Frantz Fanon argued that unless liberation from slavery and colonialism is the work of the oppressed themselves, it does not lead to another life (a life in freedom); instead, it is only a transformation from one way of living to another. A key idea in modernity is that freedom is based on liberation, shaping the political landscape since the early modern revolutions. Furthermore, it is an idea linked to the ancient view that political life rises above “mere” life; political freedom is about the good life, not the life that humans share with animals (bios as opposed to zoe).
Keywords: political freedom, Haitian Revolution, Hegel, human rights, unhappy consciousness
