East vs West - Week 5 Blog

In the understanding of Fanon, the world under colonization is divided into two factions of people: those who possess it, and those who have borrowed it. The possessors of the world of course refer to the colonizers who not only aimed to maximize their own surplus through the plunder of other, non-white nations, but also managed to monopolize public discourse by claiming, or rather indoctrinating in the minds of the people, superiority over all non-White people in all areas concerning humankind: Science, Technology, Governance, Culture, Arts, Ethics, and so on. This is one way to look at Colonization. The simultaneous existence of different people not on a level social plane, but rather a hierarchy, with White on the top. Thus, the East is created, when one acknowledges the existence of a West that represents everything the East ought to be but is not. 

It is certainly possible to explain Colonialism under other lenses like, Economic differences, or Social differences, all of which are created and actively perpetuated by the Colonizer in order to maintain the hierarchy it introduced in the first place. How are these differences sustained? Fanon says, “You do not disorganize a society, however primitive it may be, with such an agenda if you are not determined from the very start to smash every obstacle encountered. The colonized, […], have been prepared for violence from time immemorial.” Fanon thus, goes to the heart of the matter in his understanding of Colonialism and states that “Colonialism is not a thinking machine, […]. It is violence in its natural state” and then further goes on to state “and [it] will only yield when confronted with greater violence.” Although one must not extrapolate from this quote the advocacy of violence by Fanon (since it was said under a specific context) one must not overlook the strong implication (and advocacy) of anti-colonial struggle in there. 

For Fanon, a world with Colonialism consists of divisions of: Borrowed/Possessed, Black/White, Barbaric/Civilized. The Colonized is seen to be left behind in all areas when compared to the Colonizer. It is seen as impoverished when it comes to areas such the capacity for scientific enquiry, the ability to sustain and appreciate culture, the moral sense of right and wrong. Almost as if, the Colonized is not in tune with time, and therefore backwards. On the contrary, Fanon imagines a Decolonized world which is wholesome and accepting of all. It refuses to accept the divisions upheld by Colonialism. Fanon imagines a Decolonized world, in which for once, everyone is in tune with time. 

For Fanon then, the project of Decolonization is not merely a political project, but also an ethical one, aimed at the reintroduction of the Colonized in their totality. It is a project in which the Colonized does not have to resort to seek refuge in mythical/outdated representations of themselves just to feel at home, after hopelessly trying to feel at home with the Colonizer. It is a project which aims to give rise to a new life for the culture of the Colonized. After all, culture is not Static. Why should one have to resort to identifying with outdated and fossilized reflections of themselves. It is a project, or rather a struggle which will give rise to new stories and consequently new art and culture with which the Colonized can identify. It is a project which will mark the transition of the Colonized form a stranger and a refugee to a new-born, unburdened by the differences around him/her. Only then, can the Colonized enable him/herself to be their closest self; when it has finally been able to regain its self back from the possession of the Colonizer. The Colonized thus, in this process of emancipation, outgrows the dichotomy of the East and the West, and is born again.