehaveJon psycho-affective factorshis refusal to prioritize the role of the organizedthe anticolonial revolution.The insurgent energies of the Algerian peasantry and lumpenproletariat,Fanon believed, would guard against the corruptionand cooptation of "westernized" nationalist parties led by urbanelites. But in the opinion of some of his FLN comrades, Fanondisplayed a na'ive nostalgie de la boue in championing a peasantryhad become fragmented and displaced through the 1950s,confined to refugee or resettlement camps in Tunisiaand Morocco, others having migrated to in Algeria orFrance.7 1 It was in late 1950s that Fanon's commitment to theAlgerian cause seemed to tum from aa more inward identification, a consummate sen-nISIhimselfas an Algerian. This radical indigenization of identity, likehis overestimation of the peasantry, could be seen as his avoidanceor enhancement of his own natal and psychic reality-a compensatoryfamily romance that would disavow his Martinican origins,nthrough a phantasmatic denial of the "unheroic assimilation" ofthe Antillean heritage in favor of the "virile and decolonised fraternity"of FLN.73 Simone de Beauvoir's memories of herconversations with Fanon flesh out this poignant and problem"Above all I don't want to become a profesgeriann~"'''''J~'n of himself, asexistence as an Antillean fighting for Alindependence.71 Mohamed Harbi, quoted in Macey, 481.72 See Albert Memmi's remarkable essay, "The Impossible Life of FrantzFanon," in Massachusetts Review (Winter 1973), 9-39, and Dominated Man:Notes Toward a Portrait (New York: Orion Press. 1968).73 Fransrois Verges, Monsters and Revolutionaries; Colonial Family Romancesand Metissage (Durham: Duke University Press), 211.74 de Beauvoir, 317.Fanon's involvement in the Algerian revolution was primarilyas witness, doctor, diplomat, writer-or as he was once known in"the pamphleteer from Martinique." (This moniker refrequentcontributions to EI Mujahid, the AlgerianA"'~TVl",ar after he took up in Tunis, havadministrationDuring his tenure atthe psychiatric hospital at Blida (195356), there were occasions on which he covertly trained(village militias) to cope with their own attacks of terrorety while they were carrying out assassination attempts; he alsotaught them psychological ways and physiological means of withstandingtorture and resisting interrogation,75 In 1960, Fanon wasinvolved in exploring the possibility of establishing a Saharan frontin southern Algeria, to be accessed from Mali, which could providea line of supply and support for FLN forces. 76The leading up to the composition of The Wretched ofthewere fraught with the violence and uncertainty ofof Independence, which the French state pursuedas if it were no more than the "pacification" of a civiling. French left-wing intellectuals came togetherof the "Manifesto of the 121" to support the Algerianand compared the French military presence in Algeria to the"Hitlerite order": "Does it have to be recalled that fifteen years afterthe destruction of the Hitlerite order, French militarism has, becauseof the demands of a war of this kind, succeeded in reintroducingtorture and has once more institutionalised it in Europe?"77Simone de Beauvoir, one of the staunchest supporters of theManifesto, expressed a shared sense of disgust and despair: "Tenthousand Algerians had been herded into the Vel' d'Hiv' like theonce before. Again I loathed it all-this country,75 de Bcauvoir, 315.76 Macey, 437-44. Oncethc Mali expedition.77 Manifesto, quoted in Macey, 449."'''''''''''0 the definitive account of

xxxivFOREWORDFOREWORDxxxvmyself, the whole world."78 During a particularly brutal offensiveJuly 1959 named Operation Binoculars, General Rene Challe'stroops sought to root out the insurgents of the Armee de LiberationNationale (ALN) hiding in the high Kabylia mountains byannihilating local villages that offered support to the nationalists.The policy ofregroupement, or resettlement, moved the rural populationto barbed-wire compounds resembling concentration camps- fifteen thousand people sequestered in a space meant for threethousand and surrounded by bleak torched fields "without water,without sewage or sanitation of any kind, without land to cultivateand for the most part without work. ..."79 A couple of years earlier,in 1957, the southern edge of the Kabylia had been the site ofthe appalling massacre of Melouza. '{'be rivalry between the FLNand the MNA (Mouvement Nationaliste Algerienne), which hadcentered on territorial control and tribal affiliation, exploded intoa bloodbath when the FLN leadership ordered its operatives to "exterminatethis vermin"8o-a chilling, uncanny echo, half a centurylater, ofKurtz's command, "Exterminate the brutes," in JosephConrad's classic tale of colonial turpitude in the Belgian Congo,Heart of Darkness. The FLN herded all males above the age offifteen, Alistair Horne Mites, "into houses and into the mosque andslaughtered them with rifles, pick-axes and knives: a total of 301."81Fanon forged his thinking on violence and counterviolencethese conditions ofdire extremity, when everyday interactionswere turned into exigent events of life and death - incendiaryrelations between colonizer and colonized, internecine feudsbetween revolutionary brotherhoods,82 terrorist attacks in Paris78 de Beauvoir, 321.79 Jules Roy in Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962(New York: Penguin Books, 1987), 338.80 My account is based on Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, 221-22.For the discursive representation ofthe event, and the implications of its variousideological interpretations and manifestations, see LeSueur, "Massacreat Melouza: The 'Whodunit' of the French-Algerian War?" 166ff.8t Horne, 222.82 WE, 18.and Algiers by the ultra right-wing OAS (Organisation ArmeeSecrete) and their pieds noirs supporters (European settlers inAlgeria). As a locus classicus of political resistance and the rhetoricof retributive violence, The Wretched of the Earth capturesthe tone of those apocalyptic times:The colonized subject discovers reality and transforms it through hispraxis, his deployment ofviolence and his agenda for liberation. 83But how do we get from violence to setting violence in motion? Whatblows the lid?84When the Algerians reject any method which does not include violence... they know that such madness alone can deliver them fromcolonial oppression. A new type of relationship is established in theworld. The peoples of the Third World are in the process ofshatteringtheir chains, and what is extraordinary is that they succeed. 85Hannah Arendt's objection to The Wretched ofthe Earth hasless to do with the occurrence of violence than with Fanon'steleological belief that the whole process would end in a newhumanism, a new planetary relation to freedom defined by theThird World. Collective violence engenders close political kinshipslike suicide squads and revolutionary brotherhoods, shewrote, but "No body politic I know was ever founded on equalitybefore death and its actualisation in violence."86 Arendt is, atbest, only half right in her reading of Fanon. He is cautious aboutthe celebration ofspontaneous violence-"where my blood callsfor the blood of the other" - because "hatred is not an agenda"capable of maintaining the unity of party organization once violentrevolt breaks down into the difficult day-to-day strategy of83 WE, 21.84 WE, 31.85 WE, 34.86 Hannah Arendt, On Violence (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World,1970),69.

," 'ffTiM"r;sxxxviFOREWORDFOREWORDxxxviifighting a war of independence. 87 On the other hand, Sartre'spreface to The Wretched of the Earth (the nub of Arendt's attackon Fanon's ideas) is committed to bringing the colonial dialecticto its conclusion by carrying home- to metropolitan Francethelessons and the lesions of anticolonial violence. 88 Thoseadhere to principles ofnonviolence in the face of colonial oppressionare taunted with the ethical impossibility oftheir positions"even your non-violent thoughts are a condition born ofan age-oldoppression...."89 Sartre pares away the pieties and vanities of Enlightenmentuniversalism to reveal its tolerance of racist ideas andpractices. He confronts his compatriots with a spectacular "stripteaseof our humanism"90 while justifYing the uses of violence torecover an ontological claim to humanity for those who have beentreated as subhuman: "Sons ofviolence, at every instant theyhumanity from it: we were human beings at their expense,they are making themselves human beings at ourS."9JFor Arendt, Fanon's violence leads to the death of politics; forSartre, it draws the fiery, first breath of human freedom. I proposea different reading. Fanonian violence, in my view, is partof a struggle for psycho-affective survival and a search for humanagency in the midst of the agony of oppression. It does not offer aclear choice between life and death or slavery and freedom, becauseit confronts the colonial condition oflife-in-death. Fanon'sphenomenology of violenc~ conceives of the colonized-body,soul, culture, community, history-in a process of "continuedagony [rather 1than a total disappearance."92 He describes87 WE, 89.88 I have slightly altered Sartre's "to bring the dialectic to its conelusion."See Sartre, Colonialism Neocolonialism, 150.89 Sartre, 151.90 Ibid., 150.91 Ibid., 149-50.92 I have adapted this phrase from Frantz Fanon, "Racism and Culture" inTowards an African Revolution, 35.being with a harrowstateof political consciousness anding accuracy:Exploitation, tortures, raids, racism, collective liquidations ... [all]make ofthe native an object in the hands ofthe occupying nation. Thisobject man, without means of existing, without a raison d'etre, is brokenin the very depth his substance. The desire to live, tobecomes more and more indecisive, more and more phantom-like. Itis at this stage that the well-known guilt complex appears. 93Does the "guilt complex" lie at the very origins ofviolence, ordoes the struggle for liberation have to violently free itself ofguiltin order to be effective? The double-edged nature ofthis question-guilt as a stimulant, or an obstacle to freedom, or possiblyboth-fulfills Fanon's wish (expressed to Sartre and Beauvoir)political leaders should be psychiatrists as well."94 Fanon'sstyle of thinking and writing operates by creating repeateddisjunctions-followed by proximate juxtapositions - betweenof the political agent and the desire of the psychoaffectivesubject. His discourse does not privilege the subjectiveover the objective, or vice versa, nor does his argument prescribea hierarchy of relations between material reality and mental or corporealexperience. The double figure ofthe politician-psychiatrist,someone like Frantz Fanon himself, attempts to decipherchanging scale (measure, judgment) of a problem, event, identity,or action as it comes to be represented or framed in the shiftingratios and relations that exist between the realms of noliticaland psycho-affective experience.The connections between guilt and violence are part of sucha delicate balance:The colonized subject is always on his guard: confused by the myriadsigns of the colonial world he never knows whether he is out of line.93 Ibid.94 de Beauvoir, 318.

xlFOREWORDFOREWORDxliis every possibility, as Fanon writes, "that the colonist keeps thecolonized in a state of rage, which he prevents from boiling over••• Luu~ this] periodically erupts into bloody fighting betweentribes, clans, and individuals."99 The aspiration to do the rightthing might be felled by the fragility of the individual, byatavisanimosities,by the iron hand of history, or by indecision anduncertainty, but these failures do not devalue the ethical andimaginative act of reaching out toward rights and freedoms.Fanon, the phantom of terror, might be only the most intimate,if intimidating, poet of the vicissitudes of violence. But poeticjustice can be questionable even when it is exercised on behalf ofthe wretched of the earth. And if, as I have argued, the lesson ofFanon lies in his fine adjustment ofthe balance between thetician and the psychiatrist, his skill in altering the "scale" betweenthe social dimension and the psycho-affective relation, then wehave to admit that he is in danger of losing his balance when, forinstance, he writes: "Violence can thus be understood to be theperfect mediation. The colonized man liberates himself in andthrough violence. The praxis enlightens the militant because itshows him the means and the end."lOO Knowing what we now knowabout the double destiny ofviolence, must we not ask: Is violenceever a perfect mediation? Is it not simply rhetorical bravura to assertthat any form of secular, material mediation can provide atransparency of political 'action (or ethical judgment) that reveals"the means and the end"? Is the clear mirror of violence not somethingof a mirage in which the dispossessed see their reflectionsbut from which they cannot slake their thirst?Fanon has a rich variety of readers who do not come to hiswork to seek the "perfect mediation" of violence. They turn toThe Wretched ofthe Earth, generation after generation, for a moreobscure reason, armed only with an imperfect sense of obligationtoward the ideals they want to serve and the values they seek99 Ibid. 100 WE, 44. to preserve. The message they take away from Fanon's book is aquieter, more contemplative one: "Each generation must discoverits mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity."IOIAccording to his friends, Fanon was somewhat opaque in person.There was a dark and hesitant air about him that infusedhis speech and writing with "an enigmatic quality, as though theycontained obscure, disturbing prophecies."IOZ His publisher,Francis Jeanson, called it the "bodily aspect of his intellectualapproach."103 Jean Daniel, the editor of Le Nouvel Observateur,remembers that the handshake ofthe dying Fanon became "moreurgent and always seemed to have a message."I04 The deeper messagesof poet-politicians are never as easy to decipher as the mythsoffered up in their names. It is for this reason that I have tried, inthis essay, to trace the prophecies of Fanon's living hand as it risesagain to beckon enigmatically toward our own times, in this newtranslation of The Wretched ofthe Earth.Each age has its peculiar opacities and its urgent missions. Theparts we play in the design and direction of historical transformationsare shadowed by the contingency of events and the quality ofour characters. Sometimes we break the mold; at others, our willis broken. What enables us to aspire to the fraught and fervent desirefor freedom is the belief that human beings are capable of imaginingwhat Fanon once described as a "time [that] must no longerbe that of the moment or the next harvest but rather of the rest ofthe world."I05I would like to thank Mark Terng and David Mulrooney for invaluableassistance with this essay, and Lia Brozgal for her excellenttranslations.!OI WE, l32. 102 de Beauvoir, 3l7. IOl Francis Jeanson, quoted in Macey, l59. 104 Macey, 433. 105 urI;' l22.

'.1'tPreface by Jean-Paul Sartre Not so long ago the Earth numbered 2 billion inhabitants, i.e.,500 million men and 1.5 billion "natives." The first possessedthe Word, the others borrowed it. In between, an of corruptpetty kings, feudal lords, and a fake, fabricated bourgeoisieserved as go-betweens. In the colonies, truth displayed its nakedness;the metropolises preferred it clothed; they had to get the"natives" to love them. Like mothers, of sorts. The Europeandecided to fabricate a native elite; they selected adolescents,branded the principles ofWestem culture on their foreheads witha red-hot iron, and gagged their mouths with sounds, pompousawkward words that twisted their tongues. After a short staythe metropolis they were sent home, fully doctored. These walkinglies had nothing more to say to their brothers; from Paris,London, and Amsterdam we yelled, "Parthenon! Fraternity!" andsomewhere in Africa and Asia mouths echoed"... thenon! ...nity!" It was a golden age.Then it was over: the mouths opened of their own accord;black and yellow voices still talked of our humanism, but it wasto blame us for our inhumanity. We quite happily listened tothese polite displays of bitterness. At first we were amazed andproud: "What? They can chat away all on their own? Lookxliii

xlivPREFACEPREFACExlv.·.•.we did with them!" There was no doubt in our minds they acceptedour ideal since they were accusing us of not respectingit. Europe then really believed in its mission: it had Hellenizedthe Asians and created this new species, the Greco-Roman blacks.Pragmatic as ever, we added, quite among ourselves, "Oh letthem shout, it will get it out of their system; their bark is worsethan their bite."Then came another generation, which shifted the question.Its writers and poets took enormous pains to explain to us thatour values poorly matched the reality of their lives and that theycould neither quite reject them nor integrate them. Roughly, thismeant: You are making monsters out ofus; your humanism wantsus to be universal and your racist practices are differentiating us.We listened to them, very nonchalantly. Colonial administratorsare not paid to read Hegel, so he's seldom on their reading list,but they don't need this philosopher to tell them that unhappyconsciences get tangled up in their contradictions. Ultimate endresult: nil. So let us perpetuate their misfortune; nothing will comeout of it but hot air. If, the experts told us, there were the slightesthint of a demand in their lamentations, it would be for integration.Consenting to it, ofcourse, would be out of the question:we would ruin ,the system, which, as you know, relies on grossexploitation. All we need do is dangle a carrot in front of theireyes and they will come running. As for anything like a revolt,we had absolutely nothing to worry about: what lucid "native"would set about massacring the dashing sons of Europe with thesole intention of becoming Europeans like them? In short, weencouraged their melancholic moods, and we thought it wouldnot be bad, for once, to award the Goncourt Prize to a black.That was before 1939.1961. Listen: "Let us not lose time in useless laments and sickeningmimicry. Let us leave this Europe which never stops talkingof man yet massacres him at every one of its street corners, atevery corner of the world. For centuries it has stifled virtually thewhole ofhumanity in the name ofa so-called 'spiritual adventure.'''The tone is new. Who dares voice it? An Mrican, a man fromthe Third World, a former colonized subject. "Europe," he adds,"has gained such a mad and reckless momentum ... that it isheading toward the brink from which we would be advised toremove ourselves." In other words, Europe is done for. A truththat is hard to swallow, but of which all of us are-are we not,fellow Europeans?-convinced deep down.We must make one reservation, however. When one Frenchman,for example, says to another: "We're done for!" -which,to my knowledge, has happened practically every day since1930- it's a passionate discourse, burning with rage and love,where the speaker puts himself in the same boat as his fellowcountrymen. And then as a rule he adds: "Unless ..." Everyonegets the message: one cannot afford to make a single mistake. Ifhis recommendations are not followed to the letter, then and onlythen will the country be done for. In short, it's a threat, followedby a piece of advice, and such remarks shock even less becausethey spring from a national intersubjectivity. When Fanon, onthe contrary, says that Europe is heading for ruin, far from utteringa cry of alarm, he is offering a diagnostic. Dr. Fanon claimshe neither considers itto be a hopeless case-miracles have beenknown to exist-nor is he offering to cure it. He is stating thefact that it is in its death throes. As an outsider, he bases his diagnosticon the symptoms he has observed. As for treating it, no:he has other things to worry about. Whether it survives or perishes,that's not his problem. For this reason his book is scandalous.And if you mumble, sniggering awkwardly: "He's really gotit in for us!" you have missed the true nature of the scandal, forFanon has got nothing "in for you" at all; his book, which is sucha hot issue for others, leaves you out in the cold. It often talksabout you, but never to you. Gone are the black Goncourts andthe yellow Nobels: the days of the colonized prizewinners areover. A "French-speaking" ex-native bends the language to newrequirements, fashions it for his own use, and speaks to the colonizedalone: "Natives ofall the underdeveloped countries unite!"

xlviPREFACEPREFACExlviiWhat a downfalL For the fathers, we were the only interlocutors;for the sons, we no longer count: we are the object of their discourse.Of course, Fanon mentions in passing our infamouscrimes at Setif, Hanoi, and Madagascar, but he does not wastetime condemning them: he makes use of them. He demolishesthe tactics of colonialism, the complex play of relations unitingand opposing the colonists and the "metropolitans." For the sakeof his brothers, his aim is to teach them how to outwit us.In short, the Third World discovers itself and speaks to itselfthrough this voice. We know it is not a uniform world, and itcontains subjected peoples, some of whom have acquired a falseindependence, others who are fighting to conquer their sovereignty,and yet others who have won their freedom, but who liveunder the constant threat of imperialist aggression. These differencesare born out of colonial history, in other words, oppression.In some places the metropolis makes do with paying aclique of feudal overlords; in others, it has fabricated a fake bourgeoisieof colonized subjects in a system of divide and rule; elsewhere,it has killed two birds with one stone: the colony is bothsettlement and exploitation. Europe, therefore, has hardened thedivisions and conflicts, forged classes, and in some cases, racism,and endeavored by every means to generate and deepen the stratificationof colonized societies. Fanon hides nothing. In order towage the struggle against us, the former colony must wage astruggle against itself. Or rather it is one and the same thing. Inthe heat of combat, all domestic barriers must be torn down,thepowerless bourgeoisie of racketeers and compradores, the stillprivileged urban proletariat and the lumpenproletariat of theshanty towns, must all align with the positions of the rural masses,the true reservoir for the national and revolutionary army. In countrieswhere colonialism has deliberately halted development, thepeasantry, when it decides to revolt, very quickly emerges as theradical class. It is all too familiar with naked oppression, suffersfar worse than the urban workers, and to prevent it from dying ofhunger, nothing less will do than the demolition of every existingstructure. If it triumphs, the national revolution will be socialist;if it is stopped in its momentum, if the colonized bourgeoisietakes over power, the new state, despite its official sovereignty,remain in the hands of the imperialists. The case of Katangaillustrates this fairly well. The unity of the Third World, therefore,is not complete: it is a work in progress that begins withthe colonized in every pre- or post-independent country, unitedunder the leadership of the peasant class. This is what Fanonexplains to his brothers in Mrica, Asia, and Latin America: weshall achieve revolutionary socialism everywhere and all togetheror we shall be beaten one by one by our former tyrants. He hidesnothing: neither the weaknesses nor the disagreements nor themystification. In some places the government gets off to a badstart; in others, after a stunning success, it loses momenhlm; elsewhere,it has come to a halt. In order to revive it the peasantsmust drive their bourgeoisie into the ocean. The reader is sharplywarned of the most dangerous types of alienation: the leader, thepersonality cult, Western culture, and equally so, the revival ofMrican cui hue from a distant past. The true culture is the revolution,meaning it is forged while the iron is hot. Fanon speaksout loud and clear. We Europeans, we can hear him. The proofis you are holding this book. Isn't he afraid that the colonialpowers will take advantage of his sincerity?No. He is not afraid of anything. Our methods are outdated:they can sometimes delay emancipation, but they can't stop it.And don't believe we can readjust our methods: neocolonialism,that lazy dream of the metropolises, is a lot of hot air; the"Third Force" does not exist or if it does it is the phony bourgeoisieto which colonialism has already handed over power.Our Machiavellianism has little hold on this world, which iswide awake and hot on the trail of everyone of our lies. Thecolonist has but one recourse: force or whatever is left of it. The"native" has but one choice: servitude or sovereignty. What doesFanon care if you read or don't read his book? It is for his brothershe denounces our old box of mischief, positive we don't have

xlviii PREFACE PREFACE xlixYou warned them: if they shed too much blood you would pretendto disown them; the same way a State no matter whichone - maintains a mob of agitators, provocateurs, and spies abroadwhom it disowns once they are caught. You who are so liberal, sohumane, who take the love of culture to the point of affectation,you pretend to that you have colonies where massacres arename. Fanon reveals to his cornradesespeciallyto those who remain a little too Westernized - thesolidarity of the metropolitans with their colonial agents. Havecourage to read it, primarily because it will make you feelashamed, and shame, as Marx said, is a revolutionary feeling. Yousee I, too, cannot lose my subjective illusion. I, too, say to you:"All is lost unless ...." I, a European, am stealing my enemy'sbook and turning it into a way ofhealing Europe. Make the mostof it.is the second reason: aside from Sorel's fascist chatyouWIll find that Fanon is the first since Engels to focus againon the midwife of history. And don't be led into believing thathotheadedness or an unhappy childhood gave him some oddliking for violence. He has made himself spokesman for the situation,nothing more. But that is all he needs to do in order toconstitute, step by step, the dialectic that liberal hVDocrisv hidesfrom you and that has produced us iust asducedbourgeoisie considered the workers antheir uncouth appetites, but it was caretoinclude these great brutes in the human race. Unless theywere men and free, how could they possibly sell their manpower?In France and England humanism claims to be universal.Forced labor is quite the opposite: there is no contract; inaddition it requires intimidation; the oppression, therefore, isvisible. By rejecting metropolitan universalism, our soldiers overcanrob. enslave,seas apply the numerus clausus toor

PREFACEPREFACElicrime, they lay down the principle that the colonized subject isnot a fellow man. Our military forces have received orders tochange this abstract certainty into reality: orders are given to reducethe inhabitants of the occupied territory to the level of asuperior ape in order to justify the colonist's treatment of them asbeasts of burden. Colonial violence not only aims at keeping theseenslaved men at a respectful distance, it also seeks to dehumanizethem. No effort is spared to demolish their traditions, to substituteour language for theirs, and to destroy their culture withoutgiving them ours. We exhaust them into a mindless state. III fedand sick, if they resist, fear will finish the job: guns are pointed atpeasants; civilians come and settle on their land and force themto work for them under the whip. If they resist, the soldiers fire,and they are dead men; if they give in and degrade themselves,they are no longer men. Shame and fear warp their character anddislocate their personality. Such a business is conducted brisklyby experts: psychological warfare was not born yesterday. Nor wasbrainwashing. And yet despite all their efforts, nowhere have theyachieved theit aim; no more in the Congo where they cut offthe hands ofthe blacks than in Angola where quite recently theypierced tlle lips ofthe malcontents in order to padlock them. AndI am not saying it is impossible to change a man into an animaLI am saying they can't do it Witllout weakening him considerably:beating is never enough, pressure has to be brought byundernourishing him. That's the problem with servitude: whenyou domesticate a member of our species, you lower his productivity,and however little you give him, a barnyard being ends upcosting more tllan he's worth. For tllis reason the colonists areforced to stop breaking Mm in halfway. The result: neither mannor beast, but the "native." Beaten, underfed, sick, and frightened,but only up to a certain point, yellow, black, or white he alwayshas the same character traits-lazy, sly, and thieving, who liveson nothing and understands only the language of violence.Poor colonist: his contradiction has been unmasked. He oughtto kill those he plunders, like they say the djinns do. But that isnow out ofthe question. Doesn't he have to exploit them as well?Failing to carry the massacre to the point of genocide, and servitudeto a state of mindlessness, he cracks up, the situation is reversed,and an implacable logic leads to decolonization.Not right away. First of all the European reigns: he has alreadylost but doesn't realize it; he does not yet know that the "natives"are false "natives." He has to make them suffer, he claims, inorder to destroy or repress the evil they have inside them; afterthree generations, their treacherous instincts will be stamped out.What instincts? Those that drive the slaves to massacre theirmasters? How come he cannot recognize his own cruelty nowturned against him? How come he can't see his own savagery asa colonist in the savagery of these oppressed peasants who haveabsorbed it through every pore and for which they can find nocure? The answer is simple: this arrogant individual, whose powerof authority and fear of losing it has gone to his head, has difficultyremembering he was once a man; he thinks he is a whipor a gun; he is convinced that the domestication of the "inferiorraces" is obtained by governing their reflexes. He disregards thehuman memory, the indelible reminders; and then, abovethere is this that perhaps he never knew: we only become whatwe are by radically negating deep down what others have doneto us. Three generations? As early as the second, hardly had thesons opened their eyes than they saw their fathers being beaten.In psychiatric terms, they were "traumatized." For life. But theseconstant acts of repeated aggression, far from forcing them intosubmission, plunge them into an intolerable contradiction,which sooner or later the European will helVe to pay for. Afterthat, when it is their turn to be broken in, when they are taughtshame, pain, :md hunger, we will only be fueling in their bodiesa volcanic fury whose power matches the pressure applied tothem. They only understand the language of violence, you weresaying? Of course; at first the only violence they understand isthe colonist's, and then their own, reflecting back atus like ourreflection bouncing back at us from a mirror. Don't be mistaken;

IiiPREFACEPREFACEliiiit is through this mad rage,desire to kill us, and themuscles, afraid to relax, that they become men. It iscolonist, who wants to turn them intoagainst him. Still blind and abstract, hatred isThe master provokes it because he to deaden theirhe fails to break it because his interests stop him halfway. Thefalse "natives," therefore, are still humans owing to the powerand powerlessness of the oppressor that are transformed into thenatives' stubborn rejection of their animal condition. As for therest, the message is clear. They are lazy, of course they are: it's aform of sabotage. Sly and thieving: What did you expect? Theirpetty thieving marks the start of a still unorganized resistance.And if that is not enough there are those who assert themselvesthemselves with their bare hands against the guns;others tum into men by killing Euroareshot: the sacrificemasses.Terrified, yes. At this newnalized by the colonized as aonly the fear they feelrepression, but also the fear thatoutlaws and martyrsown fury inspires inThey are trapped between our guns, which are pointing atand those frightening instincts, those murderous impulses,emerge from the bottom of their hearts and that they don'tways recognize. For it is not first of all their violence, it is ours,on the rebound, that grows and tears them apart; and the firstreaction by these oppressed people is to repress this shamefulanger that is morally condemned by them and us, but that is theonly refuge they have left for their humanity. Read Fanon: youwill see that in a time of helplessness, murderous rampage is thecollective unconscious of the colonized.This repressed rage, never managing to explode, goes roundin circles and wreaks havoc on the oppressed themselves. In orderto rid themselves of it they up massacring each other, tribesbattle one against the other since they cannot confront the realenemy-and you can count on colonial policy to fuel rivalries;the brother raising his knife against his brother believes he isdestroying once and for all the hated image of their commondebasement. But expiatory victims do not satisfy their thirstto stop themselves from marchingis to become our accomplices: theprocess they are rejecting will be speeded upown InItIative. Under the amused gaze of the colonist,they protect themselvesreviving awesome old myths, at other timesmeticulous rituals. The colonized, therefore, inshuns his deep desires by inflicting on himself odd ritesmonopolize him at every moment. They dance: that keeps themoccupied; it relaxes their painfully contracted muscles, andwhat's more, the dance secretly mimes, often unbeknownst tothem, the No they dare not voice, the murders they dare notcommit. In some regions they use the last resort: possession. Whatwas once quite simply a religious act, an exchange between thebeliever and the sacred, has been turned into a weapon againstdespair and humiliation: the zars, the ioas, the Saints of Santeriapossess them, take control of their violence and squander it intrances ending in exhaustion. At the same time their idols protectthem: in other words the colonized protect themselves fromgoing one step better with religious alienendresult of having accumulated twocertainchoses, therefore, tired of being insulted dav in and dav out. thehallucinating individual suddenly gets itan angel's voice complimenting him; this doesn'ting, but at least it gives him a break. It is a means of defensethe end of their story: the personality dislocates and the patientis a case for dementia. For a few rigorously selected unfortunates,there is that other possession I mentioned earlier: Western culture.In their shoes, you might say, I would prefer my zars to the

livPREFACEPREFACEIvAcropolis. Okay: you've got the message. Not quite, however,because you are not in their shoes. Not yet. Otherwise you'd knowthey have no choice: they accumulate. Two worlds, that makestwo possessions: you dance all night long, at dawn you hurry tochurch to attend mass. Day by day the crack widens. Our enemybetrays his brothers and becomes our accomplice; his brothers dothe same. The status of "native" is a neurosis introduced andmaintained by the colonist in the colonized with their consent.Demanding yet denying the human condition makes for anexplosive contradiction. And explode it does, as you and I know.And we live in an age of conflagration: it only needs the risingbirth rate to worsen the food shortage, it only needs the newlyborn to fear living a little more than dying, and for the torrent ofviolence to sweep away all the barriers. In Algeria and Angola,Europeans are massacred on sight. This is the age of the boomerang,the third stage of violence: it flies right back at us, it strikesus and, once again, we have no idea what hit us. The "liberals"remain stunned: they admit we had not been polite enough tothe "natives," that it would have been wiser and fairer to grantthem certain rights, wherever possible; they would have beenonly too happy to admit them in batches without a sponsor tothat exclusive club-the human species; and now this barbaricexplosion of madness is putting them in the same boat as thewretched colonists. The metropolitan Left is in a quandary: it iswell aware of the true fate of the "natives," the pitiless oppressionthey are subjected to, and does not condemn their revolt,knowing that we did everything to provoke it. But even so, itthinks, there are limits: these guerrillas should make every effortto show some chivalry; this would be the best way of provingthey are men. Sometimes the Left berates them: ''You're goingtoo far; we cannot support you any longer." They don't care ashit for its support; it can shove it up its ass for what it's worth.As soon as the war began, they realized the harsh truth: we areall equally as good as each other. We have all taken advantageof them, they have nothing to prove, they won't give anyonepreferential treatment. A single duty, a single objective: drive outcolonialism by every means. And the most liberal among uswould be prepared to accept this, at a pinch, but they cannot helpseeing in this trial of strength a perfectly inhuman method usedby subhumans to claim for themselves a charter for humanity:let them acquire it as quickly as possible, but in order to meritit, let them use nonviolent methods. Our noble souls are racist.They would do well to read Fanon; he shows perfectly clearlythat this irrepressible violence is neither a storm in a teacup northe reemergence of savage instincts nor even a consequence ofresentment: it is man reconstructing himself. I believe we onceknew, and have since forgotten, the truth that no indulgence canerase the marks of violence: violence alone can eliminate them.And the colonized are cured of colonial neurosis by driving thecolonist out by force. Once their rage explodes, they recover theirlost coherence, they experience self-knowledge through reconstructionofthemselves; from afar we see their war as the triumphof barbarity; but it proceeds on its own to gradually emancipatethe fighter and progressively eliminates the colonial darkness insideand out. As soon as it begins it is merciless. Either one mustremain terrified or become terrifying-which means surrenderingto the dissociations ofa fabricated life or conquering the unityof one's native soil. When the peasants lay hands on a gun, theold myths fade, and one by one the taboos are overturned: afighter's weapon is his humanity. For in the first phase of therevolt killing is a necessity: killing a European is killing two birdswith one stone, eliminating in one go oppressor and oppressed:leaving one man dead and the other man free; for the first timethe survivor feels a national soil under his feet. In that momentthe nation does not forsake him: it is there wherever he goes andwherever he is-always by his side, it merges with his freedom.But after the initial surprise the colonial army responds: one mustunite or be massacred. Tribal conflicts diminish and tend todisappear: firstly, because they jeopardize the revolution, andmore precisely because they had no other purpose but to shift

lviPREFACEPREFACEIviii"or'I::onto false enemies. When they persist-like in theis because they are fueled by the agents of colonialmovesforward: every comrade in arms representsthe nation for every other comrade. brotherly love isthe reverse side of the hatred they feel you: linked asby the fact that each ofkill again. Fanon shows his readersthe need for and the risks ofmense the task, at each new of the undertaking, the revolutionaryconsciousness deepens. last complexes are sweptaway: just let them try and talk about a "dependency complex"in an ALN soldier. Freed from his blinkers, the peasant becomesaware of his needs: these were killing him, but he tried to ignorethem; now he discovers their infinite demands. In this atmosphereof mass violence - in order to hold out five or eight years,as the Algerians have done-the military, social, and politicaldemands are indistinguishable. The war-if only the question ofand responsibilities-establishes new structures thatof peace. Here then is man instatednewdaughters of a horrible present;here he isabout to born or born everyday in the heat ofof the colonists killed,re-embarked or assimilated, theing way to socialist brotherhood. And this is stiU not t:lluugIl:fighter takes short cuts; you don't think he is risking his life toturn himself into an old "metropolitan." Look how patient he is:perhaps he dreams sometimes of another Dien Bien Phu; butdon't believe he is really counting on it: he is a beggar who inhis wretchedness is fighting the rich and their military might. Inexpectation of decisive victories, and very often expecting nothing,he works his enemies to distraction. This is not without terrifyinglosses; the colonial army turns savage: police checks,search operations, roundups, and punitive raids; they massacrewomen and children. This new man knows that his life as a manbegins with death; he considers himself a potential candidate fordeath. He will be killed: it is not just that he acceptsbeing killed, he is of it. This walking dead manhis wife and his sons; he has seen so much agony hetory to survival; others will profit from the victory, nottoo weary. But this weariness of heart is the reasonincredible courage. We find our humanity this side of death anddespair; he finds it on the other side of torture and death. Wesown the wind; he is the hurricane. Offspring of violence,draws every moment of his humanity from it: we were menat his he becomes a man at ours. Another man: a manhigher quality.He has shown the way: as spokesman forthefor union, the unity of the Africanhasachieved his purpose. Ifthe hishaveclosed the book, it continues to haunt us, spitetorical phenomenon of CUJUlllz.aUUll,about us-which was certainly notauthor: for we sense the force of these peoples waging a revolutionand our only response is violence. A new moment in violence,therefore, occurs, and this time it involves us because it isthe process of changing us to the same extent it changes thefalse "native." Everyone can think what he likes, provided howevcrthat he thinks: in a Europe stunned by the blows it is rethesedays, the slightest distraction of thought in France,and England amounts to a criminal complicity withbook had certainly no need for a preface.as it is not addressed to us. I have written one, however,we, too, peoplesEurope, we arecolonist inlet'ssee what has become of us.side every one us is surgically extracted In aLet's take a good look at ourselves, if we haveFirst of all we must confront an unexpected sight: thetease of our humanism. Not a pretty sight in its nakedness:

IviiiPREFACEPREFACEIixll~.nothing but a dishonest ideology, an exquisiteplundering; its tokens of sympathy and affectation, alibis for ouracts of aggression. The pacifists are a fine sight: neither victimsnor torturers! Come now! If you are not a victim when the governmentyou voted for and the army your young brothers servedcommits "genocide," without hesitation or remorse, then, youare undoubtedly a torturer. And if you choose to be a victim, riskoneor two days in prison, you are simply trying to take theeasy way out. But you can't; there is no way out. Get this intoiolence were only a thing of the future, if exploitaoppressionnever existed on earth, perhaps displays ofnonviolence might relieve the conflict. But if the entireeven your nonviolent thoughts, is governedold oppression, your passiveness serves noput you on the side of the oppressors.You know full well we are exploiters. You know full well wehave taken the gold and minerals and then oil from the "newcontinents," and shipped them back to the old metropolises. Notwithout excellent results in the shape of palaces, cathedrals, andcenters of industry; and then when crisis loomed, the colonialmarkets were there to cushion the blow or divert it. Stuffed withEurope granted humanity de iure to all its inhabitants:us, a man means an accomplice, for we have all profited fromexploitation. This pale, bloated continent ended up bylapsing into what Fanon rightly calls "narcissism." Cocteau wasirritated by Paris, "this city that neverAnd Europe, what else is it doing? Andmonster, North America? What empty chatter:fraternity, love, honor, country, and what This did not preventus from making racist remarks at the same time: dirty nigger,filthy Jew, dirty Arab. Noble minds, liberal and sympatheticneocolonialists,in other words-claimed to be shocked by thisinconsistency, since the only way the European could makehimself man was by fabricating slaves and monsters. As long asstahlS of"native" existed, the imposture remained unmasked.We saw in the human species an abstract premise of universalityserved as a pretext for concealing more concrete practices:was a race of subhumans overseas who, thanks to us, might,in a thousand years perhaps, attain our status. In short, we tookthe human race to mean elite. Today the "native" unmasks histruth; as a our exclusive club reveals its weakness: it wasnothing more and nothing less than a minority. is worsenews: since the others are turning into men against us, apparentlywe are the enemy of the human race; the elite is revealingits true nature - a gang. Our beloved values are losing their feathers;if you take a closer look there is not one that isn't tainted withblood. If you need proof, remember those noble words: Howgenerous France is. Generous? Us? And what about Setif? Andabout those eight years of fierce fighting that have cost theof over a million Algerians? And the torture by electricity?you must understand we are not being blamed for havingbetrayed some mission or other: for the good reason we don't haveany. It is our very generosity that is being challenged; such abeautiful, melodious word means only one thing: status granted.For the new men on the other side who have been set free, nobodyhas the power or the privilege to deny anybodyEveryone has every right. Over everything. And the dayour human race has fully matured, it will not define as thesum of the inhabitants of the globe, but as the infinite unity oftheir reciprocities. I shall stop here; you won't have trouble finishingthe job; for the first and last time you only need to lookour aristocratic virtues in the face: they are doomed; how couldsurvive the aristocracy of subhumans who engenderedA few years back, a bourgeois, and colonialist, commentatorhad only this to say in defense of the West: "We are noangels. But at least we hemp rPTTlm"p "Wh::lt an admission! In thepast our continentthe Rights of Man, and the swastika. Weare worth. And now the only thing they claIm can save usshipwreck is the very Christian feeling of guilt. It's theas

IxPREFACEPREFACElxi~, 'f'f!,can see, Europe leaks like a sieve. What then has happened?Quite simply this: we were the subjects of history, and now we arethe objects. The power has been reversed, decolonizationis in progress; all our mercenaries can try and do is delay itscompletion.But in order to do that, the former metropolises would haveto pull out all the stops and commit all their forces to a battIein advance. That old colonial brutality that made Bugeauda dubious hero, here it is at the end of the colonial venture appliedtenfold yet still insufficient. The troops are dispatched toAlgeria where they have held out for seven years with noThe violence has changed direction; victorious, we enforced itwithout it ever seeming to affect us; it dislocated the other,whereas our humanism as men remained intact. United by profit,metropolitans baptized their commonwealth of crimes FraandLove. Today, the very same violence, blockaded everywhere,comes back to us through our soldiers, internalizes itselfand possesses us. Involution begins: the colonized reintegratethemselves, and we, the reactionaries and the liberals, thenists and the metropolitans, disintegrate. Fury and fear areready stripped naked: they are laid bare in the brutal punitiveraids in Algiers. Where are the savages now? Where is the barbarity?Nothing is missing, not even the drums: the car hornshammer out, "Algeria for the French," while the Europeans burntIle Muslims alive. Not so long ago, Fanon recalls, a ofpsychiatrists deplored Algerian criminality: these people are killingthemselves, they said, it's not normal; the cortex of the Algerianmust be underdeveloped. In Central Africa others establishedthat "the Mrican uses his frontal lobes very little." These scientistswould do well to pursue their research in Europe, and especially among the French. For we, too, must be affected by frontalidleness for some time now: our patriots have been assassinatingtheir fellow countrymen, and if they find no one home, they blowup the concierge and the house. This is only the beginning; civilwar is predicted for autumn or next spring. Our lobes, however,seem perfectly normal: couldn't the reason be rather that, powerlessto crush the "native," violence turns inward, bottlesup deep inside us, and seeks an outlet? The unity of the Algerianpeople produces the disunity ofthe French: throughout theterritories of the ex-metropolises the tribes are dancing and preparingto fight. Terror has left Mrica to settle here; for there arefanatics who want to make us pay with our blood for theshame of having been beaten by the "native," and then there arethe others, all the others, the liberals, the hardliners oftheless Left who are just as guilty (after Bizerta, after the Septemberlynchings, who took to the streets to shout "Enough is enough"?),but more composed. The fever is mounting in them, too, as wellas spiteful anger. But they're scared stiff! They conceal their ragebehind myths and complicated rituals. In order to delay the finalreckoning and the hour of truth, they have given us a GrandMagician as our leader whose function is to keep us in the darkat any cost. To no effect; hailed by some, rejected by others, violencegoes round in circles: one day it explodes in Metz, the nextday in Bordeaux; now it's here, then it's there, like the gamepass the slipper. Slowly but surely it is our turn to head downthe road to "native" status. But in order to become genuine "natives"our territory would have to be occupied by the formerlycolonized and we would have to be starving to death. This willnot be the case; no, it is the demise of colonialism that possessesus; we shall soon be mounted by it in all its arrogance and senility;that is our zar, that is our loa. And you will be convinced onreading Fanon's last chapter that it is better to be a "native"the pit of misery than an erstwhile colonist. It is not right that apolice officer should be obliged to torture ten hours a day: atrate his nerves will go to pieces, unless torturers are forbidden towork overtime in their own interest. When you want to safeguardthe morale of the nation and the army under the rigor of the law,it is not right for the latter to systematically demoralize the former.Nor for a country with a republican tradition to entrust its youngmen by the hundreds of thousands to putschist officers. It is not

lxiiPREFACEmy fellow countrymen, you who know all the crimes committedour name, it is really not right not to breathe a wordabout them to anybody, not even to your own soul, for fear ofhaving to pass judgment on yourselves. At first you had no idea,I am prepared to believe it, then you suspected, and now youknow, but you still keep silent. Eight years ofsilence have a damagingeffect. And in vain: the blinding glare of torture is high inthe sky, flooding the entire country; under this blaze oflight, nota single laugh rings true any longer, not a single face that is notpainted to mask the anger and the fear, no longer a single actthat does not betray our disgust and our complicity. Todayever two Frenchmen meet, there is a dead body between them.And did I say one ... ? France was once the name of a country;be carefullest it become the name of a neurosis 1961.Will we recover? Yes. Violence, like Achilles' spear, can healwounds it has inflicted. Today we are in chains, humiliated,sick with fyar: at our lowest ebb. Fortunately for us, this is stillnot enough for the colonialist aristocracy: it cannot accomplishits rearguard mission in Algeria until it has first finished colonizingthe French. Every day we shrink back from the fight,rest assured it will be inevitable. The killers, they need it; theywill swoop down on us and lash out haphazardly. The time forillusionists and wizardry is over: either you fight or rot in thecamps. This is the last stage of the dialectic: you condemn thiswar but you don't yet dare declare your support for the Algerianfighters; have no fear, you can count on the colonists and mercenariesto help you up your mind. Perhaps, then,your back to the wall, you will finally unleash this new violencearoused in you by old, rehashed crimes. But, as they say, that isanother story. The history of man. The time is corning, I am convinced,when we shall join the ranks of those who are making it.The Wretched of the Earth September 1961

On Violencenational reawakening, restoration of the nationto the people or Commonwealth, whatever the name used,whatever the latest expression, decolonizationevent. At whatever level we studychange ofname for a sports club, the guest list at a cocktail party,members of a police force or the board ofdirectors of a state orprivate bank-decolonization is quite simply the substitutionofone "species" of mankind by another. The substitution is unconditional,absolute, total, and seamless. We could go on tothe rise ofa new nation, the establishment ofa new state,economic and political orientation. But instead we have decided to describe the kind of tabularasa which from the outset defines any decolonizatiois singularly important is that it starts from the very first daythe basic claims of the colonized. In actual fact, proof of successlies in a social fabric that has been changed inside out. Thischange is extraordinarily important because it is desired, clamoredfor, and demanded. The need for this change exists in araw, repressed, and reckless state in the lives and consciousnesscolonized men and women. But the eventuality of such achange is also experienced as a terrifying future in the consciousnessof another of men and women:the colonists.1

2 3THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE* * *Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of theworld, is clearly an agenda for total disorder. But it cannot beaccomplished by the wave ofa magic wand, a natural cataclysm,or a gentleman's agreement. Decolonization, we know, is anhistorical process: In other words, it can only be understood, itcan only find its significance and become self coherent insofaras we can discern the history-making movement which gives itform and substance, Decolonization is the encounter betweentwo congenitally antagonistic forces that in fact owe their singularityto the kind of reification secreted and nurtured by the colonialsituation, Their first confrontation was colored by violenceand their cohabitation-or rather the exploitation of the colonizedby the colonizer-continued at the point of the bayonetand under cannon fire. The colonist and the colonized are oldacquaintances. And consequently, the colonist is right when hesays he "knows" them. It is the colonist who fabricated and continuesto fabricate the colonized subject. The colonist derives hisvalidity, i.e., his wealth, from the colonial system.Decolonization never goes unnoticed, for it focuses on andfundamentally alters being, and transforms the spectator crushedto a nonessential state into a privileged actor, captured in a virtuallygrandiose fashion by the spotlight of History. It infuses anew rhythm, specific to a new generation of men, with a newlanguage and a new humanity. Decolonization is truly the creationof new men. But such a creation cannot be attributed to asupernatural power: The "thing" colonized becomes a manthrough the very process of liberation.Decolonization, therefore, implies the urgent need to thoroughlychallenge the colonial situation. Its definition can, if wewant to describe it accurately, be summed up in the well-knownwords: "The last shall be first." Decolonization is verification ofthis. At a descriptive level, therefore, any decolonization is asuccess.l~ * *its bare reality, decolonization reeks of red-hot cannonballsand bloody knives. For the last can be the first only after a murderousand decisive confrontation between the two protagonists.determination to have the last move up to the front, to havethem clamber up (too quickly, say some) the famous echelonsan organized society, can only succeed by resorting to everymeans, including, of course, violence.You do not disorganize a society, however primitive it maybe, with such an agenda if you are not determined from thevery start to smash every obstacle encountered. The colonized,who have made up their mind to make such an agenda into adriving force, have been prepared for violence from time immemorial.As soon as they are born it is obvious to them thattheir cramped world, riddled with taboos, can only be challengedby out and out violence.The colonial world is a compartmentalized world. It is obviouslyas superfluous to recall the existence of "native" towns andEuropean towns, of schools for "natives" and schools for Europeans,as it is to recall apartheid in South Mrica. Yet if we penetrateinside this compartmentalization we shall at least bring tolight some of its key aspects. By penetrating its geographicalconfiguration and classification we shall be able to delineate thebackbone on which the decolonized society is reorganized.The colonized world is a world divided in two. The dividingline, the border, is represented by the barracks and the policestations. In the colonies, the official, legitimate agent, the spokespersonfor the colonizer and the regime of oppression, ispolice officer or the soldier. In capitalist societies, education,whether secular or religious, the teaching of moral reflexeshanded down from father to son, the exemplary integrity ofworkersdecorated after fifty years of loyal and faithful service, thefostering oflove for harmony and wisdom, those aesthetic formsof respect for the status quo, instill in the exploited a mood of

4THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE5, '. theof sermonizers, counselors,between the exploited and the authorities. In colonial regions,however, the proximity and frequent, direct intervention by thepolice and the military ensure the colonized are kept under closescrutiny, and contained by rifle butts and napalm. We have seenhow the government's agent uses a language of pure violence.The agent does not alleviate oppression or mask domination. Hedisplays and demonstrates them with the clear conscience of theand brings violence into the homes and minds ofcolonized subject.sector is notsector. two confront eachhigher unity. Governed by a purelylow the dictates of mutual exclusion: There is nopossible, one of them is superfluous. The colonist's sector is asector built to last, all stone and steeL It's a sector of lights andpaved roads, where the trash cans constantly overflow with strangeand wonderful garbage, undreamed-of leftovers. The colonist'sfeet can never be glimpsed, except perhaps in the sea, but thenyou can never get close enough. They are protected by solid shoesa sector where the streets are clean and smooth, without aa stone. The colonist's sector is a sated, sluggishgood things. Thecolonist's sector is aa sector of foreigners.The colonized's sector, or atshanty town, the Medina, the reservation, is ainhabited by disreputable people. You are born anywhere, anyhow.You die anywhere, from anything. It's a world with no space,people are piled one on top of the other, the shacks squeezedtightly together. The colonized's sector is a famished sector,hungry for bread, meat, shoes, coal, and light. The colonized'ssector is a sector that crouches and cowers, a sector on its knees,a sector that is prostrate. It's a sector of niggers, a sector oftowel heads. The gaze that the colonized subject casts at thecolonist's sector is a look of lust, a look of envy. Dreams of posofpossession: of sitting at the colonist's tablebed, preferably with his wife. The colonizedman is an envious man. The colonist is aware of this as he catchesthe furtive glance, and constantly on his realizesthat: "They want to take our place." And it's true there is not onecolonized subject who at least once a day does not dream of takingthe place of the colonist.This compartmentalized world, this world divided in two, isinhabited by different species. The singularity of the colonialcontext lies in the fact that economic reality, inequality, andenormous disparities in lifestyles never manage to mask thehuman reality. Looking at the immediacies of the colonial context,it is clear that what divides this world is first and foremostrace one belongs to. In the colonies the ecoisalso a Sl1nerstructure. The cause is effect:You are rich because you areare rich. This is why a Marxist analysisstretched when it comes to addressing the colonial issue. It isnot just the concept of the precapitalist society, so effectivelystudied by Marx, which needs to reexamined here. The serfis essentially different from the knight, but a reference to divineright is needed to justify this difference in status. In the coloniesthe foreigner imposed himself using his cannons and machines.Despite the success of his pacification, in spite of his appropriathecolonist always remains a foreigner. It is not the factoestates,or the bank account which primarily characterize" The ruling species is first and foremost theoutsider from elsewhere, different from the indigenous population,"the others."The violence which governed the ordering ofthe colonialwhich tirelessly punctuated the destruction of the indigenous

6 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE7~, social fabric, and demolished unchecked the systems of referenceof the country's economy, lifestyles, and modes of dress,this same violence will be vindicated and appropriated when,taking history into their own hands, the colonized swarm intothe forbidden cities. To blow the colonial world to smithereensis henceforth a clear image within the grasp and imagination ofevery colonized subject. To dislocate the colonial world does notmean that once the borders have been eliminated there will bea right of way between the two sectors. To destroy the colonialworld means nothing less than demolishing the colonist's sector,burying it deep within the earth or banishing it from theterritory.Challenging the colonial world is not a rational confrontationof viewpoints. It is not a discourse on the universal, but the impassionedclaim by the colonized that their world is fundamentallydifferent. The colonial world is a Manichaean world. Thecolonist is not content with physically limiting the space of thecolonized, i.e., with the help of his agents oflaw and order. As ifto illustrate the totalitarian nature of colonial exploitation, thecolonist tums the colonized into a kind of quintessence of eviL'Colonized society is not merely portrayed as a society withoutvalues. The colonist is not content with stating that the colonizedworld has lost its values or worse never possessed any. The "native"is declared impervious to ethics, representing not only theabsence of values but also the negation of values. He is, dare wesay it, the enemy of values. In other words, absolute evil. A corrosiveelement, destroying everything within his reach, a corruptingelement, distorting everything which involves aesthetics ormorals, an agent of malevolent powers, an unconscious and incurableinstrument of blind forces. And Monsieur Meyer couldsay in all seriousness in the French National Assembly that we1 We have demonstrated in Black White Masks the mechanism ofthis Manichaean world.should not let the Republic be defiled by the penetration of theAlgerian people. Values are, in fact, irreversibly poisoned andinfected as soon as they come into contact with the colonized.The customs of the colonized, their traditions, their myths, especiallytheir myths, are the very mark of this indigenceinnate depravity. This is why we should place DDT, which destroysparasites, carriers of disease, on the same level as Christianity,which roots out heresy, natural impulses, and evil. Thedecline of yellow fever and the advances made by evangelizingform part of the same balance sheet. But triumphant reports bythe missions in fact tell us how deep the seeds of alienation havebeen sown among the colonized. I am talking of Christianity andthis should come as no surprise to anybody. The Church in thecolonies is a white man's Church, a foreigners' Church. It doesnot call the colonized to the of God, but to the ways of thewhite man, to the ways of the master, the ways of the oppressor.And as we know, in this story many are called but few are chosen.Sometimes this Manichaeanism reaches its logical conclusionand dehumanizes the colonized subject. In plain talk, he is reducedto the state of an animal. And consequently, when thecolonist speaks of the colonized he uses zoological terms. Allusionis made to the slithery movements of the yellow race,odors from the "native" quarters, to the hordes, the stink, theswarming, the seething, and the gesticulations. In his endeavorsat description and finding the right word, the colonist refersconstantly to the bestiary. The European seldom has a problemwith figures of speech. But the colonized, who immediately graspthe intention of the colonist and the exact case being madeagainst them, know instantly what he is thinking. This explosivepopulation growth, those hysterical masses, those blank faces,those shapeless, obese bodies, this headless, tailless cohort, thesechildren who seem not to belong to anyone, this indolencesprawling under the sun, this vegetating existence, all this is partof the coloni~l vocabulary. General de Gaulle speaks of "yellowtil ''&it rift

