Discourse on Colonialism

In Césaire’s thesis, he declares his intention to discuss the moral hypocrisy of European colonialism. He argues that colonialism is enabled by a failure of moral and spiritual principles that mask themselves as rational and reasonable thinking. This is propagated by the 20th century bourgeois thinker whose use of “fine phrases” and “a few conventional words” (48) disguise the violence of colonial logic. The modern bourgeois thinker reasons that colonialism improves the lives of the colonized people and civilizes them through superior European cultural influences. Césaire argues that the modern bourgeois thinker is ill-equipped to teach civilized behavior as European colonialism has only perpetuated the contrary. Yet the dominance of modern bourgeois thought presides over colonial logic, concretizing as formal areas of knowledge that gain legitimacy in the European imagination. Césaire reasons why this moral hypocrisy is particularly difficult to undo without a true revolution led by the proletariat.

The moral hypocrisy of the modern bourgeois thinker is also dangerous because of the obstinance of its colonial logic. Césaire remarks that the modern bourgeois thinker is not ignorant, but has rather “read everything, devoured everything” (52). The modern bourgeois thinker’s deep well of knowledge of the world does not improve upon his moral conscience but rather encourages his denial of the truths of colonialism. He refuses to see the violence that colonialism wreaks, as it would damage his conscience. Césaire notes that the modern bourgeois thinker possesses a “filter [that] lets through only what can nourish the thick skin of the bourgeois’ clear conscience” (52). He has a selective means of processing knowledge that will not damage his intellectual and moral endorsement of colonialism. In this way, he instills moral hypocrisy in colonial logic.