On May 8, 1945, as the war ended in Germany, revolts broke out in Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata—marking the beginning of Algeria’s long war for independence. In the space of weeks, tens of thousands of Algerians and hundreds of French settlers and colonial forces were killed.

At nineteen, the Martiniquais Frantz Fanon joined the Forces françaises libres to fight Nazi rule in Europe. He went on to study psychiatry in Lyon, later directing a clinic in Blida-Joinville, French Algeria. In 1956, he resigned and joined the Front de Libération Nationale in its armed struggle against French colonial rule.

How did Fanon’s life and writing become so seminal for decolonial movements worldwide? Why has his analysis of colonial oppression (and of anti-colonial violence) remained so contentious? of violence remained so contentious? — And what might ongoing struggles for decolonial justice still learn from Algeria?

Join us for a discussion with Fanon’s biographer and American Academy in Berlin fellow Adam Shatz, writer and activist Emilia Roig, and historian Joseph Ben Prestel on one of the most influential political thinkers of the 20th century.

Adam’s The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon is out at FSG and will appear in German with Ullstein in June. Emila’s books Why We Matter and Lieben are published at Aufbau and Hanser. Joseph’s essay “Born in ‘Jaffa, Jordania’” on the Palestinian diaspora in Germany was published in Berlin Review No. 1, February 2024.

In cooperation with the American Academy in Berlin.

Free Entrance, limited seating, donations suggested.