The French colonial government actively sought means to control land and land use in Algeria, notes Sartre. Control over land and natural resources equals ownership of the means of production. Economic oppression also creates class conflict: the subjugated peoples become a clear and identifiable underclass. Even within the underclass, class conflict prevents political cohesion. The French and the Americans would have been far less successful in their colonial campaigns had the Algerians and the Native Americans been able to organize en masse in rebellion. Poverty pits neighbor against neighbor in the competition for limited resources. Furthermore, race and social class become linked together and offered up as false proof that the oppressed groups are inherently inferior. Economic oppression also serves another key goal that helps perpetuate colonial rule: ignorance. Stripping the underclass of access to capital or to the means of production, the ruling class ensures lack of access to information or political power. Similarly, the underclass is economically impoverished to the point where subsistence needs trump education. Keeping the underclass economically and intellectually oppressed are systematic means of retaining sharp social inequalities. The colonial powers use economic oppression to enslave the underclass for generations.

Sartre also points out that colonialism is also a social and psychological problem (p. 30). The subjugated develop an "inferiority complex" that is reinforced by education and the media (Sartre p. 30). Described as "vermin," the Native Americans are similarly taught that theirs is an inferior culture. In fact, the Native American population is visibly cordoned off onto reservations to prove their innate differences from the powerful ruling classes. The indigenous peoples are not considered to be on equal footing as those who are members of the same ethnic, social, or economic class as the oppressors.

Social and psychological...

This is one of the main ways that colonial governments carry out their campaigns: by creating and maintaining a myth. As Churchill notes, "we hear only of 'Indian wars', never of 'settlers' wars'. It is as if the natives, always 'warlike' and 'aggressive', had invaded London or Castile," (p. 3). Sartre also argues that the French depict the Algerian Muslims as being dangerous rebels even though they were "right to attack," out of self-preservation (p. 32). Claiming that the Native Americans were warlike makes the American genocidal campaigns seem justified, too. The ideology of oppression is steeped heavily in myth and the illusion of cultural and moral superiority.
Ultimately, the goal of colonialism is to acquire land and resources to create economic opportunities. Those economic opportunities cannot be gained in cooperation with the indigenous peoples, because cooperation would naturally entail sharing both economic and also political power. Thus, obtaining land and natural resources requires the use of force against the indigenous people. The military might of the oppressor is the primary physical means by which colonialism is carried out. Still, military force is insufficient. Perpetuating the myth of moral superiority and cultural superiority, the dominant society can count on the support of its people. Even in a democracy claiming equal rights and liberties, brutal means of subjugation persist because of the systematic way racism is worked into ideology. Racism is the ideological tool used to create support for colonial enterprises and cultural genocides. The myth of superiority allows the oppressor to deny any wrongdoing.

Works Cited

Churchill, Ward. A Little Matter of Genocide. City Lights Books, 1997.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism. Translated by Azzedine Haddour, Steve Brewer. Routledge,…