Fanon considered in this sense that violence can be used by those people least attached to the values of the colonial society and with the fewest connections with the foreign settlers, as change can take place only "from the bottom up. The extraordinary importance of this change is that it is willed, called for, demanded," therefore felt at the lowest levels of the society, the peasantry. (Fanon, 1963, 35)
On a similar note is Sartre's approach to the role of the peasant in conducting the revolutionary movement. Unlike Marx, Sartre is keen in underlining the importance of the peasantry to the revolutionary effort. However, in Fanon's consideration of the peasants as the moving force of the revolution, there is a certain lack of coherence. In this sense, it can be noticed the fact that despite acknowledging the role of the least affected people in the society in terms of colonial pressure, he does propose the peasantry, who are deeply attached to the land they posses, as the initiators of the revolution.
In the first essay of his book, "The Wretched of the Earth" he deals with certain aspect of violence, and, more importantly he discusses the relevance of the violent act in reestablishing the pre-colonial order. However, in his attempt, and taking into account his studies in psychology, he considers violence expressed by the colonists as having both a physical component and a psychological one. Against this complex theorized system a revolution must break out.
The physical component of the colonial violence is seen as the actual expression of their rule and political dominance. In the case of Algeria, this dominance was exercised by the French who had established their reign over the country. In many instances, the French intervention in Africa was seen as neo-colonial pressure which influenced the proper evolution of both Algeria and the continent as a whole. In this sense, Robert Mortimer argues that "for Algeria, neo-colonial intervention was a grave reality retarding the independent development of the country. These attitudes placed Algeria squarely among the revolutionary states; much of Algeria's African policy can be understood as a campaign to stimulate the political consciousness of moderate Africa" (1970, 1). Therefore, the Algerian case can be considered to be the example advocated by Fanon in his debate over the use of violence as the means to create a revolution and eventually a change in the political status quo. The historical experience of the French in the African country proved most of Fanon's considerations, as they were forced to withdraw from the territory in 1962 following one of the most important decolonization wars in history.
The use of violence in the Algerian struggle for independence took many forms, from guerilla warfare, to the torturing of the French enemies. It represents a practical example for the precepts of Fanon's theoretical approach on violence. Nonetheless, the Algerian case taken in its entirety can be considered as a larger scale adoption of the idea considered by Fanon in relation to the forces that must start a revolution in order to achieve chance. More precisely, according to most scholars, the African continent was unofficially divided between countries that were willing to take on the risks of revolutionary change and those that were reluctant to take drastic measures against their colonial rulers (Mortimer, 1970, 2) Algeria, by initiating the fight against the French, proved to belong to the revolutionary side. In this way, from the perspective of the turn the events took in the French-Algerian war, the confrontation subscribes to Fanon's notion of the need for violence. It can therefore be used with the purpose of throwing from power the colonial rule and, at the same time, it can be an example of revolutionary attitude which would trigger the emancipation of the African continent, not by peaceful means as promoted by the Negritude adepts, but rather through an active...
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