In 1931, Simone Weil read an article by Louis Roubaud in the Petit
Parisien that exposed the Yen Bay massacre in Indochina. That article
opened Weil's eyes, and from then until her death in exile in 1943, she
cared most deeply about the French colonial situation. Weil refused to
accept the contradiction between the image of France as champion of the
rights of man and the reality of France's exploitation and oppression of
the peoples in its territories. Weil wrote thirteen articles or letters
about the situation, writings originally published in French journals or
in French collections of her work. J. P. Little's fluid and clear
translations finally introduce to English-speaking scholars and students
this important element of Weil's political consciousness.