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Quote by Frantz Fanon

Work

The Wretched of the Earth

Frantz Fanon's influential text delves into the psychological and political aspects of colonialism, offering insights into the experiences of the colonized and the path to liberation. more

Author

Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon

French psychiatrist and influential figure in the decolonization movement. Born in Martinique, Fanon was educated in France and worked as a psychiatrist in Algeria. His works, 'The Wretched of the Earth' and 'The Philosophy of the Revolution', have had a profound impact on postcolonial and liberation theories. more

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“In the initial stages, when contact between the two peoples might be limited to scouting out the possibilities of invasion, or trading with them for their furs or other produce, there is less need or cause to demean the inhabitants as savages or to regard them as beasts. However, the descriptions are radically different once dispossession becomes the aim or when the natives violently resist the intrusion of explorers.”

“Not all influences of colonialism were necessarily bad. Along with enslavement, subjugation, exploitation, loss of cultural heritage, and repression, colonists also brought modern scientific methods in fields such as medicine and agriculture. Note that this can be no apologia for colonialism, because these advances could have been gained without the societies' becoming colonised, as in Japan.”

“The idea of discovery and consequent possession is used by those with neither the intelligence nor sensitivity to see the value in lives other than their own. Anyway, there is no need to possess anything when there is access to everything. It is only when someone says that your mother belongs to them that there is a problem.”

“We here goe to cause preach the Gospel where it was never heard, and not to subdue but to civilize the Savages, for their ruine could give us neither glory nor benefit, since in place of fame it would breed infamie, and would defraud us of many able bodies, that hereafter (besides the Christian dutie in saving their soules) by themselves or by their Posteritie may serve to many good uses, when by our meanes they shall learn lawful Trades, and industries.”

“What a fool he’d been to think fair play counted for something with the men who were in charge of the Island! Officially of course, that was only Saunders and the Commissioner, but Mr Wade was in charge of the all-important government ferry from the mainland, and Mr Gubb was in charge of the stores that arrived. They were all in it together, behaving like the rulers of kingdoms he had read about as a child. He gave a bitter laugh. And what a kingdom it was! This miserable collection of society’s outcasts and junior officials who dared not oppose their authority!”