Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (ThA)

 Blog is assigned by Megha Ma'am

The Role of Violence in Colonialism with Reference to The Wretched of the Earth



Introduction

Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1961) is one of the most powerful texts on the psychology and politics of colonialism. Written during the Algerian war of independence against French rule, the book presents a revolutionary argument about how colonialism functions through violence—and how decolonization, in turn, requires violence to break free from the colonizer’s control. Fanon, a psychiatrist and revolutionary thinker from Martinique, used his experience in Algeria to study the mental and social damage caused by colonial domination. In his view, violence is not only a tool used by the colonizer to oppress but also a means through which the colonized reclaim their humanity. Thus, violence plays a double role in colonialism: it is both the method of oppression and the method of liberation.

Main Body

1. Violence as the Foundation of Colonial Rule

Fanon begins by arguing that colonialism itself is established and maintained through violence. The colonizer enters foreign lands not with dialogue or cooperation but with weapons and armies. Through this violence, the colonizer takes control of land, resources, and people. The native population is forced into submission through physical brutality and fear. According to Fanon, “Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reason. It is naked violence.” This statement means that colonialism has no moral justification—it survives only by force. The colonized subject learns early that the only language the colonizer understands is the language of violence.

The colonizer’s use of violence is not only physical but also psychological. The native is taught to believe in their own inferiority, to think that European civilization is superior, and that resistance is useless. This process creates what Fanon calls a “Manichaean world,” divided into two zones: the zone of the colonizer (associated with order, beauty, and power) and the zone of the colonized (associated with poverty, filth, and fear). Such division dehumanizes the native and normalizes violence against them.

2. Violence and the Dehumanization of the Colonized

In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon explains how continuous exposure to violence affects the psychology of the colonized. They live in a state of constant humiliation and anger, unable to act freely in their own homeland. The colonizer’s police, army, and legal systems exist only to maintain control. This leads to what Fanon describes as “a dream world of muscular tensions” where the colonized person imagines violent revenge. These suppressed emotions build up over time until they explode in acts of rebellion.

This internalization of violence also leads to divisions within native society. The elite class or “native bourgeoisie” often imitates the colonizer, seeking comfort and status rather than liberation. Fanon warns that this class may betray the revolutionary cause by preferring compromise over confrontation. Thus, for Fanon, genuine freedom requires the collective participation of peasants and workers—the people most directly affected by colonial violence.

3. Violence as a Path to Liberation

Fanon’s most controversial argument is that decolonization must be violent. He believes that because colonialism was born through violence, it can only die through violence. Liberation cannot come through peaceful negotiation with the oppressor, because the colonizer will never willingly give up power. Instead, the colonized must take their freedom by force. This revolutionary violence has a cleansing power—it restores dignity and unity to the oppressed.

Fanon writes, “At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction.” By fighting back, the colonized person rejects the myth of European superiority and discovers their own strength. Violence, therefore, is not only political but psychological. It helps the colonized recover their self-respect and rebuild a national identity destroyed by colonial rule.

However, Fanon also warns that violence must be organized and purposeful. If left uncontrolled, it can turn into chaos or civil war. True liberation requires that revolutionary violence lead to a just and equal society, not simply a change in rulers.

4. Violence as a Cycle and Its Aftermath

Fanon recognizes that violence does not end with independence. The new nation must deal with the scars left behind—poverty, division, and trauma. The challenge after decolonization is to use the energy of revolution to build a fair society, not to repeat colonial patterns of domination. Fanon calls for a new humanism that rejects both colonial violence and the greed of postcolonial elites. The ultimate goal is not endless bloodshed but the creation of a world where humanity can live without oppression.

Conclusion

In The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon presents violence as both the origin and the solution to colonial domination. Colonialism begins through violent conquest, maintains itself through repression, and can only be overthrown through revolutionary violence. Yet, Fanon’s view of violence is not simply destructive—it is transformative. Through violent resistance, the colonized rediscover their power, dignity, and humanity. Fanon’s message remains controversial but deeply influential, especially in postcolonial thought and liberation movements. His work reminds us that the struggle for freedom is rarely peaceful because the structures of oppression are built upon force. For Fanon, violence in colonialism is not only a political reality but a moral awakening—a painful yet necessary birth of a new human world.

3)The Meaning of Fanon’s Statement “The Infrastructure is also a Superstructure” in Colonialism

Introduction

Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1961) is one of the most powerful analyses of the psychological, political, and economic effects of colonialism. As a psychiatrist, philosopher, and revolutionary thinker, Fanon sought to expose how colonial domination functions not only through economic exploitation but also through cultural, ideological, and psychological control. When Fanon writes that “the infrastructure is also a superstructure,” he challenges the Marxist distinction between the economic base (infrastructure) and the ideological and cultural system (superstructure). In colonialism, he argues, this separation collapses — the economy and ideology of colonialism are inseparable. The material exploitation of the colonized world is reinforced by, and even identical with, the ideological justifications of colonial rule. This essay explains what Fanon means by this statement, how it reflects his modification of Marxist theory, and how it reveals the total nature of colonial domination.

