The history of Haiti as the oldest Black republic in the western hemisphere is fascinating and checkered. If it had been up to some of the country’s land-owning mulattos during the 1700s, slavery would have remained on Hispaniola. Toussaint L’ouverture is considered the father of the Haitian revolution but he wasn’t hardbody enough to make Haiti independent from France. It was another Haitian general, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, that ultimately engineered Haiti’s liberation from France.
Dessalines did not play that shit. Once he learned of the double-cross that the French made with L’ouverture and how they planned to re-implement slavery on the island he rounded up all the slaves on the island and organized their rebellion. Shit got wild bloody on Haiti for a while. The French would kill 500, the Haitians would do the same. The indiscriminate brutality of the French had the end result of uniting the various Haitian populations against their occupation.
The Haitians kicked all the Europeans off their island. Except the Poles who actually fought to help them gain their independence. What is the deal with the Polish people helping western countries get their shit right? Word to Kosciusko. Anyhoo, there were several more uprisings after Dessalines forces liberated the island. With coffee being a huge cash crop in Europe and Haiti supplying more than a third of Europe’s consumption the value of the land was still too important to escape unrest from outside intervention.
Dessalines administration had formed a simple constitution for the Haitian people. It consisted of three main points…
It was during the early 1900’s that America basically started installing a steady stream of puppet dictators on the island when they assigned Haiti to be a US protectorate. None of these dictators was more corrupt or more infamous than Dr. François ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier. For the fifteen years his regime administered Haiti he created a brain drain with the forced exile of the political and economical elite. Google Tonton Macoutes to learn about Duvalier’s private army of terror that he unleashed against political rivals. The Tonton Macoutes also helped Duvalier’s son, Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier retain control of the country until he was deposed in 1986.
Haiti continues to exist in a eco-socio-political purgatory to this day. Regimes continue to fail and the country spirals into an incredible level of fourth world poverty. Televangelist Pat Robertson says that Haiti suffers from a curse because of a pact that was made with the Devil during a voodoo ritual practised before the otherthrow of the French. Robertson is right on one account, there was definitely a deal made with the Devil back in the day that keeps Haiti all fucked the fuck up.
Supremacy keeps the illest records on the planet and Haiti stays in the red because it had the nerve to bet on the Black.
Hauntingly interesting opening image… From your other drop “Dont H8 Mother Earth” (but still applicable)
“Shocking”/Shocking Stat (depending on your level of cynicism): the CNN dot com home page poll of “Will you donate to the relief efforts in Haiti?” the results last time I checked? (at like 10pm)
No: 68%
Yes: 32%
Votes cast: 106,000
Amazing. Considering the outpouring of the support of the average American (complete with blue rubber LiveStrong-esque bracelets) when that tsunami hit a few years back. However most could give a fuck about potentially the worst natural disaster death toll in modern “New World” history…
I guess this drop and Pat Robertson explains why…
“Kill de white people, ohh ohh.”
Things are fuxed the fux up as you would say DP.
The one thing that I was surprised by while reading this was about the Poles. I had no idea they had a role in the Caribbean, let alone helping out the peoples of Haiti.
I have to say I don’t know ish about the history of Haiti unfortunately, because it apparently doesn’t fit into any history class i’ve ever taken.
Its really a shame a natural disaster like this has to happen to such an already struggling country. Mother nature has a tendency of trying to certain places clean up, maybe this is an example of that, but i’m not sure how.
“Koupe Tet, Boule Kay” (Cut their heads, and burn their houses!) -Dessalines
I wonder if there was a poll for whether people would donate to rescue Michael Vick’s dogs and what that said? (Easy to guess.)
I mentioned this as a p/s over at Daily Math but any DP fam who want to learn more about Haiti from the comfort of home, I highly recommend Graham Greene’s 1966 Tonton Mocoute novel, “The Comedians” (the title is deeply ironic, of course)–
http://www.amazon.com/Comedians-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0140184945
Greene of course is an outsider but he’s consummate outsider who knows the darkest places the (in)human heart/mind can venture. Another excellent novel of French colonial fuckery is Graham Greene’s “The Quiet American” (1958), that one set in Vietnam)
Also, I don’t listen as much as I’d like (and much of it is in Kreole anyway) but Brooklyn’s Haitian radio station, Radyo Pa Nou is also online for those interested–
http://www.radyopanou.com/
LC,
Don’t try to make sense of why an earthquake struck Haiti. That much we have no control over. The manmade disaster that is their economic way of life is the tsunami we are responsible for.
