Writings on Colonialism

This volume brings together previously unpublished essays, studies, and excerpts by Simone Weil (1909–1943) reflecting on the colonial question from 1936 until the end of her life. As a leading voice in anti-colonialism, her thought transcended a critique of colonial domination (which she framed within a diagnosis of politics based on a Eurocentric, imperialist, and centrist vision) to envision a future of a decolonized world and the role Europe could play in a new, peaceful world order.

For Weil, justice is found in the hearts of those who seek it; therefore, changing a present burdened by wars requires a united front of struggle and resistance, nourished by values ​​that challenge the logic of domination and call for the spread of a “madness” among peoples—namely, a love for all that is conquered by force. The current landscape of a decolonized world, torn apart by new wars that reproduce an old colonial logic, allows us to assess the scope of Weil’s early analyses, as well as the validity of the critique of political theology that underpins them.