17612: Lemieux: CounterPunch Magazine: Honor Haiti, Honor Ourselves Forget Haiti, Forget Ourselves (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Counterpunch Magazine

January 1, 2004

Honor Haiti, Honor Ourselves
Forget Haiti, Forget Ourselves
By RANDALL ROBINSON

Part I

January 1, 1804--January 1, 2004:

This day is sacred.

It is the 200th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution.

Fought by Haitians.

Won for us all.

Between 1791 and 1804, hundreds of thousands of Africans
enslaved in Haiti ignored the rivers, forests, precipices,
swamps, mountains, gorges, bloodhounds, rifles, cannon, and
whips that separated them and united to launch a massive,
brilliantly executed, spectacular war of liberation that
the armies of Spain, England, and France (with the help of
the United States) all fought desperately--and failed
absolutely--to crush.

The Haitian Revolution was no "lucky break" involving "a
few unruly slaves."

This was no "plantation uprising."

St. Domingue (as Haiti was then called by the French) was
at that time the most prosperous colonial possession of any
European power. It created far greater wealth for France
than the thirteen American colonies combined. Its massive
wealth-generating capacity caused it to be known far and
wide as "The Pearl of the Antilles" and its French owners
had a clear and proven management strategy for profit
maximization: push the slaves to their absolute physical
limit, work them literally to death, and then quickly
import replacement slaves from Africa who would, in turn,
be worked to death. This, St. Domingue's plantocracy had
discovered, controlled operating costs, kept the pace of
economic activity at a highly efficient and productive
pace, minimized slack and wastage, and produced massive,
stupendous profits.

Two hundred years ago today, however, after a 13-year war
of liberation, the slaves of St. Domingue celebrated their
victory over France and other European powers by
establishing the Republic of Haiti. They had wrested from
Napoleon the engine of France's economic expansion,
banished slavery from the land, and ended European
domination of 10,000 square miles of fertile land and
hundreds of thousands of slaves to work it.

They had shattered the myth of European invincibility.

"Most have assumed that (Haiti's) slaves had no military
experience prior to the revolution," John K. Thornton
explains in African Soldiers in the Haitian Revolution.
"Many assume that they rose from agricultural labour to
military prowess in an amazingly short time.... However, it
is probably a mistake to see the slaves of St. Domingue as
simply agricultural workers, like the peasants of Europe...
...A majority of St. Domingue's slaves, especially those
who fought steadily in the revolution, were born in
Africa... ...In fact, a great many... ...had served in
African armies prior to their enslavement and arrival in
Haiti... ...Sixty to seventy per cent of the adult slaves
listed on (St. Domingue's) inventories in the late 1780's
and 1790's were African born... ... ...(coming)
overwhelmingly from just two areas of Africa: the Lower
Guinea coast region of modern Benin, Togo and Nigeria (also
known as the "Slave Coast"), and the Angola coast area....

"Where the African military background of the slaves
counted most was in those areas, especially in the north
(of St. Domingue), where slaves themselves led the
revolution, both politically and militarily... ... ...These
areas...threw up the powerful armies of Toussaint
Louverture and Dessalines and eventually carried the
revolution."

A successful revolution in Haiti, Thornton explains,
"required the kind of skill and discipline that could be
found in veteran soldiers, and it was these veterans, from
wars in Africa, who made up the general will of the St.
Domingue revolt... ...Kongolese armies contributed the most
to St. Domingue rebel bands... ...(Their) tactical
organization was very different from that of Europe...
...(and they) had learned to deal successfully with
Portuguese armies and tactics in the years of struggle (in
Africa), driving out invaders... ...No doubt these tactics
could help those who found themselves in St. Domingue on
the eve of the revolution.

"Kongolese armies seem to have been organized
in...platoons...that struck at enemy advancing columns and
sustained an engagement for a time before breaking off and
retreating... ...They made use of cover, both from terrain
and from woods and tall grass, in hiding their movements
and directing their fire. When they fled it was not
possible to follow them." Portuguese troops who had fought
the Kongolese in Africa also reported that the Kongolese
used "shocks--larger engagements involving massed Kongolese
units. According to the Portuguese accounts, large bodies
were assembled for shocks supported by artillery, sometimes
they formed in extensive half moon formations which
apparently sought partial envelopment of opposing forces,
in other cases in columns of great depth along fronts of
15-20 soldiers....

