With a sense of pride, historians note the island of Hispaniola (Haiti) was the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. Liberator Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti a republic in 1804, thereby ridding it from the most oppressive manifestations of slavery. On the flip side, they noted the grave historical injustice–Haiti was the only country to pay its conquerors compensation. France demanded 90 million gold francs, more than US$20 billion for Haitians' freedom. In a telephone interview yesterday, eminent UWI historian Prof Bridget Brereton lent her voice to the chorus calling for reparations from France and the US. Brereton said, "I agree with the various voices, including Barbados' Sir Hilary Beckles saying France has a huge moral obligation to Haiti because of the terribly unjust requirements which France imposed on Haiti.
France demanded huge reparations for the successful revolution and the declaratioin of Independence in 1804," added Brereton. Today, Haiti is synonymous with poverty and millions of her people have literally eked an existence. The late historian Dr Eric Williams would have described them as hewers of wood and drawers of water. Last Tuesday, an earthquake destroyed the already shoddy infrastructure in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Statistics stated collapsing buildings killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, left 250,000 injured and rendered 1.5 million homeless. Wails of terrors arose in a city that has mastered the grotesque.
A massive international aid effort was launched to combat the poverty which was intensifed, but Haiti is struggling with overwhelming logistical problems. Brereton blamed the crushing poverty on France's demands. She feels this in an opportunity for France to right the wrongs. "It would be most fitting for France, an act of moral restitution to pay Haiti back for that huge sum of money which was exctracted from the country and which Haiti didn't finish paying off until the mid 20th century," said Brereton.
US should right wrongs
Brereton said the United States should also right the wrongs meted out to Haiti. Since Haiti's most recent calamity, the United States has poured $130 million in aid, according to USAID. In a concerted effort to alleviate the apocalyptic situation, it has sent more than 11,200 military personnel, 265 government medical personnel, five Navy ships, five Coast Guard cutters and seven cargo planes. Led by US president Barack Obama, the US has delivered more than 90,000 pounds of aid and supplies and is managing operations at the Port-au-Prince airport. Brereton feels both France and the US have a moral obligation to invest huge sums into the rebuilding of the country.
She described the US good Samaritan image as an irony of history.
Although Brereton never visited Haiti, she said a conference had been planned there in celebration of its bicentennial in 2004. Brereton said she was familiar with several Haitian scholars based in the US. There is a bit of anxiety among the history fraternity since Dr Jacques Casimir, a sociologist and historian, has not been accounted for. "He had been living here for a while. I would imagine he lived around Port-au-Prince. I don't know what his situation is," said Brereton. Haiti experienced a pyrrhic victory–it won the war–but at a tremendous cost. Following the Haitian war of Independence (1775-83) and the Jacobins inspired French Revolution (1789-99) Haitian slaves led by Toussaint L'Ouverture waged a successful campaign.
Between 1791 and 1803, Haiti defeated Napolean Bonarparte's armies. By 1803, when Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti an Independent Republic the victory was considered a Pyrrhic victory–an injustice that consigned the victors to poverty ad infinitum. The issue of reparations surfaced in Haiti when Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected. Haiti was most unfortunate since newly independent US paid Britain nothing. The victorious French deposed the French monarchy but paid not one franc during the French Revolution.
