Summary: Originally published in 1950, Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire directly and dramatically influenced the liberation struggles happening in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This book/essay/poem/manifesto is a blazing collection of thoughts that affirms Black identity and culture, embraces surrealism as revolt, and demands decolonization movements that “decolonize our minds, our inner life, at the same time that we decolonize society.” Césaire exposes the hypocrisy and emptiness of colonialism and capitalism, and the antiblackness and brutality inherent to western notions of “progress,” “reason,” and “civilization.” In this episode, we talk to our long-time comrade Asha Ransby-Sporn to learn more about what Césaire challenges readers to think through and how we might apply its lessons to today’s ongoing struggles against empire.