Its in my nature to try to make sense of things when theres no good reason for these terrible things that happen. Thats very much true about the “manmade disaster” we are responsible for. Hopefully they can re-build successfully, improve their country, keep the bad influences of the U.S.’s bad intentions off their front door step. Its too bad we couldn’t have reacted better to our own natural disaster, katrina.
kylben: I just uploaded a video with Firefox 2.0.0.4, it worked fine. What kind of error message do you get? – About the Remixer: I guess adding music isn't imelempnted yet. But even though it's beta, there should be a note somewhere informing people that you cannot yet save your remixes (the compiling completes fine, but then the video is nowhere to be found).
Wow, wow, wow, die würde ich auch erstmal nicht hergeben wollen. Die sieht total schön aus. Wobei mich die Kombination schwarz-orange schon so ein bisschen an Halloween erinnert. Aber dazu ist das kleine Mädel viiiiiiel zu süß.Bussivom Brittsche
Sulle joka kyselit tomaattipyreestä: meillä käytetään Urtekramin luomu tomaattimurskaa ja -pyrettä, molemmat on lasipurkeissa. Tosin tuo pyre on aika hintavaa… Löytyy ainakin isoista Citymarketeista.
The next time anybody here enters a Haitian restaurant or store..look for the presidential poster that they most likely will have up someplace visible.
Look at the dates(date for some) of the reigns of the leaders of Haiti. Try to count how many times there was a peaceful transfer of power.
That will tell you everything you need to know about Haitian history.
Thanx for this B.
Very rarely am I @ a lose for words, but…
Just a note on Poles: we helped because we love. Also, because we didn’t have a country at the time, it being split between the Prussian, Russians and Austrians, and we figured if people saw us being useful people we’d get more allies and support to get our own shit back. “For your freedom and ours.”
Hope Hati can get back on its feet. The mass corruption crippled it’s people long before the quake ever did.
Dallas Penn…Greatest. Blogger. Ever. *Fuckers.*
Danny Glover was supposed to be producing a feature film about the Haitian Revolution…………with some of the top talent….
There’s no “white guy who saves the day” theme because that wasn’t the case….so he had to get financing from outside of Hollywood. Venezuela president Chavez was going to GIVE him the money…but the US government shut that down early.
===================
basically the short version of the story is…take Nat Turner, right?……….imagine 250,000 Nat Turners… end of story.
Not to take away from whats popping but:
dP
CJ
Grands
TOP. 3. BLOG DUDES.
We smoked some fatty’s talking about this one. NHJIC?
Thanks for the key dP…
Johan,
“For your freedom and ours”
Thanks for the information. I never heard that phrase before, apparently it has a long history. I knew of a number of foreign soldiers that had helped Dessalines defeat the French but I never knew they were particularly Polish soldiers.
Well said DP… Daps my G.
DP.. thanks for this..
Another great read is The Black Jacobins, by C.L.R. James,
“Koupe Tet, Boule Kay” -word ’em up.
A little more info to add to the mix: in exchange for not being repeatedly invaded by the French after securing its freedom, Haiti was forced to pay “reparations” to the French, which took 120 years! A country in so much debt can’t do much for its people. (Warning America!) Two good sources of info about the long history of the West’s destabilization of Haiti are here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttqexOlqhWM
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/14/us_policy_in_haiti_over_decades
Thorough post DP.
They paid through the nose for betting on Black. They were made to pay reparations for damages and future profits lost, back to France. From TJ and the Louisiana Purchase to the Roosevelt Corollary the U.S. stayed playing Ayiti greezy.
Puppet democracy installed. Sovereign nation fux’d.
For being the enlightrened folks that we are (no Illuminati), Haiti should indicate to us how Africa was de-mineralized and decimated.
LMGM, expliquei-me mal: os tÃtulos levam-me a ler as gordas, que, por sua vez, me (des)motivam para ler as magras. É assim que funciono. LDA, ainda vou conseguindo arranjar alguma boa disposição, daà o remate do meu comentário. E os paineleiros desta segunda-feira até me proporcionaram uma dose generosa dela graças ao visÃvel incómodo que lhes causou a &qttu;retumbanoe vitória". Gosto de os ver chateados, o que queres?
the polish helping out the haitians to kick out the europeans. @msthing912 alot of europeans nations did that is asia. it’s basically heh you want us gone pay us
I bet DR ain’t movin a muhfuggin finger. Conjecture but I played ball and DR and they DO NOT fux with the other side. At all.
