The oppressed group’s apparent weakness becomes a revolutionary advantage against the enemy

Evidence

The double oppression, social and sexual, of the woman cracks and is finally shattered; and its essential nature as the social oppression of the family as a whole is revealed. It is simply that its weakest parts—the children, the elderly, the women—must bear the most exaggerated forms of oppression. But in the revolutionary struggle, the relative weakness, the apparent defenselessness of these groups disappear. What was formerly a disadvantage becomes an advantage for the revolution. The old man or woman who walks with halting steps past the military patrol, the timid woman hiding behind a veil, the innocent-faced child do not seem to the enemy to be dangers or threats. So they can pass arms, information, medicine. They can prepare surprise attacks, serve as guides and sentries. They can even take up arms themselves. — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 14

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how colonial structures penetrate different sectors of society — here the family/gender sector being weaponized against colonial rule. — connects to: The revolution transforms the family’s apparent weakness into strategic advantage; Regroupement bred resistance even as it hampered the A.L.N. militarily.; Weak captives can escape powerful captors by exploiting their desire to punish — , A Year of World Stories, 10091 (+11 more)

Related

• The revolution transforms the family’s apparent weakness into strategic advantage (similarity 0.88)
• Trotsky held that a harder revolutionary struggle yields firmer post-victory power (similarity 0.85)
• Regroupement bred resistance even as it hampered the A.L.N. militarily. (similarity 0.84)
• Colonial doctrine treated conquering women as the key to destroying Algerian resistance (similarity 0.80)
• Colonial violence forced Algerian leaders to adopt women as combatants (similarity 0.80)
• Colonialist attacks on a custom create the native resistance that sustains it (similarity 0.80)
• A small armed population draws its strength from a worldwide revolutionary movement (similarity 0.80)
• African anti-colonial resistance slowly integrated discrete societies into cohesive movements (similarity 0.79)
• Colonial violence itself, not just revolutionary solidarity, reshaped Algerian feminine society (similarity 0.79)
• Only isolated revolutionary forces fail to represent the world revolution (similarity 0.79)
• Algerian women’s traditional seclusion made them the hardest nucleus of anti-colonial resistance (similarity 0.79)
• The 1954 revolution released a long-prepared tactic rather than awakening a passive people (similarity 0.79)
• The colonized turn a passive cultural element into a taboo weapon of resistance (similarity 0.78)
• Algerian women’s seclusion made them core vehicles of anti-colonial resistance (similarity 0.78)
• Resistance itself transforms the colonized subject so that colonial rule becomes unmaintainable (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Imperialism itself generated the resistance and revolution that opposed it #corroborates (0.70)
• The F.L.N.’s appearance of unity sustained the revolt more than fresh fighters would #exemplifies (0.65)
• A small armed population draws its strength from a worldwide revolutionary movement #expands (0.60) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 51
• Weak insurgents can win by attacking native police rather than the army #qualifies (0.55) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 49
• Colonialist attacks on a custom create the native resistance that sustains it #complicates (0.50)