It was in the preface to Frantz Fanon's Wretched Of The Earth that Jean-Paul Sartre spoke out against colonialism. In it, Sartre points out the inevitability of what is to follow in the Algerian war, as he ponders on the plight of Algeria specifically and Africa in general.
Sartre, taking the philosophies of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, was one of the most famous exponents of existentialism in literature, with his first novel Nausea considered, along with Albert Camus' The Outsider, to be the pre-eminent fictional texts of the existentialist movement.
Fanon's book was designed to draw attention to the injustices of colonialism and act as a call to arms for the people of Algeria. In his preface, Sartre draws attention to the inevitable results of a people rising against their colonial oppressors. He points out that the bitterness on both sides will only increase as more and more casualties are amassed on both sides. How the people of France, safe in their homes, will maintain a wilful ignorance of the affair, not wishing to delve too closely into a tangled politics where they risk realising that they are 'the bad guy'.
In some ways, this situation is a more extreme example of the current British deployment to Afghanistan. Few are the people who are able to tell me what our objectives in Afghanistan are. Most are aware that it is 'something to do with terrorism'. It is interesting that there are so few questions being asked about a situation where British soldiers are dying for a seemingly unknown objective.
Is it surprising that Sartre agreed to write the preface to such a controversial book?
I believe not. Sartre's belief in existentialism, the unique and subjective view of each individual born into this world, meant that such a book would act as a rallying point for many unique individuals and assist them in working towards a common aim. Sartre was not against society, he simply believed that each individual viewed it differently.
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