“The native condition is a nervous condition introduced and maintained by the colonist among the colonized with their consent.” Frantz Fanon, 1961, The Wretched of the Earth Fanon's quote, repeated on the first page of Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous conditions, seems to affirm that Fanon held the colonized peoples of Africa partly responsible for the colonial system of government and, by extension, for the oppression of the African people. Fanon notes Africa's silence in the face of colonialism and its inability or unwillingness to act against colonial governments. However, blaming the African people for inaction discredits the hard work done by Africans in opposing colonial states. Although the majority of Africans did not actively participate in the revolt against European colonial powers before the 1960s, the colonial system was propagated not through the lack of action of Africans, but rather through the overwhelming military might of European armies. Indeed, many Africans rebelled against the European colonial system to protest growing power injustices and were occasionally successful, but only at great loss of life. Fanon describes this interaction between “colonial” and “native” actors as largely one and the same. bilateral affair, that of the colonialists; not only because of the military and political power of the Europeans, but also because of the low rate of revolt. Yet, in chastising the African people for their inaction against oppressive government policies and bureaucracy, Fanon also empowers them, exposing their nascent agency to stop these unjust actions by rising up violently against the government. However, contrary to Fanon's opinion, violent revolt did occur, however, the military prowess of...... middle of paper... or the concurrent tendency throughout the colonial period was towards collusion with the colonial powers. Both violent and more peaceful resistance, while effective in the short term, were unsustainable in the long term as violent resistance was quelled by growing European armies and peaceful resistance was taken out of context and became an ineffective demonstration of Africa's exoticism. CitedBastian, Misty L.. ""Market Vultures": Southeastern Nigerian Women and the Ogu Umunwaanyi (Women's War) Speeches of 1929." Women in African Colonial Histories:. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002. “Frantz Fanon.” Youtube: Broadcast yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfUdOREnsDo (accessed February 7, 2010). Klein, Martin and Richard Roberts. “Conquest, Resistance, and Adaptation, 1880–1905.” Into the unknown. N/A: Not published, 2010.