Colonized Peoples Readings on Discourse on Colonialism

Colonized Peoples

Readings on Discourse on Colonialism and Lost Names

Discourse on Colonialism

When, in the process of rebuking colonialism's "howling savagery" (p. 15), author / poet / social critic Aime Cesaire invokes a hot-button name like Hitler, the ultimate savage, slaughterer of millions of innocents, it is no surprise. Cesaire does not limit her justifiable vitriolic passion to Hitler's carnage and brutality; she also rages against "pseudo-humanism" and against racist attitudes which do not originate with Hitler. But when Cesaire attacks clergy, such as "Rev. Barde," and Barde's "fellow Christian, the Rev. Muller," it is indeed worthwhile to learn about her indignation towards men of the cloth.

Because, this is perhaps her way of showing that the Bardes and Mullers of the world are contributing to the "colonization of the spirit" of oppressed peoples.

Cesaire is outraged at those who are not outraged at Barde; Barde, according to Cesaire, stated (p. 17) that if the "goods of the world 'remained divided up indefinitely, as they would without colonization, they would answer neither the purposes of God nor the just demands of the human collectivity'."

And she is livid at the fact that "not one established writer... [nor] academician, not one preacher, not one crusader for the right..." responded to Rev Muller's statement that "Humanity must not...allow the incompetence, negligence, and laziness of the uncivilized peoples..." To fail in the full exploitation of their natural resources, which will certainly be fully exploited, it is implied by the reverend, by colonialist occupiers.

Another "colonization of the spirit" in Cesaire's book is shown through (p. 39) the Rev. Father Temples, part of the Belgian colonization of the Congo. The way in which Belgian conquerors break the spirits of - and ruin the identities of - native peoples, is by introducing "techniques that are ill adapted to them, from corvees, porter service, forced labor, slavery, from the transplanting of workers from one region to another [and] sudden changes in the biological environment..."

Lost Names

On page 12 the author gives an example of how the colonial power, the Japanese, broke the spirits of their Korean captives. The Japanese "Thought Police" inspector tells the father "it would be in the best interest" of the parishioners if "in his Sunday sermon, he would condemn" violent acts Koreans committed in Shanghai (against a Japanese general). But when the minister did not cooperate, he was taken away and beaten for two days, "...as if forcing a man to say what they want him to say would change his soul."

Also, on page 72, there is another example of the spirit of a Korean being broken by colonial powers, and an example of the taking away of an identity: The young man is being forced to learn the Japanese language - when he is Korean - and being forced to learn Japanese history, rather than Korean history. And when the Japanese-speaking teacher orders the boy to tear down the legitimate world map, and put up another map showing "who is with us and who is against us," that is changing realities, making the past go away.