Aimé Césaire's "Discourse on Colonialism"

[@Ph0bbe1]

5:00 I think he is also talking about Germany's Eastern expansion, which was partly inspired by US westward expansion, or Imperialism

[@samayapadayachee8472]

This was a perfect analysis! Needed this for a class lol. Thank you very much :)

[@julitodepito]

I just finished reading the essay. Really helps to watch this video afterwards to reflect on the text!

[@louispierson7375]

This was extremely helpful for me to understand Césaire better. Thank you for explaining it so clearly :)

[@guidohoek5437]

you’re real awesome explaining all ‘o this ánd stating some problems the text also brings forward. thank you!!

[@tonywarcus5500]

I've just become aware of this channel, great content! I’ve subscribed. Some belated, random thoughts to share with anyone interested: (By the way, the Presence Africaine edition of this work in the original French and the Monthly Review Press edition in English language translation both use Cesaire’s third 1955 version of the essay, even though the first iteration was done in 1950). It's worth bearing in mind the genre within which Cesaire is working here: the Discourse, a short length essay that can read like a speech, going back to classical Greek times but in the French tradition one inevitably thinks of Discours de la Methode (Cesaire name checks Descartes and uses very Cartesian approach of trying to get back to first principles behind colonialism) as well as the numerous 18th century Discourses by French Enlightenment thinkers who made presentations to Academies. Educated at a prestigious Lycee in Martinique and then at the elite Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris in the 1930s, Cesaire was thoroughly steeped in French High Culture. In a sense - to paraphrase Audre Lodre - he was using the Master's tools to undermine assumptions of whie colonial superiority. Discourse on Colonialism is a brilliant rhetorical performance. Note how Cesaire takes up the role of legal prosecutor bringing an indictment against Europe, with the millions of the colonised to act as judges; his reference to an overwhelming "dossier"; and in the concluding section he gives Europe one last chance to deliver a policy of nationalities if it is to avoid catastrophe. To a niche, left-leaning audience Cesaire has been re-working a Marxist article of faith which goes back to the founding fathers Marx and Engels, namely that capitalism/the bourgeoisie is fated to collapse under the weight of its contradictions. However this familiar doxa gets renewed vigour here (it helps reading the work in the original French to get the full flavour of his literary mastery of the language, build up in sentences, punch-lines and biting sarcasm). This stands as an exhilarating rejection of what would have been the pervasive assumption of colonial superiority in the 1950s. But there is much that must now be questioned and unpicked. A lengthier work would need to finesse the differing forms of British, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch colonialisms. As others have pointed out, Cesaire assumes Europe is Western Europe. He does not acknowledge Russian expansionism pre-1917 or the flaws of Soviet Communism. Cesaire's anti-imperial denunciation leads him to point to the USSR as an example of an alternative economic structure to emulate. That hasn't aged very well. The notions of "the bourgeoisie" (elastic enough to cover the barons of industry and finance in some passages, and the salaried middle class in others) and "the proletariat" would also need to be critiqued. From the vantage of the 21st century we may wish to be sceptical of totalising categorisations and more alert to the potential violence of homogenising a wide range of class fractions even if they are all subordinate within a capitalist framework. Perhaps the greatest gift from this work is irreverence towards power. Such a perspective should of course be applied to all, including the writer himself. I can’t overlook the fact that Cesaire led the Communist Party in Martinique from 1945 to 1956 and after splitting with the PCF remained in control of his new party until the 1990s. This is sadly in line with so many revolutionary insurgents throughout the developing world in the second half of the 20th century who became entrenched once they got into power.

[@blerpblerpson890]

Love your videos. Keep it up!

[@tomelliott8491]

Great video, hope you have a good holiday :)

[@cathyrinepsycoor7056]

The concept of enlightenment is modern It implies a direction, it draws an abstraction In practical terms Europe focused in eliminating any chance of being on the oppressed side of the sum cero equation I like looking at those specific instances through a postmodern lens Oppression in different times is constituted in different possibility conditions

[@cathyrinepsycoor7056]

Thank you making each resource

[@tahsinolmez-l3o]

Well done!

[@MarkPineOfficial]

I’m studying the topic for a Baruch College class.

[@hitesh-1108]

Could you make one video on the book Cracked Mirror an Indian Debate on theory and experience by Gopal Guru? It would be an excellent source for those who couldn't access the intricate text as such. Thanks.

[@carloslundback3742]

Super informative thanks !!

[@dimpigoswami7046]

Hello! It was an informative video. My knowledge of colonialism is very limited. Could you please tell how Aime Cesaire is different from his contemporary Thinkers of Colonialism?

