Frantz Fanon's "Conclusion"

This is a passage based commentary. The passage is from the Conclusion of the Wretched of the Earth and I will be talking about the whole chapter as well as the specific passage.



“So, my brothers, how could we fail to understand that we have better things to do than follow in that Europe's footsteps? This Europe, which never stopped talking of man, which never stopped proclaiming its sole concern was man, we now know the price of suffering humanity has paid for everyone of its spiritual victories. Come, comrades, the European game is finally over, we must look for something else. We can do anything today provided we do not ape Europe, provided we are not obsessed with catching up with Europe” (Fanon 236).


Before delving into the commentary of the passage, it is important to mention that the entire book and this chapter reflects Fanon’s political beliefs. He was a political radical, Pan-Africanist, and Marxist humanist. These things appear in the chapter recurrently as he talks about leading ‘humanity’ into a good direction and the Third-world taking charge instead of Europe. It is always important to know the details about the author whose work you are reading as that obviously guides his work e.g. when Fanon mention the status quo on page 237.

This passage stuck out for me since it pointed out the inherent contradiction at the heart of the ideology of colonialism and the general worldview of Europe. After the enlightenment, ‘man’ and humanity became the focus instead of religion. The ‘evolution’ of mankind became the theme and purpose. However, as Fanon points out, Europe who took it upon itself to develop ‘man’ and ‘civilize the native’ committed some of the greatest atrocities against humanity.

Fanon saves himself from a great contradiction in which many African leaders found themselves in. While they vehemently criticized Europe and colonization, yet the marker of success they set was Europe itself. The ‘development’ achieved by Europe. Or they went the other way: trying to bring to life an imagined past and culture whose example would be Jomo Kenyatta. Fanon furiously condemns Europe for the crimes it has committed and warns against following it. He shatters the gilded image of Europe in a legendary statement, going against what the colonized people have been fed for centuries: that the pinnacle of success and ‘civilization’ is Europe and the modernity it brought. Fanon takes the focus to the crimes it has committed and how, in fact, their success was built on the backs of the people they enslaved. So as reason would go, one would not follow someone who have been responsible for such evil. However, this was actually not the case for many colonized peoples and even their leaders. Colonization is not just of the body; it extends to the mind. For centuries, the black man had been forcibly fed the supposed superiority of the white man and his worldview; the standards of progress set in his or her mind was what the white people had achieved. Fanon calls to attention this enslavement of the mind and warns against the evils of following Europe. In this way, he remarkably predicts the post-colonial struggle in a time when the physical anti-colonial struggle was still underway.

Fanon calls for a different worldview. Not one where he wants to rebuild an imagined past like or where he wants to play catch up to Europe. He calls for starting anew with new standards of success, learning from the past and looking towards the future: “Let us decide not to imitate Europe and let us tense our muscles and our brains in a new direction”.(Fanon, 236). He superbly gives us the example of the US as a previously colonized nation who won in this game of catch up and became “monster where the flaws, sickness, and inhumanity of Europe have reached frightening proportions” (Fanon 237). Fanon again provides a novel perspective for the US is not thought of as a previously colonized nation and he is writing in a post world war 2 world after US atrocities of dropping the atom bombs. Even today, the US along with European nations are considered the epitomes of success which makes it all the more rebellious when Fanon describes its condition as a tragedy instead of triumph. The words “bloodless genocide” really struck me as well since it is a brilliant way to describe the attempts of colonialism to erase the culture of peoples. The chapter reflects Fanon’s political beliefs  

With all my admiration for these ground-breaking thoughts of Fanon, I must add my critique of his ideas on violence which I must stringently disagree with. I recognize the fact that struggling for your freedom is a right, and violence is self-defence is also right, and gaining freedom for Algeria inevitably required physical resistance. However, who that violence is directed against is very important. If that violence is against every ordinary white person on the continent of Africa, it is wrong. Movements are usually not strictly organized leading to many of its members committing acts even it does not endorse. If violence means the black man putting the knife at the throat of every white settler and his family, which restores his “self-respect”, I cannot endorse it. Individuals part of movement often take advantage of opportunities as well especially directing their anger in violence towards women which can take the most heinous of forms. This is not to deny the horrendous acts of violence committed by the colonizer, but even Fanon does not advocate revenge but moving on. He frequently warns against becoming another Europe so how can the violence they committed be endorsed if done by someone else? In the heat of violence and anger, would children be carefully spared?

As for the literariness of the passage, it felt to me like a fiery spirited speech. A very good one especially when considered the fact that Fanon was dictating this while on his deathbed instead of writing it down after careful reflection on his words. He uses evocative imagery of light and dark such as “mantle of night” and “dawning” of a new day. Fanon does well in arousing emotions e.g. through his frequent use of words like “comrades”.