Introduction
Discourse on Colonialism, the fiery, unmaterialist call to action written by Aimé Césaire in 1950, is not a threat, but a warning to Europe that its depravity will deprive itself. Discourse, conveying the passion of the age, is foundational to anticolonial theory and Black internationalist theory, speaking to the energy of the ‘50s wherein classical imperialism was beginning to crumble as the postwar age of decolonization undermined the old-world order by resisting and exhausting the resources of the colonial powers (Young 2001). In this review, I will argue how Césaire clarified the ways in which Europe is “indefensible”, unsustainable, and will inevitably fall. By demonstrating that his energies foreshadow the coming scholars, the coming atrocities, and the inevitable violence that will befall the world with the rise of the United States of America as the global superpower and harbinger of the new epoch of domination, I conclude that Césaire was true to his surrealist and Communist affiliations in his calls for the oppressed proletariat to rise, for Africa to awaken, and for Europe to either “become the awakener of countries and civilizations” or to meet its demise (Césaire 2000).
Comprehension
The central thesis of Discourse is that colonization decivilizes the colonizer. Césaire proves this point by describing “thingification” and the fascism inherent and logically directed within colonialism. The first major claim by Césaire was that “colonization works to decivilize the colonizer, to brutalize him…a universal regression takes place…a center of infection begins to spread…and, slowly but surely, the continent proceeds toward savagery” (Césaire 2000). In this section Césaire makes the essential argument of Discourse by defining the “terrific boomerang,” which refers to how the logics of fascism embedded into colonialism haunt the European bourgeoisie. Subsequently, Césaire describes the effects of the brutalism and sadism that manifest in the devastation of land, culture, natural economies, and mutuality, simultaneously defending pre-colonial society.
After offering more examples of European thought projects to justify its methods, Césaire comes to an impactful, yet understated conclusion: “the nation is a bourgeois phenomenon” (Césaire 2000). By replacing man with nations, moving from micro to macro, Césaire’s argument is further cemented: “all this wreckage, all this waste, humanity reduced…this policy cannot but bring about the ruin of Europe itself” (Césaire 2000). He argues that although Europe believed it was solely overthrowing nonhumans, it has overthrown the “ramparts behind which European Civilization could have developed freely” (Césaire 2000). Finally, Césaire argues, “with its own hands, [Europe has] drawn up over itself the pall of mortal darkness” (Césaire 2000).
Analysis
Césaire was very intentional in beginning Discourse with the establishment that “between colonization and civilization there is an infinite distance” (Césaire 2000). This point served as a platform from which all his other premises and conclusions were drawn. The fact that colonization and civilization are mutually exclusive allowed Césaire to implicitly prove that the two are mutually destructive, conferring hope for the colonized. This conclusion implies that although colonization depraved both the colonized and the colonizer, civilization, too, disrupts the processes of colonization. In this regard, Césaire points to the expiration date of imperialism; Europe cannot sustain its barbarism. These logical sentiments beg for a resolving extension which is found not just through his student, Frantz Fanon, but many scholars following Césaire’s lead. Robin Kelley describes the ways in which Césaire’s work anticipates Fanon, but I argue that they inherently require Fanon. Kelly writes that Negritude, the genre-movement pioneered by Césaire, “is future-oriented and modern.” It opposes utopianism and revivalism and requires of the next generation a new mechanism of thought, which Cedric Robinson and Frantz Fanon, among many others, provide. This work not only inspires, but internally creates the capacity for continuation. Though Césaire employs many examples, his strongest is that of Hitler. The Holocaust, as Césaire so pointedly remarks, is the logical conclusion and the formal end of humanism, capitalism, and the colonial European episteme. The harrowing responses of Europeans to that end, in Césaire’s view, is but a cognitive dissonance and a refusal to acknowledge the inner Hitler that resides in the Western, Christian closet (Césaire 2000). The lies and barbarism of Europe, as illustrated through Hitler and America, later provide justification for Césaire’s claim that one ought “hold as enemies…not only sadistic governors and greedy bankers…but likewise and for the same reason, venomous journalists” and every other person whose discipline may render them an instrument of capitalism or implicate them to “perform as the watchdogs of colonialism” (Césaire 2000).
Evaluation
Discourse is a work well-substantiated, despite being sentimental and ornamental in nature. Césaire never strays too far from his logical endeavor to prove Europe indefensible. Each premise logically flows into its conclusions without gaps or holes. For all of the strengths of this work, a few weaknesses follow Césaire. The greatest weakness of his text is rooted in his commitment to his French education and to the European movements of surrealism and Communism. On page forty-four, Césaire refuses to be crowned an “enemy of Europe” and instead rushes to muse about the impact of European philosophy and epistemology, implying there is a silver lining to be found within the wreckage. Césaire’s logic is deeply European as he neglects to critique the linearity of his thinking. In defending the ability of non-European nations to achieve advanced technologies and material progress, Césaire, in the words of Robert Young, fails to “challenge the notion of development”, what Young calls “a way of describing the assumed necessity of incorporating the rest of the world into the realm of modernity, that is, the western economic system, in which capitalism produces progressive economic growth” (Robert 2001). Césaire’s one shortcoming in Discourse is the lack of self-criticism; this hesitance to mine his thought processes and decolonize his linear view of ‘progress’ in which there is forward, industrialization, and backward, barbarity. Although he eventually renounced his Communist party affiliation and ‘Africanized’ his surrealist expressions, this logic is a clear counter-current to the Negritudinal concepts espoused in Discourse.
Conclusion
Discourse on Colonialism helps form the backbone in anticolonial theory, Black internationalism, postcolonial studies, and all other fields and disciplines that seek to understand the postwar period. What Césaire offers in Discourse is, in many ways, the hope for all the oppressed to usurp seemingly divine global regimes of oppression. By establishing that depravity is a sickness from which Europe, and by extension, America, cannot recover, Césaire drives the first nail in the colonial coffin. The string of arguments he provides are extremely succinct in establishing that the methods of colonization, and the justification required to sustain such unbearable acts, demolish any sort of orderly and humane conduits upon which the European infrastructure is upheld. Césaire’s work powerfully subverts Audre Lorde’s maxim “the Master’s tools will never dismantle the Master’s house”, by showing that although the colonized may not, or should not, employ the sort of depravity exhibited by Europe, that Europe will end itself with its own barbarism. This work reifies the points made by Young about the illogics of imperialism and how it disservices itself. Césaire’s persuasive arguments about the “terrific boomerang” empower anticolonial theorists and activists to date, cementing Discourse on Colonialism as a canon in the anticolonial toolbox.
Césaire, A. 2000. Discourse on Colonialism. Monthly Review Press, New York.
Young, Robert J. C. 2001. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction, John Wiley & Sons,
Incorporated. ProQuest Ebook Central
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