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,I'1'1 '~",,),,112 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHtribulations with the colonial powers, spontaneously place theirtrust in this patriot. Before independence, the leader, as a rule,personified the aspirations of the people - independence, politicalfreedom, and national dignity. But in the aftermath of independence,far from actually embodying the needs of the people, farfrom establishing himself as the promoter of the actual dignityof the people, which is founded on bread, land, and putting thecountry back into their sacred hands, the leader will unmask hisinner purpose: to be the CEO of the company of profiteers composedof a national bourgeoisie intent only on getting the mostout of the situation.Honest and sincere though he may often be, in objective termsthe leader is the virulent champion of the now combined interestsof the national bourgeoisie and the ex-colonial companies.His honesty, which is purely a frame of mind, gradually crumbles.The leader is so out of touch with the masses that he manages toconvince himself they resent his authority and question the serviceshe has rendered to the country. The leader is a harsh judgeof the ingratitude of the masses and every day a little more resolutelysides with the exploiters. He then knowingly turns into anaccomplice of the young bourgeoisie that wallows in corruptionand gratification.The economic channels of the young state become irreversiblymired in a neocolonialist system. Once protected, the nationaleconomy is now literally state controlled. The budget isfunded by loans and donations. The heads of state themselvesor government delegations make quarterly visits to the formermetropolis or elsewhere, fishing for capital.The former colonial power multiplies its demands and accumulatesconcessions and guarantees, taking fewer and fewerprecautions to mask the hold it has over the national government.The people stagnate miserably in intolerable poverty and slowlybecome aware of the unspeakable treason of their leaders. Thisawareness is especially acute since the bourgeoisie is incapableof forming a class. Its organized distribution of wealth is notTHE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 113diversfied into sectors, is not staggered, and does not nuance itspriorities. This new caste is an insult and an outrage, especiallysince the immense majority, nine tenths of the population, continueto starve to death. The way this caste gets rich quickly,pitilessly and scandalously, is matched by a determined resurgenceof the people and the promise of violent days ahead. Thisbourgeois caste, this branch of the nation that annexes the entirewealth of the country for its own gain, true to its nature, butnevertheless unexpectedly, casts pejorative aspersions about theother blacks or Arabs, which recall in more ways than one theracist doctrine of the former representatives of the colonial power.It is both this wretchedness of the people and this dissolute enrichmentof the bourgeois caste, the contempt it flaunts for therest of the nation, that will harden thoughts and attitudes.But the looming threat results in a strengthening of authorityand the emergence of a dictatorship. The leader with his militantpast as a loyal patriot constitutes a screen between the peopleand the grasping bourgeoisie because he lends his support to theundertakings of this caste and turns a blind eye to its insolence,mediocrity, and fundamental immorality. He helps to curb thegrowing awareness of the people. He lends his support to thiscaste and hides its maneuvers from the people, thus becomingits most vital tool for mystifying and numbing the senses of themasses. Every time he addresses the people he recalls his life,which was often heroic, the battles waged and the victories wonin the people's name, thus conveying to the masses they shouldcontinue to place their trust in him. There are many examplesof Mrican patriots who have introduced into the cautious politicalstruggle of their elders a bold, nationalistic style. These mencame from the interior. Scandalizing the colonizer and shamingthe nationalists in the capital, they proclaimed loud and cleartheir origins and spoke in the name of the black masses. Thesemen who have praised the race, who were not ashamed of thepast-its debasement and cannibalism-today find themselves,Ml*$*¥W#*tUtr&l)" 'I' ,