Political-Theoretical Contributions of Frantz Fanon to the Marxist Critique of Law

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2025/89328

We present a legal-political analysis of the work of Frantz Fanon (1925–1961), exploring how law appears in his theoretical contributions to the analysis of reality, particularly regarding racism and colonialism, as well as in his political formulations for anti-racist and anti-colonial struggles. We find: (i) a structural critique of the historical relationship between international legal forms and the ontological racial dehumanization inherent in modern colonialism; (ii) a critique of international legal organizations as being the "legal charter" of imperialism, used when the "charter of brute force" fails to achieve the desired outcomes; (iii) the political use of law to mobilize international public opinion; and (iv) the political-pedagogical agitation of the cause of national liberation among revolutionary African masses.