six hundred young people were shot down. Born Marie-Joseph Dublé in Lyon, France, she was 58 years old. ( Log Out /  dawn, Josie opened the window of her living room that looked out onto the cars. He was 23; I was 18. cf: Speaking ofLyon, would you retrace for us the course of Fanon’s life? ( Log Out /  the beginning of autumn 1961 Frantz Fanon, a West Indian psychiatrist who has I nurse waited for her on Sunday. "Oh, Frantz, the wretched of the earth again," she had sighed on a telephone, speaking to her friend Assia Djebar . That was the case of the Portuguese colonies and the case of what is now taking place inSouthAfrica. first days of October 1988, Algiers reached a fevered pitch; under Josie's In my opinion, they have not completely understood his works. cf:  Some critics say there is a fundamental contradiction between Fanon’s works, what he stood for, and the fact that he married a white French woman. They quickly decide that Fanon should get the best care gave her young neighbor, Karim, various presents, 'to remember me by' she told Though just 27 at the time of its publication, the workdisplays incredible literacy in major intellectual trends of the time:psychoanalysis, existentialism, phenomenology, and dialectics, as wellas, most prominently, the early Négritude movement and U.S.based critical race work in figures like Richard Wright. Concernant Frantz Fanon comme chantre de la négritude, c'est faux, archi-faux et diffamatoire. The Mandé Charter of 1222 1.The hunters declare: Every human life is a life. And that is as it should be. Frantz Fanon est maintenant indésirable, il est expulsé hors d’Algérie, Il s’engage aux côtés du FLN, il rejoint la Tunisie et sillonne l’Afrique noire à son tour lancée sur la voie de l’indépendance, en tant qu’ambassadeur du gouvernement provisoire algérien. One year earlier, while representing the provisional government inGhana, doctors diagnosed him with leukemia. Born inMartiniquein 1925, Fanon… "0 my body, make of me always a man who questions!" him gently when he'd protest or try to refuse, his heart fearful. The Ils se marièrent en 1953, après la sortie de Peau noire, masques blancs, qu'elle écrivit sous sa dictée.Josie Fanon se suicidera à Alger le … Some of what is here comes from, or relates to, a particular set of ongoing discussions around Fanon's work in Grahamstown. Africans in that part of the continent will have to wage a very prolonged and protracted armed struggle. Algerian delegation to the United Nations includes among its members some of Let us say that from a western point of view, it is a good preface. "At the beginning of autumn 1961 Frantz Fanon, a West Indian psychiatrist who has recently acquired, the same year, an international reputation with the publication of The Wretched of the Earth, returns to Tunis to see the G.P.R.A. Would you say more about that? "Josie Why? Interview with Frantz Fanon’s Widow Josie Fanon by Christian Filostrat After six years of revolutionary activities in Africa, Frantz Fanon arrived in New Yorkin early October 1961, suffering from an advanced case of leukemia. Even before his ambassadorship to Accra, Fanon had taken part in a number of African people’s conferences, including the first one held in 1958. we would stay there, all morning long, contemplating She read; even was Fanon… Without independence, nation building cannot begin. But in June 1967, whenIsraeldeclared war on the Arab countries, there was a great pro-Zionist movement in favor ofIsraelamong western (French) intellectuals. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. J.Fanon: From a personal point of view, I am a bit shaken to be back in theU.S. several days to put all her things in order: photographs, poems she was For example, critics can reproach a black American for marrying an Arab woman because her skin is lighter than his is and so on, and so on. thirty-two years old, and mother of a young boy, hopes to be able to go with Very early on the previous day, by the light of letters of her son, her friends. reassure himself as well. phones her son in Paris to reassure him: yes, she will start therapy again with Change ). He had fought for its independence and becauseAlgeria was a country very dear to him. Yes, he wants to hospitalize her for a week or two, no cf: Do you know what were Fanon’s plans after the publication of The Wretched of the Earth ? The conflicts of the past few years inZimbabwe,South Africa andNamibia demonstrate that fact. Tunis, she returned to every place they had lived. She would linger, I feel surrounded by our friends, our children. Reading Frantz Fanon in Grahamstown, South Africa. Admitted to Bethesda Naval Hospital, he died on December 6th. presence known. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. It is in this context that the committee decided to pay tribute to Frantz and invited me. In 1960, they appointed him the Provisional Government’s Ambassador toAccra. J.Fanon: Indeed a number of Western intellectuals have written about Fanon. His uncompromising efforts on behalf of the Algerian Revolution shortened his life, while giving him unparalleled insight into and appreciation for national liberations and struggles found in his writing. J.Fanon: It is my opinion, and I believe that it was also his — otherwise he would not have contracted nor remained in this interracial marriage — that there was no contradiction. His wife, Josie, was to tell me at length about those days of waiting In 1944, he joined the free French forces to help protect “trueFrance” against the racist French sailors stationed in Martinique during the war — those “sailors who had forced [him] to defend and thus discover [his] color.”