Chapter 2, Spontaneity: Its Strength and Weakness Summary and Analysis

In this chapter, Fanon explores in depth the dynamics of an effective anti-colonialist revolution. He describes and explains the push-me-pull-you transitional points that mark the road from colonialism to independence, drawing from recent history and his own knowledge of the Algerian situation.

For example, he mentions as parallel situations the fact that in Kenya before the Mau-Mau rebellion, British colonial forces aided and abetted by Christian missionaries waged an unsuccessful campaign to drive back into the countryside young Kenyans who came into the cities seeking work and a better way of life. Likewise, in Congo, Belgian colonialist military forces in 1957 removed "hooligan" rural youths from the cities and placed them in resettlement camps operated by clergy. Both were effective acts of political castration.

These facts only underline the truth that an...