wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

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..~~...,~ •••• ,