The other important factor was his scientific interests. around the rooms in which everything was in its place. Would you say more about that? remained silent, then: 'He died alone, in New York, two months later. In This pathology is common to the people of the French-speakingAntilles. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. He was twenty-five at the time. [Originally published in French in 1995. In general, the English text does not reproduce the breadth, the dynamism, or the flow of the original French. mother to her--as soon as my daughter heard the news in Paris (it was the voice C'est la rencontre avec Frantz Fanon à travers Josie Fanon, son épouse, qui était ma collègue à Révolution Africaine, un hebdomadaire algérien, et son fils Olivier. of the author of Deserteur on the pone with me one morning) she took the plane. Tunis, she returned to every place they had lived. was smiling at us when she left,' a nurse recalled, unable to forget the This is, in fact, what I have done. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. J.Fanon: I came back this year because of an invitation from the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid, which is organizing throughout the year a series of homage and commemorations to black revolutionaries, notably Paul Roberson, Nelson Mandela of the A.N.C., President Nkrumah, etc. the beginning of autumn 1961 Frantz Fanon, a West Indian psychiatrist who has Fanon worked within the F.N.L and the Provisional Government. street. He's been the representative of the 'Provisional Government of the Algerian the fisherman setting out to sea in their boats. 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. nurse waited for her on Sunday. That is where he felt the first onset of his It is decided that she will take notes by hand at the hospital from 7 to 9am, and then type it out at home in the evening. her back finally turned on her home and her life, Josie Fanon threw herself out There is still much more to be written. treatment of leukemia has the highest success rate in the country. Reading Frantz Fanon in Grahamstown, South Africa. stiffened, then added, hardly bitter: 'I understood his point of view; he because it is where my husband died. It is true that a life comes into existence before ano... "At J.Fanon: I don’t think – and knowledgeable people have told me — that The Wretched of the Earth is perfect; there are some lacunae and translation errors. She would get up early; she would pour out can after can of water to He was 36 years old. In 1957, the French government expelled us fromAlgeria. cars. Bethesda Hospital, three hours by train from New York: its center for the JOSIE ET FRANTZ FANON, La grande humanité Je ne sais pas comment j’avais entendu parler pour la première fois de Fanon, cela remonte à loin, très loin. He was a psychiatrist and had never abandoned his research in that or other medical fields. National liberation is a first step; without it, very little can be done. ( Log Out /  This meant that for a time, he identified with France. In 1952, Fanon published his first major work Black Skin, WhiteMasks. He admired Césaire and Damas greatly. J.Fanon:  It was through my initiative that Sartre’s preface to The Wretched of the Earth was removed. We can draw a parallel between such personal problems and the concept of Négritude, which Fanon analyzed. However, I cannot say with certainty where. Concernant Frantz Fanon comme chantre de la négritude, c'est faux, archi-faux et diffamatoire. The field of his experience and action widened and resulted in the writing of The Wretched of the Earth. He's been the representative of the 'Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic' in Ghana and Guinea. rested in the hospital for six days. Without independence, nation building cannot begin. 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. In a certain phase of the struggle, such a position can have for a time a positive and beneficially unifying effect. No, she does not On the condition, she told the doctor, cf: You were telling me when we passed through the campus gate, that your son, Olivier, had spent some time atHowardUniversity in 1961. With And She Fanon fumes: she does not type fast enough. He was 36 years old. We met at a theatre. Fanon refused to marry Michelle, and by 1949 had become involved with his future wife, Josie. 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. Let us say that from a western point of view, it is a good preface. she repeated harshly. Change ). cf: how do you feel about this second trip to theUnited States? writing, Frantz's letters which she had compiled and arranged much earlier, Sartre understood the subject matter in The Wretched of the Earth. Marie-Josèphe Dublé dite "Josie", femme Blanche née française, était l'épouse de l'homme Noir (né en Martinique) Frantz Fanon. J.Fanon: Fanon had been Césaire’s student inMartinique. J.Fanon: I met him inLyon (in the southeast ofFrance). Il est l’un des fondateurs du courant de pensée tiers-mondiste. geraniums on the neighboring balcony. A year before her death, Josie had witnessed from her balcony riots and shootings of civilians in the street below. It was under these circumstances that he came to theU.S. In New York the two or three days in Algiers; with Olivier, now an orphan, and a young of her fifth-story window. Even if neo-colonialism is active in a country, it is preferable to colonialism and total dependence. daughter then returned to Paris. When exactly in 1961 were you here and what were your reasons fro that trip? Mireille Fanon, the eldest daughter of Frantz Fanon and Michèle Weyer was born in 1948 in France. This was in 1953, one year before the start of the Algerian revolutionary armed struggle. He was also interested in news dissemination. 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. After six years of revolutionary activities in Africa, Frantz Fanon arrived in New Yorkin early October 1961, suffering from an advanced case of leukemia. Alone!' feel alone: he should not be worried; there's no need whatsoever for him to Africans in that part of the continent will have to wage a very prolonged and protracted armed struggle. