a Algeria Unveiled FRANTZ FAD NON Fanon, says Adolfo Gilly, “was not a Marxist.” If so, so much the worse for Marxism Marxism is only incidentally a technical method; it is not a technique at all, or pliers with which to pull history's teeth. And ‘as much as it is a way of seeing history, it is equally a way of feeling about it. The compassionate grasp of social process and of the divided collectivity of mankind: Marx. Fanon: Beginning with the Algerian woman's zeil, he ends ‘with @ description of the modern confrontation which, even if only implicitly, is still all but total, enconspassing not only the native's mind and the revolutionary’s means, but the sickness of the master culture, too. All by itself, this chapter from A Dying. Colonialism’ would have made Fanon a permanent Marxist requirement, Its relevance for the current women’s Wberation ‘movement does not need comment. ‘Tite way PzoPx clothe themselves, together with the traditions of dress and finery that custom implies, constitutes the most distinctive form of a society's uniqueness, that is to say the one that is the most immediately perceptible. Within the general patter of a given costume, there are of course always modifica tions of detail, innovations which in highly developed societies are the mark’ of fashion. But the effect as a whole remains homogeneous, and great areas of civilization, immense cultural regions, can be grouped together on the basis of original, spe cific techniques of men's and women’s dress. tis by their apparel that types of society frst become known, 1 New York: Monthly Review Prets, 1965 161162 The New Left Reader \ whether through writen accounts and photographic records or ynoton pletres Thus, thre are cvlzatons wihout necktie, cieatons with loi lots, and others without hats. The fact | Sf belonging to a ven cultural group i usually Teveaed by Clothing watts. In te Arab worl, for example, the Yel | trorn by wemen i at once otieed by the tourist One may Te train fora Tong time unaware of the fac that 4 Mosiem does mot eat pork or that he denies himself dally sexe relauons turing the month of Ramadan, but the vel wor by the women Sppedts with such constancy thet it generally suces to char | sete Arab soci in the Arab Maghreb, the vel belongs to the clothing tradi | sions of the Tunisian, Algerian, Morea, and Libyan national 5 Slits. Forte out an he eee. the ell earaten bath Algerian society and its feminine components” In the ease of the Algerian man, onthe oer hand, regional medieaions an be noted the fez in urban centers, tabans and djllbast in the countryside, The masculine gat allows a certain margin of choice, a modicum of heterogenety. The woman seen inher shite veil ues the percepon that one hax of Algerian feic mine soley: Obviously what we have eve fsa uniform which | tolerates no medication, no variant * Pere itpheenten tp dpmtre ee | See eee eee Doring the war of liberation their forme of action nave Heise soem! bratty orginal spect. "Djeldea Tong hooded cloak, (Translators note) | {me pee decry to be ected the crores of es. ooccan peoples toggle for beraton, and chiedy tn the ees, the hte vel oe replaced Fy the Mack vel Ts imporant mdeation “inuined bythe Mossi women’s desse to exper thelr attchmen’ | {o's Majety Mohammed 1 wil be remembered that wan Inedlatly afer the ening ofthe Ring of Morocco tat the Back vel: Sign of tournings made fs appearance, Le worth otog that black intlMoroctn ar Rab soit, hot aver expres mourning or aficion “| [X's combat measure, the Seoption of black is rexponse tothe sin. to exer a syminlicpresre on the. occupier, and hence to make logial choice of one own ebol, } Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 163 ‘The haik® very clearly demarcates the Algerian colonized society. It is of course possible to remain hesitant before a litle sie, but all uncertainty vanishes at the time of puberty, With the veil, things become well-defined and ordered. The Algerian woman, in the eyes of the observe, is unmistakably “she who hides behind a vei We shall see that this veil, one of the elements of the tradi- tional Algerian garb, was to become the bone of contention in a grandiose battle, on account of which the occupation forces vere tomobiliz their most powerful and most varied resources, | and in the course of which the colonized were to display a sur prising force of inertia. Taken as a whole, colonial society, with Xts values, its areas of strength, and its philosophy, reacts to the veil in a rather homogeneous way. The decisive battle was launched before 1954, more precisly during the early 19905 The oficials ofthe French administration in Algeria, committed | to destroying the peoples originality, and under instructions to | bring about the disintegration, at whatever cost of forms of existence likly to evoke a national reality directly or indirectly were to concentrate their efforts on the wearing of the vel, | which was looked upon at this juncture as a symbol of the status of the Algerian woman. Sch a position is not the con- Sequence ofa chance intuition. Ison the basis ofthe analyses of sociologists and ethnologsts that the specialists in socalled native affairs and the heads of the Arab Bureaus coordinated their work. At an initial stage, there was a pure and simple adoption of the well-known formula, “Lets win over the women and the rest will follow." This definition of policy merely gave 4 scientific coloration to the “discoveries” ofthe sociologists } Beneath the patrilineal pattern of Algerian society, the spe- |clalists described a structure of matrilineal essence.’ Arab 50. ciety has often been presented by Westemers as @ formal society in which outside appearances are paramount. The Al gerian woman, an intermediary between obscure forces and the soup, appeared in this perspective to assume a primordial in portance, Behind the visble, manifest patriarchy the more si {nificant existence of a basic matsiarchy was afrmed. The role |of the Algerian mother, that of the grandmother, the aunt, and {he “old woman.” were inventoried and defined | ‘This enabled the colonial administration to define a precise jpolieal doctrine: "I we want to destroy the stucture of Al- Jeerian society, its capacity for resistance, we must frst ofall The heik—the Arab name for the big square vell wom by Arab women. covering the face and the whole Hedy. (Translators nove)164 The New Left Reader ‘conquer the women; we must go and find them behind the veil ‘where they hide themselves and in the houses where the men keep them out of sight." It is the situation of woman that was accordingly taken as the theme of action. The dominant ad- ‘ministration solemnly undertook to defend this woman, pic- tured as humiliated, sequestered, cloistered . . . Tt described the immense possibilities of woman, unfortunately transformed by the Algerian man into an inert, demonetized, indeed dehuman- ized object. The behavior of the Algerian was very firmly de- nounced and described as medieval and barbaric. With infinite science, a blanket indictment against the “sadistic and vam. pirish” ‘Algerian attitude toward women was prepared and drawn up. Around the family life of the Algerian, the occupier