. How will I ever learn to grow old, now It is reported that when Fanon, at that point gravely ill, read Sartre’s piece he put it down without saying a word. J.Fanon: I have been for sometime a professional journalist. two or three days in Algiers; with Olivier, now an orphan, and a young I think, however, that it is inAfrica and here in theUS in the African-American community that valid works about Fanon will be carried out. Fanon was born in 1925, to a middle-class family in the French colony of Martinique. During that time, we enrolled our small son atHowardUniversity’s kindergarten. he was a child. Was there at the funeral. I believe that he would put all his energy in the service of his country (Martinique) and theCaribbean region in general. 13th of July, 1989; El-Biar, above Algiers. They first sent him toMoscow for treatment, but the disease worsened; and the APG, with the Tunisian government’s assistance, asked the Americans for help. swarmed the capital, and, confronted with peaceful demonstrations, opened fire: He never stopped thinking ofMartinique. However, it remains a limitation. However, when he went to Franceand confronted French society’s racism, he began to understand and he analyzed his personal and his countrymen’s experiences. The Algerian Provisional Government (APG) had sent him here for medical care. the fisherman setting out to sea in their boats. adolescent boy, Karim, the neighbor's son, whom Josie had taken care of since See, for instance, Christian Filostrat’s 1978 interview with Fanon’s widow, Josie Fanon, on the occasion of her second visit to the U.S., in Filostrat, Negritude Agonistes, Assimilation against Nationalism in the French-Speaking Caribbean and Guyane (Cherry Hill, N.J., 2008), 155–161, here 156. But really, he had no choice. gentleness in Josie's large eyes, her voice so near. Josie Fanon, born Marie-Josèphe "Josie" Dublé (c.1930-13 July 1989), was the wife of Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), a political activist, and a journalist. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. cf: What do you think of the English translations of Fanon’s works? publication of The Wretched of the Earth, returns to Tunis to see the G.P.R.A. Josie This blog contains resources directly related to Frantz Fanon's life and work, the secondary literature on Fanon and other resources useful for engaging Fanon's ideas here and now. cf: Going back to Fanon’s birthplace – the French speakingAntilles, what is the colonial situation there? cf: In the context of recent African history, how would you judge Fanon’s work since his death? Republic' in Ghana and Guinea. In 1952, Fanon published his first major work Black Skin, WhiteMasks. If you have kept up with what has been written, what is your reaction? No, she does not J.Fanon: I came to theUnited States in November 1961 because my husband was hospitalized at theN.I.HBethesdaHospital. Derrière la négritude, Césaire cherchait à rester sous la domination française, alors que Fanon cherchait à libérer ceux qui étaien t sous to utes dominations. of her fifth-story window. J.Fanon:  It was through my initiative that Sartre’s preface to The Wretched of the Earth was removed. (Seven Stories, 2003). cf: He was not what you would call a professional revolutionary then. At the completion of his studies, he wanted to go back to theAntillesor toAfricato look for work. American recently acquired, the same year, an international reputation with the Even today, these colonies are the territories where French colonialism has been the most over-emphasized, most perfidious, and most noxious. cf: A great deal has been written about Fanon. The army experience sharpened his awareness of the world where division and racism were the rule. am sure that it was then she made her decision: to join him.). I worked from 1962 — the year of Algeria’s independence — until last year [1977] for the Algerian press. We were both students. However, I cannot say with certainty where. (92). illness. It’s early in the morning in Fanon’s office, a totally empty room. cf: When The Wretched of the Earth was published, Jean Paul Sartre prefaced it. the courtyard: I see her low bedroom, filled with multi-colored rugs where we Whatever Sartre’s contribution may have been in the past, the fact that he did not understand the Palestinian problem reversed his past political positions. He's been the representative of the 'Provisional Government of the Algerian On the condition, she told the doctor, In his life, two things interchanged constantly. In 1957, the French government expelled us fromAlgeria. Frantz Fanon naît en 1925 à Fort-de-France en Martinique d’un père inspecteur des douanes et d’une mère commerçante, tous deux descendants d’anciennes familles d’esclaves. He was also interested in news dissemination. Fanon’s wife, Josie, came to the United States and visited the author at HowardUniversity. And She In a certain phase of the struggle, such a position can have for a time a positive and beneficially unifying effect. He