---8 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE9multitudes," and Monsieur Mauriac of the black, brown, andyellow hordes that will soon invade our shores. The colonizedknow all that and roar with laughter every time they hear themselvescalled an animal by the other. For they know they are notanimals. And at the very moment when they discover theirmanity, they begin to sharpen their weapons to secure its victory.As soon as the colonized begin to strain at the leash and topose a threat to the colonist, they are assigned a series of goodsouls who in the "Symposiums on Culture" spell out the specificityand richness of Western values. But every time the issueof Western values crops up, the colonized grow tense and theirmuscles seize up. During the period of decolonization the colonizedare called upon to be reasonable. They are offered rocksolidvalues, they are told in great detail that decolonizationshould not mean regression, and that they must rely on valueswhich have proved to be reliable and worthwhile. Now it sohappens that when the colonized hear a speech on Westernculture they draw their machetes or at least check to see they areclose to hand. The supremacy ofwhite values is stated with suchviolence, the victorious confrontation of these values with thelifestyle and beliefs of the colonized is so impregnated with aggressiveness,that as a counter measure the colonized rightlymake a mockery of them whenever they are mentioned. Incolonial context the colonist only quits undermining the colonizedonce the latter have proclaimed loud and clear that whitevalues reign supreme. In the period of decolonization the colonizedmasses thumb their noses at these very values, shower themwith insults and vomit them up.Such an occurrence normally goes unseen because, duringdecolonization, certain colonized intellectuals have establisheda dialogue with the bourgeoisie of the colonizing country. Duringthis period the indigenous population is seen as a blurredmass. The few "native" personalities whom the colonialist bour-geois have chanced to encounter have had insufficient impactto alter their current perception and nuance their thinking.During the period of liberation, however, the colonialist bourgeoisiefrantically seeks contact with the colonized "elite." It isthis elite that the famous dialogue on values is established.When the colonialist bourgeoisie realizes it is impossible tomaintain its domination over the colonies it decides to wage arearguard campaign in the fields of culture, values, and technology,etc. But what we should never forget is that the immensemajority of colonized peoples are impervious to such issues. Fora colonized people, the most essential value, because it is themost meaningful, is first and foremost the land: the land, whichmust provide bread and, naturally, dignity. But this dignity hasnothing to do with "human" dignity. The colonized subjectnever heard of such an ideal. All he has ever seen on his land isthat he can be arrested, beaten, and starved with impunity;no sermonizer on morals, no priest has ever stepped in to bearthe blows in his place or share his bread. For the colonized, tobe a moralist quite plainly means silencing the arrogance of thecolonist, breaking his spiral of violence, in a word ejecting himoutright from the picture. The famous dictum which states thatmen are equal will find its illustration in the colonies onlywhen the colonized subject states he is equal to the colonist.Taking it a step further, he is determined to fight to be more thanthe colonist. In fact, he has already decided to take his place. Aswe have seen, it is the collapse of an entire moral and materialuniverse. The intellectual who, for his part, has adopted theabstract, universal values of the colonizer is prepared to fight sothat colonist and colonized can live in peace in a new world. Butwhat he does not see, because precisely colonialism and all itsmodes of thought have seeped into him, is that the colonist isno longer interested in staying on and coexisting once the colocontexthas disappeared. It is no coincidence that, evenbefore any negotiation between the Algerian government and theFrench government, the so-called "liberal" European minority

10 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE11falready made its position clear: it is clamoring for dual citizenship,nothing less. By sticking to the abstract the colonist isforced to make a very substantial leap into the unknown.us be honest, the colonist knows perfectly well that no jargonis a substituThe colonized subjecting and his heartbeats are the same ascovers that the skin of a colonist is not"native's." In other words, his world receives aThe colonized's revolutionary new assurance stems from this. If,in fact, my life is worth as much as the colonist's, his look canno longer strike fear into me or nail me to the spot and his voicecan no longer petrify me. I am no longer uneasy in his presence.In reality, to hell with him. Not only does his presence no longerbother me, but I am already preparing to waylay him in such away that soon he will have no other solution but to flee.The colonial context, as we have said, is characterized by thedichotomy it inflicts on the world. Decolonization unifies thisa radical decision to remove its heterogeneity, by unifyingit on the grounds of nation andrace. To quotethe biting words of Senegalese patriots on the maneuvers oftheirpresident, Senghor: 'We asked for the Mricanization of the topjobs and all Senghor does is Africanize the Europeans." Meaningthat the colonized can see right if decolonizatiortaking place or not: The minimum demand iscome the first.But the colonized intellectual introduces a variation ondemand and in fact, there seems to be no lack of motivation tofill senior positions as administrators, technicians, and experts.The colonized, however, equate this nepotism with acts of sabotageand it is not unusual to hear them declare: "What is the pointof being independent then ... ?"Wherever an authentic liberation struggle has been fought,wherever the blood of the people has been shed and the armedhas lasted long enough to encourage the intellectuals towithdraw to their rank and file base,cation ofthe superstructure borrowedthe colonialist bourgeois circles. In its narcissistic monologuecolonialist bourgeoisie, by way of its academics, had implantedin the minds of the colonized that the essential values - meaningWestern values remain eternal despite all errors attributableto man. The colonized intellectual accepted the cogencyof these ideas and there in the back of his mind stood a sentinelon duty guarding the Greco-Roman pedestal. But during thestruggle for liberation, when the colonized intellectual touchesbase again with his people, this artificial sentinel is smashed tosmithereens. All the Mediterranean values, the triumph of theand Beauty turn into pale, lifelessappear a iumble of dead words.Those values which seemed tobecause they nothing in commonin which the people are engaged.And first among them is individualism. The colonizedtuallearned from his masters that the individual must assertself. The colonialist bourgeoisie hammered into the colonizedmind the notion of a society of individuals where each is lockedin his subjectivity, where wealth lies in thought. But the colonizedintellectual who is lucky enough to bunker down with the peopleduring the liberation struggle, will soon discover the falsity of thistheory. Involvement in the organization of the struggle will alreadyintroduce him to a different vocabulary. "Brother," "sister," "comoutlawedby the colonialist bourgeoisie becausebrother is my wallet and my comrade, myscheming. In a kind of auto-da-fe, the colonized intellectualwitnesses the destruction ofall his idols: egoism, arrogant recrimination,and the idiotic, childish need to havecolonized intellectual, pulverized byalso discover the strength of the village assemblies, the powerof the people's commissions and the extraordinary productivenessof neighborhood and section committee meetings. Personal

12 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE13\interests are now the collective intercst because in reamy everyonewill be discovered by the French legionnaires and consequentlymassacred or else everyone will be saved. In such acontext, the "every man for himself' concept, the atheist's formis prohibited.Self-criticism has been much talked about recently, but fewrealize that it was first of all an Mrican institution. Whether itbe in the djemaas of North Mrica or the palavers ofWest Mrica,tradition has it that disputes which break out in a village areworked out in public. By this I mean collectivea touch of humor because is relaxed, becauseend we all want the same thing. The intellectual shedscaleulating, all those strange silences, those ulterior motives, thatthinking and secrecy as he gradually plunges deeperamong the people. In this respect then we can genuinely say thatthe community has already triumphed and exudes its own light,its own reason.But when decolonization occurs in regions where the liberationstruggle has not yet made its impact sufficiently felt, hereare the same smart alecks, the sly, shrewd intellectuals whosebehavior and ways of thinking, pickedshoulders with the colonialist bourgeoisie, have remained intact.Spoiled children of yesterday's colonialism and today'sgovcming powers, they oversee the looting of the few nationalresources. Ruthless in their scheming and legal pilfering they usethe poverty, now nationwide, to work their way to the top throughimport-export holdings, limited companies, playing the stockmarket, and nepotism. They insist on the nationalization ofbusinesstransactions, i.e., reserving contracts and business deals fornationals. Their doctrine is to proclaim the absolute need for nationalizingthe theft of the nation. In this barren, national phase,so-called period of their success at plunderingsparks anger and violence from the people. Inpresent international and African context, the poverty-strickenand independent population achieves a social consciousness ata rapidly accelerating pace. This, the petty individualists will soonfind out for themselves.In order to assimilate the culture of the oppressor and ventureinto his fold, the colonized subject has had to pawn somepossessions. For instance, one of the things hehas had to assimilate is the way the colonialist bourgeoisie thinks.This is apparent in the colonized intellectual's inaptitude toengage in dialogue. For he is unable to make himself inessentialwhen confronted with a purpose or idea. On the other hand,when he operates among the people he is constantly awestruck.He is literally disarmed by their good faith and integrity. He isthen constantly at risk of becoming a demagogue. He turns intoa kind of mimic man who nods his assent to every word bv thepeople, transformed by him into an arbiter oftruth. Butthe unemployed and the starving do not lay claim todo not they represent the truth because they are the truthvery being.During this period the intellectual behaves objectively like avulgar opportunist. His maneuvering, in fact, is still at work. Thepeople would never think of rejecting him or cutting the groundfrom under his feet. What the people want is for everything tobe pooled together. The colonized intellectual's insertion intothis human tide will find itself on hold because of his curiousobsession with detail. It is not that the people are opposed toanalysis. They appreciate clarification, understand the reasoningbehind an argument, and like to see where they are going.But at the start ofhis cohabitation with the people the colonizedgives priority to detail and tends to forget the verypurpose of the struggle-the defeat of colonialism. Swept alongby the many facets of the struggle, he tends to concentrate onlocal tasks, undertaken zealously but almost always too pedantically.He does not always see the overall picture. He introducesthe notion of disciplines, specialized areas and fields intothat awesome mixer and grinder called a people's revolution.

14 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE15Committed to certain frontline issues he tends to lose sight of. of the movement and in the event offailure at the locallevel he succumbs to doubt, even despair. The people, on theother hand, take a global stance from the very start. "Bread andland: how do we go about getting bread and land?" And this stubborn,apparently limited, narrow-minded aspect of the people isfinally the most rewarding and effective working modeLThe question of truth must also be taken into consideration.For the people, only fellow nationals are ever owed the truth.absolute truth, no discourse on the transparency of the soulcan erode this position. In answer to the lie of the colonial situation,the colonized subject responds with a lie. Behavior towardfellow nationalists is open and honest,pherable toward the colonists. Truth is what hastenscation of the colonial regime, what fosters the emergence of thenation. Truth is what protects the "natives" and undoes the foreigners.In the colonial context there is no truthful behavior. Andgood is quite simply what hurts them most.We have seen that the Manichaeanism that firstgoverned colonial society is maintained intact during the periodof decolonization. In fact the colonist never ceases to beenemy, the antagonist, in plain words public enemy number 1.The oppressor, ensconced in his sector, creates the spiral, thespiral of domination, exploitation and looting. In the other sector,the colonized subject lies coiled and robbed, and fuels asbest he can the spiral which moves seamlessly from the shorescolony to the palaces and docks of the metropolis. In thispetrified zone, not a ripple on the surface, the palm trees swayagainst the clouds, the waves of the sea lap against the shore, theraw materials come and go, legitimating the colonist's presence,while more dead than alive the colonized subject crouches forever in the same old dream. The colonist makes history. His lifeis an epic, an odyssey. He is invested with the very beginning:"We made this land." He is the guarantor for its existence: "If weleave, all will be lost, and this land will return to the Dark Ages."Opposite him, listless beings wasted away by fevers andby "ancestral customs" compose a virtually petrified backgroundto the innovative dynamism of colonial mercantilism.colonist makes history and he knows it. And because herefers constantly to the history of his metropolis, he plainly indicatesthat here he is the extension of this metropolis. The historyhe writes is therefore not the history of the country he isdespoiling, but the history of his own nation's looting, raping,and starving to death. The immobility to which the colonizedsubject is condemned can be challenged only if he decides toput an end to the history of colonization and the history of despoliationin order to bring to life the history of the nation, thehistory of decolonization.A world compartmentalized, Manichaean and petrified, aworld of statues: the statue of the generalthe statue of the engineer who built the bridge. A world cocksureof itself, crushing with its stoniness the backbones of thosescarred by the whip. That is the colonial world. The colonialsubject is a man penned in; apartheid is but one method of compartmentalizingthe colonial world. The first thing the coloniallearns is to remain in his place and not overstep its limits.Hence the dreams of the colonial subject are muscular dreams,dreams of action, dreams of aggressive vitality. I dream I amjumping, swimming, running, and climbing. I dream I burst outlaughing, I am leaping across a river and chased by a pack of carsthat never catches up with me. During colonization the colonizedsubject frees himself night after night between nine in theevening and six in the morning.colonized subject will first train this aggressiveness sedimentedin his muscles against his own people. This is the periodwhen black turns on black, and police officers and magistrates

16 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE17don't know which way to turn when faced with the surprisingsurge ofNorth Mrican criminality. We shall see later what shouldbe made of this phenomenon. 2 Confronted with the colonialorder the colonized subject is in a permanent state of tension.The colonist's world is a hostile world, a world which excludesat the same time incites envy. We have seen how the colonizedalways dream of taking the colonist's place. Not ofbecominga colonist, but of replacing him. This hostile, oppressive andaggressive world, bulldozing the colonized masses, represents notonly the hell they would like to escape as quickly as possible buta paradise within arm's reach guarded by ferocious watchdogs.The colonized subject is constantly on his guard: Confusedby the myriad signs ofthe colonial world he never knows whetherhe is out of line. Confronted with a world configured by thecolonizer, the colonized subject is always presumed guilty. Thecolonized does not accept his guilt, but rather considers it a kindof curse, a sword of Damocles. But deep down the colonizedsubject acknowledges no authority. He is dominated but notdomesticated. He is made to feel inferior, but by no means convincedof his inferiority. He patiently waits for the colonist to lethis guard down and then jumps on him. The muscles of thecolonized are always tensed. It is not that he is anxious or terrorized,but he is always ready to change his role as game for that ofhunter. The colonized subject is a persecuted man who is foreverdreaming of becoming the persecutor. The symbols of societysuch as the police force, bugle calls in the barracks, militaryparades, and the flag flying aloft, serve not only as inhibitors butalso as stimulants. They do not signify: "Stay where you are." Butrather "Get ready to do the right thing." And in fact if evercolonized subject begins to doze off or forget, the colonist's arroganceand preoccupation with testing the solidity of the colo2 Colonial Wars and Mental Disorders, chapter 5.nial system will remind him on so many occasions that the greatshowdown cannot be postponed indefinitely. This impulse totake the colonist's place maintains a constant muscular tonus. Itis a known fact that under certain emotional circumstances anobstacle actually escalates action.relationship between colonist and colonized is onephysical mass. Against the greater number the colonist pits hisforce. The colonist is an exhibitionist. His safety concerns leadhim to remind the colonized out loud: "Here I am the master."The colonist keeps the colonized in a state of rage, which heprevents from boiling over. The colonized are caught intightly knit web of colonialism. But we have seen how on the insidethe colonist achieves only a pseudo-petrification. The musculartension of the colonized periodically erupts into bloodyfighting between tribes, clans, and individuals.At the individual level we witness a genuine negation of commonsense. Whereas the colonist or police officer can beat thecolonized subject day in and day out, insult him and shoveto his knees, it is not uncommon to see the colonized subjectdraw his knife at the slightest hostile or aggressive look fromanother colonized subject. For the colonized subject's last resortis to defend his personality against his fellow countryman.Internecine feuds merely perpetuate age-old grudges entrenchedin memory. By throwing himself muscle and soul into his bloodfeuds, the colonized subject endeavors to convince himself thatcolonialism has never existed, that everything is as it used to beand history marches on. Here we grasp the full significancethe all too familiar "head-in-the-sand" behavior at a collectivelevel, as if this collective immersion in a fratricidal bloodbathsuffices to mask the obstacle and postpone the inevitable alternative,the inevitable emergence of the armed struggle against colonialism.So one of the ways the colonized subject releasesmuscular tension is through the very real collective self-destruction

18 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON ViOLENCE19~ofthese internecine feuds. Such behavior represents ain the face of danger, a suicidal conductcolonist's existence and domination and reassuresmen are not rational. The colonized subject also manages to losesight of the colonist through religion. Fatalism relieves the opthecause of wrong-doing, poverty,and the inevitable can be attributed to God. The individualaccepts the devastation decreed by God, grovels in front ofthe colonist, bows to the hand of fate, and mentally readjusts toacquire the serenity of stone.In the meantime, however, life goes on and the colonizedsubject draws on the terrifYing myths that are so prolific in underdevelopedsocieties as inhibitions for his aggressiveness:lent spirits who emerge every time you put one foot wrong,leopard men, snake men, six-legged dogs, zombies, a wholenever-ending gamut of animalcules or giants that encircle thea realm of taboos, barriers, and inhibitions farmore terrifYing than the colonialist world. This magical superstructurethat permeates the indigenous society has a very precisefunction in the way the libido works. One of the characteristics,in fact, of underdeveloped societies is that the libido is primarilyamatter for the group and family. Anthropologists have amplydescribed societies where the man who dreams he has sexualintercourse with a woman other than his own mustconfess his dream and pay thework to the husband or theproves,bysocieties attach greatto the unconscious.scaring me, the atmosphere ofmyths and magic operates likean undeniable reality. In terrifYing me, it incorporates me into thetraditions and history ofmy land and ethnic group, but at the sametime I am reassured and granted a civil status, an identification.The secret sphere in underdeveloped countries is a collectivesphere that falls exclusively within the realm of magic. By entanglingme in this inextricable web where gestures are repeateda secular limpidity, my very own world, our very own world, thusperpetuates itself. Zombies, believe me, are more terrifYing thancolonists. And the problem now is not whether to fall in line withthe armor-plated world of colonialism, but to think twice beforeurinating, spitting, or going out in the dark.The magical, supernatural powers to beboosting. The colonist's powers arebyThere is no real reason to fight them because whatreally matters is that the mythical structures contain far moreadversaries. It is evident that everything is reduced toa permanent confrontation at the level of phantasy.In the liberation struggle, however, this people who wereonce relegated to the realm of the imagination, victims of unspeakableterrors, but content to lose themselves in hallucinatorydreams, are thrown into disarray, re-form, and amid bloodand tears give birth to very real and urgent issues. Giving foodto the mujahideen, stationing lookouts, helping deprived familiesand taking over from the slain or imprisoned husband-suchare the practical tasks the people are asked to undertake inliberation struggle.In the colonial world, the colonized's affectivity is kept on edgelike a running sore flinching from a caustic And the psycheis obliterated, and finds an outlet through muscularspasms that have caused many an expert to classifY the colonizedas hysterical. This overexcited affectivity, spied on by invisibleguardians who constantly communicate with the core of thepersonality, takes an erotic delight in the muscular deflation ofthe crisis.Another aspect of the colonized's affectivity can be seen whenit is drained of energy by the ecstasy of dance. Any study of thecolonial world therefore must include anphenomena of dance and possession.relaxing is preciselyaggressivenessviolence are channeled,transformed,away. The dance circle is a permissive.-j$( w". "'f~::c:- ~~ "~~~;:'hlt¥''W 1 w! ttJtt,WE ,Wppn'"gfP'

20 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE21circle. It protects and empowers. At a fixed timc and a fixed datemen and women assemble in a given place, and under the solemngaze of the tribc launch themselves into a seemingly disarticulated,but in fact cxtremely ritualized, pantomime where theexorcism, liberation, and expression of a community are grandioselyand spontaneously played out through shaking of thchead, and back and forward thrusts of the body. Everything ispermitted in the dance circle. Thc hillock, which has beenclimbed as if to get closer to the moon, the river bank, whichhas been descended whenever the dance symbolizes ablution,washing, and purification, are sacred places. Everything is permitted,for in fact the sole purpose of the gathering is to let thesupercharged libido and the stifled aggressiveness spew out volcanically.Symbolic killings, figurative cavalcades, and imaginedmultiple murders, everything has to come out. Thc ill humorsseep out, tumultuous as lava flows.One step further and wc find ourselves in deep possession. Inactual fact, these are organized seances of possession and dispossession:vampirism, possession by djinns, by zombies, and byLegba, the illustrious god of voodoo. Such a disintegration, dissolutionor splitting of the personality, plays a key regulating rolein ensuring the stability ofthe colonized world. On the way therethese men and women were stamping impatiently, thcir nerves"on edge." On the way back, the village returns to serenity, peace,and stillness.During the struggle for liberation there is a singular loss ofinterest in these rituals. With his back to the wall, the knife athis throat, or to be more exact the electrode on his genitals, thecolonized subject is bound to stop telling stories.After years of unreality, after wallowing in the most extraordinaryphantasms, the colonized subject, machine gun atthe ready,finally confronts the only force which challenges his very being:colonialism. And the young colonized subject who grows upan atmosphere of fire and brimstone has no scruples mockingzombie ancestors, two-headed horses, corpses woken from thedead, and djinns who, taking advantage ofa yawn, slip inside thebody. The colonized subject discovers reality and transforms itthrough his praxis, his deployment of violence and his agendafor liberation.We have seen that this violence throughout the colonial period,although constantly on edge, runs on empty. We have seen itchanneled through the emotional release of dance or possession.We have seen it exhaust itself in fratricidal struggles. The challengenow is to seize this violence as it realigns itself. Whereas itonce reveled in myths and contrived ways to commit collectivesuicide, a fresh set of circumstances will now enable it to changedirections.From the point of view of political tactics and History, the liberationof the colonies poses a theoretical problem of crucialimportance at the current time: When can it be said that thesituation is ripe for a national liberation movement? What shouldbe thc first line ofaction? Because decolonization comcs in manyshapes, reason wavers and abstains from declaring what is a truedecolonization and what is not. We shall see that for the politicallycommittcd, urgent decisions are needed on means andtactics, i.e., direction and organization. Anything else is but blindvoluntarism with the terribly reactionary risks this implies.What are the forces in the colonial period which offer newchannels, new agents of empowerment for the violence of thecolonized? First and foremost, the political parties and the intellectualand business elite. However, what is characteristic ofcertain political groups is that they are strong on principles butabstain from issuing marching orders. During the colonial periodthe ,activities of these nationalist political parties are purely forelectioneering purposes and amount to no more than a series ofphilosophic-political discourses on thc subject of the rights ofpeoples to self-determination, the human rights of dignity and

L.......-~..." ..._22 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE23freedom from hunger, and the countless declarations of the principle"one man, one vote." The nationalist political parties neverinsist on the need for confrontation precisely because their aimis not the radical overthrow of the system. Pacifist and lawabiding,partisans, in fact, of order, the new order, these politicalgroups bluntly ask of the colonialist bourgeoisie what to themis essential: "Give us more power." On the specific issue of violence,the elite are ambiguous. They are violent in their wordsand reformist in their attitudes. While the bourgeois nationalistpolitical leaders say one thing, they make it quite clear it is notwhat they are really thinking.This characteristic of the nationalist political parties must beattributed to the nature oftheir leaders and their supporters. Thesupporters ofthe nationalist parties are urban voters. These workers,elementary school teachers, small tradesmen, and shopkeeperswho have begun to profit from the colonial situation - in apitiful sort of way of course-have their own interests in mind.What these supporters are demanding is a better life and improvedwages. The dialogue between these political parties andcolonialism has continued uninterrupted. Discussions focus onimprovements, electoral representation, freedom of the press,and freedom of association. Reforms are discussed. It shouldcome as no surprise therefore that a good many colonial subjectsare active members in branches of metropolitan political parties.These colonial subjects are militant activists under the abstractslogan: "Power to the proletariat," forgetting that in theirpart ofthe world slogans ofnational liberation should come first.The colonized intellectual has invested his aggression in hisbarely veiled wish to be assimilated to the colonizer's world. Hehas placed his aggression at the service of his own interests, hisinterests as an individual. The result is the ready emergence of akind of class of individually liberated slaves, of freed slaves. Theintellectual calls for ways of freeing more and more slaves andways of organizing a genuine class of the emancipated. Themasses, however, have no intention oflooking on as the chancesof individual success improve. What they demand is not the statusof the colonist, but his place. In their immense majority thecolonized want the colonist's farm. There is no question for themof competing with the colonist. They want to take his place.The peasantry is systematically left out of most of the nationalistparties' propaganda. But it is obvious that in colonial countriesonly the peasantry is revolutionary. It has nothing to lose and everythingto gain. The underprivileged and starving peasant is theexploited who very soon discovers that only violence pays. For himthere is no compromise, no possibility of concession. Colonizationor decolonization: it is simply a power struggle. The exploitedrealize that their liberation implies using every means available,and force is the first. When Monsieur Guy Mollet capitulated tothe French settlers in Algeria in 1956, the Front de la LiberationNationale (FLN) in a famous tract stated that colonialism onlyloosens its hold when the knife is at its throat. No Algerian reallythought these terms too violent. The tract merely expressed whatevery Algerian felt deep down: colonialism is not a machine capableof thinking, a body endowed with reason. It is naked violenceand only gives in when confronted with greater violence.At the critical, deciding moment the colonialist bourgeoisie,which had remained silent up till then, enters the fray. Theyintroduce a new notion, in actual fact a creation of the colonialsituation: nonviolence. In its raw state this nonviolence conveysto the colonized intellectual and business elite that their interestsare identical to those of the colonialist bourgeoisie and it istherefore indispensable, a matter of urgency, to reach an agreementfor the common good. Nonviolence is an attempt to settlethe ,colonial problem around the negotiating table before theirreparable is done, before any bloodshed or regrettable act iscommitted. But if the masses, without waiting for the chairs tobe placed around the negotiating table, take matters into their

24THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHown hands and start burning and killing, it is not long before wesee the "elite" and the leaders of the bourgeois nationalist partiesturn to the colonial authorities and tell them: "This is terriblyserious! Goodness knows how it will all end. We must findan answer, we must find a compromise."This notion of compromise is very important in the case ofdecolonization, for it is far from being a simple matter. Compromise,in fact, involves both the colonial system and theburgeoning national bourgeoisie. The adherents of the colonialsystem discover that the masses might very well destroy everything.The sabotage of bridges, the destruction of farms, repressionand war can severely disrupt the economy. Compromise isalso on the agenda for the national bourgeoisie who, unable toforesee the possible consequences of such a whirlwind, fear infact they will be swept away, and hasten to reassure the colonists:"We are still capable of stopping the slaughter, the masses stilltrust us, act quickly if you do not want to jeopardize everything."If events go one step further, the leader of the nationalist partydistances himself from the violence. He loudly claims he hasnothing to do with these Mau-Mau, with these terrorists, thesebutchers. In the best of cases, he barricades himself in a noman's-landbetween the terrorists and the colonists and offers hisservices as "mediator"; which means that since the colonists cannotnegotiate with the Mau-Mau, he himself is prepared to beginnegotiations. Thus the rear guard of the national struggle, thatsection of the people who have always been on the other side,now find themselves catapulted to the forefront of negotiationsand compromise-precisely because they have always been carefulnot to break ties with colonialism.Before holding negotiations, most of the nationalist parties arecontent in the best of cases to explain and excuse this "savagery."They distance themselves from the people's struggle and canoften be heard in private condemning those spectacular acts thathave been decreed heinous by the metropolitan press and pub-ON VIOLENCElic opinion. Their preoccupation with objectivity constitutes thelegitimate excuse for their failure to act. But this classic attitudeof the colonized intellectual and the leaders of the nationalistparties is by no means objective. In fact they are not sure thatthis reckless violence is the most effective way of defending theirown interests. Another thing is that they are convinced violentmethods are ineffective. For them, there can be no doubt, anyattempt to smash colonial oppression by force is an act of despair,a. suicidal act. Because the colonizer's tanks and fighter planesare constantly on their minds. When they are told we must act,they imagine bombs being dropped, armored cars rumblingthrough the streets, a hail of bullets, the police-and they stayput. They are losers from the start. Their incapacity to triumphby violence needs no demonstration; they prove it in their dailylife and their maneuvering. They have remained in the puerileposition which Engels adopted in his famous argument with thatmountain of puerility, Monsieur Dilhring:"Just as Crusoe could procure a sword for himself, we are equallyentitled to assume that ('me fine morning Friday might appear with aloaded revolver in his hand, and then the whole 'force' relationship isinverted. Friday commands and it is Crusoe who has to drudge ... So,then, the revolver triumphs over the sword; and this will probably makeeven the most childish axiomatician comprehend that force is no mereact of the will, but requires very real preliminary conditions before itcan come into operation, that is to say, instruments, the more perfectof which vanquish the less perfect; moreover, that these instrumentshave to be produced, which also implies that the producer of moreperfect instruments of force, vulgo arms, vanquishes the producer ofthe less perfect instrument, and that, in a word, the triumph of forceis based on the production of arms, and this in turn on production ingeneral-therefore on 'economic power', on the 'economic order', onthe material means which force has at its disposal."33 Friedrich Engels, Anti-Diihring. trans. Emile Burns (New York InternationalPublishers), pt. 2, chap. III (The Force Theory), 184.25l_ .•

26THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE27fact the reformist leaders say the same thing: "What do youexpect to fight the colonists with? With your knives? With yourshotguns?"Yes, instruments are important in the field of violence since inthe end everything is based on the allocation of these instrumentsof force. But in this respect it so happens that the liberation ofcolonial territories sheds new light on the matter. For exampleduring the Peninsular War, which was an authentic colonial war,Napoleon was forced to retreat, despite having mustered the massivefigure of 400,000 men during the 1810 spring offensive. Yetthe French army's instruments of war, the bravery of soldiers,and the military genius of its leaders made the whole of Europetremble. Confronted with the enormous resources ofthe Napoleonicarmy, the Spanish, buoyed by an unshakeable nationalvor, discovered guerrilla warfare, which twenty-five earlierthe American militia had tested on the British troops. Butrilla warfare, that instrument of violenceamount to nothing if itcompetition betweenstart ot colonization, a single military column coulda vast amount of territory-from the Congo and NigeriaCoast, etc. But today the national struggle of theCUIUlll:l.CU is part and parcel of an entirely new situation. Capiexpansionistphase, regarded the colonies as a sourceraw materials which once processed could be unloaded onthe European market. After a phase of capital accumulation,capitalism has now modified its notion of profitability. The colonieshave become a market. The colonial population is a consumermarket. Consequently, if the colony has to be constantlygarrisoned, if trade slumps, in other words if manufactured andindustrial goods can no longer be exported, this is proof that themilitary solution must be ruled out. A blind domination on themodel of slavery is not economically profitable for the metropolis.The monopolistic fraction of the metropolitan bourgeoisienot support a government whose policy is based solely on thepower of arms. What the metropolitan financiers and industrialistsexpect is not the devastation of the colonial populationthe protection of their "legitimate interests" using economicagreements.Capitalism therefore objectively colludesviolence that erupt in colonialnized subject is notof course, theprogressivecountries and is competiwarwaged by financial groups. TheConference of Berlin was able to carve up a mutilated Africaor four European flags. Currently, the issue is notan African region is under French or Belgian sovereigntybut whether the economic zones are safeguarded. Artillery shellingand scorched earth policy have been replaced by an economicdependency. The crackdown against a rebel sultan is athing of the past. Matters have become more subtle, less bloody;plans are quietly made to eliminate the Castro regime. Guineais held in a stranglehold, Mossadegh is liquidated. The nationalleader who is afraid ofviolence is very much mistaken ifhe thinkscolonialism will "slaughter us all." The military, of course, continueto play tin soldiers dating back to the conquest, but thefinancial interests soon bring them back to earth.The moderate nationalist political parties are therefore requestedto clearly articulate their claims and to calmly and dispassionatelyseek a solution with colonialist partner T"AC''''Ar,hthe interests of both sides. When this nationalist reformist movement,often a caricature oftrade unionism, decides to it doesso using extremely peaceful methods: work stoppagesin the few factories located into cheer a leader, and a boycottmodities. All these methods not±rb#r It5ff ' "'""',...•_"-.~~_~_.• ~~~~~,_.,~~ ·J__'_' ..u._~ .. '.,_"H=.,.'.£

-~.,~.~ .. ~-.-.--........ 28 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE29authorities but also allow the people to let off steam. This hibertherapy,this hypnotherapy of the people, sometimes succeeds.From the negotiating table emerges then the politicalagenda that authorizes M'ba, president of the Republicof Gabon, to very solemnly declare on his arrival for an officialvisit to Paris: "Gabon is an indepenhas changed between Gabon and France, the statusues." In fact the only change is that Monsieur M'ba is presidentof the Republic of Gabon, and he is the guest ofthe president ofthe French Republic.The colonialist bourgeoisie is aided and abetted in the pacificationofthe colonized by the inescapable powers of religion.saints who turned the other cheek, who forgave thoseo,v"Wo~;J ~rr~;~c~ ~h"rn ",1,,,, without flinching, were spat, are and shown as an example.The elite ofthe colonizedslaves,once they are at the head of the movemproducing an ersatz struggle. They use the termbrothers to shame the slave drivers or to provide their oppressors'financial competitors with an ideology of insipid humanitarianism.Never in fact do they actually appeal to the slaves,never do they actually mobilize them. On the contrary, at themoment of truth - for them, the lie - they brandish the threatof mass mobilization as a decisive weapon that would as if by. , "an end to the colonial regime." There are revoluthesepolitical parties, among thecadres, who deliberately turn their backs on the farce ofnationalindependence. But their speeches, their initiatives. and theirangry outbursts very soon antagonizefactions are gradually isolated, then removedsame time, as if there were a dialectical concomitance, thecolonial police swoops down upon them. Hounded in the towns,shunned by the militants, rejected by the party leaders, theseundesirables with their inflammatory attitude end up in thecountryside. It is then they realize in a kind of intoxication thatthe peasant masses latch on to their every word and do nothesitate to ask them the question for which they are notpared: "When do we start?"This encounter between the revolutionaries from the towns andthe peasant population will be dealt with later on. For the timebeing our attention should focus on the political parties in orderto demonstrate the nevertheless progressive nature of their action.In their the political leaders "name" the nation. Thedemands of the colonized are thus formulated. But there is nosubstance, is noform of nationaldemand. The politicians who make the speeches,the nationalist press, raise the people's hopes.version but in fact stir up subversive feelings in the consciousnessof their listeners or readers. Often the national or ethniclanguage is used. Here again, expectations are raised and theimagination is allowed to roam outside the colonial order. Someeventhese politicians declare: "We blacks, we Arabs," andthese terms charged with ambivalence during the colonial periodtake on a sacred connotation. These nationalist politicians areplaying with fire. As an Mrican leader recently told a group ofyoung intellectuals: "Think before speaking to masses,are easily excitable." There is therefore a cunning ofwhich plays havoc with the colonies.When the political leader summons the people to a meeting,there could be said to be blood in the air. Yet very often the leaderis mainly preoccupied with a "show" of force-so as not to useit. The excitement that is fostered, however-the comings andsneech making, the crowds, the police presence, thearrests and the deportation ofleaders-all thisagitation gives the people the irnnr~ssion the time has come forthem to do something. During

30 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHfor calm to the left, while to the right theyendeavoring to decipher the liberal intentionsof the colonial authorities.order to maintain their stamina and their revolutionarycapabilities, the people also resort to retelling certain episodesin the life of the community. The outlaw, for example, who holdsthe countryside for days against the police, hot on his trail, orwho succumbs after killing four or five police officers in singlehandedcombat or who commits suicide rather than "give up"his accomplices, all constitute for the people role models, actionschemas, and "heroes." And there is no point, obviously, insaying that such a hero is a thief, a thug, or a degenerate. If theact for which this man is prosecuted by the colonial authoritiesis an act exclusively directed against a colonial individual orcolonial asset, then the demarcation line is clear and manifest.The process of identification is automatic.In this maturation process we should also underscore the historicalrole of national resistance to the colonial conquest. Themajor figures in the history ofthe colonized are always those wholed the national resistance against foreign invasion. Behanzin,Sundiata, Samory, and Abdel Kader are revivedfervor during the period preceding the actual struggle.proof that the people are preparing to march again, tolull introduced by colonialism and make Hidr\t·"The emergence of the newcolonial system are thenewly independentpeoples,peoples are not alone. Despite the efforts of colopermeableto news and rumors.discover that violence is atmospheric, it breaks out sporadiandand there sweeps away the colonial regime. Thesuccess of this violence plays not only an informative role butalso an operative one. The great victory of the Vietnamese peopleON VIOLENCE 31at Dien Bien Phu is no longer strictly speaking a Vietnamesevictory. From July 1954 onward the colonial peoples have beenasking themselves: "What must we do to achieve a Dien BienPhu? How should we go about it?" A Dien Bienwithin reach of every colonized subject.tering forces, them and setting a datepervading atmosphere violence affects notbut also the who the number of latent DienBien Phu's. The colonial governments are therefore grippeda genuine wholesale panic. Their plan is to make the first move,to tum the liberation movement to the right and disarm the people:Quick, let's decolonize. decolonize the Congo before it turnsinto anothervote a blueprint for Africa, let's createthe Communaute Africa, let's modernize it but for God's sakelet's decolonize, let's decolonize. They decolonize at such a paceforce independence on Houphouet-Boigny. In answerto the strategy of a Dien Bien Phu defined by the colonized, theolonizer replies with the strategy of containment-respectingsovereignty of nations.let us return to this atmospheric violence, this violencerippling under the skin. We have seen as it develops how a numberof driving mechanisms pick it up and convey it to an outlet.spite of the metamorphosis imposed on it by the colonialregime in tribal or regional conflicts, violence continues toprogress, the colonized subject identifies his enemy, puts a nameto all of his misforhmes, and casts all his exacerbated hatred andrage in this new direction. But how do we get from the atmosphereof violence to setting violence in motion? What blows thelid? First of all there is the fact that such a development has acertain impact on the colonist's state of bliss. The colonist who"knows" the colonial subject realizes from several pointers thats9mething is in the process of changing. The good "natives" becomescarce, silence falls when the oppressor approaches. Sometimeslooks harden and attitudes and remarks are downright

,n""I'm 7 t!r "$7 t1 ) 2',,''11 "1'1 art! it it32THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE33hostile. The nationalist parties become restless, call for moremeetings, and, at the same time, security is increased and troopreinforcements are dispatched. The colonists, especially thoseisolated on their farms, are the first to become alarmed. Theydemand drastic measures.The authorities do in fact take dramatic measures; they arrestone or two leaders, organize military parades, maneuvers andovers. These demonstrations ofmilitary power, these saber-rattlingexercises, this smell of gunpowder which now fills the atmospheredo not intimidate the people. These bayonets and heavystrengthen their aggressiveness. A dramatic atmospheresets in where everyone wants to prove he is ready for anything. Itis under these circumstances that the gun goes off on its own fornerves are on fear has set in, and everyone is trigger-happy.A trivial incident and the machine-gunning begins: you have a Setifin Algeria, the Central Quarries in Morocco, and MoramangaMadagascar.from breaking the momentum, repression intensifies theprogress made by the national consciousness. From the momentnational consciousness reaches an embryonic stage of development,it is reinforced by the bloodbath in the colonies whichsignifies that between oppressors and oppressed, force is thesolution. We should point out here that it is not the politicalparties who called for the armed insurrection or organized it.these perpetrations of repression, all acts committed outoffear, are not what the leaders wanted. These events catch themguard. It is then that the colonial authorities may decide toarrest the nationalist leaders. But nowadays the governments ofcolonialist countries know perfectly well that it is highly dangerousto deprive the masses of their leader. For it is then that thepeople hurl themselves headlong into jacqueries, mutinies"bestial murders." The masses give free rein to their "bloodthirstyinstincts" and demand the liberation of their leaders whose difficultiob it will be to restore law and order. The colonized whospontaneously invested their violence in the colossal task of destroyingthe colonial system soon find themselves chanting thepassive, sterile slogan: "Free X or Yl"4 The colonial authoritiesthen free these men and start negotiating. The time for dancingthe streets has arrived.In other cases, the political party apparatus may remain intact.But in the interplay of colonial repression and the spontaneousreaction by the people, the parties find themselves outmaneuveredby their militants. The violence of the masses is pittedagainst the occupier's military forces; the situation deterioratesand festers. The leaders still at liberty are left on the sidelines.Suddenly rendered helpless with their bureaucracy and theirreason-based agenda, they can be seen attempting the supremeimposture of a rearguard action by "speaking in the name of themuzzled nation." As a general rule, the colonial authorities jumpat this piece of good fortune, transform these useless charactersinto spokesmen, and, in next to no time, grant them independence,leaving it up to them to restore law and order.Everybody therefore has violence on their minds and the quesisnot so much responding to violence with more violencerather how to defuse the crisis.What in fact constitutes this violence? As we have seen, thecolonized masses intuitively believe that their liberation mustbe achieved and can only be achieved by force. What aberrationof the mind drives these famished, enfeebled mentechnology and organizational resources to think thatlence can liberate them faced with the occupier'seconomic might? How can they hope to triumph?Since what is scandalous is that violence can be used as a partyslogan and the people urged to rise up in an armed struggle. Thisissue of violence needs to be given careful consideration. When4 The arrested leader might very well be the authentic mouthpiece of thecolonized masses. In this the colonial authorities will take advantage ofhis detention to try and new leaders.

34THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE35German militarism decides to resolve its border problems byforce, it is no surprise, but when the Angolan people, for instance,decide to take up arms, when the Algerians reject any methodwhich does not include violence, this is proof that something hashappened or is in the process of happening. The colonizedpeoples, these slaves of modern times, have run out of patience.They know that such madness alone can deliver them from cooppression.A new type of relationship is established in theworld. The peoples ofthe Third World are in the process ofshatteringtheir chains, and what is extraordinary is that they succeed.In this age of the Sputnik we might think it ridiculous to die ofhunger, but for the colonized masses the explanation is moredown to earth. The truth is that no colonialist country today iscapable of mounting the only form of repression which wouldhave a chance succeeding, i.e., a prolonged and large scaleoccupation.At home, the colonialist countries are faced with contestationand workers' demands that require the deployment of their securityforces. Moreover, in the current international situationthese countries need their troops to protect their own regime.Finally, the myth ofthe liberation movements mastermindedMoscow is all too familiar. For this panic-stricken reasoning read:continues, the Communists will very likely take advanunrestin order to infiltrate these regions."In his impatience, the fact that the colonized subject brandishesthe threat of violence proves that he is aware of the exceptionalnature of the current situation and that he intends tomake the most ofit. But also on a more immediate personal level,as he sees the modern world penetrate the remotest corners ofthe interior, he becomes acutely aware ofeverything he does notpossess. The masses, by a kind of (infantile) reasoning, are convincedthey have been robbed. In certain developing countries,therefore, they are quick to catch on and realize two or three yearsafter independence their hopes have been dashed: "What wasthe point of fighting" if nothing was really destined to change?In 1789, the bourgeois French Revolution, the humblestFrench peasant gained substantially from the upheaval. But it iscommon knowledge that for 95 percent of the population indeveloping countries, independence has not brought anydiate change. Any observer with a keen eye is aware of a kindlatent discontent which like glowing embers constantly threatensto flare up again.So they say the colonized want to move too fast. Let us neverforget that it wasn't such a long time ago the colonized wereaccused of being too slow, lazy, and fatalistic. Obviously the violencechanneled into the liberation struggle does not vanish asif by magic after hoisting the national colors. It has even lessreason to disappear since nation building continues to operatewithin the framework of critical competition between capitalismand socialism.This competition gives a quasi-universal dimension to the mostlocal of disputes. Every meeting, every act of repression reverberatesaround the international arena. The Sharpeville massacreshook public opinion for months. In the press, over the airwavesand in private conversations, Sharpeville has become aIt is through Sharpeville that men and women addressed theproblem of apartheid in South Africa. And there is no reason tobelieve that demagoguery alone explains the sudden interest bythe major powers in the petty affairs of the underdeveloped regions.Every peasant revolt, every insurrection in the Third Worldfits into the framework of the cold war. Two men are beaten upin Salisbury and an entire bloc goes into action, focuses ontwo men and uses this beating to raise the issue of Rhodesia * linking it to the rest of Africa and every colonized subject. Butthe full-seale campaign under way leads the other bloc to gaugethe flaws in its sphere ofinfluence. The colonized peoples realize·Translator's Note: Present-dav Zimbabwe··-~Y'...W£*",fiJ\ " ~, 1 N 'liriijirf:iity'·

36 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE37that neither faction is interested in disengaging itself from regionalconflicts. They no longer limit their horizons to one particularregion since they are swept along in this atmosphere ofuniversal convulsion.When every three months we leam thatthe sixth or seventh U.S.Fleet is heading toward some coast or other, when Khrushchevthreatens to come to Castro's aid with the help of missiles, whenKennedy envisages drastic solutions for Laos, the colonized ornewly independent peoples get the impression they are beingforced, whether they like it or not, into a frantic march. In factthey are already marching. Let us take, for example, the casegovemments of recently liberated countries. The men in powerspend two thirds of their time keeping watch over their borders,averting any threat of danger, and the other third working for thecountry. At the same time they are looking for support. Governedthe same dialectic, the national opposition gives parliamentarychannels the cold shoulder. It seeks allies who agree to supportthem in their ruthless endeavor at sedition. The atmosphereof violence, after having penetrated the colonial phase, continuesto dominate national politics. As we have said, the ThirdWorld is not excluded. On the contrary, it is at the very centerofthe convulsion. This is why in their speeches the statesmen ofunderdeveloped countries maintain indefinitely a tone of aggressivenessand exasperation which normally should have disappeared.The often-reported impoliteness of the new leaders isunderstandable. 'What is less noticeable is the extreme courtesythese same leaders show toward their brothers and comrades.Their impolite behavior is first and foremost directed against theothers, against the former colonialists who come to observe andinvestigate. The excolonized too often get the impression thatthe findings of these investigations are a foregone conclusion.The journalist is on assignment to justify them. The photos thatillustrate the article provide proof that he knows what he is talkingabout and was actually there. The investigation sets out toprove that "everything went wrong as soon as we left." The journalistsoften complain they are badly treated, are forced to workunder poor conditions, and come up against a wall of indifferenceor hostility. All this is quite normal. The nationalist leadersknow that international opinion is forged solely by the Westernpress. When a Western journalist interviews us, however, it isseldom done to render us service. In the war in Algeria, for example,the most liberal-minded French reporters make constantuse of ambiguous epithets to portray our struggle. When we reproachthem for it, they reply in all sincerity they are being objective.For the colonized subject, objectivity is always directedagainst him. Understandable, too, is that new tone ofvoice whichdominated international diplomacy at the United Nations GeneralAssembly in September 1960. The representatives ofcolonial countries were aggressive and violent in the extreme,their populations found nothing exaggerated. The radicalismof the African spokespersons brought the abscess to a headshone the spotlight on the unacceptable nature of the veto,on the collusion between the major powers, and above all on theinsignificant role allotted to the Third World.Diplomacy as initiated by the newly independent peoples is nolonger a matter of nuances, innuendoes, and hypnotic passes.Their spokesmen have been assigned by their population to defendboth the unity of the nation, the welfare of the masses as well asthe right to freedom and self-sufficiency.It is therefore a diplomacy in motion, in rage, which contrastsstrangely with the petrified, motionless world of colonization.And when Mr. Khrushchev brandishes his shoe at the UnitedNations and hammers the table with it, no colonized individual,no representative of the underdeveloped countries laughs. Forwhat Mr. Khrushchev is showing the colonized countries whoare watching, is that he, the missile-wielding muzhik, is treatingthese wretched capitalists the way they deserve. Likewise Castroattending the UN in military uniform does not scandalize the'MM.. ,trw Uf t t It reb

38THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE39underdeveloped countries. What Castro is aemonstratmg ISaware he is of the continuing regime of violence. What is surprisingis that he did not enter the UN with his submachine gun;but perhaps they wouldn't have allowed that. The revolts, the actsof desperation, the factions armed with machetes or axes findtheir national identity in the unrelenting struggle that pits capiagainstsocialism.In 1945 the 45,000 dead at Setifcould go unnoticed; in 1947the 90,000 dead in Madagascar were written off in a few lines inthe press; in 1952 the 200,000 victims ofrepression in Kenya weremet with relative indifference-because the international contradictionswere not sufficiently clear-cut. The Korean War andthe war in Indochina had already established a new phase. Butit was above all Budapest and Suez which constituted the decidingmoments of this confrontation.Heartened by the unconditional support of the socialist councolonizedhurl themselves with whatever weapons theypossess against the impregnable citadel of colonialism. Althoughthe citadel is invincible against knives and bare hands,cibility crumbles when we take into account the context ofcold war.In this new context, the Americans take their role as the baronsof international capitalism very seriously. At first, they advisethe European countries to decolonize on gentleman's terms.In a second phase they have no hesitation first proclaiming theirrespect then their support for the principle: Africa for the AfriU.S. has no qualms officially declaring they areof the right of peoples to self-determination. Thelatest voyage by Mr. Mennen-Williams illustrates all too well theAmerican consciousness that the Third World must not sacrificed.Understandably, violence is a desperate act only if it iscompared in abstracto to the military machine of the oppressors.On the other hand, violence in the context of international relations,we realize, represents a formidable threat to the oppressor. Persistent jacqueries and Mau-Mau agitation disrupt theeconomic life of a colony but pose no threat to the metropolis.A !!reater threat, as far as imperialism is concerned, is that sopropagandamight infiltrate the masses and contaminatethem. It is already a serious risk during the conflict's cold period;but what would happen to the colony rotted by bloody guerrillawarfare in the event of a real war?Capitalism then realizes that its military strategy has everythingto lose if national conflicts were to break out. In the frameworkof peaceful coexistence, therefore, every colony is destined todisappear and, taking it to the extreme, neutrality will commandcapitalism's respect. What must be avoided at all costs are strategicrisks, the espousal by the masses of an enemy doctrine andradical hatred by tens ofmillions of men. The colonized peoplesare perfectly aware of these imperatives which dominate internationalpolitics. This is why even those who rage againstlence always plan and act on the basis of this global violence.Today the peaceful coexistence between the two blocs maintainsand aggravates the violence in colonial countries. Perhaps tomorrowwe shall see a shift in the violence once the colonial territohavebeen fully liberated. Perhaps we shall see the issue ofraised. Already some of them have no qualms advocatingviolent methods in response to their problems and it isno coincidence that, so we have learned, black radicals in the U.S.have formed armed militia groups. It is no coincidencein the so-called free world there are defense committees for Jewishminorities in the USSR and that General de Gaulle in one ofhis speeches shed a few tears for the millions of Muslims oppressedby the communist dictatorship. Imperialism and capitalismare convinced that the fight against racism and nationalmovements are purely and simply controlled andfrom "the outside." So they decide to deploypmcticalas the creation of Radio Free Europeand committees foroDDressed minorities. Theytt"'C- "n ,wfie__.,k.i.";'"".~~·"iiIIi·-·__-,~~~~_.'iEaEi- - "-jiijij;;;aa'iii£iiEf!jjiiijiijiii!tcr~

,40THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHpractice anticolonialism in the same way the French colonelsin Algeria engaged in counter-terrorism with the SAS (SectionsAdministratives Speciales) or psychological warfare. They "usedthe people against the people." We know where that got them.This threatening atmosphere of violence and missiles in noway frightens or disorients the colonized. We have seen that theirentire recent history has prepared them to "understand" the situation.Between colonial violence and the insidious violence inwhich the modern world is steeped, there is a kind of compEcitcorrelation, a homogeneity. The colonized have adapted to thisatmosphere. For once they are in tune with their time. Peopleare sometimes surprised that, instead of buying a dress for theirwife, the colonized buy a transistor radio. They shouldn't be. Thecolonized are convinced their fate is in the balance. They livein a doomsday atmosphere and nothing must elude them. Thisis why they fully understand Phouma and Phoumi, Lumumbaand Tschombe, Ahidjo and Moumie, Kenyatta and those introducedfrom time to time to replace him. They fully understandall these men because they are able to unmask the forces behindthem. The colonized, underdeveloped man is today a politicalcreature in the most global sense of the term.Independence has certainly brought the colonized peoplesmoral reparation and recognized their dignity. But they havenot yet had time to elaborate a society or build and ascertainvalues. The glowing focal point where the citizen and individualdevelop and mature in a growing number of areas doesnot yet exist. Situated in a kind of indeterminate state they havefairly quickly convinced themselves that everything is decidedelsewhere for everyone at the same time. As for the leaders,when confronted with such a situation, they hesitate and choosea policy of neutrality.There is much to be said on the subject of neutrality. Someliken it to a kind of loathsome mercantilism which consists ofON VIOLENCEtaking handouts left and right. But although neutrality, a creationof the cold war, allows underdeveloped countries to receive economicaid from both sides, it does not permit either of these twosides to corne to the aid of underdeveloped regions the way theyshould. Those literally astronomical sums invested in arms research,these engineers transformed into technicians of nuclearwar could raise the living standards ofthe underdeveloped countriesby 60 percent in fifteen years. It is therefore obvious thatthe underdeveloped countries have no real interest in eitherprolonging or intensifying this cold war. But they are never askedfor their opinion. So whenever they can, they disengage. But canthey really do so? For example, here is France testing its atomicbombs in Mrica. Even allowing for the resolutions, the meetingsand slammings of the door on diplomatic relations, it cannot besaid that the African peoples had much impact on France's attitudein this particular sector.Neutrality produces in the citizen of the Third World an attitudeof mind which translates in everyday life to a brazenness andhieratic pride strangely resembling an act of defiance. This staunchrefusal to compromise, this sheer detemlination to go it alone recallthe behavior of those deprived, self-centered teenagers who arealways prepared to fight to the last over a mere word. All of thisdisconcerts Western observers. For there is, strictly speaking, ascandalous discrepancy between what these men claim to be andwhat in fact they have to back them up. These countries withouturban transportation, without troops, and without money cannotjustify flaunting such bravado. It is without doubt an imposture.The Third World often gives the impression it revels in sensationalismand it needs its weekly dose of crises. These leaders of emptycountries who talk too loud are exasperating. You'd like to shutthem up. But instead they are wooed. They are given bouquets offlowers. Invitations. To be frank, everyone wants a piece of them.And that is what we call neutrality. For a population 98 percentilliterate, there is, however, an enormous amount of literature41

