17783: Esser: It is the 200th Anniversary of the Haitian Revolution (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimaiol.com


Honor Haiti, honor ourselves
Forget Haiti, forget ourselves

by Randall Robinson

Part I: Jan. 1, 1804 – Jan. 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 13 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 1780s and 1790s 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 L’Ouverture 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 1700s 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 Jan. 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 200 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 200 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 200 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
nationwide) 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 terrorists 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 U.S.-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. This article was published Jan. 1 by
CounterPunch at
www.counterpunch. org.