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. During that time, we enrolled our small son atHowardUniversity’s kindergarten. explain, over the phone, that they've been able to get him admitted to the Her husband’s comment: "This Fanon has a hell of a nerve. cf: You were in the U S previously in 1961. 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. so she willingly went to the hospital. 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. I worked from 1962 — the year of Algeria’s independence — until last year [1977] for the Algerian press. Frantz was born on July 20 1925, in Fort-de-France, 97200, Martinique, Martinique, FRANCE. her fall, Josie hurt no one: only she exploded." But reassure himself as well. spent a summer's month together in a village by the sea, half an hour from Josie Fanon committed suicide at El Biar, Algiers, ten years later. Since 1977, I have worked for a Pan-African magazine, Demain L’afrique (Tomorrow Africa) published monthly inParis. And he...', She The he was a child. endlessly on the scenes that she'd observed or that people had told her about. the sea. She would linger, I feel In his works, he states clearly that it is through a revolutionary process that we can understand and resolve racial problems. balcony in El-Biar, adolescents in revolt were the first to set fire to police J.Fanon: From a personal point of view, I am a bit shaken to be back in theU.S. adolescent boy, Karim, the neighbor's son, whom Josie had taken care of since J.Fanon: I have been for sometime a professional journalist. We were both students. surrounded by our friends, our children. There is nothing surprising here. gentleness in Josie's large eyes, her voice so near. the family psychologist. Similarly, Josie Fanon, whom he married in 1952, remains as enigmatic as ever, despite her vital role in transcribing his work while he was alive and promoting his work after he died. pulled a chair over. "Josie Fanon's relationship with Michelle began in Lyon, France where they were both students. She was of Corsican and Gypsy descent, a native of Lyon, France, and daughter of left-wing trade unionists. His book The Wretched of the Earth (1961) is seen as the "bible of Third Worldism." 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.”. indestructible! Why? Josie Fanon, his wife, committed suicide in Algiers in 1989. swarmed the capital, and, confronted with peaceful demonstrations, opened fire: At the completion of his studies, he wanted to go back to theAntillesor toAfricato look for work. phones her son in Paris to reassure him: yes, she will start therapy again with In The ], The Fact of Blackness in a Sea of Whiteness, Sylvia Wynter: No Humans Involved - An Open Letter to My Colleagues, Black Skin, White Masks: Exploring the Life & Work of Frantz Fanon, Frantz Fanon: Psychiatrist, Revolutionary, Philosopher & Author. ( Log Out /  illness. A year before her death, Josie had witnessed from her balcony riots and shootings of civilians in the street below. He was 23; I was 18. cf: Speaking ofLyon, would you retrace for us the course of Fanon’s life? Djebar on the telephone, Josie sighed: "Oh Frantz, the wretched of the earth again. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. wash the veranda floor. In his opinion — and this was later proved true — Négritude was but a stage in the dialectical process of the black man’s struggle for liberation. Back in El-Biar, she took that they let her go home to her apartment on the weekend: be with her flowers, cf: Going back to Fanon’s birthplace – the French speakingAntilles, what is the colonial situation there? Born inMartiniquein 1925, Fanon… Born inMartiniquein 1925, Fanon was a product of the French colonial system. I am also interested in observing the black civil rights movements in theUS, examine the new perspectives and discuss what the hopes are. 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. Hardly spoke. The We are not going to limit each other to race! Fanon was survived by his French wife Josie (née Dublé), their son Olivier, and his daughter (from a previous relationship) Mireille. The answer is simple: there exists a fundamental fraternity between all colonized people and between people colonized by the same foreign power. more, O Frantz, the 'wretched of the earth!'" He tyrannises you, and you accept it." He had already made contact with Algerian nationalists; so that when the revolution began, he was already integrated in the revolutionary movement. 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. understand: that you couldn't send him such a long way to be treated alone, In fact, he was not in favor of this solution. It is in this context that the committee decided to pay tribute to Frantz and invited me. speak on the phone: I still hear today Josie's enraged voice commenting Was there at the funeral. (Seven Stories, 2003). more she daydreamed, looking at the summer light from her bed. Today, we speak of a Fanon legacy. my daughter--during the years she was a student in Algiers, Josie was a second In one or two seconds, glanced presence known. And then finally Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France est une militante française, née à Cahors le 24 novembre 1953 [1], présidente de la Fondation Frantz Fanon internationale.Elle a écrit de nombreux articles sur les droits humains et le droit international et humanitaire, sur le processus de radicalisation et de discriminations [2], sur la colonialité du pouvoir, des savoirs et de l'Être. He signed petitions favoringIsrael. Many wonder why Fanon went toAlgeriaor what relationship could there have been between a man fromMartiniqueandAlgeria. J’ai toujours été séduit par ses positions et sa posture de révolté, ce qu’il disait de la paysannerie, de la négritude et de la lutte de libération. She I think he would be more concerned today, because underneath their departmental status, Martinique,Guadeloupe and Guyane are just French colonies with another name.