[@filosofia_popular]

Ojalá haya una capsula sobre Enrique Dussel 😊

[@erniebuchinski3614]

Thank you for the informative video, as always. I would argue that the West's taking of certain ideas such as mathematics and expanding upon them isn't actually appropriation. I know that it's a very popular term at present, and perhaps for that reason it's inevitably overused at times as a result. Ideas have long been shared among cultures to some extent, and if someone can take basic ideas and expand upon them it shouldn't per se be seen as some kind of appropriation. Of course people with malevolent intent can obviously use such developments for evil purposes, and often have done so. But that's not the really main issue here. The assertion that the development of intellectual and scientific ideas that other cultures have discovered or initially developed should be labeled as "appropriation" seems inaccurate.

[@StrivingM]

Hello there! Thanks a lot for such informative videos. I wanted to ask about the part about Europe incarcerating and capturing ideas, where can I find sources on that?

[@LinusE]

Do you mean the exploitation of colonial subjects’ cultures etc? Because you can read about any post-colonial thinkers on that topic and certainly any material analysis of colonialism

[@learnt2love]

I once named a virtual football manager Cesaire on government property

[@bb-wb8sb]

Europe was retaliating against itself. just cuz retaliation starts in a place and against a people, it doesn't mean that it's direction is not too encompass it all. if they got their lebensraum, they would grow, and thus "need" more "living space". would you expect that on random day, every European started fighting one another? easier to start with the marginalized people.

[@Inhumanform]

For the algorithm

[@AlloAnder]

Very interesting

[@Yu-lb8xv]

In the context of dehumanisation and exploitation, is it the same as some feminist theories?

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Did feudalism really die out, or was it outsourced to the colonies? As the West embraced capitalism, science, free movement of labour, equality under the law - the colonies saw indentured labour, slavery, enforced religion. In fact you could argue the outsourcing of feudalism to the colonies, was the catalyst of the West's enlightenment The need for primitive accumulation in the West surplus to requirement as a vast surplus of slavery and serfdom emerged in the colonies. In many ways, we are still in that global feudal stage, the international order still demonstrating feudal aspects, as the powerful wealthy countries are granted special privileges, vetos, immunity from international law. Even though capitalism now exists within most countries, feudalism has seemingly been reborn at the level of the nation state, as the lords of the global order transgress borders at will grabbing resources, and installing their vassal leaders, meanwhile the global poor are bonded to their territories to live in squalor and deprivation. If feudalism was outsourced to the colonies, capitalism is now being outsourced to the developing world via globalization. albeit still within an international feudal matrix. The coming decades will see a rerun of the battles played out in the West between feudalism and capitalism - played out at a global level. In fact we are seeing this growing battle begin to form between free trade and mercantilism, democracy and authoritarianism, immigration and closed borders. multiculturalism and cultural conservatism. After all, what is racism and protectionism, but aristocratic largess disseminated down to the level of the Western masses. Although capitalism is a destructive and malevolent force, it also has progressive elements, Progressive elements albeit fueled by greed, as capitalism will smash down all barriers to trade and free movements of labour, all age-old privileges and divine rights that stand in the way of profit.

[@vivelarxvolution84]

WOW

[@primalpatel8015]

Cesaire is right about the lack and desire in the processes of colonial behaviour. His diagnosis of Europe as a colonial monolith is problematic if not downright wrong though. Of course, for David, Goliath was always the target.

[@primalpatel8015]

It’s problematic in general to bracket European life as such

[@willyvlyminck138]

The role of the church shouldn’t be underestimated

[@LinusE]

Cesaire mentions the church and the missionaries’ virtues of brining God’s word to the colonial subjects, albeit briefly since he focuses chiefly on the issue of proletarization of the colonized

[@jeremythiry-cesaire..8696]

Good, thanks for my familly :)

[@jolantamasete4270]

Europe is not a monolit, 7 countrys out of 47 countrys had colonys in other parts of the world, most of it England, Spain and Portugal. Do not put collectiv blame on the whole Europe. When you talk about WWII then Hitler represented National Socialist Workers Parti, they were talking about German superiority above other nations. Stalin represented Parti of Kommmunistic Soviet Republic. Both Stalin and Hitler were totalitarian Marxist they wanted to colonise the Europe. They killed everybody who did not fit in ideology regaedless of their race and skin coloure.

[@kamisama276]

More then 7 and the definition of marxist don't fit for one of both or neither even. Im not a huge Fan of marxism aswell but stick to facts and dont drop into undercomplex narrativs. The fact about the killing in concept of political enemy is true

[@atlas567]

​@@kamisama276Nazismo , Fascismo, Socialismo e Comunismo são caras da mesma moeda do extremismo de esquerda

[@SolvableMattB]

Colonialism, very icky, no good.

[@LenoreTheVain]

Still big ego! Can't stop watching himself instead of camera 😕

[@vivelarxvolution84]

Maybe It helps him speak