Writer: Veli Mbele | Photographs: Supplied
“When examining the colonial context closely, it is evident that what parcels out the world is, to begin with, the fact of belonging to or not belonging to a given race, a given species. In the colonies, the economic substructure is also a superstructure. The cause is the consequence: you are rich because you are white, you are white because you are rich. This is why Marxist analysis is always slightly stretched every time we deal with the colonial problem.
In the colonies, the foreigner from another country imposed his rule by means of guns and machines. Despite his successful transplantation and his appropriation, the settler remains a foreigner. It is neither the act of owning factories, estates, nor a bank balance that distinguishes the governing classes; the governing race is, first and foremost, those who come from elsewhere—those unlike the original inhabitants, ‘the others’. (Fanon, 1967)
No conversation about the Black condition, oppression, liberation, or decolonisation is complete without reference to Frantz Fanon and his incisive, epoch-shaping ideas. This year marks the 99th anniversary of the birth of Frantz Fanon. Over time, Fanon’s ideas have become an important resource with which Black people (worldwide) have deepened their understanding of the nature of Black being. However, Fanon’s ideas have not only provided theoretical clarity; they have also inspired Black people to act against their oppressors, establish revolutionary movements, and take up arms.
There is, therefore, a sense in which Fanon’s ideas inspired those who encountered them to always understand the dialectical relationship between thinking and acting on what they think about. Like many who grew up in the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) in South Africa, Fanon was a natural staple for me. His influence is palpable in the ideological textures of many Black revolutionary movements and philosophy studies in think tanks and academic institutions worldwide.
His works—The Wretched of The Earth (written during his last days in 1961), Black Skin, White Masks (written at age 28), Toward the African Revolution, and A Dying Colonialism—formed the core political study curriculum of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa and the Black Panther Party in America. Fanon’s work is so influential that it has been and continues to be translated into as many languages as possible globally. Like many Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanist activists, his ideas have fascinated me and shaped my understanding of Black being.
One aspect that continues to fascinate me in my investigation of Fanon is his brief but impactful friendship with another African liberation great, Patrice Emery Lumumba. Fanon and Lumumba met in the late 1950s through Kwame Nkrumah, while attending the All-African People’s Conference in Ghana. They were instantly drawn to each other and struck up a friendship. Upon learning of Lumumba’s assassination, Fanon wrote:
“The imperialists have decided to kill Lumumba. They did. They decided to form legions of volunteers. They are already in place… Let us never forget: it is our fate, to all, that is being played out in Congo.”
This is an extract from Fanon’s article titled Lumumba’s Death: Could We Do Otherwise? written several weeks after Lumumba’s assassination. In this article, Fanon provides a penetrating analysis of Lumumba’s importance to the African revolution, the events that may have led to Lumumba’s assassination, and the meaning of his brutal death. The full text appears in Fanon’s Toward the African Revolution (1967) and the Patrice Lumumba: Voices of Liberation series by Leo Zeilig (2013).
Fanon died several months after Lumumba’s assassination, which hurt him deeply. There are striking similarities in the life stories of Fanon and Lumumba: they were born in the same month (July) and year (1925), and both died in 1961. This year, Fanon and Lumumba would have celebrated their 99th birthdays. Fanon was 36 at the time of his passing. His body of work continues to enhance our understanding of Black being and inspire Black rebellion (cognitive and practical). His work continues to provide unparalleled clarity on themes like ontology, consciousness, existentialism, phenomenology, coloniality, decolonisation, liberation, psychopathology, violence, Black consciousness, Pan-Africanism, anti-Black racism, and anti-Blackness.
As an incisive, indefatigable thinker and writer, as well as a revolutionary and guerrilla fighter in the Algerian Revolution, Fanon significantly contributed to the fight against the globalised terror of white supremacy. However, Fanon’s greatest contribution is perhaps in how he imbued Black people with the cognitive confidence not only to reimagine consciousness but also to reimagine our being and the world.
I do not think it possible to provide an exhaustive account of Fanon’s contribution to the project of ushering in a new set of human relations wherein Black people exist as completely self-determining beings. Fanon has bequeathed us a legacy of original, independent, and incisive thought, without which the attainment of what Steve Biko calls a ‘free self’ is not possible. For all he has done for us, we owe Fanon an incalculable debt of gratitude.
*Veli Mbele kaSompisi is an Afrocentric essayist and cofounder of Mutapa Afrocentric Dialogues.