42 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE43written about them. They are constantly on the move. The leadersand students of the underdeveloped countries are a gold minefor the airlines. Asian and Mrican officials can attend a seminaron socialist planning in Moscow one week and then another onfree trade in London or at Columbia University the next. forAfrican labor union members, they are making enormous progress.No sooner are they appointed to positions of leadership than theydecide to group themselves into autonomous units. Tbey do nothave the fifty years' experience of labor unions in an industrializedcountry, but they already know that nonpolitical unionism isan absurdity. They have not had to deal with the bourgeoisdozer, they have not developed a consciousness from the classstruggle, but perhaps this is not required. Perhaps. We shall seethat this totalizing determination which often becomes a caricatureof intemationalism is one of the most basic characteristics ofunderdeveloped countries.But let us return to the single combat between the colonizedand the colonist. It is clearly and plainly an armed struggle.Indochina, Indonesia, and, of course, North Mrica are historicalexamples. But we should never lose sight of the fact thatthis struggle could have broken out anywhere, in Guinea asas Somaliland, and even today it can break out anywhere wherecolonialism intends to stay, in Angola for instance. The existenceof an armed struggle is indicative that the people aretermined to put their faith only in violent methods. The verysame people who had it constantly drummed into them thatthe only language they understood was that of force, now decideto express themselves with force. In fact the colonist hasalways shown them the path they should follow to liberation.The argument chosen by the colonized was conveyed to themby the colonist, and by an ironic twist of fate it is now the colonizedwho state that it is the colonizer who only understandsthe language of force. The colonial regime owes its legitimacyto force and at no time does it ever endeavor to cover upnature ofthings. Every statue ofFaidherbe or Lyautey, Bugeaudor Blandan, everyone of these conquistadors ensconced oncolonial soil, is a constant reminder of one and the same thing:"We are here by the force of the bayonet ..." Everyone knowsthe rest of the quote. During the insurrectional stage everycolonist reasons on the basis of simple arithmetic. Such a logicis no surprise to the other colonists, but it is important to pointout that it is no surprise to the colonized either. And first andforemost, stating the principle "It's them or is not a paradoxsince colonialism, as we have seen, is precisely the organizationof a Manichaean world, of a compartmentalized world.And when advocating an exact line of procedure the colonistasks every representative of the oppressor minority to take outor 100 or 200 natives, he realizes there is no outcry of indignationand that at the most the issue boils down to whether itcan be done in one step or in stages. 5line of reasoning which envisages the surgical eliminationof the colonized does not morally upset the colonized sub·ject. He has always known that his dealings with the colonistwould take place in a field of combat. So the colonized subjectwastes no time lamenting and almost never searches for justicein the colonial context. In fact if the colonist's argument leavesthe colonized subject unmoved it is because the latter poses theissue of his liberation in virtually identical terms: "Let us formgroups of two or five hundred and let each group deal with acolonist." It is in this mutual frame of mind that both protagobeginthe struggle.It is obvious that this general clean-up destroys the thing one wants tosave. This is exactly what Sartre indicates when he says: "In short, by the veryact ofrepeating them (i.e., racist ideas) one shows that it is impossible for everyoneto unite simultaneously against the natives, that it is merely shifting recurrence,and that in any case such a unification could occur as an active groupingonly so as to massacre the colonized people, which is the perpetual absurd temptationof the colonialists, and, which, if it were possible, would amount to theimmediate destruction o/colonization." Critique of Dialectical Reason. Translatedbv Alan Sheridan-Smith._____________~___________db..' __...._ .....___........____ L-..-... t'Mt. _ ., t t '. Mil' 'tl. f ,tt

44 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE45" " "For the colonized, this violence represents the absolute praxis.militant therefore is one who works. The questionsthe organization asks the militant bear the mark of this vision ofthings: "Where have you worked? With whom? What have youaccomplished?" The group requires each individual to haveperformed an irreversible act. In Algeria, for example, wherealmost all the men who called on the people to join the nationalstruggle were sentenced to death or wanted by the French police,trust was proportional to the desperate nature ofeach case. A newmilitant could be trusted only when he could no longer returnto the colonial system. Such a mechanism apparently existed inKenya with the Mau-Mau, who required every member of thegroup to strike the victim. Everyone was therefore personallyresponsible for the death of the victim. To work means to worktowards the death ofthe colonist. Claiming responsibility for theviolence also allows those members of the group who have strayedor have been outlawed to come back, to retake their place andbe reintegrated. Violence can thus be understood to be the perfectmediation. The colonized man liberates himself in andthrough violence. This praxis enlightens the militant because itshows him the means and the end. Cesaire's poetry takes on aprophetic significance in this very prospect of violence. Let usrecall one of the most decisive pages of his tragedy where theRebel (what a coincidence!) proclaims:REBEL (toughly)My family name: offended; my given name: humiliated; my profession:rebel; my age: the stone age.MOTHERrace: the human race. My religion: brotherhood ...REBELMy race: the fallen race. My religion ...but it is not you who will prepare it with your disarmament;it is I with my revolt and my poor clenched fists and my bushy head.(Very calmly)I recall a November day; he was not six months old and the mastercame into the shack murky as an April moon, and he was probing thechild's small muscled limbs, he was a very good master, he ran his fatfingers caressingly across his little dimpled face. His blue eyes werelaughing and his mouth was teasing him with sugary things: this onewill make a good one, the master said looking at me, and he was sayingother friendly things, the master was, that you had to start very early,that twenty years were not too much to make a good Christian and agood slave, a good subject, utterly devoted, a good slavedriver for anoverseer, with a sharp eye and a strong arm. And this man was speculatingover my son's cradle, a slavedriver's cradle.MOTHERAlas you will die.REBELKilled ... I killed him with my own hands ....Yes: a fecund and copious death ....It was night. We crawled through the sugarcane.The cutlasses were chortling at the stars, but we didn't care aboutthe stars.The cane slashed our faces with streams of green blades.MOTHERdreamed of a son who would close his mother's eyes.REBELI chose to open my child's eyes to another sun.MOTHER. . 0 my son ... an evil and pernicious death.REBELMother, a verdant and sumptuous death.MOTHERFrom too much hate.REBELFrom too much love.MOTHERSpare me, I'm choking from your shackles, bleeding from your wounds.REBELAnd the world does not spare me.... There is not in the world onesingle poor lynched bastard, one poor tortured man, in whom I am notalso murdered and humiliated.~~~~/,;:. :"t" r .fT'· .: "''''',

.,., . n~·· ·"'4 +7rf,;ifeii h ;.g'y46 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE47MOTHERGod in Heaven, deliver him!REBELme of my memories ....It was aAnd suddenly clamors llt upwe had leapt, we the slaves, we the manure, we beastshooves.We were running like lunatics; fiery shots broke out. ... We werestriking. Sweat and blood cooled us off. We were striking amidstscreams and the screams became more strident and a great clamor rosetoward the east, the outbuildings were burning and the flames sweetlysplashed our cheeks.Then came the attack on the master's house.were shooting from the windows.doors.Deuroom was wide open. The master's bedroom wasbrilliantly lit, and the master was there, very calm .... and all of usstopped . . . was the master. ... I enteredcalmly.... Itwas me, it was indeed me, I told him, the goodfaithful slave, the slave slave, and suddenly my eyes were tworoaches frightened on a rainy day .... I struck, the blood spurted: it isthe only baptism that today I remember. 6It is understandable how in such an atmosphere everyday lifebecomes impossible. Being a fellow, a pimp, or an alcoholic isno longer an option. The violence of the colonial regime andcounterviolence of the colonized balance each other andrespond to other in an extraordinary reciprocal homogeneity.The the number of metropolitan settlers, the moreterrible the violence will be. Violencespread in proportion to the violence exerted6 Aime Cesaire, "And the dogs were silent" in Lyric and Dramatic Poetry1946-82, trans. Clayton Eshleman and Annette Smith (Charlottesville: TheUniversity Press of Virginia, 1990).regime. In the initial phase of this insurrectional period themetropolitan governments are slaves of the colonists. Thesecolonists are a threat to both the colonized and their own governments.They will use the same methods indiscriminately.The assassination of the mayor of Evian can be likened to theassassination of Ali Boumendjel in its method and motivation.For the colonists the alternative is not between an Algerian Algeriaand a French Algeria, but between an independent Algeanda colonial Algeria. Anything else is hot air or an act oftreason. The colonist's logic is unrelenting and one is onlybaffled by the counterlogic of the colonized's behavior if onehas remained out of touch with the colonists' way of thinking.Once the colonized have opted for counterviolence, policereprisals automatically call for reprisals by the nationalist forces.The outcome, however, is profoundly unequal, for machinegunningby planes or bombardments from naval vessels outweighin horror and scope the response from the colonized. Themost alienated of the colonized are once and for all demystifiedthis pendulum motion ofterror and counterterror. They seethemselves that any number of speeches on human equalcannotmask the absurdity whereby seven Frenchmen killedor wounded in an ambush at the Sakamody pass sparks the indignationof civilized consciences, whereas the sacking of theGuergour douars, the Djerah dechra, and the massacrepopulation behind the ambush count for nothing. Terror, counterterror,violence, counterviolence.This is what observers bitterlyreport when describing the circle of hatred which is so manifestand so tenacious in Algeria.In the armed struggle there is what we could call the point ofno return. It is almost always attributable to the sweeping represencompassesevery sector of the colonized population.This point was reached in Algeria in 1955 with the 12,000victims of Philippe ville

.,,~~~----.-~.-. ----~..-, • ., ,eWi;i,iji -k"4fRW:;;;:;;;=:;::;;r48 49THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCEurban militias.? It then becomes evident for everyone andeven for the colonists that "things cannot go on as they are and7 In ordcr to gauge the importance of this decision by thc French governmentin Algeria we need to return to this period. In issue no. 4 of ResistanceAlgerienne dated March 28, 1957, we"In response to the wishes of the United Nations General Assembly, theFrench government has rccently dccided to create urban militias.bloodshed, said the UN. Let us form militias, replies Lacostc. Ceasevised the UN. Let us arm the civilians, screams Lacoste. The two parties involvedare requested to make initial contacts in order to agrec on a democraticand peaceful solution, the UN recommended. Lacoste decrees that henceforthevery European shall bc armed and should fire on anybody appearingsavage, iniquitous bordering on genocide must aboveall be combated by the authorities, was then the generalLacoste retorts: Let us systematize thc repression, let us organize a manhuntof Algerians. And symbolically he hands ovcr civilian power to the militaryand military power to the civilians. The circle is sealed. In the middle, theAlgerian, disarmed, starvcd, hounded, jostled, struck, lynched and soon to beshot bel::ausc hc is a suspect. Today in Algeria there is not a single Frenchmanwho is not authorized or welcome to make use of his arms. Not a singleFrenchman in Algeria one month after the UN's appeal for calm who doesnot have permission or the obligation to unearth. fabricate and hunt downsuspects.One month after the UN General Assembly's resolution there is not aEuropcan in Algeria who is not party to the most appalling act oftion in modern times. Democratic solution? Okay, concedes Lacoste, let's starteliminating the Algerians. In order to do so let's arm the civilians and letdo the job. The majority of the Parisian press cautiously reported thecreation of thesc armcd gangs. Fascist militia, they said. Yes. But at the levelof the individual and human rights what is fascism but colonialism at theheart of traditionally colonialist countries? Systematically authorizedcondoned assassination they suggested. But for one hundred and thirty yearshasn't Algerian flesh borne the marks of ever gaping, ever growing, cver deepcrwounds? We should be careful, advises Monsieur Kenne-Vignes, parliamenmemberfor the M.R.P. party, not to widen the abyss between the twocommunities in Algeria by creating these militias. Yes. But isn't the colonialstatus the organized enslavement of an entire people? The Algerian Revolutionis precisely the living challenge to this enslavement and this abyss. TheAlgerian Revolution addresses the occupying nation as follows: 'Remove yourfangs from Algeria's bruised and wounded flesh! Let the Algerian peoplespeak!'The creation of these militias, say, will alleviate the army. They willfree units whose mission is toborders with Tunisia and Morocco.have to change." The colonized, however, do not keep accounts.They register the enormous gaps left in their ranks as a kind ofnecessary evil. Since they have decided to respond with violence,they admit the consequences. Their one demand is that they arenot asked to keep accounts for others as well. To the expression:"All natives are the same," the colonized reply: "All colonists arethe same."8 When the colonized subject is tortured, when hisA six hundrcd thousand strong army. Almost the entire navy and airforce. Avast police nctwork, operating expeditiously, with a staggering record since itrecruitcd the ex-torturers of the Moroccan and Tunisian peoples. Territorialunits one hundred thousand men strong. The job of the army must be alleviated.Let's create urban militias. So impressive is Lacoste's criminal and hystericalfrenzy it convinces evcn clear-sighted Frenchmen. The truth is thatthe justification for creating such militias is contradictory in itself. The Frencharmy's job is infinite. From the moment its mission is to gag the mouths ofthe Algerians the door to the future is closed for ever. Above all there is a refusalto analyze, to understand and to gauge the depth and the density of theAlgerian Revolution: every district, every section, every street, every housingblock, every floor has its community leader. ... Coverage on thc e:round isnow backed up by coverage floor by floor.In 48 hours two thousand candidates were cnrolled. The Europeans of Algeriaimmediately responded to Lacoste's call for murder. From now onEuropean will have to make a list of the surviving Algerians in his sector.ering intelligence, 'rapid response' to terrorism, identifying sllspects, eliminationof runaways and police reinforcements. Yes the army must be alleviated ofsuch jobs. Combing the ground is now backed up by combing floor by floor.Haphazard killings are now backed up by prcmeditated murder. Stop the bloodshed,urged the UN. The best way of doing so, retorts Lacoste, is to have nomore blood to shed. After having been delivered up to Massu's hordes therian people are now entrusted to the care of the urban militias. Lacoste's decisionto create these militias clearly means hands off HIS war. It is proof thereare no limits once tlle rot has set in. Of course now he is a misoner. but what adelight to drag down everyone with him.After every one of thesc decisions the Algerian people increase their musculartension and intensify their struggle. After every one of these organized,requisitioned killings the Algerian people better structure thcir consciousnessstrengthen their resistance. Yes. The tasks for the French army are infinitebecause the unity of the Algerian people is infinite, 0 so infinite!"8 This is the reason why at the outbreak of hostilities, no prisoners are taken.It is only through politicizing the cadres that the leaders manage to themasses to accept (I) that the recruits dispatched from the metropole are not

50 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE51wife is killed or raped, he complains to no one. The authoritiesoppression can appoint as many commissions of inquiry andinvestigation as they like. In the eyes of the colonized, thesecommissions do not exist. And in fact, soon it will be seven yearsof crimes committed in Algeria and not a single Frenchman hasbeen brought before a French court of justice for the murder ofan Algerian. In Indochina, Madagascar, and the colonies,"native" has always known he can expect nothing from the otherside. The work of the colonist is to make even dreams of libertyimpossible for the colonized. The work of the colonized is to .imagine every possible method for annihilating the colonist. Onthe logical plane, the Manichaeanism of the colonist producesa Manichaeanism of the colonized. The theory of the "absoluteevil of the colonist" is in response to the theory of the "absoluteevil of the native."The arrival of the colonist signified syncretically the deathindigenous society, cultural lethargy, and petrifaction of the individual.For the colonized, life can only materialize from therotting cadaver of the colonist. Such then is the term-for-termcorrespondence between the two arguments.But it so happens that for the colonized this violence is investedwith positive, formative features because it constitutes their onlywork. This violent praxis is totalizing since each individual representsa violent link in the great chain, in the almighty body ofviolence rearing up in reaction to the primary violence of thecolonizer. Factions recognize each other and the future nationis already indivisible. The armed struggle mobilizes the people,i.e., it pitches them in a single direction, from which there is noturning back.always sent of their own free will and in some cases even are sickened by this(2) that it is in the current interest of the movement to wage a strugglecertain international conventions; (3) that an army which takesprisoners is an army, and ceases to be considered a gang of outlaws; (4) in anycase, the possession of prisoners constitutes a significant means of applyingpressure for protecting our militants held by the enemy.When it is achieved during a war of liberation the mobilizaofthe masses introduces notion of common cause, nationaldestiny, and collective history into every consciousness.Consequently, the second phase, i.e., nation building, is facilitatedby the existence of this mortar kneaded with blood and rage.This then gives us a better understanding of the originality of thevocabulary used in underdeveloped countries. During the coloperiodthe people were called upon to fight against oppression.Following national liberation they are urged to fight againstpoverty, illiteracy, and underdevelopment. The struggle, theygoes on. The people realize that life is an unending struggle.The violence ofthe colonized, we have said, unifies the people.By its very structure colonialism is separatist and regionalist. Colonialismis not merely content to note the existence of tribes, itreinforces and differentiates them. The colonial system nurturesthe chieftainships and revives the old marabout confraternities.Violence in its practice is totalizing and national. As a result, itharbors in its depths the elimination of regionalism and tribalism.The nationalist parties, therefore, show no pity at all towardkaids and the traditional chiefs. The elimination of the kaidsand the chiefs is a prerequisite to the unification of the people.At the individual level, violence is a cleansing force. Itcolonized of their inferiority complex, of their passive anddespairing attitude. It emboldens them, and restores their selfconfidence.Even if the armed struggle has been symbolic, andeven if they have been demobilized by rapid decolonization, thepeople have time to realize that liberation was the achievementof each and everyone and no special merit should go toleader. Violence hoists the people up to the level of the leader.Hence their aggressive tendency to distrust the system of protocolthat young governments are quick to establish. When theyused violence to achieve national liberation, the massesallow nobody to come forward as "liberator." They prove themselvesto be jealous of their achievements and take care not toplace their future, their destiny, and the fate of their homeland10) , ·i••;;;:~"Xtb"HH

A rt52THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE53into the hands of a living god. Totally irresponsible yesterday, todaythey are bent on understanding everything and determining every-Enlightened by violence, the people's consciousness rebelsagainst any pacification. The demagogues, the opportuniststhe magicians now have a difficulttask. The praxis which pitcheda desperate man-to-man struggle has given the massesa ravenous taste for the tangible. Any attempt at mystification inlong term becomes virtually impossible.ON VIOLENCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTWe have many times indicated in the preceding pages thatunderdeveloped countries the political leader is constantly calIonthe people to fight. To fight against colonialism, to fightagainst poverty and underdevelopment, to fight against debilitattraditions.The vocabulary he uses is that of a chief of staff:"Mobilization of the masses," "the agricultural front," "theeracy front," "defeats suffered," "victories won." During its earlyyears the young independent nation evolves in the atmosphere ofa battleground. This is because the political leader of an underdevelopedcountry is terror-stricken at the prospect of the long roadthat lies ahead. He appeals to the people and tells them: "Let usroll up our sleeves and get to work." Gripped in a kind of creativefrenzy the nation plunges into action of a hugely disproportionatenature. The agenda is not only to pull through but to catch upwith the other nations as best one can. There is a widespread beliefthat the European nations have reached their present stage ofdevelopment as a result of their labors. Let us prove therefore toworld and ourselves that we are capable of the same achievements.Posing the problem of development of underdevelopedcountries this way seems to us to be neither right nor reasonable.The European nations achieved their national unity at awhen the national bourgeoisies had concentrated most of thewealth in their own hands. Shopkeepers and merchants, clerksand bankers monopolized finance, commerce, and science withthenational framework. The bourgeoisie represented themost dynamic and prosperous class. Its rise to power enabledit to launch into operations of a crucial nature such as industrialization,the development of communications, and, eventually,the quest for overseas outlets.In Europe, barring a few exceptions (England, for instance,had taken a slight lead), states achieving national unity wereroughly the same economic situation. Because of the naturedevelopment and progress, no nation really insulted theothers.national independence and nation building in theunderdeveloped regions take on an entirely new aspect. In theseregions, except for some remarkable achievement~, countrysuffers from the same lack of infrastructure. The massesbattle with the same poverty, wrestle with the same age-oldgestures, and delineate what we could call the geography ofhunger with their shrunken bellies. A world of underdevelopment,a world poverty and inhumanity. But also a worldwithout doctors, without engineers, without administrators.Facing this world, the European nations wallow in the mostostentatious opulence. This European opulence is literally ascandal for it was built on the backs of slaves, it fed on the bloodof slaves, and owes its very existence to the soil and subsoil ofthe underdeveloped world. Europe's well-being and progresswere built with the sweat and corpses of blacks, Arabs, Indians,and Asians. This we are determined never to forget. When acolonialist country, embarrassed by a colony's demand forindependence, proclaims with the nationalist leaders in mind:"Ifyou want independence, take it and return to the Dark Ages,"the newly independent people nod their approval and takeup the challenge. And what we actually see is the colonizer

54 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHcapital and technicians and encircling thean apparatus of economic pressure. 9apotheosis of independence becomes the curse of independence.The sweeping powers of coercion of the colonialauthorities condemn the young nation to regression. In otherwords, the colonial power says: "If you want independence, takeit and suffer the consequences." The nationalist leaders then areleft with no other choice but to turn to their people and ask themto make a gigantic effort These famished individuals are requiredto undergo a regime of austerity, these atrophied muscles arerequired to work out of all proportion. An autarkic regime is establishedand each state, with the pitiful resources at its disposal,endeavors to address the mounting national hunger and the growingnational poverty. We are witness to the mobilization of aON VIOLENCE 55who now have to work themselves to exhaustion while acontemptuous and bloated Europe looks on." Other Third World countries to accept such an ordealand agree to give in to the terms the former colonial power.ng advantage of their strategic position in the cold warstruggle, these countries signand commitves. The formerly colonized territory is nowi;economically dependent country. The former ('OIOfllzerkept intact and, in some cases, reinforcedg channels, to inject smalldent nation's budget in order tocountries have achievedthe bare facts9 In the current international.contextnomic blockade solely upon the colonies i~ Africa and Asia.its anti-Castro policy has inaugurated in the Western Hemlspflere a newchapter in the history of man's laborious fight for freedom. Latin Americacomposed of independent countries at the UN with their own nationalcurrency should be a lesson for Since their liberation theseformer colonies live in terror and destitution under Western caoitalismstranglehold.The liberation ofAfrica and theof man's consciousness haveenabled the peoples of Latin America to break themuch like the next.Yankees feel thisIt was commonly thought that the time had come for the world,and particularly for the Third World, to choose between thecapitalist system and the socialist system. The underdevelopedcountries, which made use of the savage competition betweenthe two systems in order to win their national liberation, must,however, refuse to get involved in such rivalry. The Third Worldmust not be content to define itself in relation to values whichpreceded it. On the contrary, the underdeveloped countries mustendeavor to focus on their very own values as well as methodsand style specific to them. The basic issue with which we arefaced is not the unequivocal choice between socialism and capitalismsuch as they have been defined by men from different,continents and different periods of time. We know, of course," that the capitalist way oflife is incapable ofallowing us to achieve. our national and universal project Capitalist exploitation, the

56THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHcartels and monopolies, are the enemies of the underdevelopedcountries. On the other hand, the choice of a socialist regime,a regime entirely devoted to the people, based on principlethat man is the most precious asset, will allow us to progressfaster in greater harmony, consequently ruling out the possibilofa caricature ofsociety where a privileged few hold the reinspolitical and economic power without a thought for the nationas aBut in order for this regime to function feasibly and for us toconstantly abide by the principles which have been our inspiration,we need something other than human investment. Certainunderdeveloped countries expend a huge amount ofenergy alonglines. Men and women, young and old, enthusiasticallycommit themselves to what amounts to forced labor and proclaimthemselves slaves of the nation. This spirit of self-sacrificeand devotion to the common interest fosters a reassuring nationalmorale which restores man's confidence in the destiny of theworld and disarms the most reticent of observers. We believe,however, that such an effort cannot be sustained long at suchan infernal pace. These young nations accepted to take up thechallenge after the unconditional withdrawal of the colonizer.The country finds itself under new management, but in actualfact everything has to be started over from scratch, everythinghas to be rethought. The colonial system, in fact, was only interestedin certain riches, certain natural resources, to be exact thosefueled its industries. Up till now no reliable survey has beenmade the soil or subsoil. As a result the young independentnation is obliged to keep the economic channels establishedcolonial regime. It can, of course, export to other countriesother currency zones, but the basis of its exports remainsbasically unchanged. The colonial regi{I1e has hammeredchannels into place and the risk of not ma\ntaining them wouldcatastrophic. Perhaps everything to be started over again:The type of exports needs to be changed, not just their destina-ON VIOLENCEtion; the soil needs researching as well as the subsoil, the riverswhy not the sun. In order to do this, however, somethingother than human investment is needed. It requires capital,technicians, engineers and mechanics, etc. Let us confess, webelieve that the huge effort demanded of the people of theunderdeveloped nations by their leaders will not produce theresults expected. If working conditions are not modified ittake centuries to humanize this world which imperialistforces have reduced to the animal 1~..=1 JOThe truth is we must not accept such conditions. We mustrefuse outright the situation to which the West wants to condemnus. Colonialism and imperialism have not settled their debt tous once they have withdrawn their flag and their police force fromour territories. For centuries the capitalists have behaved like realwar criminals in the underdeveloped world. Deportation, massacres,forced labor, and slavery were the primary methods. by capitalism to increase its gold and diamond reserves, andestablish its wealth power. Not so long ago, Nazism transformedthe whole of Europe into a genuine colony. The governmentsvarious European nations demanded reparationsrestitution in money and kind for their stolen treasures. As aresult, cultural artifacts, paintings, sculptures, and stained-glasswindows were returned to their owners. In the aftermath ofwar the Europeans were adamant about one thing: "Germanypay." At the opening of the Eichmann trial Mr. Adenauer,on behalf of the German people, once again asked forgivenessfrom the Jewish people. Mr. Adenauer renewed his country's10 Some countries which have benefited from a large European settlementwalls and avenues with their independence and tend to forgetand starvation in the back-country. In a kind of complicity ofsilence, by an irony of fate, thev act as if their towns were contemporary withindependence.57

58 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE59commitment to continue paying enormous sums to the state ofto compensate for Nazi crimes.At the same time we are of the opinion that the imperialiststates would be making a serious mistake and committing anunspeakable injustice if they were content to withdraw from oursoil the military cohorts and the administrative and financialservices whose job it was to prospect for, extract and ship ourwealth to the metropolis. Moral reparation for national independencedoes not fool us and it doesn't feed us. The wealth of theimperialist nations is also our wealth. At a universal level, sucha statement in no way means we feel implicated in the technicalfeats or artistic creations of the West. In concrete terms Europehas been bloated out of all proportions by the gold and raw materialsfrom such colonial countries as Latin America, China, andAfrica. Today Europe's tower ofopulence faces these continents,for centuries the point of departure of their shipments ofmonds, oil, silk and cotton, timber, and exotic produce to thisvery same Europe. Europe is literally the creation the ThirdWorld. The riches which are choking it are those plundered fromthe underdeveloped peoples. The ports of Holland, the docksBordeaux and Liverpool owe their importance to the trade and11 And it is true that Germany has not paid in full the reparations for itswar crimes. The compensation imposed on the conquered nation has not beenclaimed in full because the injured parties included Germany in their antiCommunist defense system. The colonialist countries are motivated by thesame concerns when they try to obtain military bases and enclaves from theirformer colonies, failing their integration into the system of the West.have decided by common agreement to waive their claims in the nameNATO's strategy, in the name of the free world. And we have seen Germanyreceive wave after wave of dollars and equipment. A strong and powerfulback on its feet was a necessity for the Western camp. It was clearlyin the interests of a so-called free Europe to have a prosperous, reconstructedGermany capable of serving as a bastion agains~the threatened Red hordes.Germany has manipulated the European crisis. Oonsequently, the U.S. andthe other European states feel legitimately bitter toward this Gemlany, oncebrought to its knees and now one of their most ruthless comDetitors on themarket.deportation of millions of slaves. And when we hear the head ofa European nation declare with hand on hcart that he must cometo the aid of the unfortunate peoples of the underdevelopedworld, we do not tremble with gratitude. On the contrary, we sayamong ourselves, "it is a just reparation we are getting." So wewill not accept aid for the underdeveloped countries as "charity."Such aid must be considered the final stage of a dual consciousness- the consciousness ofthe colonized that it is their dueand the consciousness ofthe capitalist powers that effectively they,must pay up.12 If through lack of intelligence- not to mention·ingratitude-the capitalist countries refused to pay up, then theunrelenting dialectic oftheir own system would see to it that theyare asphyxiated. It is a fact that the young nations attract littleprivate capital. A number of reasons justify and explain· reservations on the part of the monopolies. As soon as the capitalistsknow, and they are obviously the first to know, that theirgovernment is preparing to decolonize, they hasten to withdrawall their capital from the colony. This spectacular flight of capitalis one of the most constant phenomena of decolonization.In order to invest in the independent countries, private companiesdemand terms which from experience prove unaccept· able or unfeasible. True to their principle of immediate returnsas soon as they invest "overseas," capitalists are reluctant to investin the long term. They are recalcitrant and often openlyto the so-called economic planning programs of the youngthe most they are willing to lend capital to the young12 "To make a radical distinction between the construction of socialism inEurope and 'relations with the Third World' (as if our only relations with itis, knowingly or unknowingly, giving priority to restructuringover the liberation of the underdeveloped countries, inother words constructing a de luxe type of socialism on the fruits of imperialplunder-as if a gang were to share out the loot more or less equitably even ifit means giving a little to the poor by way of charity and forgetting they aregiving back to the people they stole from." Marcel Peju, "Mourir pour deGaulle?" in Temps Modemes No. 175-176, October-November 1960.t.

~.-.~60THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON VIOLENCE61But another danger looms on the horizon. Since the ThirdWorld is abandoned and condemned to regression, in any casestagnation, through the selfishness and immorality of the West,the underdeveloped peoples decide to establish a collective autarchy. The industries of the West are f'apidly deprived of theiroverseas outlets. Capital goods pile up in the warehouses and theEuropean market witnesses the inexorable rivalry between financiers and cartels. Factory closures, layoffs, and unemploymentnations on condition it is used to buy manufactured goods andmachinery, and therefore keep the factories in the metropolisrunning.In fact the Western financiers are wary of any form of risk taking. Their demands, therefore, are for political stability and apeaceful social climate which are impossible to achieve giventhe appalling situation of the population as a whole in the aftermath of independence. In their search, then, for a guaranteewhich the former colony cannot vouch for, they demand thatcertain military bases be kept on and the young nation enter intomilitary and economic agreements. The private companies putpressure on their own government to ensure that the troops stationed in these countries are assigned to protecting their interests. As a last resort these companies require their governmentto guarantee their investments in such and such an underdeveloped region.As a result few countries meet the conditions required by thecartels and monopolies. So the capital, deprived ofreliable outlets,remains blocked in Europe and frozen. Especially as the capitalistsrefuse to invest in their own country. Returns in this case arein fact minimal and the fiscal pressure disheartens the boldest.The situation in the long-term is catastrophic. Capital nolonger circulates or else is considerably reduced. The Swissbanks refuse funding and Europe suffocates. Despite the enormous sums swallowed up by military expenditures, internationalcapitalism is in desperate straits.force the European proletariat to engage in an open struggle withthe capitalist regime. The monopolies then realize that their trueinterests lie in aiding, and massively aiding without too manyconditions, the underdeveloped countries. It is clear thereforethat the young nations of the Third World are wrong to grovel at. the feet of the capitalist countries. We are powerful in our own. right and the justness of our position. It is our duty, however, totell and explain to the capitalist countries that they are wrong tothink the fundamental issue of our time is the war between thesocialist regime and them. An end must be put to this cold warthat gets us nowhere, the nuclear arms race must be stopped andthe underdeveloped regions must receive generous investmentsand technical aid. The fate ofthe world depends on the responsegiven to this question. And it is pointless for the capitalist regimes to try and implicate the socialist regimes in the "fate of Europe" confronted bythe starving multitudes of colored peoples. Colonel Gagarin'sexploit, whatever General de Gaulle thinks, is not a feat which"does credit to Europe." For some time now the leaders of thecapitalist regimes and their intellectuals have had an ambivalentattitude towards the Soviet Union. After having joined forces toeliminate the socialist regime they now realize they have to cometo terms with it. So they switch on the smiles, multiply the overturesand make constant reminders to the Soviet people that they"are part 0 fEurope."Brandishing the Third World as a flood which threatens toengulf the whole of Europe will not divide the progressive forceswhose intentions are to lead humanity in the pursuit of happiness.The Third World has no intention of organizing a vasthunger crusade against Europe. What it does expect from thosewho have kept it in slavery for centuries is to help it rehabilitateman, and ensure his triumph everywhere, once and for all.But it is obvious we are not so naive as to think this will beachieved with the cooperation and goodwill of the European

62 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHgovernments. This colossal task, which consists of reintroducingman into the world, man in his totality, will be achieved withcrucial help of the European masses who would do well toconfess that they have often rallied behind the position of ourcommon masters on colonial issues. In order to do this. theEuropean masses must first of all decide to wake up, put onthinking caps and stop playing the irresponsible game of SleepingBeauty.Grandeur and Weaknessof SpontaneityThese reflections on violence have made us realize the frequentdiscrepancy between the cadres of the nationalist party and themasses, and the way they are out of step with each other. In anyunion or political organization there is a traditional !lao betweenthe masses who demand anment of their situation, and the cadres who, gaugingculties likely to be created by employers, put a restraint on theirdemands. Hence the oft-remarked tenacious discontent of themasses with regard to the cadres. Mer a day of demonstrations,while the cadres are celebrating victory, the masses well and trulyget the feeling they have been betrayed. It is the repeated demonstrationsfor their rights and the repeated labor disputes thatpoliticize the masses. A politically informed union official issomeone who knows that a local dispute is not a crucial confrontationbetween him and management. The colonized intellectuals,who in their respective metropolises have studiedthe mechanism of political parties, establish similar organizationsso as to mobilize the masses and put pressure on the colonialadministration. The formation of nationalist parties in the colonizedcountries is contemporary with the birth of an intellectualand businessthe organization as such, and63

64 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY 65often takes priority over a rational study of colonial society.notion of party is a notion imported from the metropolis. Thisinstrument of modern resistanee is grafted onto a protean, unbalancedreality where slavery, bondage, barter, cottage industries,and stock transactions exist side by side.The weakness of political parties lies not only in their mechanicalimitation of an organization which is used to handling thestruggle of the proletariat within a highly industrialized capitalistsociety. Innovations and adaptations should have been made asto the type of organization at a local level. The great mistake, theinherent :flaw of most of the political parties in the underdevelopedregions has been traditionally to address first and foremostthe most politically conscious elements: the urban proletariat, thesmall tradesmen and the civil servants, i.e., a tiny section of thepopulation which represents barely more than one percent.However, although this proletariat understood the party propagandaand read its publications, it was much less prepared to respondto any slogans taking up the unrelenting struggle for nationalliberation. It has been said many times that in c.olonial territoriesproletariat is the kernel ofthe colonized people most pamperedby the colonial regime. The embryonic urban proletariat is relativelyprivileged. In the eapitalist countries, the proletariat hasnothing to lose and possibly everything to gain. In the colonizedcountries, the proletariat has everything to lose. It represents infact that fraction of the colonized who are indispensable for runningthe colonial machine: tram drivers, taxi drivers, miners, dockers,inh:lrpreters, and nurses, etc. These elements make up the mostloyal clientele of the nationalist parties and by the privileged positionthey occupy in the colonial system represent the "bourgeois"fraction of the colonized population.So it is understandable that the clientele of the nationalistparties is above all urban: technicians, manual workers, intellectuals,and tradespeople living mainl~ in towns. Their way ofthinking in many ways already bears the mark of the technicallyadvanced and relatively comfortable environment which theylive. Here "modernism" is king. These are the very same circleswhich will oppose obscurantist traditions and propose innovations,thereby entering into open conflict with the old granitefoundation that is the national heritage.The large majority of the nationalist parties regard the ruralmasses with great mistrust. These masses give them the impressionof being mired in inertia and sterility. Fairly quickly thenationalist party members (the urban workers and intelleetuals)end up passing the same pejorative judgment on the peasantryas the colonists. In our endeavor to understand the reasons fordistrust of the rural masses by the political parties we shouldnot forget that colonialism has often strengthened or establisheddomination by an organized petrification of the peasantry.Regimented by marabouts, witch doctors and traditional chiefs,the rural masses still live in a feudal state whose overbearinglymedieval structure is nurtured by the colonial administrators andarmy.The young national bourgeoisie, espeeially the business sector,now competes with these feudal rulers in a number of areas:Marabouts and witch doctors prevent the sick from consulting aphysician; the rulings of the djemaas make lawyers redundant;the kaids use their political and administrative powers to launcha trucking business or establish a commerce; the local chiefsoppose the introduction of trade and new products in the nameof religion and tradition.The young class of colonized businessmen and traders needsto eliminate these prohibitions and barriers in order to grow. Theindigenous clientele which represents the exclusive preserve ofthe feudal overlords and sees itself more or less banned frompurchasing new produets, constitutes therefore a market whichboth parties are fighting over.The feudal agents form a barrier between the young Westernizednationalists and the masses. Every time the elite makes agesture toward the rural masses, the tribal chiefs, the religious

66THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY67rulers, and the traditional authorities issue repeated warnings,threats, and excommunications. These traditional authorities,sanctioned by the occupying power, feel threatened by the growingendeavors ofthe elite to infiltrate the rural masses. Theytoo well that the ideas imported by these urban elements arelikely to threaten the very existence of their feudal authority. Asa result, their enemy is not the occupying power with whom, inthey get along very well, but these modernists who are benton dislocating the indigenous society and in doing so, take thebread out of their mouths.The Westernized elements' feelings toward the peasant massesrecall those found among the proletariat in the industrializednations. The history of bourgeois revolutions and the history ofproletarian revolutions have demonstrated that the peasant massesoften represent a curb on revolution. In the industrialized counthepeasant masses are generally the least politically conscious,least organized as well as the most anarchistic elements. Theyare characterized by a series of features-individualism, lack ofdiscipline, the love of money, fits of rage, and deep depressiondefiningan objectively reactionary behavior.We have seen that the nationalist parties base their methodsdoctrines on the Western parties and therefore in the maofcases do not direct their propaganda at the ruralmasses. In fact, a rational analysis of colonial society would haveshown them that the colonized peasants live in a traditionalenvironment whose structures have remained intact, whereasthe industrialized countries it is these traditional circleshave been splintered by the progress of industrialization. It isthe burgeoning proletariat that we find individualisticbehavior in the colonies. Abandoning the countryside and itsinsoluble problems of demography",the landless peasants, nowa lumpenproletariat, are driven into'the towns, crammed intoshanty towns and endeavor to infiltrate the ports and cities, thecreations ofcolonial domination. As for the mass ofthe peasantry,they continue to live in a petrified context, and those who cannotscrape a living in the countryside have no other choice butto emigrate to the cities. The peasant who stays put is a staunchdefender of tradition, and in a colonial society represents theelement of discipline whose social structure remains community-minded.Such a static society, clinging to a rigid context,can of course sporadically generate episodes of religious fanatitribalwarfare. But in their spontaneity the rural massesdisciplined and altruistic. The individual steps aside inof the community.The peasants distrust the town dweller. Dressed like a European,speaking his language, working alongside him, sometimesliving in his neighborhood, he is considered by the peasant tobe a renegade who has given up everything which constitutes thenational heritage. The town dweller is a "traitor, a mercenary"who apparently gets along very well with the occupier and strivesto succeed in the context of the colonial system. Hence the reasonwhy we often hear the peasant say that the town dwellers haveno moral standards. This is not the traditional opposition betweentown and country. It is the opposition between the colonizedexcluded from the benefits of colonialism and their counterpartswho manage to hun the colonial system to their advantage.The colonialists, moreover, use this antagonism in their oppositionto the nationalist parties. They mobilize the populationmountains and the interior against the urban population.They set the back country against the coast, they revive tribalidentities, and it should come as no surprise to see Kalondjicrowned king ofKasai or some back, the Assembly of Chiefsin Ghana hold its ground against N'Krumah.The political parties are unable to establish roots in the countryside.Instead of adapting the existing structures in order toinvest them with nationalist or progressive elements, they areintent on disrupting traditional within the context ofthe colonial system. They imagine they can jump-start the nation

68THE WRETCHED OF' THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF' SPONTANEITY69whereas the mesh of the colonial system is still tightly interlocked.They make no effort to reach out to the masses. They do not placetheir theoretical knowledge at the service of the people, but insteadtry to regiment the masses according to a pre-determinedschema. Consequently, they parachute into the villages inexperiencedor unknown leaders from the capital who, empoweredby the central authorities, endeavor to manage the douar or thevillage like a company committee. The traditional chiefs areignored, sometimes taken down a peg. Instead of integrating thehistory of the village and conflicts between tribes and clansthe people's struggle, the history of the future nation has a singulardisregard for minor local histories and tramples on the onlything relevant to the nation's actuality. The elders, held in respectin traditional societies and generally invested with an undeniablemoral authority, are publicly ridiculed. occupier's serviceshave no scruples making use of the ensuing resentment and arekept informed of the slightest decision adopted by this caricatureof authority. A well-informed police repression, based onfactual intelligence gathering, is quick to follow. The leadersparachuted in from the outside and the main members thenew assembly are arrested.These setbacks confirm "the theoretical analysis" of the nationalistparties. The disastrous attempts at regimenting the ruralmasses reinforce the parties' distrust and crystallize their aggressivenesstoward this section of the population. After the victoriousstruggle for national liberation, the same mistakes arefostering the trend to decentralize and self-govern. The tribalismof the colonial phase is replaced by regionalism in the naphaseexpressed institutionally as federalism.But it so happens that the rural masses, in spite of thecontrol the parties have over them, playa crucial role either inthe gestation of the national con~iousness or in relaying theinitiatives of the nationalist parties, and in some rare cases takingover purely and simply from the parties' sterility.The nationalist parties' propaganda always finds a responseamong the peasantry. The memory of the precolonial period isstill very much alive in the villages. Mothers still hum to theirchildren the songs which accompanied the warriors as they setoff to fight the colonizer. At the age of twelve or thirteenyoung villagers know by heart the names of the elders who tookin the last revolt, and the dreams in the douars and villagesare not those of the children in the cities dreaming of luxurygoods or passing their exams but dreams of identification withsuch and such a hero whose heroic death still brings tears toeyes.a time when the nationalist parties are endeavoring to organizethe embryonic working class in the towns, we are witnessingapparently inexplicable social unrest in the interior. We cantake as an example the infamous 1947 insurrection in Madagascar.The colonial services stated categorically that it was a peasantrevolt. In fact we now know that things, as always, were muchmore complex. During the Second World War the major colonialcompanies extended their influence and grabbed any remainingland. There was also talk at the same period ofpossible settlement on the island of Jewish, Kabyle, and Westrefugees. The rumor also spread of an imminent invasionof the island by the whites from South Africa abetted by thecolonists. After the war, therefore, the candidates on the nationalistticket were triumphantly elected. Immediately afterwards,factions of the MDRM party (Mouvement Democratiquela Renovation Malgache) underwent repression. In order toachieve their ends the colonial authorities employed the usualmethods: mass arrests; intertribal, racist propaganda; and the creationof a party with the unorganized factions of the lumpenproletariat.This party, called the Disinherited of Madagascar(PADESM), and its decidedly provocative actions, was to providethe colonial authorities with the legal pretext it needed tomaintain law and order. Such a premeditated, commonplace

70THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY71operation as eliminating a political party, however, here took ongigantic proportions. On the defensive for three or four years therural masses suddenly felt themselves in mortal danger andcided to violently resist the colonialist forces. Armed with spears,and more often with sticks and stones, the population rose up ina widespread revolt with the aim of national liberation. We knowhow it ended.Such armed revolts constitute but one of the methods usedby the rural masses to join in the national struggle. In some casesthe peasants act as a relay following the unrest in the towns wherethe nationalist party is the object of police repression. The newsreaches the interior exaggerated out of all proportion: leadersarrested, others gunned down, the city running red with the bloodof blacks, the poor white settlers swimming in Arab blood.the pent-up hatred, all the exacerbated hatred then explodes. Thepolice station is taken over, the officers hacked to pieces,the elementary school teacher murdered, the doctor gets awaywith his life only because he is absent, etc., etc. Pacifying troopsare dispatched to the field, the air force drops bombs. The bannerof revolt is then unfurled, the old warrior traditions resurface,the women cheer on the men who band together and takeup their positions in the mountains, and guerrilla warfare begins.Spontaneously the peasants create a widespread sense of insecurity;colonialism takes fright, settles into a state of war, or elsenegotiates.How do the nationalist parties react to this decisive irruptionby the peasant masses into the national struggle? We have seenthat the majority of the nationalist parties have not written theneed for armed intervention into their propaganda. They are notopposed to a sustained revolt, but they leave it up to the spontaneityof the rural masses. In other\words, their attitude towardsthese new developments is as if the'y were heaven-sent, prayingthey continue. They exploit this godsend, but make no attemptto organize the rebellion. They do not dispatch agents to theinterior to politicize the masses, to enlighten their consciousnessor raise the struggle to a higher level. They hope that swept alongby its own momentum the action of the masses will not flag.There is no contamination of the rural movement by the urbanmovement. Each side evolves according to its own dialectic.At a time when the rural masses are totally receptive, the nationalistparties make no attempt to introduce them to an agenda.They have no objective to offer and simply hope that the movementwill continue indefinitely and that the bombardments willnot win the day. We thus see that the nationalist parties do notmake use of even this opportunity to integrate the rural massesand raise their political awareness as well as their struggle to ahigher level. They stubbornly maintain their criminal positionof distrust with regard to the interior.The political cadres hole up in the towns and make it clear tothe colonial authorities they have no connections with the rebels,or else leave the country. Seldom do they join forces with thepeople in the mountains. In Kenya, for example, during the MauMau insurrection no known nationalist claimed he was a memberof the movement or attempted to defend it.There are no constructive talks, no confrontation between thedifferent social strata of the nation. Once independence has beenachieved after repression of the rural masses and collusion betweenthe colonial authorities and the nationalist parties, we findmutual incomprehension exacerbated. The peasantry balkat the structural reforms proposed by the government as well asthe even objectively progressive social innovations, preciselybecause the current leaders of the regime did not explain to thepeople during the colonial period the party objectives, nationalpolicy, and international issues, etc.mistrust felt by the rural population and the traditionalleaders toward the nationalist parties during the colonial periodis matched bv equal hostility during the national period. The~~~

72THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY73colonialist secret service, which is still at work after independence,foments discontent and still manages to create seriousdifficulties for the young governments. When all is said and done,the government is merely paying for its idleness during the liberationperiod and its enduring contempt for the peasantry. Thenation may well have a rational, even progressive head, but itshuge body remains retarded, rebellious and recalcitrant.The temptation is great therefore to crush this body by centralizingthe administration and keeping a firm control overthe people. This is one of the reasons why we often hear that theunderdeveloped countries need a dose of dictatorship. The leadersdistrust the rural masses. This distrust, moreover, can takeon serious proportions. Such is the case for certain governmentsthat, long after national independence, consider the interioras an unpacified region where the head of state and his minstersonly venture during army maneuvers. The interior is considereda virtual terra incognita. Paradoxically, the national government'sattitude toward the rural masses is reminiscent in some waysof the colonial power. "We are not too sure how the masses willreact"; "We need to use the lash if we want to take this countryout of the Dark Ages," the young leaders are not afraid to say.But, as we have seen, the political parties' disregard for the ruralmasses during the colonial period can only be prejudicial tonational unity and to setting rapidly the nation in motion.Sometimes colonialism endeavors to diversify and dislocate thenationalist upsurge. Instead of stirring up the sheiks and the chiefsagainst the "revolutionaries" in the towns, the Native Bureausorganize the tribes and religious brotherhoods into parties. Confrontedwith an urban party which is beginning to "embody thewill of the nation" and constitute a threat to the colonial regime,factions are bom, and sympathies and parties based on tribe andregion emerge. The entire tribe is transformed into a political partyin close consultation with the colo~alists. Roundtable discussionscan now begin. The party of national unity is swamped by the verynumber of political factions. The tribal parties oppose centralizationand unity and denounce the one party dictatorship.Later on the same tactics will be used by the national opposition.The occupier has already made his choice from the two orthree nationalist parties who led the liberation struggle. Themethod of choice is typical: Once a party has achieved nationalunanimity and has emerged as the sole negotiator, the occupierbegins his maneuvering and delays negotiations as long as possible.The delay is used to whittle away the party's demands andobtain concessions from the leadership to remove certain "extremist"elements.If, however, no single party emerges, the occupier is contentto favor the one which seems to him to be the most "reasonable."The nationalist parties, which were excluded from the negotiations,then loudly denounce the agreement concluded betweenthe other party and the occupier. The party which takes overpower from the occupier, conscious of the danger of the rivalparty's vague, strictly demagogic positions, endeavors tomantle and outlaw it. The persecuted party has no other alternativebut to take refuge on the periphery of the towns and inthe interior. It attempts to stir up the rural masses against the"mercenaries of the coast and the corrupt elements in the capital."Any excuse is good enough-from religious arguments tothe tradition-breaking innovations introduced by the new nationalauthority. It exploits the obscurantist tendencies of the ruralmasses. Its so-called revolutionary doctrine is in fact based onthe reactionary, heated, and spontaneous nature of the peasantry.It spreads the rumor here and there that the mountainous regionsof the interior are on the move, that there is discontent amongthe peasants. It claims that in one region the police have openedfire on the peasant~, reinforcements have been dispatched, andthe government is about to collapse. With no clear program and

74 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY75no other objective but to take over from the team in power, theopposition parties put their fate in the hands of the spontaneousand obscure mass of the peasantry.Conversely,. in some cases the opposition no longer seeks supportfrom the rural masses but from the progressive elements ofthe young nation's labor unions. In this case the government callsupon the masses to resist the workers' demands, calling themrash, anti traditionalist maneuvers. The observations we havenoted concerning the political parties can now be applied to thelabor unions, mutatis mutandis. The first labor unions in thecolonial territories are usually local branches of their metropolitancounterparts and their slogans echo those of the metropolis.Once the crucial phase ofthe liberation struggle begins to takeshape, a group of indigenous union leaders decides to create anational labor movement. The locals desert en masse the previousorganization imported from the metropolis. The formationof this union is another way for the urban population to exertpressure on the colonial authorities. We have already said thatthe proletariat in the colonies is embryonic and represents themost privileged fraction of the population. The national laborunions born out of the liberation struggle are urban organizationsand their program is above all political and nationalist. Butthis national union born during the decisive phase of the fightfor independence is in fact the legal enlistment of dynamic,politically conscious nationalist elements.The rural masses, despised by the political parties, continueto be kept on the sidelines. There is, of course, an agriculturalworkers' union but such a formation is content to satisfy the formalneed for "a united front against colonialism." The unionleaders who began their careers in the context of the metropolitanunions are at a loss when it comes to organizing the ruralmasses. They have lost touch with the peasantry and are mainlyconcerned with enlisting steelworkers, dockers and civil servantsin the utilities sector, etc ..~During the colonial phase the nationalist labor unions representa spectacular strike force. In the towns these unions can paralyzeor at least disrupt at any moment the colonialist economy.Since the European settlements are mostly confined to the towns,the psychological repercussions are considerable: no gas, no electricity,no garbage pickup, and produce lies rotting on the wharfs.These metropolitan enclaves, which the towns represent in thecolonial context, are profoundly affected by this labor unrest. Thestronghold of colonialism, the capital, has difficulty withstandingsuch a battering. But the rural masses of the interior remainunaffected by this confrontation.There is, therefore, a clear disproportion from the nationalpoint of view between the importance of the labor unions andthe rest of the nation. After independence the workers enlistedin the unions have the impression of running on empty. Oncethe limited objectives they set themselves have been achieved,they prove to be extremely precarious given the huge task ofnation building. Faced with a national bourgeoisie whose relationswith the government are often very close, the unionleaders discover they can no longer confine themselves to labordisputes. Congenitally isolated from the rural masses, incapableof extending their influence beyond the urban periphery, theunions adopt an increasingly political stance. In fact they becomepolitical candidates. They endeavor by every means possibleto drive the bourgeoisie into a corner: protests are madeagainst keeping foreign bases on national soil, commercial dealsare exposed, and criticism is voiced against the national government'sforeign policy. The workers, now "independent," aregetting nowhere. The unions realize in the aftermath of independencethat if their social demands were to be expressed theywould scandalize the rest of the nation. The workers are in factpampered by the regime. They represent the most well-to-dofraction of the people. Any unrest aimed at winning improvedliving standards for the laborers and dock workers would notonly be unpopular but might very well stir up the hostility of

