Colonizer Beware: The Algerian and Vietnamese Responses to French Imperialism
Austin Weakfall
Dr. Elizabeth Jennings, Faculty Mentor
McNair Research, 2004
The legitimization of violent revolution in Vietnam and Algeria as a response to French colonialism was the focus of this piece. I used the frameworks of Frantz Fanon and Ho Chi Minh to test and prove the fact that violent revolution was a justifiable means for the colonized to liberate themselves. While examining violent revolution which eventually led to decolonization in both respective colonies, I kept two questions in mind: Did colonialism breed revolution in Vietnam and Algeria? If so, did revolution come about in each place for the same reasons? The consequences of French imperialism were detrimental to the indigenous economic, political, and, social systems as a whole. After examining French colonialism I compared the rhetoric French to the contemporary rhetoric of the United States . This was done in an effort to draw parallels between old imperialism and existing policies such as Occupationalism. The similarities showed that imperial occupations and resistance to them could be a present and future problem