"Their tactics showed a penchant for skirmishing attacks
rather than the heavy assaults favoured by Europeans in the
same era... ...Kongolese armies had a higher command
structure that could mass troops quickly, and soldiers were
also accustomed to forming effectively into larger units
for major battles when the situation warranted....
...Dahomey's armies included a fairly large professional
force... ...Oyo relied heavily on cavalry forces, had
relatively few foot soldiers and throughout the 1700's was
the pre-eminent...military power in (west Africa)...
...Dahomey's troops... ...fought in close order using fire
discipline quite similar to that of Europe... ...

"It was from these disparate 'arts of war' that the
revolutionary African soldier of St. Domingue was
trained... ...

"One can easily see, in the formation of the bands
mentioned in the early descriptions of the (Haitian
Revolution), the small platoons of the Kongolese armies,
each under an independent commander and accustomed to
considerable tactical decision making; or perhaps those
small units characteristic of locally organized Dahomean
units; the state armies of the Mahi country; or the coastal
forces of the Slave Coast... ...

"In addition the pattern of attacks with small scale
harassing maneuvers, short, sustained battles and then
rapid withdrawals are also reminiscent of the campaign
diaries of the Portuguese field commanders in Angola. Felix
Carteau, an early observer of the war in the north of St.
Domingue noted that the (slave revolutionaries) harassed
French forces day and night. Usually, he commented, they
were repelled, but each time, they dispersed so quickly, so
completely in ditches, hedges and other areas of natural
cover that real pursuit was impossible. However, rebel
casualties were light in these attacks, so that the next
day they reappeared with great numbers of people. They
never mass in the open, wrote another witness, or wait in
line to charge, but advance dispersed, so that they appear
to be six times as numerous as they really are. Yet they
were disciplined, since they might advance with great
clamor and then suddenly and simultaneously fall silent....

"It was not long before observers noted that the rebels (in
St. Domingue) had developed the sort of higher order
tactics that was also characteristic of Kongolese forces,
or those of the Slave Coast....

"In addition to these tactical similarities to African
wars, especially in Kongo, there were other indications of
the African ethos of the fighters... ...they marched,
formed and attacked accompanied by the 'music peculiar to
Negroes....' Their religious preparation, likewise,
hearkened back to Africa....

"It is unlikely that many slaves would have learned
equestrian skills as a part of their plantation labor...
...Since there was virtually no cavalry in Angola, one can
speculate that rebels originating from Oyo might have
provided at least some of the trained horsemen. Also, the
Senegalese, though a minority, also came from an equestrian
culture... ...

"African soldiers may well have provided the key element of
the early success of the revolution. They might have
enabled its survival when it was threatened by reinforced
armies from Europe. Looking at the rebel slaves of Haiti as
African veterans rather than as Haitian plantation workers
may well prove to be the key that unlocks the mystery of
the success of the largest slave revolt in history."

St. Domingue's policy of working its slaves to death and
then quickly importing replacements from Africa proved to
be the ultimate karmic boomerang. St. Domingue's
African-born slaves not only were not yet broken
psychologically, but they were also in possession of
significant military training and experience gained on the
other side of the Atlantic. And they combined with
brilliant, indefatigable, St. Domingue-born blacks like
Toussaint L'Ouverture and Dessalines to create a black
revolutionary juggernaut the likes of which Europe and the
United States had not seen before--or since.

The blacks of St. Domingue forced the world to see both
them and the millions of other Africans enslaved throughout
the Americas with new eyes. No longer could it be assumed
that they could forever be brutalized into creating massive
fortunes and building sprawling empires for the glory of
Europe and America.

On January 1, 1804, hundreds of thousands of slave
revolutionaries established an independent republic and
named it Haiti in honor of the Amerindian people, long
since killed off by European brutality and diseases, who
had called the land Ayiti--Land of Many Mountains. They had
banished slavery from their land and proclaimed it an
official refuge for escaped slaves from anywhere in the
world. They had defeated the mightiest of the mighty. They
had shattered the myth of European invincibility.