76 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY77the disinherited rural population. The unions, banned fromunion activities, make no headway.This malaise conveys the objective need for a social programwhich, at long last, concerns the entire nation. The unions suddenlydiscover that the interior must also be enlightened andorganized. But since they never bothered to establish workinglinks between their organization and the peasantry, who representthe only spontaneously revolutionary force in the country,the unions prove to be ineffective and realize the anachronisticnature of their program.The union leaders, immersed in worker-control politics, inevitablyreach the preparatory stage for a coup d'etat. But here againthe interior is excluded. It is a showdown restricted to the nationalbourgeoisie and the unionized workers movement. The nationalbourgeoisie, appropriating the old traditions of colonialism, flexesits military and police muscle, whereas the unions organizemeetings and mobilize tens of thousands oftheir members. Thepeasants shrug their shoulders as they muse over this nationalbourgeoisie and these workers who after all have enough to eat.The peasants shrug their shoulders for they realize that both partreatthem as a makeshift force. The unions, the parties andthe government, in a kind of immoral Machiavellianism, use thepeasant masses as a blind, inert force of intervention. As a kindbrute force.In certain circumstances, however, the peasant masses makea crucial contribution to the struggle for national liberation aswell as to the course ofaction opted for by the future nation. Forthe underdeveloped countries this phenomenon is offundamentalimportance, and this is the reason why we propose to study itin detail.We have seen that the nationalist parties' will to smash colonialismworks hand in hand with the will to remain on good termswith the colonial authorities. Within these parties two lines ofaction can emerge. First ofall, some-of the intellectual elements,who have made a thorough analysis of the colonial reality andthe international situation, begin to criticize the ideologicalvacuum of the national party and its dearth of strategy and tactics.They never tire of asking the leaders the crucial questions"What is nationalism? What does it mean to you? What does theterm signify? What is the point of independence? And first howdo you intend to achieve it?" while at the same time demandingthat methodological issues be vigorously addressed. To electioneeringmethods they suggest adding "any other means." At thefirst signs of a skirmish, the leaders are quick to call them juvenilehotheads. But because these demands are neither juvenilenor hotheaded, the revolutionary elements articulating them arerapidly isolated and removed. The leaders cloaked in their experienceruthlessly reject "these upstarts, these anarchists."The party machine tends to resist any innovation. The revolutionaryminority finds itself isolated, confronted by a leadership,frightened and anguished at the idea it could be swept awayin a whirlwind whose nature, strength and direction are beyondits imagining.The second line of action involves the senior or junior cadreswhose activities have been the object of colonialist police persecution.It is worth noting that these men attained the leadershipof the party through sheer hard work, self-sacrifice, and an exemplarypatriotism. These men from the rank and file are oftenlaborers, seasonal workers and sometimes even genuinely unemployed.For them, being activists in a national party is not a questionof politics but the only way of casting off their animal statusfor a human one. These men, uncomfortable with the party'sexacerbated legalism, demonstrate, within the limits of theirassigned activities, a spirit of initiative, courage, and a sense ofpurpose which almost systematically make them targets for theforces ofcolonialist repression. Arrested, convicted, tortured,amnestied, they use their period of detention to compare ideasand harden their determination. Strengthened by the ordeal ofhunger strikes and the brutal solidarity of the prisons that are little

78THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY79better than communal graveyards, they live out their liberationas a godsent opportunity to launch the armed struggle. Meanwhileoutside, the colonial authorities, besieged now from allsides, are making overtures to the nationalist moderates.What we see therefore is a splintering close to breaking pointbetween the official and the unofficial party factions. The unofficialelements are made to feel undesirable, and are shunned.The legal factions come to their aid, but taking so many precautionsthat the unofficial factions already feel themselves tobe outsiders. These men then make contact with the intellectualelements whose position they admired a few years previously.The encounter leads to the formation of an undergroundparty, parallel to the official party. But the repression of theseirredeemable elements intensifies as the official party drawscloser to colonialism and attempts to change it "from the inside."The unofficial faction then finds itself in an historicaldead end.Driven from the towns, these men first all take refugethe urban periphery. But the police network smokes them outforces them to leave the towns for good and abandon thearena of political struggle. They retreat to the interior, the mountains,and deep into the rural masses. Initially, the masses closein around them, protecting them from the manhunt. The nationalistmilitant who decides to put his fate in the hands of thepeasant masses, instead of playing hide-and-seek with the policein the urban centers, will never regret it. The peasant cloak wrapshim in a mantle of unimagined tenderness and vitality. Veritableexiles in their own country and severed from the urbanwhere they drew up the concepts of nation and political struggle,take to the maquis. Constantly forced to remain on the moveto elude the police, walking by night so as not to attract attention,they are able to travel the length and breadth of their countryand get to know it. Gone are the cafes, the discussions about thecoming elections or the cruelty of such-and-such a police officer.Their ears hear the true voice of the country and their eyes seethe great and infinite misery of the people. They realize thatprecious time has been wasted on futile discussion about thecolonial regime. They realize at last that change does not meanreform, that change does not mean improvement. Now possessedwith a kind of vertigo they realize that the political unrest intowns will always be powerless to change and overthrow the coregime.Discussions with the peasants now become a ritual for them.They discover that the rural masses have never ceased to pose theproblem of their liberation in terms of violence, oftaking backland from the foreigners, in terms of national struggle and armedrevolt. Everything is simple. These men discover a coherent peoplewho survive in a kind of petrified state, but keep intact their moralvalues and their attachment to the nation. They discover a generouspeople, prepared to make sacrifices, willing to give allimpatient, with an indestructible pride. Understandably, theencounter between these militants, hounded by the police, andthese restless, instinctively rebellious masses can produce an explosivemixture of unexpected power. The men from the townslet themselves be guided by the people and at the same time givemilitary and political training. The people sharpen theirweapons. In fact the training proves short-lived, for the masses,realizing the strength of their own muscles, force the leaders toaccelerate events. The armed struggle is triggered.Insurrection disorients the political parties. Their doctrine hasalways claimed the ineffectiveness ofany confrontation and theirvery existence serves to condemn any idea of revolt. Certainpolitical parties secretly share the optimism of the coJonist'l andare glad to be no party to this madness which, it is said, can onlyend in bloodshed. But the flames have been lit and like an epidemic,spread like wildfire throughout the country. The tanksand planes do not achieve the success they counted on. Facedwith the extent of the damage, colonialism begins to have second

80 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY81thoughts. Voices are raised within the oppressor nation that drawattention to the gravity of the situation.As for the people living in their huts and their dreams, theirhearts begin to beat to the new national rhythm and they softlysing unending hymns to the glory of the fighters. The insurrectionhas already spread throughout the nation. It is now the turnthe parties to be isolated.Sooner or later, however, the leaders of the insurrection realizethe need to extend the insurrection to the towns. Such a realizationis not forhlitous. It completes the dialectic which governsthe development of an armed struggle for national liberation.Although the rural areas represent endless reserves of popularenergy and its groups of armed men maintain a reign of insecurity,colonialism never really doubts the strength of its system. Itdoes not feel in actual danger. The leaders of the insurrectiontherefore decide to move the war into enemy territory, i.e., intothe serenity and grandiloquence of the cities.It is no easy matter for the leadership to foment an insurrectionin the cities. We have seen that most of the leaders, born orraised in the towns, were so hounded by the colonialist policeand so generally misunderstood by the rationally minded, overcautiouscadres of the political parties, that they fled their homeenvironment. Their retreat to the interior was both an escapefrom repression and a distrust ofthe old political formations. Thenatural urban relays for these leaders are the nationalists whohave made a name for themselves in the political parties. Butwe have seen that their recent history has little in common withthese timorous leaders who spend their time mired in endlessdiscussions on the evils of colonialism.Moreover, the first overtures made by the men from the maquisin the direction of their former friends, those they consider tobe farthest to the left, confirm their fears and eradicate any desireto renew their acquaintance with them again. In fact theinsurrection, which starts in the rural areas, is introduced intothe towns by that fraction of the peasantry blocked at the urbanperiphery, those who still have not found a single bone to gnawin the colonial system. These men, forced off the family land bythe growing population in the countryside and by colonial expropriation,circle the towns tirelessly, hoping that one day oranother they will be let in. It is among these masses, in the peopleof the shanty towns and in the lumpenproletariat that the insurrectionwill find its urban spearhead. The lumpenproletariat, thiscohort of starving men, divorced from tribe and clan, constitutesone of the most spontaneously and radically revolutionary forcesof a colonized people.In Kenya, during the years preceding the Mau-Mau revolt, theBritish colonial authorities increased their intimidation tacticsagainst the lumpenproletariat. The police and missionaries coordinatedtheir efforts in the years 1950-5 I to respond appropriatelyto the enormous influx of young Kenyans from the countrysideand the forest who, unable to find jobs, took to stealing, debaucheryand alcoholism, etc. Juvenile delinquency in the colonizedcountries stems directly from this lumpenproletariat. Similarly,drastic measures were taken in the Congo from 1957 onwards tosend back to the interior the "young hooligans" who were disturbingthe peace. Relocation camps were opened and assigned to theevangelical missions under the protection, of course, of the Belgianarmy.The formation of a lumpenproletariat is a phenomenon whichis governed by its own logic, and neither the overzealous ness ofthe missionaries nor decrees from the central authorities cancheck its growth. However hard it is kicked or stoned it continuesto gnaw at the roots of the tree like a pack of rats.The shanty town is the consecration of the colonized's biologicaldecision to invade the enemy citadel at all costs, and if needbe, by the most underground channels. The lumpenproletariatconstitutes a serious threat to the "security" of the town andsignifies the irreversible rot and the gangrene eating into theheart of colonial domination. So the pimps, the hooligans, the

82THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY83}unemployed, and the petty criminals, when approached, give theliberation struggle all they have got, devoting themselves to thecause like valiant workers. These vagrants, these second-classcitizens, find their way back to the nation thanks toin the eyes of colonial societyor ViS-a-VIS the moral standards ot the colonizer, they believe thepower of the gun or the hand grenade is the only way to entercities. These jobless, these species of subhumans, redeemthemselves in their own eyes and before history. The prostitutestoo, the domestics at two thousand francs a month, the hopelesscases, all those men and women who fluctuate between madnessand suicide, are restored to sanity, return to action and taketheir vital place in the great march of a nation onThe nationalist parties are unable to graspenon that precipitates their disintegration. Therr""t;r", in the towns modifies the nature of the struggle.mass of the colonialist troops were aimed at thethey now surge back to the towns in order to safeguardpeople and property. The forces of repression are dispersed, dangerlurks in every quarter. It is the national territory, the entirecolony which enters into a trance. Armed groups of peasantswatch as the military loosens its grip. The insurrection in thetowns is an unexpected lifesaver.The leaders of the insurrection, observing the ardorsiasm of the people as they deal decisive blows tomachine, become increasingly distrustful of traditional politics.towards what they now callverbiage, bantering, and futile agitation. They feel ahatred for "politics" and demagoguery. Hence in the initial phasethe cult of spontaneity is triumphant.The rash of revolts which break out in the interior testify tothe nation's substantial presence in every quarter. Every colonizedsubject in arms represents a piece of the nation on themove. These revolts jeopardize the colonial regime, force it tomobilize its troops by dispersing them, and threaten to suffocatemoment They are governed by a simple doctrine:must be made to There is no program, no discourse,there are no resolutions, no factions. The problem isclear-cut: The foreigners must leave. Let us build a common frontagainst the oppressor and let us reinforce it with armed struggle.As long as colonialism remains in a state of anxiety, the nationalcause advances and becomes the cause of each and everyone.The struggle for liberation takes shape and already involvesthe entire country. During this period, spontaneity rules.tive rests with local areas. On hilltop aminiature is formed and assumes power. In the valleys and mvillages, everywhere, oneencounters a national authority. The action of each and everyonesubstantiates the nation and undertakes to ensure its triumphlocally. We are dealing with a strategy of immediacy which isboth all-embracing and radical. The objective, the program ofevery spontaneously formed group is liberation at a local level.If the nation is present everywhere, it must then be here. Onestep further and it is present only here. Tactics and strategymerge. The art of politics is quite simolv transformedart of war. The militant becomesto in oolitics are onedispossessed population, used to living in a narrow cycleof conflict and rivalry, solemnly sets about cleansing and purifyingthe local face of the nation. In a state of genuine collectiveecstasy rival families decide to wipe the slate clean and forgetthe past. Reconciliations abound. Deep-buried, traditional hatredsare dug up, the better to root them out. Faith in the nationfurthers political consciousness. National unity begins with theunity of the group, the settling of old scores, and thetion once and for all of any resentment. Those indigenous eletheiractivities andthe occupier are also included in the cleansingprocess. Traitors and mercenaries, however, are judged and

84THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY85punished. On their continuing road to self-discovery the peoplelegislate and claim their sovereignty. Every component rousedfrom its colonial slumber lives at boiling point. The villages witnessa permanent display of spectacular generosity and disarmingkindness, and an unquestioned determination to die for the"cause." All of this is reminiscent of a religious brotherhood, achurch, or a mystical doctrine. No part of the indigenous populationcan remain indifferent to this new rhythm which drivesthe nation. Emissaries are dispatched to the neighboring tribes.They represent the insurrection's first liaison system and introducethe rhythm and movement of the revolution to the regionsstill mired in immobility. Tribes well-known for their stubbomrivalry disarm amid rejoicing and tears, and pledge their helpand support. In this atmosphere ofbrotherly solidarity and armedstruggle, men link arms with their former enemies. The nationalcircle widens and every new ambush signals the entry of newtribes. Every village becomes a free agent and a relay point. Solidarityamong tribes, among villages and at the national level isfirst discernible in the growing number of blows dealt to theenemy. Every new group, every new volley of cannon fire signalsthat everybody is hunting the enemy, everybody is taking astand.This solidarity grows much stronger during the second periodwhen the enemy offensive is launched. Once the uprising hasbegun the colonial forces regroup, reorganize and adapt theirfighting tactics to the type of insurrection. This offensive throwsthe euphoria and idyll ofthe first phase into question. The enemylaunches an attack and concentrates large numbers of troops atprecise locations. Local groups are swiftly overwhelmed, and allthe more so because they first tend to tackle the fighting headon. The optimism of the initial phase had made them intrepid,even rash. The group, who was persuaded their own mountainpeak was the nation, refuses to pull back, and to beat a retreat isout of the question. Losses are considerable and the survivors arewracked by doubt. The local community endures the attack as acrucial test. It behaves literally as if the fate of the country wereat stake at that very place and at that very moment.But it soon becomes clear that this impetuous spontaneity,which is intent on rapidly settling its score with the colonial system,is destined to fail as a doctrine. A deeply pragmatic realismreplaces yesterday's jubilation and the illusion of eternity. Thelesson ofhard facts and the bodies mowed down by machine gunsresult in a radical rethinking of events. The basic instinct ofsurvivalcalls for a more flexible, more agile response. This adjustmentin fighting technique was typical of the first months of thewar of liberation by the Angolan people. On March 15, 1961,we recall, the Angolan peasants in groups of two or three thousandattacked the Portuguese positions. Men, women, anddren, armed and unarmed, courageously and enthusiasticallyhurled themselves en masse in wave after wave against the regionsdominated by the colonists, the military, and the Portugueseflag. Villages and airports were surrounded and sufferednumerous attacks, but thousands ofAngolans were mowed downby colonialist machine gun fire. The leaders of the Angolanuprising soon realized that they would have to adopt differenttactics if they really wanted to liberate their country. The Angolanleader, Roberto Holden, therefore, has recently reorganized theAngolan National Army using the model of other liberation warsand guerrilla warfare techniques.In guerrilla warfare, in fact, you no longer fight on the spotbut on the march. Every fighter carries the soil of the homelandto war between his bare toes. The national liberation army is notan army grappling with the enemy in a single, decisive battle,but travels from village to village, retreating into the forest andjumping for joy when the cloud of dust raised by the enemy'stroops is seen in the valley. The tribes begin to mobilize, the unitsmove their positions, changing terrain. The people from thenorth march toward the west, those on the plains struggle up tothe mountains. No strategic position is given preference. The~Y" T''''''''''"0"-t2eo"--- ---------

86 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY87enemy thinks he is in pursuit but we always manage to come upbehind him, attacking him at the very moment when he leastexpects it. Now it is we who are in pursuit. Despite all his technologyand firepower the enemy gives the impression he is flounderingand losing ground. We never stop singing.the meantime, however, the leaders of the insurrectionrealize that their units need enlightening, instruction, and indoctrination;an army needs to be created, a central authorityestablished. The picture ofthe nation in arms, divided intoter groups, calls for rethinking and a new vision. The leaders whohad fled the futile atmosphere of urban politics rediscover politics,no longer as a sleep-inducing technique or a means of mystification,but as the sole means of fueling the struggle and preparingthe people for clear-sighted national leadership. The leadersof the insurrection realize that any peasant revolt, even on a grandscale, needs control and guidance. They, therefore, must transformthe movement from a peasant revolt into a revolutionarywar. They discover that in order to succeed the struggle must bebased on a clear set of objectives, a well-defined methodologyand above all, the recognition by the masses of an urgent timetable.One can hold out for three days, three months at the most,using the masses' pent-up resentment, but one does not win anational war, one does not rout the formidable machine of theenemy or transform the individual if one neglects to raise theconsciousness of the men in combat. Neither the heroic fight tothe finish nor the beauty of the battle cry is enough.expansion of the liberation war can anyway be relied onto deal a crucial blow to the leaders' convictions. The enemy nowmodifies its tactics. To its brutal policy of repression it adds ajudicious and spectacular combination of detente, divisive maneuversand psychological warfare. Here and there it successfullyendeavors to revive tribal conflicts, using agents provocateursengaged in what is known as countersubversion. Colonialismuses two types of indigenous collaborators to achieve its ends.First of all, there are the usual suspects: chiefs, kaids, and witchdoctors. As we have seen, the peasant masses, steeped in a neverchangingroutine, continue to revere their religious leaders,descendants of illustrious families. The tribe, with one voice,embarks on the path designated by the traditional chief. Colonialismsecures the services ofthese loyal servants by paying thema small fortune.Colonialism also finds ample material in the lumpenproletariatfor its machinations. In fact, any national liberation movementshould give this lumpenproletariat maximum attention. Italways respond to the call to revolt, but ifthe insurrection thinksit can afford to ignore it, then this famished underclass will pitchitself into the armed struggle and take part in the conflict, thistime on the side of the oppressor. The oppressor, who neveran opportunity to let the blacks tear at each other'sis only too willing to exploit those characteristic flaws of thelumpenproletariat, namely its lack of political consciousness andignorance. If this readily available human reserve is not immediorganizedby the insurrection, it will join the colonialist troopsas mercenaries. In Algeria it was the Harkis and the Messalists whowere drawn from the lumpenproletariat; in Angola, it suppliedthe road gangs who opened the way for the Portuguese troops;the Congo, it can be found in the regionalist demonstrationsthe provinces of Kasai and Katanga, while in Leopoldville itwas used by the enemies of the Congo to organize "spontaneous"meetings against Lumumba.The enemy who analyzes the forces of the insurrection, whodelves deeper and into the study of that global adversary,the colonized subject, identifies the ideological weakness andspiritual instability of certain segments of the population.enemy discovers, alongside a well-organized and disciplinedinsurrectionary front line, a human mass whose commitment isconstantly threatened by the addictive cycle of physiologicalpoverty, humiliation, and irresponsibility. The enemy will usethis mass even if it costs a fortune. He will create spontaneity

88 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY 89the force of the bayonet or exemplary punishment. Dollars andBelgian francs are poured into the Congo while in Madagascaranti-Hova atrocities are on the increase, and in Algeria, recruits,veritable hostages, are enrolled in the French army. The leaderof the insurrection watches as the nation literally keels over.Whole tribes are transformed into Harkis and, armed with thelatest weapons, set off on the warpath to invade the rival tribe,labeled nationalist for the occasion. Unanimity in combat, so richand so grandiose during the initial hours of the insurrection, isundermined. National unity crumbles, the insurrection is at acrucial turning point. The political education of the masses isnow recognized as an historical necessity.This spectacular voluntarism which was to lead the colonizedpeople in a single move to absolute sovereignty, the certaintyone had that all the pieces of the nation could be gathered upin one fell swoop and from the same, shared perspective, andthe strength grounded in this hope, have proved in the light ofexperience to be a very great weakness. As long as he imaginedhe could switch straight from colonized subject to sovereigncitizen of an independent nation, as long as he believed in themirage sustained by his unmediated physical strength, the colonizedachieved no real progress along the road to knowledge.His consciousness remained rudimentary. We have seen thatthe colonized subject fervently engages in the struggle, especiallyif it is armed. The peasants were especially eager to jointhe rebellion because they had constantly clung to a virtuallyanticolonial way of life. From time immemorial the peasantshad more or less safeguarded their subjectivity from colonialimposition thanks to stratagems and balancing acts worthy of amagician. They even managed to believe that colonialism wasnot really victorious. The pride of the peasant, his reluctanceto go down into the towns and rub shoulders with the worldbuilt by the foreigner, and the way he constantly shrunk backevery time an agent of the colonial regime approached, servedas a permanent reminder that he was pitting his own dichotomyagainst that of the colonist.Antiracist racism and the determination to defend one's skin,which is characteristic of the colonized's response to colonialoppression, clearly represent sufficient reasons to join the struggle.But one does not sustain a war, one does not endure massiverepression or witness the disappearance of one's entire family inorder for hatred or racism to triumph. Racism, hatred, resentment,and "the legitimate desire for revenge" alone cannot nurturea war of liberation. These flashes of consciousness whichfling the body into a zone of turbulence, which plunge it into avirtually pathological dreamlike state where the sight ofthe otherinduces vertigo, where my blood calls for the blood of the other,where my death through mere inertia calls for the death of theother, this passionate outburst in the opening phase, disintegratesif it is left to feed on itself. Of course the countless abuses perpetratedby the colonialist forces reintroduce emotional factors intothe struggle, give the militant further cause to hate and new reasonsto set off in search of a "colonist to kill." But, day by day,leaders will come to realize that hatred is not an agenda. It wouldbe perverse to count on the enemy who always manages to commitas many crimes as possible and can be relied upon to widen"the rift," thus driving the population as a whole to revolt. Whateverthe case, we have already indicated that the enemy endeavorsto win over certain segments ofthe population, certain regionsand chiefs. During the struggle the colonists and the police forceare instructed to modify their behavior and "to become more human."They even go so far as to introduce the terms "Sir" or"Ma'am" in their relations with the colonized. There is no endto the politeness and consideration. In fact the colonized get thefeeling that things are changing.The colonized, who took up arms not only because they weredying of hunger and witnessing the disintegration of their societybut also because the colonist treated them like animals and)

90 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY91considered them brutes, respond very favorably to such measures.These psychological devices defuse their hatred. Experts and sociologistsare a guiding force behind these colonialist maneuversand conduct numerous studies on the subject of complexes-thecomplex of frustration, the complex of aggressiveness, andcomplex of colonizability. The colonized subject is upgraded,and attempts are made to disarm him psychologically and, natuwitha few coins. These paltry measures and clever windowdressing manage to achieve some success. The colonizedsubject is so starved of anything that humanizes him, even if it isthird rate, that these trivial handouts in some cases manage toimpress him. His consciousness is so vulnerable and so inscrutablethat it is ignited by the slightest spark. The great undiscriminatingthirst for enlightenment of the early days is threatened atevery moment by a dose ofmystification. The violent, unanimousdemands of the revolution, which once lit up the sky, nowto more modest proportions. The raging wolf, rabid with hunandthe whirlwind, blowing in a genuine wind of revolt, mayrendered completely unrecognizable if the struggle continues,and it does continue. The colonized subject is at constantrisk of being disarmed by any sort of concession.The leaders of the insurrection discover this instability ofcolonized with horror. At first disconcerted, they then realize theto explain and ensure that the colonized's consciousnessdoes not get bogged down. In the meantime the war goes on,the enemy organizes itself, gathers strength and preempts thestrategy the colonized. The struggle for national liberation isnot a question of bridging the gap in one giant stride. The epicis played out on a difficult, day-to-day basis and the sufferingendured far exceeds that of the colonial period. Down in thetowns the colonists have apparently changed. Our people arehappier. They are respected. A daily routine sets in, and the colonizedengaged in the the people who must continue togive it their support, cannot afford to give in. They must not thinkthe objective has already been achieved. When the actual objectives of the struggle are described, they must not think theyare impossible. Once again, clarification is needed and thepeople have to realize where they are going and how to getthere. The war is not one battle but a succession oflocal struggles,none of which, in fact, is decisive.There is therefore a need to save one's strength and not wasteit bv throwing everything into the balance. The reserves of coloarefar richer and more substantial than those thecolonized. And the war goes on. The enemy digs in. The greatshowdown is not for today or for tomorrow. In fact it began onthe very first day, and will not end with the demise of the enemyquite simply when the latter has come to realize, for a numberof reasons, that it is in his interest to terminate the struggleand acknowledge the sovereignty of the colonized people. Theobjectives of the struggle must not remain as loosely defined asthey were in the early days. If we are not careful there is the constantrisk that the people will ask why continue the war, everythe enemy makes the slightest concession. We have becomeso used to the occupier's contempt and his determination tomaintain his stranglehold, whatever the cost, that any semblanceof generosity or any sign of goodwill is greeted with surprise andjubilation. The colonized then tend to break into song. Themilitant must be supplied with further, more searching explasothat the enemy's concessions do not pull the wool overhis eyes. These concessions, which are nothing but concessions,do not address the essence of the problem, and from the colonized'sperspective, it is clear that a concession does not truly address theproblem until it strikes the heart of the colonial regime.To be more the occupier can easily phase out the vioaspectsof his presence. In fact, this dramatic phasing outnot only spares the occupier much expense but also has thether benefit of allowing him to better concentrate his powers.But there is a heavy price to pay: to be exact, the price of a more",.,..""."""" control over the country's future. Historical exampleshave demonstrated that the masquerade of concessions and the

92THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY93price paid by certain countries have ended in a servitudeis not only more discreet, but also more complete. Thepeople and every militant should be conscious of the historicallaw which stipulates that certain concessions are in fact shackles.If there is nO attempt at clarifying this it is surprising howeasy it is for the of certain political parties to engage innameless compromise with the former colonizer. The colonizedmust be made to see that colonialism never gives away anythingnothing. Whatever gains the colonized make through armedor political struggle, they are not the result of the colonizer's goodwill or goodness of heart but to the fact that he can no longerpostpone such concessions. Moreover, the colonized subjectmust be aware that it is not colonialism which makes the concessionsbut him. When the British government to grantthe African population a few more seats in the Kenyan Assemblyit would be impudent or foolish to think that the Britishernment has made any concessions. Isn't it obvious that it is theKenyan population who has won the concessions? The colonizedpeople, and those who have been stripped of their possessions,must lose the mentality have had up till now. The colonized,at the most, can accept a concession from the colonial authoributnever a compromise.All this clarification, this subsequent raising of awareness andthe advances along the road to understanding the history of societiescan only be achieved if the people are organized andThis organization is established by the revolutionaryarriving from the towns at the beginning ofsurrection and those who make their way to the interior asstruggle intensifies. It is this core which constitutes the embrypoliticalbody of the insurrection. As for the peasants, theyimprove their knowledge through practical experience and proveapt to lead the people's struggle. A wave of awareness and mutualenrichment flows between the nation on a war footing, andleaders. Traditional institutions are reinforced, expanded andsometimes literally transformed. The tribunal for localthe djemaas, and the village assemblies are transformedrevolutionary tribunals and politico-military committees. In everycombat unit and in every village, legions of political commissionersare at work enlightening the people on issues which havebecome stumbling blocks of incomprehension. If it were notthese commissioners, who are not afraid to address certain issues,the people would themselves disoriented. For example, themilitant in arms often becomes irritated at the sight of much ofthe local population going about their business in the towns asif they were oblivious to what is going on in the mountains, as ifthey did not know that the crucial operations have begun. Thesilence of the towns and the continuation of the daily routinegive the peasant the bitter impression that an entire sector of thenation is content to sit back and watch. Such observations disgustthe peasants and reinforce their tendency to despise andgenerally condemn the townsfolk. The task of the political commissioneris to nuance their position and make them aware thatcertain segments of the population have their own specificterests which do not always coincide with the national interest.The people then realize that national independence brings tomultiple realities which in some cases are divergent andconflicting. At this exact moment in the struggle clarification iscrucial as it leads the people to replace an overall undifferentiatednationalism with a social and economic consciousness. Thepeople who in the early days of the struggle had adopted theprimitive Manichaeanism of the colonizer-Black versus White,Arab versus Infidel-realize en route that some blacks canwhiter than the whites, and that the prospect of a national flagor independence does not automatically result in certain segmentsof the population giving up their privileges and their interests.The people realize that there are indigenous elementsin their midst who, far from being at loose ends, seem to takeadvantage of the war to better their material situation and reinforcetheir burgeoning power. These profiteering elements realize___"'.""{,"'""" ..f....·oOiO..~~...,~ •••• ,

94THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY95considerable gains from the war at the expense of the peoplewho, as always, are prepared to sacrificeand soakthe national soil with their blood. Thethe colonialist war machine with his rudimentary resources realizesthat while he is demolishing colonial oppression he isindirectly building another system of exploitation. Such a discoveryis galling, painful, and sickening. It was once all so simplewith the bad on one side and the good on the other. The idyllic,unreal clarity of the early days is replaced by a penumbra whichdislocates the consciousness. The people discover that the iniqexploitationcan assume a black or Arabin fact the treason is not national butneed to be taught to cry thief. On their arduouspath to rationality the people must also learn tosimplistic perception of the oppressor.up before their very eyes. They realize that\.-VI Vlll.)L)not succumb to the ambient climate of criminal hysteria andremain apart from the rest of their species. Such men, who wereautomatically relegated to the monolithic bloc of the foreigncondemn the colonial war. The scandal really eruptswhen pioneers of the species change sides, go "native," and volunteerto undergo suffering, torture, and death.defuse the overall hatred which the colosettlers.The colonized welcomethese men with open armsplace absolute confidence in them. In the metropolis, stereotypedas the wicked, bloodthirsty stepmother, numeroussometimes prominent voices take a stand, condemn unreservedlytheir government's policy ofwar and urge that the nationalwill of the colonized finally be taken into consideration. Soldiersdesert the colonialist ranks, others explicitly refuse to fightagainst a people's freedom, are jailed and suffer for the sake ofthe people's right to independence and the management ofown affairs.The colonist is no longer simply public enemy number one.Some members of the colonialist population prove to be closer,closer, to the nationalist struggle than certain nativesons. 1 he racial and racist dimension is transcended on bothsides. Not every black or Muslim is automatically given a voteof confidence. One no longer grabs a gun or a machete everytime a colonist approaches. Consciousness stumbles upon partial,finite, and shifting truths. All this is, one can guess, extremelydifficult. The task ofbringing the people to maturity is facilitatedby rigorous organization as well as the ideological level of theirleaders. The power of ideology is elaborated and strengthenedas the struggle unfolds, taking into account the enemy's maneuversand the movement's victories and setbacks. The leadershipdemonstrates its strength and authority by exposing mistakes and,through experience, learning better ways of going forward everyconsciousness takes one step backward. Every regression atis used to take the up every village and~ah.,~~l, 'T'h= :~~"rrpl"'t;rm proves to itself its raituses a specificcase to advance the consciousness ofthe people.those within the movement, who sometimes are inclined tothat any nuance constitutes a danger and threatens popular solidarity,the leadership stands by the principles worked out in thenational struggle and in the universal fight conducted by man forhis liberation. There is a brutality and contempt for subtleties andindividual cases which is typically revolutionary, but there is anothertype ofbrutality with surprising resemblances to the first onewhich is typically counterrevolutionary, adventurist, and anarmovementwithin a fewIf this nure. total brutality is not immediately contained itweeks.The nationalistfleddemagogic and reformist maneuvers of the leaders,sioned by "politics," discovers in the field a new political orientationwhich in no way resembles the old. This new politics is in

~";

98 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHto rationalize popular praxis, in other words their incapacity toattribute it any reason.The characteristic, virtually endemic weakness of the underdevelopedcountries' national consciousness is not only the consequenceof the colonized subject's mutilation by the colonialregime. It can also be attributed to the apathy of the national bourgeoisie,its mediocrity, and its deeply cosmopolitan mentality.The national bourgeoisie, which takes over power at the endof the colonial regime, is an underdeveloped bourgeoisie.economic clout is practically zero, and in any case, no way commensuratewith that of its metropolitan counterpart which itintends replacing. In its willful narcissism, the national bourgeoisiehas lulled itself into thinking that it can supplant themetropolitan bourgeoisie to its own advantage. But independence,which literally forces it back against the wall, triggerscatastrophic reactions and obliges it to send out distrcss signalsin the direction of the former metropolis. The business eliteand university graduates, who make up the most educated categoryof the new nation, are identifiable by their small numbers,their concentration in the capital, and their occupationsas traders, landowners and professionals. This national bourgeoisiepossesses neither industrialists nor financiers. The nationalbourgeoisie in the underdeveloped countries is not geared to production,invention, creation, or work. All its energy is channeledintermediary activities. Networking and scheming seemto be its underlying vocation. The national bourgeoisie has thepsychology of a businessman, not that of a captain of industry.And it should go without saying that the rapacity of the colonistsand the embargo system installed by colonialism hardlyleft it any choice.Under the colonial system a bourgeoisie that accumulates capitalis in the realm of the impossible. our thinking, therefore,historical vocation of an authentic national bourgeoisie in anunderdeveloped country is to repudiate its status as bourgeoisTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 99an instrument of capital and to become entirely subservient to therevolutionary capital which the people represent.an underdeveloped country, the imperative duty of an authenticnational bourgeoisie is to betray the vocation to which itis destined, to learn from the people, and make available to themintellectual and technical capital it culled from its time incolonial universities. We will see, unfortunately, that the nationalbourgeoisie often turns away from this heroic and positive path,which is both productive and just, and unabashedly opts for theantinational, and therefore abhorrent, path of a conventionalbourgeoisie, a bourgeois bourgeoisie that is dismally, inanely, andcynically bourgeois.We have seen that the objective ofthe nationalist parties froma certain period onward is geared strictly along national lines.They mobilize the people with the slogan independence, andanything else is left to the future. When these parties are questionedon their economic agenda for the nation or the regimethey propose to establish they prove incapable of giving an answerbecause, in fact, they do not have a clue about the economytheir own country.This economy has always developed outside their control. Asfor the present and potential resources of their country's soil andsubsoil, their knowledge is purely academic and approximate.They can only talk about thcm in general and abstract terms.After independence, this underdeveloped bourgeoisie, reducedin number, lacking capital and rejecting the road to revolution,stagnates miserably. It cannot give free expression to its geniusthat was in the past hampered by colonial domination, or so itclaims. The precariousness of its resources and the scarcity ofmanagerial talent forcc it for years into an economy of cottageindustries. In its inevitably highly limited perspective, the bourgeoisie'sidea of a national economy is one based on what we cancall local products. Grandiloquent speeches are made aboutlocal crafts. Unable to establish factories which would bc more

100 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHand for themselves, the bourgeoisiea chauvinistic tenderness which notlational dignity, but also ensureslocal products, this incapacityto invent new outlets is likewise reflected in the entrenchmentnational bourgeoisie in the type of agricultural productiontypical of the colonial period.Independence does not bring a change ofdirection. The sameold groundnut harvest, cocoa harvest, and harvest. Likewisethe traffic of commodities goes unchanged. No industry is establishedin the country. We continue to ship raw materials, wecontinue to grow produce for and pass for specialists ofunfinished products.Yet the national bourgeoisie never stops calling for thealization ofthe economy and the commercial sector. In its thinking,to nationalize docs not mean placing the entire economy atthe service of the nation or satisfYing all its requirements. Tonationalize does not mean organizing the state on the basis of anew program of social relations. For the bourgeoisie, nationalizationsignifies very precisely the transfer into indigenousof privileges inherited from the colonial period.Since the bourgeoisie has neither the material means noradequate intellectual resources such as engineers and techniitlimits its claims to the takeover of businesses and firmspreviously held by the colonists. The national bourgeoisie replacesthe former European settlers as doctors, lawyers, tradesmen,agents, dealers, and shipping agents. For the dignity ofcountry and to safeguard its own interests, it considers it itsto occupy all these positions. Henceforth it demands that everymajor foreign company must operate through them, if it wantsto remain in the country or establish trade. The national bourgeoisiediscovers its historical mission as intermediary. As we haveseen, its vocation is not to transform the nation but prosaicallyserve as a conveyor belt for capitalism, forced to camouflage it-THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 101self behind the mask of neocolonialism. The national bourgeoiwithno misgivings and with pride, revels in the role ofagent in its dealings with the Western bourgeoisie. This lucrativerole, this function as small-time racketeer, this narrow-mindednessof ambition are symptomatic of incapacity of thenational bourgeoisie to fulfil its historic role as bourgeoisie.dynamic, pioneering aspect, the inventive, discoverer-of-newworldsaspect common to every national bourgeoisie is here lamentablyabsent At the core of the national bourgeoisie of thecolonial countries a hedonistic mentality prevails-because ona psychological level it identifies with the Western bourgeoisiefrom which it has slurped every lesson. It mimics the Westernbourgeoisie in its negative and decadent aspects withoutaccomplished the initial phases ofexploration and inventionare the assets of this Western bourgeoisie whatever circumstances.In its early days the national bourgeoisie of the colonialcountries identifies with the last stages of the Western bourgeoisie.Don't believe it is taking short cuts. In fact it starts at the end.It is already senile, having experienced neither the exuberance northe brazen determination of youth and adolescence.In its decadent aspect the national bourgeoisie considerhelpfrom the Western bourgeoisies who happen to be tourenamoredof exoticism, hunting and casinos. The nationalbourgeoisie establishes holiday resorts and playgrounds for entertainingthe Western bourgeoisie. This sector goes by the nameoftourism and becomes a national industry for this very purpose.We only to look at what has happened in Latin America ifwe want proof of the way the ex-colonized bourgeoisie can betransformed into "party" organizer. The casinos in Havana andMexico City, the beaches of Rio, Copaeabana, and Acapulco, theyoung Brazilian and Mexican girls, the thirteen-year-old mestizas,are the scars of this depravation of the national bourgeoisie. Becauseit is lacking in ideas, because it is inward-looking, cutfrom the people, sapped by its congenital incapacity to evaluate

102THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 103issues on the basis of the nation as a whole, the national bourgeoisieassumes the role of manager for the companies of theWest and turns its country virtually into a bordello for Europe.Once again we need only to look at the pitiful spectacle ofcertain republics in Latin America. U.S. businessmen, bankingmagnates and technocrats jet "down to the tropics," and for aweek to ten days wallow in the sweet depravity of their privatei( nreserves.The behavior of the national landowners is practically thesame as that of the urban bourgeoisie. As soon as independenceis proclaimed the big farmers demand the nationalization of theagricultural holdings. Through a number of schemes they manageto lay hands on the farms once owned by the colonists, therebyreinforcing their control over the region. But they make no attemptto diversifY, increase production or integrate it in a genuinelynational economy.fact the landowners call on the authorities to increase a hundredfoldthe facilities and privileges now theirs but once reservedfor the foreign colonists. The exploitation of farm workers is intensifiedand justified. Capitalizing on two or three slogans, thesenew colonists demand a colossal effort from these farm laborersinthe name of the national interest, of course. There is no modernizationof agriculture, no development plan, no initiative, forinitiatives imply a degree of risk, and would throw such milieusinto a panic, and put to flight a wary, overcautious, landed bourgeoisiewhich is sinking deeper and deeper into the ruts establishedby colonialism. In such regions, initiatives are handled bygovemment. It is the government which approves them, encouragesthem and finances them. The landed bourgeoisie refuses totake the slightest risk. It is hostile to gambling and ventures. It hasno intention of building upon sand. Itdemands solid investmentsand quick returns. The profits it pockets are enormous comparedto the gross national product, and are not reinvested. Its onlymentality is to hoard its savings. This bourgeoisie especially in theaftermath of independence, has no scruples depositing in foreignbanks the profits it has made from the national resources. Majorsums, however, are invested for the sake of prestige in cars, villas,and all those ostentatious goods described by economists as typicalof an underdeveloped bourgeoisie.We have said that the colonized bourgeoisie which attainspower utilizes the aggressiveness of its class to grab the jobs previouslyheld by foreigners. In the aftermath of independence,faced with the human consequences of colonialism, it wages aruthless struggle against the lawyers, tradespeople, landowners,doctors, and high-ranking civil servants "who insult the nationaldignity." It frantically brandishes the notions of nationalizationand Mricanization of the managerial classes. In fact, its actionsbecome increasingly tinged with racism. It bluntly confronts thegovernment with the demand that it must have these jobs. Andit does not tone down its virulence until it occupies every singleone of them.The urban proletariat, the unemployed masses, the small artisans,those commonly called small traders, side with this nationalistattitude; but, in all justice, they are merely modelingtheir attitude on that of their bourgeoisie. Whereas the nationalbourgeoisie competes with the Europeans, the artisans and smalltraders pick fights with Mricans ofother nationalities. In the IvoryCoast, outright race riots were directed against the Dahomeans*and Upper Voltans who controlled much of the business sectorand were the target of hostile demonstrations by the Ivoriansfollowing independence. We have switched from nationalismto ultranationalism, chauvinism, and racism. There is a generalfor these foreigners to leave, their shops are burned, theirmarket booths torn down and some are lynched; consequently,the Ivorian government orders them to leave, thereby satisfYing* Translator's Note: Present-day Beninese and Burkinabes

104THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 105demands of the nationals. In Senegal it was the anti-Sudanese **demonstrations that caused Mamadou Dia to state: "The peopleof Senegal owe their blind belief in the Federation of Mali totheir affection for its leaders. 1beir deep attachment to Mali hasno other basis but a repeated act of faith in the politics of theseleaders. The issue of Senegalese territory was no less alive in theirespecially as the Sudanese presence in Dakar was far toovisible for the problem to be overlooked. This is the reason why,far from causing any regrets, the breakup of the Federation wasgreeted by the masses with relief and there was no support fromquarter in its favor."13Whereas certain categories of Senegalese jump at the opportuofferedby their own leaders to get rid of the Sudanese, whoare unwelcome elements in the business and administrative sectors,the Congolese, who watched in disbelief as the Belgians leften masse, decide to put pressure on the Senegalese established atLeopoldville and Elizabethville and in tum get them to leave.we can see, the mechanism is identical in both cases.\Vhereas the ambitions of the young nation's intellectuals andbusiness bourgeoisie are thwarted by the Europeans, for the majorityof the urban population, competition stems mainly fromAfricans of other nations. In the Ivory Coast it is the Dahomeans;Ghana, the inhabitants of Niger; and in Senegal, the Sudanese.Whereas the demand for Africanization and Arabization ofmanagement by the bourgeoisie is not rooted in a genuine endeavorat nationalization, but merely corresponds to a transferof power previously held by the foreigners, the masses make thesame demand at their own level but limit the notion ofAfrican or Arab to territorial limits. Between the vibrant calls forAfrican unity and this mass behavior inspired by the managerialclass, a number of attitudes emerge. There is a constant pen** Translator's Note: Present-day Malian 13 Mamadou Dia, Nations africaines et solidarite mondiale, 140. dulum motion between African unity, which sinks deeperdeeper into oblivion, and a depressing return to the mostnous and virulent type of chauvinism.for the Senegalese leaders who were the main theoreticiansof African unification and who, on several occasions, sacrificedtheir local political organizations as well as their personal careersto this idea, they undeniably bear a great deal of responalthoughadmittedly in all good faith. Their mistake,our mistake, under the pretext of combating Balkanization, wasnot to take into consideration that pre-colonial factor of territoriality.Our mistake was not to give enough attention in ouranalyses to this factor, exacerbated by colonialism, but also asociological fact which no theory on unity, however commendorappealing, can eliminate. We let ourselves be temptedby the mirage whose configuration is the most satisfying for themind, and taking our ideal for reality, we believed we onlyneeded to condemn territoriality and its natural offshoot, micronationalism, to get the better of them and ensure the successof our chimerical endeavor."14From Senegalese chauvinism to Wolof tribalism, there is butone small step. And consequently, wherever the petty-mindednessof the national bourgeoisie and the haziness of its ideologicalpositions have been incapable of enlightening the people as aor have been unable to put the people first, wherevernational bourgeoisie has proven to be incapable of expandingvision of the world, there is a return to tribalism, and we watchwith a raging heart as ethnic tensions triumph. Since the onlyslogan of the bourgeoisie is "Replace the foreigners," and theyrush into every sector to take the law into their own hands andvacancies, the petty traders such as taxi drivers, cake sellers,and shoe shiners follow suit and call for the expulsion of theDahomeans or, taking tribalism to a new level, demand that theFulani go back to their bush or back up their mountains.14 Ibid."'i-hdwflbRttfw%'"''" &1 Ii

106THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 107The triumph of federalism in certain young independentnations must be interpreted along these lines. We know thatcolonial domination gave preferential treatment to certain recolony'seconomy was not integrated into that of theIt is still organized along the lines dictated byalmost never exploits the entirecountry. It is content with extracting natural resources and exportingthem to the metropolitanspecific sector to grow relatively wealthy, while the restcolony continues, or rather sinks, into underdevelopment andpoverty.In the aftermath of independence the nationals who live inthe prosperous regions realize their good fortune and their gutreaction is to to feed the rest of the nation. The regionsin groundnuts, cocoa, and diamonds stand out against theempty panorama offered by the rest of the country. The nationalsof these look upon the others with hatred detectingenvy, andvalries, the old intertribal hatreds resurface.to feed the Luluas. Katanga becomes a state on its ownKalondji crowns himself king of southern KasaLAfrican unity, a vague term, but nevertheless one to which themen and women of Africa were passionately attached and whoseoperative function was to put incredible pressure on colonialrevealsits true face and crumbles into regionalisms withinsame national reality. Because it is obsessed with its immediateinterests, because it cannot see fllrther than the end of itsnose, the national bourgeoisiesimple national unity and incapable of building the nation on asolid, constructive foundation. The national front that drove backcolonialism falls apart and licks its wounds.This ruthless struggle waged by the ethnic groups and tribes,and this virulent obsession with filling the vacancies left by theforeigners also engender religious rivalries. In the interior andthe bush, the minor confraternities, the local religions, andmarabout cults spring back to and resort once more tovicious circle of mutual denunciation. In the urban centers theauthorities are confronted with a clash between the two majorrevealed religions: Islam and Catholicism.Colonialism, which the birth of African unity had tremblingon foundations, is now back on its feet, and now undertakesto break this will to unify by taking advantage of every weak linkin the movement. Colonialism will attempt to rally the Africanpeoples by uncoveringSenegal the magazine Afrique Nouvelle secretesof hatred against Islam and the Arabs. The Lebanese, whO controlmost of the small businesses along the West Coast of Africa,are publicly vilified. The missionaries opportunely remind themasses that the great African empires were dismantled by theinvasion of the Arabs long before the arrival of European colonialism.They even go so far as to say that the Arab occupationpaved the way for European colonialism; references are madeto Arab imoerialism. and the cultural imperialism of Islam isare kept out of managerial positions.In other regions the reverse is true and it is the indigenousChristians who are the and treated as consciousof national independence.Colonialism shamelessly pulls all these strings, only too contentto see the Africans, who were once in league against it, tear ateach other's throats. The notion of another Saint Bartholomew'smassacre takes shape in some people's minds, and colonialismsnickers when it hears the magnificent speeches on African unity.the same nation, religion divides the people and sets thefostered and encouraged by colonialismunexpectedevents break out here and there. In predominantly Catholic orProtestant countries the Muslim minority redoublesfervor. Muslim festivals are revived and Islam defends

108 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHinch of the way against the violent absolutism ofligion. Ministers are heard telling certainare not content, they should go and live in Cairo. In some easesAmerican Protestantism transports its anti-Catholic prejudicesonto African soil and uses religion to encourage tribal rivalries.On the scale of the continent this religious tension can takethe shape of the crudest form of racism. Africa is divided into awhite region and a black region. The substitute names of subSaharan Africa and North Africa are unable to mask this latentracism. In some places you that \Vhite Africa has a thousandyear-oldtradition of culture, that it is Mediterranean, an extenEurope and is part of Greco-Roman civilization. Blackis looked upon as a wild, uncivilized, and lifelessplaces, you day in and day out hateful rewomen,polygamy, and the Arabs' allegedof all these resoonen attnbuted to me cOlOnist. The nationalbourgeoisie ofassimilated to the core the mostnial mentality, take over from the Europeansdations for a racist philosophy that is terribly prejudicial tofuture of Africa. Through its apathy and mimicry it encouragesthe growth and development of racism that was typical of thecolonial period. It is hardly surprising then in a country whichcalls itself African to hear remarks that are nothing less than racistand to witness paternalistic behavior bitterly reminiscent of Paris,Brussels, or London.In certain regions ofAfrica, bleating paternalism toward blacksand the obscene idea drawn from Western culture that the blackrace is impermeable to logic and science reign in all their nakedness.There are some places where black minorities are confinedsemi slavery, which justifies the caution, even distrust, thatBlack Africa manifest toward the countries ofTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 109Africa. It is not unusual for a citizen of Black Africa walkina city of \Vhite Africa to hear children call him "nigger"or to find the authorities speaking to him in pidgin.too likely that students from Blackof the Sahara will be asked by., in houses in their homecountries, whether they have electricity, and if their family practicescertain regionsencounter fellow countrymen who begwhere there are blacks." Likewise, in certain newlystates of Black Africa, members of parliament, even governmentministers, solemnly declare that the danger lies not in a reoccupationof their country by a colonial power but a possible invasionby "Arab vandals from the north."As we have seen, the inadequacies of the bourgeoisie are notrestricted to economics. Achieving power in the name ofa narrowmindednationalism, in the name of the race, and in spite of itsmagnificently worded declarations totally void of content, irrewieldingphrases straight out of Europe's treatises onpolitical philosophy, the bourgeoisie proves itself inofimplementing a program with even a minimumcontent. \Vhen it is strong, when it organizes the worldona bourgeoisie does not hesitate to maintaina n,.~'tpl"'CPideas. An economicallysoundstances to it to disregard itsfundamentally racist, the Western bourgeoisie ages to mask this racism by multiplying the nuances, enabling it to maintain intact its discourse on human dignity all its magnanimity. Western bourgeoisie has erected enough barriers and safeguardsfor it to fear no real competition from those it exploits and

110 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHdespises. Western bourgeois racism toward the "nigger" and the"towelhead" is a racism of contempt-a racism that minimizes.But the bourgeois ideology that proclaims all men to be essentiallyequal, manages to remain consistent with itself by urgingthe subhuman to rise to the level of Western humanity that itembodies.The racism of the young national bourgeoisie is a defensiveracism, a racism based on fear. Basically it does not differ fromcommon tribalism or even rivalry between clans or confraternities.It is easy to understand why perspicacious internationalobservers never really took the lofty speeches on Mrican unityvery seriously. The flagrant flaws are so numerous that one clearlysenses that all these contradictions must first be solved beforeunity can be achieved.The peoples ofMrica have recently discovered each other and,in the name of the continent, have decided to pressure the colonialregimes in a radical way. The national bourgeoisies, however,who, in region after region, are in a hurry to stash away a tidy sumfor themselves and establish a national system of exploitation,multiply the obstacles for achieving this "utopia." The nationalbourgeoisies, perfectly clear on their objectives, are determinedto bar the way to this unity, this coordinated effort by 250 millionpeople to triumph over stupidity, hunger, and inhumanity. Thisis why we must understand that African unity can only be achievedunder pressure and through leadership by the people, i.e., withtotal disregard for tlle interests of the bourgeoisie.The national bourgeoisie also proves incompetent in domesticpolitics and institutionally. In a certain number of underdevelopedcountries the parliamentary rules are fundamentallyflawed. Economically powerless, unable to establish coherentsocial relations based on the principle of class domination, thebourgeoisie chooses what seems to be the easiest solution, thesingle-party system. It does not possess as yet that ease of conscienceand serenity that only economic power and control ofTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 111the state system can give it. It does not establish a reassuring Statefor the citizen, but one which is troubling.Instead of inspiring confidence, assuaging the fears of its citizensand cradling them with its power and discretion, the State,on the contrary, imposes itself in a spectacular manner, flauntsits authority, harasses, making it clear to its citizens they are inconstant danger. The single party is the modern form of thebourgeois dictatorship -stripped of mask, makeup, and scruples,cynical in every aspect.Such a dictatorship cannot, in fact, go very far. It never stopssecreting its own contradiction. Since the bourgeoisie does nothave the economic means both to ensure its domination and tohand out a few crumbs to the rest of the country-so busy is itlining its own pockets not only as fast as it can, but also in themost vulgar fashion-the country sinks ever deeper into stagnation.And in order to hide this stagnation, to mask this regression,to reassure itself and give itself cause to boast, the bourgeoisie hasno other option but to erect imposing edifices in the capital andspend money on so-called prestige projects.The national bourgeoisie increasingly turns its back on theinterior, on the realities of a country gone to waste, and lookstoward the former metropolis and the foreign capitalists whosecure its services. Since it has no intention of sharing its profitswith the people or of letting them enjoy the rewards paid by themajor foreign companies, it discovers the need for a popular leaderwhose dual role will be to stabilize the regime and perpetuate thedomination of the bourgeoisie. The bourgeois dictatorship of theunderdeveloped countries draws its strength from the existenceof such a leader. We know that in the developed countries thebourgeois dictatorship is the product of the bourgeoisie's economicpower. In the underdeveloped countries, however, theleader represents the moral force behind which the gaunt anddestitute bourgeoisie of the young nation decides to grow rich.The people, who for years have seen him or heard him speak,who have followed from afar, in a kind of dream, the leader's

