EP 10 Fanon's "Toward The African Revolution" Book Review I African News Review 🌍

In this conversation, Host Adesoji and Milton Allimadi delve into Frantz Fanon's works, particularly his book Towards the African Revolution. 
The speakers discuss the relevance of Fanon's ideas on colonialism, racism, and the psychological impact of oppression on African identity. 
They emphasize the importance of unity among African nations and the role of youth in driving change. 
The discussion also touches on historical lessons and the need for self-love and awareness to combat the lingering effects of colonialism.

Takeaways

*Fanon's work is crucial for understanding the African experience.
*Colonialism has deep psychological impacts on the colonized.
*Unity among African nations is essential for liberation.
*The youth hold the key to Africa's future.
*Historical awareness is necessary for true liberation.
*Racism and culture are intertwined in the colonial experience.
*Self-love is vital for overcoming colonial legacies.
*Fanon's critiques of the elite remain relevant today.
*The struggle for liberation is both physical and psychological.
*Lessons from history can guide current movements.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Fanon's Work
01:16 Colonization and Its Consequences
03:04 Critique of African Elites
04:18 Relevance of Fanon's Ideas Today
05:50 Racism and Culture in Colonial Contexts
08:04 Dehumanization and Historical Narratives
11:40 Psychological Impact of Colonialism
12:51 Fanon's Resignation and Moral Dilemmas
15:00 Normalization of Violence in Colonialism
17:33 The Path to True Liberation
20:13 Fanon's Message to African Youth
25:40 The Complexities of National Identity in Sports
27:59 Colonial Legacy and Modern Exploitation
29:15 The Burden of Collaboration and Complicity
33:52 Unity and Solidarity for African Liberation
36:01 The Importance of Historical Awareness
39:45 Lessons from Lumumba and African Unity

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:09.255)
Yes, good afternoon again. Sorry for the technical hitches. And I was earlier talking about the fact that we were reviewing the book, Toward the African Revolution by Frant van Noorn. just a quick synopsis. The book is 208 pages long. It was released with the publishers Grove Press February 24, 1994.

It's a collection of articles written by Fanon right from the days of black skin, white mask up to dying colonialism. So essentially bringing together all his various works. So the first of was a black skin, white mask. The last, which was published posthumously, The Wretched of the Earth, which is what he's best known for. What we'll be doing essentially is looking at

the book and see how relevant it is to the African situation. And when I mean the African situation, I don't just mean Africans within the continent, but also extends to the diaspora because it was essentially writing about the Black experience or what he considers, you know, the colonized mind experience. your initial take of what Fanon represents, comrade.

Milton Allimadi (01:37.484)
Okay, well, Fanon examined many aspects of the consequences of colonization of African people. The usurpation of Africa's organic history, the attack against African culture and spirituality, the hijacking of Africa's economy, and the destruction of Africa's indigenous

Adesoji Iginla (01:48.509)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (02:06.647)
political systems and structures. And then he also critiqued the collaboration of the Africans who were, I don't know whether to say privileged or cursed to have had access to European colonial education. And of course, some of them became collaborationists even before Africa became independent. African countries started winning their independence.

Adesoji Iginla (02:29.715)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (02:36.863)
And I have in mind Felix Ufebwany, whom of course he discusses and criticizes in the essay. And then after African countries started gaining the independence, he also critiqued and criticized the new emerging class, the compradors.

Adesoji Iginla (02:41.309)
for buying.

Adesoji Iginla (02:48.36)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (02:59.891)
Hmm.

as he calls them.

Milton Allimadi (03:03.497)
the Africans who basically, and he wrote this, mind you, well the first, the French edition first came out in 1964. I think the first US edition was 1967 by Monthly Review Press. But of course by that time he had already joined the ancestors in 1961.

Adesoji Iginla (03:19.165)
Correct.

Adesoji Iginla (03:24.359)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (03:27.614)
But he had already been able to precisely the problems that we have in African countries today.

emerging elite who are already hijacking democratic structure. They're already attacking union, trade unions. And they were basically selling out to the former European colonial powers. So imagine, now we are talking in 2025, right? So the things that Bernard was able to observe

45 years ago, just as Nkrumah was able to observe and analyze in his book Neocolonialism, the Last Theory of Pedagogy, which we've discussed already.

you know, it's quite, you know, efficient and it's very chillingly disturbing that somebody was able to predict the Quad Maya, which had just started at that time and which of course is the main problem today. So I think this book is very relevant and very important to young people who want to understand why the leadership in their countries have not been able to deliver

Adesoji Iginla (04:22.067)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (04:47.877)
and will not be able to deliver so long as we have that same structure, we have that same mindset, you know? Because what they were saying was that.

