http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100117/cleisure/cleisure3.html
Jamaica Gleaner
January 17, 2010
Haiti - the price of freedom
Carolyn Cooper
-It is still not widely known that Haiti was forced to pay 90 million gold
francs in reparations to France for freedom. This vast sum is equivalent to
more than US$21 billion today. Haiti had to borrow the money from French
banks. Repayment of the reparations debt stretched out over decades and had
a devastating impact on the Haitian economy. By the end of the 19th century,
80 per cent of Haiti's national budget was being spent on debt repayment and
interest. Sounds like an IMF agreement, a truly devilish pact.
In the days when BWIA used to fly to Haiti, I once sat next to a man who
asked me to fill out his immigration form. François' occupation was painter,
and as he was about to get off the flight, he gave me an unexpected gift -
one of his paintings. I'd mistakenly assumed he was a house painter. To be
honest, I thought the painting rather touristy. It was a landscape, with
clouds, birds, trees and houses all lined up symmetrically. Only the people
were out of order.
All the same, I was touched by the gesture. The painter's generosity far
exceeded the small service I had rendered. It took me more than a decade to
frame the painting which I'd dismissively set aside. I was amazed to see how
the defining border transformed into vibrant art what I'd thought of as
paint-by-numbers work. By investing in a frame, I'd decided that the
painting was art. It makes you wonder about how perception is altered by the
ways in which we frame reality.
Take, for instance, Pat Robertson's lunatic perspective on the catastrophic
earthquake in Haiti. Founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting
Network, Robertson, a former Republican candidate for the US presidency,
makes Sarah Palin look like a 'bonafide' intellectual. In an interview on
January 13, Robertson made a preposterous declaration:
"You know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti and the
people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the
French. Ah, you know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and
swore a pact to the devil. They said we will serve you if you'll get us free
from the French. True story. And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' And
ah they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got
themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by by one thing after
the other."
Where do you start to unravel the knots of confusion? First of all, I just
love that eloquent 'whatever.' Wikipedia defines the slang word as "an
expression of (reluctant) agreement, indifference, or begrudging
compliance." As used here by Robertson, 'whatever' signifies a total
suspension of thought. The brutality of enslavement by the French is reduced
to mindless indifference.
In Robertson's 'true story', the devil and the Haitian freedom fighters
become one. The devil agrees to liberate the people. But in the next
sentence, Robertson uses 'they': "and ah they kicked the French out." Is
this 'they' the combined forces of the devil and the Haitian people? Or is
Robertson unconsciously conceding that the people, moreso than the devil,
had a hand (and a foot) in their emancipation? He does go on to say that
"the Haitians revolted and got themselves free." But that rather peculiar
turn of phrase, "got themselves free", takes us right back to the claim that
freedom was a gift of the devil.
Furthermore, Robertson asserts that the price of devilish freedom is a
curse. Here, this simple-minded Christian minister edges away from the
lunatic fringe and right into the arms of more 'mainstream' analysts of the
plight of the Haitian people: Had Haiti remained a colony of France, like
the overseas departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, how
blessed the people would now be! But, no. The Haitian people dared to
declare their independence. And just look at how pauperised they are.
It is still not widely known that Haiti was forced to pay 90 million gold
francs in reparations to France for freedom. This vast sum is equivalent to
more than US$21 billion today. Haiti had to borrow the money from French
banks. Repayment of the reparations debt stretched out over decades and had
a devastating impact on the Haitian economy. By the end of the 19th century,
80 per cent of Haiti's national budget was being spent on debt repayment and
interest. Sounds like an IMF agreement, a truly devilish pact.
Haitians in Portmore
The US refused to recognise the new Haitian republic and imposed an embargo
that lasted until 1862. In 1915, the US invaded Haiti to protect its
economic interests and remained in occupation until 1934. Local Haitian
leaders were no less predatory than foreign forces, as demonstrated in the
truly terrifying reign of Papa and Baby Doc. But there was also the
redemptive Aristide who affirmed social justice as an essential Christian
principle. He was deposed in a military coup.
Crazy as Pat Robertson's explanation for last week's earthquake is, it's not
that different from the account I got from a man who works in construction
in my neighbourhood: "Is because of all a di gun dem weh di Haitian dem a
bring inna Jamaica. Whole heap a AK47. Dem exchange di gun fi ganja." My
attempt to reason with this man was in vain: "A through you don't know. Nuff
Haitian inna Portmore."
This is a classic example of how other Caribbean people still demonise
Haitians. We forget about our shared history. It was a Jamaican, Boukman
Dutty, who spearheaded the Haitian Revolution. In August 1791, Boukman/Book
Man, so named because he was literate, conducted a religious ceremony at
Bois Caiman in which a freedom covenant was affirmed: Pat Robertson's 'pact
to the devil.' Whatever.
When I think of Haiti, it's not poverty that first comes to mind. It's the
magnificent art created by these resilient people. I know that out of the
rubble of this earthquake, the Haitian people will rise yet again. And they
don't need the help of the devil.
*Carolyn Cooper is professor of literary and cultural studies at the
University of the West Indies, Mona.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
