FANON ON BUILDING POSTCOLONIAL SOCIOPOLITICAL POWER

Frantz Fanon holds a complex, nuanced view of the role of successful political strategy in postcolonial nationalist political parties. The task of these parties, according to Fanon, is to avoid the perpetuation of “distrust” that is inherent to the kind of political systems of the Western bourgeoisie, and institute social and political reforms that nurture and strengthen trust in the masses. He believes that real belief in the capability of the people is where reliable political legitimacy comes from. He argues that it is precisely the distrust of the masses, and disbelief in their capability to govern themselves, that leads to political fragility. Fanon suggests that the way to carry out the task of repairing mutual trust is to encourage large-scale social, political, and economic reforms that engender the “awakening of the masses”, and thereby affirms their humanity. He insists that postcolonial political parties must undergo these reforms, lest they repeat the same practices inherited from the political elites of the colonial state itself.