Adesoji Iginla (04:50.579)
And the.

Adesoji Iginla (04:58.183)
Mm-mm.

Milton Allimadi (05:01.87)
the elite that Farnoia criticized, what they were saying was that, Europeans have had your chance. Now it's time for us Africans to have our chance. But that's not liberation. For liberation, you need to say, you Europeans have had your chance, imposing your systems on us Africans. Now we Africans will not only have our chance,

but we will set up and create structures that will benefit our people politically and economically. And that does not happen. A few Afghans that tried that were eliminated, as you know. Going back to Zankara, going back to Lumumba being assassinated, going back to Fuma being overthrown. So that is where we stand today.

Adesoji Iginla (05:59.771)
OK. And so one of the reasons why colonialism thrived, wouldn't say thrived, let me, wrong choice of words, was able to embed it. OK. OK, true. Yeah, for the colonizer, yeah, it thrived. One of the key reasons it was able to do so was what Fanon attributes to.

Milton Allimadi (06:10.948)
Well, that's right. For the colonizer, it was right. Not for the victim, but for the colonizer. Yes, that's right.

Adesoji Iginla (06:28.389)
in one of his essays under the theme, bearing in mind the book is actually divided into five themes. And it's namely the problem of the colonized racism and culture for Algeria towards the liberation of Africa, which holds 20 articles in total. Then African unity comes up the rail with two articles. But

In one of the key themes there was racism and culture and for which I would read a piece and you could sort of give us what your take is or what his mindset was there. He says, thus it is an initial phase the occupants establish his domination and massively affirms his superiority. The social group militarily and economically subjugated is dehumanized

in accordance with a polydimensional method. Exploitation, tortures, raids, racism, collective liquidation, rational oppression takes turns at different levels in order literally to make of the native an object in the hands of the occupying nation. This object man without means of existing, without a ration tier, is broken.

in the very depth of his substance, the desire to live, to continue, to become more and more indecisive, more and more phantom-like. It is at this stage that the well-known guilt complex appears. Progressively, however, the evolution of techniques of production, deindustrialization, limited it is, of the subdued countries, increasingly necessary existence of collaborators,

impose a new altitude upon the occupants. And I would draw parallels with what is currently happening in the United States. This rewriting of history, which regards to the recent executive order that was signed, saying that the real American history needs to be reflected in the museums, the parks, and more especially the Smithsonian Museum. Your take.

Milton Allimadi (08:51.594)
Right. Well, as you know, in order to exploit somebody, you have to accomplish a couple of things. Number one, you have to dehumanize them to make it more acceptable for your fellow, let's say, we're discussing European exploitation or Africa, to make it much more acceptable for your fellow citizens, your fellow Europeans, your kith and kin.

Adesoji Iginla (09:15.059)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (09:21.825)
to find it less disturbing or not disturbing at all. Right? So you have to first destroy the humanity of the Africans. You know, as he says, you have to reduce them into object man and object woman. Yeah, make them phantom like, as he says, make them zombies. Right? And you do that.

Adesoji Iginla (09:51.249)
in their own space.

Milton Allimadi (09:52.641)
by destroying their history and delegitimizing their existence. So that the history you present to both them is conveniently, it starts from the point where they have been subjugated. So the history starts from the enslaved Africa. And consequently, as a result of that, even up to today.

Adesoji Iginla (10:02.321)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (10:22.708)
You know, many Europeans think the history of Africans begins with slavery. And then at some point you have a European who said, no, enough is enough. Lincoln, so there's the Emancipation Proclamation. have British who said enough is enough. You have the Abolition Act in 1833.

Right? So everywhere you have the agency coming from Europeans, whereas Africans, African descendants have always been a subjugated people. And when you... So let me address, for example, the question you asked about Trump's executive order. That is an attempt to revert back to that false history of a people who have always been subjugated.

