wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

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