piled up a whole mass of judgments, appraisals, reasons, ac- Cumulated anecdotes and edifying examples, thus attempting to confine the Algerian within a circle of guilt. Mutual aid societies and societies to promote solidarity with, Algerian women sprang up in great number, Lamentations were ‘organized. "We want to make the Algerian ashamed of the fate that he metes out to women.” This was a period of effer- vescence, of putting into application a whole technique of in- filtration, in the course of which droves of social workers and women directing charitable works descended on the Arab quarters. ‘The indigent and famished women were the first to be be- sieged, Every kilo of semolina distributed was accompanied by ‘a dose of indignation against the veil and the cloister. The indignation was followed up by practical advice. Algerian ‘women were invited to play “a functional, capital role” in the transformation of theit lot. They were pressed to say no to a centuries-old subjection. The immense role they were called upon to play was described to them. The colonial administra- tion invested great sums in this combat. After it had been posited that the woman constituted the pivot of Algerian so- ety, all efforts were made to obtain control over her. The Al- gerlan, it was assured, would not stir, would resist the task of ‘cultural destruction undertaken by the occupler, would oppose assimilation, so long as his woman had not reversed the stream. Tn the colonialist program, it was the woman who was given the historic mission of shaking up the Algerian man. Converting the woman, winning her over to the foreign values, wrenching her free from her status, was at the same time achieving a real power over the man and attaining a practical, effective means of destructuring Algerian culture. Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 165 Still today, in 1959, the dream of a total domestication of Algerian society by means of “unveiled women aiding and sheltering the occupier” continues to haunt the colonial author- ‘The Algerian men, for their part, are a target of criticism for their European comrades, or more offically for their bosses ‘There fs not a European worker who does not sooner or later, in the give and take of relations on the job site, the shop, ot the office, ask the Algerian the ritual questions: “Does your wife ‘wear the veil? Why don’t you take your wife to the movies, to the fights, to the café?” European bosses do not limit themselves (o the disingenuous query ot the glancing invitation. They use “Indian cunning” to comer the Algerian and push him to painful decisions. In con nection with a holiday—Christmas or New Year, or simply a social occasion with the firm—-the boss will invite the Algerian employee and his wife. The invitation is not a collective one, Every Algerian is called in to the director's office and invited by zname to come with “your little family." "The firm being one big family, it would be unseemly for some to come without their ‘wives, you understand? . . ” Before this formal summons, the Algerian sometimes experiences moments of difficulty. If he ‘comes with his wife, it means admitting defeat, it means prostituting his wife,” exhibiting her, abandoning a mode of resistance. On the other hand, going alone means refusing to give satisfaction to the boss; it means running the risk of being, The ground is prepared in the school establishments as well. The teachers fo whom the parents hase entrusted thet children toon aequite the habit of pasing severe fudgment on the fate of woman in Algerian saciety. “We fnmly hope hat you at least wil be strong enous to Impore your point of vier Schools for “young. Mostem eels ‘ce mulipying. At their pups’ approach to puberty. the teachers or fhe uns exercise a tu cxoeptonal acuvity. The mothers are fest felt out, besieged, and given the tision of shaking up and convincing the father. Much ts made ofthe young students prodigious tnteligenes, het ‘atarty, a plutei painted of the brillant future that awaits those ‘eager young creatures, and ft fr none to subi hinted that it would be ‘timinal ifthe chit scholig were tntrrupted. The showteomings Of Solonized society are conceded, and iti proposed that the Young stadent be sent to boarding schoo! in order to spare the parents the ewticsm of “narrow-minded neighbors” For the specialist ithe colonal aftr “eran and the “aeteige” nacre ret commande, he Shivusted with destoying the cultural resistance of 2 coloneed coun ‘The regions are accordingly clatslied in terme of the number of de ‘eloped “active ut,” in other words, agents ef crosln ofthe nadonsl alte chat they contain165 The New Left Reader ‘ut of a jab. The study of a case chosen at random—a descrip- tion of the traps set by the European in order to bring the Al- sgetian to expose himself, to declare: "My wife wears a vell, she Shall not go out." or else to betray: "Since you want to see her, here she is."--would bring out the sadistic and perverse char- acter of these contacts and relationships and would show in microcosm the tragedy of the colonial situation on the psycho- logical level, the way the two systems directly confront each other, the eple of the colonized society, with its specific ways of existing in the face of the colonialist hydra. ‘With the Algerian intellectual, the aggressiveness appears in sts full intensity, The fellah, “the passive slave of a rigidly struc- tured group.” is looked upon with a certain indulgence by the conqueror.’ The lawyer and the doctor, on the other hand, are severely frowned upon. These intellectuals, who keep their wives in a state of semi-slavery, are literally pointed to with an accusing finger. Colonial society blazes up vehemently against this Inferior status of the Algerian woman. Tts members worry land show concern for those unfortunate women, doomed “to produce brats,” kept behind walls, banned. Before the Algerian intellectual, racialist arguments spring. forth with special readiness. For ail that he is a doctor, people will say, he still remains an Arab, "You can't get away from nature.” Illustrations of this kind of race prejudice can be ‘multiplied indefinitely. Clearly, the intellectual is reproached for limiting the extension of learned Western habits, for not playing his role as an active agent of upheaval of the colonized Society, for not giving his wife the benefit of the privileges of a ‘more worthy and meaningful life . .. In the large population centers itis altogether commonplace to hear a European con- j fess acidly that he has never seen the wife of an Algerian he hhas known for twenty years. At a more diffuse, but highly re vealing, level of apprehension, we find the bitter observation, that “we work in Vain” . . . that “Islam holds its prey. ‘The method of presenting the Algerian as a prey fought over with equal ferocity by Islam and France with its Western cul- ture reveals the whole approach of the occupier, his philosophy land his policy. This expression indicates that the occupier, smarting from his failures, presents in a simplified and pejora- tive way the system of values by means of which the colonized person resists his innumerable offensives, What is in