The Politics of the Wretched

The Politics of the Wretchedargues forressentiment's generative negativity, prompting a shift fromressentimentas a personal expression of frustration toressentimentas a collective “No”.Inspired by Kant and Nietzsche's philosophy, Zalloua identifies two modes of deployingressentiment– private and public use – by substitutingressentimentfor reason. This reinterpretation argues for a public use ofressentiment, for the wretched to universalize their grievances, to see their antagonism as cutting across societies, and to turn personal trauma into a common cause. A public use ofressentimentrails against the ideology of identity and victimhood and insists onressentiment's generative negativity, its own rationality, prompting a shift fromressentimentas a personal expression of frustration toressentimentas a collective “No”. Reframingressentimentas a tool to oppose the evils of capitalism, anti-Blackness, and neocolonialism, it both alarms the liberal gatekeepers of the status quo and promises to energize the anti-racist Left in its ongoing struggles for universal justice and emancipation.