The film “Battle for Algiers” can be analyzed thoroughly through Frantz Fanon’s and Hannah Arendt’s polar opposite theories on violence. The implication of both theories is represented in the film that has captured the understanding of both insightful phenomena. Fanon’s views on violence are it unifies individuals into forming a complex unit organism that works together, rinses, in addition it is presented as an effective and productive mean that support the process of decolonization. In contract, Arendt’s theory detaches the concept of violence from power and emphasizes that the driven reasons for violence is anti-political. Both philosophers present distinctive theories upon the use of violence; Fanon elucidates his philosophy on violence that it’s a necessary journey to claim freedom, while as Arendt work degrades the use of violence in a modern political society that uses violence as a mean to sustain or accomplish a matter.
Frantz Fanon is known for his contribution in the issue of decolonization and the study of mental disorders affected by colonization. He believes that oppressed peasantry could only claim freedom and regains its justice through process of revolutionary violence, through this the population will confront the issue of decolonization that is a collective of psychological and physical racial colonization effect (Fanon, 1963). Fanon is among the few exceptional philosophers supporting decolonization from anti-colonial organizations in Algeria. In the wrestling struggle to declare freedom, Fanon (1963) made clear that the out-most effective mean is through violence. In his book “The Wretched of the Earth,” he introduces the binary structure that needs to be outclassed; in other words, to surpass the mentality...
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...tes sustainability and assurance in the implication of this philosophy outcomes minimum deaths casualties and sustains violence to a manageable risk level. While as the real effectiveness of decolonization derives from forces of violence that demands positive change and independency; as fanon mentioned, violence starts to break down when fear is installed into the colonial superior (1963).
Works Cited
Arendt, H. (1969). A special supplement: Reflection on violence. (Vol. 12). New York: Retrieved from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1969/feb/27/a-special-supplement-reflections-on-violence/?pagination=false
Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. (p. 106). New York: Grove Press.
Wesson, G. (Producer), & Pontecorvo, G. (Director). (1966). The Battle of Algiers [Motion picture]. United States: Rialto Pictures - Domestic Theatrical Distributor
¬¬¬Though most American people claim to seek peace, the United States remains entwined with both love and hate for violence. Regardless of background or personal beliefs, the vast majority of Americans enjoy at least one activity that promotes violence whether it be professional fighting or simply playing gory video games. Everything is all well and good until this obsession with violence causes increased frequency of real world crimes. In the article, “Is American Nonviolence Possible” Todd May proposes a less standard, more ethical, fix to the problem at hand. The majority of the arguments brought up make an appeal to the pathos of the reader with a very philosophical overall tone.
Geoffrey Canada, the author of Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun; A Personal History of Violence, grew up and worked his entire life near or in the underclass society. Through his keen observation on behavior of children in these regions, he has noticed how with the introduction to guns, in particular to children created even more dangerous neighborhoods. Throughout his lifetime in New York, he tells us that violence has changed to be less organized and the social stability of the children is tested with (fire) power that they are too young to fully understand, it was an evolutionary decent. His observations on the violence that children can commit to each other parallels well with fictional story Lord of the Flies written by Nobel prize winning writer, William Golding. Golding, like Canada, looks what kind of environment is needed for violence to prevail in children. Although Golding’s 1954 book Lord of the Flies is fiction, it describes our current impoverished America’s epidemic on violence very well.
It is 1957 and the Algerian war is at its prime as the FLN fight against an elite troop of ruthless French paratroopers. The Battle of Algiers is a portion of the Algerian war which was fought in order for Algeria to gain independence from France. The film starts off with the torturing of an old man to gain information on where the last of the freedom fighters, Ali Pointe is hiding. A large segment of the film is shot in flashbacks focusing on the past of Ali Pointe. Pointe was a ruffian with theft and drugs on his record; he joined the militants to assist in getting rid of the problems in Algeria associated with the French. With the flashbacks the film tells the struggles of the insurgents and the persistence of the French to end the war. It shows the transformation of the insurgency into a full out revolution. When the flashbacks ends and it is now present time Ali Pointe, along with the rest of the FLN leaders captured are beheaded. Through this, the FLN reciprocate and the insurgency becomes a full on national revolution with growth in numbers and support. The film ends with Algeria gaining the independence it strived for in 1962. The film is important in understanding asymmetric conflicts because despite being the weaker side, Algeria had proved itself to be much stronger than the French and had its newfound independence to show for it.
There are several significant, as well as less significant, themes that are put forth by the author. Some themes that are not as meticulously elaborated on, but still contribute to the book, include the idea that war can corrupt the government and it’s actions, police brutality was part of the norm of the 1960s, and the word “power” had more than one meaning during the civil rights era. All these themes are important to take into consideration upon reading this book; however th...