fact the assertion of a distinct identity, concern with keeping intact a *feligha peasant, (Translators note) Algeria Unveiled —Frantz ‘anon 167 few shreds of national existence is atibuted to religous, mag Cal, fanatical behavior This releetion of the conqueror assumes orginal forms, ac cording o cumstances o othe typeof colonia situation, On the whole thexe forms of behavior have been fairy well studied in the course of the past twenty years, it eannot be said, how- exer, that the conclusions that have been reached are wholly ‘ali, Specialists in baste education for underdeveloped coun ties or technicians for the advancement of retarded societies vould do well to understand the sterile and harmful character of any endeavor which iluminates preferentially a given ele ‘ent of the colonized society. Even within the framewark of 2 newly independent nation, ane cannot atack this or that seg ment of the caltoral whole without endangering. the work Lndertaken (leaving aside the question of the natives psyeho- Topical balance). More precisely, the phenomena of counter. acculturation must be understood as the organic impos af a culture to modify any one of hs customs without at the Same ume reevaluating Its deepest values, He most stable ‘models. To speak of counteracculibation ina colonal situation iS an absurdity. The phenomena of resistance observed in the colonized must be related to an attitude of counterasimilatin, Of maintenance of «cultural, hence national, originality The occupying forees, in applying their maximum psycho logical attention to the veil worn by Algerian women, Were obviously hound wo achleve some results Here and ther it hus happened that awoman was “saved,” and symbolically un. veld These testawomen, with baze faces and free bodies, hence forth circulate ike sound cirency inthe European society of Ageia. These omen were sutrounded by an atmosphere of newness. The Europeans, overexclted and wholly given over fo thei victory, cared away in a Kind of trance, would speak of the psychological phenomena of conversion. And infact in the European society, the agents of thi conversion were held in esteem. They were envied, ‘The benevolent attention of the scdministration was drawn to them, ‘After each sucess, the authorities were strengthened in thelr conviewon that the Algerian woman would support Western penetration into the naive society, Every rejected vel disclosed {0 the eyes ofthe colonialist horizons unt then forbidden, and revealed to them, piece by piece, the flesh of Algeria lid bare ‘The oceuper's aggressiveness, and hence his hopes, multiplied tenfold each time'a new face was uncovered. Every new Alge168 The New Left Reader sian woman unveled announced to the occupier an Algerian fociety whose systems of defense were in the process of disloa- tion, open and breached, Every veil that fll, every body that became berated from the traditional embrace of the halk, very face that fered itself tothe bold ad impatient glance of the cceupier, was a negative expression of the fact that Algeria was beginning to deny herself and was accepting the rape of the colonizer" Algerian society ‘with every” abandoned vell seemed to expres its willingness t0 attend the master’s scheol tnd to deelde to change its habits under the oceupe’s direction and patronage 'We have seen how colonial society, the colonial administra tin, perceives the vell and we have sketched the dynamics of the efforts undertaken to ight its an institutlon and the 7e sistances developed by the colonized society. At the level of the individual, of the private European, t may be interesting to follow dhe multiple reactions provoked by the existence of the veil which reveal the corlginal way in which the Algerian vwoman manages tobe present ot sbaent For a European not drely Involved in this work of conver: sion, what rescdlone are there tobe recorded? “The dominant atutude appears tous to be a romantic exo cism, strongly Unged with sensuality "And, to begin with, the vel ides beauty. ‘Nreveaing refectionamong others--of this state of mind vwas communicated tous by a European visting Algeria who, in the enerise of his profession (he was a lawyer), had had the opportunity of secing afew Algerian women without the vl ‘Thece men, he eaid,spesking of the Algerians, are gully of Concealing so many strange beats t was hls conclusion that & people with a ciche of such prizes, of such perfections of nature, owes ito leet to show them, to exhibit em. If worst ame to worst, he added caught tobe posable to force them doo ‘Astrand of halt, abit of forehead, a segment of an “over whelmingly beautiful face glimpsed in a steetar or on tain, Inay sufhes to kep alive and strengthen the Europeans pers tence in his irrational conviction thatthe Algerian woman isthe queen ofall women, ‘But there i also in the European the crystallization of an ag aressiveness, the stain of Kind of wolene before the Algerian { froman, Unveling this women is Tevealing her beauty, 1 ij baring her secret. breaking her resistance, making her aval for adventure, Hiding the fae is also dlsgusing a secret, is | also creating a world of mystery, of the hidden. In a confused Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 169 vay, the Furopean experiences his relation with the Algerian ‘oman ata highly compies level, There i int the wil to bng this woman within his teach, to make het possible object of “This Woman who sees without being sen frustrates the colo nize. Tete Is no reiprociy. She doesnot ied here, does not give herself, doesnot offer hese. The Algerian has an attitude toward the Algerian worman which is om the whole Slear. He does not see her. There seven permanent intention not to perceive the feminine profile, not to pay alention ‘women. In the case ofthe Algerian, therefore there notin the tee or on aroad, that behavior charactering a sexusl er, counter that i deserbed in terms ofthe glance, ofthe physiel bearing, the marcalar tension, the sign of dlstrbnnce 0 which the phenomenology of encounters has accustomed "The European faced with un Algerian Woman wants {0 see He reacts in.an aggressive way before this tation of is per ception. Frustration and agaresiveness, hereto, evolve ape. ‘Aggressiveness comes to light, in the fst place, in stuctraly ambivalent atutudes and in the dream material tat can be Tevealed inthe European, whether he is normal or suffers From neuropathlogical disturbances Inset cent, for example atthe endo the morning, eis commen to hear Eurepean doctors express thelr disappointment. The women who remove thet vels before them are commonplace, vulgar, there ie realy nothing to make such a mystery of One wonders what they ae hiding European women sete the cont I a much fess round aventon must be cileé to a fuente, on the pest of European women in particular, with ropsrd fo 8 epecal category of evolved natives, Ceran unvelled Algerian women turn themacler nto Desfect Westerners with amazing rapidity and unsuspected ease, Eate eam women fel certain uneasiness in the presence of thee women, Frosted in the presence ofthe el they experience a saul imprer sion before the bared fac, before tht unabashed body which hay ost Al amhwardness all