,I'1'1 '~",,),,112 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHtribulations with the colonial powers, spontaneously place theirtrust in this patriot. Before independence, the leader, as a rule,personified the aspirations of the people - independence, politicalfreedom, and national dignity. But in the aftermath of independence,far from actually embodying the needs of the people, farfrom establishing himself as the promoter of the actual dignityof the people, which is founded on bread, land, and putting thecountry back into their sacred hands, the leader will unmask hisinner purpose: to be the CEO of the company of profiteers composedof a national bourgeoisie intent only on getting the mostout of the situation.Honest and sincere though he may often be, in objective termsthe leader is the virulent champion of the now combined interestsof the national bourgeoisie and the ex-colonial companies.His honesty, which is purely a frame of mind, gradually crumbles.The leader is so out of touch with the masses that he manages toconvince himself they resent his authority and question the serviceshe has rendered to the country. The leader is a harsh judgeof the ingratitude of the masses and every day a little more resolutelysides with the exploiters. He then knowingly turns into anaccomplice of the young bourgeoisie that wallows in corruptionand gratification.The economic channels of the young state become irreversiblymired in a neocolonialist system. Once protected, the nationaleconomy is now literally state controlled. The budget isfunded by loans and donations. The heads of state themselvesor government delegations make quarterly visits to the formermetropolis or elsewhere, fishing for capital.The former colonial power multiplies its demands and accumulatesconcessions and guarantees, taking fewer and fewerprecautions to mask the hold it has over the national government.The people stagnate miserably in intolerable poverty and slowlybecome aware of the unspeakable treason of their leaders. Thisawareness is especially acute since the bourgeoisie is incapableof forming a class. Its organized distribution of wealth is notTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 113diversfied into sectors, is not staggered, and does not nuance itspriorities. This new caste is an insult and an outrage, especiallysince the immense majority, nine tenths of the population, continueto starve to death. The way this caste gets rich quickly,pitilessly and scandalously, is matched by a determined resurgenceof the people and the promise of violent days ahead. Thisbourgeois caste, this branch of the nation that annexes the entirewealth of the country for its own gain, true to its nature, butnevertheless unexpectedly, casts pejorative aspersions about theother blacks or Arabs, which recall in more ways than one theracist doctrine of the former representatives of the colonial power.It is both this wretchedness of the people and this dissolute enrichmentof the bourgeois caste, the contempt it flaunts for therest of the nation, that will harden thoughts and attitudes.But the looming threat results in a strengthening of authorityand the emergence of a dictatorship. The leader with his militantpast as a loyal patriot constitutes a screen between the peopleand the grasping bourgeoisie because he lends his support to theundertakings of this caste and turns a blind eye to its insolence,mediocrity, and fundamental immorality. He helps to curb thegrowing awareness of the people. He lends his support to thiscaste and hides its maneuvers from the people, thus becomingits most vital tool for mystifying and numbing the senses of themasses. Every time he addresses the people he recalls his life,which was often heroic, the battles waged and the victories wonin the people's name, thus conveying to the masses they shouldcontinue to place their trust in him. There are many examplesof Mrican patriots who have introduced into the cautious politicalstruggle of their elders a bold, nationalistic style. These mencame from the interior. Scandalizing the colonizer and shamingthe nationalists in the capital, they proclaimed loud and cleartheir origins and spoke in the name of the black masses. Thesemen who have praised the race, who were not ashamed of thepast-its debasement and cannibalism-today find themselves,Ml*$*¥W#*tUtr&l)" 'I' ,

114 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESSalas, heading a team that turns its back on the interior and procurrent leader. But since that periodclaims that the vocation of the people is to fall inparty has sadly disintegrated. Only the party in name, emandmotto remains. The organic party, designed to enableYears after independence, the circulation of an ideology based on the actual needs ofincapable ofoffering the people anything ofsubstance, incapablethe masses, has been transformed into a syndication ofindividualopening up their future, oflaunching the people intointerests. Since independence the party no longer helps thetask of nation building and hence their own development,people to formulate their demands, to better realize their needsthe leader can be heard churning out the history ofindependenceand better establish their power. Today the party's mission is toand recalling the united front of the liberation struggle. Refusconvey to the people the instructions handed downing to break up the national bourgeoisie, the leader asks theThat productive exchange betweenpeople to plunge back into the past and drink in the epic thathigher echelons and vice versa, the basis and guarantee ofled to independence. The leader objectively places a curb on a party, no longer On the contrary, the partythe people and desperately endeavors either tonow rorms a screen between the masses and the leadership. Thehistory or prevent them from setting foot in it.party has been drained of life. The branches created during thefor liberation the leader roused the people and promised themcolonial period are today in a state of total demobilization.a radical, heroic march forward. Today he repeatedly endeavorsto lull them to sleep and three or four times a year asks them toThe militant is running out of patience. It is now we realizeremember the colonial period and to take stock of the immensehow right certain militants were during the liberation struggle.distance they have covered.In fact, during the struggle, a number of militants asked the leadWe must point out, however, that the masses are quite incaing organizations to elaborate a doctrine, topable of appreciating the immense distance they have covered. draw up a orollram. But safeguarding naThe peasant who continues to scratch a living from the soil, theto address such aunemployed who never find a job, are never really convincedthey retorted, was national unity versus colothattheir lives have changed, despite the festivitiesAnd on they forged, armed with only a fiery slogan for ahowever new they might be. No matter how hard the bourgeoidoctrine, reducing any ideological activity to a series of variantsto prove it, the masses never manage to deludeon the right of peoples to self-determination and the wind ofmasses are hungry and the police commissionhistory that would inevitably sweep away colonialism. \Vhen theers, now Mricans, are not particularly reassuring. The massesmilitants asked that the wind of history be given a little more inbeginto keep their distance, to turn their backs on and lose indepth analysis, the leaders retorted with the notion of hope, andterest in this nation which excludes them.the necessity and inevitability of decolonization, etc.From time to time, however, the leader rallies his forces, speaksAfter independence theover the radio and tours the country in order to reassure, pacify, The onIv time is duringand mystify. The leader is even more indispensable since thereconferences, and inisno party. During the struggle for independence there was incelebrations. The local cadres of the party are

114THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 115alas, heading a team that tums its back on the interior and proclaimsthat the vocation of the people is to fall in line, alwaysforever.The leader pacifies the people. Years after independence,incapable of offering the people anything ofsubstance, incapableof actually opening up their future, oflaunching the people intothe task of nation building and hence their own development,the leader can be heard churning out the history ofindependenceand recalling the united front of the liberation struggle. Refustobreak up the national bourgeoisie, the leader asks thepeople to plunge back into the past and drink in the epic thatled to independence. The leader objectively places a curb onthe people and desperately endeavors either to expel them fromhistory or prevent them from setting foot in it. During the strugglefor liberation the leader roused the people and promised thema radical, heroic march forward. Today he repeatedly endeavorsto lull them to sleep and three or four times a year asks them toremember the colonial period and to take stock of the immensedistance they have covered.We must point out, however, that the masses are quite incapableof appreciating the immense distance they have covered.The peasant who continues to scratch a living from the soil,unemployed who never find a job, are never really convincedthat their lives have changed, despite the festivities and the flags,however new they might be. No matter how hard the bourgeoisiein power tries to prove it, the masses never manage to deludethemselves. The masses are hungry and the police commissioners,now Africans, are not particularly reassuring. The massesbegin to keep their distance, to turn their backs on and lose interestin this nation which excludesFrom time to time, however, the leader rallies his forces, speaksover the radio and tours the country in order to reassure, pacify,and mystify. The leader is even more indispensable since thereis no party. During the struggle for independence there was infact a party headed by the current leader. But since that periodthe party has sadly disintegrated. Only the party in name, emblem,and motto remains. The organic party, designed to enablethe free circulation of an ideology based on the actual needs ofthe masses, has been transformed into a syndication of individualinterests. Since independence the party no longer helps thepeople to formulate their demands, to better realize their needsand better establish their power. Today the party's mission is toconvey to the people the instructions handed down from the top.productive exchange between the rank and file and thehigher echelons and vice versa, the basis and guarantee of democracyin a party, no exists. On the contrary, thenow forms a screen behveen the masses and the leadership. Theparty has been drained of life. The branches created during thecolonial period are today in a state of total demobilization.The militant is running out of patience. It is now we realizehow right certain militants were during the liberation struggle.In fact, during the struggle, a number of militants asked the leadingorganizations to elaborate a doctrine, to clarify objectives anddraw up a program. But under the pretext of safeguarding nationalunity the leaders categorically refused to address such atask. The doctrine, they retorted, was national unity versus colonialism.And on they forged, armed with only a fiery slogan for adoctrine, reducing any ideological activity to a series of variantson the right of peoples to self-determination and the wind ofthat would inevitably sweep away colonialism. When themilitants asked that the wind of history be given a little more indepthanalysis, the leaders retorted with the notion of hope,the necessity and inevitability of decolonization, etc.After independence the party sinks into a profound lethargy.The only time the militants are call~d upon to rally is duringso-called popular festivals, international conferences, and independenceday celebrations. The local cadres of the party are

116 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHappointed to administrative jobs, party itself becomes anadministration and the militants fall into line and adopt thehollow title of citizen.Now that they have fulfilled their historic mission of bringingbourgeoisie to power, they are firmly asked to withdraw sotlle bourgeoisie can quietly fulfill its own mission. We haveseen, however, that the national bourgeoisie of the underdevelopedcountries is incapable of fulfilling any kind of mission.a few years the disintegration of the party becomes clearobserver, however superficial, can see for himself that therole of the former party, now reduced to a skeleton, is toimmobilize the people. The very same party, which during theliberation struggle became the focus of the entire nation, nowdecomposes. The current behavior of the intellectuals, who oneve of independence had rallied around the party, is proofthat such a rally at the time served no other purpose than to havetheir share tlle independence cake. The partv becomes afor individual advancement.Inside the new regime, however, there are varying degreesof enrichment and aequisitiveness. Some are able to cash inon an sides and prove to be brilliant opportunists. Favors abound,corruption triumphs, and morals decline. Today the vulturesare too numerous and too greedy, considering the meagernessnational spoils. The party, which has become a genuineinstrument of power in the hands of the bourgeoisie, reinforcesthe State apparatus and determines the containment andmobilization of the people. The party helps the State keepon thc people. It is increasingly an instrument of coercionclearly antidemocratic. The party is unknowingly, and insome cases knowingly, the accomplice of the mercantile bourgeoisie.Just as the national bourgeoisie sidesteps its formativephase to in materialism, likewise, at the institutionallevel, it skips the parliamentary phase and chooses a nationalsocialist-typedictatorship. We now know that the shortsightedTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 117that has triumphed for half a eentury in Latin Amerieais the dialectical result ofthe semicolonial State whieh prevailedsince independence.In these poor, underdeveloped countries where, accordingto the rule, enormous wealth rubs shoulders with abject poverty,the army and the police force form the pillars of the regime;both of which, in accordance with another rule, are advised byforeign experts. The strength of this police forcethis army are proportional to marasmusthe rest the nation. The national bourgeoisie sellscreasingly openly to the major foreign companies. Foreignersgrab concessions through kickbacks, scandals abound, ministersrich, their wives become floozies, members of the legislatureline their pockets, and everybody, down to police officersand customs officials, joins hands in this huge caravan ofcorruption.The opposition becomes more aggressive and the people arcto latch on to its propaganda. Hostility toward the bourgeoisieis now manifest. The young bourgeoisie, which seemsstricken by premature senility, ignores the advice profferedproves incapable of understanding that it is in its own interest toveil, even slightly, its exploitation of the people.Christian magazine La Semaine Africaine inville addresses the barons of the regime thus: "Men in power,and you their wives, today your wealth has afforded you comfort,education perhaps, a beautiful home, contacts and many misabroadthat have opened up new horizons. But all yourhas encased you in a shell which prevents you from seeingthe poverty surrounding you. Beware." This warningLa Semaine Africaine addressed to Mr. Youlou's lieutenantscourse, not revolutionary iI1 the least. What La SemaineAfricaine wants to convey to those starving the Congolese peopleis that God will punish them: "If there is no room in your heart

'nn118 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 119for the people under you, there will no room for you in the by foreign advisors. The former metropolis therefore governshouse of God."indirectly both through the bourgeoisie it nurtures and the naIt is obvious that the national bourgeoisie is little troubled bytional army which is trained and supervised by its experts to transsuchdenunciations. Focused solely on Europe, it remains firmlyfix, immobilize and terrorize the people.resolved to get the most out of the situation. The enormous profThe few remarks we have made concerning the national bouritmakes from exploiting the people are shipped abroad. Thegeoisie lead us to an inevitable conclusion. In the underdevelopednational bourgeoisie is very often more wary of the regimecountries the bourgeoisie should not find conditions conduciveit has installed than are the foreign companies. It refuses to investto its existence and fulfilment. In other words, the combined effortson home soil and is remarkably ungrateful to the State that proof the masses, regimented by a party, and of keenly conscioustects and feeds it. On the European stock exchanges it buys fortellectuals, armed with revolutionary principles, should bar the wayeign stocks and spends weekends in Paris and Hamburg. Theto this useless and harmful bourgeoisie.behavior of the national bourgeoisie of certain underdevelopedcountries is reminiscent of members of a gang who, after everytheoretical question, which has been posed for the lastholdup, hide their share from their accomplices and wisely prefifty years when addressing the history of the underdevelopedpare for retirement. Such behavior reveals that the national bourcountries, i.e., whether the bourgeois phase can be effectivelygeoisie more or less realizes it will lose out in the long term. Itskipped, must be resolved through revolutionary action and notforesees that such a situation cannot last for ever, but intendsthrough reasoning. The bourgeois phase in the underdevelopedmaking the most of it. Such a level of exploitation, however,countries is only justified iEthe national bourgeoisie is sufficientlysuch distrust of the State inevitably trigger popular discontent.powerful, economically and technically, to build a bourgeoisUnder the circumstances the regime becomes more authoritar-society, to create the conditions for developing a sizeable proleThe army thus becomes the indispensable tool for systematictariat, to mechanize agriculture, and finally pave the wav for arepression. In lieu of a parliament, the army becomes the arbiter.genuine national culture.But sooner or later it realizes its influence and intimidates thegovemment with the constant threat of a pronunciamento.The bourgeoisie, which evolved in Europe, was able to elaboAs we have seen, the national bourgeoisie of certain underderate an ideology while strengthening its own influence. Thisveloped countries has learned nothing from history. If it hadnamic, educated, and secular bourgeoisie fully succeeded in itslooked closer at Latin America it would have no doubt identiundertaking ofcapital accumulation and endowed the nation withfied the dangers awaiting it. We thus arrive at the conclusion thata minimum of prosperity. In the underdeveloped countries wemicrobourgeoisie, despite all the fanfare, is doomed to makehave seen that there was no genuine bourgeoisie but rather anno headway. In the underdeveloped countries a bourgeois phaseacquisitive, voracious, and ambitious petty caste, dominated bv ais out of the question. A police dictatorship or a caste of profismall-time racketeer mentality, content with the dividendsteers may well be the case but a bourgeois society is doomed out by the former colonial power. This short-sighted bourgeoisieto failure. The band of gilded profiteers grabbing banknoteslacks vision and inventiveness. It has learned by heart what it hasagainst a background of widespread misery will sooner or laterread in the manuals of the West and subtly transforms itself notbe a straw in the hands of the army, which is cleverly manipulateda replica of Europe but rather its caricature.

120 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH* * *bourgeois caste draws its main strength from agreements signedthe former colonial power. The national bourgeoisie hasan even greater chance of taking over from the colonialist oppressorsince it has given every opportunity to maintain itsclose links with the ex-colonial power. But deep-rooted contradictionsshake the ranks of this bourgeoisie, giving the closeobserver an impression of instability. There is not yet a homogeneityof caste. Many intellectuals, for instance, condemn thisregime based on domination by a select few. Inoped countries there areofficials who sincerelv feeleconomy,any wrm mystifimen, to a certain degree, are in favor ofparticipation by the people in theofaffairs.The struggle against the bourgeoisie in the underdevelopedcountries is far from being simply theoretical. It is not a question of deciphering the way historv has iudged and nAnr1"'~nit. national bourgeoisienot be combated it threatens to curb the over-It must be resolutelybecause literally it serves no purpose. Mediocre in itswinnings, in its achievements and its thinking, this bourgeoisieattempts to mask its mediocrity by ostentatious projects for individual prestige, chromium-platcd American cars, vacations onthe French Riviera and weekends in neon-lit nightclubs.This bourgeoisie, which increasingly turns its back on theoverall population, fails even to squeeze from the yVestspectacular concessions as valuableIt is that much easier to neutralize this bourgeois class since,as we have seen, it is numerically, intellectually, and economically weak. In the colonized territories after independence theTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 121confirms the neoeconomy is struggling.no way, therefore, can it be said that national bourgeoisieslows the country's development, that it is wasting the nation'sor possibly leading it into a dead end. But the truth is thatthe bourgeois phase in the history of the underdeveloped countries is a useless phase. Once this caste has been eliminated,swallowed up by its own contradictions, it will be clear to everyone that no progress has been made since independence and thateverything has to be started over again from scratch. This restrucofthe economy will not be based on the order set in placecaste has doneIn underdevcloped countries that acquire independence thereis almost always a small number of upstanding intellectuals,without set political ideas, who instinctively distrust the race forjobs and handouts that is symptomatic of the aftermathpendence. The personal situation of these menfor an extended family) or their life storymoralsmartandto be used intelligently in theto steer nation in a healtllY direction. Bartothe national bourgeoisie is a sure way ofavoidingofindependence, the trials and tribulations ofnationalthe decline of morals, the assault on the nation by corruption, an economic downturn and, in the short term, an antidemocratic regime relying on forcc and intimidation. But it also meanschoosing the only way to go forward.The profoundly democratic and progressive elements theyoung nation are reluctant and shy about making any decisiondue to the apparent of the bourgeoisie.cities of the newlya"I!i;!d"" '

"'''''''w''tt tr t; 1t't122THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 123j~ teeming with entire managerial class. For want of any seriousanalysis of the population as a whole, observers are inclinedto believe in the existence of a powerful and perfectly organizedbourgeoisie. In fact we now know that there is no bourgeoisiethe underdeveloped countries. What makes a bourgeoisie is notattitude, taste, or manners. It is not even its aspirations. Thebourgeoisie is above all the direct product of precise economicrealities.Economic reality in the colonies, however, is a foreigngeois reality. It is the metropolitan bourgeoisie, represented bylocal counterparts, which is present in the colonial towns.Before independence the bourgeoisie in the colonies is a Westernbourgeoisie, an authentic branch of the metropolitan bourgeoisiefrom which it draws its legitimacy, its strength itsDuring the period of unrest preceding independence,indigenous intellectual and business elements within this importedbourgeoisie endeavor to identifY themselves with it. Theirsis a wish to identifY permanently with the bourgeois representativesfrom the metropolis.bourgeoisie, which has unreservedly and enthusiasticallyadopted the intellectual reflexes characteristic of the metropolis,which has alienated to perfection its own thought and groundedits consciousness in typically foreign notions, has difficultylowing the fact that it is lacking in the one thing that makes abourgeoisie-money. The bourgeoisie of the underdevelopedcountries is a bourgeoisie in spirit only. It has neither the economicpower, nor the managerial dynamism, nor the scope of ideas toqualifY it as a bourgeoisie. Consequently, it is in its early stagesand a bourgeoisie of civil servants. Whatever confidenceand strength it possesses will derive from the position it occupiesthe new national administration. Given time and opportunityby the authorities, it will succeed in amassing a small fortune thatwill reinforce its domination. But it will still prove incapable ofcreating a genuine bourgeois society with all the economic andindustrial consequences this supposes.* t; *The national bourgeoisie from the outset is geared towardintermediate activities. Its power base lies in its business senseand petty trading, in its capacity to grab commissions. It is notits money that is working but its sense of business. It does notinvest, and cannot achieve that accumulation of capital neededthe formation and expansion of an authentic bourgeoisie. Atthis rate it would take centuries for it to set up the rudiments ofindustrialization. In any case it would come up against theplacable opposition of the former metropolis, which will haveevery possible precaution in the framework of neocolonialistagreements.Ifthe authorities want to lift the country out ofstagnationtake great strides toward development and progress, they firstforemost must nationalize the tertiary sector. The bourgeoisie,wants the spirit of lucre and materialism to prevail as wellas its contemptuous attitude toward the masses and the scandalousaspect of profit, or theft we should say, in fact invests massivelyin this sector. Once dominated by the colonists the. tertiarysector is raided by the young national bourgeoisie. In a colonialeconomy the tertiary sector is by far the most important. For thesake of progress the decision to nationalize this sector must bemade in the few hours. But it is evident that such a nationalizationmust not take on the aspect of rigid state control.does not mean putting politically uneducated citizens in managerialpositions. Every time this procedure has been adopted itwas found that the authorities had in fact contributed to the triumphof a dictatorship of civil servants, trained by the formermetropolis, who quickly proved incapable thinking in termsof the nation as a whole. These civil servants swiftly begin tosabotage the national economy and dismantle the national institutions,while corruption, fraud, misappropriation of goods,and black market trafficking set in. To nationalize the tertiarysector means organizing democratically the cooperatives forbuying and selling. It means decentralizing these cooperatives

124THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 125by involving masses in the management of public affairs.this obviously cannot succeed unless the people are politicdlleducated. Previously the need to clarify such a paramount issueonce and for all would have been recognized. Today the principleof educating the masses politically is generally taken for grantedin the underdeveloped countries. But it is that this basictask is not being honestly addressed. The decision to politicizepeople implies that the regime expects to make popular support acondition for any action undertaken. A govemment which declaresintent to politicize the people its desire to governthe people and for the people. It should not use a languagedesigned to camouflage a bourgeois leadership. The bourgeoisgovernments of the capitalist countries have long since leftinfantile phase of power behind. They govern dispassionately usingtheir power, and their police force. Now thatauthority is solidly established they are not obliged to wastetime with demagogic considerations. They govern in their owninterest and make no nonsense about it. They have made themselvesand are strong in their ownbourgeois caste of the newly indcpendent countries hasnot attained the cynicism or the serenity on which thebourgeoisies based their power. Hence its concern to hideits deep-rooted convictions, to allay suspicions, in short toonstrate its popularity. It is not by mobilizing dozens or hundredsof thousands of men and women three or four times apolitically educate the masses. These meetings, spectacularrallies, are similar to the old preindependence tacticswhereby you displayed your strength to prove to yourself and toothers that you had the people on your side. The political educationof the masses is meant to make adults out of them, not tomake them infantile.brings us to consider the role of the political party in anunderdeveloped country. We have seen in the preceding pagesvery often simplistic minds, belonging, moreover, to theemerging bourgeoisie, repeatedly argue the need for an underdevelopedcountry to have a strong authority, even a dictatorship,to head affairs. With this in mind the party is put in charge ofmonitoring the masses. The party doubles the administrationpolice force, and controls the masses not with the aim ofensuring their actual participation in the affairs of the nation butto remind them constantly that the authorities expect them tobe obedient and disciplined. This dictatorship, which believesitself by history, which considers itself indispensable in"ftermath of independence, in fact symbolizes the decisionbourgeois caste to lead the underdeveloped country, at firstwith the support of the people but very soon against them. Thegradual transformation of the party into an intelligenceis indicativc that thc authorities are increasingly on thesive. The shapeless mass the people is seen as a blind forcemust be constantly hcld on a leash eithcr by mystificationor fear instilled by police presence. The party becomes a baromanintelligence service. The militant becomes an informer.He is put in charge of punitive missions against the villages.Embryonic opposition are eliminated at the stroke of abaton or a hail of stones. Opposition candidates seego up in flames. The police are increasingly provocative.these circumstances, there is, of course, but a single partyand the government candidate receives 99 percent of the votes.We have to acknowledge that a certain number of governmentsin Mrica operate along these lines. All the opposition partieswere generally progressivc and strove for a participationof the masses in the management of public affairs, who wantedto see the arrogant and mercantile bourgeoisie brought to heel,have been bludgeoned and incarcerated into silence and thendriven underground.In many of today's independent regions of Africaparty is being seriously bloated out of all proportion. In thc

126 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHpresence of a party member the people keep mum, behave likesheep, and pay tribute to the government and the leader. But inthe street, away from the village of an evening, in the cafe or onthe river, the people's bitter disappointment, their desperation,also their pent-up anger, can clearly heard. Instead of lettingthe people express their grievances, instead of making the freecirculation of ideas between the people and the leadership its basicthe party erects a screen of prohibitions. The party leadersbehave like common sergeants major and constantly remindthe people of the need to keep "silence in the ranks." This party,which claimed to be the servant of the people, which claimed towork for the people's happiness, quickly dispatches the people backto their caves as soon as the colonial authorities hand over thecountry. The party will also commit many mistakes regardingnational unity. For example, the so-called national party operateson a tribal basis. It is a veritable ethnic group which has transformeditself into a party. This party which readily proclaims itselfnational, which claims to speak in the name of the people asa whole, secretly and sometimes openly sets up a genuinedictatorship. We are no longer witness to a bourgeois dictatorshipbut to a tribal one. The ministers, private secretaries, ambassadors,and prefects are chosen from the leader's ethnic group, sometimeseven directly from his family. These regimes based on the familyunit seem to repeat the age-old laws of endogamy and faced withthis stupidity, this imposture and this intellectual and spiritualpoverty, we are left with a feeling of shame rather than anger.These heads ofgovernment are the true traitors ofAfrica, for theysell their continent to the worst of its enemies: stupidity. Thistribalization of power results, much as one would expect, in regionalistthinking and separatism. Decentralizing trends surfacetriumph, the nation disintegrates and is dismembered. Theleader who once cried: "Mrican unity!" and thought of his ownlittle familv awakes to find himself saddled with five tribesown ambassadors and ministers; and as irresponsible,oblivious, and pathetic as ever he cries "THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 127):

126THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 127presence of a party member the people keep mum, behave likesheep, and pay tribute to the government and the leader. But inthe street, away from the village of an evening, in the cafe or onthe river, the people's bitter disappointment, their desperation, butalso their pent-up anger, can be clearly heard. Instead of lettingthe people express their grievances, instead of making thecirculation ofideas between people and the leadership its basicmission, the party erects a screen of prohibitions. The party leadersbehave like common sergeants major and constantly remindthe people of the necd to keep "silence in ranks." This party,which claimed to be the servant of the people, which claimed towork for the people's happiness, quickly dispatches the people backto their caves as soon as the colonial authorities hand over thecountry. The party will also commit many mistakes regardingnational unity. For example, the so-called national party operateson a tribal basis. It is a veritable ethnic group which has transformeditself into a party. This party which readily proclaims itselfnational, which claims to speak in the name of the people asa whole, secretly and sometimes openly sets up a genuine ethnicdictatorship. We are no longer witness to a bourgeois dictatorshipto a tribal one. The ministers, private secretarics, ambassadors,and prefects are chosen from the leader's ethnic group, sometimeseven directly from his family. These regimes based on the familyunit seem to repeat the age-old laws of endogamy and faced withstupidity, this imposture and this intellectual and spiritualpoverty, we are left with a feeling of shame rather than anger.These heads ofgovernment are the true traitors ofMrica, for theysell their continent to the worst of its enemies; stupidity. Thistribalization of power results, much as one would expect, in regionalistthinking and separatism. Decentralizing trends surfaceand triumph, the nation disintegrates and is dismembered.leader who once cried: "Mrican unity!" and thought of his ownfamily awakes to find himself saddled with five tribes whoalso want their own ambassadors and ministers; and as irrcsponsible,oblivious, and pathetic as ever he cries "treason."* * *We have many times indicated the very often detrimental roleof the leader. This is because in certain regions the party is organizedlike a gang whose toughest member takes over the leadership.The leader's ancestry and powers are readily mentioned,and in a knowing and slightly admiring tone it is quickly pointedout that he inspires awe in his close collaborators. In order toavoid these many pitfalls a persistent battle has to be waged toprevent the party from becoming a compliant instrument in thehands of a leader. Leader comes from the English verb "to lead,"meaning "to drive" in French. J5 The driver of people no longerexists today. People are no longer a herd and do not need to bedriven. If the leader drives me I want him to know that at thesame time I am driving him. The nation should not be anrun by a big boss. Hence the panic that grips government circlesevery time one of their leaders falls ill, bccause tlley are obsessedwith thc question of succession: What will happen to the countryif the leader dies? Thc influential circles, who in theirirresponsibility are more concerned with safeguarding theirtheir cocktail parties, their paid travel and their profitableracketeering, have abdicated in favor of a leader and occasionallydiscover the spiritual void at the heart of the nation.A country which really wants to answer to history, which wantsto develop its towns and the minds of its inhabitants, must possessa genuine party. The party is not an instrument in the handsof the government. Very much to the contrary, the party is aninstrument in thc hands of the people. It is the party which dccideson the policy cnacted by the government. The party is notand never should be merely a political bureau where allmembers of government and dignitaries of the regime feel free to15 Translator's Note: In the Fanon uses the English word leaderand compares it to the Frend1 conduire.

128 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 129congregate. Alas all too often it is the party which makes upentire political bureau and its members reside permanentlycapitaL In an underdeveloped country the leading party membersshould flee the capital like the plague. With the exception of afew, they should reside in the rural areas. Centralizing everythingin the capital should be avoided. No administrative pretext canjustify the bustle of the capital already overpopulated and overdevelopedcompared with nine tenths of the territory. The partymust be decentralized to the limit. This is the only way to reviveregions that are dead, the regions that have not woken up tolife.In practice there will be at least onebureau in each region and care should be taken not tohim regional head. He will not handle administrative responsibilities.The member ofthe regional political bureau is not obligedto hold the highest rank in the regional administration. He shouldnot necessarily join forces with the authorities. For the peoplethe party is not the authority but the organization whereby they,the people, exert their authority and will. The less confusionthere is, the less duality of powers, the more the party can fulfillrole as guide and the more it will become a decisive guaranteefor the people. If the party merges with the authorities, thenis the fastest way for the party militant to achieve his selfishobtain a job in the administration, be promoted, changehis rank, and make a careerIn an underdeveloped country the creation ofdynamic regionalbureaus halts the process of urban macrocephaly and the chaoticexodus of the rural masses toward the towns. The establishment,during the very first days of independence, of regional bureaus withthe power to stimulate, revive, and accelerate the citizens' consciousnessis an inevitable prerequisite for any country that wantsto progress. Otherwise, the party leaders and dignitaries of thecongregate around the leader. The administration swellsout of all proportion, not because it is expanding or specializbutbecause more cousins and more militants expect a positionand hope to slip into the works. And the dream of everycitizen is to reach the capital, to have his piece of the pie. Thetowns and villages are deserted, the unaided, uneducated, anduntrained rural masses tum their backs on an unrewardil1!~ soiland set off for the urbanletariat out of all proportion.Another national crisis is looming. We believe, on the contrary,that the interior, the back country, should be given priority.In the last resort, moreover, we see no drawback to the governmentconvening elsewhere besides the capital. The myth of thecapital must be debunked and the disinherited shown that thedecision has been made to work in their interest. To a certainthis is what the Brazilian government attempted to do witharrogance of Rio de Janeiro was an insult to theBrazilian people. But unfortunately. BraSIlia is still a new capithroughthe forest. No, no serious objectodaytion can be made to the choice of a new capital, to relocatingthe entire government to one of the most destitute regions. Theidea of a capital in underdeveloped countries is a commercialnotion inherited from the colonial period. In the underdevelopedcountries, however, we must increase our contacts with therural masses. We must apply a national policy, i.e., a policy specificallyaimedat the masses. We must never lose contact withpeople who fought for their independence and a better life.diagrams and statistics, indigenousservants and technicians should delve into the body ofpopulation. They should not bristle there isof an assignment to the "interior." One should no longertheir young wives threaten to divorce their husbands if they cannotmanage to avoid a rural posting. Hence the party's political

130 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHbureau should priority to the disinherited regions, and theartificial and superficial life of the capital, grafted onto the nationalreality like a foreign body, should occupy as small a placeas possible in the life of the nation which, on the contrary, isfundamental and saered.an underdeveloped eountry the party must be organizedsuch a way that it is not eontent merely to stay in touch withthe masses. The party must be the direct expression ofthe masses.The party is not an administration with the mission of transmittinggovernment orders. It is the vigorous spokesperson andincorruptible defender of the masses. In order to arrive atnotion of party we must first and foremost rid ourselves of theWestern, bourgeois, and hence very disparaging, ideathe masses are incapable of governing themselves. Experiencehas proven in fact that the masses fully understand the mostcomplex issues. One of the greatest services the Algerian revolutionhas rendered to Algerian intellectuals was to put them intouch with the masses, to allow them to see the extreme, unspeakablepoverty of the people and at the same time witnessthe awakening of their intelligence and the development oftheirconsciousness. The Algerian people, that starved, illiterate massof men and women who for centuries were plunged into incredibledarkness, have resisted the tanks and planes, the napalm andthe psychological warfare, but above all, the corruption andbrainwashing, the traitors and the "national" armies of GeneralBellounis. The Algerian people have stood firm in spite of theweak-minded, the fence-sitters, and the would-be dictators. TheAlgerian people have stood firm because their seven-year strugglehas opened up spheres they never even dreamed of. Today armsfactories operate deep in the jebel several meters underground;today people's tribunals function at every level and local planningcommissions carve up the large agricultural estates and drawup the Algeria of tomorrow. An isolated individual can resistunderstanding an issue, but the group, the village, grasps it withdisconcerting speed. Of course if we choose to use a languageTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 131comprehensible only to law and economics graduates it will beeasy to prove that the masses need to have their life nm for them.But if we speak in plain language, if we are not obsessed with aperverse determination to confuse the issues and excludepeople, then it will be clear that the masses comprehendfiner points and every artifice. Resorting to technical languagemeans you are determined to treat masses as uninitiated.Such language is a poor front for the lecturer's intent to deceivepeople and leave them on the sidelines. Language's endeavorto confuse is a mask behind which looms an even greater undertakingto dispossess. The intention is to strip people oftheirpossessions as well as their sovereignty. You can explain anythingto the people provided you really want them to understand. Andif you think they can dispensed with, that on the contrary theywould be more ofa nuisance to the smooth runningprivate and limited companies whose aim is tother into misery, then there is no more to beIf you think you can perfectly govern a country without involvingthe people, if you think that by their very presence thepeople confuse the that they are a hindrance or, throughinherent unconsciousness, an undermining factor, thenthere should be no hesitation: The people must be excluded. Yetwhen the are asked to participate in the government,instead of being a hindrance they are a driving force. We Algeriansduring the course ofthis war have had the opportunity,good fortune, of fully grasping the reality of a number of things.some of the rural areas, the politico-military leaders of therevolution found themselves confronted with situations that requiredradical responses. We shall now address some of thesesituations.In 1956 and 1957 French colonialism put certain zones offlimits, and travel in these regions was strictly regulated. Thepeasants were no longer able to travel freely into town to buv fresh

132 THE WRETCHED Of THE EARTHprovisions. During this period the local grocers made huge profits.Tea, sugar, tobacco, and salt reached exorbitant prices.The black market flourished and became particularly brazen.peasants who could not pay cash mortgaged their crops, eventheir land, or else carved up the family property piece by piece;the next resort was to work solely to pay their bills at the localgrocer's. As soon as the political commissioners realized the risksinvolved they reacted immediately. Consequently a rational systemof supplies was established: In town the grocer was obligedto buy from the government wholesalers who gave him an invoicedetailing the price of the goods. When the retailer arrivedback in the douar he had first to report to the political commissionerwho checked the invoice, fixed the profit margin, and setthe selling price. The resale prices were displayed in the shopa member of the douar, a kind of inspector, was on hand tothe fellah ofthe exact price the goods had to be sold. Theretailer, however, very quickly discovered a loophole and afterthree or four days declared he had run out of stock. He resumedhis underhand dealings and continued selling on the black market.The reaction by the politico-military authorities was immeLarge fines were charged and the money collected was paidvillage coffers to finance either charity works or worksin the interest of the community. In some cases it was decidedto close down the shop for a while. In the event of a secondoffense the business was immediately taken over and run by anelected management committee, on condition the former ownerwas paid a monthly allowance.On the basis of this experience, it was explained to the peoplehow the laws of economics functioned, taking concrete examples.The accumulation ofcapital turned from a theory into a veryand topical mode of behavior. The people understood how onecan get rich from a business and expand it. It was only then thatthe peasants recounted how their grocer lent them money atusurious rates; others recalled how he had driven them from theirland and how they had gone from being landowners to laborers.THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS Of NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 133The more the people understand, the more vigilantthey become,more they realize in fact that everything depends on themand that their salvation lies in their solidarity, in recognizing theirinterests and identifying their enemies. The people understandthat wealth is not the fruit of labor but the spoils from an organizedprotection racket. The rich no longer seem respectablemen but flesh-eating beasts, jackals and ravens who wallow inthe blood of the people. Moreover the political commissionershad to rule that nobody would work for anyone else. The landbelongs to those who work it. This is a principle which throughan information campaign has become a fundamental law of theAlgerian revolution. The peasants who employed agriculturallaborers have been obliged to distribute land shares to theirformer employees.The yield per acre was thus seen to triple, despite numerousraids and aerial bombardments by the French as well as theficulty of getting fertilizers. The fellahs who were able to judgeand see for themselves the produce they had harvested wereeager to understand how it worked. They very quickly realizedthat work is not a simple notion, that slavery is the opposite ofwork, and that work presupposes freedom, responsibility, andconsciousness.In the regions where we were able to conduct these enlighteningexperiments, where we witnessed the edification of manthrough revolutionary teachings, the peasant clearly grasped theprinciple whereby the clearer the commitment, the better oneworks. We were able to convey to the masses that work is not aphysical exercise or the working of certain muscles, but that oneworks more with one's brain and one's heart than with musclessweat. Likewise, in liberated regions, cut off from the formerdistribution channels, we had to modify production whichously was geared solely toward the towns and exports. We establishedproduction for consuinption by the people and the unitsthe national liberation army. We quadrupled the production of

134 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHlentils and organized the making of charcoaL Green vegetablesand charcoal were shipped from the northern regions to the southover the mountains, while the southern zones sent meat to thenorth. It was the FLN (Front de la Liberation Nationale) whodecided on this coordination and established the communicationssystems. We did not have technicians or experts fromleading universities ofthe West. But in the liberated regions, thedaily ration reached the hitherto unheard of figure of 3,200 calories.The people were not content merely to celebrate their victory.They asked theoretical questions. For example, why didcertain regions never see an orange before the war of liberation,whereas thousands of tons were shipped abroad annually; whyhad so many Algerians never seen grapes, whereas millions ofgrapes were dispatched for the enjoyment of Europeans? Todaythe people have a very clear notion of what belongs to them. TheAlgerian people now know they are the sole proprietor of theircountry's soil and subsoil. And if some cannot understandFLN's relentless refusal to tolerate any infringement of this ownershipand its determination not to accept any compromiseon principles, then everyone should remember that theAlgerian people are now adult, responsible, and conscious. Inshort, the Algerian people are proprietors.We have taken the Algerian example to clarify our discoursenotto glorify our own people, but quite simply to demonstratethe important part their struggle has played in achieving consciousness.Obviously other peoples have achieved the sameresults through other methods. We are now in a better positiontoday to know that the confrontation in Algeria was inevitable,but other regions have led their people to the same results throughpolitical struggle and information campaigns by the party. InAlgeria we understood that the masses were fully prepared forthe problems with which they were confronted. In an underdevelopedcountry experience proves that the important pointis not that three hundred people understand and decide but thatTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 135all understand and decide, even it if takes twice or three timesas long. In fact the time taken to explain, the time "lost" human. izing the worker, will be made up in the execution. People mustknow where they are going and why. The politician should beaware that the future will remain bleak as long as the people'sconsciousness remains rudimentary, primary, and opaque. We,African politicians, must have very clear ideas about our peoples'situation. But this lucidity must remain deeply dialectical. Theawakening of the people as a whole will not be achieved overnight;their rational commitment to the task of building thenation will be simple and straightforward; first ofall, because themethods and channels of communication are still in the developmentstages; secondly, because the sense of time must nolonger be that of the moment or the next harvest but rather thatof the rest of the world; and finally, because the demoralizationburied deep within the mind by colonization is still very muchalive. But we should be aware that victory over the pockets ofleast resistance-the legacy of the material and spiritual domiofthe country-is a requisite that no government canescape. Let us take the example of work under the colonial regime.The colonist never stopped complaining that the "native"was slow. Today in certain independent countries we hear leaderstake up the same complaint. What the colonist really wantedwas for the slave to be full of enthusiasm. Through a kind ofmystification constituting the highest form of alienation, hesought to convince the slave that the land he was working belongedto him and the mines where he was losing his health werehis property. The colonist forgot strangely enough that he wasgetting rich on the agony of the slave. In fact what the colonistwas saying to the colonized subject was: "Work yourself to death,but let me get richl" Today we should proceed differently. Wemust not say to the people: "Work yourself to death, but letcountry get rich!" If we want to increase the gross national income,reduce the imports ofcertain useless, even harmful, products,improve agricultural production and fight illiteracy, we have

136THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 137!~to conduct an information campaign. The people must understandwhat is at stake. Public business must be the business ofWe arrive therefore at the need to increase the numrankand file. All too often we arecontent with establishmg national bodies such as the Women'sUnion, the Youth Movement, and the Labor Unions at the topand never outside the capital. But if we venture to investigatebehind the offices in the capital, if we go through to the backroomwhere the records are meant to be, we are aghast at the void, theemptiness, and the bluff. We need a foundation, cells that providesubstance and dynamism. The masses must be able to meet,discuss, put forward suggestions and receive instructions. Citizensmust have the opportunity to speak, to express themselvesinnovate. meeting of the local cell or the committeeis a liturgical act. It is a privileged opportunity for theto listen and speak. At every meeting the brain multipliesthe association of ideas and the eye discovers a widerpanorama.The high percentage of young people in the underdevelopedcountries poses specific problems for the government that mustbe addressed lucidly. The idle and often illiterate urban youthis exposed to all kinds of disrupting infl uences. Youth in theunderdeveloped countries is in most cases marketed entertainmentfrom the industrialized countries. As a rule there is somebetween the mental and material level of a societyit provides. In the underdeveloped countries,however, the young generation has access to entertainmentdevised for the youth of the capitalist countries: detective stories,slot machines, hard-core photos, pornographic literature, R-ratedfilms and, above all, alcohol. In the West, the family environment,school, and the relatively high standard of living of theworking masses, serve as a kind of bulwark against the harmfuleffects of this entertainment. But in an African country whereintellectual development is unequal, where the violent clash oftwo worlds has seriouslyrupted ways ofthinking, theAfrican are at the mercy of the aggression contained in Westernculture. His family very often proves incapable of counteractingthis violence with stability and homogeneity.In this area the government must serve as filter and stabilizer.commissioners for youth in the underdeveloped countriesmake one mistake. They see their role as equivalentcommissioners for youth in the developed countries.soul, developing the body, and encouragingtalent in sports. In our opinion, they should be waryideas. The youth of an underdeveloped country is often anyouth. It must first of all be occupied. This is why the commissionerfor youth must report to the Ministry for Labor. The Ministryfor Labor, which is a requirement for an underdevelopedcountry, works in close collaboration with the Ministry for Plananotherrequirement in an underdeveloped country. Theof Africa should not be oriented toward the stadiums buttoward the fields, the fields and the schools. The stadium is notan urban showpiece but a rural space that is cleared, worked, andoffered to the nation. The capitalist notion of sports is fundamentallydifferent from that which should exist in an underdevelonedcountry. The African politician should not be concernedproducing professional sportsmen, but conscious individuals whoalso practice sports. Ifsports are not incorporated into the life ofthe nation, i.e., in the building of the nation, if we produce nationalsportsmen instead of conscious individuals, then sports willquickly be ruined by professionalism and commercialism. A sportshould not be a game or entertainment for the urban bourgeoisie.Our greatest task is to constantly understand what is happeningin our own countries. We must not cultivate the spirit of theexceptional or look for the hero. another form of leader. We mustelevate the people, expandate them, and humanize them.

138 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHOnce again we turn to the obsession that we would like to seeshared by every Mrican politician- the need to shed light on thepeople's effort, to rehabilitate work, and rid it of its historicalopacity. To be responsible in an underdeveloped country is toknow that everything finally rests on educating the masses, elevatingtheir minds, and on what is all too quickly assumed to bepolitical education.It is commonly thought with criminal flippancy that to politicizethe masses means from time to time haranguing them witha major political speech. It is thought that for a leader or head ofstate to speak on major current issues in a pedantic tone ofvoiceis sufficient as obligation to politicize the masses. But politicaleducation means opening up the mind, awakening the mind,and introducing it to the world. It is as Cesaire said: "To inventthe souls of men." To politicize the masses is not and cannot beto make a political speech. It means driving home to the massesthat everything depends on them, that if we stagnate the fault istheirs, and that ifwe progress, they too are responsible, that thereis no demiurge, no illustrious man taking responsibility for everything,but that the demiurge is the people and the magic liesin their hands and their hands alone. In order to achieve suchthings, in order to actually embody them, we must, as we havealready mentioned, decentralize to the utmost. The flow of ideasfrom the upper echelons to the rank and file and vice versa mustbe an unwavering principle, not for merely formal reasons butquite simply because adherence to this principle is the guaranteeof salvation. It is the forces from the rank and file which riseup to energize the leadership and permit it dialectically to makea new leap forward. Once again we Algerians very quickly understoodthis, for no member of the upper echelons has been ableto take precedence in any mission of salvation. It is the rank andfile which fights in Algeria and they are fully aware that withouttheir difficult and heroic daily struggle the upper echelons wouldcollapse-just as they are aware that without the upper echelonsand leadership the rank and file would disintegrate into chaosTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 139and anarchy. The power structure draws its validity and strengthsolely from the existence of the people's struggle. In practice itis the people who choose a power structure oftheir own free willand not the power structure that suffers the people.The masses must realize that the government and the partyare at their service. A people worthy of esteem, i.e., conscious oftheir dignity, is a people who never forget this obvious fact.During the colonial occupation the people were told they hadto sacrifice their lives for the sake of dignity. But the Africanpeoples quickly realized that it was not only the occupier whothreatened their dignity. The African peoples quickly realizedthat dignity and sovereignty were exact equivalents. In fact a freepeople living in dignity is a sovereign people. A people living indignity is a responsible people. And there is no point "demonstrating"that the African peoples are infantile or retarded. Agovernment and a party get the people they deserve. And in themore or less long term a people gets the government it deserves.The above arguments are borne out by actual experience in.certain regions. It sometimes occurs during a meeting that amilitant's answer to a difficult problem is: "All we need do is ..."This voluntary shortcut, which dangerously combines spontaneity,simplistic syncretism, and little intellectual elaboration, frequentlywins the day. Every time we encounter this abdicationof responsibilitY in a militant it is not enough to say he is wrong.He has to be made responsible, encouraged to follow throughhis chain of reasoning to its conclusion, and taught to grasp theoften atrocious, inhuman, and finally sterile nature of this "Allyou need do is ... " Nobody has a monopoly on truth, neitherthe leader nor the militant. The search for truth in local situationsis the responsibility ofthe community. Some militants havea broader experience, are quicker to gather their thoughts, andin the past have succeeded in making a greater number of inferences.But they should avoid overshadowing the people, for the

~ 140 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHsuccessful outcome of any decision depends on the conscious,coordinated commitment of the people as a whole. We arein the same boat. Everybody will be slaughtered or tortured, andwithin the context of the independent nation everyone will sufferthe same hunger and marasmus. The collective struggle presupposesa collective responsibility from the rank and file and a collegialresponsibility at the top. Yes, everyone must be involved inthe struggle for the sake of the common salvation. There are noclean hands, no innocent bystanders. We are all in the process ofdirtying our hands in the quagmire of our soil and the terrifyingvoid of our minds. Any bystander is a coward or a traitor.duty of a leadership is to have the masses on their side.Any commitment, however, presupposes awareness and understandingof the mission to be accomplished, in short a rationalanalysis, no matter how embryonic. The people should not bemesmerized, swayed by emotion or confused. Only underdevelopedcountries led by a revolutionary elite emanating from thepeople can today empower the masses to step onto the stage ofhistory. But once again on the condition that we vigorously anddecisively reject the formation of a national bourgeoisie, a casteof privileged individuals. To politicize the masses is to make thenation in its totality a reality for every citizen. To make the experienceof the nation, the experience of every citizen. As PresidentSekou Toure so aptly reminded us in his address to the SecondCongress of Mrican Writers: "In the realm of thought, man canclaim to be the brain of the world, but in reality, where everyaction affects spiritual and physical being, the world is still thebrain of mankind for it is here that are concentrated the totalizationof powers and elements of thought, the dynamic forcesof development and improvement, and it is here too that energiesare merged and the sum total of man's intellectual values is finallyinscribed." Since individual experience is national, since it is alink in the national chain, it ceases to be individual, narrow andlimited in scope, and can lead to the truth of the nation and theTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 141world. Just as every fighter clung to the nation during the periodof armed struggle, so during the period of nation building everycitizen must continue in his daily purpose to embrace the nationas a whole, to embody the constantly dialectical truth of thenation, and to will here and now the triumph of man in his totality.If the building of a bridge does not enrich the consciousnessof those working on it, then don't build the bridge, and letthe citizens continue to swim across the river or use a ferry. Thebridge must not be pitchforked or foisted upon the social landscapeby a deus ex machina, but, on the contrary, must be theproduct of the citizens' brains and muscles. And there is no doubtarchitects and engineers, foreigners for the most part, will probablybe needed, but the local party leaders must see to it thattechniques seep into the desert of the citizen's brain so that thebridge in its entirety and in every detail can be integrated, redesigned,and reappropriated. The citizen must appropriate thebridge. Then, and only then, is everything possible.A government that proclaims itself national must take responsibilityfor the entire nation, and in underdeveloped countriesthe youth represents one of the most important sectors. The consciousnessof the younger generation must be elevated and enlightened.It is this younger generation that will compose thenational army. If they have been adequately informed, if the NationalYouth Movement has done its work of integrating theyouth into the nation then the mistakes that have compromised,even undermined, the future of the Latin American republics,have been avoided. The army is never a school for war, buta school for civics, a school for politics. The soldier in a maturenation is not a mercenary but a citizen who defends the nationby the use of arms. This is why it is paramount that the soldierknows he is at the service of his country and not of an officer,however illustrious he may be. Military and civilian nationalservice must be used to raise the level of national consciousness,to detribalize and unify. In an underdeveloped countrythe mobilization of men and women should be undertaken as:,,; ;;;;;;;;;;:: ;;; ;:;;. ;;;lJi;;!:;;r;;;;:;;;;:#;;;;-'1 ' t s'tl~i ! .,.