Adesoji Iginla (11:06.739)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (11:22.783)
You see? And that's what he's trying to do. And that's what the ruling structure has always done. Demonize in order to legitimize exploitation. They're less than human beings. That is why it's fine to enslave them on the plantations. They're less than human beings. That is why it's fine for European countries to sit somewhere in Berlin

and partition a whole continent with people who exist with their culture, spirituality, economies, history, and partition them among Europeans and come and impose European rule upon them. Now, this kind of behavior also has impact and consequences upon the victims themselves and for none other psychiatrists.

Adesoji Iginla (11:56.413)
You

Adesoji Iginla (12:01.427)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (12:21.649)
understood that tremendously. And that is why his books stand out when you compare to other people who are anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, anti-exploitation, because he brings a dimension that exactly who somebody who is trained in the medical profession and understands the psyche can elaborate on. And that goes back to what you just read right now. And of course, the antidote to that

Adesoji Iginla (12:36.989)
The scientific dimension, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (12:46.984)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (12:52.249)
is his argument, which in some respect, the people who criticize him, critique him, know, criticize him for. In that, the antidote to that is liberation, countering the violence of imperialism and colonialism with the violence of the liberation struggle. That it elevates the consciousness of the victim of exploitation.

Adesoji Iginla (13:14.545)
relation.

Milton Allimadi (13:21.212)
And in fact, it liberates them from this self-imposed inferiority complex. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. Because that's what they're telling you. When they have you, you know, saying, you know, God save the king or God save the queen, you know, or the French anthem and the French colonized African regions. You what are they doing? They're inferiorizing you.

Adesoji Iginla (13:32.387)
You

Milton Allimadi (13:51.163)
and making you accept that infidelity complex. And he says the liberation struggle is through that process that he or she can free themselves, not only physically, but mentally and psychologically as well.

Adesoji Iginla (13:54.995)
Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (14:09.011)
and tell you.

Okay. And so having observed that condition and working in the colony at the time, that time he was working in Algeria, he was minded to resign. And in resign, he didn't just walk away. He actually laid in writing the reasons for his walk away. And I'll read a bit of his resignation letter.

For nearly three years, I've placed myself wholly at the service of the country and of the men who have inhabited. I have spared neither my efforts nor my enthusiasm. There is not a parcel of my activity that has not had as its objective, unanimously hoped for the emergence of a better world. But what can a man's enthusiasm and devotion achieve if his everyday reality is a tissue of lies, of cowardice, of contempt?

for man. What good are the intentions if their realization is made impossible by the indignance of the heart and the sterility of the mind, the hatred of the natives of this country? What is the status of Algeria? A systemized dehumanization. It is an absurd gamble to undertake at whatever cost to bring into existence a certain number of values where lawlessness

the inequality and the multi-daily murder of man were raised to the status of legislative principles. The function of a social structure is to set up institutions to serve man's need. A society that drives its members to desperate solutions is a non-viable society and that society needs to be replaced.

Milton Allimadi (16:03.275)
Yes, I mean...

I don't even know how to tackle this. Yeah, because just think about it as a young European soldier, a French soldier for French colonialism and imperialism, British British colonialism and imperialism, Italian, German, Belgium, you have to do.

Adesoji Iginla (16:09.094)
You

Milton Allimadi (16:33.163)
that it is normal for you to commit all these barbaric acts against non-Europeans. Because it's coming from authority, right? So let's say you are 18, 19, 20, and you've been recruited in the colonial army. You get training in military tactics. Some of you get ranks, right?

Adesoji Iginla (17:02.131)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (17:02.327)
You're a sergeant, you're a lieutenant, you know, you're corporal, you're a major, you're a colonel, you're even a general, right? So you're committing massacres, right? You're burning people alive in their homes. You're burying them and putting their heads on spikes to intimidate, you know, the other non-Europeans as well that you're exterminating. In other words, extermination.

Adesoji Iginla (17:20.179)
beheading people.

Adesoji Iginla (17:24.145)
on a spike set.

Milton Allimadi (17:32.008)
is normalized. You see? So obviously he's not only talking about Algeria, he's talking about all the other places where there's victims of imperialism. Think about that. So it does two things. We already discussed the inferiority complex, the subjugated people, you know, that it imposes upon them and their psyche, right? But what does it do at the same time?

Adesoji Iginla (17:35.303)
Hmm, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (18:00.671)
to these Europeans who are carrying out that. Think about that.

Adesoji Iginla (18:05.127)
gives them a high to say they are better than. Yeah. No.

