France's historical responsibility for Haiti | DW 03/21/2024

Frederic Thomas from the independent Tricontinental Center in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, told DW that "former colonial powers still have a colonial perspective of Haiti." 

He said that, in their view, "the country is ungovernable and thus international interference is justified." 

He added that the international community had contributed directly to the current situation by supporting Henry, who was unpopular from the start, after theassassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021.

France's historical responsibility for Haiti

Lisa Louis

17 hours ago17 hours ago

Violence by armed groups has escalated in Haiti, the poorest country in the Caribbean. The issues go back to the era in which Haiti was ruled by the colonizing power France.

DW

3 hours ago

France's historical responsibility for Haiti – DW  03/21/2024

". . .Poverty, political chaos and a high crime rate have plagued the Caribbean country of Haiti for decades. Now, violence has spiraled out of control again.

On February 29, acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced new elections — for August 2025. His term of office had been supposed to end in February so many violent gangs interpreted Henry's announcement as a call to arms. They attacked the National Palace and prisons, which led to over 3,000 prisoners freeing themselves.

These armed groups now control large parts of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and tens of thousands of residents have fled. Henry is currently in the US unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico. He arrived there from the Kenyan capital Nairobi where was promoting a Kenyan-led police mission to restore security in Haiti.

The former colonial power France bears a historical responsibility for the current crisis.

Tens of thousands of people have fled the Haitian capital Port-au-PrinceImage: Odelyn Joseph/AP/picture alliance

The Haitian Revolution

In 1804, Haiti made history by becoming the first independent country in Latin America and the Caribbean — thanks to the Haitian Revolution, the most successful rebellion by enslaved people in history. But in 1825, France said that it would only recognize Haiti's independence at a price of 150 million francs, the equivalent of about three times Haiti's GDP at the time. France also said that import duties on French products had to be halved.

"Paradoxically, the victors paid reparations to those who had been vanquished, also out of fear of another military invasion," 
          --- Jean-Claude Bruffaerts, one of the co-authors of the 2022 book "Haïti-France. Les chaînes de la dette: Le            rapport Mackau" (Haiti-France. The Chains of Debt: The Mackau Report.)

Haiti even had to borrow money from French banks, at high interest rates, to pay off the debts. Economists call this a "double debt" and Haiti was only able to pay its debts off in 1947.

• "So this money was not there for urgently needed infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals. 
• Haiti also needed the protection of an army, which swallowed up even more money. This slowed down the country's economic development considerably," explained Bruffaerts, saying that the lack of investment in infrastructure remained noticeable today. 
• "There are no roads in many parts of the island, healthcare is inadequate, and most schools have no electricity."

Myriam Cottias, a historian and the head of the Paris-based International Research Center on Slavery and Post-Slavery, said countries that freed themselves from slavery struggled to imagine themselves as homogeneous societies. "Slavery creates a breeding ground for political instability, and the divisions in society caused by it do not simply disappear," she told DW. "Even in Haiti today, there is a corrupt elite and a population that remains largely very poor."

The French Revolution

Jean Fritzner Etienne, a Haitian historian at Universite Paris 8, said Haiti's debts helped bolster hierarchical power structures. 

• "The Haitians were inspired by the French Revolution, which had taken place shortly before, in 1789. 
• ... But the French did not apply the principles of their own revolution — liberty, equality, fraternity and human rights — outside their own borders."

Etienne said the United States, which occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, further reinforced the perception that the country was "inferior." 

• "From 1957 to 1986, it supported the brutal dictatorship of Francois, and later Jean-Claude, Duvalier, known as 'Papa Doc' and 'Baby Doc'" he said.
•  "And it continues to interfere in internal affairs to this day."

In April 2003, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide demanded that France's government repay the debt once imposed on Haiti. At that time, this would have amounted to almost $22 billion. 

About a year later, Aristide was overthrown in a coup organized by France and the United States. 

When asked by DW at a recent press conference whether there was any intent to repay the debt, the French Foreign Ministry replied that this was "not currently under discussion."
Observers doubt that France will return the money. "No former colonial power would do that," said Laurent Giacobbi from the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS). "It would trigger a chain reaction. All ex-colonies would then make claims."

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REFERENCE:

Author Marlene Daut Professor of African Diaspora Studies, University of Virginia

Much of the reparations debate has revolved around whether the United States and the United Kingdom should finally compensate some of their citizens for the economic and social costs of slavery that still linger today.
But to me, there’s never been a more clear-cut case for reparations than that of Haiti.
I’m a specialist on colonialism and slavery, and what France did to the Haitian people after the Haitian Revolution is a particularly notorious examples of colonial theft. 

France instituted slavery on the island in the 17th century, but, in the late 18th century, the enslaved population rebelled and eventually declared independence. 
Yet, somehow, in the 19th century, the thinking went that the former enslavers of the Haitian people needed to be compensated, rather than the other way around.
Just as the legacy of slavery in the United States has created a gross economic disparity between Black and white Americans, the tax on its freedom that France forced Haiti to pay – referred to as an “indemnity” at the time – severely damaged the newly independent country’s ability to prosper.

(Image: Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer receiving Charles X’s decree recognizing Haitian independence on July 11, 1825. Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

National African American Reparations Commission

When France extorted Haiti – the greatest heist in history

The cost of independence

Haiti officially declared its independence from France in 1804. In October 1806, the country was split into two, with Alexandre Pétion ruling in the south and Henry Christophe ruling in the north.
Despite the fact that both of Haiti’s rulers were veterans of the Haitian Revolution, the French had never quite given up on reconquering their former colony.

• In 1814 King Louis XVIII, who had helped overthrow Napoléon earlier that year, sent three commissioners to Haiti to assess the willingness of the country’s rulers to surrender. 
• Christophe, having made himself a king in 1811, remained obstinate in the face of France’s exposed plan to bring back slavery. 
• Threatening war, the most prominent member of Christophe’s cabinet, Baron de Vastey, insisted,“ Our independence will be guaranteed by the tips of our bayonets!”

A portrait of Alexandre Pétion. Alfred Nemours Archive of Haitian History, University of Puerto Rico

In contrast, Pétion, the ruler of the south, was willing to negotiate, hoping that the country might be able to pay France for recognition of its independence. 

In 1803, Napoléon had sold Louisiana to the United States for US$15 million. Using this number as his compass, Pétion proposed paying the same amount. Unwilling to compromise with those he viewed as “runaway slaves,” 

Louis XVIII rejected the offer.Pétion died suddenly in 1818, but Jean-Pierre Boyer, his successor, kept up the negotiations. Talks, however, continued to stall due to Christophe’s stubborn opposition.“Any indemnification of the ex-colonists,” Christophe’s government stated, was “inadmissible.”

Once Christophe died in October 1820, Boyer was able to reunify the two sides of the country. 

The Conversation

When France extorted Haiti – the greatest heist in history

However, even with the obstacle of Christophe gone, Boyer repeatedly failed to successfully negotiate France’s recognition of independence. Determined to gain at least suzerainty over the island – which would have made Haiti a protectorate of France – Louis XVIII’s successor, Charles X, rebuked the two commissioners Boyer sent to Paris in 1824 to try to negotiate an indemnity in exchange for recognition.

On April 17, 1825, the French king suddenly changed his mind. He issued a decree stating France would recognize Haitian independence but only at the price of 150 million francs – or around 10 times the amount the U.S. had paid for the Louisiana territory. The sum was meant to compensate the French colonists for their lost revenues from slavery. . ."