Achille Mbembe: Fanon’s Nightmare in The Wretched of the Earth Has Become Our Reality
Last year saw the anniversary of 50 years since the death of Frantz Fanon and the publication of his highly influential work, The Wretched of the Earth. Achille Mbembe, an academic at Wits University and author of On the Postcolony, has written an overview of Fanon’s lasting contributions to contemporary thought in the Mail & Guardian.
Mbembe highlights some of the ideas Fanon is most remembered for, from his beliefs about subjugation – “the idea that in every human being there is something indomitable”, to his criticism of nationalisation – “a scandalous, speedy and pitiless form of enrichment”. Mbembe ends on a chilling note, saying that the post-colonial nightmare Fanon predicted in Wretched of the Earth has become our reality.
To discover more about Fanon’s ideology in the context of South Africa, read Nigel Gibson’s Fanonian Practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo. Gibson has written various essays about Fanon’s enduring legacy, some of which feature in Pambazuka’s Issue 561, dedicated to 50 years of Frantz Fanon.
Fifty years ago, Frantz Fanon died, leaving us with his last testimony, The Wretched of the Earth. Written in the crucible of the Algerian War of Independence and the early years of Third World decolonisation, this book achieved an almost biblical status.
It became a living source of inspiration for those who opposed the Vietnam War, marched with the civil rights movement, supported revolutionary black struggles in the United States, the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and countless insurgent movements around the world.
Fanon’s life had led him far from the island of Martinique in the Caribbean where he was born a French citizen. He took part, at the age 19, in the war against Nazism only to discover that, in the eyes of France, he was nothing but a “negro”; that is, anything but a man like any other man.
Book details
- The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
EAN: 9780141186542
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- Fanonian Practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo by Nigel Gibson
EAN: 9781869141974
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- Johannesburg: The elusive metropolis edited by Sarah Nuttall, Achille Mbembe
EAN: 9781868144730
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- On the Postcolony by Achille Mbembe
EAN: 9780520204355
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- Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
EAN: 9780745328485
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Photo courtesy Blitz the Ambassador
Apr
