Few things paint a clearer picture of the insidious nature of American Imperialism than the CIA’s approach towards African anti-colonial wars of the 50s and 60s.
During this period, the Civil Rights movement, the Cold War, and the eruption of Independence movements across Africa reached a robust symbiosis. Although the struggle against colonizers never lacked “philosophical justification and leadership”, the FBI accused Black Revolutionaries in the USA of “misquoting” and “inflat[ing] [them] into exaggerated dimensions” (p.988*). Frantz Fanon not only became this leadership, but also provided a philosophical justification that was heavily influenced by Hegel, and therefore by his pre-eminent progeny — Marx. In this mid-20th-century conjuncture, how did Fanon — a Latin American anti-capitalist philosopher, psychiatrist, and fighter in the Algerian National Liberation Front — die at the age of 36 at the hands of the CIA in Maryland?
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