wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

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