Milton Allimadi (18:07.405)
does, but can, is that normal behavior? Obviously, it is not, right? So it means that you have, and how could he be a part of that? How could he be a part of that? That's what he's saying in the, know, you know, in his resignation letter. And for the rest of them, how could you see this as normal? Right? So obviously, the alternative is to create a society

Adesoji Iginla (18:32.275)
Mmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (18:37.65)
where everything, all these barbaric activities which have been normalized, you know, are turned right side up, right? Because now everything has been flipped upside down. So, and here is what I would like to add.

Milton Allimadi (18:59.644)
We have liberation struggle, right? We have the emergence of the new African rulers, correct? So yes, you can celebrate that.

Adesoji Iginla (19:09.363)
Correct.

Milton Allimadi (19:13.543)
But that's only the beginning stage. You see?

So no matter how much we struggle and no matter the type of leaders we have, whether you have the reactionaries like Mobutu, your reactionaries like Hussein, all these reactionaries, Ayadamah, yes. And then you have the ones that we see as the progressives. I just mentioned some of them before.

Adesoji Iginla (19:36.741)
Niasik be a yard Emma.

Milton Allimadi (19:48.988)
Mumba, Khurma, Maudibu Keita, Sankara, Sikuture and all that stuff. I think it is impossible for us to have true liberation unless the perpetrators of the barbarism against us are also liberated. You see?

Adesoji Iginla (19:50.995)
from our secretary.

Adesoji Iginla (20:18.429)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (20:18.598)
So when they read Fanon and they think Fanon is addressing how we should heal ourselves and elevate our confidence and our consciousness, that is the wrong way of reading it. You should read it as the descendants of Europeans who committed such barbarity. How can I myself heal as a European?

whether you're European in Europe, European in the United States, right? Of course, the easiest way to escape is to be reactionary, like what Trump is trying to do with that executive order, you know, because it's a denial, right? Denial mean you keep continuing living this life of falsehood, because by, even by issuing an order like that.

Adesoji Iginla (21:07.059)
of the reality.

Milton Allimadi (21:16.813)
It means you know that there's an authentic history which needs to be suppressed, you see? So you've already acknowledged it, right? How can you suppress something which you are not familiar with?

Adesoji Iginla (21:17.703)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (21:21.971)
Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct.

Milton Allimadi (21:35.001)
You see? So rather than saying, how can I promote the rehabilitation really of Europeans, right? You know, because we in Africa, we do our part. That's what we part of having this kind of discussion. That's what we are doing. Heal fellow Africans, right? You know, I don't think they'll accept, you know, for Africans to start healing Europeans, even though I'm more than happy to.

Adesoji Iginla (21:54.055)
Yeah, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (22:04.78)
engage in that. I would prefer that other Europeans heal fellow Europeans just the way we are doing to heal other Africans. And that is why I say it's very challenging if it's only a one-way street.

Adesoji Iginla (22:07.123)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (22:14.035)
Mm-mm.

Adesoji Iginla (22:21.459)
Okay. Speaking of the fact that it might be a one way street, Fanon was of the opinion that we need to speak to the youths of Africa, judging by the fact of the projection of the demographics in Africa saying by 2015 majority of the population will be between the ages of 18 and 36. And for those who don't know, we're discussing towards the African revolution by Frantz Fanon.

Milton Allimadi (22:28.431)
Hmm?

Adesoji Iginla (22:48.299)
And this is a collection of his essays, speeches, and articles that he wrote in the course of his life. Again, the title of the book is Towards the African Revolution, translated by Hakon Gévalier, and it's by collection of his thoughts, Frantz Fanon. judging by the fact that that demographic is what we might have to contend with in the next 10 to 20 years, Fanon has a message for them. In his essay,

On the liberation of Africa, is the third theme in the book. Again, like I said earlier, the book contains five themes. The problem of the colonized, racism and culture for Algeria. Towards the liberation of Africa is the most dense of the themes. There were 20 articles in there. So I'm taking quotes from them and I'm getting the comrade to give us a take on what he thinks and how they apply to our

lived experience at the moment and possibly in the future. So in his note to the youth of Africa, he says, and I quote, now it seems that we have at least three points in common to begin with. That is talking about the approaches for how to push out the colonizer. But in this case, it's particularly talking about the French, but that could extend to all of them. Now it seems that we have at least three points in common.

Milton Allimadi (24:08.074)
in.

