On the Will to Be Free in Spite of History: Tran Duc Thao and the Activist Roots of “French” Postcolonialism, 1944-1951

Between 1944 and 1951 a brilliant young philosopher from Vietnam addressed the Parisian public by means of activism and philosophical writing to teach them about the experience of colonial rule. This paper will answer the main question as to what Tran Duc Thao taught the Parisian intellectual scene concerning colonialism, freedom and democracy. To this end this paper investigates Tran Duc Thao’s activist attempt to rally the French public to the cause of decolonization. It will discuss how Tran Duc Thao’s activism shaped his anticolonial philosophy. The essay compares Tran Duc Thao’s conception of decolonial freedom to Jean-Paul-Sartre’s existentialist conception of freedom. The most important findings of this paper are first that Tran Duc Thao considered capitalism and colonialism to be related phenomena exploiting conscripts of modernity in a broad sense. Second, that his anticolonial philosophy was a means to explain why people in France did not understand this. Third, that Tran Duc Thao’s philosophy of freedom better fits contemporary postcolonial philosophy and environmental philosophy. While Tran Duc Thao’s work became obscured, he was nevertheless responsible for introducing anticolonial activism in the French university. His concept of the imperial horizon is a powerful tool for historians to understand why so many Europeans failed to support the wish for freedom and democracy of colonial peoples after WW II.