wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

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'