A government or a party gets the people it deserves and sooner or later a people gets the government it deserves.
Frantz FanonRead
And it is clear that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms; colonization and decolonization a simply a question of relative strength.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The oppressed peasants in colonial countries have the most to gain from upheaval, as they possess little and have suffered greatly.
Frantz Fanon highlights the revolutionary potential of the peasantry in colonial societies, arguing that their dire circumstances—having nothing to lose and everything to gain—lead them to embrace violent means to achieve liberation. For these individuals, there is no room for compromise; they perceive decolonization solely as a struggle determined by the balance of power, which pushes them toward radical action.
Themes
RevolutionColonialismPeasantsViolenceDecolonization
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech discussing the impact of colonialism on modern political movements.
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Hate demands existence, and he who hates has to show his hate in appropriate actions and behaviors; in a sense, he has to become hate. That is why the Americans have substituted discrimination for lynching.
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