“Haiti Needs Justice not Charity”
In the summer of 2006, four years before the devastating earthquake that finally brought Haiti to its knees, an international donor meeting pledged $750m in aid to help build infrastructure that would bring much-needed relief to the lives of individual Haitians the following year.
At that time, Haiti was already considered the poorest country in the Americas. In the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake of January 2010, it is estimated that about $14b is required to rebuild a country that was already struggling and restore a sense of normalcy to the lives of the 3 million people affected.
Yet pre-colonial Haiti was once rich in gold and in the 1790s, it was considered the most prosperous French colony in the New World. Soon after Christopher Columbus docked his ship at Môle Saint-Nicolas in December 1492, the Spaniards started to draft the aboriginal Amerindian inhabitants into forced labour. By 1517, Spain was importing slaves from Africa to the Americas as the indigenous Taínos population dwindled due to systematic exploitation by the Spanish settlers. A few of the oppressed natives fled to the mountain regions and established independent settlements, inter-marrying with escaped African slaves to produce a multiracial generation. About 100 years later, French pirates began to arrive on the Island to plant tobacco, sugar and coffee which brought immense profits. The French settlers enacted what has been described as one of the most brutally efficient slave colonies in the world, where up to one-third of newly imported Africans died within a few years. By 1790, the region was the most prosperous French colony in the New World, largely due to the labour and knowledge of thousands of enslaved Africans who brought to the island skills and technology for indigo production.
Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789, Haitians pressed for freedom, civil rights and the emancipation of the African slave population. Haiti’s revolution was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave who was a leader in the slave revolt. To regain control, the French abolished slavery in 1793. L’Ouverture proceeded to drive out not only the Spaniards but also the British invaders who threatened the colony, restoring stability and prosperity to the island. However, a new government at the helm of affairs in France soon reneged on the abolition of slavery and sent troops to reclaim the country. Suffering huge losses in personnel, the French tricked l’Ouverture to attend a parley where he was arrested, jailed and eventually died in French custody. However, the double battle for emancipation and independence continued until the independence of the new Haiti – the only nation born of a slave revolt – was proclaimed on 1 January 1804, after more than 300 years of colonial rule and exploitation.
But the worst was not over. In July 1825, King Charles X of France sent a fleet of 14 vessels and thousands of troops to lay siege and re-conquer the island, demanding that Haiti pay a ransom of 150 million Francs (about $21b in today’s value) in exchange for its independence. This is a sum calculated as damages for profits lost from the slave trade. French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher wrote, “Imposing an indemnity on the victorious slaves was equivalent to making them pay with money that which they had already paid with their blood.” By this singular act, France mortgaged the future of Haiti’s children for generations.
Following the devastating effects of the early 2010 earthquake in Haiti, more than $4b of humanitarian assistance has been received by a nation that was already a recipient of aid. There have been calls for debt cancellation from civil society groups and this would go a long way to alleviating the hardships and struggles of this country. It is the humane thing to do under the current circumstances. However, beyond debt cancellation, there is more than the global community owes Haiti. The one thing that Haiti really needs is justice, not charity. The global community needs to prevail on France to return the independence ransom that built the lives of French children at the expense of the lives of Haitian children. Repayment of the independence ransom would give Haiti the opportunity to develop its own national priorities instead of being at the mercy of the inept and highly corruptible global aid regime. Returning a payment that was at best stolen at gun-point from the battle-weary people of Haiti would not only be the just thing to do, setting right a grave injustice but it would also set an example to the global black community and other historically wronged communities of planet earth that humanity has embarked upon a new era of neighbourliness, of being our brothers’ keeper and of practising what we have long preached: equity, justice and equality for all regardless of race, skin tone, religious beliefs or geographical location.
Campaign for Haiti’s Restitution: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/restitution4haiti/
Similar stories: lnk.in/Wyclef4Haiti,
