wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

104THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 105demands of the nationals. In Senegal it was the anti-Sudanese **demonstrations that caused Mamadou Dia to state: "The peopleof Senegal owe their blind belief in the Federation of Mali totheir affection for its leaders. 1beir deep attachment to Mali hasno other basis but a repeated act of faith in the politics of theseleaders. The issue of Senegalese territory was no less alive in theirespecially as the Sudanese presence in Dakar was far toovisible for the problem to be overlooked. This is the reason why,far from causing any regrets, the breakup of the Federation wasgreeted by the masses with relief and there was no support fromquarter in its favor."13Whereas certain categories of Senegalese jump at the opportuofferedby their own leaders to get rid of the Sudanese, whoare unwelcome elements in the business and administrative sectors,the Congolese, who watched in disbelief as the Belgians leften masse, decide to put pressure on the Senegalese established atLeopoldville and Elizabethville and in tum get them to leave.we can see, the mechanism is identical in both cases.\Vhereas the ambitions of the young nation's intellectuals andbusiness bourgeoisie are thwarted by the Europeans, for the majorityof the urban population, competition stems mainly fromAfricans of other nations. In the Ivory Coast it is the Dahomeans;Ghana, the inhabitants of Niger; and in Senegal, the Sudanese.Whereas the demand for Africanization and Arabization ofmanagement by the bourgeoisie is not rooted in a genuine endeavorat nationalization, but merely corresponds to a transferof power previously held by the foreigners, the masses make thesame demand at their own level but limit the notion ofAfrican or Arab to territorial limits. Between the vibrant calls forAfrican unity and this mass behavior inspired by the managerialclass, a number of attitudes emerge. There is a constant pen­** Translator's Note: Present-day Malian 13 Mamadou Dia, Nations africaines et solidarite mondiale, 140. dulum motion between African unity, which sinks deeperdeeper into oblivion, and a depressing return to the mostnous and virulent type of chauvinism.for the Senegalese leaders who were the main theoreticiansof African unification and who, on several occasions, sacrificedtheir local political organizations as well as their personal careersto this idea, they undeniably bear a great deal of responalthoughadmittedly in all good faith. Their mistake,our mistake, under the pretext of combating Balkanization, wasnot to take into consideration that pre-colonial factor of territoriality.Our mistake was not to give enough attention in ouranalyses to this factor, exacerbated by colonialism, but also asociological fact which no theory on unity, however commendorappealing, can eliminate. We let ourselves be temptedby the mirage whose configuration is the most satisfying for themind, and taking our ideal for reality, we believed we onlyneeded to condemn territoriality and its natural offshoot, micronationalism, to get the better of them and ensure the successof our chimerical endeavor."14From Senegalese chauvinism to Wolof tribalism, there is butone small step. And consequently, wherever the petty-mindednessof the national bourgeoisie and the haziness of its ideologicalpositions have been incapable of enlightening the people as aor have been unable to put the people first, wherevernational bourgeoisie has proven to be incapable of expandingvision of the world, there is a return to tribalism, and we watchwith a raging heart as ethnic tensions triumph. Since the onlyslogan of the bourgeoisie is "Replace the foreigners," and theyrush into every sector to take the law into their own hands andvacancies, the petty traders such as taxi drivers, cake sellers,and shoe shiners follow suit and call for the expulsion of theDahomeans or, taking tribalism to a new level, demand that theFulani go back to their bush or back up their mountains.14 Ibid."'i-hdwflbRttfw%'"''" &1 Ii