Throughout Assata Shakur: an Autobiography and The Wretched of the Earth, both Assata Shakur and Franz Fanon highlight the social and psychological effects of oppression as a result of capitalism, as well as strategies to escape this system. Fanon primarily discusses the decolonization of Algeria from France while Shakur focuses on the oppression that African Americans face during the civil rights movement in the US. However, both the colonized Algerians and the oppressed African Americans are burdened with the same struggle: escaping the violent and dehumanizing system of oppression. Fanon’s strategies for escaping an oppressive capitalistic system can be viewed as radical because he emphasizes violence as the key instrument for driving social and political change. Reading Assata through Fanon’s lens undermines arguments of nonviolence as the means to achieve social liberation, but also broadens the approach to eradicating America’s unjust social system during the civil rights movement. In America, blacks were constitutionally declared citizens, but were treated inhumanely, much like how the colonized Algerians were treated. A comparison of the two texts offers an open-minded approach to analyzing the means of combating a violent and oppressive society.

Both Assata and Fanon emphasize the dangers and pitfalls of capitalism characterized by the fervent desire for economic success. Capitalism throughout history has been justified by the aspect of personal and financial growth, and is known as pursuing the “American Dream.” However, Assata Shakur says “the American Dream is the American nightmare”.  Like the Algerians, the majority of African Americans in the US are excluded from the economic benefits of capitalism. Fanon uses the term “compartmentalized” to describe the Algerian nation under French control. In Algeria, the disconnect between the colonial and native sectors parallels the sharp divide between white and black Americans in the United States.

The proletariat comprises less than 1% of the Algerian population and are unwilling to participate in the struggle for liberation, as they are unaffected by the oppressive colonial system. Leaders of nationalist agendas are part of the proletariat, which accounts for the weakness of these parties and the reliance on the masses to evoke social change. Similarly, wealthy, upper-class whites in the United States are a hinderance to social change for minority groups.

Wealth in both the US, and in Algeria translates to power, as money is used to manipulate the political and economic systems of each nation. In US politics, people tend to support the candidate who best defends their financial interests. As a result, financial support of candidates by the wealthiest 1% of the population allows Presidents, Congressmen, and judges to be elected so that “benefactors”, or financial supporters, are guaranteed a return on their monetary investment. This economic control over politics is also seen in The Wretched of the Earth as France acts as Algeria’s “benefactor” through the influx of resources and capital into Algeria. The hesitance of the proletariat to resist against the French stems from the need to ensure financial security. Both Fanon and Shakur possess similar views that undermine the principles of capitalism.
