12234: Re: 12223: reparations (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Gilles Hudicourt <hudic@videotron.ca>

> From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com
>
> I don't see why people ( Manbo san bout, Wilson) assimilate
reparationswith
> begging.  There is a very clear problem here:  My ancestor Jean-Pierre
Boyer
> should never have accepted that Haiti owed any money to France.

It's not that simple.  Those plantations did not belong to the French
Government.  They were privately owned and I'm not certain to what extent
the
ultimate slaughter of the remaining French, men, women and children, in the
first few months of 1804 was not motivated by pure greed.  People forget
that slavery had not been practiced in Haiti since around 1792, under
Toussaint, (except in British and Spanish controlled area) and at the time
of the massacre, it had been close to 12 years since slavery had been
abolished.  The few labourers that still toiled on the Frenchmen's
plantation
in 1804 continued to work under the same conditions under Haitian management
after the massacre was carried out.  Nothing changed for several years for
most of them.

Haiti could have obtained independence and not stolen the properties of
those Frenchmen that had decided to stay and work as Haitians under Haitian
rule.  Many had done so under Toussaint and would have done it again under
Dessalines.  Boyer did pay in cash for an independence we had already paid
for in blood.  He merely realised that the theft of those properties and the
conditions under which the theft had taken place was morally wrong and that
Haiti would never be internationally  recognized as a Nation unless those
who had lost properties in those circumstances were compensated.  Do not
think that all the
Frenchmen that were slaughtered were bloodthirsty plantation owners who
handled
the whip for a living.  Carpenters, Pharmacists, Blacksmiths, Shop owners,
Jewellers, Bakers, who had shops in the towns and were not even
remotely connected to the plantations were all slaughtered and had their
homes and businesses taken over by Haitian close to the new regime.
As an argument for compensation, Boyer was given the example of the American
Independence where the British nationals
who had decided to stay under American rule were not harmed and their
property respected.

The situation can be compared today to the conflict between the United
Stated and Cuba.  Should the Cuban government pay compensation to the US
companies whose property was nationalized in 1959 ?   You will hear
excellent
arguments against and others just as valid in favour.  It's a debate that
will never end....