The Wretched of the Earth

Fanon joined the Algerian struggle for independence from France and wrote The Wretched of the Earth, published in 1961, the year he died of leukemia at thirty-six. The book analyzes colonial rule as a system held together by force and by a divided world: settlers’ towns and natives’ towns.

Its most controversial chapter argues that colonized people may need violence to break a system founded on violence, and that the struggle can restore a sense of agency. Readers still argue over how to read this: as description, as justification, or as warning.

Fanon also warned that after independence a new national middle class may simply step into the colonizers’ shoes, enriching itself while the poor stay poor. He called for real change in who holds power, not just a change of flags.

The new management

Workers at a factory campaign for years to remove an abusive owner. They succeed, and a group of their own former supervisors takes over.

Within a year, the new managers have the old owner’s office, perks and habits. The workers’ pay has not changed. Fanon’s warning fits: a change of faces at the top is not the same as a change in who holds power.

Try this today Look at one change that was meant to help a group, and ask who actually ended up in charge of it.