timidity, and become’ downsight offensive Net Only is the satisfaction of supervising the evolution and conecing the ‘stakes of the unveled woman wthsnyn fem the European meen ‘ut she fete herself challenged on the level of feminive char of ‘leans hd sven wet « competion in she novice meamorhon t 4 professional, neophyte transformed. into a rade The Espen woman hin no coe otf nae commen aun th he ‘Algerian man who ha fiercely Bung the unvelod woman ino the ea of evil and of depravation. “Realy the European women wil excaie "ete unvelled women are gute amoral ahd shameless” Integration in order to be successful, sera indeed to have t be simply 4 castn sccepted patella ” “170 ‘The New Left Reader about way. They blundy alfirm that no one hides what is beau tiful and discern in this strange custom an “altogether femi- nine” intention of disguising imperfections. And they proceed to compare the strategy of the European woman, which is in tended to correct, to embellish, o bring out (beauty treatments, hairdos, fashion ), with that of the Algerian woman who prefers to veil, to conceal, to cultivate the man’s doubt and desire, On another level, it is claimed that the intention is to mislead the customer, and that the wrapping in which the “merchandise” fs presented does not realy alter its nature, nor its value. ‘The content of the dreams of Europeans brings out other special themes. Jean-Paul Sartre, in his Réflections Sur la Ques tion Juive, has shown that on the level of the unconscious, the Jewish woman almost always has an aura of rape about her. ‘The history of the French conquest in Algeria, including the overrunning of villages by the troops, the confiscation of prop- terty and the raping of women, the pillaging of a country, has Contributed to the birth and the crystallization of the same dy- namic image, At the level of the psychological strata of the ‘occupier, the evocation of this freedom given to the sadism of the conqueror, {0 his eroticism, creates faults, fertile gaps through which both dreamlike forms of behavior and, on cer- tain occasions, criminal acts ean emerge. “Thus the rape of the Algerian woman in the dream of a European is always preceded by a rending of the veil. We here witness a double deflowering, Likewise, the woman's conduct is never one of consent or acceptance, but of abject humility ‘Whenever, in dreams having an erotic content, a European ‘meets an Algerian woman, the specific features of his relations with the colonized society manifest themselves. These dreams evolve neither on the same erotic plane, nor at the same tempo, as those that involve a European woman, With an Algerian woman, there is no progressive conquest, no mutual revelation. Straight off, with the maximum of vio- lence, there is possession, rape, near-murder. The act assumes 1 para-neurotie brutality and sadism, even in a normal Euro pean. This brutality and this sadism are in fact emphasized by the frightened attitude of the Algerian woman. In the dream, the woman-victim screams, struggles like a doe, and as she ‘weakens and faints, is penetrated, martyrized, ripped apart ‘Attention must likewise be drawn to a characteristic of this, dream content that appears important to us, The European never dreams of an Algerian woman taken in isolation. On the rrare occasions when the encounter has become a binding rela- Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 171 tionship that can be regarded as «couple, it has quickly been transformed by the desperate fight of the woman, who, ine: tably, leads the male "among women The European alwys dreams ofa group of women of Bald of women, suggestive ot the gymacceum, the harem-—exoic themes deeply rooted in the "The European’ aggressiveness wil express iself likewise in contemplation of the Algerian woman’ moral. Her mit ad he reserve ate tasfonned In accordance with the om ‘monplace laws of confit peychology into their opposite, and the Algerian woman becomes hyporiscal, perverse! end een verutable nymphomaniac. We have seen that on the level of individuals the colonial strategy of desrctaring Algerian society very quickly came t assign a prominent place fo the Algerian woman. The conta, istsrelendessnes,his methods of struggle mere bound to give Hse fo reactionary forms of behavior on the part ofthe ele nized. In the face of the lence ofthe accuplr, the cloned found himself defining a principled peston with respect to a former inert element of the native cultural configuration, Tt ‘mas the colonialist’ frenay to unvell the Algerian woman, It was his gamble on winning the battle of the vel at whatever cont that were to provoke the natives bristling resistance, The dll erately aggressive intentions of the colons with espet the hai gave anew fe fo ts dead element ofthe Algerian cultural stockdest because stabilized, without any progres. sive change in form or colon. We here recognize one of he laws of the psychology of colonzation nan inal phase, iis the son the pate ofthe ope at determin the caters of resistance around which a peoples wil to survive, becomes organized, Peon Teis the white man who creates the Negro, But ti the Negro who creates negitude. To the colonialist offensive against te ‘ell, the colonzed opposes the clt of the vel What as an ndiferentated element In a homogeneous mole acquires taboo character, snd the atitude ofa given Algerian women with respect othe veil wil be constant elated fo her ener Sttitade with respec to the foreign occupation The cloned, inthe face of the emphasis given by the colonialist to tis oF that aspect of his traditions, reacts very vilenly. Te stention devoted to modifying this aspect, the emotion the conqueror Pus int is pedagogical work, his prayers, his thresty, weave ‘hole universe of resistances around this particular element of the cultae: Holding out agtnst tye cceaple on ths precse172 The New Left Reader element means inflicting upon him a spectacular setback; it ‘means more particularly maintaining “coexistence” as a form ‘of conflict and latent warfare. It means keeping up the atmos- phere of an armed truce. ‘Upon the outbreak of the struggle for liberation, the attitude of the Algerian woman, or of native society in general, with regard to the veil was to undergo Important modifications. ‘These innovations are of particular interest in view of the fact that they were at no time included in the program of the strug- ile. The doctrine of the Revolution, the strategy of combat, never postulated the necessity for a revision of forms of be- hhavior with respect to the vell. We are able to affirm even now that when Algeria has gained her independence such questions will not be raised, for in the practice of the Revolution the people have understood that problems are resolved in the very ‘movement that raises them. ‘Until 1955, the combat was waged exclusively by the men. ‘The revolutionary characteristics of this combat, the necessity for absolute secrecy, obliged the militant to keep his woman in absolute ignorance. As the enemy gradually adapted himself to the forms of combat, new difficulues appeared which required original solutions. The decision to involve women as active tlements of the Algerian Revolution