wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

~ 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 ! .,.