St. Dominique is the name. When it comes to mind, it marks the brutal period in the history of free Africans, kidnapped and shipped to the Caribbean from the coasts of West Africa, and forced to work for free. For France.
The country that is now Haiti was France’s most profitable colony. Despite all the revenue that poor African labor generated and poured into the French economy, Haitians would come to owe France even more. Much more.
In 1791 the free men and women of Africa, brought here through no fault of their own, would revolt.
This would be the first successful slave revolt in history.
And in 1804 after defeating the so-called mighty armies of Napoleon, they would found the world’s first true Republic.
Three generations later, in 1896, even the Kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa, with all its pride in an unparalleled war machinery – built upwards from the iron discipline of nine-year-old boys and girls, who grew up committed to the fiercest and the most renowned army West Africa would come to know—they too, would fall eventually, to French terrorism newly arrived on the West African coasts. While under immense pressure, Dahomey sold her own peoples into slavery and sold her lot.
For good measure, the bitter end of the whip of oppression would come full circle and rear its ugly head in West Africa itself when in 1909 the Asante Kingdom would finally succumb to British troglodytes on the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana).
Haiti would look on stupefied—not because she is separated from West Africa by nautical miles of ocean, not because Dahomey now dances to the tune of oppression, but because the French terrorists and the new nation that is the United States of America would come to do unto Haiti what she never could have imagined before her independence.
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Following Haiti’s revolution and the defeat of Napoleon’s Armies, former French slave-owning savages submitted detailed tabulations of their losses to the uncouth French government, with line items for each of “their” slaves that had been “lost” with Haitian independence.
The treacherousness was beyond comprehension, but it underscored the mentality of the people who called themselves “the civilized” peoples of the world.
Only 21 years after the foundations of the first Republic of the world were laid, the French King Charles X demanded that the good people of Haiti pay an “independence debt” to compensate former colonists for “the properties” who had won their freedom in the Haitian Revolution.
With massive support from ragtag Western nations and the U.S., warships stationed along the Haitian coast backed up the French ultimatum. France insisted that Haiti pay its former oppressor, whom she had defeated, 150 million gold francs – ten times the fledgling economy of Haiti’s total annual revenues and almost twice the amount the U.S. paid France for the whole state of Louisiana, which is more than five times the size of Haiti.
Under threat of a concerted Western military invasion that aimed to re-enslave Africans of Haiti, the government of the world’s first Republic had little choice but to agree to pay.
Even more, Haiti’s government was forced to finance this debt through loans from a single French bank, which capitalized on its monopoly by gauging Haiti with exorbitant interest rates and fees. The original sum of the indemnity to France would amount to some 90 million gold francs.
This price was unlawful even in 1825.
At the time the original indemnity was imposed by the French king, the slave trade was technically illegal; such a transaction – exchanging cash for human lives – represented a gross violation of both French and international laws.
But no matter, Haiti remained shackled to this “independence debt” in 1947 – 140 years after the abolition of the slave trade and 85 years after the emancipation proclamation.
Furthermore, the U.S. came to occupy and rule Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934 after President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade the Republic in 1915. Time and again, revolts by Haitians were put down by U.S. military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone.
For the next 19 years, the U.S. controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, toppled elected officials, and commandeered several governmental institutions. Essentially, Haiti became a U.S. plantation.
Like the vile, old plantation owner, the U.S. slipped over there to perform repeated acts of carnal abuse.
American corporations bled Haiti economically, siphoning off many billions of dollars during the 19-year occupation. The vandals repeatedly invaded Haiti through military action, supporting dictators who raped the people of Haiti. The U.S. left the people of Haiti naked and barren, the Haitian country tossed aside as a dumping ground for disastrous economic policies, ruining her roads and wrecking her agriculture.
In alliance with France, in particular, the U.S. violated Haiti for over 200 years.
So they owe Haiti. Not charity. They owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the 100 million dollars promised by President Barack Hussein Obama either – that is Powerball money. The U.S. owes Haiti Billions – with a big B.
And France?
When the indemnity money Haiti paid France is adjusted for inflation and a minimal interest rate, its value is well over 17 billion Euros. In fact, during an interview on France 24, Ottawa historian Jean St Vil put the current figure at 40 billion dollars, just an iota of what the U.S. spends on its military per annum.
This is a matter of justice.
Haiti, the good people of Africa, and the rest of the world will not forget. We cannot forget. The United States and France must return their loot back to Haiti. This is a matter of justice. Or else.
Cry your own cry? What can I say. Narmer Amenuti and his timing! Well, when others mourn their DEAD, we ought to mourn OURS, because without this reminder of our PAIN, we stand incapable of understanding that of others. But Narmer goes beyond this. He is emphatic in his view. That in Haiti, there is a history of French Terrorism. This is a profound idea. I second the premise. Let’s call a spade a spade. Talk about thinking outside the BOX.
But honestly in paying and this also applies to all former colonise – who are still paying such taxes, can you then claim to have being decolonised? Call a spade a spade and realise that if you are still paying a debt which is not ures- then you are still a captive. N to say otherwise results in the current world events.
As of now, 14 West African countries are paying varying degrees of debt to France. That is a problem. And it must stop. This is injustice. It must stop. Plus, France must return the loot and the wealth extorted.
The rub is they think they are decolonised and also in a better position. Which results In undermining the rest of progress. Irony on so many levels. A little knowledge and accepting the different lens whilst looking at oneself. On so many levels just……
On so many levels! The fix is in… and like Akosua M. Abeka says: African men have to wake up. I am awake and the African women have to support those of us awake, and not those driving around in Lincolns and BMWs selling the country.
Lol Solomon Azumah-Gomez u crack me up. Really needed that comment. I am in stitches!
He he, that is funny and true ooo. Na waa ooo, lol smile emoticon
True story ooo… I want our women to ask the guy: where did you get all that money for a Toyota Land Cruiser? Then send me the reply. If he’s selling the country, his Stool Lands, or his Family’s Lands, I will tell you. And when you know the truth! Leave him! Such a man will sell YOU and your children for a NISSAN!
You hit the nail on th e head. My older bro in Ghana recently got that Toyota Land Cruiser, brand new shi shi and his wife now calls him Georgi Dearie, on the phone with them before that, never heard her say that. But Toyota land Cruiser can do wonders paaa. It was aban contract money oo.
Aaaahhh. Johnny! You speak the truth, about a brother! Brave man like you! We need more of you! And the African woman needs men like you! As for me, I have an African woman who appreciates my Tso-Lorry, handed down to me by my father who was a Fisherman. Great woman. And I will defend HER to the death, which means, I WILL NEVER sell my Family Lands, or steal from the ABAN!