was not reached lightly. In ‘sense, it was the very conception of the combat that had to be ‘modified. The violence of the occupier, his ferocity, his delirious attachment to the national territory, induced the leaders no Tonger to exclude certain forms of combat. Progressively, the urgency of a total war made itself felt. But involving the women, ‘was not solely a response to the desire to mobilize the entire nation, The women's entry into the war had to be harmonized with respect for the revolutionary nature of the war. In other words, the women had to show as much spirit of sacrifice as the ‘men. It was therefore necessary to have the same confidence in them as was required from seasoned militants who had served several prison sentences. A moral elevation and a strength of character that were altogether exceptional would therefore be required of the women, There was no lack of hesitations. The revolutionary wheels had assumed such proportions; the mech- anism was running at a given rate. The machine would have to be complicated; in other words its network would have to be extended without affecting its efficiency. The women could not be conceived of as a replacement product, but as an element capable of adequately meeting the new tasks. Algeria Unveiled—Prantz Fanon 173 In the mountains, women helped the guerilla during halts or when convalescing after a wound or a cave of typo con traced in the djebel® Bot deciding to incorporate women a essential elements, to have the evolution ‘depend on thei Dresence and thee action in this or that sector, was obviously a ‘wholly revolutionary step. To have the Revolution rest at any Pont on ther activity was an important cholce Such a decision wae made dificult for several reasons, Dut ing the whale period of unchallenged domination, we have seen that Algerian society, and particularly the women, had tend ency to fee from the oocupier The tenacity ofthe ooupler in his endeavor to unveil the women, to make of thers an al in the work of eultural destracton, had the effet of strengthening the tradional pattems of behavior. These patterns, which were essentially positive in the stratgy of resistance to he corenve action of the colonize, naturally had negative effets, The Woman, espetally the cy woman, sufered a loss of ease and of assurance. Having been accustomed to confinement, ber body didnot have the normal mobility before «mils Rerion of avenues, of unfolded sidewalk, of houses. of people dodged fr iumped into. "Thisrelatielycitred life, wit ts known, Categorized, regulated comings and goings, made any fine: diate revolution seem a dubious propeition. The pollcal lead. xs were perfectly familar with these problems, aba helt hes tations expressed thelr consciousness of thelr vesponsibililes They were ented to doubt the success ofthis measure. Would not sich 2 derision have catastrophic consequences for the progress of the Revolution? “o tis doubs there was added an equally important clement. The leaders hesitated to involve the’ women, being perfectly aware of the ferocity ofthe cloner The leaders of the Reve, lation had illosions as tothe enemy’ ermal capacities, Nearly all of them hal passed through ther Jal of had had sessions with surviors from the camps or the cell of the French judi! police Notone of them fale to realize tat any Algerian woman arrested would be tortured te death. Is rela tvey easy to commit onset to this path and to acept among Aiferenteventualies that of dying under torture The mater 15a tle more dificult when it involves designating someone who manifestly runs the risk of certain death, But the decision 2s to whether or not the women were to partiipate i the Revo- * djebel—mountain, (Transater’s note)174 The New Left Reader luton had to be made; the inner oppositions became masive, and each decision gave nse to the same hesitatons, produced the same despate Inthe face of he extractnary wasn ofthis ew fer of lar combat, observers have compared the action of the feian women io that of certain women reitance ghtes or ven secret agents of the specialized services. It must be con- Stantly bore in mind that the committed Algerian woman Tearns both he role as “a woman alone inthe street” and her revolutionary mission Instinctvely. The Algerian woman is not A secret agent. Is without apprenticeship, without briefing, ‘without fUss, that she goes out into the street with thee gre- nnades in her handbag or the activity report of an area in her brace. She doesnot have the sensation of playing a role she has Beard about ever so many times in novels, or scen in mation plctures. Tere ls not that coofilent of lay, of Smltaton, al fost alays present in ths form of action when we ae dealing with a Western woman. ‘What we have here fs not the bringing to light of a character known and frequented a thousand times in Imagination o in stores. Its am authente birth in a pure state, without prelin- nary instruction, There is no character to imitate. On the con trary, there fs an intense dramatization, ‘continuity between the woman and the revolutionary. The Algerian woman Tats lec to he level of tragedy. "The growth inthe numberof the FLN cells, the range of new tasks—finance, Intelligence, counterintellience, pallies train ing—the neceslty to provide for one active cel three or four replacement calls o beheld In reserve, ready to become active athe slightest alert concerning the front cel, obliged the lead ers to seek other avenues forthe carrying out of stcly individ ‘al assigaments, after a final series of meetings among leaders, tnd expecially in view of the urgency ofthe dally problems tat the Revolution faced, the decision to concretely Invalve women in the national struggle was reached “The revolutionary character of this decision must once again bee emphasized. At the beginning, It was the married women who were contacted, But rather s0on these restrictions were "We are mentioning here only realities known to the enemy, We therefore sty nothing about the new forms of action adopted by women Jn the Revolution. Since 1958, in fact, the torturer inflcted on women rulitants have enabled the occupier to have an idea of the strategy used by women. Today new adaptations have developed. (twill therefore be understood if ve are lent as to these. Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 175 abandoned. The married women whose husbands were mill tants were the first to be chosen. Later, widows or divorced women were designated. In any case, there were never any un- married girls—first of all, because a girl of even twenty or twenty-three hardly ever has occasion to leave the family dom cile unaccompanied. But the woman's duties as mother or spouse, the desire (o limit to the minimum the possible conse quences of her arrest and her death, and also the more and ‘more numerous volunteering of unmarried girls, led the polit cal leaders to make another leap, to remove all restrictions, to accept indiscriminately the support ofall Algerian women, Meanwhile the woman who might be acting as a liaison agent, as a bearer of tracts, as she walked some hundred or two Ihundred meters ahead of the man under whose orders she was ‘working, still wore a vell; but after a certain period the pattern of activity that the struggle involved shifted in the direction of the European city. The protective mantle of the Kasbah, the almost organic curtain of safety that the Arab town weaves round the native, withdrew, and the Algerian woman, exposed, was sent forth into the conqueror’s city. Very quickly she adopted an absolutely unbelievable offensive tactic. When colo- nized people undertake an action against the oppressor, and When this oppression is exercised in the form of exacerbated ‘and continuous violence in Algeria, they must overcome a con- siderable number of taboos. The European city is not the pro- longation of the native city. The colonizers have not settled in the midst of the natives. They have surrounded the native city: they have laid siege to it. Every exit from the Kasbah of Algiers ‘opens on enemy territory. And so itis in Constantine, in Oran, In Blida, in Bone. ‘The native cities are deliberately caught in the conqueror’s vise. To get an idea of the rigor with which the immobilizing of the native city, of the autochthonous population, is organized, ‘one must have in one’s hands the plans according to which a colonial city has been laid out, and compare them with the ‘comments of the general staff of the occupation forces, Apart from the charwomen employed in the conquerors hhomes, those whom the colonizer indiscriminately calls the ‘Fatmas,” the Algerian women, especially the young Algerian ‘women, rarely venture into the European city, Their move ‘ments are almost entirely limited to the Arab city. And even in the Arab city their movements are reduced to the minimum. The rare occasions on which the Algerian woman abandons the city are almost always in connection with some event, either of176 The New Left Reader an exceptional nature (he death of a relative residing in a ‘earby locality), or more often, tradiional fay visits for re Tiglout feast, o «pilgrimage In such eases, the European city {sroned in a car, usally early in the morning. The Algerian ‘woman, the young Algerian woman-—except fr a Yery fest dents (ao, besides, never have the same ease ay their Euro an counterparts) must overcome 2 miley of nner Feitances, of subjectively organized fear, of emotions. She Inost atthe same time content the essentially hostile world of the oocuper and the moblized, viglant, and efficient pace forces Each tie she ventures into the European ety, the A fetian woman most achieve a victory over herself, over er Ehildish fears. She must consider the image of the occupier ledged somewbere in her ind and inher body, remede in tine the essential work of eroding it make H inesrentil, re nove something of the shame tat i attached tot devaldate it Initially subjective the breaches made in colonialism ae the result of 4 wctory of the colonized over thet old fear and over the atmosphere of despair distilled day after day by a colons tem that as incrusted elf withthe prospect of endureng for “The young Algerian woman, whenever she i called vpon, establishes slink. Algiers no longer the Arab city, but the Sutonomous area of Alger, the nervous system of the enemy Spparatas. Oran, Constantine develop their dimensions. in Inching the struggle, the Algerian fs losening te vse hat tar tghtening around the nate ces, From one area of Ad fies 0 ancthes from the Ruisgeau to Husein Dey, from Eh iar to the rue Michelet, the Revolution creates new links, More and moce it the Algerian woman, the Algerian gi ‘who willbe assuming these tasks ‘hong the tasks entrusted fo the Algeian woman is the bearing ef message of complicated verbal orders learned by heart sometimes despite complete absence of schooling, But fhe i also called upon to stand watch, for an hour and often tore before hue where district leaders are conferring, During those interminable minutes when she. must avoid standing sil so as not to attract attention, and ald venturing too far tnce she fe responsible forthe safety of the brothers ‘within, incdents chat afe at once funny and pathetic are not Infrequent. An unvelle Algerian gil who “wale the ster fs ‘ery alten nodced by young men who behave like young men allover the word, but who se aspectal approach asthe result, 4 Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 177 ofthe idea people habitually have of one who has discarded the Yell. She is treated to unpleasant, obscene. humiliating remarks When such tings happen, she must grit her teth, walk away 2 few steps, elude the passers-by who draw attention to her, who sive other passersby the deste either fo follow thet example, fr to come to her defense. Or it may be that the. Algesan ‘woman is carrying in her bag or in a small sultase teeny, thirty, forty mon fran, money beonging to te Reva, ‘money which st be used to take care of the needs of the fam is of prisoners oto buy medicine and Supls for the gue. This revolutionary activity has been carsied on by the Alge- ‘lan woman with exemplary constancy. sefmastery, and sie cess. Despite the inherent, subjective dificlties and notwith Standing the sometimes violent incomprchension of a part of the fami, the Aleran woman assumes all he asks ented But things were gradually t Become more complicated. Thus the unit leaders who go int the town and wh aval themselves of the women scouts, ofthe gifs whose function It lead the vray are no longer new to political stivity. are no longer Un Xnown to the pie, Audhenti military chefs have ow begun to pass through the cies, These are known, and are beng looked for. There isnot a police superintendent who does nok have their pctreson his desk “These soldiers onthe move, these fighters, always cary thelr vweapons—automati pistols, revolvers, grenades, somelines al three. The politcal leader must overcome much resistance in ard inde hese men, who under no reumstance wold allow themselves tobe taken prisoner, to entrust dlr weapons tothe gil who ito walk ahead of them, being upto thes things go badly, to recover the arms immediately, The group accordingly mates its way into the European it. A hundred ‘eters ahead, a giel may be carrying a suitcase and behind her are two or three ordinarylooking men, This git who is the ‘ous lighthouse and barometer gives maming incase of dan, ser, The fle makes i way by fits and stars police cay and patrols cruise back and forth, There are umes, as these solders have admitted after com- pleting such 2 mission, hen the urge fo recover thelr weapons Fe almost imesistble because of the fear of being eaight short sd not having time to defend themselves, With this phat, the Algerian woman penetrates a ite ure Inthe Res ofthe evolution,180 The New Left Reader escape,” and the cries of the tortured, demanded that new forms ‘of combat be adopted. ‘Members of the police and the meeting places of the colonial- {sts (cafés in Algiers, Oran, Constantine) were the first to be singled out, From this point on the Algerian woman became wholly and deliberately immersed in the revolutionary action. Tewas she who would carry in her bag the grenades and the re- volvers that a fidai would take from her at the last moment, be- fore the bar, or as a designated criminal passed. During this period Algerians caught in the