Is Fanon Relevant? Toward an Alternative Foreword to “The Damned of the Earth”

The question in the title of my paper seems absurd, one and a half days into a two-day conference subtitled "Conversations with Fanon on the meaning of human emancipation." The very title, "Conversations," presupposes a Fanon alive, discussing the issues of relevance to human emancipation. What else, in other words, would Fanon be talking about and who is he talking to? Perhaps we should also keep in mind Fanon's now famous opening lines to "On National Culture": "Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it." Since "la trahir" could also be translated as treason, (1) a much more political term than betrayal--a term that perhaps betrays Fanon's own concern while reflecting on the anti-colonial revolutions--we might consider the betraying of Fanon. "Is Fanon relevant?" also depends not only on what is indeed translated as relevant but on other perspectives such as relevant to what, for what and for whom? And in these conversations with Fanon what is relevant to him? Let me backtrack a bit since the conversations in english with Fanon have always been translated and since we have a new translation, by Richard Philcox, of his Wretched of the Earth. (2) Let us begin with a retrospective. 1. ON TRANSLATION AND APPEARANCES Undergoing numerous printings totaling over one million copies, Constance Farrington's translation of Les Damnes de la Terre remained in print for over 40 years and has appeared in many formats in the U.S. The original English translation of Les Damnes (1961) along with Jean-Paul Sartre's preface was published by Presence Africaine in 1963. it had an orange cover with black and white text and was called The Damned. On the back cover was the following quote from Sartre: We have sown the wind; he is the whirlwind ... We were men at his expense, he makes himself man at ours: a different man; of higher quality. In 1965, Grove Press repaginated this edition as The Wretched of the Earth. On the cover, beneath Fanon's name, the book was mistakenly labeled, "A Negro Psychoanalyst's study of the problem of racism and colonialism in the world today." The back cover had three quotes that would remain on the book for 30 years: the first from Sartre, "Have the courage to read this book," the second from Emile Capouya (Saturday Review), " The Wretched of the Earth is an explosion. Readers owe it to their education to study the whole of it"--advice rarely followed given the penchant for denigrating Fanon as a "philosopher of violence"--and the third from Alex Quaison-Sackey, the President of the U.N. General Assembly, "This is a book which must be read by all who wish to understand what it means to fight for freedom, equality and dignity." These powerful endorsements about the book's relevance remained until 2000. The blurb on the back, which remained the basis for future publicity emphasizing Fanon's anger and his threat, read: This is a book written in anger, this book by a leading spokesman of the revolution which won independence in Algeria a few years ago. But it is no mere diatribe against the white man or the West: Fanon's is a cold anger, his intelligence is uncompromising, and as a doctor and a psychiatrist who has treated the bodies and minds of his fellow men, his compassion is great. The Wretched of the Earth is a work that will shock many . His work is a manifesto which is being read and studied throughout the emerging nations of the Third World. Probably the most widely read version of the Farrington translation came out in the U.S. in the earth-shattering year of 1968 when Grove replaced the "Evergreen" with the "Black Cat" edition. The blurb was revised with the following added, which would remain unchanged for over thirty years: It is a brilliant examination of the role of violence in effecting historical change which has served leaders of emerging nations as a veritable handbook of revolutionary practice and social organization. …