[1] Since the dawning of the industrial revolution, producing the stratification of socioeconomic status into a competitive class hierarchy never before seen, conflict theorists have appeared to define the unjust. From William Blake’s poetry to Karl Marx’ manifestos, from Bethlehem steel strikes to the current Labor Party, from Fidel Castro to the Mexican Zapatista movement, from Lenin to Mao Tse Tung, from the Molly Maguires to Jimmy Hoffa, the desire to upgrade the conditions of the working class have had a continual role in justifying violence, providing an equilibrium to keep capital interests in check, motivated whole countries to gain newly instituted political leaders and formats of rule, even in offering some form of purpose for, identity with, and release of violent rage inside the tribal nature of humans in a world of disintegrating, or disintegrated, tribes. The question of the new millennium might very well be whether or not humans can live without enemies. In a country, if not a world, with creature comforts easily secured, labor issues becoming obsolete, where will modern man direct his barbaric energy?
Fanon stated that in order to achieve liberation we need violence. He clearly says, “But it (decolonization) cannot be accomplished by the wave of a magic wand, a natural cataclysm, or a gentleman’s agreement”(3) It was and is a vital part against colonialism and imperialism. Because not only do the colonized have to fight for liberty they have to dominate those once colonized centers. When they fight for liberty the natives become united. That is his first strategy in order to obtain decolonization.
Several philosophers have provided individual theories on different forms of government as well as how societies prefer to live. Researching the observations different philosophers created is quite interesting. Recognizing that many of the views philosophers had has now shown to be true regarding contemporary issues. The contemporary issue this paper will examine will be the violent acts law enforcement displayed towards their citizens during the G20. This paper will also discuss how John Mills in On Liberty and Rousseau in Discourse would have viewed this issue as well as personal opinions to both Rousseau and Mills ideologies. Through this paper insight on these philosophers views as well as the violence during the G20 will be displayed.
In the French film entitled Lumumba, director Raoul Peck recreates the revolutionary struggle of Patrice Lumumba, the newly elected Prime Minister of The Congolese Republic. In the movie, we do not see much of the independence struggle against the Belgian government, but we begin to see the reconstruction of the African state in African hands. While no one ever claimed that decolonization was easy, maybe this particular example can best be explained by Fanon’s simplified little quip “decolonization is always a violent phenomenon. ” In this paper, I will seek to locate where this post-colonial violence is located in discourses regarding race, class and gender. Particularly, I will look at the representations of race and class, and the lack of the representation of gender, in order to draw conclusions about the nature of representation and the effects this has on anti-colonial film.
Arendt, Hannah. On Violence. San Diego, New York and London: Harcourt, Brace & Co. 1970
The beginning of colonization also marks the beginning of decolonization. From the day the colonists start exploiting the colonized people and belittling the colonized people for the colonists' self-aggrandizement, the colonized ones have been prepared to use violence at any moment to end the colonists' exploitation (Fanon, 3).Decolonization is violent, there is a necessity for violence. This is a point that is repeated again and again throughout The Battle of Algiers and The Wretched of the Earth. Here, the focus will be on The Battle of Algiers to discuss the violence of
Is there a biological basis for violent behavior in the brain? Recent research links "neurological impairments and psychoses" to violent behavior (1).
Frantz Fanon argues the decolonization must always be a violent phenomenon because resisting a colonizing power using only politics will not work. Europeans justified colonization by treating it as gods work. They believed that god wanted then to occupy all lands and spread the word of god to savages of darker skin color. Fanon joined the Algerian Nationalist Movement when the Algeria was being colonized be the French. Many examples of violence written of in The Wretched of the Earth were taken from the struggle for independence in Algeria. Also the writing is sympathetic towards colonized natives. Fanon claims decolonization causes violent actions from both settlers and natives and creates intolerant views toward the opposite party.
Fanon start off his argument with describing how colonialism and decolonization are violent affairs. He describes the colonized and colonizer as old adversaries whose first meeting was rooted in violence and continued relationship was sustained at the point of a gun (Fanon, p. 2). He goes on to state that the colonized person is a fabricated person created by the colonizer and that the colonizer validates themselves, via wealth, through the colonial relationship. Decolonization, therefore, is the destruction of these fabrications and the liberation of ...
Toch, H (1966) The Social Psychology of Violence. . In Megargee, I & Hokanson, E (Eds.) The Dynamics of Agression (1970) Harper & Row Publishers pp. 160 -169
Frantz Fanon states that achieving freedom through decolonization “is always a violent phenomenon” (“Wretched of the Earth” 35) as is the case whenever and wherever peoples live under a system of domination. Under any system that restricts the freedoms of peoples to live their liv...