European city were pitilessly challenged, arrested, searched. “This is why we must watch the parallel progress of this man ‘and this woman, of this couple that brings death to the enemy, life to the Revolution, The one supporting the other, but ap- parently strangers to each other. The one radically transformed into a European woman, poised and unconstrained, whom no ‘one would suspect, completely at home in the environment, and the other, a stranger, tense, moving toward his destiny. ‘The Algerian fidai, unlike the unbalanced anarchists made famous in literature, does net take dope. The fidat does not need to be unaware of danger, to befog his consciousness, or to forget, The “terrorist,” from the moment he undertakes an assignment, allows death to enter into his soul. He has a ren dezvous with death. The fidai, on the other hand, has a rendez- vous with the life of the Revolution, and with his own life. The fidat is not one of the sacrificed. To be sure, he does not shrink ‘before the possiblity of losing his life or the independence of his country, but at no moment does he choose death. If it has been decided to kill a given police superintendent responsible for tortures or a given colonialist leader, itis be- ‘cause these men constitute an obstacle to the progress of the Revolution. Froger, for example, symbolized a colonialist tradi tion and a method inaugurated at Sétif and at Guelma in 1954." Moreover, Froger's apparent power crystallized the colo- nization and gave new life t0 the hopes of those who were be- ginning to have doubts as to the real solidity of the System. It was around people like Froger that the robbers and murderers of the Algerian people would meet and encourage one another. This was something the fidai knew, and that the woman who accompanied him, bis woman-arsenal, likewise knew. Carrying revolvers, grenades, hundreds of false identity cards 1» Feoger, one of the colonialist leaders. Executed by a fda¥ in late 1086, Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 181 ‘or bombs, the unveiled Algerian woman moves like a fish in the ‘Western waters. The soldiers, the French patrols, smile to her as she passes, compliments on her looks are heard here and there, but no one suspects that her suitcases contain the auto- ‘matic pistol which will presently mow down four or five mem: bers of one of the patrols. ‘We must come back to that young girl, unveiled only yester day, who walks with sure steps down the streets of the Euro- pean city teeming with policemen, parachutists, militiamen. She no longer slinks along the walls as she tended to do before the Revolution. Constantly called upon to efface herself before a member of the dominant society, the Algerian woman avoided the middle of the sidewalk which in all countries in the world belongs rightfully to those who command. The shoulders of the unveiled Algerian woman are thrust back with easy freedom. She walks with a graceful, measured stride, neither too fast nor too slow. Her legs are bare, not confined by the veil, given back to themselves, and her hips are free. ‘The body of the young Algerian woman, in traditional so- ciety, is rovealed to her by its coming to maturity and by the veil. The veil covers the body and disciplines it, tempers It, at the very time when it experiences its phase of greatest effer- vescence. The veil protects, reassures, isolates. One must have heard the confessions of Algerian women or have analyzed the dream content of certain recently unveiled women to appreciate the importance of the veil for the body of the woman. Without the vell she has an impression of her body being cut up into bits, put adrift; the limbs seem to lengthen indefinitely. When the Algerian woman has to cross a street, for a long time she ‘commits errors of judgment as to the exact distance to be nego- tiated. The unveiled body seems to escape, to dissolve. She has an impression of being improperly dressed, even of being naked. She experiences a sense of incompleteness with great ‘intensity. She has the anxious feeling that something is unfin- ished, and along with this a frightful sensation of disintegrat- ing. The absence of the veil distorts the Algerian woman's cor- poral pattern. She quickly has to invent new dimensions for her body, new means of muscular control. She has to create for herself an attitude of unvelled.woman-outside. She must over- come all timidity, all awkwardness (for she must pass for a European), and at the same tme be careful not to overdo it, not to attract notice to herself. The Algerian woman who walks stark naked into the European city relearns her body, re-estab-182 The New Left Reader shes in a totally revoluttonary fashion, This new dulce of the ody and ef the world fs primary inthe case of one fevoludenary woman" ut the Algerian woman isnot ony in conf with her body. She iss links sometimes an essential one, in the revolutionary Iichine, She cari weapons, knows Important points of Te. Sige: And it is in trma ofthe concrete dangers that she faces thar we munt gauge ihe insurmountable wcfores that she bas tad to win inorder tobe able to say to er chief, on her Te tur: “Mission accomplished .- eA‘S= “Another dificulty to which attention deserves to be called appeared during the frst months of feminine activity, In the Curve of her comings and goings, it would happen that the tnveled Algerian woman sas san by a relative oa frend of the fay, the father was sooner of later informed, ie would haturally hestae to believe such allegations, Then more re forts vuld feach him, Diferent persone would Cai to have Seen “Zohra or Fatima unveiled, waking ike a = My Lord The woman, who before the Revoltion never left the house without being accompanied by her mother or her husband, {s now entrusted with special missions such as going fram Oran to Constantine oF Algiers. For several days, all by herself carrying direcves of capital importance for the Revolution, she takes the train, spends the night with an tn Known family, among mans. Here too she must harmonize er movements, for the enemy isan the lookout for any false step. But the {important thing here is that the husband makes no difficulty about Tetuing his wife leave on an assignment’ He will make in fact, @ point of pride to say tothe lason agent when the lauer retuens, "You ‘See, everything has gone well in your absence” The Algeria's ageeld Jealousy, his “congenial” suspeiourness, have melted on contact with ‘the Revolution. Te must be polnted out alo that militants who are being sought by the police take refuge with other miltants not yet Identied by the occupier In such cases the woman, left alone all day with the {ugitve, 1s the one who gets im hr food, the newspapers, the mall, showing no trace of suspicion or fear. Involved in the struggle, the hnusband or the father esmns to look upon the relations between the sexes ina new light The militant man Sscovers the milan woman, fd jointly Usey ceate new dimensions for Algerian society "ORAS. Rien a signeler—a military abbreviation for "Nothing to "We here go on to a description of attitudes, There fe, however, an important plece of work to be done on the woman's role inthe Revolution: the woman in