Policing student politics: Is there a ‘right’ way to protest?

Jonis Ghedi Alasow, The Daily Maverick

On Friday 28 August the Black Student Movement (BSM) at the institution still known as Rhodes University reached a watershed moment in its short history. University management called armed police officers – with dog units – to confront students who wished to address the University senate on accommodation during the short vacations. There was an overwhelming sense of fierceness among the police, dog units and university campus protection.

What about ‘Rhodes (University) must fall’?

For the past few weeks, staff and students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) have been protesting for the removal of a statue celebrating Cecil John Rhodes – arguably the most ambitious and destructive imperialist in the history of Southern Africa. But today, the issues that remain in his wake are far broader and further-reaching than the mere removal of a statue. Jonis Ghedi Alasow The Daily Maverick

On Wednesday last week, a group of Rhodes University students held a meeting to show solidarity with students at UCT, whilst also discussing the name of our own university and the lack of meaningful transformation here. The meeting was closely surveyed by the Campus Protection Unit. Following the meeting, students embarked on a peaceful march to the administration building to raise their concerns. University authorities locked them out with no justification.

A Response to Nigel Gibson’s' Fanonian Practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo'.

Jonis Ghedi Alasow

Over the past five months I have been doing this course which focuses on engaging with the work and legacy of Frantz Fanon. Arguably the most pertinent question that was raised throughout this course is the question of Fanon’s relevance. How useful is the literature produced by a man who died 53 years ago to my life in contemporary South Africa? Nigel Gibson’s 2011 book, Fanonian Practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo^[1] has been engaging with this very question of Fanon’s continuing relevance. Gibson provides an interesting and thoughtful study of the degree to which Fanon’s fundamental messages of a universal humanism and a living politics are applicable to South Africa. Throughout an engagement with various themes, Gibson always returns to Fanon’s ideas of humanism and true democracy based on people ruling in the literal sense of the word. In this response I will highlight some of the interesting issues that Gibson engages with. Though this response will by no means be conclusive, I hope to show how Gibson’s nuanced text manages to “recreate Fanon’s philosophy of liberation in a new situation[2]” (Gibson, 2011: xi).

A Response to Ato Sekyi-Otu’s 'Fanon’s Dialectic of Experience'

A Response to Ato Sekyi-Otu’s Fanon’s Dialectic of Experience:

Jonis Ghedi Alasow

Ato Sekyi-Otu’s 1996 book, Fanon’s Dialectic of Experience, offers and interesting recovery of Frantz Fanon’s work in the contemporary postcolonial situation. In this book, Sekyi-Otu deals with the general failure of the post-colonies. According to Sekyi-Otu they have quite clearly failed and as a result of this it is important to comprehend the reasons for this failure as well as the possible remedies for the unsatisfactory status quo. This rethinking of the post-colony and its future is, according to Sekyi-Otu, possible by recalling and rethinking the work of Frantz Fanon. In Fanon’s Dialectic of Experience the author provides a clear and nuanced reading of Fanon’s work. Sekyi-Otu clears up some of the confusions and misreadings of Fanon’s work in order to allow the reader to rethink the content and implications of Frantz Fanon’s work. In this response I will be discussing some of Sekyi-Otu’s ideas in an attempt to illustrate the continued relevance of Frantz Fanon. I do not claim to offer a comprehensive engagement with either Fanon or Sekyi-Otu, but rather wish to mention some interesting and relevant aspects of both of their work.

