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Frantz Fanon's seminal work on the trauma of colonization made him the leading anti-colonialist thinker of the twentieth century. Written at the height of the Algerian war for independence from French colonial rule and first published in 1961, it analyses the role of class, race, national culture and violence in the struggle for freedom. Fanon, himself a psychotherapist, makes clear the economic and psychological degradation inflicted by imperialism. Showing how decolonization must be combined with building a national culture, this passionate analysis of relations between the West and the Third World is still illuminating about the world today.
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THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH by Frantz Fanon Preface by JEAN-PAUL SARTRE Translated by CONSTANCE FARRINGTON GROVE WEIDENFELD NEW YORK -3Copyright (©) 1963 by Présence Africaine All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Published by Grove Weidenfeld A division of Grove Press, Inc. 841 Broadway New York, NY 10003-4793 Originally published by François Maspero éditeur, Paris, France, under the title Les damnés de la terre, copyright (©) 1961 by François Maspero éditeur S.A.R.L. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 65-14196 ISBN 0-8021-5083-7 Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper First Black Cat Edition 1968 First Evergreen Edition 1991 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 -4- CONTENTS Preface Concerning Violence Violence in the International Context Spontaneity: Its Strength and Weakness The Pitfalls of National Consciousness On National Culture Colonial War and Mental Disorders Series A Series B Series C Series D Conclusion 7 35 95 107 148 206 249 254 270 280 289 311 -5PREFACE Not so very long ago, the earth numbered two thousand million inhabitants: five hundred million men, and one thousand five hundred million natives. The former had the Word; the others had the use of it. Between the two there were hired kinglets, overlords, and a bourgeoisie, sham from beginning to end, which served as go-betweens. In the colonies the truth stood naked, but the citizens of the mother country preferred it with clothes on: the native had to love them, something in the way mothers are loved. The European elite undertook to manufacture a native elite. They picked out promising adolescents; they branded them, as with a red-hot iron, with the principles of Western culture; they stuffed their mouths full with high-sounding phrases, grand glutinous words that stuck to the teeth. After a short stay in the mother country they were sent home, whitewashed. These walking lies had nothing left to say to their brothers; they only echoed. From Paris, from London, from Amsterdam we would utter the words "Parthenon! Brotherhood!" and somewhere in Africa or Asia lips would open "...thenon! ...therhood!" It was the golden age. It came to an end; the mouths opened by themselves; the yellow and black voices still spoke of our humanism -7but only to reproach us with our inhumanity. We listened without displeasure to these polite statements of resentment, at first with proud amazement. What? They are able to talk by themselves? Just look at what we have made of them! We did not doubt but that they would accept our ideals, since they accused us of not being faithful to them. Then, indeed, Europe could believe in her mission; she had hellenized the Asians; she had created a new breed, the Greco-Latin Negroes. We might add, quite between ourselves, as men of the world: "After all, let them bawl their heads off, it relieves their feelings; dogs that bark don't bite." A new generation came on the scene, which changed the issue. With unbelievable pa