from frantz fanon’s “wretched of the earth” (translated by richard philcox)

come brothers, we have far too much work on our hands to revel in outmoded games. europe has done what it had to do and all things considered, it has done a good job; let us stop accusing it, but let us say to it firmly it must stop putting on such a show. we no longer have reason to fear it, let us stop then envying it.

the third world is today facing europe as one colossal mass whose project must be to try and solve the problems this europe was incapable of finding the answers to.

but what matters now is not a question of profitability, not a question of increased productivity, not a question of production rates. no, it is not a question of back to nature. it is the very basic question of not dragging man in directions which mutilate him, of not imposing on his brain tempos that rapidly obliterate and unhinge it. the notion of catching up must not be used as a pretext to brutalize man, to tear him from himself and his inner consciousness, to break him, to kill him.

no, we do not want to catch up with anyone. but what we want is to walk in the company of man, every man, night and day, for all times. it is not a question of stringing the caravan out where groups are spaced so far apart they cannot see the one in front, and men who no longer recognize each other, meet less and less and talk to each other less and less.

the third world must start over a new history of man which takes account of not only the occasional prodigious theses maintained by europe but also its crimes, the most heinous of which have been committed at the very heart of man, the pathological dismembering of his functions and the erosion of his unity, and in the context of the community, the fracture, the stratification and the bloody tensions fed by class, and finally, on the immense scale of humanity, the racial hatred, slavery, exploitation and, above all, the bloodless genocide whereby one and a half billion men have been written off.

so comrades, let us not pay tribute to europe by creating states, institutions, and societies that draw their inspiration from it.

humanity expects other things from us than this grotesque and generally obscene emulation.

if we want to transform africa into a new europe, america into a new europe, then let us entrust the destinies of our countries to the europeans. they will do a better job than the best of us.

but if we want humanity to take one step forward, if we want to take it to another level than the one where europe has placed it, then we must innovate, we must be pioneers.

if we want to respond to the expectations of our peoples, we must look elsewhere besides europe.

moreover, if we want to respond to the expectations of the europeans we must not send them back a reflection, however ideal, of their society and their thought that periodically sickens even them.

for europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades, we must make a new start, develop a new way of thinking, and endeavor to create a new man.

frantz fanon