Adesoji Iginla (24:17.283)
begin with. Our respective nations have been militarily occupied, economically exploited, culturally mute, since the three-colour flag, you could replace that, have been waving over them. Every urge towards an expression of our nation, that is in conformity with its history, faithful to its tradition, linked to the very sap of its soil, finds itself limited, stopped or broken. The style of the colonial pact

that governs the multi-dimensional exploitation of the territories of the French Union constitutes our second point in common. It is not enough to say that France occupies our national soil. It has had the nerve to install itself there and have not hesitated to draw up a whole legislation, an entire code in terms of which our national essence is denied for the benefit of the French order. The will to independence.

that's hard to constitute the only response to this colonization is the third point that the peoples dominated by France have in common. When we address ourselves to the colonial peoples, and more especially to the African peoples, it is both because we've had to hurry to build Africa so that it will express itself and come into being so that it will enrich the world of men and that it may be authentically enriched by the world's

contribution. So obviously he's talking about sub-education. How do you get rid of said sub-education? What would you say even now that's obviously if we're to go by books like How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Neocolonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism, Washington Bullets by Vijay Prashad and

including the warning contained within the book White Malice by Susan Williams. What would you say a response would be to this paragraph?

Milton Allimadi (26:23.997)
Okay, so there's a lot packaged in there, but it's very similar to the resignation letter that you read, The symbolism, let's start with that. The tricolor, the French flag, right? You know, why is it, think about it, people burning the US flag, you know, why do people get so worked up?

Adesoji Iginla (26:30.685)
Hmm. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (26:39.527)
flat.

Adesoji Iginla (26:50.995)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (26:53.916)
over that because of the symbolism that the flank you know represents correct

Adesoji Iginla (26:56.061)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (27:02.634)
So when you have, because I'm trying to make his words relevant to the contemporary conditions, right? What does it do when you have the French national football, aka soccer team, playing in the World Cup and nine of 11 players or eight

Adesoji Iginla (27:24.883)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (27:30.505)
of the 11 players on the field at any given time are Africans playing under the tricolor, correct?

Adesoji Iginla (27:34.195)
I know where you're going with that.

Adesoji Iginla (27:42.556)
Yeah, correct,

Milton Allimadi (27:43.334)
And I don't think it would be such an issue if in fact they could be fully French, assuming they wanted, right? Not just French, for the duration of their utility to the national team. Not even for their utility for the team, for the utility when they are playing, right? Because as soon as they leave

Adesoji Iginla (27:54.845)
Yep. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (28:01.299)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (28:11.783)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (28:12.709)
the stadium, if they're not dressed in that uniform of national team and they're not recognized by, you know, the symbols of authority, they could be victimized, subjected to police brutality, right? Because of the color of skin, right? But then at same time, what is it doing to young Africans on the continent who are watching them play successfully

Adesoji Iginla (28:29.779)
True, true, true. It's good, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (28:42.734)
and win the World Cup, right? So it's like, know the mixed feelings that are involved. you're proud of them as a young person. I presume they're very proud to see their countrymen playing at such a high level and winning the World Cup. And perhaps they're willing to say, well, okay, they're winning it for France.

Adesoji Iginla (28:47.057)
Hmm hmm

Adesoji Iginla (28:52.87)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (29:06.227)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (29:13.06)
But it's really us as Africans. So now you're binding yourself in comradeship with France. The same France that is still imposing its will in many West African countries, just being ejected now over the last year or so, still dominating the economies with the French economic zone that had been imposed.

Adesoji Iginla (29:22.288)
with your presser.

Adesoji Iginla (29:34.835)
Mmm. Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (29:41.948)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (29:42.268)
that is now slowly being dismantled, still exploiting them by extracting their minerals, literally for peanuts, to benefit France, not to benefit their countries. So you see all these contradictions, right? I think the biggest scam really that the former European colonial powers are able to sell

to us Africans was that African countries won independence, you see? They sell to us and many of the leaders, of course, who took the mantle of state, they knew that that was not true independence. Absolutely. But they actually collaborated because they were the ones that became the symbols. So now you don't have

Adesoji Iginla (30:20.371)
Yeah. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (30:31.575)
He was a russ.

Milton Allimadi (30:42.017)
overtly the French or the British flag. In fact, it's one of the biggest things they do during the so-called independence transition. They lower the colonial flag, right? And then they raise the new national flag. They sing the new national anthem, right?

Adesoji Iginla (31:02.705)
the structures are still in place.

