Meditations on Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth

by James "Yaki" Sayles

"This exercise is about more than our desire to read and understand "Wretched" (as if it were about some abstract world, and not our own); it's about more than our need to understand (the failures of) the anti-colonial struggles on the African continent. This exercise is also about us, and about some of the things that We need to understand and to change in ourselves and our world."A a�aJames Yaki Sayles One of those who eagerly picked up Fanon in the 60s, who carried out armed expropriations and violence against white settlers, Sayles reveals how, behind the image of Fanon as race thinker, there is an underlying reality of antiracist communist thought.

Genres: Race, History, Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Africa, American

399 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2010

Reviews

[Brian Mcquaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sayles meticulously goes through Fanon’s key arguments and shows how they are relevant in the United States. He shows the limits of politics solely based on race as opposed to nation and struggle without ideological cohesion. The essays that preceded the main work are equally excellent. I can’t recommend this book enough as a companion to Fanon’s Wretched.

[Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If i’m reading Fanon correctly, he’s saying that the people aren’t/ shouldn’t struggle simply to achieve “national liberation”, but to build socialism- that the struggle for national independence remains incomplete so long as the construction of a socialist society is incomplete.”

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not read this one cover to cover (despite a friend's insistence), but what I did read was extremely helpful for thinking about revolutionary work and different styles of organizing, different goals, etc. I hadn't read Fanon in years, and even then, I had only read portions of Fanon's Wretched so sometimes it felt tedious for Yaki Sayles to reference the work, critiques and analyses of the work, and then read his own interpretation or understanding. Sometimes he would use dictionary definitions to enhance his argument, which in the age of smartphones and the internet, is often considered pedantic and weird (but much of this book was written in the 70s, so I gave it a pass). However, I realized that the way I had been taught about Fanon and about Wretched of the Earth fell into many of the same problems of interpretation that he critiques. I too had been taught that Fanon's thesis was that race was THE critical issue and THE major contradiction. Upon an actual close reading of his words, it's obvious that this is not what his work was saying at all, and any academic writing that pushes us to think otherwise is actually a counterproductive misunderstanding of Fanon's politics.

[Kwasi Akwamu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yaki is a dynamic thinker with a background in the Black struggle in the U.S. Having began his involvement as a teenager, he eventually served some 40 years in prison as a result. During his incarceration, he developed his thinking on the revolutionary process and advanced a critical perspective on many areas, including prisons, urban issues, and revolutionary theory. His current book, released after he succumbed to failing health, provides a new analysis of the classic 1961 tome by Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.

[Jock Reznor · Rating 5 out of 5]

as it says , this text is primarily for new afrikan comrades,

but there's a lot to study and learn from any and all revolutionaries in the US, especially in the cities.

If you're looking for more recent and focused application of the theory of Fanon and George Jackson to the present context in the struggle against colonialism + capitalism, this is a book for you

[Andrew Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To kill the prestige of the oppressive state, is, first of all, to kill the image of its legitimacy in the minds of the people. To transform the criminal mentality, and the colonial mentality, into a revolutionary mentality, is to destroy within the minds of the people the sense of awe in which they hold the oppressive state". Pg 73

Meditate on that, reflect on it's every word. That was the demand Yaki required. What is our goal as so called revolutionaries? What is the essence of our, to-be, practice? In short it is to raise a revolutionary, new consciousness; it is "Decolonization - the revolutionary process - is about "influencing" and "modifying" people. The revolutionary process aims to transform "spectators" into "actors" - the revolutionary process is introduced by "new people" - i.e., not until the people have made fundamental change within themselves do they begin the revolutionary process." Pg 210

Reflect again and again what Yaki is trying to hammer repeatedly into our minds; We MUST raise the political consciousness of the masses as a HISTORIC NECESSITY, or FAIL. ALL prospects on manufacturing revolution hinge on decolonizing (through revolutionary "violence") our minds and those of the masses. ALL political work must be dedicated to finding the methods to make this a reality.

