The Wretched of the Earth: Chapter 1: On Violence Summary & Analysis

Decolonization—the liberation of a nation and the restoration of that nation to the people—will, according to Fanon, always involve violence. In the act of decolonization, one “species” of humankind is substituted by another, and the desire for decolonization is always present in the minds of the colonized. Conversely, fear of decolonization is always present in the minds of colonists. Decolonization cannot be accomplished through a “gentleman’s agreement,” as colonization itself occurred and continues to occur only through the use of violence. To decolonize a nation is to create new men and dismantle the “colonial situation.”

The colonial world is divided into two different and separate worlds, and these worlds are separated by soldier barracks and police stations. Using “rifle butts and napalm,” military soldiers and police officers make sure that the colonized are kept out of the colonists’ world. These two worlds, Fanon writes, are not equal. In the colonists’ world, the streets are impeccably maintained, and no one ever goes hungry. The world of the colonized, however, “is a disreputable place inhabited by disreputable people,” where the people are hungry for food, clothes, light, and warmth. Thus, the colonized are envious people, and there is not one among them who does not wish to take the place of the colonist.  

These two different worlds are likewise inhabited by two different “species,” and what divides these two “species” is race. The “ruling species”—the colonists—are white foreigners. These white people are “the others,” and they come from a different land than the colonized, who are the indigenous population. This colonial world, Fanon says, “is a Manichaean world,” where the colonist makes the colonized into the epitome of evil. To the colonists, the colonized have no values or ethics and their culture and traditions are the mark of evil. This mark of evil has been answered with Christianity—the “white man’s Church”—which, instead of calling the colonized to God, has called them to the ways of their oppressors. Manichaeanism serves to dehumanize the colonized; they are reduced to animals and referred to by the colonists in “bestiary” terms.   

During decolonization, Fanon writes, whenever the colonized begin to resist the colonists and rise up, they are always told to “be reasonable.” The colonized are cited morality and ethics, and they are told that their revolution should not be one of “regression.” The colonized are forced to embrace white morals, but for colonized subjects, to be a moralist means only to break with the violence of the colonialism. After decolonization, the colonists are welcome to coexist with the colonized, but the colonists usually leave once they discover that “the last [has] become the first.”

During decolonization, many colonized intellectuals have modified the demand that the last become the first and have rushed to fill important positions, such as administrators and experts. The colonized masses see this move as nepotism, and it causes them to question the very point of independence. The colonialist bourgeoisie has convinced colonized intellectuals that Western values are supreme, Fanon says, but those values have nothing to do with the actual struggles of the colonized. During true decolonization, the superstructure that the colonized intellectuals have borrowed from the colonialist bourgeoisie is destroyed.

The colonialist bourgeoisie has convinced the colonized intellectuals that they must exert individualism and that there is wealth and power in thought; however, Fanon says, this theory is false. Comradery and brotherhood are forbidden by the colonialist bourgeoisie for a reason: during decolonization, the colonized intellectual will find power in the people and the notion of meetings and assemblies. The interest of all colonized people, Fanon asserts, is in the collective—either everyone is saved, or no one is. When decolonization occurs where the struggle for independence has yet to make sufficient impact, colonized intellectuals hold fast to the values of the colonialist bourgeoisie, creating anger and violence among the colonized.  

To assimilate to the culture of their oppressors—the colonists—the colonized intellectuals have had to assimilate to colonialist bourgeoisie thinking and are thus always in danger of becoming “demagogues.” The colonized intellectual is a “mimic man,” but the masses do not recognize colonialist bourgeoisie thought. The colonized intellectual easily forgets the purpose of decolonization—to defeat colonialism—and they forget the main question fueling it: “Bread and land: how do we go about getting bread and land?” This question, Fanon says, may seem limited and narrow, but it is the best working model for decolonization.  

The Manichaeanism of colonial society is left intact during decolonization, only the colonists are the evil ones. The colonized are “penned in” by colonial society, and the only place they are free is in their dreams. Each night the colonized run and jump freely, building muscles and aggressive energy, but the only place they can release this aggression during waking hours is on their own people. This aggression pits black against black, Fanon says, and places the colonized subject is a continual state of tension. The colonized must always be on guard and be careful not to step out of line, and they are always presumed guilty by the colonists. Yet the colonized do not believe they are guilty and do not accept the colonists as an authority, so they are, understandably, always tense.  

In the colonial world, Fanon says, the emotions of the colonized are “kept on edge like a running sore flinching from a caustic agent,” and their bodies respond with spastic muscles. To understand the colonial world, one must understand dance and possession, which is the way in which the colonized relax their tense muscles. The dance circle brings the people together, and liberation and a sense of community are expressed in their movements, which releases the aggression stored in the muscles. In addition to dance, muscular tension is also released during deep possession—organized séances that include stories of vampirism and zombies—but these rituals are lost during decolonization.  

During the colonial period, political parties and the intellectual and business elite offer ways for the colonized to express the aggressiveness stored in their muscles. But, Fanon says, while their principles may be strong, they refrain from actually doing anything. Their attempts to express their aggressiveness amount only to talk. Political parties of the colonized ask the colonists for more power but get nothing. Nationalist political parties are supported mostly by urban voters—like teachers, tradespeople, and store owners—and they profit from the colonial situation. The colonized intellectual wants to assimilate to the colonizer’s world and compete with the colonists, Fanon writes, but the colonized masses don’t want to complete with the colonist. Instead, the colonized masses want to take the place of the colonists.