Milton Allimadi (31:03.108)
the structures are absolutely in place. Now you have symbolism, keeping us down, you have symbolism elevating us, know, momentarily, psychically, when we see our fellow Africans, you know, starting at the highest level of soccer, football, and winning the World Cup. And these are the things that are very difficult to condemn. How can you?

Adesoji Iginla (31:13.597)
Hmm. Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (31:20.871)
Mmm. Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (31:28.019)
Speaking of... Go on.

Milton Allimadi (31:32.59)
fully condemned a fellow African playing at that high level of football.

Adesoji Iginla (31:32.679)
Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (31:38.257)
Yeah, you're sort of put in a difficult position. can't, it will almost be as if you're pushing back against yourself. You mentioned the issue of collaboration. Fanon was also, you know, very poignant with that. And still in the letter, in the message to the youth, he said, the future will have no pity for said men.

Milton Allimadi (32:03.896)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (32:04.893)
who possessing the exceptional privilege of being able to speak words of truth to their oppressors have taken refuge in the attitude of passivity, of mute indifference, and sometimes of cold complicity. Mr. Hufuiboyin, Africa's deputy and president of the RDA. The RDA was the Republican, Democratic, African, one of the parties in the French assembly as at the time.

Milton Allimadi (32:13.549)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (32:33.297)
granted an interview to the press a few days ago. After expressing some absurd views on the hoped-for evolution of an Africa draped in the three-color flag, he came to the Algerian question, and he did not hesitate to say that Algeria must remain within the French orbit. This gentleman, for more than three years, has played the role of straw man for French colonialism, holding a post in every government.

Mr. Hovwe Banyin has directly associated himself with the policy of extermination practice in Algeria. Could you give people a sense of what transpired in Algeria so that at least they understand what Mr. Hovwe Banyin signed himself up for?

Milton Allimadi (33:10.773)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (33:19.627)
Well, yeah, I like that quote and it also, let me just read another part of that same quote to the bottom.

Adesoji Iginla (33:24.869)
Okay. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (33:27.359)
When a colonized person like Mr. Ofebony is so forgetfulness, so forgetful of the racism of the settlers, of wretchedness of his people, of the shameless exploitation of his country, that he does not participate in the liberating pulsation that lifts up the oppressed peoples. We must not hesitate to state that this is a case of feason, of complicity.

Adesoji Iginla (33:31.955)
You

Adesoji Iginla (33:56.711)
Hmm. Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (33:57.213)
and the incitation to murder, which is exactly what it is. You see? How could you defend the indefensible? Why do you think they want you to be saying those things that they themselves could be saying? Because they know it has a different type of impact and effectiveness when they have an African

Adesoji Iginla (34:04.083)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (34:27.894)
right? Speaking to other Africans and saying, no, it may look bad, this colonialism thing, this imperialism thing, but it cannot be the worst thing. Otherwise, how would I, as a fellow African, be telling you Africans that Algeria must remain in the French orbit? What about the family?

Adesoji Iginla (34:29.649)
Who is young?

Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (34:51.667)
within the orbit.

Milton Allimadi (34:57.601)
the survivors of the estimated one million people who are exterminated. If you are speaking in an audience of a room packed, let's say the auditorium can take 5,000 people and the 5,000 mothers of young Algerians who had been killed, would you be speaking to them like that? I highly doubt it, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (35:23.314)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (35:25.899)
So you see how obscene it becomes when you analyze it very carefully. And yet, that is the price of, you know, selling out Africa. You're welcome now in the French parliament. You're given titles like secretary of state, right? You dine and wine with high society in France.

Adesoji Iginla (35:26.323)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (35:54.975)
You live in splendid homes with splendid furnitures in exclusive neighborhoods where if you're not wearing that suit, you're wearing the tie. If you're not groomed, put in another outfit, walking on the streets in the neighborhood, you would be arrested, you see. But now you live there. You are chauffeured, you see. And he's saying no.

Adesoji Iginla (36:10.47)
You

Adesoji Iginla (36:15.475)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (36:22.432)
We must denounce people, Africans like that, who are willing to sell other Africans just so they can have the comforts of life. That is the ultimate of selfishness, you see? But unfortunately, we still have a lot of that today, you know, as well. We have a lot of it today.

