It took me some while to get through 'The Wretched of the Earth', as it is a painful book to read and a period of history that I know far too little about. Fanon systematically dissects the phenomenon of colonialism, with a focus on Algeria and its attempts to break free from French rule. He explains how the native population is dehumanised by their occupiers, enslaved, exploited, killed, raped, and their land treated as a resource to be expropriated. He demonstrates the pernicious pseudo-scientific racist rationalisations, used to justify colonialism as protecting native populations from their own worse nature. Beyond this damning indictment, Fanon examines the problems that face a decolonised country and their possible solutions. I was also struck by the analysis of decolonised countries having no real middle class, merely a group of middlemen as a legacy of colonisation. These sections remain unsettlingly relevant today, as African countries are still faced with developed world protectionism weighting international trade against them. The world remains resolutely unequal and is only becoming more so.

Reading this book reminded me of a realisation I came to at the age of 20. Prior to that point, I had been idealistically contemplating a career in the international development, to try and alleviate the terrible poverty there. Then I begun to actually study development economics and it hit me that the interference of naive, privileged, white university graduates from the developed world is not going to solve the problems of the developing world. Rather, such interference is a major part of the problem and part of the legacy of colonialism. I came to be horrified at the sheer arrogance of much international development discourse, which carries the underlying message that, 'We in the developed world know best, just do as we say'. Fanon ends his book with a powerful entreaty that decolonised countries avoid trying to emulate Europe and America, which is just the agenda that the IMF and World Bank push. Apart from the ways in which this agenda benefits multinational companies at the expense of the developing world, it ignores the fact that Europe's present economic success is based on centuries of slavery and rapacious theft. Fanon makes a striking point about this, noting that reparations were demanded from Germany after the Second World War, but decolonised countries have never even had the chance to ask for similar compensation for the crimes against them and the resources stolen. To this day, the developed world gets far more from the developing world than it gives back. As things often do, this also reminded me of climate change, which is essentially a problem the rich world has created that disproportionately affects the poor world. (Don't get me started on the appalling arrogance of the developed world in international climate negotiations.)

Fanon doesn't just elucidate the big picture, however. The last section of 'The Wretched of the Earth' details case studies of psychological disorders he has come across during Algeria's war of independence. These reinforce the message (also put across powerfully by Vasily Grossman in a Russian context) that one who sees others as less than human loses their own humanity, and indeed their sanity. Fanon's case studies describe the mental states of both colonial torturers and their victims. It is made clear, here and throughout, that violence begets violence. The colonial authorities accuse natives of being inherently violent and criminal, without acknowledging that colonialism forces them to be so. Treat a whole race as less than human and they will have nothing to lose from resorting to violence. Fanon explains this much more eloquently, of course.

I think it's important that Fanon's 1961 book is still read as a reminder of the legacy of colonialism, both on a continental and individual scale. After all, the racism and injustice that he describes is in no way eradicated. His writing style is eloquent, clear, and articulate, despite every word resonating with anger. It's an incredibly powerful combination. ( )

I sit here and try to imagine what it would have been like to have people like Fanon around as societal figures at the time. The guidance, the firm moral belief system. There isn't anyone like that today, certainly no public intellectual. This book has a different feel than Black Skin, White Masks. A view more clear, a stance more certain. It's hard to know what Fanon would think about the world in 2024.

Ironically, the influence of this book has been enormous, given how few people read it today.
It's inspiring and instructive, if not, in the end, very practical.
As polemic, it is still strong and moving. ( )

A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and racial difference in history. Fanon's masterwork is a classic alongside Edward Said's Orientalism or The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

This book by Frantz Fanon is relevant today. The context of the book is Algeria and French colonialism, so it is interesting for anyone studying French colonialism in Algeria. However, the lessons are timeless.
Many countries suffered from colonialism and continue to struggle to find their national character in the post-colonial world.
Franz Fanton's writing, while balanced, conceals deep anger. There is anger he directs at the colonialists and towards native people who copy the colonialists and exploit their fellow citizens.
The last chapter, in which he talks about some of the mental problems arising from colonialism, is powerful.
The conclusion calls for his citizens to find themselves and not copy their old masters.
This book is brilliant and relevant today. ( )

Pretty amazing. The final chapter, talking about his experience dealing with those traumatised in various ways by colonialism and the war as well as the bullshit given as explanations of Algerian behaviour by French psychiatrists, is horrifying and incredible. He has a great writing style which is clear and gets you caught up in his ideas of liberation - although I sometimes wish he said more on certain issues or whatever, you get a very clear picture of what he thinks. His descriptions of the problems of decolonisation ring true today. Important stuff if you're at all interested in the topic. ( )