Very few theorists have ever advocated violence the way Frantz Fanon did in the fight against colonialism. What made Fanon unique was that he did not waver in his call to arms for African liberation. He placed his target within focus and invested considerable energy both intellectually and physically to bring an end to colonialism. Fanon’s justification of this radical stance was that “colonialism only loosens its hold when the knife is at its throat.”
Fanon’s Inspiration for Violence
Frantz Fanon was born in the heyday of French colonialism in Algeria. Born in the French Island of Martinique on July 20 1925, he received western education in Lyons, France. He later took up service as a psychiatrist in Algeria where he came into contact with the cruelty of colonialism against Africans in Algeria. Fanon resigned his job and joined the National Liberation Front (FLN) of Algeria.
Fanon’s professional experience as a psychiatrist constituted the spring board for his radicalism. In this profession, he saw for himself what he later described as “the psychiatric disorders emanating from colonialism.” This budding radicalism was ripened by his attraction to great African minds like Cheik Ante Diop and Aime cesaire from whom he drew considerable inspiration.
Fanon and the Reality of Violence
What separated Fanon from his contemporaries was his ability to blend theory and practice in the anti-colonial struggle. In Tunis, he worked in the press services of the FLN where he became one of the editors of El Moudjahid, the underground newspaper of the FLN. He later took up service in Accra – Ghana where he helped to create a “Third Base” in Mali. This was in response to the French “Charle Line” which had blocked FLN supplies through Morocco and Tunisia.
This active militancy notwithstanding, Fanon’s greatest contribution to African liberation lay in his ability to formulate an effective strategy to combat colonialism. This thesis of violence is at the core of Fanon’s monumental work The Wretched of the Earth, revered universally as the "bible of decolonisation." Other works which mirror this extremism include Black skin White Masks, A Dying Colonialism and Toward the African Revolution.
Colonialism and Beyond: Fanon’s vision for Africa.
Fanon was very unequivocal in his call for Africans to counter colonial violence with what he called “greater violence.” This was because in his view, “no diplomacy, no political genius, no skill” can cope with colonialism except “force.” He spoke of colonialism in very bitter terms. “Colonialism is not a thinking machine,” Fanon held, “nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state and will only yield when confronted with greater violence.”
Though he died in 1961 even before the liberation struggle had reached full gear, Fanon foresaw Africa several decades ahead. He understood that independence for much of Africa would simply entail the replacing of one “species” of men by another “species” of men. Nothing has been truer of contemporary Africa. Leadership in Africa has become a new form of oppression of Africans by Africans with the complicity of the same forces Fanon fought against – colonialism or neo-colonialism as it has come to be known.
Fanon saw the hand of colonialism in fomenting tribal chaos in Africa. “Colonialism does not simply state the existence of tribes,” Fanon said, “It also reinforces it and separates them … colonialism is separatist and regionalist.” This particular prediction has proven to be as accurate as a biblical prophecy. Since Fanon’s time, Africa has not known peace. This continent has played host to different forms of genocide, some accepted (Rwanda) and others disputed (Darfur).
In the light of current political developments in Africa, there is need to revisit Fanon's theory of violence. How far has Africa gone since Fanon? Did (neo)-colonialism outlive and out-manoeuver Fanon? Or has Africa simply redirected fanonian violence towards its own self?
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