Adesoji Iginla (36:37.07)
Mm-hmm

Adesoji Iginla (36:46.067)
Okay, speaking of a lot of what we need actually, still under the theme towards the liberation of Africa, there is an article titled, Unity and Effective Solidarities are the Condition for African Liberation. And there is a quote there, a passage I want to read from, which is, in large part under the hand of history,

under the hand of history is the hand of man. A large part of humanity has recently trembled to the very depth of its being before breaking loose of an ideology, Nazism, which revived the methods of torture and genocide of the remotest times. The countries against which the manifestation of Nazism were most immediately directed lead together and pled themselves not only to liberate their occupied territories, but literally to break the backbone of Nazism.

root out the evil where it has sprung up to liquidate the regime to which it has given reason. Well, the African people must likewise remember they have had to face a form of Nazism, a form of exploitation of man, of physical and spiritual liquidation clearly imposed that the French, the English, and the South African manifestation of that evil needs to engage their attention. But they must be prepared also

to face this evil as an evil extending over the whole of the African territory, effectively saying, if the Europeans can face down Nazism, you Africans should do likewise to colonialism.

Milton Allimadi (38:30.79)
But you see, there's a major problem here.

And the problem is because of the impact of inferiorization, right?

Adesoji Iginla (38:42.286)
Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (38:44.309)
Many Africans don't love themselves, unfortunately. You see? And so it's very difficult to have unity if you don't love yourself. If you don't love yourself, it means you probably even love other Africans less, you see? It's impossible for you to love fellow Africans more if you don't love yourself sufficiently.

Adesoji Iginla (38:48.571)
Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (39:02.119)
Yeah. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (39:08.519)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (39:09.536)
when you, and what do I mean, you don't love yourself, you don't appreciate totally your humanity because you don't know your history, you see, because our history, you know, let's be frank, is not sufficiently taught in our own schools, you see. So when we talk about Nazism in Europe and what Hitler had created, that monstrosity,

Adesoji Iginla (39:28.241)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (39:39.89)
we say Europeans know are not to them and that's you know very few people relative to the world's population are not aware of how horrific it was right that became a global pattern appreciated by Europeans and also appreciated by African because it was imposed upon them as

Adesoji Iginla (39:59.741)
struggle.

Milton Allimadi (40:09.817)
and global horror, even though many of them were not familiar with the details. Correct?

Adesoji Iginla (40:16.605)
Yeah, correct.

Milton Allimadi (40:17.31)
and many of them without Africans, Nazism would have prevailed. So the mistake is just to focus on the role of the United States and its power. What about the role of the hundreds of thousands of Africans who fought? That role is not fully appreciated, you see? So now let's look at the other side, imperialism, colonialism.

Adesoji Iginla (40:40.083)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (40:47.508)
Is it seen by Europeans unanimously as something which was horrific, the way that Africans see unanimously that Nazism was something horrific? And of course, the obvious answer is no, you see? So in fact, many Africans end up seeing Nazism as something which was much more horrific than imperialism and colonialism.

Adesoji Iginla (41:05.029)
No, yep, yep.

Milton Allimadi (41:16.312)
So it's very difficult for them to elevate their consciousness and being to engage in that struggle because that struggle is not over. You see? Would they be much more willing and prepared to see it as even above Nazism if they had the proper education, if they knew that Leopold had exterminated?

Adesoji Iginla (41:29.693)
Yeah. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (41:46.615)
10 million estimated Congolese. And then of course, they would first have to love themselves to see that as part of their suffering as well, right? They would have to be familiar with the genocide and extermination of the Herero and Nama people in Namibia. They would have to be familiar with the extermination of people in Tanganyika by the Jamans, correct?

Adesoji Iginla (41:58.035)
Yes, correct.

Adesoji Iginla (42:05.106)
Namibia.

Adesoji Iginla (42:13.799)
Manji manji.

Milton Allimadi (42:16.714)
They would have to know about the extermination of Kikuyu and other Kenyans by the British. They would have to know about the

Adesoji Iginla (42:21.875)
by the British.

Adesoji Iginla (42:29.959)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (42:38.577)
Hmm. Okay. Go on.

Milton Allimadi (42:40.119)
So because we are so unfamiliar with our histories, it makes it very difficult for us to engage in struggle in the way that Fannon is correctly, by the way, trying to elaborate.

Adesoji Iginla (42:56.977)
Okay. Speaking of Unity, I want to just take this last quote because I'm mindful of you would need to, we'll be having a hard stop at top of the hour. So quick one in the last theme, African Unity, of which there are two titles. I've taken this last paragraph from the one where it focuses on Lumumba.

