Reading Group Week 26 - "A Dying Colonialism"
Hello. Welcome back; after a little break, we're starting a new book: A Dying Colonialism by Frantz Fanon.
If you haven't bought the book yet, you can buy it here. Purchases made through the Workshops4Gaza fundraiser send proceeds (or more, if you opt to donate more) to The Sameer Project.
Schedule
We're going to follow a different schedule than usual for the next few weeks. The short version is that you can follow along with this book by reading something every 2 weeks. Here's what that looks like:
| Week | Date | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | July 14 | Introduction + Preface |
| Week 2 | July 28 | Chapter 1: "Algeria Unveiled" |
| Week 3 | August 11 | Chapter 2: "This is the Voice of Algeria" |
| Week 4 | August 25 | Chapter 3: "The Algerian Family" |
| Week 5 | September 8 | Chapter 4: "Medicine and Colonialism" |
| Week 6 | September 22 | Chapter 5: "Algeria's European Minority" + Conclusion |
If you're up for reading more, then I'm going to be concurrently reading another book, mostly during the alternating weeks (July 21, August 4, August 18, etc...) on the calendar. I'll mention the other book in newsletter emails, but the group chat on Signal is where discussions will happen. More on that at the bottom of the email.
Format
Every time we start a new book I want to try to remind people of how this works in case you haven't dug into the archives for the format and roadmap post. The gist is that there are a few ways to follow along:
- follow these emails (which I'll send on Mondays)
- video chats (Saturdays at 12pm ET)
- signal group chat
- discuss with me on social media (you can find me on bluesky, mastodon, and twitter/x)
Readings
For this next week or so, let's read the introduction and preface of A Dying Colonialism. The introduction (and its postscript, written a few months later) was authored by Adolfo Gilly in 1965.
Introduction
The people haven't forgotten any of this, because they are practical and they scorn forever those who out of selfishness or criminal blindness fought the liberation movement, denounced it, or betrayed it, meanwhile calling themselves "revolutionaries" or "Communists" or "socialists." Such people, once the collective experience of the masses is accomplished, are never again influential, no matter what money or means they may have at their disposal. (pg 10)
Preface
If it does not wish to be morally condemned by the "Western nations," an underdeveloped nation is obliged to practice fair play, even while its adversary ventures, with a clear conscience, into the unlimited exploration of new means of terror.
An underdeveloped people must prove, by its fighting power, its ability to set itself up as a nation, and by the purity of everyone of its acts, that it is, even to the smallest detail, the most lucid, the most self-controlled people. But this is all ver difficult. (pg 24)
Does anyone think it is easy to make this child of seven forget both the murder of his family and his enormous vengeance? Is this orphaned child growing up in an apocalyptic atmosphere the sole message that French democracy will leave? (pg 26)
Are we still living in the time when man must fight and die in order to have the right to be the citizen of a nation? (pg 30)
I didn't really set out to draw quotations with strong parallels to today, but I started to realize the pattern after looking at a few quotes from Gilly's introduction and Fanon's preface. The duplicitous self-described liberals, leftists, or whatever they call themselves who condemn the Palestinian struggle (and, for that matter, any struggle until the struggle is in the past, so that they can be wistful and nostalgic for that time when they were worse than useless, but they evidently remember differently). Or Fanon's observation that people struggling for their nation and for their freedom (in his case Algeria, but we could say Palestine as well) are held to an unreasonable standard that their colonial oppressors are not expected to meet - indeed, that they are guiltier of transgressing than anyone.
Or the pleading that people understand that the settler colonial violence that France - or today Israel - commits only precipitates a desire for vengeance, for justice, for a future where the survivor can reclaim his future in the aftermath of such extreme dispossession.
Finally, the question we still ask ourselves today: "are we still living in the time when man must fight and die in order to have the right to be the citizen of a nation?"
Palestine is fighting for its freedom from apartheid and from genocide - fighting for an end to the ongoing catastrophe, The Nakba. The world sees Palestine's plight. What future can Zionists and their shrinking community of supporters possibly imagine, other than what is inevitably - albeit painfully - going to come? Who can possibly think that the world community will go backwards in understanding the violent oppression, dispossession, apartheid, and genocide that Israel is committing against Palestine?
I ask in a similar vein to Fanon's question on page 28 - "Why does the French government not put an end to the Algerian war?" - Israel, the United States, and their vanishing allies seems utterly recalcitrant in recognizing that Palestine will be free. There is clearly no other future. All Israel can do is commit more crimes against humanity, commit more atrocities, debase themselves. And all we can do is resist and struggle until Palestine is free; until we are all free.
Tell me your thoughts
I'd like to hear what feelings you have, if any, about this week (or these few weeks') readings. What are you looking for from this book? What caught your attention in this week's reading?
If you want, the Signal group chat is a great place to participate. The group chat is also where we'll discuss the other book.
The other book
Concurrently with A Dying Colonialism, the group chat will be the primary site to discuss Capital: Volume 1 by Karl Marx, with all the same friends (including me).
I talked about some of the differences between translations/editions in a previous email, but here's that summary again:
There are three major translations. The first translation by Engels in the 1880s; then by Fowkes in the 1970s; and most recently a translation by Reitter, which came out last year.
- The Engels translation is here. You can download it for free.
- The second translation, by Fowkes in the 70s, is widely established and is most likely what people have been reading, quoting, and citing. You can get it here.
- The new translation by Reitter, published in late 2024, uses more modern language and offers lots of translation notes that might be interesting if you're that kind of linguistics nerd. I'm taking this opportunity to be that that kind of nerd, and going to pick up this translation. You can get it here.
I realize this is a new format and a new thing; I hope you'll join us in the group chat to discuss Capital: Volume 1.
Okay, I think that's everything. Thanks for reading to the end. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know. Otherwise, we'll chat on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Twitter/X about A Dying Colonialism, and we'll talk about the Introduction & Preface this Saturday at 12pm ET.