On Saturday, March 15, Tous Créoles organized an event with the theme: »FANON THE HUMANIST” – Featuring Aimé Charles-Nicolas, Sylvie Meslien, Serge Domi, Danielle Marceline… The Tous Créoles conference, dedicated to raising awareness of the iconic figure of Frantz Fanon, brought together members of his family and friends. Together, they shared memories of his youth and highlighted his Martinique roots. The event attracted about a hundred participants. Below is the opening remarks by Gérard Dorwling-Carter, president of Tous Créoles and a member of the Board of Directors of the First Caraïbes association.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honor, a pleasure, and above all a great responsibility to welcome you today to this conference dedicated to Frantz Fanon.
More than sixty years after his death, [Frantz Fanon was born on July 20, 1925, and died on December 6, 1961, in Bethesda, Maryland, in the United States, from leukemia], his writings still resonate with remarkable power, shedding light on the challenges of our time and fueling an ever-relevant reflection on freedom, identity, and human dignity.
Often viewed through the lens of revolutionary struggles and decolonization, Fanon is, above all, a thinker on the human condition.
His vision transcends historical and geographical contexts. He teaches us that emancipation, freedom, and justice cannot be conceived without placing humanity at the center of all reflection.
In *Black Skin, White Masks*, he powerfully expresses this quest of humanity:
«I am not a slave to the slavery that dehumanized my forefathers. […] I, a man of color, want only one thing: that the tool never dominate man.»
These words sum up his absolute rejection of all forms of domination and his call to move beyond the wounds of the past to build a new world based on dignity and equality.
Fanon believed in humanity’s ability to reinvent itself and break free from imposed constraints.
In *The Wretched of the Earth*, he writes:
«We want to create the complete human being—the human being in his historical context, the human being in his living essence, the human being for whom society will hold no more secrets.»
This ideal of the ’Total Man« is a testament to his profound humanism—a demanding humanism that calls for both individual and collective awareness.
But Fanon was not just a theorist. As a physician and psychiatrist, he explored the invisible wounds left by oppression—those that scar the soul as much as the body. He stated:
«It is not a matter of liberating a people, but of liberating humanity—every single person.»
A statement of unrelenting clarity, which shows just how much he saw in each individual a unique treasure, a dignity to be preserved and honored.
But how could a young man, born in Martinique, have developed such a vision? What experiences and events shaped this exceptionally brilliant way of thinking?
Fanon's humanism is also evident his rejection of rigid categories and fixed identities. He urges us to move beyond identity-based categorizations and to consider humanity in its entirety, in its universality. In this regard, he aligns with the philosophy of *Tous Créoles*, challenging us forcefully:
«There is no »black mission’; there is no ‘white burden.’ There is a struggle to ensure that human dignity triumphs and that the humiliation of human beings disappears, regardless of the source of that humiliation.”
For Fanon, it is not a matter of replacing one form of domination with another, but of moving beyond artificial divisions to focus on what unites us as human beings.
Yet his thinking is never set in stone. He remains skeptical, questions his own conclusions, and rejects all dogmatism. This intellectual rigor and this constant questioning are the result of his upbringing and the principles instilled in him from a very young age. Our work today may help us understand this.
All too often reduced to the image of a revolutionary activist, Fanon was, above all, a man of dialogue, a doctor attuned to human suffering.
«I don’t want to be trapped in a stifling world. […] I don’t want to be a prisoner of history.»
These words serve as a reminder that the future is yet to be created, that our humanity depends on our ability to evolve, to rethink our frameworks, and to reject the confines of identity or history.
This call resonates with the philosophy of Tous Créoles, which places encounters and exchange at the heart of its mission.
Finally, Fanon left us with this call to action, which is both a challenge and a responsibility:
« »Each generation must, amid a certain degree of uncertainty, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it."
This call is directed at us. It invites us to examine our times and to rise to the challenges of the present day. The same applies to our conception of Creolity: an identity in constant flux, rooted in the present and looking toward the future, echoing the “Tout-Monde.”.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we explore the early years of Frantz Fanon’s life today, we are not only honoring an exceptional intellectual, but also a visionary humanist, a free spirit, and a resolutely modern thinker. His message remains a guide for our times: to overcome oppression, reinvent our relationships, and place human dignity at the heart of everything we do.
May this conference be a time for reflection, dialogue, and progress, in the spirit of Fanon, whose ideas continue to evolve. Let us draw from his humanism and tolerance the inspiration we need to build a future that lives up to our ideals.
Thank you.