Main Body

1. Marxist Background: Infrastructure and Superstructure

In classical Marxist theory, society is made up of two interconnected parts: the infrastructure (or base) and the superstructure. The infrastructure refers to the economic foundation of society — the means and relations of production. It determines how goods are produced and distributed, shaping class relations. The superstructure, on the other hand, consists of ideology, culture, law, politics, and religion — the systems of belief and power that arise from and justify the economic base. While the two are connected, Marxist theory traditionally views the base as determining the superstructure: economic relations shape social and ideological structures.

Fanon, however, observes that in colonial societies this model does not fit neatly. Colonialism does not simply have an economic base with an independent ideological system on top of it. Instead, every part of colonial society — from its economy to its culture — is organized around domination and racial hierarchy. Hence, the distinction between infrastructure and superstructure collapses.

2. Fanon’s Revision: Merging the Two in the Colonial Context

When Fanon states that “the infrastructure is also a superstructure,” he means that in colonialism, the economic exploitation (the infrastructure) cannot exist without the cultural and ideological domination (the superstructure), because they are two sides of the same system. The colonizer does not only exploit the labor and land of the colonized but also imposes a cultural system that legitimizes this exploitation. Economic control and ideological control are so deeply intertwined that they function as one.

For instance, the colonial economy depends on racial segregation and violence. The wealth of the colonizer’s society is directly built on the poverty of the colonized. The colonizer’s cities, comfort, and institutions are maintained by the forced labor and dispossession of indigenous people. At the same time, the colonizer develops an ideology of racial superiority to justify this arrangement — claiming that the colonized are backward, lazy, or uncivilized. Thus, the economic exploitation is not merely supported by ideology; it is ideological in nature. The economic base itself is constructed through racism and violence.

3. Colonial Society as a Manichaean World

Fanon describes the colonial world as “Manichaean” — divided into two opposing zones: the zone of the colonizer and the zone of the colonized. These zones are not only economic but moral and cultural. The colonizer’s area is rich, clean, and ordered; the colonized area is poor, dirty, and chaotic. This division of space reflects and enforces the division of humanity. The colonizer and colonized live in a relationship of complete opposition, where the colonizer’s privilege depends entirely on the colonized person’s degradation.

In such a world, economic structures (the infrastructure) are already ideological (the superstructure). The spatial and material organization of the colony is itself a form of ideology — it teaches both colonizer and colonized to believe in the hierarchy of race and culture. Thus, the streets, plantations, and mines are not neutral economic spaces; they are ideological sites that reproduce domination. Fanon’s statement, therefore, means that in colonialism, the infrastructure — the material foundation of society — is infused with and inseparable from the ideology that sustains it.

4. Violence as the Binding Force

Another crucial point in Fanon’s argument is that colonialism is maintained through violence. Unlike capitalist societies that depend primarily on economic coercion, colonial societies rely on physical force to preserve both economic exploitation and ideological control. The colonized are not persuaded into submission through culture alone; they are compelled by military and police power. This is why Fanon sees colonial infrastructure as already ideological: the economy of the colony operates only through organized violence. Hence, the gun, the prison, and the plantation are not just tools of production but instruments of ideology. They teach submission, fear, and inferiority, ensuring that the economic base itself enforces colonial ideology.

5. Implications for Liberation

Fanon’s merging of infrastructure and superstructure has radical implications for decolonization. Since colonial power is total — economic, political, and cultural — liberation must also be total. It cannot be achieved by changing economic structures alone or by replacing colonial rulers with local elites. True liberation requires dismantling both the material and the ideological structures of colonialism. In other words, to overthrow colonialism, the colonized must destroy the colonial world entirely, not merely reform it. This is why Fanon views revolutionary violence as necessary — it breaks both the material and psychological chains of domination at once.

Conclusion

Fanon’s statement that “the infrastructure is also a superstructure” redefines the Marxist understanding of society in the context of colonialism. In a colonial situation, economic exploitation and ideological domination are not separate layers of reality but one unified system of oppression. The colonial world’s economy is founded on racial ideology, and its ideology is embedded in its economic structure. Colonialism transforms the entire social order — from the organization of labor and space to the psychology of both colonizer and colonized — into a single apparatus of control. Therefore, for Fanon, the struggle against colonialism must attack both its economic and ideological roots simultaneously. His insight reveals that colonial domination is total, and so must be the process of decolonization — an act that aims not only to reclaim material independence but also to reconstruct human consciousness and dignity.

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