Europe was livid. America, apoplectic. The blacks in St.
Domingue had forgotten their place and would be made to
pay. Dearly. For the next two hundred years.

Toussaint L'Ouverture, Dessalines, and their slave
revolutionaries must forever live in our hearts as
inspiring, authentic counterweights to the
"yassuh-nosuh-scratch-where-ah-don'-itch-and-dance-tho-there
-ain'-no-music" image of our forebears that Europe and the
United States have drilled into our psyches.

And we must remember that history forgets, first, those who
forget themselves. Via means direct and indirect, crass and
subtle, there have been whispers and street corner shouts
that "current conditions in Haiti" make our celebration of
the Haitian Revolution "inappropriate" at this time.

We, whose souls and psyches have been bleached of
everything prior to the Middle Passage are now being told
that we must tear from our consciousness and rip from our
hearts the most dramatic and triumphal assertion of
forebears' dignity, worth, and perspicacity since the
Middle Passage.

How diabolically contemptuous.

Not only must we not forget the Haitian Revolution, we must
celebrate it. Today, through all of this its bicentennial
year, and beyond.

And we must research, understand, and expose what happened
to Haiti and in Haiti since the revolution. We must become
fully conversant with the role of "the world's leading
democracies" in Haiti between 1804 and today. We must
develop a keen understanding of the repercussions of the
61-year economic embargo that the United States imposed on
Haiti in response to its declaration of independence, and
we must recognize the current-day consequences of France
forcing Haiti to pay 90 million in gold francs (equivalent
today to some $20 billion) in 1825 as "compensation" for
Haiti declaring its independence--or be crushed militarily
by France.

Today, "the world's leading democracies" cluck and gloat at
their ongoing stranglehold--in the form of a crushing
financial embargo--on today's descendants of Toussaint,
Dessalines, and their freedom fighters. Throughout the
Americas, we who benefited from the daring war waged by the
slaves of St. Domingue, must reject the maneuverings of the
world's most powerful nations in Haiti and find ways to
build bridges to the Haitian people and the officials they
choose--through the ballot--to lead them.

Just over two hundred years ago, after there had been a
"cessation of hostilities" and the brilliant military
strategist Toussaint L'Ouverture had already retired to a
quiet life in the St. Domingue country-side, France
decided, nonetheless, to arrest and ship him to a prison
cell 3,000 feet up the Jura Mountains of France where he
would freeze to death. As he stepped on board the boat that
would forever take him away from St. Domingue, Toussaint
issued a promise to his captors and a call to us all.

"In overthrowing me, you have cut down in St. Domingue only
the trunk of the tree of liberty. It will spring up again
by the roots for they are numerous and deep."

We are those roots.

The revolution was fought by Haitians, but won for us all.

Through our work and with our resources, in a spirit of
self-respect and self-awareness, we must serve as
counterweights to the powerful nations who deem the ballot
box sacrosanct in their countries, but surreptitiously
encourage and manipulate its rejection by "the opposition"
in Haiti. We must serve as proponents of political civility
and social justice in Haiti while "the world's leading
democracies" slyly encourage recalcitrance, tumult, and
division. We must reject being manipulated by the corporate
media into embracing the notion that in France, Germany,
the United States and other "civilized nations" elections
are the only legitimate determinant of the will of the
people, but in Haiti those street demonstrations specially
selected by the corporate media for coverage tell us all we
need to know about anybody's will. We must impress upon all
Haitians the fact that the outside world does not
distinguish between--and cares nothing about--Lavalas,
Convergence, or any other political grouping. The world
sees only "Haiti," "Haitians," and all the connotations
that western media have attached thereto. Those nations
that two hundred years ago failed desperately in their
attempts to crush the Haitian Revolution today have a deep
psychic need to "prove" Toussaint's progeny capable of
nothing but disaster. We must reach out to and work with
our Haitian brothers and sisters to prove these nations
wrong.

Throughout the Diaspora, we must stand with and defend
Haiti--on this the anniversary of the Haitian Revolution,
throughout this bicentennial year, and for all time. For in
so doing, we stand for and defend ourselves.

