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Books on Haiti and the
Caribbean
Hubert Cole. Christophe: King of Haiti. New
York: The Viking Press, 1967.
C.L.R. James.
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
(1938)
Edourad Gissant.
Caribbean Doscourse (2004)
/ Barbara Harlow.
Resistance Literature (1987)
Josaphat B. Kubayanda.
The Poet's Africa: Africanness in the Poetry of Nicolas Guillen and Aime
Cesaire
(1990)
Myriam J. A.
Chancy.
Framing Silence: Revolutionary Novels by Haitian Women (1997)
Paul Laraque and Jack Hirschman.
Open
Gate An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry
(2001)
David P. Geggus, ed.
The Impact of the
Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World.
University of South Carolina Press, 2001.
* * *
* *
Haitians Demand Reparations
for the Ransom Paid
for its Independence
The
people of Haiti gained their independence in 1804 following
several years of a persistent and bloody struggle against the
brutal French colonialists. The colonial powers of the time,
notably the United States and France, refused to recognize the
legitimate independence of this small island nation. The United
States, perhaps the most notorious of the slave owning
countries, believed that recognizing Haiti's independence would
threaten the stability of its own inhumane system of slave
labor.
In
1825 France demanded that Haiti pay the French government 150
million gold francs to "compensate" French plantation
slave-owners for their "financial losses" and in
exchange for France's recognition of Haiti's independence. Years
later, the amount was reduced to 90 million gold francs. The
Haitian elite who had gained control of the country following
independence, caved in to the pressure, seeing this ransom as an
inevitable and necessary financial obligation if the country
were to be allowed to live in peace and freedom and resume trade
with its former colonizers. It took Haiti close to 100 years to
pay off this debt and the debt was paid, not out of the money
made by the elite through the export of raw goods, but rather on
the backs of the Haitian people who continued to work the land.
All the public schools in Haiti were closed in order to make the
first payment, the first example of the imposition of a
structural adjustment program.
Today,
the people of Haiti have joined with their democratically
elected government to demand that France restitute to the
Haitian people this "debt" money - 21.7 billion
dollars in today's currency. On behalf of the people of Haiti,
President Jean Bertrand Artistide has made an official request
to France, which has formally recognized slavery to be a crime
against humanity; French legislators have verbally recognized
the legitimacy Haiti's request for restitution. Although several
international lawyers are working on the case for restitution,
the hope is that France will act according to its stated
principle and pay its debt to the Haitian people without the
recourse of international law. Unfortunately, in an echo of the
ugly "1825" past, the French government has reacted to
this just request by placing Haiti on a list of
"undesirable" countries not to be visited; this
vindictive and unjustifiable response is being protested by
people of conscience, particularly in France and Haiti.
As
Haiti starts the celebration of its bicentennial, we are asking
you to support the Haitian people in their claim for
restitution. France's payment of this debt will give the people
of Haiti the financial resources needed to finally reverse the
legacy of neo-colonial exploitation, oppression and structural
underdevelopment that has caused their country to be labeled the
"poorest in the western hemisphere". Restitution will
pave the road toward true economic rebuilding, independence and
improved living conditions, and will send a clear message that
the financial and human damages inflicted by the colonial powers
must be rectified, not just in Haiti, but throughout the world.
For more information about
Haiti or to learn what you can do to support Haiti, call the Haiti
Action Committee at (510) 483-7481, write them at HAC, P.O. Box 2218, Berkeley CA 94702 or visit their website at
http://www.haitiaction.org * *
* * *
updated 11 February 2009 |