And he says, Africa have endorsed the imperialist force in Congo, have served as intermediaries, have sponsored its activities, the odd silences of the UN and the Congo. Today they are afraid. They vibe with one another in shedding crocodile tears around the tomb of Lumumba. Let us not be fooled. They are expressing the fears of their principle. The imperialists too are afraid and they are right.

For many Africans, many Afro-Asiatics have understood the imperialists are going to pause for a while, they are going to wait for the righteous indignation to calm, and we must take advantage of this brief respite to abandon our fearful approaches and decide to save the Congo and Africa. Your final thoughts.

Milton Allimadi (44:16.019)
Yeah, yeah, I love that quote. And there's another part that I would like to add to that also.

Adesoji Iginla (44:21.66)
Gone, gone.

Milton Allimadi (44:23.792)
Africans must remember this lesson. If we need outside aid, let us call our friends. They alone can really and totally help us achieve our objectives because precisely the friendship that links us is friendship in combat. But the African countries for their part committed a mistake by their willingness to send their troops under the cover of the UN. In fact, they were permitting themselves to be neutralized

and without suspecting it, they were allowing others to do their work. They should have sent troops to Lumumba, to be sure, but not within the framework of the UN, directly from one friendly country to another friendly country. African troops in the Congo suffered a historic moral defeat with arms that ready they watched without reacting because they were UN troops. The disintegration of a state.

and a nation that all Africa had saluted and sung a shame.

It doesn't get more explicit as I am. And I think though, I must say that we did learn a lesson from that. When Angola was being threatened with recolonization by apartheid army and Savimbi, UNITA collaborationists and South Africa's army, where did Africa go this time? For outside help?

Adesoji Iginla (45:33.052)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (45:57.373)
Kuba.

Milton Allimadi (45:59.621)
This time Africa went to a friend. Cuba had already proven its friendship in the 1960s when Che tried to assist the Alomumbais to fight back against Mobutu. Cuba had proven its friendship in the 70s when it helped to consolidate Angola's independence. And Cuba once again proved its friendship by helping to decisively defeat South Africa at the Battle of Quito-Cuanovao in 1987. So,

Adesoji Iginla (46:25.917)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (46:28.891)
Fanon, he was not around to see this, but he should take some solace that his last advice actually was heated. And I hope that people read the entire book and see many of the suggestions or recommendations that he has, which are still very relevant to Afghan liberation today.

Adesoji Iginla (46:39.152)
this.

Adesoji Iginla (46:48.763)
Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you. And yes, we've come to the end of this book review titled Towards the African Revolution by Frantz Fanon, translated by Hacon Chivalier. Yes, would like the good comrade said, I would enjoy you to get it. Towards the African Revolution by Frantz Fanon. Any final?

Milton Allimadi (47:10.415)
Before I go, I would like to add something else. Two things actually. First of all, of course, I urge our audience to support this podcast. Subscribe, like, tell others about it. And of course, any contributions are welcome so that the production can also be enhanced. Number one. Number two, the book you held up, I also need to get a second copy and let me explain why. Because the copy I have,

Adesoji Iginla (47:13.565)
Gone, gone.

Adesoji Iginla (47:27.473)
Yeah, thank you.

Yes,

Adesoji Iginla (47:37.762)
You

Milton Allimadi (47:40.042)
is actually the early 1967 edition, which does not include some of the essays you were reading. So even though I have the same book, I'm going to get the new edition that you have. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (47:44.76)
No.

Adesoji Iginla (47:48.435)
Adesoji Iginla (47:53.713)
No, the new edition is packed. Because when I was pulling the paragraphs, I was minded to say, no, if I kept shading everywhere, we're not going to get off the program. yes. Yeah, so it's Towards the African Revolution by Frant Fennon. And yes, you could get his other books, Dying Colonialism. What's it called? Black Skin, White Mask.

Milton Allimadi (48:04.876)
Yes. No, so thank you. I'm going to get that one as well.

Thank you, brother.

Milton Allimadi (48:23.297)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (48:23.793)
And of course, the favorites, the wretched of the earth. Yeah. So yeah, thank you again for coming through and everyone until next week, have a lovely week ahead and yeah, keep the message and keep the thoughts flowing until next week. Goodbye for now.

Milton Allimadi (48:27.903)
Absolutely.

Milton Allimadi (48:32.397)
Thank you, Brad.