Part II

Haiti, Jessica, and WMD

America's foreign policy officials have perpetrated
horrific untruths recently. Iraq's "weapons of mass
destruction," Jessica Lynch's "battlefield heroism" and
"abuse," and Aristide's "failure to deliver" in Haiti are
cases in point.

Iraq's oil, the fear of war-triggered terrorism, and Iraq's
antiquity have made us more aware, and less
susceptible--though not immune--to media manipulation
regarding Iraq. Similarly, American soldiers who have
served in Iraq have American defenders who will not allow
these soldiers' contributions to be overlooked while, for
example, Jessica Lynch's truth is trampled and twisted to
whip up "patriotism" and animus for "the bad guys."

Who, however, knows or cares anything about Haiti? How many
Americans know that--in our names--American policy-makers
have used our country's enormous power to block 8 million
Haitians' access to approved loans for safe drinking water,
literacy programs, and health services? How many know, when
we read about "Haiti's steady slide," that powerful
American policy-makers are massively responsible? These
officials are holding the Haitian people, who desperately
want to own their democracy, in a brutal economic
death-grip. Is this the face that America intends to
continue showing to the black and brown peoples of the
world? Ordinary Americans can no longer afford
indifference.

Our president says that we are terrorism targets because
"they are jealous of us"; because "we love liberty and they
do not"; because we represent "truth and justice."

Is it really our compassion and magnanimity that cause the
rage in distant hearts to reduce Bali tourist spots to
embers, Manhattan towers to dust, and our Nairobi embassy
to rubble? If so, the Dali Lama is in great danger.

In these times, Americans must assess what our policies are
doing to human beings beyond our shores. And we must
realize that the same "information" machine that lied about
WMD and Jessica Lynch lies about much more--including
Aristide and Haiti.

The United States has had Haitian blood on its hands for a
long time. Today, they are dripping.

In 2000, the year of our electoral meltdown, election
observers in Haiti recommended that seven senate seats (out
of a total of 7,500 positions filled nation-wide) go to a
run-off. Haiti's electoral commission disagreed, creating
the only international concern about the election. To avoid
"the wrath of the mighty," these senators resigned.
However, American officials who had vehemently opposed the
restoration of Haiti's elected government in 1994, now
seized on the run-off controversy to further demonize
Aristide, break the Haitian people's spirit, and "prove"
the Haitian Revolution a failure

Powerful Americans are crushing the Haitian people's dream
of building their own democracy in their own image, and
these officials blocking Haitians' access to safe drinking
water tells us all we need to know. They loathe Aristide
because he represents the poorer, blacker masses of Haitian
society, whereas America's traditional allies have always
been Haiti's moneyed, white or mulatto "elite." The
parallels between America's policies toward Haiti and our
policies towards apartheid South Africa have never been
lost on me.

During my colleagues' and my battle to end America's
long-standing collusion with South Africa's white
supremacist government, highly respected U.S. government
officials publicly asserted that Mandela and the African
National Congress were terrorist and that the
anti-apartheid movement was antithetical to U.S. interests.
Aristide's government was restored in 1994 following a coup
in which Haiti's US-allied army killed 5,000 civilians. And
those American officials who had defended apartheid South
Africa lost no time in turning their policy venom full bore
on today's descendents of the most spectacular slave revolt
in the history of all the Americas--and the man Haitians
chose to lead them.

Aristide has not "failed to deliver." Powerful individuals
from the most powerful nation on earth have placed a
financial embargo on his country and made the strangulation
of his government--and therefore his people--a priority.
They are determined to render him incapable of delivering
so that his people will, in time, tire of the excruciating
hardships and tire of him.

At the dawn of this New Year, perhaps we should reflect on
what we have done to Aristide, what we have done to the
Haitian people, and on Thomas Jefferson's lament: "When I
consider that God is just, I shudder for my country." The
way we continue to treat weaker peoples and nations around
the world will determine, for years to come, whether
justice is something Americans have reason to welcome or
something we have reason to dread.

Randall Robinson is founder and former president of
TransAfrica. He is an author and lives in the Caribbean.

CounterPunch
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