Blog Entry #2

Blog Entry: #2

KEY: The number under the perspective indicates the perspective in future posts.

Fanonian Perspectives:

“The problem is clear cut the foreigners must leave. Let us build a common font against the oppressor and let us reinforce it with armed struggle”

 (1)

“The colonized finds his freedom through violence. It is the cleansing force that restores his self-esteem” Colonialism is a naked violence and only gives in when confronted with greater violence” (2)

The bourgeoisie idea of nonviolence is inefficient for “it cannot cure the marks of violence left on the natives by the colonizer; only counter revolution violence can remove them”

 (3)

“Decolonization unites the people on a national basis and words like brother, sister, friend are increasingly heard”

(4)

“And it is clear that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms; colonization and decolonization is simply a question of relative strength.” (5)

The town dweller is a traitor, a mercenary who apparently gets along very well with the occupier and strives to succeed in the context of the colonial system”

(6)

“The last shall be first”

(7)

The peasant who stays put is a staunch defender of tradition, and in a colonial society represents the element of discipline whose social structure remains community minded… such a static society, clinging to a rigid context can of course sporadically generate episodes of religious fanaticism and tribal warfare”

(8)

“Division between “white” Africans and black Africans”

(9)

Rather than being a “crystallization of the people’s innermost aspirations,” national consciousness becomes “nothing but a crude, empty, fragile shell”. That is after decolonization (fighting for betterment) the affluent persons of the previously colonized nation commonly pursue advancement of their personal interests and do not seek to advance the collective benefits of the entire nation. (10)

“After decolonization, nationalism quickly shifts to ultranationalism, chauvinism and racism” After decolonization people revert to old tribal and ethnic rivalries. The divisions become more important as they are fighting for the bread crumbs left by the former colonizer.

(11)

“Army and police are the pillars of the regime” but they are now corrupt and manipulated by foreign advisors from the colonial country “the strength of the police force and the power of the army are proportionate to the stagnation in which the rest of the nation is sunk”

(12)

“Their first encounter was marked by violence and their existence together-that is to say the exploitation of the native by the settler- was carried on by dint of a great array of bayonets and cannons”

 (13)

Exploitation: “Deportations, massacres, forced labor, and slavery have been the main methods used by capitalism to increase its wealth, its gold or diamond reserves, and to establish its power.” As well as "Europe is literally the creation of the Third World. The wealth which smothers her is that which was stolen from the underdeveloped peoples"

(14)

“The settler knows very well; when their glances meet he ascertains bitterly, always on the defensive, "They want to take our place.” There is no native who does not dream at least once a day of setting himself up in the settler's place”

(15)

“In the colonies, the foreigner coming from another country imposed his rule by means of guns and machines”

 (16)