I treated this book as mental exercise to study deeply and with care, the profound insight on Wretched of the Earth and its real lessons. In my personal opinion it has been one of *the* formative books I've read thus far. I've "read" many books but what did I recall? Only the surface level, the highlights, the "trees" and not the "forest". I began to realize as I read this that I must *study* what I have read. Don't rush through to get onto the next book. Why do I read in the first place? It is to be "mentally alive" as Malcolm said, and to effect transformation upon the world. What good is it to "read" a book and not see it as a tool to make change materially? Yaki states as much repeatedly and that I take it to heart. Do not chase whatever is popular by that virtue alone. Develop yourself and with meditate on what you read and why.

All the essays preceding the Meditations on Wretched are of great care. Understanding the genocide that is being waged on the colonized living in major cities in the US and overcoming the "criminal" and colonial mentality are particularly good. Yaki writes in colloquial language for activists and avoids the pretentious barriers that so many authors have from their professorships and academic halls. He writes using lower case "i" and capital "We" to emphasize that it's about us and not him. He was a true proletarian intellectual.

Meditations is a mind building experience and one that I think should be read by all revolutionaries to begin to understand "how to think" rather than "what to think". Pg 192. Yaki states we are trying to turn ALL people into "leaders" and "intellectuals". Pg 210.

Part 3 deals with the deconstruction of "race" and how it behaves as a mask for capitalist exploitation. One of the major critiques here is Yaki driving home that we must de-link from continuing to reinforce racism by many means. Because when people talk about "race" they are tacitly acknowledging the biological implication that we have "races" with a particular hierarchy, which as we know, is scientifically bogus and disproven. So why do we continue to use racialized terms for different groups of people? People are not "black" or "white". They are part of a nation or ethnic group with a particular culture or even color skin. The use of "race" distorts exploitation as to why people were colonized to begin with. Yaki details this much more eloquently than I so please read it. For me I will drop using any racialized language or terms for people. We want to dismantle "race" and racism and that requires understanding its direct link to capitalist exploitation. "Race" disappears along with the end of capitalism through struggle.

There is one interesting side note here because in my copy of Wretched, the most recent published one, it has an introduction by Cornel West. Now Cornel West is referenced by Yaki numerous times in his book and this was published over 15 years ago, while West's intro is only recent as of 2021. I want to record this right and not misinterpret Yaki because he writes Cornel (among others) as "wily intellectuals" who he criticizes for their positions extensively as petite bourgeois of the colonized. In fact already there were comments on the intellectuals writing forewards in the book. In my personal view he would probably have some something to say of Cornel having an intro to Wretched as a deep irony.

As I neared the end of the book a great sorrow overcame me. Part 4 is only the first draft of an incomplete analysis of the nation and nationalism. It remains unfinished and will. Yaki was taken from us before it could be. The last passage leaves off like we're about to continue, but that's it. To be honest I had to cry. But I reflect that he is not really dead, he lives on through this book and his works. His body passed before I even had a real political thought in my body. If get the chance I will pay respects to wherever he may lay. And finally I will work to bring him to life and introduce others to his teachings.

Lal Salaam and All Power to the People.

[Aamina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book for anyone wanting to drastically change the world. Leaves you feeling ready to take action in your own life, so you can build a better future for your family. And a better family means a stronger community. And a stronger community means a better society for us all.

"Our job is to bring about change. It is not to face reality but to change it. And this cannot be done by attending meetings once or twice a week, reading a few books or writing a few poems, praying, or waiting to see what someone else is going to do. We must work every day of the year, twenty-four hours a day. And every day must be a day of preparation and rehearsal. We must keep the goal always in mind."

How I feel after reading this book: “I knew right there in prison, that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”

[Comrade Zupa Ogórkowa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great, and in an accessible and no-holds-barred style reminiscent to his comrades j sekai and Butch Lee. Basically a useless read if you have not read wretched of the earth first. Also important to note that his unapologetic and clear, to the point analysis was put together while he was in prison, similar to George Jackson’s blood in my eye. Political prisoners continue to write some of the most important theory, especially for those who care about praxis.

[Kai Perrignon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and enlightening!

[Chereace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential in understanding Wretched and even helpful in how to think more critically when reading heavy texts in general.