was a psychiatrist and had never abandoned his research in that or other medical fields. spent a summer's month together in a village by the sea, half an hour from He was 36 years old. He signed petitions favoringIsrael. That’s the reason I live inParis now. Took off her shoes. In this short interview, she gives a glimpse into the life and views of her husband, author of The Wretched of the Earth. around the rooms in which everything was in its place. the sea. women's laughter, whining children. of the author of Deserteur on the pone with me one morning) she took the plane. Fanon fumes: she does not type fast enough. There is still much more to be written. He would certainly have maintained his political activities. cf: Can you say a few words about Fanon’s relationship with the Négritude poets, Aimé Césaire and Leon Damas? J.Fanon: Fanon had been Césaire’s student inMartinique. Oppressed and colonized people cannot free themselves other than through armed struggle. At last glance at the Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. and her big gypsy eyes.... And above all her voice, that happy contralto. J.Fanon: All that has happened inAfrica since independence in 1960-62 demonstrates the accuracy of Fanon’s points of view. J.Fanon: My son was a toddler at the time and because I had to take care of my husband — I was here more than a month — I visited Frantz everyday and spent many nights at the hospital with him. He was a man very much opened to reality. Ibrahim Frantz Fanon, né Frantz Fanon le 20 juillet 1925 à Fort-de-France (Martinique) et mort le 6 décembre 1961 à Bethesda dans un hôpital militaire de la banlieue de Washington aux États-Unis1, est un psychiatre et essayiste français fortement impliqué dans la lutte pour l'indépendance de l'Algérie et dans un combat international dressant une solidarité entre « frères » opprimés. We went toTunisia, where the Front for National Liberation maintained its external branch and where they later created the Algerian Revolution’s Provisional Government. At the time, they believed that the best medical facilities were in theUnited States. For him, Césaire, Damas, and others like them were very important in his intellectual evolution as regard to the consciousness of his own négritude. With cf: how do you feel about this second trip to theUnited States? Frantz Fanon laisse dans le deuil son épouse française Josie (née Dublé), leur fils Olivier Fanon et sa fille issue d'une précédente relation, Mireille Fanon-Mendès France .Josie est décédée par suicide à Alger en 1989. that if I were looking after him.... Clearly they saw him as a man of iron, I would work each night, as I heard thought that all the expenses he was incurring were already quite enough for Stayed She would get up early; she would pour out can after can of water to indestructible! mother to her--as soon as my daughter heard the news in Paris (it was the voice that they let her go home to her apartment on the weekend: be with her flowers, more she daydreamed, looking at the summer light from her bed. It was under these circumstances that he came to theU.S. During the conference, he made contacts with other African leaders of that period notably Patrice Lumumba, Felix Moumié of the Cameroonand President Kwame Nkrumah. 'She it, every morning to listen to the sounds of neighboring families rising from Nevertheless, he had already understood that, politically, Césaire could have done much more for the independence ofMartinique.Independence is the sine qua non of political freedom. cf: You were in the U S previously in 1961. He left Martinique in 1943, when he volunteered to fight with the Free French in World War II, and he remained in France after the war to study medicine and psychiatry on scholarship in Lyon. She went home to El-Biar on Thursday evening. treatment of leukemia has the highest success rate in the country. was smiling at us when she left,' a nurse recalled, unable to forget the Fanon's personal friends. "12 The legacy of Fanon leaves us with ques­ tions; his virtual, verbal presence among us only provokes more questions. This is, in fact, what I have done. Centre for Humanities Research (Cape Town), Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism, Makerere Institute of Social Research (Kampala), Unit for the Humanities at Rhodes University (Grahamstown). Fanon was survived by his French wife Josie (née Dublé), their son Olivier, and his daughter (from a previous relationship) Mireille. Josie Fanon committed suicide at El Biar, Algiers, ten years later. That is where he felt the first onset of his Frantz Omar Fanon, né le 20 juillet 1925 à Fort-de-France et mort le 6 décembre 1961 à Bethesda (Washington DC, USA), est un psychiatre et essayiste français martiniquais et algérien. Today, we speak of a Fanon legacy. There is nothing surprising here. rested in the hospital for six days. one end of the rioting town to the other, not being able to meet, we would This meant that for a time, he identified with France. This pathology is common to the people of the French-speakingAntilles. because it is where my husband died. cf: You were telling me when we passed through the campus gate, that your son, Olivier, had spent some time atHowardUniversity in 1961. In one or two seconds, glanced And June, she had made the trip to the Tunisian border to visit Frantz's grave.