The peasantry is most often left out of nationalist political parties, but according to Fanon, only the peasantry is truly revolutionary. In a colonial situation, the colonist bourgeoisie convince the colonized intellectuals and business elite that nonviolence is in everyone’s best interest, but nonviolence is ineffective in decolonization. Colonialism “is naked violence,” Fanon says, and it “only gives in when confronted with greater violence.” 

When colonization began, one military power could occupy large stretches of land, but the struggle of the colonized today is a different fight. Capitalism in the early days viewed the colonies as a source of raw materials to be processed and sold on the European market; however, the colonial population today has become a consumer market. Moderate nationalist political parties of the colonized try to come to a solution with colonists that protect the interests of both sides, and their methods are generally peaceful. They utilize work stoppages, demonstrations, and boycotts that put pressure on colonists and allow the colonized to expend some of their pent-up aggressiveness, but, Fanon says, they are still ultimately under the control of the colonists. 

The colonist bourgeoisie calm the colonized with religion, and the colonized are given saints who forgave trespassing as examples of heroes. The colonized elite, who run the nationalist political parties and themselves come from freed slaves, appeal to the slaves but do not mobilize them. There are some rebels in the nationalist parties, Fanon says, but they upset the party as a whole and are usually rejected and hounded publically until they move to the country. There, the rejected politician has no trouble gaining the support of the peasant masses. Political leaders give speeches using national language, like “We blacks, we Arabs,” and this gives the people the idea that it is time to do something, but the rise of a new nation and the removal of the colonial system are only possible if the colonized violently rebel against the colonists.

Colonized people know that violence is “atmospheric,” Fanon writes, and that it breaks out from time to time, so they identify their enemy—the colonists—and focus all their hate and anger on them. The isolated colonists, like those on farms, become worried and demand the authorities do something to ensure their safety. The colonial authorities arrest a few nationalist leaders and demonstrate military power to intimidate, and all of this makes everyone “trigger-happy.” Oppression strengthens national consciousness, and violence is the only solution. The colonized masses believe that independence can only be achieved through violent means because the people of the Third World “are in the process of shattering their chains.”  

However, the masses of developing countries who have achieved independence believe “they have been robbed.” In fact, Fanon claims, for over 90 percent of the population of developing countries, independence does not bring change immediately. In newly liberated countries, those in power spend most of their time defending their borders from threats, and the “atmospheric” violence of colonial times is thus still felt in national politics.

The colonized, who are completely supported by socialist countries, will use any weapon to fight the colonists, including the Cold War. The Americans closely guard international capitalism, and they recommend that Europe decolonize. But the greatest threat, according to the colonists, is socialism, and the colonized masses can be easily infiltrated and contaminated by socialist propaganda. Therefore, capitalism has everything to lose if there are national conflicts, and the colonized people know all about the imperatives of international politics. 

Violence does not intimidate the colonized. They have been overtaken and subsequently held by violent means, and they perfectly understand violence. The colonized have adapted to a world of nothing but violence, and they are not frightened by violence on a global scale. The colonized, Fanon says, is “a political creature in the most global sense of the term.” Independence may have given colonized countries freedom and dignity, but there has not yet been time for them to build a new society or establish new values. Newly independent colonized countries are in an “indeterminate state,” which is why political leaders in such countries maintain neutrality. 

Neutrality, Fanon says, “consist of taking handouts left and right,” and it is a system that has been created by the Cold War. With Neutrality, an underdeveloped country can receive economic aid from either of the two Blocs, but it cannot expect that either Bloc will come to their aid in any other way. Thus, underdeveloped countries have no real interest in the Cold War.

Neutrality makes the citizens of Third World countries behave defiantly. They refuse to compromise in any way, and this makes Western countries nervous. Third World countries have no money and no troops—it makes sense that they would be ignored in a global war, but instead they are flattered. “Everyone wants a piece of them,” Fanon says.  

Returning to the violence between the colonists and the colonized, Fanon says, this violence is an armed conflict, and it can break out wherever colonialism is practiced. An armed struggle means that the colonized have put their faith in violence alone, and it is the same language they have learned from the colonists. The colonists have long since used violence as the only way to communicate with the colonized, and the colonized respond in kind. The colonized have always known that colonialism can only end in a violent way, and they are completely prepared for it. 

To the colonized, violence is the only response. For instance, in Algeria, nearly all the men who rallied support for the national struggle were wanted by the French police, and some were even sentenced to death. The national struggle itself is rooted in and works toward the death of the colonist. The colonized are liberated only through violence. The violence of the colonists and the counterviolence of the colonized have a reciprocal relationship, and once the colonized engage in counterviolence, they must expect police and military reprisals. These reprisals, however, are incredibly unequal, and the colonists’ violence outweighs any violence exerted by the colonized.       

During any armed struggle there is what is known as “the point of no return.” In Algeria, this point was reached in 1955. This is the point when the colonists realize that things cannot continue to go on and must change, but the colonized are prepared to keep going. To the colonized, any reciprocal violence they are forced to suffer at the hands of colonists is to be expected. Whenever the colonized are beaten or their wives are raped or killed, they do not complain. They know that there can be no real justice in a colonized country, and they do not expect it. With the colonist came the death of indigenous culture and society, and for the colonized, life can only be realized through the death of the colonist.

After the armed struggle comes nation building, and it, too, is steeped by violence. During colonial times, the colonized had to fight against oppression; after independence, the formerly colonized must fight poverty, illiteracy, and other problems of underdevelopment, like hunger and illness. It is a never-ending struggle, and the violence of the colonized unifies them. Violence has a cleansing power on an individual level. It rids the indigenous people of the inferiority complex imposed on them by the colonists, and it gives them confidence.