142 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHquickly as possible. The underdeveloped country must takecautions not to perpetuate feudal traditions that give priority tomen over women. Women shall be given equal importance tomen, not in the articles of the consitution, but in daily life, at thefactory, in the schools, and in assemblies. If the countriesWest station their soldiers in barracks, this does not mean this isbest solution. We are not obliged to militarize recruits. Nationalservice can be civilian or military, and in any case every ablebodiedcitizen should be able to join his fighting unit at a moment'snotice to defend the freedom of the nation and its civil liberties.major public works projects of national interest shouldbe carried out by the recruits. This is a highly effective way ofstimulating stagnant regions and getting the greatest numbercitizens to learn ofthe country's realities. We should avoid transformingthe army into an autonomous body that sooner or later,and aimless, will "go into politics" and threaten the authorities.By dint of haunting the corridors of power, armchair generalsdream of pronunciamentos. The only way of avoiding this isto politicize the army, i.e., nationalize it. Likewise there is anurgent need to strengthen the militia. In the event of war, it isthe entire nation which fights or works. There should be no professionalsoldiers, and the number of career officers should bekept to a minimum; first of all, because very often the officersare selected from university graduates who would be much moreuseful elsewhere-an engineer is a thousand times more indispensableto the nation than an officer-and secondly, becauseany hint of a caste consciousness should be eliminated. We haveseen in the preceding pages how nationalism, that magnificenthymn which roused the masses against the oppressor,grates in the aftermath of independence. Nationalism is not apolitical doctrine, it is not a program. If we really want to safeguardour countries from regression, paralysis, or collapse, wemust rapidly switch from a national consciousness to a socialpolitical consciousness. The nation can only come into beingTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 143in a program elaborated by a revolutionary leadership and enthusiasticallyand lucidly appropriated by the masses. The naeffortmust be constantly situated in the general contextof the underdeveloped countries. The front line against hungerand darkness, the front line against poverty and stunted consciousness,must be present in the minds and muscles of the menand women. The work of the masses, their determination tothe scourges that for centuries have excluded them fromthe history of the human mind, must be connected to the workand determination of all the underdeveloped peoples. There isa kind of collective endeavor, a common destiny amongunderdeveloped masses. The peoples ofthe Third World are notinterested in news about King Baudoin's wedding or the affairsof the Italian bourgeoisie. What we want to hear are case historiesin Argentina or Burma about the fight against illiteracy orthe dictatorial behavior of other leaders. This is the material thatus, educates us, and greatly increases our effectiveness.we have seen, a government needs a program if it really wantsto liberate the people politically and socially. Not only an economicprogram but also a policy on the distribution of wealthand social relations. In there must be a concept of man, aA~~A",..... t about the future of mankind. Which means that no sermon,no complicity with the former occupier can replace a program.The people, at first unenlightened and increasinglylucid, will vehemently demand such a program. The Mricansand the underdeveloped peoples, contrary to what is commonlybelieved, are quick to build a social and political consciousness.The danger is that very often they reach the stage of social consciousnessbefore reaching the national phase. In this case theunderdeveloped countries' violent calls for social justice arecombined, paradoxically enough, with an often primitive trib-The underdeveloped peoples behave like a starving population-whichmeans that the days of those who treat Mrica astheir playground are strictly numbered. In other words, their powercannot last forever. A bourgeoisie that has only nationalism to feed

144 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHthe people tails in its mission and inevitably tangled up in aseries of trials and tribulations. If nationalism is not explained,enriched, and deepened, if it does not quickly turn into asocial and political consciousness, into humanism, then itto a dead end. A bourgeois leadership of the underdevelopedcountries confines the national consciousness to a sterile formalism.Only the massive commitment by men and women to judiciousand productive tasks gives form and substance to thisconsciousness. It is then that flags and government buildingscease to be the symbols of the nation. The nation deserts the falseglitter of the capital and takes refuge in the interior where it receiveslife and energy. The living expression of the nation is thecollective consciousness in motion of the entire people. It isthe enlightened and coherent praxis of the men and women. Thecollective forging of a destiny implies undertaking responsibilhistoricalscale. Otherwise there is anarchy, represemergenceof tribalized parties and federalism, etc. Ifwants to be national it must govern bypeople, the disinherited and by thecan replace theof the people, anditself with international prestige, mustcitizens, furnish their minds, fill their eyes with human thingsand develop a human landscape for the sake of its enlightenedand sovereign inhabitants.On National CultureIt is not enough to write a revolutionary hymn to be a part ofAfrican revolution, one has to join with the people to make this revolution.Make it with the people and the hymns will automaticallylow. For an act to be authentic, one has to be a vital part ofMrica and itsthinking, part of all that popular energy mobilized for the liberation,progress and happiness of Mrica. Outside this single struggle there isno place for either the artist or the intellectual who is not committedand totally mobilized with the people in the great fight waged by Mricaand suffering humanity.Sekou Toun§16gell1el:anon must discover its mission, fulfill it or betrayit, ooacitv. In the underdeveloped countries precedresistedthe insidious agendaemergence of the currentstruggles. Now that we are inwe mustshed the habit of decrying the efforts of our toreiathersing incomprehension at their silence or passiveness.as best they could with the weapons they possessed at the time,and if their struggle did not reverberate throughout the internationalarena, the reason should be attributed not so much to a16 "The Political Leader as Representative of a Culture." Paper presentedat the Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists, Rome, 1959.145;."'tt'

tm'146 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE147lack of heroism but to a fundamentally different internationalsituation. More than one colonized subject had to say, 'We'vehad enough," more than one tribe had to rebel, more than onepeasant revolt had to be quelled, more than one demonstrationto be repressed, for us today to stand firm, certain of our victory.For us who are determined to break the back of colonialism,our historic mission is to authorize every revolt, every desperateact, and every attack aborted or drowned in blood.In this chapter we shall analyze the fundamental issue of thelegitimate claim to a nation. The political partv that mobilizesthe people, however, is little concernedmacy. Political parties are concerned solely with daily reality, andit is in the name of this reality, in the name of this immediacy,the present and future ofmen and women, thatthey make their call to action. The political party may very wellspeak of the nation in emotional terms, but it is primarily interestedin getting the people who are listening to understand thatthey must join in the struggle if they want quite simply to exist.We now know that in the first phase of thecolonialism attempts to defuse nationallating economic doctrine. At the first signs ofaby acknowledging with ostentatiousterritory is suffering from serious underdevelopmentthat requires major social and economic reforms.And it is true that certain spectacular measures such as theopening of work sites for the unemployed here and there delaythe formation of a national consciousness by a years. Butsooner or later colonialism realizes it is incapable of achieving aprogram of socio-economic reforms that would the aspirationsof the colonized masses. Even when it comes to fillingproves to be inherently powerless. Thecolonialist state very quickly discovers that any attempt to disarmthe national parties at a purely economic level would betantamount to practicing in the colonies what it did not want todo on its own territory. And it is no coincidence that today thedoctrine of Cartierism is on the rise just about everywhere.Cartier's bitter disillusionment with France's stubborn detertieswith people it will have to whereasso many trenCh citizens are in dire straits, reflects colonialism'sto transform itself into a nonpartisan aid program. Henceonce again no need to waste time repeating "Better to go hungrywith dignity than to eat one's fill in slavery." On the contrarywe must persuade ourselves that colonialism is incapable of procuringfor colonized peoples the material conditions likely tomake them forget their quest for dignity. Once colonialism hasunderstood where its social reform tactics would lead it, backcome the old reflexes of adding police reinforcements, dispatchingtroops, and establishing a regime of terrorinterests and its psvcholo~the political parties, or rather parallel to them, we findcultured class of colonized intellectuals. The recognition ofa national culture and its right to exist represent their favoritestamping ground. Whereas the politicians integrate their actionin the present, the intellectuals place themselves in the contextof history. Faced with the colonized intellectual's debunking ofthe colonialist theory of a precolonial barbarism, coloniaresponse is mute. It is especially mute since theward by the young colonized intelligentsia are widely acceptedby metropolitan specialists. It is in fact now commonly recogseveraldecades numerous European researcherswidely rehabilitated African, Mexican, and Peruvian civilizations.Some have been surprised by the passion invested bythe colonized intellectuals in their defense of a national culture.But those who consider this passion exaggerated are strangely apt

148THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE149to forget that their psyche and their ego are conveniently safeguardedby a French or German culture whose worth has beenproven and which has gone unchallenged.I concede the fact that the actual existence of an Aztec civilizationhas done little to change the diet of today's Mexican peasant.I concede that whatever proof there is of a once mightySonghai civilization does not change the fact that the Songhaistoday are undernourished, illiterate, abandoned to the shes andwater, with a blank mind and glazed eyes. But, as we have saidon several occasions, this passionate quest for a national cultureprior to the colonial era can be justified by the colonized intellectuals'shared interest in stepping back and taking a hard lookat the Western culture in which they risk becoming ensnared.Fully aware they are in the process of losing themselves, andconsequently of being lost to their people, these men work awaywith raging heart and furious mind to renew contact with theirpeople's oldest, inner essence, the farthest removed from colonialtimes.Let us delve deeper; perhaps this passion and this rage arenurtured or at least guided by the secret hope of discoveringbeyond the present wretchedness, beyond this self-hatred, thisabdication and denial, some magnificent and shining era thatredeems us in our own eyes and those of others. I say that I havedecided to delve deeper. Since perhaps in their unconsciouscolonized intellectuals have been unable to come to loving termswith the present history of their oppressed people, since there isto marvel at in its current state of barbarity, they have decidedto go further, to delve deeper, and they must have beenoverjoyed to discover that the past was not branded with shame,but dignity, glory, and sobriety. Reclaiming the past does not onlyrehabilitate or justify the promise of a national culture. It triggersa change of fundamental importance in the colonized'spsycho-affective equilibrium. Perhaps it has not been sufficientlydemonstrated that colonialism is not content merely to imposeits law on the colonized country's present and future. Colonialismis not satisfied with snaring the people in its net or of drainingthe colonized brain of any form or substance. With a kindperverted logic, it turns its attention to the past of the colonizedpeople and distorts it, disfigures it, and destroys it. This effort todemean history prior to colonization today takes on a dialecticalsignificance.When we consider the resources deployed to achieve the culturalalienation so typical of the colonial period, we realize thatnothing was left to chance and that the final aim of colonizationwas to convince the indigenous population it would save themfrom darkness. The result was to hammer into the heads ofindigenous population that if the colonist were to leave theywould regress into barbarism, degradation, and bestiality. At thelevel of the unconscious, therefore, colonialism was not seekingto be perceived by the indigenous population as a sweet, kindheartedmother who protects her child from a hostile environment,but rather a mother who constantly prevents her basicallyperverse child from committing suicide or giving free rein tomalevolent instincts. The colonial mother is protecting the childfrom itself, from its ego, its physiology, its biology, and its ontologicalmisfortune.this context there is nothing extravagant about the demandsof the colonized intellectual, simply a demand for a coherentprogram. The colonized intellectual who wants to put his struggleon a legitimate footing, who is intent on providing proof andaccepts to bare himself in order to better display the history ofhis body, is fated to journey deep into the very bowels of hispeople.This journey into the depths is not specifically national. Thecolonized intellectual who decides to combat these colonialist%:'05;5(""

150 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE151lies does so on a continental scale. The past is revered. The culturewhich has been retrieved from the past to be displayed inall its splendor is not his national culture. Colonialism, littletroubled by nuances, has always claimed that the "nigger" was asavage, not an Angolan or a Nigerian, but a "nigger." For colonialism,this vast continent was a den of savages, infested withsuperstitions and fanaticism, destined to be despised, cursed byGod, a land of cannibals, a land of "niggers." Colonialism's condemnationis continental in scale. Colonialism's claim that theprecolonial period was akin to a darkness of the human soul refersto the entire continent ofMrica. The colonized's endeavorsto rehabilitate himself and escape the sting of colonialism obeythe same rules of logic. The colonized intellectual, steeped inWestern culture and set on proving the existence of his ownculture, never does so in the name of Angola or Dahomey. Theculture proclaimed is Mican culture. When the black man, whohas never felt as much a "Negro" as he has under white domination,decides to prove his culture and act as a cultivated person,he realizes that history imposes on him a terrain already mappedout, that history sets him along a very precise path and that he isexpected to demonstrate the existence of a "Negro" culture.And it is all too true that the major responsibility for thisracialization ofthought, or at least the way it is applied, lies withthe Europeans who have never stopped placing white culture inopposition to the other noncultures. Colonialism did not thinkit worth its while denying one national culture after the other.Consequently the colonized's response was immediately continentalin scope. In Mrica, colonized literature over the last twentyyears has not been a national literature but a "Negro" literature.The concept of negritude for example was the affective if notlogical antithesis of that insult which the white man had leveledat the rest of humanity. This negritude, hurled against the contemptof the white man, has alone proved capable in some sectorsof lifting taboos and maledictions. Because the Kenyan andGuinean intellectuals were above all confronted with a generalizedostracism and the syncretic contempt of the colonizer, theirreaction was one of self-regard and celebration. Following theunconditional affirmation of European culture came the unconditionalaffirmation of Mrican culture. Generally speaking thebards of negritude would contrast old Europe versus young Mica,dull reason versus poetry, and stifling logic versus exuberantNature; on the one side there stood rigidity, ceremony, protocol,and skepticism, and on the other, na'ivete, petulance, freedom,and, indeed, luxuriance. But also irresponsibility.The bards of negritude did not hesitate to reach beyond theborders ofthe continent. Black voices from America took up therefrain on a larger scale. The "black world" came into being, andBusia from Ghana, Birago Diop from Senegal, Hampate Ba fromMali and Saint-Clair Drake from Chicago were quick to claimcommon ties and identical lines of thought.This might be an appropriate time to look at the example ofthe Arab world. We know that most of the Arab territories cameunder colonial domination. Colonialism used the same tacticsin these regions to inculcate the notion that the precolonial historyof the indigenous population had been steeped in barbarity.The struggle for national liberation was linked to a culturalphenomenon commonly known as the awakening ofIslam. Thepassion displayed by contemporary Arab authors in remindingtheir people of the great chapters of Arab history is in responseto the lies of the occupier. The great names of Arabic literaturehave been recorded and the past ofthe Arab civilization has beenbrandished with the same zeal and ardor as that of the Mricancivilizations. The Arab leaders have tried to revive that famousDar el Islam, which exerted such a shining influence in thetwelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.Today, at a political level, the Arab League is a concrete exampleof this determination to revive the legacy of the past and______BH..

152 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE153, carry it to a conclusion. Today Arab physicians and poets haileach other across borders in their endeavor to launch a new Arabculture, a new Arab civilization. They join forces in the name ofArabism, which is the guiding light for their thoughts. In the Arabworld, however, even under colonial domination, nationalistfeeling has been kept alive at an intensity unknown in Africa. Asa result the Arab League shows no signs ofthat spontaneous solidaritybetween members ofthe group. On the contrary, paradoxieachmember endeavors to praise the achievement~ of hisnation. Although the cultural element has been freed from thatlack of differentiation that is characteristic of the African world,the Arabs do not always manage to forget their common identitywhen faced with an objective. Their actual cultural experienceis not national but Arab. The issue at stake is not yet to secure anational culture, not yet to plunge into the groundswell of nations,but rather to pit an Arab or African culture against theuniversal condemnation of the colonizer. From both the Araband African perspectives, the claims of the colonized intellectualare syncretic, continental in scope and, in the case of theArabs, global.This historical obligation to racialize their claims, to emphasizean African culture rather than a national culture leads theAfrican intellectuals into a dead end. Let us take as an examplethe African Society for Culture. This Society was created byAfrican intellectuals for a mutual exchange of ideas, experiences,and research. The aim of the Society was therefore to establishthe existence of an African culture, to detail it nation by nationand reveal the inner dynamism of each of the national cultures.But at the same time this Society was responding to anotherdemand: the need to take its place within the ranks of the EuropeanSociety for Culture that threatened to turn into the UniversalSociety for Culture. At the root of this decision there wastherefore the preoccupation with taking its place on an equalfooting in the universal arena, armed with a culture sprung fromthe very bowels ofthe African continent. Very quickly, however,this Society proved incapable of handling these assignments andmembers' behavior was reduced to window-dressing operationssuch as proving to the Europeans that an African culture did existand pitting themselves against the narcissism and ostentation ofthe Europeans. We have demonstrated that such an attitude wasnormal and drew its legitimacy from the lie propagated by theEuropean intellectuals. But the aims of this Society were to deteriorateseriously once the concept of negritude had beenelaborated. The African Society for Culture was to become theCultural Society for the Black World and was forced to includethe black diaspora, i.e., the dozens of millions of blacks throughoutthe Americas.The blacks who lived in the United States, Central, and LatinAmerica in fact needed a cultural matrix to cling to. The problemthey were faced with was not basically any different fromthat ofthe Africans. The whites in America had not behaveddifferently to them than the white colonizers had to the Africans.We have seen how the whites were used to putting all "Negroes"the same basket. During the First Congress of the AfricanSociety for Culture in Paris in 1956 the black Americans spontaneollslyconsidered their problems from the same standpointas their fellow Africans. By integrating the former slavesAfrican civilization the African intellectuals accorded them anacceptable civil status. But gradually the black Americans realizedthat their existential problems differed from those faced bythe Africans. The only common denominator between the blacksfrom Chicago and the Nigerians or Tanganyikans l7 was that theyall defined themselves in relation to the whites. But once thetial comparisons had been made and subjective feelings had settleddown, the black Americans realized that the objective problemswere fundamentally different. The principle and purpose of the17 Translator's Note: Present-day Tanzanians

154 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE155rides whereby black and white Americans endeavor todiscrimination have little in common with theof the Angolan people against the iniquity ofPortuguese colonialism. Consequently, during the Second Congressof the African Society for Culture the black Americansdecided to create the American Society AfricanNegritude thus came up againstthose phenomena that take into account"Negro" or "Negro-Afncan . " cuIture broke up the menwho set out to embody it realized that every culture is first andforemost national, and that. the problems for which RichardWright or Langston Hughes had to be on the alert were fundamentallydifferent from those faced by Leopold Senghor or JomoKenyatta. Likewise certain Arab states, who had struck up theglorious hymn to an Arab renaissance, were forced to realize thattheir geographical position and their region's economic interdependencewere more important than the revival of their past.the Arab states today are organically linked toand cultures. The reason being thatto modern and new commercialchannels, whereasroutes of the days of Arabexpansion have nowthere is the factthat the political regimes of certainenous and alien to each other that anybetween these states proves meaningless.It is clear therefore that the way the cultural problem is posedin certain colonized countries can lead to serious ambiguities.Colonialism's insistence that "niggers" have no culture, andArabs are by nature barbaric, inevitably leads to a glorificationof cultural phenomena that become continental instead of national,and singularly racialized. In Africa, the reasoning of theintellectual is Black-African or Arab-Islamic. It is not specificallynational. Culture is increasingly cut off from reality. It finds safehaven in a refuge of smoldering emotions and has difficultycutting a straightforwardonly one likely to endow itand substance.nevertheless, beproductiveness, h~~~~~~,Though historically limited the fact remains that the actionsof the colonized intellectual do much to support and justify theaction of the politicians. And it is true the attitude of the colonizedintellectual sometimes takes on the aspect of a cult or re-But under closer analysis it clearly reflects he is only tooaware that he is running the risk of severing the last remaininghis people. This stated belief in the existence of a naisin fact a burning, desperate return to anything.order to secure his salvation, in order to escape the supremacyof white culture the colonized intellectual feels the need to returnto his unknown roots and lose himself, come what may,among his barbaric people. Because he feels he is becomingalienated, in other words the living focus of contrr rlwhich risk becoming insurmountable, the colonizedtual wrenches himselffrom the quagmire which threatens to suckhim down, and determined to believe what he finds, he acceptsand ratifies it with heart and soul. He finds himself bound toanswer for everything and for everyone. He not only becomesan advocate, he accepts being included with the others, andhenceforth he can afford to laugh at his past cowardice.painful and harrowing wrench is, however, a necessity.Otherwise we will be faced with extremely serious psychoindividualswithout an anchorage, withoutstateless, rootless, a body of angels. And it willcome as no surpnse to hear some colonized intellectuals state:"Speaking as a Senegalese and a Frenchman.... Speaking asan Algerian and a Frenchman." Stumbling over the to assumetwo nationalities, two determinations,who is Arab and French, or Nigerian and English, ifhe wants tobe sincere with himself, chooses the negation of one of these twoHI

156 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE157determinations. Usually, unwilling or unable to choose, theseintellectuals collect all the historical determinations which haveconditioned them and place themselves in a thoroughly "universalperspective."The reason being that the colonized intellectual has thrownhimself headlong into Western culture. Like adopted children whoonly stop investigating their new family environment once theirpsyche has formed a minimum core ofreassurance, the colonizedintellectual will endeavor to make European culhne his own. Notcontent with knowing Rabelais or Diderot, Shakespeare or EdgarAllen Poe, he will stretch his mind until he identifies with themcompletely.La dame 0'etait pas seuleElle avait un mariUn mari tres comme il fautQui citait Racine et ComeilleEt Voltaire et RousseauEt Ie Pere Hugo et Ie jeune MussetEt Gide et ValeryEt taot d' autres encore. 18In some cases, however, at the very moment when the nationalistparties mobilize the people in the name of national independence,the colonized intellechlal rejects his accomplishments,suddenly feeling them to be alienating. But this is easier said thandone. The intellectual who has slipped into Western civilizationthrough a cultural back door, who has managed to embody, orrather change bodies with, European civilization, will realize thatthe cultural model he would like to integrate for authenticity'sIS "TIle lady was not alone/She had a husband/A fine, upstanding husband/Who recited Racine and Corneille/And Voltaire and Rousseau/And old Hugoand the young MussetlAnd Gide and Valery/And so many others as well." ReneDepestre, "Face afa Tluit."sake offers little in the way of figureheads capable of standingup to comparison with the many illustrious names in the civilizationof the occupier. History, of course, written by and forWesterners, may periodically enhance the image of certain episodesof the Mrican past. But faced with his country's presentdaystatus, lucidly and "objectively" observing the reality of thecontinent he would like to claim as his own, the intellectual isterrified by the void, the mindlessness, and the savagery. Yet hefeels he must escape this white culture. He must look elsewhere,anywhere; for lack of a cultural stimulus comparable to the gloriouspanorama flaunted by the colonizer, the colonized intellectualfrequently lapses into heated arguments and develops apsychology dominated by an exaggerated sensibility, sensitivity,and susceptibility. This movement of withdrawal, which first ofall comes from a petitio principi in his psychological mechanismand physiognomy, above all calls to mind a muscular reflex, amuscular contraction.The foregoing is sufficient to explain the style of the colonizedintellectuals who make up their mind to assert this phase of liberatingconsciousness. A jagged style, full of imagery, for theimage is the drawbridge that lets out the unconscious forces intothe surrounding meadows. An energetic style, alive with rhythmsbursting with life. A colorful style too, bronzed, bathed in sunlightand harsh. This style, which Westerners once found jarring,is not, as some would have it, a racial feature, but above all reflectsa single-handed combat and reveals how necessary it is forthe intellectual to inflict injury on himself, to actually bleed redblood and free himself from that part of his being already contaminatedby the germs of decay. A swift, painful combat whereinevitably the muscle had to replace the concept.Although this approach may take him to unusual heightsthe sphere of poetry, at an existential level it has often proved adead end. When he decides to return to the routine of daily life,

158 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE159after having been rouscd to fever pitch by rubbing shouldershis people, whoever they were and whoever they may be,brings back from his adventures are terribly sterileplaces emphasis on customs, traditions, and costumes, and hispainful, forced search seems but a banal quest for the exotic. Thisis the period when the intellectuals extol every last particularthe indigenous landscape. The flowing dress of the boubou isregarded as sacred and shoes from Paris or Italy are shunned forslippers, babouches. The language of the colonizer sudscorcheshis lips. Rediscovering one's people sometimesmeans in this phase wanting to be a "nigger," not an exceptional"nigger," but a real "nigger;" a "dirty nigger," the sort defined bythe white man. Rediscovering one's people means becoming a"filthy Arab," of going as native as possible, becoming unrecognizable;it means clipping those wings which had been left togrow.The colonized intellectual decides to draw up a list of the badold ways characteristic of the colonial world, and hastens to recallthe goodness of the people, this people who have been madeguardians oftruth. The scandal this approach triggers amongcolonists strengthens the determination of the colonized. Oncethe colonists, who had relished their victory over these assimiintellectuals,realize that these men they thought saved havebegun to merge with the "nigger scum," the entire system losesits bearings. Every colonized intellectual won over, every colonizedintellectual who confesses, once he decides to revert toold ways, not only represents a setback for the colonial enterprise,but also symbolizes the pointlessness and superficiality of thework accomplished. Every colonized intellectual who crossesback over the line is a radical condemnation of the method andthe regime, and the uproar it causes justifies his abdicationencourages him to persevere.If we decide to trace thesc various phases of development inthe works of colonized writers, three stages emerge. First, thecolonized intellectual proves he has assimilated the colonizer'sculture. His works correspond point by point with those of hismetropolitan counterparts. The inspiration is European andworks can be easily linked to a well-defined trend in metropolitanliterature. This is the phase offull assimilation where we findParnassians, Symbolists, and Surrealists among the colonizedwriters.In a second stage, the colonized writer has his convictionsshaken and decides to cast his mind back. This period correspondsapproximately to the immersion we have just described.But the colonized writer is not integrated with his people,since he maintains an outsider's relationship to them, he is contentto remember. Old childhood memories will surface, oldlegends be reinterpreted on the basis of a borrowed aesthetic, anda concept of the world discovered under other skies. Sometimesthis precombat literature is steeped in humor and allegory, atother times in anguish, malaise, death, and even nausea.underneath the self-loathing, the sound oflaughter can be heard.Finally, a third stage, a combat stage where colonizedwriter, after having tried to lose himself among the people, withthe people, will rouse the people. Instead ofletting the people'slethargy prevail, he turns into a galvanizer ofthe people. Combatliterature, revolutionary literature, national literature emerges.During this phase a great many men and women who previouslywould never have thought of now that they find themselvesin exceptional circumstances, in prison, in the resistanceor on the eve of their execution, fcel the need to proclaim theirnation, to portray their people and become the spokespersona new in action.Sooner or however, the colonized intellectual realizesthe existence of a nation is not proved by culture, but in thepeoplc's struggle against the forces of occupation. No colonialismdraws its justification from the fact that the territories it occupiesare culturally nonexistent. Colonialism will never be putto shamc by exhibiting unknown cultural treasures under its nose.

160 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE161colonized intellectual, at the very moment when he undertakesa work of art, fails to realize he is using techniques and a'''''''F,uaF,'-' borrowed from the occupier. He is content to cloakthese instruments in a style that is meant to be national but whichis strangely reminiscent of exoticism. The colonized intellectualwho returns to his people through works of art behaveslike a foreigner. Sometimes he will not hesitate to use the localdialects to demonstrate his desire to be as close tothe ideas he expresses,related to thelCllCl.:lUdl is preocaninventory of particularisms.people, he clings merely to a visveneer.1 hIS veneer, however, is merely a reflection of asubterranean life in perpetual renewal. This reification,which seems all too obvious and characteristic of the people, isin fact but inert, already invalidated outcome of the many,and not always coherent, adaptations of a more fundamentalsubstance beset with radical changes. Instead of seeking out thissubstance, the intellectual lets himself be mesmerized by thesemummified fragments which, now consolidated, signify, on thecontrary, negation, obsolescence, and fabrication. Culture neverhas the translucency of custom. Culture eminently anyform of simplification. In its essence it is the opposite ofcustom, which is always a deterioration of culture. Seeking tostick to tradition or reviving neglected traditions is notgoing against history, but against one's people. When a peoplestruggle against a mercilessmeaning. What was a technique"'''''H.d''\.,Cmay, in this phase, be radically doomed.an underdeveloped country undergoing armed struggleare fundamentally unstable and crisscrossed by centrifugal forces.This is why the intellectual often risks being out of step. Thepeoples who have waged the struggle are increasingly imperme-too closely,a vulgar opseeking tonothing bettertimes.In the field of visual arts, for example, the colonized creatorwho at all costs wants to create a work of art of national significanceconfines himself to stereotyping details. These artists,despite having been immersed in modern techniques and influencedby the major contemporary trends in painting andarchitecture, turn their backs on foreign culture, challenge it,and, setting out in search of the true national culture, they givepreference to what they think to be the abiding features of nationalart. But these creators forget that modes of thought, diet,modern techniques of communication, language, andhave dialectically reorganized the mind of the people andthe abiding features that as safeguardsnial period are in the process of undergoing enormoustransformations.This creator,paradoxically enough, to the past, and so looks at what isvant to the What he aims for in his inner intentionalityis the detritus ofsocial thought, external appearances, relics, andknowledge in time. The colonized intellectual, however,for cultural authenticity, must recognize that nationalis first and foremost the national reality. He must press onuntil he reaches that place of bubbling trepidation from whichknowledge willBefore independence the colonized painter was insensitive tothe national landscape. He favored therefore the nonrepresentationalor, more often, specialized in still life. After independencehis desire to reunite with the people confines him to apoint by point representation of national reality which is flat,untroubled, motionless, reminiscent of death ratherThe educated circles ecstatic over such careful

";":;;r:;i'I':::

164 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE165in rags were driving their flocks down to the valley to the sound oftheirflutes. The young girls, carrying their water pots on their heads, woundtheir way in single file to the well. In the marabout's compound a groupof children were chanting in unison verses from the Koran.(Guitar music)It was dawn. The combat between day and night. Exhausted fromthe struggle the night slowly breathed its last sigh. A few rays of sun heraldingthe victory of daylight hovered timid and pale on the horizonwhile the last stars slipped under a bank of clouds the color of flametrees in flower.(Guitar music)It was dawn. And there at the edge of the vast, purple-contoured plainwas the silhouette of a man bent over as he cleared the ground: the silhouetteofNaman, the peasant farmer. Every time he wielded his hoe,a frightened flock of birds flew up and swiftly made their way to thepeaceful banks ofthe Joliba, the great Niger river. His grey cotton trousers,soaked in dew, brushed the grass on either side. Sweating, untiring,constantly bent, he skilfully worked with his hoe for his seeds hadto be sown before the next rains.(Kora music)It was dawn. Dawn was still breaking. The millet birds flitted amongthe foliage announcing the coming day. A child carrying over hisshoulder a small bag of arrows was running out of breath alongthe damp track over the plain in the direction of Naman. "BrotherNaman," he called, "the head of the village wants you under thepalaver tree."(Kora music)Surprised at such an early summons, Naman laid down his hoe andwalked towards the village which now shone in the glow of the risingsun. The elders, looking more solemn than ever, were already seated.Beside them was a man in uniform, a district guard quietly smokinghis pipe unperturbed.(Kora music)Naman sat down on a sheepskin. The griot of the village head stoodup to convey to the assembly the elders' decision: "The whites have senta district guard to request that a man from the village be sent to fight inthe war in their country. After deliberating, the elders have decided tosend the young man who best represents our race so that he can proveto the white man the courage which we Mandingos have always beenknown for."(Guitar music)Naman, whose imposing build and muscular frame were the subjectof nightly songs by the young girls ofthe village, was chosen unanimously.Gentle Kadia, his young wife, distraught by the news, suddenly stoppedher pounding, placed the mortar under the granary, and without sayinga word, shut herself up in her hut to weep in muffled sobs over her misfortune.Since death had taken her first husband, she could not believethat the whites would take Naman in whom she had placed all her hopes.(Guitar music)The next morning, in spite of her tears and lamentations, the solemnbeat of the war drums accompanied Naman to the little villageharbor where he boarded a barge headed for the district capital. Thatnight, instead of dancing in the open as usual, the young girls came tokeep watch in Naman's antechamber where they told their tales arounda wood fire until morning.(Guitar music)Several months went by without news from Naman. Little Kadiabecame so worried she went to consult the fetish priest in the neighboringvillage. Even the elders met in secret counsel on the subject,but nothing came of it.(Kora music)At last one day a letter arrived addressed to Kadia. Concerned abouther husband's situation she left that night and after walking for manylong hours arrived in the district capital where a translator read herletter.Naman was in North Africa in good health and was asking for newsof the harvest, the fishing festival, the dances, the palaver tree and thevillage ...(Balafon)That night the old women of the village allowed the young Kadia toattend their traditional evening palaver in the compound of their mostsenior member. The village head, overjoyed at the news, offered a hugebanquet to all the beggars in the neighborhood.(Balafon)Several months went by once more and everyone became anxiousagain for there was still no news ofNaman. Kadia was planning on going

..........==-"'"'--'--~-~~----.-~~~.""".-.,,~ """""T/·"!'.,."....~*.".~"'ff'r:-'"',\'f· 'Tr-~··--'{ - m r- t' '-Whf't';'", '., 'F'166 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE167to consult the fetish priest again when she received a second letter. AfterCorsica and Italy Naman was now in Germany and was proud ofhavingbeen decorated.(Balafon)The next time it was just a card which said that Naman had beentaken prisoner by the Germans. This news threw the village into consternation.The elders held counsel and decided that henceforth Namanwas authorized to dance the Douga, the sacred dance of the vulture,reserved for those who had performed an exceptional feat, the dance ofthe Mandingo emperors whose every step represents a period in thehistory of Mali. Kadia found consolation in seeing her husband raisedto the dignity of a national hero.(Guitar music)Time went by.... One year followed the next ... Naman was stillin Germany. He no longer wrote.(Guitar music)One day the head of the village received word from Dakar thatNaman would soon be home.Immediately the drums began to beat. They danced and sang untildawn. The young girls composed new songs to welcome him for theones dedicated to him made no mention ofthe Douga, that famousdance of the Mandingos.(Drums)But one month later Corporal Moussa, a great friend of Naman's,sent this tragic letter to Kadia: "It was dawn. We were at Tiaroye-surMer. In the course of a major dispute between us and our white chiefsin Dakar, a bullet struck Naman. He lies in Senegalese soil."(Guitar music)In fact it was dawn. The first rays of the sun lightly brushing the surfaceof the sea tipped the little foam-flecked waves with gold. Stirred bythe breeze the palm trees gently bent their trunks towards tlle ocean asif sickened by this morning's battle. The noisy flocks of crows cawed tothe neighborhood the news ofthe tragedy which had bloodied the dawnat Tiaroye .... And in the scorched blue ofthe sky, right above theNaman, a gigantic vulture slowly hovered. It seemed to say to him:"Naman! You have not danced the dance that bears my name. Otherswill dance it."(Kora music)The reason I have chosen this long poem is because of itsundeniable pedagogical value. Here things are clear. It is ameticulous account that develops progressively. Understandingthe poem is not only an intellectual act, but also a political one.To understand this poem is to understand the role we have toplay, to identify our approach and prepare to fight. There is notone colonized subject who will not understand the message inthis poem. Naman, hero of the battlefields of Europe, Namanwho vouched for the power and the continuity of the metropolis,Naman mowed down by the police at the very moment he returnshome; this is Setif in 1945, F ort-de-France, Saigon, Dakar, andLagos. All the "niggers" and all the "filthy Arabs" who fought todefend France's liberty or British civilization will recognizethemselves in this poem by Keita Fodeba.But Keita Fodeba sees further. Mter having utilized the nativepeoples on its battle fields, colonialism uses them as veteransin its colonies to break up the independence movement. Theveterans associations in the colonies are some of the mostnationalist forces that exist. The poet Keita Fodeba was preparingthe minister for internal affairs of the Republic of Guinea tothwart the plots organized by French colonialism. It was in factwith the help of the veterans that the French secret service intended,among other things, to bring down the newly independentGuinea.When the colonized intellectual writing for his people usesthe past he must do so with the intention of opening up the future,of spurring them into action and fostering hope. But in orderto secure hope, in order to give it substance, he must take partin the action and commit himself body and soul to the nationalstruggle. You can talk about anything you like, but when it comesto talking about that one thing in a man's life that involves openingup new horizons, enlightening your country and standingtall alongside your own people, then muscle power is required.

168 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHThe colonized intellectual is responsible not to his nationalculture, but to the nation as a whole, whose culture is, after all,but one aspect. The colonized intellectual should not be concernedwith choosing how or where he decides to wage the nationalstruggle. To fight for national culture first of all meansfighting for the liberation of the nation, the tangible matrix fromwhich culture can grow. One cannot divorce the combat forculture from the people's struggle for liberation. For example,the men and women fighting French colonialism in Algeriawith their bare hands are no strangers to the national culture ofAlgeria. The Algerian national culture takes form and shapeduring the fight, in prison, facing the guillotine, and in the captureand destruction of the French military positions.We should not therefore be content to delve into the people'spast to find concrete examples to counter colonialism's endeavorsto distort and depreciate. We must work and struggle in stepwith the people so as to shape the future and prepare the groundwhere vigorous shoot') are already sprouting. National culture isno folklore where an abstract populism is convinced it has uncoveredthe popular truth. It is not some congealed mass of noblegestures, in other words less and less connected with the reality ofthe people. National culture is the collective thought process of apeople to describe, justify, and extol the actions whereby they havejoined forces and remained strong. National culture in the underdevelopedcountries, therefore, must lie at the very heart of theliberation struggle these countries are waging. The Mrican intellectualswho are still fighting in the name of "Negro-Mrican" cultureand who continue to organize conferences dedicated to theunity of that culture should realize that they can do little morethan compare coins and sarcophagi.There is no common destiny between the national culturesof Guinea and Senegal, but there is a common destiny betweenthe nations of Guinea and Senegal dominated by the sameON NATIONAL CULTURE 169French colonialism. Ifwe want the national culture of Senegalto resemble the national culture of Guinea it is not enough forthe leaders of the two countries to address the problems ofdependence, labor unions, and the economy from a similar perspective.Even then they would not be absolutely identical sincethe people and the leaders operate at a different pace.There can be no such thing as rigorously identical cultures. Tobelieve one can create a black culture is to forget oddly enoughthat "Negroes" are in the process of disappearing, since those whocreated them are witnessing the demise of their economic andcultural supremacy.21 There will be no such thing as black culturebecause no politician imagines he has the vocation to createa black republic. The problem is knowing what role these menhave in store for their people, the type of social relations theyestablish and their idea of the future of humanity. That is whatmatters. All else is hot air and mystification.In 1959 the African intellectuals meeting in Rome constantlyspoke of unity. But one of the leading bards of this cultural unityis Jacques Rabemananjara, today a minister in the governmentof Madagascar, who toed his government's line to vote againstthe Algerian people at the United Nations General Assembly.Rabe, ifhe had been sincere with himself, should have resignedfrom the government and denounced those men who claim torepresent the will of the Malagasy people. The ninety thousanddead of Madagascar did not authorize Rabe to oppose the aspirationsof the Algerian people at the UN General Assembly.21 At the last school prize-giving ceremony in Dakar, the president of theRepublic of Senegal, Leopold Senghor, announced that negritude should beincluded in the school curriculum. If this decision is an exercise in culturalhistory, it can only be approved. But if it is a matter of shaping black consciousnessit is simply turning one's back on history which has already notedthe fact that most "Negroes" have ceased to exist.Ni@kdjih 'jettt

170THE WRETCHED or THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE171* * *"Negro-African" culture grows deeper through the people'snot throue:h songs, poems, or folklore. Senghor, whoSociety for Culture and who hasus on tnis Issue or African culture, had no scruplesinstructingon Algeria. Support forunity of Africa is first contingent on anfor the people's liberation struggle. One cannot expect Africanculture to advance unless one contributes realistically to thecreation ofthe conditions necessary for this culture, i.e., the liberationof the continent.Once again, no speech, no declaration on culture will detractus from our fundamental tasks which are to liberate the nationalterritory; constantly combat the new forms of colonialism; and, asleaders, stubbomly refuse to indulge in self-satisfaction at the top.MUTUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR NATIONAL CULTURE AND LIBERATION STRUGGLES sweeping,quick to dislocateconquered people. The denial of asystem imposed by the occupying power, thethe indigenous population and their customs by colonial society,expropriation, and the systematic enslavement of men andwomen, all contributed to this cultural obliteration.Three years ago at our first congress I demonstrated that in acolonial situation any dynamism is fairly rapidly replaced by areification of attitudes. The cultural sphere is marked out bysafety railings and signposts, every single one of them defensemechanisms of the most elementary type, comparable in moreone to the simple instinct of self-preservation. Thisperiod is interesting because the oppressor is nowith the objective nonexistence of the conqueredculture. Every effort is made to make the colonized confessinferiority of their culture, now reduced to a set of instinctiveresponses, to acknowledge the unreality of their nation and, inthe last extreme, to admit the disorganized, half-finished natureof their own biological makeup.reactions of the colonized to this situation vary. Whereasmasses maintain intact traditions totally incongruous withcolonial situation, whereas the style of artisanship ossifies intoan increasingly stereotyped formalism, the intellectual hurlshimself frantically into the frenzied acquisition of the occupier'sculture, making sure he denigrates his national culture, orconfines himself to making a detailed, methodical, zealous, andrapidlyWhat both reactions have in common isin unacceptable contradictions. Renegade orcolonized subject is ineffectual precisely because the colonialsituation has not been rigorously analyzed. The colonialtion brings national cui hue virtually to a halt. There is no suchthing as national culture, national cultural events, innovations,or reforms within the context of colonial domination, and therenever will be. There are scattered instances of a bold attempt toa cultural dynamism, and reshape themes, forms, andtones. The immediate, tangible, and visible effects ofthese minoris niL But if we follow the consequences to their veryare signs that the veil is being lifted from the national~~~~~~~;~~ is being challenged and there is hopeNational culture under COlOmainterrogation whose destruction is soughtquickly it becomes a culture condemned to clandestinity.notion ofclandestinity can immediately be perceived in the reactionsof the occupier who interprets this complacent attachment....... 4 tiMtkt"t"WIt j * 'rert""l;trtl,t'w,,t.M##t 'It It.W' !ftt~

"; r 7 • 1 7P 5 hUrt"" mrS"'?170THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE171* * *people'sor tollGore. Senghor,for Culture and who hasus on nllS issue of African culture, had no scrupleseither about instructing his delegation to back the French lineon Algeria. Support for "Negro-African" culture and the culturalunity of Africa is first contingent on an unconditional supportfor the people's liberation struggle. One cannot expect Africanculture to advance unless one contributes realistically to thecreation of the conditions necessary for this culture, i.e.,eration of the continent.Once no speech, no declaration on culhne will detractus from our fundamental tasks which are to liberate the nationalterritory; constantly combat the new forms of colonialism; and, asleaders, stubbornly refuse to indulge in self-satisfaction at the top.MUTUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR NATIONAL CULTUREAND LIBERATION STRUGGLESThe sweeping, leveling nature ot colomai dommatlOn wasto dislocate in spectacular fashion the cultural life of aconquered people. The denial ofa national reality, the new legalsystem imposed by the occupying power, the marginalization ofthe indigenous population and their customs by colonial society,expropriation, and the systematic enslavement of men andwomen, all contributed to this cultural obliteration.Three years ago at our first congress I demonstrated that in acolonial situation any dynamism is fairlyreification of attitudes. The cultural sphere issignposts, every single onemost elementary type, comparable in moreways than one to the simple instinct of self-preservation. Thisis interesting because the oppressor is no longer contentthe objective nonexistence of the conquered nation andculture. Every effort is made to make the colonized confess theinferiority of their culture, now reduced to a set of instinctiveresponses, to acknowledge the unreality of theirthe last extreme, to admit theof their own biologicalThe reactions ofthe colonized to this situation vary. Whereasthe masses maintain intact traditions totally incongruous withsituation, whereas the style ofartisanship ossifies intoan increasingly stereotyped formalism, the intellectual hurlshimself frantically into the frenzied acquisition of the occupier'sculture, making sure he denigrates his national culture, or elseconfines himself to making a detailed, methodical, zealous, andrapidly sterile inventory of it.What both reactions have in common isin unacceptable contradictions. Renegade orcolonized subject is ineffectual precisely because the colonialsituation has not been rigorously analyzed. The colonial situationbrings national culture virhlally to a halt. There is no suchthing as national culture, national cultural events, innovations,or reforms within the context of colonial domination, and therenever will be. There are scattered instances of a bold attempt torevive a cultural dynamism, and reshape themes, forms, andtones. The immediate, tangible, and visible ofthese minorconvulsions is nil. But if we follow the consequences tolimit there are signs that the veil is being lifted","nT&m;"n is being challenged and there is hopeculture under colonial domination is a culture underinterrogation whose destruction is sought systematically. Veryquickly it becomes a culture condemned to clandestinity. Thisnotion ofclandestinity can immediately be perceived in the reactionsof the occupier who interprets this complacent attachment

172 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE173to traditions as a sign of loyalty to the national spirit and a refusalto submit. This persistence of cultural expression condemnedby colonial society is already a demonstration ofnationhood. Butsuch a demonstration refers us back to the laws of inertia. Nooffensive has been launched, no relations redefined. There ismerely a desperate clinging to a nucleus that is increasingly shriveled,increasingly inert, and increasingly hollow.After one or two centuries of exploitation the nationallandscape has radically shriveled. It has become anbehavioral patterns, traditionalcustoms. Little movement can be seen.ity, no ebullience. Poverty,repression are one and the same. After a century of colonialdomination culture becomes rigid in the extreme, congealed,and petrified.'! 'he atrophy ofnational reality and the death throesof national culture feed on one another. This is why it becomesdevelopment of this relationship during thestruggle. Cultural denial, the contempt for any nademonstrationof emotion or dynamism and the banningof any type of organization help spur aggressive behavior in thecolonized. But this pattern of behavior is a defensive reaction,nonspecific, anarchic, and ineffective. Colonial exploitation,poverty, and endemic famine increasingly force the colonizedinto open, organized rebellion. Gradually, imperceptibly, theneed for a decisive confrontation imposes itself and is eventuallyfelt by the great majority of the people. Tensions emerge wherepreviously there were none. International events, the collapse ofwhole sections of colonial empires and the inherent contradictionsof the colonial system stimulate and strengthen combativity, motivatingand invigorating the national consciousness.These new tensions, which are nrpcpntcolonial system, have re[)en~USSIOl onerature, for pv,..,..,..,....]aoverproduction. Once a paleindigenous production nowshows greater diversity and a will to particularize. Mainly consumerduring the period of oppression, the intelligentsia turnsproductive. This literature is at first confined to the genre ofpoetry and tragedy. Then novels, short stories, and essays aretackled. There seems to be a kind of intemal organization, a lawexpression, according to which poetic creativity fades as theobjectives and methods ofthe liberation struggle become clearer.is a fundamental change of theme. In fact, less and lesswe find those bitter, desperate recriminations, those loud,violent outbursts that, after all, reassure the occupier. In the previousperiod, the colonialists encouraged such endeavors andfacilitated their publication. The occupier, in fact, likened thesescathing denunciations, outpourings ofmisery, and heated wordsto an act of catharsis. Encouraging these acts would, in a certainway, avoid dramatization and clear the atmosphere.But such a situation cannot last. In fact the advances made bynational consciousness among the people modify and theliterary creation of the colonized intellectuaL The people'sing power stimulates the intellectual to transcend theComplaints followed by indictments give way to :mne::lIS.comes the call for revolt.sciousness wilJ notgenresthemes but also create a COHlIl1elel UUlence. Whereas thecolonizedwork exclusivelywithorder to charm him or toor subjectivist categoriesoverto addressing himself to his people.from this point onward that one can speak of a naliterature.Literary creation addresses and clarifies typicallynationalist themes. This is combat literature in the true sense ofthe word, in the sense that it calls upon a whole people to joinin the struggle for the existence of the nation. Combat literature,because it informs the national consciousness, gives it shapeand contours, and opens up new, unlimited horizons. Combatft· W' '-.-. Ti'ifffiF"------ tEE' --- - . t

174 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHliterature, because it takes charge, because it is resolve situatedinll::1i:HlIH::, tales, epics, and popular songs,in time, begin to change. storytellerswho recited inert episodes revive them andincreasingly fundamental changes. There are attemptsbattles and modernize the types ofstruggle, the heroes' names, andthe weapons used. The method of allusion is increasingly used.Instead of "a long time ago,"they substitute the more ambiguousexpression "What I am going to tell you happened somewherebut it could happen here today or perhaps tomorrow." In this respectthe case ofAlgeria is significant. From 1952-53 on, its storytellers,grown stale and dull, radically changed both their methodsof narration and the content of their stories. Once scarce, thereturned in droves. The epic, with its standardized forms,reemerged. It has become an authentic form ofentertainment thatonce again has taken on awell what it was doing when it began svstematicstorytellers after 1955.The people's encounter with this new song of heroic deedsbrings an urgent breath of excitement, arouses forgotten musculartensions and develops the imagination. Every time thestoryteller narrates a new episode, the public is treated to a realinvocation. existence of a new type of man is revealed tothe public. The present is no longer turned inward but channeledThe storyteller once again gives rein toand turns creator. It even happens• a transforma timsuch as outlaws or drifters, are rediscoveredClose attention should be paid to the emergencenation and the inventiveness of songs and folk tales in anized country. The storyteller responds to the expectations ofthepeople by trial and error and searches for new models, nationalmodels, apparently on his own, but in fact with the support ofON NATIONAL CULTURE 175his audience. Comedy and farce disappear or else lose their appeaLAs for drama, it is no longer the domain ofthe intellectual'stormented conscience. No longer characterized by despair andrevolt, it has become the people's daily lot, it has become part ofan action in the making or already in progress.the congealed, petrified forms loosen up. Woodwhich turned out set and poses bythe thousands, starts to diversify. Theor tormentedmask comes to life, and the arms are raised upwards in a gestureof action. Compositions with two, three, or figures emerge.An avalanche of amateurs and dissidents encourages the traditionalschools to innovate. This new stimulus in this particularcultural sector very often goes unnoticed. Yet its contribution tothe national struggle is vitaL By bringing fuces and bodies to life,by taking the group set on a single socle as creative subject, theartist inspires concerted action.national consciousness has had a somewhatsphere of ceramics and pottery. FormalIS abandoned. Jugs, jars, and trays are reshaped, at first onlyslightly and then quite radically. Colors, once TPclTirol-p,-lber, governed by laws oftraditional harmony,ing the of the revolutionary upsurge. Certain ochers,certain blues that were apparently banned for eternity in a givencultural context, emerge unscathed. Likewise, the taboo of representingthe human face, typical of certain clearly definedregions according to sociologists, is suddenly lifted. The metropolitananthropologists and experts are quick to note these changesand denounce them all, referring rather to a codified artistic styledeveloping in tune with the colonial situation. ThepV'"'Iprl"c do not recognize these new forms and rush toIt is the colonialists whoA memorable exbecauseit." r'.;.;

--~--.~....,.~176 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE177does not quite involve a colonial reality, was the reaction of whitejazz fans when after the Second World War new styles such asbebop established themselves. For them jazz could only be thebroken, desperate yearning of an old "Negro," five whiskeys underhis belt, bemoaning his own misfortune and the racism of thewhites. As soon as he understands himself and apprehends theworld differently, as soon as he elicits a glimmer of hope andforces the racist world to retreat, it is obvious he will blow hishorn to his heart's content and his husky voice will ring out loudand clear. The new jazz styles are not only born out ofeconomiccompetition. They are one of the definite consequences of theinevitable, though gradual, defeat of the Southern universe inthe USA. And it is not unrealistic to think that in fifty years orso the type of jazz lament hiccuped by a poor, miserable "Negro"will be defended by only those whites believing in a frozenimage of a certain type of relationship and a certain form ofnegritude.We would also uncover the same transformations, the sameprogress and the same eagerness if we enquired into the fields ofdance, song, rituals, and traditional ceremonies. Well before thepolitical or armed struggle, a careful observer could sense andfeel in these arts the pulse of a fresh stimulus and the comingcombat. Unusual forms of expression, original themes no longerinvested with the power of invocation but the power to rally andmobilize with the approaching conflict in mind. Everythingconspires to stimulate the colonized's sensibility, and to rule outand reject attitudes of inertia or defeat. By imparting new meaningand dynamism to artisanship, dance, music, literature, andthe oral epic, the colonized subject restructures his own perception.The world no longer seems doomed. Conditions are ripefor the inevitable confrontation.We have witnessed the emergence of a new energy in thecultural sphere. We have seen that this energy, these new forms,are linked to the maturing of the national consciousness, and nowbecome increasingly objectivized and institutionalized. Hencethe need for nationhood at all costs.A common mistake, hardly defensible, moreover, is to attemptcultural innovations and reassert the value of indigenous culturewithin the context of colonial domination. Hence we arrive at aseemingly paradoxical proposition: In a colonized country, nationalismin its most basic, most rudimentary, and undifferentiatedform is the most forceful and effective way of defendingnational culture. A culture is first and foremost the expressionof a nation, its preferences, its taboos, and its models. Othertaboos, other values, other models are formed at every level of theentire society. National culture is the sum of all these considerations,the outcome of tensions internal and external to society asa whole and its multiple layers. In the colonial context, culture,when deprived of the twin supports of the nation and the state,perishes and dies. National liberation and the resurrection of thestate are the preconditions for the very existence of a culture.The nation is not only a precondition for culture, its ebullition,its perpetual renewal and maturation. It is a necessity. Firstof all it is the struggle for nationhood that unlocks culture andopens the doors of creation. Later on it is the nation that willprovide culture with the conditions and framework for expression.The nation satisfies all those indispensable requirementsfor culture which alone can give it credibility, validity, dynamism,and creativity. It is also the national character that makesculture permeable to other cultures and enables it to influenceand penetrate them. That which does not exist can hardly havean effect on reality or even influence it. The restoration of thenation must therefore give life in the most biological sense ofthe term to national culture.We have thus traced the increasingly essential fissuring of theold cultural strata, and on the eve of the decisive struggle for~--.------------ l'.;l; "tlile" ,K

178 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHON NATIONAL CULTURE179national liberation, grasped the new forms of expression and theflight of the imagination.There now remains one fundamental question. What is therelationship between the struggle, the political or armed conflict,and culture? During the conflict is culture put on hold? Is thenational struggle a cultural manifestation? Must we concludethat the liberation struggle, though beneficial for culture a posteriori,is in itself a negation of culture? In other words, is theliberation struggle a cultural phenomenon?We believe the conscious, organized struggle undertaken bya colonized people in order to restore national sovereignty constitutesthe greatest cultural manifestation that exists. It is notsolely the success of the struggle that consequently validates andenergizes culture; culture does not go into hibernation duringthe conflict. The development and internal progression of theactual struggle expand the number of directions in which culturecan go and hint at new possibilities. The liberation struggledoes not restore to national culture its former values and configurations.This struggle, which aims at a fundamental redistributionof relations between men, cannot leave intact either theform or substance of the people's culture. Mter the struggle isover, there is not only the demise of colonialism, but also thedemise of the colonized.This new humanity, for itself and for others, inevitably definesa new humanism. This new humanism is written into the objectivesand methods ofthe struggle. A struggle, which mobilizesevery level of society, which expresses the intentions and expectationsof the people, and which is not afraid to rely on theirsupport almost entirely, will invariably triumph. The merit ofthistype of struggle is that it achieves the optimal conditions forcultural development and innovation. Once national liberationhas been accomplished under these conditions, there is none ofthat tiresome cultural indecisiveness we find in certain newlyindependent countries, because the way a nation is born andfunctions exerts a fundamental influence on culture. A nationborn of the concerted action of the people, which embodies theactual aspirations ofthe people and transforms the state, dependson exceptionally inventive cultural manifestations for its veryexistence.The colonized who are concerned for their country's cultureand wish to give it a universal dimension should not place theirtrust in a single principle-that independence is inevitable andautomatically inscribed in the people's consciousness-in orderto achieve this aim. National liberation as objective is one thing,the methods and popular components ofthe struggle are another.We believe that the future of culture and the richness of a nationalculture are also based on the values that inspired thestruggle for freedom.And now the moment has come to denounce certain pharisees.Humanity, some say, has got past the stage of nationalistclaims. The time has come to build larger political unions, andconsequently the old-fashioned nationalists should correct theirmistakes. We believe on the contrary that the mistake, heavy withconsequences, would be to miss out on the national stage. Ifcultureis the expression of the national consciousness, I shall haveno hesitation in saying, in the case in point, that national consciousnessis the highest form of culture.Self-awareness does not mean closing the door on communication.Philosophy teaches us on the contrary that it is its guarantee.National consciousness, which is not nationalism, is alonecapable of giving us an international dimension. This questionof national consciousness and national culture takes on a specialdimension in Mrica. The birth of national consciousness inMrica strictly correlates with an Mrican consciousness. The responsibilityof the Mrican toward his national culture is also a responsibilitytoward "Negro-Mrican" culture. This joint responsibilitydoes not rest upon a metaphysical principle but mindfulness of a

180THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHsimple rule which stipulates that any independent nation in anAfrica where colonialism still lingers is a nation surrounded,vulnerable, and in permanent danger.If man is judged by his acts, then I would say that the mosturgent thing today for the African intellectual is the building ofhis nation. If this act is true, i.e., if it expresses the manifest willof the people, if it reflects the restlessness of the African peoples,then it will necessarily lead to the discovery and advancementof universalizing values. Far then from distancing it from othernations, it is the national liberation that puts the nation on thestage of history. It is at the heart of national consciousness thatinternational consciousness establishes itself and thrives. And thisdual emergence, in fact, is the unique focus of all culture.Paper presented at the Second Congress ofBlack Writers and Artists,Rome, 1959.Colonial War and Mental Disorders But the war goes on. And for many years to come we shall bebandaging the countless and sometimes indelible wounds inflictedon our people by the colonialist onslaught.Imperialism, which today is waging war against a genuinestruggle for human liberation, sows seeds ofdecay here and therethat must be mercilessly rooted out from our land and from ourminds.We shall deal here with the problem ofmental disorders bornout of the national war of liberation waged by the Algerianpeople.Perhaps the reader will find these notes on psychiatry out ofplace or untimely in a book like this. There is absolutely nothingwe can do about that.We had no control over the fact that the psychiatric phenomena,the mental and behavioral disorders emerging from this war,have loomed so large among the perpetrators of "pacification"and the "pacified" population. The truth is that colonization, inits very essence, already appeared to be a great purveyor of psychiatrichospitals. Since 1954 we have drawn the attention ofFrench and international psychiatrists in scientific works to thedifficulty of "curing" a colonized subject correctly, in other words181

182THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLON1AL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS183making him thoroughly fit into a social environment of the colonialtype.Because it is a systematized negation of the other, a frenzieddetermination to deny the other any attribute of humanity, colonialismforces the colonized to constantly ask the question:"Who am I in reality?"The defensive positions born of this violent confrontation betweenthe colonized and the colonial constitute a struchHe whichthen reveals the colonized personality. In order to understand this"sensibility" we need only to study and appreciate the scopedepth of the wounds inflicted on the colonized during a singleday under a colonial regime. We must remember in any case thata colonized people is not just a dominated people. Under theGerman occupation the French remained human beings. Underthe French occupation the Germans remained human beings.Algeria there is not simply domination but the decision, literally,to occupy nothing else but a territory. The Algerians, the womendressed in haiks, the palm groves, and the camels form a landscape,natural backdrop for the French presence.A hostile, ungovernable, and fundamentally rebellious Natureis in fact synonymous in the colonies with the bush, themosquitoes, the natives, and disease. Colonization has succeededonce this untamed Nature has been brought undercontrol. Cutting railroads through the bush, draining swamps,and ignoring the political and economic existence of the nativepopulation are in fact one and the same thing.When colonization remains unchallenged by armed resistance,when the sum of harmful stimulants exceeds a certainthreshold, the colonized's defenses collapse, and many of themend up in psychiatric institutions. In the calm of this period oftriumphant colonization, a constant and considerable stream ofmental symptoms are direct sequels of this oppression.Today the all-out national war of liberation waged by thegerian people for seven years has become a breeding ground formental disorders.22 We include here cases ofAlgerian and Frenchpatients under our care which we think particularly meaningful.We need hardly add that our approach here is not that of ascientific work, and we have avoided any semiological, nosological,or therapeutic discussion. The few technical terms used hereare solely meant as points of reference. We must, however, insiston two points:A.s a general rule, clinical psychiatry classifies the various disorderspresented by our patients under the heading "psychotic reaction."In doing so, priority is given to the sihlation that triggeredthe disorder, although here and there mention is made of the roleplayed by the subject's psychological, affective, and biologicalhistory, and that of his milieu. We believe that in the cases presentedhere the triggering factor is principally the bloody, pitilessatmosphere, the generalization of inhuman practices, of people'slasting impression that they are witnessing a veritable apocalypse.Case no. 2 ofSeries A is a typical psychotic reaction, but casenos. 1, 2, 4, and 5 of Series B suppose a much vaguer causality,although we cannot really point to a particular triggering situation.Here it is the war, this colonial war that very often takeson the aspect of a genuine genocide, this war which radicallydisrupts and shatters the world, which is in fact the triggering22 In the unpublished introduction of the first two editions of L'an V de larevolution algerienne (Studies in a Dying Colonialism), we already indicatedthat an entire generation of Algerians, steeped in collective, gratuitous homicidewith all the psychosomatic consequences this entails, would be France'shuman legacy in Algeria. The French who condemn torture in Algeria constantlyadopt a strictly French point of view. This is not a reproach, anaffirmation: they want to safeguard the conscience of present and potentialtorturers and try and protect French youth from moral degradation. We, forour part, can but approve such an approach. Some of the observations collectedhere, notably case histories nos. 4 and 5 of series A, sadlv illustrate andjustify this obsessive fear of French democrats. Ourdemonstrate that any torture deeply dislocates, aspersonality of the tortured.

184THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHsituation. These are brief psychotic disorders, if we want to usethe official term, but putting particular emphasis on war in generaland the specific circumstances of a colonial war. After the twomajor world wars there was a host of publications on the mentalpathology of soldiers engaged in action as well as the civilianrefugees and bombing victims. The novel physiognomy of someof the case histories mentioned here provides confirmation, ifwe still needed it, that this colonial war is a new phenomenoneven in the pathology it produces.Another well-established notion that deserves in our opinionto be reevaluated is that these psychotic reactions are relativelybenign. Anniversary reactions, i.e., cases where the entire personalityhas been definitively dislocated, have of course beendescribed, but always as exceptional cases. We believe on thecontrary that the pathological processes tend as a rule to be frequentlymalignant. These disorders last for months, wage a massiveattack on the ego, and almost invariably leave behind avulnerability virtually visible to the naked eye. In all evidencethe future of these patients is compromised. The following examplewill illustrate our standpoint.In a certain African country, independent for some years now,we have had the opp0rtunity of treating a patriot and formerresistance fighter. The man, in his thirties, would come and askus for advice and help, since he was afflicted with insomnia togetherwith anxiety attacks and obsession with suicide around acertain date in the year. The critical date corresponded to theday he had been ordered to place a bomb somewhere. Tenpeople had perished during the attack. 2323 The circumstances surrounding the symptoms are interesting for severalreasons. Several months after his country had gained independence hehad made the acquaintance of nationals from the former colonizing nation.They became friends. These men and women welcomed the newly acquiredindependence and unhesitatingly paid tribute to the courage of the patriotsin the national liberation struggle. The militant was then overcome by a kindof vertigo. He anxiously asked himself whether among the victims of his bombCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS185This militant, who never for a moment had thought of recanting,fully realized the price he had had to pay in his person fornational independence. Such borderline cases pose the questionof responsibility in the context of the revolution.The observations quoted here cover the period 1954 to 1959.Certain patients were examined in Algeria either in hospitals orprivate practice. The others were treated in the National LiberationArmy's medical facilities.SERIES AFive cases have been collected here, all involving Algeriansor Europeans who had clearly defined symptoms of severe reactivedisorders.Case No. I-Impotence in an Algerian following the rapehis wifeB--is a twenty-six-year-old man. He has been referred to usby the Medical Services of the National Liberation Front for persistentmigraines and insomnia. A former taxi driver, he has beena militant in the nationalist parties since the age of eighteen. In1955 he became a member of an FLN (Front de LiberationNationale) unit. On several occasions he used his taxi to carrypropaganda leaflets and political leaders. Confronted with awidening crackdown, the FLN decided to wage war in the urbanthere might have been individuals similar to his new acquaintances. It wastrue the bombed cafe was known to be the haunt of notorious racists, butnothing could stop any passerby from entering and having a drink. From thatday on the man tried to avoid thinking of past events. But paradoxically a fewdays before the critical date the first symptoms would break out. They havebeen a regular occurrence ever since.In other words, our actions never cease to haunt us. The way they are ordered,organized, and reasoned can be a posteriori radically transformed. It isby no means the least of the traps history and its many determinations set forus. But can we escape vertigo? Who dares claim that vertigo does not prey onevery life?~~----.-.~-.

186THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS187centers; B--was then assigned to driving commandos close tothe points of attack, and fairly often having to wait for them.One day, however, right in the middle of the European sector,following a fairly extensive commando raid, the sector wassealed off, forcing him to abandon his taxi and compelling thecommando unit to break up and disperse. B - -, who managedto escape the enemy's surveillance, took refuge at a friend'shouse, and a few days later, on orders from his superiors, wentunderground to join the nearest resistance unit without evergoing home.For several months he went without news of his wife and histwenty-month-old daughter. He did learn, however, that thepolice had been looking for him for weeks in the city. After twoyears in the resistance movement he received a message fromhis wife asking him to forget her. She had brought shame onherself. He must no longer think of coming back to live withher. Extremely worried, he requested permission from his commanderto make a secret trip back home. It was refused. However,steps were taken for a member of the FLN to contactB--'s wife and parents.Two weeks later a detailed report reached the commanderB--'8Soon after his abandoned taxi had been discovered (with twomachine gun magazines inside) a group of French soldiers andpolicemen had gone to his home. Finding him absent, they tookaway his wife and kept her over a week.She was interrogated about the company her husband kept andslapped fairly violently for two days. On the third day a Frenchsoldier-she was unable to say whether he was an officerorderedthe others out and raped her. Shortly afterward a secondsoldier, this time in the presence of the others, raped her,telling her: "If you ever see that bastard your husband again, don'tforget to tell him what we did to you." She remained anotherweek without undergoing further interrogation. She was thenescorted home. When she told her story to her mother, the latterconvinced her to tell B- -everything. So as soon as her husbandgot in touch with her again, she confessed her disgrace.Once the initial shock was over, B -soon recovered by devotingevery minute of his life to the cause. For several monthshe took reports from Algerian women who had been tortured orraped; he had the opportunity of meeting with the husbands ofabused women and his personal misfortune, his dignity as aninjured husband took second place.In 1958 he was assigned to a mission abroad. Just before rejoininghis unit an unusual distraction and insomnia worriedcomrades and his superiors. His departure was delayed and amedical examination ordered. This was when he was referredto us. Our first impression was good. A lively face, a bit too livelyperhaps. His smile was slightly forced, his exuberance superficial:''I'm okay ... I'm okay. I feel better now. Give me a fortifier, somevitamins, and let me go back." He was obviously anxious deepdown. He was immediately hospitalized.On the second day the smoke screen of optimism vanishedand we had on our hands a bedridden anorexic suffering frommelancholic depression. He avoided any political discussion andmanifested a marked disinterest for anything concerningnational struggle. He avoided listening to news about the war ofliberation. Identifying his problems was extremely laborious,after several days we managed to reconstruct his story:During his stay abroad he had tried to have sexual intercoursebut failed. Thinking it was merely fatigue, normal after forcedmarches and periods of malnutrition, he tried again two weekslater and failed again. Spoke to a comrade about it who advisedhim to take vitamin B 12 . Took it in tablet form. New attempt,new failure. Furthermore, a few moments before the act he hadan irresistible impulse to tear up a photo of his little girl. Such asymbolic connection could raise the possibility of unconsciousincestuous drives. However, several conversations and a dreamin which the patient witnessed the rapid putrefying of a kitten givingoff a nauseating smell, led us in a completely new direction._. __.~_ d-It'))

188THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS189"This girl," he told us one day, referring to his daughter, "hassomething rotten inside her." From that moment on his insomniabecame extremely troubling, and despite a fairly large doseof neuroleptics, he developed a state of nervous anxiety that wasparticularly alarming. He then spoke to us for the first time abouthis wife and said laughingly: "She got a bit of French meat." Itwas then we were able to reconstruct the whole story. The fabricof events became clear. He told us that every time he tried tohave sexual intercourse, he thought of his wife. What he confidedto us seemed to be of fundamental interest."I married this girl whereas I was in love with my cousin. Butthe cousin's parents had arranged to marry their daughter tosomeone else. So I accepted the first girl my parents offered me.She was nice, but I didn't love her. I kept telling myself: you'reyoung ... wait a bit, and when you've found the right girl, you'lldivorce and make a happy marriage. So I wasn't very attached tomy wife. With the war, we moved even further apart. In the end,I used to come and eat my meals and go to bed with hardly aword between us."When I learned during my time with the freedom fightersthat she had been raped by some French soldiers I first of all feltangry with the bastards. Then I said, 'Oh, it's nothing serious;she wasn't killed. She can start her life over again.' And thenseveral weeks later it dawned on me that she had been rapedbecause they had been looking for me. In fact she had been rapedto punish her for keeping quiet. She could have easily given themat least one militant's name, which would have enabled them todiscover and eliminate the network, and perhaps even have mearrested. It was not therefore a simple rape for want of anythingbetter to do or out ofsadism, as I had often seen in the douars; itwas the rape of a tenacious woman who was prepared to acceptanything rather than give up her husband. And that husband wasme. That woman had saved my life and had protected the network.It was my fault she had been dishonored. Yet she didn'tsay: 'This is what I endured for you.' On the contrary, she said:'Forget me, start a new life, I have been disgraced.'"It was then that I made up my mind to take her back afterthe war; I have to tell you I've seen peasants dry the tears of theirwives who had been raped under their very eyes. That shook meup quite a bit and I have to confess that at first I couldn't understandtheir attitude. But we had to intervene increasingly in suchcircumstances to explain things to the civilians and I've seen civiliansvolunteer to marry a young girl who had been raped andmade pregnant by French soldiers. All that made me think againabout my wife."I've made up my mind to take her back, but I still don't knowhow I'll react when I see her. And when I look at the picture ofmy daughter I often think she was dishonored as well. As if everythingthat had to do with my wife was rotten. If they had torturedher, if they had broken all her teeth or an arm, I wouldn't haveminded so much. But that thing, how can you ever get over it?And did she have to tell me aboutHe then asked me whether his "sexual failing" in my opinionwas caused by his worrying.Answer: "It's quite likely."He then sat up in bed."What would you do if it happened to you?""I don't know ...""Would you take your wife back?""I think 1would ...""Ah, you see ... you 't't"re no qUI e sure.He put his head in his hands and after a few moments left theroom.From that day on, he gradually accepted to listen to politicaldiscussions while his migraines and anorexia lessened considerably.After two weeks he rejoined his unit telling me: "On independence,I'll take my wife back. If it doesn't work out, I'll come andsee you again in Algiers."---~-- --

190THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS191Case No.2-Random homicidal impulses in a survivor ofa massacreS- , thirty-seven years old, a fellah. Lives in a douar in theregion ofConstantine. Has never been involved in politics. Sincethe beginning of the war his region has been the scene of violentbattles between the Algerian forces and the French army.S--therefore has had occasion to see the dead and the wounded.But he continued to keep his distance. Like the general population,the peasants from his village had occasionally come to theaid of Algerian fighters as they passed through. But one day inearly 1958 a deadly ambush occurred not far from the douar. Theenemy forces went into action and surrounded the village wherethere was not a single soldier. All the inhabitants were roundedup and interrogated. Everyone kept silent. A few hours later aFrench officer arrived by helicopter and declared: 'There's toomuch fuss over this douar; destroy it!' The soldiers began to setfire to the houses while the women who were trying to collect afew clothes or save some provisions were . driven back with riflebutts. Some of the peasants took advantage of the confusion toescape. The officer gave orders to round up the remaining menand had them brought to a neigh boring wadi where the massacrebegan. Twenty-nine men were killed at point-blank range.S--was wounded by two bullets that passed through his rightthigh and left arm respectively, the latter wound causing a fracturedhumerus.S-- fainted and regained consciousness in the midst of agroup ofALN (Armee de Liberation Nationale) soldiers. He wastreated by their medical personnel and evacuated once he wasable to walk. En route his increasingly abnormal behavior was aconstant source of concern for the escort. He demanded a gun,although he was a helpless civilian, and refused to walk in frontanybody. He refused to have anyone behind him. One nighthe grabbed one of the soldier's guns and clumsily fired on thesleeping soldiers. He was disarmed by force. From then on hishands were tied and that is how he arrived at the Center.He began by telling us he was not dead and he had played aon the others. Gradually we managed to reconstruct thestory of his failed assassination attempt. S- is not anxious, butoverexcited with violent mood swings and shouting. He did notbreak anything, but wore everyone out by his constant chatterand the Service was on permanent alert because of his declaredintention to 'kill everybody.' During his hospitalization he wouldattack roughly eight patients, with makeshift weapons. CI he nursesand doctors were not spared either. We even wondered whetherwe were not facing one of those latent forms of epilepsy characterizedby a general aggressiveness that was almost constantly onedge.We started narcotherapy. After the third day a daily crossexaminationallowed us to better understand the dynamics ofthepathological process. His intellectual confusion gradually clearedup. The following are extracts from the patient's statements:"God is with me ... but he can't have been with those whodied.... I was damn lucky.... In life, it's kill or be killed....When I think I knew nothing about all that business .... Thereare some French among us.... They're disguised as Arabs....They've all got to be killed .... Give me a machine gun. All theseso-called Algerians are French ... and they won't leave me alone.As soon as I try to get some sleep, they come into my room. Butnow I know what they're up to. Evelyone wants to kill me. Butfight back. I'll kill them all, every one ofthem. I'll slit their thoats,one after the other, and yours as well. You all want to take me out,you'll have to think of other ways. Killing you won't affect mein the slightest. The little ones, the grown-ups, the women, thechildren, the dogs, the birds, the donkeys ... nobody will be spared.... Afterwards, I'll be able to sleep in peace ..."All that was said in fits and starts and he remained hostile, aloofand scornful.After three weeks his agitated state disappeared, but there wasa disinclination to communicate and a tendency to keep to himself,which made us fear the worst. Howevcr, after a month he

192THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS193asked to leave so that he could learn a trade compatible with hisdisability. He was then entrusted to the care of the FLN's socialservices. Saw him again months later. Doing well.Case No.3 Major depressive disorder with mood-congruentpsychotic features following the murder of a woman whilebriefly psychotic_) former student, ALN fighter, nineteen years old. Whenhe arrived at the Center he had already been ill for several months.His symptoms were characteristic: deeply depressed, dry lips, andconstantly moist hands. Heaved constant sighs. Persistent insomnia.Two suicide attempts since the onset of the disorder. Duringthe conversation showed signs of auditory hallucination.Sometimes his gaze for a few moments at a point in spacewhile his face lit up, giving the impression he was seeing something.Incoherent thoughts. Behavior known in psychiatry asblocking where the start of a gesture or phrase is suddenly interruptedfor no apparent reason. But one feature in particularour attention: The patient talked of his blood beinghis arteries drained, and an abnormal heartbeat. Hebegged us to stop the hemorrhage and not let them come intothe hospital to "suck the lifeblood" out ofhim. From time to time,could no speak and asked for a pencil. Wrote: "Have lostmy voice, my whole life is fading away." This display of depersonalizationled us to believe he had reached a serious stage.Several times in the course of our conversations the patientmentioned a woman who would come and persecute him whennight fell. Having previously learned that his mother, whom headored, had died and that he would never get over his loss (atthat moment his voice became mufl:led and a few tears appeared)I turned the cross-examination to the mother image. When 1asked him to describe this woman who was haunting, evensecuting, him he told me she was no stranger, that he knew herwell and he was the one who had killed her. The questionwas then of knowing whether we were in the presence of anunconscious guilt complex after his mother's death, as Freuddescribes in his "Mourning and Melancholia." We asked himto tell us more about this woman since he knew her so well andwas supposed to have killed her. That is how we managed toreconstruct the following"I left the town where I had been a student to join theground resistance movement. After several months I received newsof home. I learned that my mother had been killed at point-blankrange by a French soldier, and two of my sisters taken to the barracks.To tllis day I don't know where they are. I was terribly shakenby my mother's death. My father had died some years back, I wasthe only man in the family, and my sole ambition had alwaysto do something to make life easier for my mother and sisters. Oneday we went to a estate owned by white settlers where themanager, a notorious colonial, had already killed two Algeriancivilians. It was night when we arrived at his house. But he wasn'tat home. Only his wife was in the house. On seeing us, she beggedus not to kill her: 'I know you have come for my husband,' shesaid, 'but he isn't here ... How many times have I told him not toget mixed up in politics.' We decided to wait for the husband. ButI kept looking at the woman and thinking of my mother. She wassitting in an armchair and her thoughts seemed to elsewhere.I was asking myself why we didn't kill her. And then she noticed Iwas looking at She threw herself on me screaming: 'Please... don't kill me ... I've got children.' The next minute she wasdead. I'd killed her with my knife. My commander disarmed meand gave me orders to leave. I was interrogated by the district commandera few days later. I thought I was going to be shot, but Igive a damn. 24 And then I began to vomit after eating and Islept badly. After that this woman would come every night askingfor my blood. And what about mv mother's blood?"24 After the medical and legal reports had stressed the pathological natureof the act, the legal proceedings initiated by the ALN's staff headquarters weredropped."';,'fu;..-ZW"·

~r~""T''''''''_-______~~_~194THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS195soon as the patient went to bed at night the room was "inbywomen," all the same. It was the same woman duplioverand over again. all had a hole in theirwere bloodless, pale, and terribly thin. Theman and demanded their bloodmomentwater filled the roomgrew so loud itlUllucrmg waterfall, and theyoung patient sawblood,while the womenwoundsbegan to close. Soakedtient would wake up and remain agitatedThe young patient has treated now forthe oneiroid (nightmare) symptoms haveHis personality, however, remains seriously flawed. As soon ashe thinks of his mother, this disemboweled woman loomsdisconcertingly in her place. As unscientific as it may seem, webelieve only time may heal the dislocated personality of thisyoung man.Case No. European police officer suffering from depressionwhile at the hospital meets one ofhis victims, an Algerian patriotsuffering from stuportwenty-eight years old, married without children. Wehave learned that he and his wife have been undergoing treatmentfor several years to try and have children. He is referred tous by his superiors because of behavioral problems.The immediate rapport proved to be fairly good. The patientspoke to us spontaneously about his problems. On good termswith his and parents-in-law. Good relations with his colleaguesat work and well thought of by his superiors. Whattroubled him was having difficulty sleeping at night because hehearing screams. In fact, he told us that for the last few weeksto bed he closes all the shutters and stops up theis summer) to the utter despair of his wife who issuffocating from the heat. He also stuffs cottonto muffle the screams. Sometimes in the middle of ~switches on the radio or puts on some music so as not to hearthe nightly din. He consequently to us his tribulationsin great detail:A few months ago he was transferred to an anti-FLN brigade.To begin with he was assigned to watching a few buildings andcafes. But after a few weeks he was working almost full time atthe police headquarters. That was where he came to be involvedinterrogations which always implied some form of "roughingup." "The thing is they never wanted to confess anything.""Sometimes," he went on to explain, "you feel like telling themif they had any consideration for us, they'd cough up andnot force us to spend hours on end squeezing the informationout of them word by word. But you might as well talk to the wall.question gets the answer: 'I don't know.' Even when weask for their names. If we ask them they live, they answer,'I don't know.' So of course we had to give them the works. Butscream too much. At first it made me laugh. But then itbegan to unnerve me. Today I can tell just which stage the interrogationhas reached by the sound of the screams. Thewho has been punched and a blow behind the earhas a

196 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHpolice headquarters. Doctor, I'm sick of this job. If you can cureme, I'll request a transfer to France. If they refuse, I'll resign."Under the circumstances I put him on sick leave. Since herefused to be admitted to hospital, I treated him as a private patientOne day just before our session was due to begin, I wascalled back to the ward for an emergency. When he arrived atmy house, my wife told A - - he could wait, but he said he preferredto go for a walk in the hospital grounds, thinking he mightfind me there. A few minutes later, on my way back home, Ifound him leaning against a tree, covered in sweat and having apanic attack I put him in the car and drove home. Once we hadsettled him on the sofa, he told me he had encountered one ofmy patients (an Algerian patriot) who had been tortured at policeheadquarters and who was being treated for post-traumaticstress. I then learned that this police officer had been activelyinvolved in torturing this patient. I gave him some sedatives,which calmed his anxiety. After he had left, I visited the wardwhere the Algerian was being treated. The staff hadn't noticedanything. The patient, however, was nowhere to beeventually discovered him hiding in atrying to commit suicide.lice officer and was convincedtake him back to policeA- - came back to see me several times, and after hIS conimprovedrapidly he was eventually repatriated on medi-As the Algerian patriot, it took a long time forto him he had been deluding himself, thatwere not allowed inside the hospital, that he was tired,was here to be cared for, etc....Case No. European police inspector tortures his wifeand childrenthirty years old, referred himself to us of his own freewill. He is a police inspector who for some weeks realized thatCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS197"something was wrong." Married with three children. Smokes alot: three packs a day. Re has lost his appetitedisturbed by nightmares. These nightmares have nodistinguishing features. What bothershis "fits madness." First ofdieted: "Doctor,I feel likethe guy whowhen I toI hold outme.'"Re can't put up with noise. At home he has a constant desireto give everyone a beating. And he violently assaults his children,even his twenty-month-old baby.But what frightened him was one evening when his wife hadprotested he was being too hard on the children (she hadeven said to him: "For goodness sake, you're crazy ...") he turnedon her, beat her, and tied her to a chair shouting: "I'm going toteach you once and for all who's the boss around here."Fortunately his children began to cry and scream. He then realizedthe full gravity of his behavior, untied his wife, and thenext morning decided to consult a "nerve specialist." He hadnever been like that, he says; he seldom punished his childrenand never quarreled with his wife. The present problem had occurredsince "the troubles." "The fact is," he said, "we're nowbeing used as foot soldiers. Last week, for example, we operatedas if we were in the army. Those guys in the government saythere's no war in Algeria and the police force must restore lawand order, but there is a war in Algeria, and when they realize it,it'll be too late. The thing that gets me the most is the torture.Does that mean anything to you? ... Sometimes I torture for tenhours straight."._.

198 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS199"How does torturing make you feel?""It wears you out, of course ... It's true we take turns, but thequestion is knowing when to let your colleague have a go. Everyonethinks he's just about to get the information and is carefulnot to hand over the customer all nice and ready for the otherguy to take all the glory. So sometimes we hand him over andsometimes we don't."We even offer the guy money, our own pocket money, to gethim to squeal. Our problem is, are we able to get the guy to talk?It's a matter of personal success; we're sort of competing. Weeventually messed up our fists. So we brought in the 'Senegalese.'But they either hit too hard and mess up the guy in thirty minutes,or not enough and nothing happens. In fact, you need touse your head in this kind of work. You need to know when totighten your grip and when to loosen it. You have to have a feelfor it. When the guy is ripe, there's no point continuing toThat's why it's best to do your own work, you can judgebetter how you're doing. I'm against those who get others to workthe guy over and then pop in every so often to see how he's doing.The golden rule is never give the guy the impression won'tget out alive. He'll then wonder what's the use of talking if it won'tsave his life. In that case you'll have no chance at all of gettinganything out of him. has to go on hoping: It's hope that makesthem talk."But what bothers me most, is this business with my wife. Imust have a screw loose somewhere. You've got to straighten meout, doctor."Since his administration refused to give him a sick leave andthe patient did not wish for. certification from a psychiatrist, wetreated him "while on duty." It is easy to imagine the disadvantagesof such a procedure. This man knew perfectly well that allhis problems stemmed directly from the type of work conductedin the interrogation rooms, though he tried to blame everythingon "the troubles." As he had no intention of giving up his job asa torturer (this would make no sense since he would then haveto resign) he asked me in plain language to help him tortureAlgerian patriots without having a guilty conscience, without anybehavioral problems, and with a total peace of mind. 25SERIES BHere we have collected cases or groups of cases where the triggeringfactor is first and foremost the atmosphere of outright warthat reigns in Algeria.Case No. 1-The murder by two thirteen- and fourteen-year-oldAlgerians of their European playmateThis involves a medical and legal examination. Two thirteenfourteen-year-oIds,Algerian schoolboys, are accused of killingone of their European playmates. They have admitted to theact. The crime has been reconstructed and photos included inthe file. They show one ofthe children holding their victim whileother stabs him with a knife. The accused did not go backon their statements. We have long conversations with them.relevant extracts read as follows:a. The thirteen-year-old:"We were not angry with him. Every Thursday we used to goand hunt together with a slingshot up on the hill behind the village.He was our best friend. He had left school because hewanted to become a mason like his father. One day we decidedto kill him because the Europeans want to kill all the Arabs. Wekill the 'grown-ups,' but we can kill someone like him becausehe's our own age. We didn't know how to go about it. We25 This ease revealed the existence of a coherent system that leaves noth.ing intact Thc torturer who loves birds or quietly enjoys a symphony or a sonatais simply onc stage. The next is nothing more than radical and absolutesadism.

200 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS 201wanted to throw him into a ditch, but this might only have injuredhim. So we took a knife from home and we killed him.""But why did you pick on him?""Because he used to Dlav with us. Another bov wouldn't havegone up the nIH With us."he was a friend of yours?""So, why do they want to kill us? His father's in the militia andsays we all ought to have our throats slit.""But he didn't say anything like that to you?""Him? No.""You know he's dead now.""Yes.""What does being dead mean?""It means it's all over, you go to Heaven."you'l·n'l' ....""Yes.""Are you sorry you killed someone?""No, because they want to kill us, so ...""Do you mind being in prison?""No."b. The fourteen-year-old:This boy is very different from his classmate. He is almost aman, an adult, judging from his muscular control, his physiognomy,and the tone and content ofhis answers. He does notkilling either. Why did he do it? He does not answer the quesasksme if 1 have ever seen a European in prison. Hasever been a European arrested and imprisoned for themurder of an Algerian? 1 replied that in fact 1 had never seenany Europeans in prison."And yet there are Algerians killed every day, aren't there?""Yes.""So why are there only Algerians in prison? How do you explainthat?""I can't, but tell me why you killed this boy who was yourfriend?"the Rivet business?"26"of my family were killed that day. At home they saythe French had sworn to kill us all, one after the other. Has anyFrenchman been arrested for all those Algerians that werekilled?""I don't know.""Well, no one has been arrested. 1wanted to take to the mountains,but I'm too young. So [the other boy] and 1 said ... wewould kill a European.""Why.7"do you think we should have done?""I don't know. But you are a child and the things that are goingon are for grown-ups.""But they kill children too.""But that's no reason for killing your friend.""Well, 1killed him. Now you can do what you like.""Did this friend do anything to you?""No. He didn't do anything.""Well?""That's all there is to it."Case No.2-Paranoid delusions and suicidal behavior disguisedas "terrorist act" in a young twenty-two-year-old Algerianpatient was referred to the hospital by the French judiciaryauthorities following a medical and legal examination byFrench psychiatrists practicing in Algeria.The patient was emaciated and in a state of confusion. Hisbody was covered in ecchymoses and he was unable to absorbany food owing to two fractures of the jaw. For over two weeksthe patient was fed intravenously.in the region around which became headlineOne evening the was raided by French militiamen from their beds and murdered them.

-_,7=.... ~ ___"___202THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS203After two weeks his thinking becameable to establish contact. We managed to reconstructman's dramatic story.During adolescence he had been an ardent scout and becameone of the leaders in the Muslim scout movement. But at agenineteen he completely abandoned the scouts to devote himselfentirely to his profession. A passionate student ofmechanical dataprocessing he dreamed of becoming a leading specialist in thefield. November I, 1954, found him absorbed in strictly professionalmatters. At the time he showed no interest in the nationalliberation struggle. He had already forsaken his former friends.He said he was at the time "entirely devoted to improving histechnical abilities."mid-1955, however, during a family reunion he suddenlyparents considered him a traitor. After alH::eUll!! impression lost its but deep down hefelt strangely auxlUU:;He decided, therefore.ing and talkingroom. Avoided any contact. It wasthe catastrophe occurred. Onearound half past twelve, he distinctly heard a voicctraitor. He tumed around, but saw nobody. He hurried ondecided to stay away from work. He stayed in his room and didnot have any dinner. It was during the night he suffered the attack.For three hours he heard all kinds of insults, voices cryingin his head and in the darkness: "Traitor ... coward ... all yourbrothers are dying ... traitor ... traitor."He was gripped by an indescribable anxiety: "For eighteenhours my heart beat at one hundred and thirty beats per minute.I thought 1 was going to die."From that moment on the patient could no longer swallow athing. He got thinner by the minute, kept himself in pitch darknessand refused to see his parents. Around the third day he isolated himself in prayer. He told me he remained kneeling seventeento hours a day. On the fourth day, acting on im"like a madman" with "a beard which must have madeeven more a madman," he went out without hisjacket or tic. Once he stepped into the street he had noto but walked and after a while found himselfsector. His physical appearance (he could beseems to have protected him from beingstopped and questioned by the French police, whereas, next tohim, Algerian men and women were being arrested,insulted, and searched. Paradoxically he had no identIty paperson him. The fact that the enemy patrols instinctively showedconsideration confirmed his delusion that "everyone knows he'son the side of the French. The soldiers themselves have ordersto leave him alone."Moreover, the looks ofthe Algerians arrested with their handsbehind their necks, waiting to be searched, seemed to him to befull of contempt Stricken by an uncontrollable agitation hequickly strode away. It was then he found himself in front of theFrench staff headquarters. At the gate stood several soldiers armedwith machine guns. He walked over toward the soldiers, hurledonto one of them and tried to grab his machine gun,"1 am an Al' genan.I"under control he was led into the police oftomake him confess the namesleadersnetwork for which hewas supposedly worKmg. Auer apolicediers realized they were dealing WIth aamination was ordered that concluded he wasmental disorders and should be admitted to a hospital.wanted to do," told us, "was to die. Even at the policeI believed and hoped that after they had tortured me they wouldkill me. I was happy to be beaten because that proved they consideredme to be one of the enemy as welL I couldn't go on

204 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHhearing those accusations and do nothing. I'm not a coward. I'mnot a sissy. I'm not a traitor."z7Case No.3-Anxiety disorder in a young Frenchwoman whosefather, a senior civil servant, was killed in an ambushThis twenty-one-year-old student came to consult meanxiety symptoms that were interfering with her studiesand social life. Hands constantly clammy and at times presentedtruly alarming symptoms when water "dripped from her hands."Chest constrictions accompanied by nocturnal migraine. Bit hernails. But what caught our attention especially was the clearlyoverdesirous way to make contact whereas there was a sense ofconsiderable underlying anxiety. She brushed aside her father'sdeath, which was recent judging by the date, in such an offhandway that we quickly turned our investigation to hertionship with her father. We were given a clear, absolutely luciddescription, so lucid as to be almost insensitive, which revealedby its very rationality the nature and origin ofthis young woman'sdisorder."My father was a senior civil servant. He was in charge of avast rural area. As soon as the troubles broke out, he threw himselflike a maniac into a frenzied manhunt for Algerians. Sometimeshe could neither eat nor sleep, he was so worked upquelling the rebellion. I watched helplessly as my father slowlychanged. In the end I decided not to go and see him anymoreand stay in town. In fact every time I went home the screamscoming from downstairs kept me awake at night. They were torturingAlgerians in the cellar and the disused rooms so as to getinformation out of them. You can't imagine how horrible it is to27 During the year 1955 cases of this sort were extremely numerous in Algeria.Unfortunately, not all of them had the good fortune to be admitted toa hospital.COLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS 205hear screams like that all through the night. Sometimes I wonderhow a human being can put up with it, I don't mean torturingbut simply hearing someone scream in pain. And it went onand on. Eventually I never went back. The few times my fathercame to see me in town I couldn't look him in the face I was sohorribly frightened and embarrassed. I found it increasingly difficultto kiss him."You see I'd lived for a long time in the village. I know almostall the families. I had played with the young Algerians ofmy age when we were little. Every time I went home my fatherwould tell me a new batch of people had been arrested. In theend I no longer dared go out in the street, I was so sure I'dencounter hatred everywhere I looked. Deep down I knewAlgerians were right. If I were Algerian I'd join the resistancemovement."One day, however, she received a telegram announcing thather father had been seriously injured. She went to the hospitaland found her father in a coma. He died shortly afterward. Herfather had been wounded during a reconnaissance mission witha military detachment. The patrol had fallen into an ambush laidby the Algerian National Army."The funeral sickened me," she said. "All those officials mourningover the death of my father whose 'high moral qualities hadwon over the native population' made me feel nauseous. Everyoneknew it wasn't true. Nobody could remain ignorant of thefact that my father had ruled all the interrogation centers in thearea with an iron fist. They knew that ten people were killedunder torture, and yet they came to recite their lies abouthis devotion, his self-sacrifice, his love for his country, etc .... Ihave to confess that words don't mean much to me now,not very much. I went straight back to town and avoided theauthorities. They offered me financial support but I refused. Forme it was bought with the blood my father had spilled. I don'twant any of it. I intend to work."--.=8'"~.,

206 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS207;, Case No. 4-Adiustment disorders with mixed behavioral andemotional features in young Algerians under tenThese cases are refugees, sons of freedom fighters or civilianskilled by the French. They have been allocated to centers inTunisia and Morocco. They are provided with schooling, andgames and outings are organized. They are examined regularlyby doctors. This is how we came to meet a certain number ofthem.a. All the children presented a very marked love for parentalimages. Anything which resembles a father or a mother is doggedlysought after and jealously guarded.b. Generally speaking they all show signs of a phobia to noise.They are deeply affected by the slightest reprimand. A great cravingfor calm and affection.c. Many of them suffer from insomnia and sleepwalking.d. Sporadic enuresis.e. Sadistic tendencies. One of their favorite games is to angrilypierce holes in a stretched sheet of paper. All their pencilsare chewed and they bite their nails with distressing regularity.Quarrels often break out despite their deep affection for eachother.Case No. 5 - Puerperal psychoses in refugeesPuerperal psychosis refers to those mental disorders which occurin women during maternity. Such disorders can occur immediatelybefore or several weeks after childbirth. Their psychologicaldeterminism is highly complex. The two major causes are thoughtto be a disruption to the endocrine glands and the occurrence ofa "psychological shock" -aterm that, although vague, correspondsroughly to what is commonly known as a "bad fright."Ever since the French government's decision to apply theirscorched earth policy and establish a buffer zone over hundredsofkilometers there are almost 300,000 refugees along the Tunisianand Moroccan borders. TIle state of dire poverty they livein is no sec.ret. International Red Cross commissions have paidthem a number ofvisits and on ascertaining their extreme povertyand precarious living conditions, they recommended increasedaid by international organizations. Given the malnutrition thatis rampant in these camps it is therefore inevitable that the pregnantwomen are particularly prone to developing puerperalpsychoses.These refugees live in an atmosphere of permanent insecurity,the combined effects of frequent raids by French troops applyingthe "right to hunt and pursue," aerial bombardments-there isno end to the bombing of Moroccan and Tunisian territories bythe French army, and Sakiet-Sidi-Youssef, the martyred villagein Tunisia is the bloodiest example-machine gun raids as wellas the breakup of the family unit as a result of flight. In truth,there are few Algerian women refugees who do not suffer frommental disorders following childbirth.There are various symptoms: agitation sometimes accompaniedby furor; deep asthenic depression coupled with multiple suicideattempts; symptoms of anxiety accompanied by tears, lamentations,and appeals for mercy, etc. Likewise, the delusional disorderspresent many different characteristics: a delusion of vague persecution,aimed at anyone; a delirious aggressivity aimed at theFrench, who want to kill the unborn or newborn child; an impressionof imminent death in which the mothers beg the invisiblekillers to spare their children.Once again we must point out that the underlying problem isnot solved by sedation or a reversal of the symptoms. Even afterthe patient has been cured, her predicament maintains and nurturesthese pathological complications.SERIES CAFFECTIVE AND MENTAL CHANGES AND EMOTIONALDISTURBANCES AFTER TORTUREThis series groups patients in a fairly serious condition whosedisorders appeared immediately after or during torture. We have

208 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS 209classified them into sub-groups because we realized that theircharacteristic symptoms of morbidity corresponded to differentmethods of torture irrespective of the superficial or profoundeffects on the personality.Group No. I-After indiscriminate torture as a so-calledprecautionary measureHere we refer to the brutal methods used to get the victim tospeak rather than actual torture. The principle according towhich above a certain limit the suffering becomes unbearablehere takes on a particular significance. 'The aim therefore is toreach this limit as quickly as possible. There is no meticulousattention to details. It is brute force using a variety of methods:several policemen beat the victim simultaneously; four policemenstand around the prisoner in a circle juggling with him likea punchball while one bums his chest with a cigarette and anotherhits the soles of his feet with a stick. Some of the methodsof torture used in Algeria seemed to us to be particularly horrifyingas described to us by the victims:a. Water is forced through the mouth accompanied by anenema of soapy water injected at high pressure. 28b. A bottle is rammed into the anus. Two types of so-called "forced immobility" torture: c. The prisoner is forced to his knees, arms parallel to theground, palms upward, keeping his torso and head straight. Heis not allowed to move. A policeman sitting behind the prisonerforces him to remain motionless with blows from a billy club.d. The prisoner stands facing a wall, arms raised, his handsplaced against the wall. Here again at the slightest move or signof weakening he is dealt a series of blows.28 This type of torture is the cause of a great many deaths. The high pressureof the enema causes multiple lesions and minute perforations to the mucousmembrane of the intestine. Gaseous embolism and peritonitis commonly result.We must now point out there are two categories of torturedvictims:a. Those who know something.b. Those who know nothing.a. Those who know something are seldom seen in the medicalcenters. We may know for a fact that a particular patriot has beentortured in the French prisons, but we never encounter him as apatient,29b. Those who know nothing, however, very often come toconsult us. We do not mean those Algerians who have beenbeaten up during a police roundup or spot check. They nevercome to see us as patients either. We mean those Algerians belongingto no organization who are arrested and taken to policebarracks or interrogation centers to be questioned.Psychiatric Symptoms Encountereda. Clinical depression: Four casesThese are melancholic patients, totally devoid of anxiety,depressed and most of the time bedridden, who avoid contactand then very suddenly become extremely violent for no apparentreason.b. Anorexia nervosa: Five casesThese patients pose serious problems since their anorexianervosa is accompanied by a phobia of any physical contact. Thenurse who approaches the patient and tries to touch him or takehis hand, for example, is vigorously pushed away. Impossible topractice intravenous feeding or administer medication. 3o29 We are speaking of course of those Algerians who know something andhave not confessed under torture for it is a fact that an Algerian who confessesis killed immediately afterward.30 The medical staff have to take turns attending the patient night and dayand explaining things to him. The idea that "the patient needs a littleis understandably of little use here.

~210THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHc. Restlessness: Eleven casesThese.are patients who cannot stay in one place. They insiston being alone and have difficulty accepting confinement witha doctor in his consulting room.Two feelings frequently emerged in this first batch of torturedvictims:First of all, that of injustice. Having been tortured day in andday out for nothing seems to have broken something in thesemen. One of these martyred victims had a particularly painfulexperience: After several days of unsuccessful torturing, the policemencame to realize they were dealing with a peace-lovingindividual who had nothing to do with any of the FLN networks.spite of this conviction a police inspector reportedly said:"Don't let him go like that. Work him over a bit more so thatwhen he gets out he'll keep quiet."31Secondly, an indifference to any moral argument. For these patientsthere is no just cause. A tortured cause is a weak cause.The first thing to do is to increase one's power and not pose thequestion of the merits of a cause. Power is the only thing thatcounts.Group No.2-After torture by electricityIn this batch we have grouped the Algerian patriots who havebeen mainly tortured by electricity. Whereas electricity wasonce just one method of torture in a series, from September1956 onward certain interrogations were conducted exclusivelywith electricity.n This precautionary torture in certain regions becomes "precautionary repression."At Rivet, for example, although the place was totally calm, the colonistswere determined not to be taken by surprise (the neighboring regions hadbegun to show signs of unrest) and decided to eliminate purely and simply anymember of the FLN. Over forty Algerians were killed in a single day.COLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS211Psychiatric Symptoms Encountereda. Local or systemic somatic delusions: Three casesThese patients feel pins and needles throughout the body andget the impression their hands are being torn off, their heads arebursting, and they are swallowing their tongue.b. Apathy, lack of will, and loss of interest: Seven casesThese patients suffer from apathy, a lack of motivation and. energy, and live from day to day.c. Phobia of electricityFear oftouching a light switch, fear of switching on the radio,fear of using the telephone. Absolutely impossible for the doctorto even mention the possibility of electroshock treatment.Group No.3-After administration of the truth serumThis drug is used in a patient who apparently suffers from anunconscious mental block such that no cross examination caninduce him to talk freely. Methods of chemical exploration areused. Intravenous injection of Pentothal is the most commonmethod with the aim of liberating the patient from an innerconflict he is unable to surmount. The doctor intervenes in orderto liberate the patient from this "foreign body."32 Neverthelessthere have been difficulties controlling the gradual disintegrationof the psychological agencies, and it is not unusual to witnessa spectacular deterioration or the emergence of new andquite inexplicable symptoms. Generally speaking this method,therefore, has been more or less abandoned.In Algeria the military doctors and psychiatrists have discoveredfurther possibilities for experimenting with this method inthe police detention centers. If Pentothal can release repressionthe case of neuroses, then, in the case of Algerian patriots, it32 In fact it is not foreign at all. The conflict is nothing more than the resultof the changing dynamics of his personality where there is no question of"foreign body." It would be better defined as being poorly assimilated.

212 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS213must also be able to break the political barrier and get the prisonerto confess without recourse to electricity-for according tomedical tradition any suffering must be avoided. This is themedical equivalent of "psychological warfare."The scene goes as follows: First of all, the psychiatrist states,"I am a doctor, not a policeman. I'm here to help you." Thusthe prisoner's trust is won after a few days. 33 Then: ''I'm going togive you a few shots to clear your head." For several days all kindsof vitamins, heart stimulants and other placebos are administered.On the fourth or fifth day the Pentothal is injected intravenously.The interrogation begins.Psychiatric Symptoms Encountereda. Verbal stereotypyThe patient continually repeats phrases such as: "I didn't tellthem anything. You have to believe me, I didn't talk." This stereotypyis accompanied by a permanent anxiety. Very often infact the patient is unaware of whether he has given any informationaway. Guilt toward the cause he stands for and the comradeswhose names and addresses he might have given, here takes ondramatic proportions. No reassurance can restore peace of mindto these ruined consciences.b. Blurred mental and sensory perceptionThe patient cannot ascertain the existence of an object. Reasoningis assimilated without making any distinctions. There isa basic indistinction between true and false. Everything is bothtrue and false.c. A phobia of any one-on-one conversation33 We can also mention the case of psychiatrists running the "Presencefran9aise" groups who, appointed to examine the prisoner, started off boastingthey were great friends with the defense lawyer and claiming both of them(the lawyer and the psychiatrist) would get the prisoner out. All the prisonersexamined by this method were guillotined. These psychiatrists boasted in frontof us of this neat method of overcoming "resistance."This fear stems from the acute impression that he can be interrogatedagain at any time.d. InhibitionThe patient is on his guard. He registers a question word byword and elaborates his answer word by word. Hence the impressionof virtual inhibition together with psychological slowingdown, interrupted sentences, and repetition, etc ....It is obvious these patients stubbornly refuse any type of intravenousinjection.Group No.4-After brainwashingThere has been much talk recently about "psychological warfare"in Algeria. We have no intention of conducting a criticalstudy of these methods. We shall merely highlight here theirpsychiatric consequences. There are two categories ofbrainwashingcenters in Algeria.1. For IntellectualsThe principle here is to induce the intellectual into roleplaying.It is clear to which psychotherapy school this refers.34a. Play the game of collaborator.The intellectual is induced to collaborate by establishing a justificationfor his collaboration. He is therefore obliged to live adual personality and play the part of a well-known patriot whohas been taken out of circulation as a precautionary measure.The aim of the operation is to attack from the inside those34 In the U.S. there is a trend toward social therapy. Supporters ofthis schoolbelieve that the plight of contemporary man lies in the fact that he no longerhas a role to play and that he is nothing but a cog in the social mechanism.Social therapy, therefore, allows man to play several roles as part of a genuinerecreational activity. Anyone can play any role and even change roles duringthe course of the day, symbolically substituting for anyhody. Occupationaltherapists in the U.S. apparently achieve miracles in group social therapyamong factory workers. The workers are allowed to identify with role modelsand employer-employee relations are considerably less strained.

214THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS215elements that constitute the national consciousness. Not onlymust he collaborate, but he is given orders to discuss "freely" withopponents and holdouts in order to win them over. This is anefficient way of getting him to give leads on patriots and usinghim, therefore, as an informer. Ifby chance he claims he didn'tfind any opponents, they are designated for him or else he is askedto behave as if they were.b. Give talks on the value of French accomplishments andthe merits of colonization.In order to achieve his job effectively, the intellectual is counseledby a broad spectrum of "political advisors" such as officersfor Native Affairs or better still psychologists, therapists and sociologists,etc.c. Take the arguments for the Algerian Revolution and eliminatethem one by one.Algeria is not a nation, has never been a nation, and neverwill be.There is no such thing as the "Algerian people."Algerian patriotism is devoid of meaning.The fellagas are schemers, criminals, and have had the woolpulled over their eyes.The intellectuals have to take turns giving a presentation onthese topics and each has to be convincing. Grades (the infamous"awards") are allocated and totalled at the end of the month. Theyare used to evaluate whether the intellectual will be released.d. Lead an absolutely pathological communal life.To remain alone is an act of rebellion. The individual mustalways be in the presence of somebody. Silence is also prohibited.The individual must think out loud.TestimonyThis is the case of an academic who was interned and subjectedto months of brainwashing. One day the camp officialscongratulated him on his progress and announced he would soonbe set free.Familiar with the enemy's tactics, he was wary of taking thenews too seriously. The stratagem, in fact, was to announce tothe prisoners they were going to be freed and a few days beforethe set date organize a group session of self-criticism. At the endof the session it was often decided to postpone release since theprisoner showed no signs of being definitely cured. The session,according to the psychologists present, highlighted a singlemindednationalist virus.This time, however, there was no subterfuge. The prisoner waswell and truly freed. Once outside, in town and with his family,the former prisoner congratulated himself on having played hisrole so welL He was overjoyed at the idea of taking part again inthe national struggle and endeavored to get back in touch withthe leaders. It was then that a terrible, nagging idea crossed hismind. Perhaps nobody had been duped-neither his captors, norhis co-inmates, nor even himself.Where was the game supposed to end?Once again we had to reassure the patient and free him fromthe burden of guilt.Psychiatric Symptoms Encountereda. Phobia ofany collective discussion. As soon as three or fourpeople got together, the inhibition reappeared, and mistrust andreticence reasserted themselves.b. The subject finds it impossible to explain and defend agiven viewpoint. An antithetical thought process. Anything whichis affirmed can be simultaneously denied with the same force.This is certainly the most painful legacy we have encounteredin this war. The obsessive personality is the fruit of the "psychologicalwarfare" used in the service of colonialism in Algeria.II. - For NonintellectualsIn centers like Berrouaghia, subjectivity is no longer taken asthe starting point for modifying the individual's attitude. On thecontrary, emphasis is on the body, which is broken in the hope

216 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS217that the national consciousness will disintegrate. The individualis "knocked" into shape. The individual's reward is being sparedtorture or being allowed to eat.a. You must confess you are not a member of the FLN. It hasto be shouted collectively and repeated for hours.b. Then you have to confess to being in the FLN and nowadmit it was wrong. Down with the FLN.Then comes the next stage: the future of Algeria is French, itcan only be French. Without France, Algeria would return to theDark Ages.Finally, you are French. Long live France.The disorders encountered here are not serious. It is the bruised,suffering body which cries out for peace and calm.SERIES DPSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERSThe increasing occurrence of mental illness and the rampantdevelopment of specific pathological conditions are not the onlylegacy of the colonial war in Algeria. Apart from the pathologyof torture, the pathology of the tortured and that of the perpetrator,there is a pathology of the entire atmosphere in Algeria, acondition which leads the attending physician to say when confrontedwith a case they cannot understand: "This will all becleared up once the damned war is over."We propose grouping in this fourth series the illnesses encounteredin Algerians some ofwhom were sent to internment camps.They can all be characterized as being psychosomatic.The name psychosomatic pathology is given to the generalbody of organic disorders developed in response to a situation ofconflict. 35 Psychosomatic, because its determinism is psychic in35 This term which expresses an idealist notion is being used less and less.The cortico-visceral terminology, in fact a legacy of Soviet research-especiallyPavlov-has at least the advantage ofputting the brain back in its place,of considering it the matrix where precisely the psyche is elaborated.origin. This pathology is considered a way the organism can respond,in other words how it adapts to the conflict, the disorderbeing both a symptom and a cure. More exactly it is generallyagreed that the organism (here again it is the former psychosomatic,corti co-visceral body) outwits the conflict using the wrong,but nevertheless economic, channels. The organism chooses thelesser evil in order to avoid a complete breakdown.On the whole this pathology is widely accepted today, althoughthe various therapeutic methods such as relaxation and suggestionare highly uncertain. During the Second World War air raidson England and the siege of Stalingrad, for example, in the SovietUnion, the number ofdisorders reported increased dramatically.We now know perfectly well that there is no need to bewounded by a bullet to suffer from the effects of war in bodysoul. Like any war, the war in Algeria has created its contingentof cortico-visceral illnesses. Except for group g below all the disordersencountered in Algeria have been reported during"conventional"wars. We found group g specific to the colonial warin Algeria. This particular form of pathology (systemic muscularcontraction) already caught our attention before the revolutionbegan. But the doctors who described it turned it into acongenital stigma of the "native," an original feature ofnervous system, manifest proof of a predominant extrapyramidalsystem in the colonized. 36 This contraction, in fact, is quitesimply a postural concurrence and evidence in the colonized'smuscles of their rigidity, their reticence and refusal in the faceof the colonial authorities.Psychosomatic Symptoms Encountereda. Stomach ulcersVery numerous. The pain is mainly felt at night accompaniedby severe vomiting, loss of weight, melancholia and depression;36 The higher one is on the neurological scale, the less one is extrapyrami.dal. Manifestly everything seems to tally.

218THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS219irritability is rare. Most of the patients are very young, betweeneighteen and twenty-five years old. As a rule we never advisesurgery. A gastrectomy was conducted twice and each time wehad to reoperate within the year.b. Renal colicHere again the pain reaches its height during the night. Obviouslythere are never any kidney stones. These colics can occurin fourteen- to sixteen-year-olds, but this is rare.c. Disturbed menstrual cyclesThese symptoms are very common and we will be brief. Eitherthe women go three to four months without their periods, ormenstruation is so painful it affects the women's character andbehavior.d. Hypersomnia due to idiopathic tremorsThese are cases of young adults who are denied any rest owingto tiny systemic tremors resembling Parkinson's disease. Hereagain, some "great scientific minds" might be tempted to suggestan extrapyramidal determinism.e. Premature whitening of hairThe hair of survivors of the interrogation centers suddenlyturns white in patches, in specific areas or all over. Very oftenthis disorder is accompanied by deep asthenia plus loss of interestand impotence.£. Paroxysmal tachycardiaThe heart rate suddenly accelerates to 120, 130, and 140 beatsper minute. This tachycardia is accompanied by panic attacks,an impression of imminent death, and the end of the attack ismarked by heavy sweating.g. Systemic contraction, muscular stiffnessThese are male patients who slowly have difficulty making certainmovements such as climbing stairs, walking quickly, or running(in two cases it was very sudden). The cause of this difficultylies in a characteristic rigidity which inevitably suggests an attackon certain areas of the brain (central gray matter). Walkingbecomes contracted and tums into a shuffle. Passive bending ofthe lower limbs is practically impossible. No relaxation can beachieved. Immediately rigid and incapable of relaxing ofhis ownfree will, the patient seems to be made in one piece. The face isset, but expresses a marked degree of bewilderment.The patient does not seem to be able to "demobilize hisnerves." He is constantly tense, on hold, between life and death.As one of them told us: "You see, I'm as stiff as a corpse."37FROM THE NORTH AFRICAN'S CRIMINAL IMPULSIVENESSTO THE WAR OF NATIONAL LIBERATIONFighting for the freedom of one's people is not the only necessity.As long as the fight goes on you must reenlighten not onlythe people but also, and above all, yourself on the full measureof man. You must retrace the paths of history, the history ofmandamned by other men, and initiate, bring about, the encounterbetween your own people and others.In fact the aim of the militant engaged in armed combat, in anational struggle, is to assess the daily humiliations inflicted onman by colonial oppression. The militant sometimes has thegrueling impression he has to drag his people back, up from thepit and out of the cave. The militant very often realizes that notonly must he hunt down the enemy forces but also the core ofdespair crystallized in the body of the colonized. The period ofoppression is harrowing, but the liberation struggle's rehabilitationof man fosters a process of reintegration that is extremelyproductive and decisive. The victorious combat of a people isnot just the crowning triumph of their rights. It procures themsubstance, coherence, and homogeneity. For colonialism has notsimply depersonalized the colonized. The very structure of societyhas been depersonalized on a collective level. A colonized,7 It is irrelevant to add this is not a case of hysterical contraction.

220 THE WRETCHED OF' THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS221g;,~.i~.(,.people is thus reduced to a collection of individuals who owetheir very existence to the presence of the colonizer.The combat waged by a people for their liberation leads them,. depending on the circumstances, either to reject or to explodethe so-called truths sown in their consciousness by the colonialregime, military occupation, and economic exploitation. Andonly the armed struggle can effectively exorcize these lies aboutman that subordinate and literally mutilate the more consciousmindedamong us.How many times in Paris or Aix, in Algiers or Basse-Terrc havewe seen the colonized vehemently protest the so-called indolenceof the black, the Algerian, and the Vietnamese. And yet in acolonial regime if a fellah were a zealous worker or a black wereto refuse a break from work, they would be quite simply consideredpathological cases. The colonized's indolence is a consciollsway of sabotaging the colonial machine; on the biological levelit is a remarkable system of self-preservation and, if nothing else,a positive curb on the occupier's stranglehold over the entirecountry.The resistance of the forests and swamps to foreign penetrationis the natural ally of the colonized. Put yourself in his shoesand stop reasoning and claiming that the "nigger" is a hard workerand the "towelhead" great at clearing land. In a colonial regimethe reality of the "towelhead," the reality of the "nigger," is notto lift a finger, not to help the oppressor sink his elaws into hisprey. The duty of the colonized subject, who has not yet arrivedat a political consciousness or a decision to reject the oppressor,is to have the slightest effort literally dragged out of him. This iswhere non-cooperation or at least minimal cooperation clearlymaterializes.These observations regarding the colonized's disposition towork could also be applied to the colonized's attitude toward thecolonizer's laws, his taxes, and the colonial system. Under a colonialregime, gratitude, sincerity, and honor are hollow words.Over recent years I have had the opportunity to verify the fundamentalfact that honor, dignity and integrity are only truly evidentin the context of national and international unity. As soonas you and your fellow men are cut down like dogs there is noother solution but to use every means available to reestablish yourweight as a human being. You must therefore weigh as heavilyas possible on your torturer's body so that his wits, which havewandered off somewhere, can at last be restored to their humandimension. During the course of recent years I have had theopportunity to witness the extraordinary examples of honor, seIfsacrifice,love ofIife, and disregard for death in an Algeria at war.No, I am not going to sing the praises of the freedom fighters. Acommon observation the most hard-lined colonialists have notfailed to note is that the Algerian fighter has an unusual way offighting and dying, and no reference to Islam or Paradise canexplain this spirit of self-sacrifice when it comes to protectinghis people or shielding his comrades. Then there is this deathlysilence - the body of course cries out- the silence that suffocatesthe torturer. Here we find the old law stating that anything alivecannot afford to remain still while the nation is set in motion,while man both demands and claims his infinite humanity.One of the characteristics of the Algerian people establishedby colonialism is their appalling criminality. Prior to 1954 magistrates,police, lawyers, journalists, and medical examiners wereunanimous that the Algerian's criminality posed a problem. TheAlgerian, it was claimed, was a born criminal. A theory was elaboratedand scientific proof was furnished. This theory was taughtat universities for more than twenty years. Algerian medical studentsreceived this education, and slowly and imperceptibly theelite, after having consented to colonialism, consented tonatural defects ofthe Algerian people: born idlers, born liars, bornthieves, and born criminals.We propose here to expound this official theory, to recal] itsbasis and scientific reasoning. In a second stage we shall reviewthe facts and endeavor to reinterpret them.

222THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS223The Algerian is an habitual killer: It's a fact, the magistrateswill tell you, that four fifths of the cases heard involve assault andbattery. The crime rate in Algeria is one of the highest in theworld, they claim. There are no petty delinquents.Algerian, and this annlies to allthe wrong sidegoes to extremes.is a savage killer: And his weapon of choice ismagistrates "who know the country" have elaboratedtheir own theory on the subject. The Kabyles, for example,prefer a revolver or shotgun. The Arabs from the plains have apreference for the knife. Some magistrates wonder whether theAlgerian does not have a need to see blood. The Algerian, theywill tell you, needs to feel the heat of blood and steep himself inhis victim's blood. These magistrates and police officers veryseriously hold forth on the connections between the Muslimpsyche and blood. 38 A number of magistrates evensay that killing a man for an Algerian meansslitting his throat. The savagery ofso far as tothem inflicteddeath. Autopsies undeniably esfact:the killer gives the impression he wanted to killan incalcUlable number of times given the equal deadliness ofthe wounds inflicted.The Algerian is a senseless killer: Very often the magistrates andpolice officers are stunned by the motives for the murder: a gesture,an allusion, an ambiguous remark, a quarrel over the ownershipof an olive tree or an animal that has strayed a few feet.The search for the cause, which is expected to iustifv anddown the murder, in some cases a double orup a hopelessly trivial motive. Hencethat38 We know for a fact that Islam forbids eating mcat from an animal thathas not been drained of its blood. This is why the animals have their throatscut.robberybreaking and entereverycase involving asowner.elements focalizing on Algerian criminality appearedsufficiently evident to support an attempt at systematization.Since similar, though less implicit, observations had been conductedin Tunisia and Morocco, was increasingly madeto a North Mrican criminality. For more than thirty years, underthe constant direction of Professor Porot, professor of psychiatryat the Faculty of Algiers, several teams worked on defining thiscriminality's modes of expression and offering a sociological,functional, and anatomical interpretation.The main research work onchiatric school ofResearchover more than ayear period were the we recall, oflectures giventhe chair of psychiatry.Consequently the Algerian doctors who graduated from theFaculty of Algiers were forced to hear and learn that the Algerianis a born criminal. Moreover I remember one of us in allseriousness expounding these theories he had learned and adding:"It's hard to swallow, but it's been scientifically proved."The North African is a criminal, his predatory instinct a knownfact and his unwieldy aggressiveness visible to the naked eye.African loves extremes so you can never entirely trustToday, your best friend, tomorrow your worst enemy. He is immuneto nuances, Cartesianism is fundamentally foreign to himlOderation, a sense of proportion and level-headedness, areto his inner nature. The North Mrican is violent, hereditarilyviolent. He finds it impossible to discipline himself andchannel his instincts. Yes, the Algerian is congenitally impulsive.But, they tell us, this impulsiveness is highly aggressive andgenerally homicidal. This explains, they say, the unorthodox behaviorof the melancholic Algerian. French psychiatrists in Algeriawere faced with a difficult problem. They had been trained

224THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS225to fear suicidal tendencies in a patient suffering from melancholia.The melancholic Algerian, however, kills. This disorder ofthe moral conscience, which is always accompanied by selfaccusationand suicidal tendencies, in the Algerian takes theshape of homicidal instincts. The Algerian suffering from melancholiadoes not commit suicide. He kills. This is the homicidalmelancholia elaborated by Professor Po rot in the thesis ofhis pupil Monserrat.How does the Algerian school account for this anomaly?Firstly, according to the school of Algiers, killing oneself istantamount to examining one's own feelings, looking at oneselfand practicing introspection. The Algerian, however, rebelsagainst his inner feelings. There is no inner life in the NorthMrican. On the contrary, the North African rids himself oftroubles by attacking the people around him. He has no senseof analysis. Since by definition melancholia is a disorder of themoral conscience it is obvious the Algerian can only developpseudo-melancholias given the unreliability of his conscienccand the ficklcness of his moral sense. This incapacity of thcAlgerian to analyze a situation, to organize a mental panorama,makes perfect sense if we refer to the two types of causalityproposed by the French psychiatrists.First of all, his mental capacity. The Algerian is mentally retarded.If we want to fully understand this basic point of departure,we must recall the semiology elaborated by the school ofAlgiers. The "native," it says, presents the following characteristics:• complete or almost complete lack of emotivity• highly credulous and suggestible• doggedly stubborn• childlike mentality minus the curiosity of the Europeanchild• prone to accidents and pithiatic reactions 3939 Professor A. Porot, Annales Medico-Psychologiques, 1918.The Algerian is unable to grasp an overall picture. The questionshe asks himself are always concerned with details and ruleout any synthesis. Pointillistic, attracted to objects, lost in details,insensitive to ideas, and closed to concepts. Verbal expression isreduced to a minimum. His movements are always impulsiveaggressive. Incapable of interpreting details on the basis ofthe overall picture, the Algerian absolutizes the component andtakes one part for the whole. As a consequence his reactions aregeneralizing when confronted with minor provocations or trivialitiessuch as a fig tree, a gesture, or a sheep on his land. Thecongenital aggressiveness looks for outlets and is content withthe slightest pretext. It is aggressiveness in a pure state. 40The school of Algiers abandoned the phase of description fornext stage of clarification. It was in 1935 at the Congress ofFrench-Speaking Psyehiatrists and Neurologists in Brussels thatProfessor Po rot was to define the scientific bases for his theory.Discussing Baruk's report on hysteria he indicated that "theNorth African native whose cortex and reflexes are poorly developed,is a primitive being whose essentially vegetative and instinctivelife is primarily governed by his diencephalon."order to gauge the importance of this discovery by ProfessorPo rot we should recall that the characteristic which differentiatesthe human species from other vertebrates is the eortex.The diencephalon is one of the most primitivc parts ofthe brainand man is above all the vertebrate governed by the cortex.For Professor Porot the life of the North African is governedby the diencephalic agents. This is tantamount to saying thatNorth African in a certain way is deprived of a cortex. Professor40 In the words of a senior magistrate at a court in Algiers this aggressivenessof the Algerian is expressed in his love for "fantasia." "All this unrest," hesaid in 195 5, "we'd be wrong to think it was political. From time to time thislove they have for knocking themselves about has to come out!" For the anthropologistthe elaboration of a series of projective tests and games capableof channeling the overall aggressive instincts of the colonized would havestopped the revolution in the Aures in 1955-56.

224THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHto fear suicidal tendencies in a patient suffering from melancholia.The melancholic Algerian, however, kills. This disorder ofthe moral conscience, which is always accompanied by selfaccusationand suicidal tendencies, in the Algerian takes theshape of homicidal instincts. The Algerian suffering from melancholiadoes not commit suicide. He kills. This is the homicidalmelancholia elaborated by Professor Porot in the thesis ofhis pupil Monserrat.How does the Algerian school account for this anomaly?Firstly, according to the school of Algiers, killing oneself istantamount to examining one's own feelings, looking at oneselfand practicing introspection. The Algerian, however, rebelsagainst his inner feelings. There is no inner life in the NorthAfrican. On the contrary, the North African rids himself of histroubles by attacking the people around him. He has no senseof analysis. Since by definition melancholia is a disorder of themoral conscience it is obvious the Algerian can only developpseudo-melancholias given the unreliability of his conscienceand the fickleness of his moral sense. This incapacity of theAlgerian to analyze a situation, to organize a mental panorama,makes perfect sense if we refer to the two types of causalityproposed by the French psychiatrists.First of all, his mental capacity. The Algerian is mentally retarded.If we want to fully understand this basic point of departure,we must recall the semiology elaborated by the school ofAlgiers. The "native," it says, presents the following characteristics:• complete or almost complete lack of emotivity• highly credulous and suggestible• doggedly stubborn• childlike mentality minus the curiosity of the Europeanchild• prone to accidents and pithiatic reactions 3939 Professor A. Po rot, Annales Medico-Psychologiques, 1918.COLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS225The Algerian is unable to grasp an overall picture. The questionshe asks himself are always concerned with details and ruleout any synthesis. Pointillistic, attracted to objects, lost in details,insensitive to ideas, and closed to concepts. Verbal expression isreduced to a minimum. His movements are always impulsiveand aggressive. Incapable of interpreting details on the basis ofthe overall picture, the Algerian absolutizes the component andtakes one part for the whole. As a consequence his reactions aregeneralizing when confronted with minor provocations or trivialitiessuch as a fig tree, a gesture, or a sheep on his land. Thecongenital aggressiveness looks for outlets and is content withthe slightest pretext. It is aggressiveness in a pure state.40The school of Algiers abandoned the phase of description forthe next stage of clarification. It was in 1935 at the Congress ofFrench-Speaking Psychiatrists and Neurologists in Brussels thatProfessor Porot was to define the scientific bases for his theory.Discussing Baruk's report on hysteria he indicated that "theNorth African native whose cortex and reflexes are poorly developed,is a primitive being whose essentially vegetative and instinctivelife is primarily governed by his diencephalon."In order to gauge the importance of this discovery by ProfessorPorot we should recall that the characteristic which differentiatesthe human species from other vertebrates is the cortex.The diencephalon is one of the most primitive parts of the brainand man is above all the vertebrate governed by the cortex.For Professor Porot the life of the North African is governedby the diencephalic agents. This is tantamount to saying that theNorth African in a certain way is deprived of a cortex. Professor40 In the words of a senior magistrate at a eourt in Algiers this aggressivenessof the Algerian is expressed in his love for "fantasia." "All this unrest," hesaid in 1955, "we'd be wrong to think it was political. From time to time thislove they have for knocking themselves about has to come out!" For the anthropologistthe elaboration of a series of projective tests and games capableof channeling the overall aggressive instincts of the colonized would havestopped the revolution in the Ames in 1955-56.

226THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHPorot does not evade this contradiction and in the April 1939issue of Sud Medical et Chirurgical he states, in collaborationwith his pupil Sutter, currently professor ofpsychiatry in Algiers:"Primitivism is not a lack of maturity, an interrupted developmentof the mental psyche. It is a social condition which hasreached the end of its evolution and is a logical adaptation to alife different from ours." Lastly, the professors address the verybasis of the doctrine: "This primitivism is not only a conditionresulting from a specific upbringing, its foundations go fardeeper, and we believe its substratum must lie in a specificconfiguration of the architectonics, or at least of the dynamichierarchical organization of the nervous system. We have observedthat the impulsiveness ofthe Algerian, the frequency andnature of his murders, his permanent criminal tendencies andhis primitivism are no coincidences. We are in the presenceof a coherent pattern of behavior and a coherent lifestyle whichcan be explained scientifically. The Algerian has no cortex, orto be more exact, like the inferior vertebrates he is governedby his diencephalon. The cortical functions, if they exist, areextremely weak, virtually excluded from the brain's dynamics.There is therefore neith~r mystery nor paradox. The colonizer'sreluctance to entrust the native with any kind of responsibilitydoes not stem from racism or paternalism but quite simply froma scientific assessment of the colonized's limited biologicalpossibilities,"Let us end this overview by requesting Dr. Carothers, an expertfrom the World Health Organization, to conclude with hisfindings throughout Mrica. This international expert collectedhis primary observations in a book published in 1954.41Dr. Carothers practiced in Central and East Africa but his findingsmatch those of the North Mrican school. For the internationalexpert, "The Mrican uses his frontal lobes very little. AllCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DlSORDERS227the peculiarities of Mrican psychiatry can be envisaged in termsof frontal idleness."42In order to make his point clear Dr. Carothers establishes avery vivid comparison. He puts forward the idea that the normalMrican is a lobotomized European. We know that the Englishspeakingschool believed they had found a radical therapy fortreating certain serious mental illnesses by practicing surgicalincision in the front of the brain. This method has been abandonedsince discovering the major damage it caused to the personality.According to Dr. Carothers the similarity between thenormal Mrican and the lobotomized European is striking.After having studied the work of various researchers practicingthroughout Mrica, Dr. Carothers gives us a conclusion thatestablishes a uniform concept of the Mrican. "These are," hewrites, "the data ofthe cases that do not fit the European categories.They are culled from several parts of Mrica - east, west, andsouth -and, on the whole, the writers had little or no knowledgeof each other's work. Their essential similarity is therefore quiteremarkable."43Before concluding it is worth pointing out that Dr. Carothersdefined the Mau-Mau revolt as the expression of an unconsciousfrustration complex whose recurrence could be scientificallytreated by radical psychologically appropriate methods.So it was the unusual behavior such as the Algerian's recurringcriminality, the triviality of the motives and the murderous andalways highly bloody nature of the quarrels that posed a problemfor observers. The proposed explanation, which is now taughtas part of the curriculum, seems in the last analysis to be as follows:The configuration of the North Mrican's brain structureaccounts for the indolence of "the native," his mental and socialinaptitude as well as his virtual animal impulsiveness. Thecriminal impulsiveness of the North Mrican is the transcription41 J. C. Carothers, The African Mind in Health and Disease: A Study inEthnopsychiatry (World Health Organization).42 Ibid., p. 157. 43 Ibid., p. 158.

228 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHa certain configuration of the nervous system into his patternof behavior. It is a neurologically comprehensible reaction,written into the nature of things, of the thing which is biologicallyorganized. The idleness of the frontal lobes explainsdolence, his crimes, his thefts, his rapcs, and his lies. And theconclusion was given to me by a sous-prefet now prefei: "Theseinstinctive beings," he told me, "who blindly obey the laws oftheir nature must be strictly and pitilessly regimented. Nature mustbe tamed, not talked into reason." Discipline, tame, subdue, andnow pacify are the common terms used by the colonialists in theterritories occupied.reason why we have dealt at length with the theories bycolonialist scholars is not so much to demonstrate their paucityand absurdity as to address an extremely important theoreticaland practical question. Algerian criminality, in fact, was givenrelatively little attention among the questions which the revoluwasconfronted with and the issues which were raised durdiscussionson political enlightenment and demystification.But the few debates on the subject were so constructive that theyenabled us to examine further and better identify the notion ofindividual and social freedom. When the question of Algeriancriminality is broached with leaders and militants in the heat ofrevolution, when the average number of crimes, misdemeanorsand thefts in the period prior to the revolution are brought tolight, when it is explained that the physiognomy of a crime andthe occurrence of misdemeanors are based on the relationshipsbetween men and women, between man and State, andeveryone gets the message; when we see the notion of the Algerianor North Mrican as born criminal dislodged before our verya notion which was also planted in the Algerian's consciousnessbecause after all "we are a bad, quick-tempered, aggressivepeople ... and that's the way we arc ... " then we can saythe revolution is making progress.COLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS 229major theoretical problem is that the insult to man whichis in ourselves must be identified, demystified and hunted downat all times and in all places. We must not expect the nation toproduce new men. We must not expect men to change imperasthe revolution constantly innovates. It is true bothprocesses are important, but it is the consciousness that needshelp. If the revolution in practice is meant to be totally liberatingand exceptionally productive, everything must be accountedfor. The revolutionary feels a particularly strong need to totalizeevents, to handle everything, to settle everything, to assume responsibilityfor everything. The consciousness then does not balkat thinking back or marking time, if need be. This is the reasonwhy as a combat unit progresses in the field the end of an ambushdoes not mean cause for respite but the very moment forconsciousness to go one step further since everything mustwork in unison.Yes, the Algerian spontaneously acknowledged the magistratesand police officers were right. 44 This narcissistic aspect of Algeriancriminality as a manifestation of genuine virility had to betackled again and reconsidered in the light of colonial history.By showing, for example, how the criminality of the Algeriansin France fundamentally differed from the criminality of theAlgerians directly subjected to colonial exploitation.A second aspect caught our attention: in Algeria, criminalityamong Algerians occurred practically in a closed circle. TheAlgerians robbed each other, tore each other to pieces, andkilled each other. In Algeria, the Algerian seldom attacked the44 It is evident, moreover, that this identification with the image inventedby the European was highly ambivalent. The European in fact seemed to bean equally ambivalent tribute to the violent, excitable, brutal, jealous,and arrogant Algerian who stakes his life on a detail or a word, etc, Letus mention in passing that in their confrontations with the French from metropolitanFrance, the Europeans in Algeria increasingly tend to identifY withthis image of the Algerian in their opposition to the French,. ","WE ;'.,

230 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS231French and avoided quarreling with them. In France, however,the immigrant's criminality crossed boundaries between communitiesand social categories.In France Algerian criminality is diminishing. It is mainlydirected at the French and the motives are entirely new. Oneparadox, however, helped us considerably to get the militantsto understand that since 1954 common law crimes have virtuallydisappeared. Gone are the quarrels, the disputes over minordetails ending in homicide. Gone the explosive fits of rage becausethe neighbor caught sight of my wife's forehead or leftshoulder. The national struggle appears to have channeled allthis anger and nationalized every affective and emotional reaction.The French magistrates and lawyers had already noted this,but the militant had to be made aware of it and understand thereasons.We now had to find an explanation.Could it be said that the war, the privileged terrain for expressingfinally a collective aggressiveness, directs congenitallymurderous acts at the occupier? It is common knowledge thatsignificant social upheavals lessen the occurrence of misdemeanorsand mental disorders. The existence of a war which was breakingAlgeria in two and rejecting the judicial and administrativemachine onto the side of the enemy was therefore a perfectlygood explanation for this decline in Algerian criminality.In the countries of the Maghreb already liberated, however,this was true during the liberation struggles and remains so toan even greater degree during independence. It is therefore apparentthat the colonial context is sufficiently original to afforda reinterpretation of criminality. This is what we have done forthe militants. Today everyone on our side knows that criminalityis not the result of the Algerian's congenital nature nor theconfiguration of his nervous system. The war in Algeria and warsof national liberation bring out the true protagonists. We havedemonstrated that in the colonial situation the colonized areconfronted with themselves. They tend to use each other as ascreen. Each prevents his neighbor from seeing the nationalenemy. And when exhausted after a sixteen-hour day ofhard workthe colonized subject collapses on his mat and a child on theother side of the canvas partition cries and prevents him fromsleeping, it just so happens it's a little Algerian. When he goes tobeg for a little semolina or a little oil from the shopkeeper towhom he already owes several hundred francs and his request isturned down, he is overwhelmed by an immense hatred anddesire to kill-and the shopkeeper happens to be an Algerian.When, after weeks of keeping a low profile, he finds himselfcornered one day by the kaid demanding "his taxes," he is noteven allowed the opportunity to direct his hatred against theEuropean administrator; before him stands the kaid who exciteshis hatred-and he happens to be an Algerian.Exposed to daily incitement to murder resulting from famine,eviction from his room for unpaid rent, a mother's withered breast,children who are nothing but skin and bone, the closure of aworksite and the jobless who hang around the foreman like crows,the colonized subject comes to see his fellow man as a relentlessenemy. If he stubs his bare feet on a large stone in his path it is afellow countryman who has put it there, and the meager olives hewas about to pick, here are X's children who have eaten themduring the night. Yes, during the colonial period in Algeria andelsewhere a lot of things can be committed for a few pounds ofsemolina. One can kill. You need to use your imagination to understandthese things. Or your memory. In the concentration campsmen killed each other for a morsel of bread. I can recall one horriblescene. It was in Oran in 1944. From the military camp wherewe were waiting to embark, the soldiers threw bits ofbread to someAlgerian children who fought for them in a frenzy of rage andhatred. A veterinarian could no doubt explain these events in temlSofthe famous "pecking order" * noted in farmyards where the corn'Translator's Note: Fanon uses the phrase "peck order" in English in theoriginal text.

232THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS233is bitterly fought over. The strongest birds gobble up all the grainwhile the less aggressive grow visibly thinner. Any colony tends tobecome one vast farmyard, one vast concentration camp whereonly law is that of the knife.In Algeria, everything has changed since the war of nationalliberation. The entire reserves of a family or metcha can be offeredto a passing company ofsoldiers in a single evening. A familycan lend its only donkey to carry a wounded fighter. And whenseveral days later the owner leams the animal was gunned downby a plane he will not sling curses or threats. Instead of questioningthe death of his donkey he will anxiously ask whether thewounded man is safe and sound.Under a colonial regime, no crime is too petty for a loaf ofbread or a wretched sheep. Under a colonial regime, man's relationshipwith the physical world and history is connected tofood. In a context of oppression like that of Algeria, for the colonized,living does not mean embodying a set of values, does notmean integrating oneself into the coherent, constructive developmentof a world. To live simply means not to die. To existmeans staying alive. Every date grown is a victory. Not the resultof hard work, but a victory celebrating a triumph over life. Stealingdates, therefore, or allowing one's sheep to eat the neighbor'sgrass is not a disregard for property rights or breaking the law ordisrespect. They are attempts at murder. Once you have seenmen and women in Kabylia struggling down into the valley forweeks on end to bring up soil in little baskets you can understandthat theft is attempted murder and not a peccadillo. The sole obsessionis the need to fill that ever shrinking stomach, howeverit demands. Who do you take it out on? The French aredown on the plain with the police, the army and their tanks. Inthe mountains there are only Algerians. Up above, Heaven withits promises of an afterlife, down below the French withfirm promises of jail, beatings and executions. Inevitably, youstumble up against yourself. Here lies this core of self-hatred thatcharacterizes racial conflict in segregated societies.The criminality ofthe Algerian, his impulsiveness, the savageryof his murders are not, therefore, the consequence of how hisnervous system is organized or specific character traits, but thedirect result of the colonial situation. The fact that the Algerianpatriots discussed this issue, that they were not afraid to challengethe beliefs inculcated in them by colonialism, that they understoodeach was a screen for the other and in reality they werecommitting suicide by pitting themselves against their neighbor,was to have an immense impact on the revolutionary consciousness.Once again, the colonized subject fights in order to put anend to domination. But he must also ensure that all the untruthsplanted within him by the oppressor are eliminated. In a colonialregime such as the one in Algeria the ideas taught by colonialismimpacted not only the European minority but also theAlgerian. Total liberation involves every facet of the personality.The ambush or the skirmish, the torture or the massacre of one'scomrades entrenches the determination to win, revives the unconsciousand nurtures the imagination. When the nation inits totality is set in motion, the new man is not an a posterioricreation of this nation, but coexists with it, matures with it, andtriumphs with it. This dialectical prerequisite explains the resistanceto accommodating forms of colonization or windowdressing. Independence is not a magic ritual but an indispensablecondition for men and women to exist in true liberation, inwords to master all the material resources necessary for aradical transformation of society.. -~~"T"~_

Conclusion Now, comrades, now is the time to decide to change sides. Wemust shake off the great mantle of night which has envelopedus, and reach for the light. The new day which is dawning mustfind us determined, enlightened and resolute.We must abandon our dreams and say farewell to ourbeliefs and former friendships. Let us not lose time in uselesslaments or sickening mimicry. Let us leave this Europe whichnever stops talking of man yet massacres him at everyone of itsstreet corners, at every corner of the world.For centuries Europe has brought the progress of other mento a halt and enslaved them for its own purposes and glory; forcenturies it has stifled virtually the whole of humanity in thename of a so-called "spiritual adventure." Look at it now teeteringbetween atomic destruction and spiritual disintegration.And yet nobody can deny its achievements at home have notbeen crowned with success.Europe has taken over leadership of the world with fervor,cynicism, and violence. And look how the shadow of its monumentsspreads and multiplies. Every movement Europe makesbursts the boundaries of space and thought. Europe has denieditself not only humility and modesty but also solicitude andtenderness.235 ",,," '*1 ''';;;;;" ,f.:

236 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHIts only show of miserliness has been toward man, only towardman has it shown itself to be niggardly and murderouslycarmvorous.So, my brothers, how could we fail to understand that we havebetter things to do than follow in that Europe's footsteps?This Europe, which never stopped talking ofman, which neverstopped proclaiming its sole concern was man, we now know theprice of suffering humanity has paid for everyone of its spiritualvictories.Come, comrades, the European game is finally over, we mustlook for something else. We can do anything today provided wedo not ape Europe, provided we are not obsessed with catchingup with Europe.Europe has gained such a mad and reckless momentum thatit has lost control and reason and is heading at dizzying speedtowards the brink from which we would be advised to removeourselves as quickly as possible.It is all too true, however, that we need a model, schemas andexamples. For many of us the European model is the most elating.But we have seen in the preceding pages how misleadingsuch an imitation can be. European achievements, Europeantechnology and European lifestyles must stop tempting us andleading us astray.When I look for man in European lifestyles and technology Isee a constant denial of man, an avalanche of murders.Man's condition, his projects and collaboration with others ontasks that strengthen man's totality, are new issues which requiregenuine inspiration.Let us decide not to imitate Europe and let us tense ourmuscles and our brains in a new direction. Let us endeavor toinvent a man in full, something which Europe has been incapableof achieving.Two centuries ago, a former European colony took it into itshead to catch up with Europe. It has been so successful that theUnited States ofAmerica has become a monster where the flaws,CONCLUSION 237sickness, and inhumanity of Europe have reached frighteningproportions.Comrades, have we nothing else to do but create a third Europe?The West saw itself on a spiritual adventure. It is in thename of the Spirit, meaning the spirit of Europe, that Europejustified its crimes and legitimized the slavery in which it heldfour fifths of humanity.Yes, the European spirit is built on strange foundations. Thewhole of European thought developed in places that were increasinglyarid and increasingly inaccessible. Consequently, itwas natural that the chances of encountering man became lessand less frequent.A permanent dialogue with itself, an increasingly obnoxiousnarcissism inevitably paved the way for a virtual delirium whereintellectual thought turns into agony since the reality of manas a living, working, self-made being is replaced by words, anassemblage of words and the tensions generated by their meanings.There were Europeans, however, who urged the Europeanworkers to smash this narcissism and break with this denial ofreality.Generally speaking, the European workers did not respond tothe call. The fact was that the workers believed they too werepart of the prodigious adventure of the European Spirit.All the elements for a solution to the major problems of humanityexisted at one time or another in European thought. Butthe Europeans did not act on the mission that was designatedthem and which consisted of virulently pondering these elements,modifying their configuration, their being, of changingthem and final1y taking the problem of man to an infinitelyhigher plane.Today we are witnessing a stasis of Europe. Comrades, let usflee this stagnation where dialectics has gradually turned into alogic of the status quo. Let us reexamine the question of man.Let us reexamine the question of cerebral reality, the brain masshumanity in its entirety whose affinities must be increased,

'''f u: ..._._"".".._.~__ _238 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHwhose connections must be diversified and whose communicationsmust be humanized again.Come brothers, we have far too much work on our hands torevel in outmoded games. Europe has done what it had to doall things considered, it has done a good job; let us stop accusingit, but let us say to it firmly it must stop putting on such ashow. We no longer have reason to fear it, let us stop then envyingit.Third World is today facing Europe as one colossal masswhose project must be to and solve the problems this Europewas incapable of finding the answers to.But what matters now is not a question of profitability, not aquestion of increased productivity, not a question of productionrates. No, it is not a question of back to nature. It is the veryquestion of not dragging man in directions which mutilate him,not imposing on his brain tempos that rapidly obliterate andit. The notion of catching up must not be as apretext to brutalize man, to tear him from himself and his innerconsciousness, to break him, to kill him.we do not want to catch up with anyone. But what we wantis to walk in the company of man, every man, night and day, forall times. It is not a question of stringing the caravan out wheregroups are spaced so far apart they cannot see the one in front,men who no longer recognize each other, meet less and lessand talk to each other less and less.The Third World must start over a new history of mantakes account of not only the occasional prodigious theses maintainedby Europe but also its crimes, the most heinous of whichhave been committed at the very heart of man, the pathologicaldismembering of his functions and the erosion of his unity, andthe context of the community, the fracture, the stratificationthe bloody tensions fed by class, and finally, on the immensescale of humanity, the racial hatred, slavery, exploitation and,above all, the bloodless genocide whereby one and a half billionmen have been written off.CONCLUSION 239So comrades, let us not pay tribute to Europe by creating states,institutions, and societies that draw their inspiration from it.Humanity expects other things from us than this grotesq ue andgenerally obscene emulation.Ifwe want to transform Africa into a new Europe, America intoa new Europe, then let us entrust the destinies of our countriesto the Europeans. They will do a better job than the best of us.But if we want humanity to take one step forward, if we wantto take it to another level than the one where Europe has placedit, then we must innovate, we must be pioneers.If we want to respond to the expectations of our peoples, wemust look elsewhere besides Europe.Moreover, if we want to respond to the expectations of theEuropeans we must not send them back a reflection, howeverideal, of their society and their thought that periodically sickenseven them.For Europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades, wemust make a new start, develop a new way of thinking, and endeavorto create a new man.

]On Retranslating Fanon, Retrieving a Lost Voice I suppose I met .Frantz Fanon when I went to Africa, toSenegal in 1968 as an English teacher. At the age of twenty-threeI was a naive young Englishman leading a sheltered life who wasabout to discover the meaning of underdevelopment and colonization.My vision of Africa was nil and I had as much insightinto Senegalese society as a brochure at a travel agent. Rereadingsome of the notes I made at the time I appeared to be moreinterested in finding a fan, buying a mopedment than what was on around me.textbooks I had to usesnow orof at three aftemoonreached forty degrees Celsius seemedit took me two years of teaching to put two and two togetherand confront the issues of underdevelopment and colonization.My political consciousness was aroused and I returnedhome with more questions than answers: one of them being,What on earth am I doing here? to paraphrase Bruce Chatwin.Eight years after independence Senegal still had all the trappingsof a French colony and Dakar was a compartmentalized world,which Fanon described so vividly in the opening chapter on violencein The Wretched ofthe Earth.241

242 ON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICEThis was the world 1 was destined to work in, live in, and playin, and the other sector, the "native" sector, could only beglimpsed through the windows ofthe embassy's chauffeur-drivencar or perhaps when we strayed on our mopeds into areas wherefriends working for the American Peace Corps used to live. Andwhep. at embassy receptions or dinner parties the conversationwould inevitably revolve around "them," the others, it was, asFanon says, often couched in zoological terms, referring to theodors, the stink, the hordes, the swarming, seething, sprawlingpopulation vegetating under the sun.The year was 1968 and, true to the assimilation of a Frenchcolony, Senegal mimicked the events of May 1968 in France.Except they lasted for an entire year and both school pupils anduniversity students deserted their classrooms in a vague attemptto ~hange the order of their world and forge ahead with a genuinedecolonization. But this was no revolution in the Fanoniansense and the students were content merely to sit and wait, insteadof "blowing the colonial world to smithereens" and creatingan agenda for total disorder. Just south of Senegal's border,inGuinea, Sekou Toure's resounding "No" to France, which metwith admiration and applause from Third World revolutionaries,~vidently had little chance of repeating itself in Senghor'sSenegal.My second encounter with Fanon must have been on my returnto France in 1971. One year before Britain joined the Commop.Market 1 was not only forced to apply for a work permit,but also undergo a series of medicals, mandatory for immigrantsfrom nonmember European Union countries. Most of the immigrants,of course, were from North Mrica, and Algeria in particular.And it was here 1 witnessed that very special relationship,based on humiliation and contempt, that exists between theFrench and the Algerians. We were all made to line up in frontof a nondescript building near the boulevard peripherique andonce inside, submitted to a series of humiliating medical examinationsthat would allow us to apply for a work permit at anotherON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICE 243line at the Paris Prefecture. It was obvious that all the cliches aboutthe Algerian's criminal impulsiveness, his indolence, his thefts, hislies and rapes, which had been inculcated into the French bureaucrats'minds before, during, and after the Algerian war, rose to thesurface and treatment was dealt out accordingly. There was a longway to go before that colossal task, described by Fanon, of reintroducingman into the world, a man in full, could be achievedwith the crucial help of the European masses who still ralliedbehind the position oftheir governments and media on colonialIssues.My third encounter with Fanon came with my many visitsto Martinique and Guadeloupe, the island contexts that were toshape and mold the young Fanon. The sheer assimilation toFrance's cultural, educational, and political penetration not onlyturned him into a French intellectual (The New York Review ofBooks in 1966 described him as a "Black Rousseau ... His callfor national revolutions is Jacobin in method, Rousseauist inspirit, and Sartrian in language-altogether as French as canbe.") but also forced him to question and challenge the verynature of the colonized subject. The alienation of his blackskinned,white-masked fellow islanders made him realize that ifcolonialism was not fought and defeated, then the islands ofMartinique and Guadeloupe would disappear, swallowed up bythe tide of assimilation. He somehow sensed that the bravado ofthe Martinicans was a lot of hot air, that they would never riseup against their colonizers and he'd do better to put his ideasinto practice in the French departement of Algeria where themen had the guts of their convictions. On his return from hisfinal visit to Martinique in 1951, Alice Cherki (Frantz Fanon:Portrait, Paris: Editions du Seuil, 2000) quotes him as saying, "Imet more milquetoasts than men." Commenting on the tragicevents of 1959 in Martinique to his friend Bertene J uminer whilein Tunis, he told him: "Let them pick up their dead, rip theirinsides out and parade them in open trucks through the town ....Let them yell out: 'Look what the colonialists have done!' But....____..t..~\F"' ·d,-l.i"

244 ON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICEthey won't do anything ofthe sort. They'll vote a series ofsymbolicmotions and start dying of poverty all over again. In the end, thisoutburst of anger reassures the colonialists. It's merely a way ofletting off steam, a bit like a wet dream. You make love to a shadow.You soil the bed. But the next morning everything is back to normal.And you don't think any more about it" (Presence Africaine,1st semester 1962: "Hommage aFrantz Fanon," p. 127).Any visitor from outside France visiting the French islands ofthe Caribbean is immediately struck by the overwhelming presenceofa metropolis seven thousand kilometers away, the extraordinaryalienation ofa petite bourgeoisie more attuned to Francethan their own destiny, and he or she cannot but admire Fanon'slucidity. Perhaps this is one ofthe reasons why he is studied morein the universities of the English-speaking world than in Franceand the French Caribbean where the skeletons of the Algerianwar and the color hierarchy, respectively, are too close for comfort.Perhaps this is one ofthe reasons why Fanon's latest biographer,David Macey, and his new translator are two Englishmen,two islanders, who not only understand Fanon's love-hate, offagain/on-againrelationship with France, but are also fascinatedby the only French-speaking Caribbean intellectual who, asEdouard Glissant says, "really matched action to words by espousingthe Algerian cause" (Le Discours Antillais, Paris: Editions duSeuil, 1981, p. 36). As David Macey says, "It was his anger thatwas so attractive." After all we Brits have a long history of angryyoung men. And then there is the way he has been treatedpulledin all directions by postcolonial scholars, made to fit theirideas and interpretations-and a great sense of injustice comesto mind every time Fanon is mentioned.So this brings me to why I have crusaded for a new Englishtranslation of Fanon. First of all I was tired of people asking meif I translated anyone else besides Maryse Conde. But moreimportant, I felt the need to challenge my skills at translatinganother type of text, one that defined as a theory the subjectmatter of alienation, colonization, and the color complex in soON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICE 245many of the French Caribbean novels I had already translated.Secondly, I felt that Fanon's had not done him justice. I felt thathis voice had got distorted and he should be given a secondchance to be heard. John Felstiner wrote in his book TranslatingNeruda: The Way to Macchu Picchu that "perhaps the real'original' behind any translation occurs not in the written poem,but in the poet's voice speaking the verse aloud ... a translatormay also pick up vocal tones, intensities, rhythms, and pausesthat will reveal how the poet heard a word, a phrase, a line, apassage.... What translation comes down to is listening." I havethe good fortune to be in possession of a tape of Fanon's addressto the First Congress ofBlack Writers and AItists in Paris in 1956.I have listened to that tape over and over again, and althoughFanon's voice is not particularly charismatic, in fact it is ratherbland, I was struck by the way he uses language and the emphasishe places on many of the words. He hammers his thoughtshome in a very precise, cut-and-dried manner. There is even theslightest hint of hysteria, a controlled anger, of someone whowould not like to be contradicted, perhaps even the voice of anecorche vii, a tormented soul, as Francis Jeanson thought of him.Ato Sekyi-Otu, who wrote Fanon's Dialectic ofExperience (Cambridge,Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996) argues that weshould read Fanon's texts "as though they form one dramaticdialectical experience" rather than considering his statements"irrevocable propositions and doctrinal statements." "With whatimmensely complex and compelling force Fanon's texts speakto us when we read their contents as speech acts in the movingbody of a dramatic narrative!" And there is drama behind hisvoice born out of urgency as he worked against the clock. Knowingthat us Damnes de la Terre had been dictated to his wifeduring his final year, I used the oral tone I had captured overthe tape in my translation of The Wretched ofthe Earth and endeavoredto make it read more like an oral presentation with thatearnestness of voice he was known for. In fact the many repetitionsand lyrical, not to say delirious, digressions in us Damnes

246 ON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVlNG A LOST VOICEde La Terre are proof of a man dictating his text with theedge that he has little time left to live and desperate to histhoughts, every single one of them, down on paper.his Preface to the first edition ofPeau noire, masques bLancsFrancis Jeanson tells how one day he wrote to Fanon asking forclarification of a particularly obscure passage in the book. Ananswer was duly furnished and Fanon added: "This passage isinexplicable. When I write such things I seek to touch my readerin his emotions, i.e., irrationally, almost sensually."on in his letter Fanon goes on to confess how he isdrawn to the magic of words and that for him language is theultimate refuge, once it is freed from conventions, from its voiceof reason and the terror of coming face-to-face with oneself."Words for me have a powerful effect. I feel it impossible to escapefrom the sting of a word or the vertigo of a question mark."He went on to say that, like Cesaire, he wanted to sink beneaththe stupefying lava of words that have the color of quiveringWhen it came to translating Fanon I was constantly aware ofthe man as a doctor, as a humanist and an intellectual from theThird World. He would never let me forget it. His use of thehuman anatomy to illustrate the colonized's behavior can be seenthroughout his work.I now had to develop a strategy for my own translation. Ia choice of keeping the rather heavy, pompous style and languageof the 19508 or deciding to update and modernize it withoutlosing Fanon's voice. I had in mind a young reader who wouldbe swept along by Fanon's thoughts in the language of the twentyfirstcentury. Without betraying Fanon I decided to tighten upthe text, update the vocabulary, and retrieve his lost voice.One of the translation problems I had to settle, which cameup time amd time again throughout the was the translationof "colon," the European inhabitant of a colony once the colonizationprocess has got under way. I was tempted to use the wordcolonizer since it sounded right pitted against the word colonized.But a colonizer composes the original force that colonized theON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICE 247country and does not convey the meaning of the Europeansettled, lived, worked, and was born in the colony. Colonial hastwo different associations, one for the English, especially in EastMrica, and one for the Americans, pertaining to the thirteenBritish colonies that became the United States of America or tothat period; settler was being used by the media in the Mideastcrisis to refer to the Jewish settlers and would the immediatereference for a reader. I first decided on a compromise betweenthe French word colon and the English colonist and coined "colonist."My editor, however, decided otherwise, and we kept the wordcolonist. I felt that by keeping the word colon the term not onlyspoke to the English-speaking reader but also remained faithfulto Fanon, for whom Algeria was the constant point of reference.Colon, gendanne, metropole, maquis, indigene; the Arabic termsof qo{, zar, diebel, douar, Roumi, razzia, fellah and diemaa.words from a French colonial context, all terms from an Algeriancontext which, however hard Fanon tries to universalize, bring usback to his country of origin and his country of adoption.And finally there is that word dreaded by all translators ofFrench Caribbean texts: negre. Constance Farrington did notdeal with the problem or perhaps she didn't have to at the time:she merely translated negre and noir by the word Negro,was accepted usage in the 19505 and '60s, and in the processa subtle difference. But if the translator decides to update andmodernize his vocabulary, then he is faced with a sticky issue.Randall Kennedy's fascinating book Nigger: The StrangeCareer of a Troublesome Word (New York: Pantheon Books,2002) he cites Professor Clarence Major as saying that when itis used by black people among themselves it is a racial termwith undertones of warmth and goodwill .. , reflecting a tragicomicsensibility that is aware of black history. It is also "thefilthiest, dirtiest, nastiest in the English language." The wordnegre would have been used in the same way by Fanon, theMartinican, whether referring to the black man in general orputting it in the mouth of the oppressor as an insult. It was a

248 ON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICEword rehabilitated by the black intelligentsia of the time andthrown back at the European as the supreme weapon. One ofthe great achievements of Cesaire's epic poem "Notebook of aReturn to My Native Land" is to reappropriate the negative termand give it a positive meaning. In Pour la revolution africaine(Toward the African Revolution), in the chapter "Antillais etMricains" Fanon describes how the word negre was used for theMricans by both Europeans and French Caribbeans alike. Hequotes the example of a boss in Martinique demanding toomuch from his employee and getting the response: "Si vousvoulez un wzgre, aUez Ie chercher en Afrique" ("If you're lookingfor a nigger, go and find him in Mrica"). To quotc a more modernexample of this, we only have to look at the opening linesof Chris Rock's signature skit: "I love black people, but I hateniggers.... Every time black people want to have a good time,niggers mess it up." It wasn't until Cesaire came along that "forthe first time, we saw a lycee teacher, and therefore an apparentlyworthy man, simply tell West Indian society that it is 'goodand well to be a nigger.' Of course it was a scandal." And Fanonends his chapter on national culture with the words: "There canbe no such thing as rigorously identical cultures. To believe onecan create a black culture is to forget oddly enough that 'Negroes'are in the process of disappearing, since those who created themare witnessing the demise of their economic and cultural supremacy."Now that the vocabulary has evolved it places thetranslator in a twenty-first-century predicament. I have updatedthe word Negro, when he refers to the peoples of Mrica or thediaspora, to black, and used nigger when it is the colonizer referringto the same. In some cases, I have left Negro in its historicalcontext. But I have lost something in the translation ofthe word negre, for it has both a sting and an embrace, and thatis irretrievable. I have modernized the word indigene to colonizedor colonized subject, ridding it of today's pejorative sense of nativealthough Fanon, in keeping with the colonial vocabulary ofhis time, uses both terms indifferently in the very same paragraph.ON RETRANSLATING FANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICE 249So how relevant is Fanon today? I ean remember going intothe FNAC bookstore in Paris last year to buy an edition of LesDamnes de La Terre and being asked: Fanon? How do you spellOh yes, here we are, as the girl consulted her computer, Lesdames de la terre! Fanon obviously hasn't left his mark here, Ithought, and moved on. But how far ean we move on and forgethim? We cannot forget the martyrdom of the Palestinians whenwe read in Fanon's chapter "On Violence": "At the individuallevel, violence is a cleansing force. It rids the colonized of theirinferiority eomplex, of their passive and despairing attitude. Itemboldens them and restores their self-eonfidence." We eannotforget the lumpenproletariat, the wretched of the earth, who stillstream to Europe from Afriea, Iraq, Mghanistan, and the countriesof the former Eastern bloe, living on the periphery in theirshantytowns and refugee centers, waiting for a better life. Thebourgeoisie in Africa still unreservedly and enthusiasticallyadopt the thinking mechanisms characteristic of the West, stillhas alienated to perfection its own thoughts and grounded itsconsciousness in typically foreign notions, still turns its backon the majority of its population, vacationing on the FrenchRiviera and building colossal palaces for prestige sake, joininghands in "this huge caravan of corruption" and becoming, asFanon says: "a bourgeois bourgeoisie that is dismally, inanely,and cynically bourgeois." And his thoughts on culture differentiatingAfrica from the Americas, visioning the disappearanceof black culture in favor of national cultures, regarding traditionsbasically stifling whereas a culture is constantly changing,modernizing, and penetrated by other influences. waswrong of course on many points, especially pan-Africanism, therole of the peasantry in leading a revolution, and the fate ofAlgeria. But at the time, his analyses of alienation and decolonizationwere extraordinary eye-openers, not only for a complacentEurope but for his fellow islanders, blinded to reality. It ishis anger, conviction, and humanism that will always remainwith us.

#'iF.#~y250 ON RETRANSLATING I'ANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICESo this has been.my fourth encounter with Fanon, and perthemost intimate. The other three were encounters withthe others, the colonized, the colonial subjects. This time I hadcome face-to-face with the man himself and had to take on theextraordinary task of gaining access to the author's voice andmeaning, and initiating communication with the target audience.The very fact that I had lived in Africa, France, and theFrench Caribbean helped enormously in understanding thesociety and culture that had shaped and influenced Fanon. ButI no longer had the good fortune to be able to pop into the nextroom and ask him what exactly he meant in such and such a paragraphas I can when translating Maryse Conde. I had accompaniedhim on his life's journey, but the closest I could to theman himself was being in the company of Bertene Juminer, AssiaOjebar, Roland Thesauros, Edouard Glissant, Mme ChristianeDiop of Presence Africaine, and Aime Cesaire, all of whom hadcrossed his path. You might think that translating the dead givesyou a whole lot of freedom-there's nobody there looking overyour shoulder or making rude comments. But in fact there arecrowds of people looking over your shoulder-from the readersof the original translation to the postcolonial scholars who havestaked their reputation on Fanon's ideas. Translating a dead manmeans stepping warily through a minefield littered with thedebris of another time and another translation. But the very factof looking back was a driving force to modernize the text andahead. In Fanon's case, translating the dead was a case oftranslating life itself. I felt I had to bring a dead translation backto life. To quote John Felstiner on Celan, he hoped that in translatingCelan's poems he felt something akin to what Celan feltwriting them. Retranslating Fanon, rewriting Fanon almost givesme the same kick. As if I am the one writing down his thoughtsEnglish for the first time.And then there is that secret feeling that married to a writerfrom Guadeloupe, from the French Caribbean, I have alwaysON RETRANSLATING I'ANON, RETRIEVING A LOST VOICE 251known Fanon and understood his dilemma and ambition as aMartinican. No one sums up this personality of the FrenchCaribbean better than Aime Cesaire in "Hommages a FrantzFanon" published in Presence Africaine in 1962:Perhaps Fanon reached such heights and his vision was so broadbecause he was a French Caribbean, in other words he had started offso far down and from such a narrow Perhaps only aibbean, in other words one so destitute, so depersonalized could haveset off with such determination to conquer himself and plenitude; onlyCaribbean, in other words one so mystified to start off with,manage to dismantle with such skill the most elusive mechanismsof mystification; only a French Caribbean, finally, could want so desperatelyto escape powerlessness through action and solitude throughfraternity.- Richard Philcox

wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?