Fanon's Three Stages Related To The Indigenous People Of Chiapas

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Fanon states "The effect consciously sought by colonialism
was to drive into the natives' heads the idea that if the settlers were to
leave, they would at once fall back into barbarism, degradation, and
bestiality."(Fanon 211) The colonizers, believing the natives were
savages that needed enlightenment, forced European culture upon them. The
Europeans believed that to assimilate the natives to European culture was
to help them progress. Therefore, to return to the old ways would have
been regressing. When the natives objected to the forced assimilation, the
colonizers smothered the rebellious efforts with stronger, more lethal
weapons. Fanon compares the colonizer to a mother who restrains her
"perverse" child so that he will not commit suicide.(Fanon 211) The
analogy implies that the colonized must be protected (by the colonizer)
from self-destruction. In the minds of the European colonizers, this idea
of protection justified forcing assimulation onto the natives.
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