the city, in the djebel, in the enemy ad Iinistrations, the prostitute and. the information she cbtaine, the Women in prison, under torture, facing death, before the cours. all hese chapter heading, after the material has been sifted, will reveal fan incalelable number of facts essential for the history ofthe national strurdle Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 183 protect us! . . .” The father would then decide to demand ex planations. He would hardly have begun to speak when he Would stop. From the young, girl's look of fiemness the father Would have understood that her commitment was of long stand Ing. The old fear of dishonor was swept away by a new fear, {fresh and cold—that of death in battle or of torture of the girl Behind the girl, the whole family—even the Algerian father, the authority for all things, the founder of every value—following in her footsteps, becomes committed to the new Algeria Removed and reassumed again and again, the veil has been ‘manipulated, transformed into a technique of camouflage, into a means of strugele. The virtually taboo character assumed by the veil in the colonial situation disappeared almost entirely in the course of the liberating struggle. Even Algerian women not actively integrated into the struggle formed the habit of aban- doning the veil. It is true that under certain conditions, espe- cially from 1957 on, the veil reappeared. The missions in fact became increasingly dificult. The adversary now know, since certain militant women had spoken under torture, that a num ber of women very Europeanized in appearance were playing @ fundamental role in the battle. Moreover, certain European Women of Algeria were arrested, to the consternation of the adversary, who discovered that his own System was breaking down. The discovery by the French authorities of the pattielpa tion of Europeans in the liberation strugele marks a turing point in the Algerian Revolution. From that day, the French patrols challenged every person, Europeans and Algerians were ‘equally suspect. All historic limits crumbled and disappeared. ‘Any person carrying a package could be required to open it and show its contents. Anyone was entitled to question anyone as to the nature of a parcel carried in Algiers, Philippevlle, or Batna, Under those conditions it became urgent to conceal the package from the eyes of the occupier and again to cover oneself with the protective hak Here again, a new technique had to be learned: how to carry a rather heavy object dangerous to handle under the veil and still give the impression of having one’s hands free, that there was nothing under this haik, except @ poor woman or an insig. nificant young girl. It was not enough to be veiled, One had (0 look so much like a “Fatma” that the soldier would be con: Vinced that this woman was quite harmless Very difficult. Three meters ahead of you the police challenge 8 veiled woman who does not look particularly suspect. From the anguished expression of the unit leader you have guessed184 The New Left Reader that se is carrying a bomb, ofa sack of grenades, bound tober body by a whole system of strings and staps, For he hands most be te, exhibited bare, humbly and abjecy presented the solders 0 that they wil Took no further, Showing empty tne apparenty mobile and free hands ls the sign that ares the enemy soir ‘he Algerian womans body, which in an ntl phate was pared down, now swelled, Whereas in the previous period the Body had to be made slim and disdplined'6 make i atractive and seductive, it now had to be squashed, made shapeless and even rilclows, This, as we have seen, isthe Pace dung whlch tha underucltoehry bomb, grenade, machine-gun clips. Te enemy, however, was alerted, and in the stees one wit nessed what became a commonplace speclacle of Algerian tromen glted tthe wall, on whose Doe the famous magnetic Gevectrs, the “frying pans” would be passed. Every veiled woman, every Algerian wonian became stspect There was no Giecriminadon, Ths was the period during Which men, women, Children, the whole Algerian people, experienced at one and the same time thelr national vocation andthe recasting of the new Algerian soley. ignorant or feigiing to be Ignorant ofthese new nor of conduct, French colonialism, on the occasion of May Tath, re enacted is ol campaign of Westernizing the Algerian worn Servants under the threat of being Are, poor women dragged from their homes, prostitutes, Were browgh to le. pullc ‘quae and symbolic unvelled to the cries of "Vite tigerte francaite™ Before this new ofensive old reactions reappeared Spontaneously and without beng tld, the Algerian women ‘tho had ong since dropped the’ vell once again donned the hai, ths affeming that was net tue that woman Mberaled herself atthe invitation of France and of Geneal de Gale Behind these peychological reactions, beneath this immediate and almost unanimous response, we agin see the overall at tude of rejection of the values of the occupier, even if these ‘ales objectively be worth choosing. Tis because hey fal to fpasp this intellectual realy, thie characteristic feature the Famous sensitivity of the colonized) thatthe colonizers rage at alway “ding them good In spite of Uiemecven” Colonialism ‘rants everything to come from it. But the dominant poycho Toga estore of the colonized isto withdraw betore any invita tion of the conquerors, In erganzing the famous cavalcade of May 1th, colonllim has obliged Algerian society fo go back to Algeria Unveiled—Frantz Fanon 185 inethods of struggle already outmeded. In a certain sense the diferent ceremonies have caused turning back a regression Cotonialism must accept the fact that things happen without its conte, without its direction. We are reminded othe words spoken in an international sssembiy by an ican pola Sure, Responding othe standard excuse ofthe immaturity of clonal peoples and thetrineapacty to administer Uemelve, this man demanded for the underdeveloped peoples “he right to govern themselves badly.” The doctrinal assertions of clo: nialism in its attempt to justify te maintenance of ts domt nation almost always push the colonized fo the position of mak. ing uncompromising, igi state counterpropesels ‘After the 13th of May, the vell was resumed, but stripped ‘once and for all ofits exclusively tradional dimension ‘There is thus @ historic dymamism of the vell thats very concretely percepuble in the development of ealonlzation Ia Algeria. In the beginning, the vel was a mechanism of es tance, bot is valve forthe socal group remained very strong ‘he vell was wor because radon demanded gtd separ tion of the sexes, but also becase the oocuper wes et om smoeling Algeria. In second phase, the motation occured in connection with the Revolution and usider special cre, Stances. The vell was abandoned inthe couse of revlutonary action, What had been weed to Slack the poychologel or poll cal effensives ofthe acupes became a ane oe nseaet The veil helped the Algerian woman to met te new probes created by the struggle "he colonialist are Incapable of grasping the motivations of the colonized, Its the necesties OF combat that five Tse Algerian sclety to new atts, to new modes of eton, to new ways