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Been re-reading The Wretched of the Earth over the last couple of weeks and it occurs to me how hamfisted the discourse on the topic of Palestinian liberation is in many places right now. People really owe this topic more care and attention than they are showing.

For example: Fanon vindicates the call to violence by the colonized, but he also recognizes that a consciousness based around resentment and revenge is not capable of liberation. It can lead to transformative violence, but not the production of a new, liberatory society. Fanon recognizes the importance of organization in the national liberation process, but also understands that these representatives tend to be failure points which reconfigure into new forms of oppression over the colonized populace after, taking the reins of the enemy system.

This is the demonstration of a nuanced thinker; someone who actually witnessed the decolonial process firsthand. And he did not peddle simplistic reductions. That is because these topics demand careful contemplation, a skill that seems to be in short order on the internet.

The Palestinian people, like all colonized peoples are being psychologically tortured, murdered, and violated by the colonizers. They will inevitably and SHOULD respond with defensive violence. However, that does not mean that everything they will do is defensible. Without this violence the Palestinian people will never be free. To defend themselves, to strike out against their oppressors, is to begin to regain their dignity, to rise from the status of prisoners to rebels. And yet, in this process, some will carry out indefensible horrors.

Likewise, one can understand that Hamas is a key entity in mobilizing the Palestinian people toward their liberation, while also recognizing that it is the most likely candidate to become their new oppressor if they were to succeed in decolonial violence. It is a veiled enemy.

In the context of Algeria, Fanon noted that racial resentment and revenge fantasies were underdeveloped forms of consciousness which prevented the colonized from recognizing the root problems that had to be changed. Anti-semitism is the clear parallel in the Palestinian context. Despite the fact that Israel is NOT the Jewish people, anti-semitism is indeed very present in this struggle to oust Israel. Worse, though in the African context it was not harmful to sow racial resentment for Europeans, it is very harmful for anti-semitism to be spread.

All of this is to say: none of these topics will avail themselves to simplistic stances. People need to practice some careful reflection and resist the impulse to kneejerk react. Also go read The Wretched of the Earth because it's extremely pertinent: https://monoskop.org/.../Fanon_Frantz_The_Wretched_of_the...

If you're an anarchist wondering what Fanon's stances are before diving in, just know that WotE has a LOT of very anarchistic elements to it. Sometimes it seems like he's going to stumble onto the anarchist analysis wholesale. However he has a few vanguardist takes here and there