I had s-on on my sprint EVO 3D when I flashed silverneedle kernel and my phone stayed on HTC bootloop. So I had to relock my phone and then ran the ruu for EVO 3D after that I unlocked it HTC dev method then took s-off using jumperbear method and then installed twrp and then instaled Newom sielerneedvl. Now everything is running great. But the s-on does make your 3d EVO go into bootloop if the kernel is overclocked.
No hay mejor nombre para una biblioteca musical,es dificil encontrar otra persona en el mundo que haya mostrado la musica de Grecia y a la vez la musica de otros paises como ella,incluido mi amado Chile,pasando por todos generos ya sean estos populares ,folklroricos,jazz,clasicos etc.ni hablar en cuantos idiomas lo ha hecho,ella es unica.Te lo mereces con todo el corazon,Francisco Molina
Yo también grito contigo porque realmente es de coña que ahora cuando ya le han echado de la carrera judicial le absuelvan de los juicios que tenÃa pendiente. ¡De coña! Es triste la verdadUn beso
I was appalled when the mayor broadcasted that he had gathered $250,000 in donations That equals roughly 2 1/2 cents per person. Way to go New York????
heh brooklyn_lo they doing food and clothing drives in my hood nothing to do with money.
Great post, DP. Too many ppl (black and otherwise) don’t know the truth about the debt Haiti was forced to pay in “reparations” for their revolution, and the role the US played in supporting/turning a blind eye to subsequent dictatorships. I explained the history to my mom last night and she was truly shocked. The debt they finished paying in 1947 is estimated at 20 billion US dollars today.
After the US revolution this country was broke as a joke for a few decades. I’m sure if we did have to pay a similar debt, our shit would be quite effed the eff up, too.
DP whats good with u and the Robertson theory? I need a thorough source for real, for real before I can fux wit it. The post put more info out there for those unaware of Black history and the Haitians role in it; but honestly I’m not feelin how this tragedy could be blamed on a “Secret Pact” with the devil. A gang of folks said similar things regarding Katrina. I saw the youtube feed where Pat Robinson is basically trying to justify god’s wrath on man with this incident. Thats Total bullshit!
Curt…
libraries are open tomorrow…you’d find a better understanding there or at a book store.. the “internets” is over rated when it comes to true research.
The bottom line about Robertson is though……if the Haitians were working with the devil….. who were the human beings who put shackles/chains on the other human beings working for?
Curt,
I believe in God so much that I know the human being isn’t the best thing that God has created. Pat Robertson is a kook.
The truth about Haiti (and Katrina for that matter) is that when you have a population completely mired in poverty and social disenfranchisement when the rain falls, the earth shakes or even the wind blows that will cause anarchy.
Haiti’s curse was their attempt to throw off the shackles of supremacy. That has put them on the wrong side of everything good that supremacy controls.
Good points by both the the_dallas and getthesenets. Internets research to me is parallel to treasure hunting at the beach with a metal detector. You will search for hours and come up with nothing useful. I would be better off getting viable news from the Onion or the Daily Show.
Whether it be Haiti, Rwanda, New Orleans, or Darfur, the common denominator is usually gross negligence for human rights,government corruption and economic unaccountability. I mean… have you seen the tons of aid to Haiti that goes rotten or never makes it to the people because it never leaves the ports after arriving?
I still feel that the timing is wrong with the whole ‘pact with the devil’ Haitian curse theory; a lot of folks has made some type of deal with the devil in sorts… selling dope, killing for turf,stealing elections, entire albums w/Autotune, etc…
Topics like this create good dialogue instead of the usual who keeps it realer or whose fuxin who blog dribble so its much appreciated. I’ll be reading up on Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haiti and the Triangle Trade real talk.
Most people on here ( or maybe not) can remember “We Are the World”….and the awareness and money it raised for famine relief in east Africa in the late 1980s.
Lot of money but little of the aid actually reached the people and some of the aid actually flooded the market with products that local farmers grew….and just about ruined them.
With the world watching…..and with many Haitians from outside the country helping…..let’s get it right this time.
rebirth…..
History channel documentary
“Toussaint L’ouverture and the Haitian Revolution”
6 parts
this user has it in a playlist
http://www.youtube.com/user/moorishbrooklyn#g/c/8848CEA11F30BBF9
Is it just me, or does Papa Doc look like Hova in that pic? Just sayin….
And if anyone wants a more recent classic read about Haiti when done with CLR James’ Black Jacobins, check out Laurent Dubois’ Avengers of America — must know chit in this book