A Response to T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting’s Frantz Fanon: Conflicts & Feminisms

Jonis Ghedi Alasow

Few figures in history have been able to compete with Frantz Fanon when it comes to articulating the condition of the colonised subject. Fanon and his ideas have impacted people and movements across the world. As with most inventive and revolutionary ways of thinking, there has also been widespread critique of Fanon’s ideas. From across the academy there have been attempts to either trivialise or problematize the work of Frantz Fanon. T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting’s 1998 book, Frantz Fanon: Conflicts and Feminisms provides an interesting and detailed engagement with feminisms as well as the works of Fanon. She takes a nuanced approach to discussing the relationship that has developed between the feminist school of thought and the canon left behind by Fanon. This response will discuss some of these nuances. I do not here attempt to summarise her arguments, but rather to discuss some of the main ideas that can be taken out of the book. I also wish to apply these ideas that Sharpley-Whiting deals with to the contemporary world. This essay therefore hopes to make some headway with respect to two questions. Firstly, what is the link between feminism and the work of Fanon; and secondly, how does this impact on our contemporary lives?

A response to Frantz Fanon’s A Dying Colonialism

Jonis Ghedi Alasow

Frantz Fanon’s 1959 book, A Dying Colonialism, offers an insightful account of the Algerian War of Independence. In spite of its often gruelling subject matter, this book remains strangely optimistic. As the title suggest, Fanon is describing the end of a system. It is important to note that Fanon is not arguing that colonialism has indeed ended already, but rather that the end is coming soon. Simply put his book is a convincing argument for how colonialism is in decline. How there cannot be a future that sees Algeria under colonial rule. How “colonialism has definitely lost out in Algeria” (Fanon, 1959: 31). In this response I will discuss some of the reasons why Fanon is so certain that the end of colonialism in Algeria was imminent when he wrote in the late 1950s. Why was he so optimistic in spite of not having the benefit of hindsight that we have now?

A Response to Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth

by Jonis Ghedi Alasow

On his deathbed in 1961, Frantz Fanon dictated one of the most revolutionary texts of the twentieth century. The Wretched of the Earth is his most famous work and although it was published in 1961, the text has remained a quintessential text for understanding the postcolonial situation. It is important to note that the text does not take the form of a systematic argument that is leading towards proving/disproving some hypothesis. Les Damnés de la Terre is rather more of a soliloquy of Fanon’s thoughts and impressions. These thoughts and impressions can largely be categorised into three groups. Les Damnés de la Terre firstly offers an engagement with colonialism. Secondly, it offers Fanon’s thoughts and impressions on the process of decolonisation and lastly it lays down his thoughts and impressions on the post-colony.

A Response to Frantz Fanon’s 'Black Skin, White Masks'

by Jonis Ghedi Alasow

Frantz Fanon’s 1952 book, Black Skin, White Masks, is one of the most interesting and insightful books I have ever read. Fanon sets out his discussion with the intention of showing the “various attitudes the Negro adopts in contact with white civilisation” (Fanon, 1952: 5). He labours through a particularly personal and reflective discussion to ultimately provide a “progressive infrastructure, in which it will be possible to discern the Negro on the road to disalienation” (1952: 142). Thus Fanon is fundamentally concerned with describing the place that is held by black people in the mid-20^th century. He aims to illustrate the problems with the place of the black people and to point the reader towards an emancipatory future. Black Skin, White Masks is most certainly a ground breaking book and it would be possible to write a review of it that is as long as the book itself. Here I will only focus on a few major themes in an attempt to convey the importance of Black Skin, White Masks in understanding not only the world of 1952, but also the world of 2014.

Review of Alice Cherki’s 'Frantz Fanon: A Portrait'

Jonis Ghedi Alasow        

Alice Cherki’s 2006 biography of Frantz Fanon, Frantz Fanon: A Portrait, offers an interesting and insightful understanding of the man who has had a tremendous impact on the way in which the postcolonial situation is understood today. In her book Cherki traces the trajectory of Fanon’s life from his youth in Martinique to his untimely death in 1961. She also provides an interesting and personal window into the development of Fanon’s political thought. The remainder of this essay will pay particular attention to this development of intellectual and political thought in Frantz Fanon. Though the trajectory of Fanon’s life will be mentioned in this essay, the primary focus will be with the ideas of Frantz Fanon which are highlighted by Cherki.