22283: Saint-Vil: Open Letter to The People of France (please help circulate!) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Saint-Vil <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>


FRANCE Must Return the Charles X Ransom to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Haiti: Open Letter to the People
of France.

(Please Answer Call to Action Petition at End of Letter)

June 6, 2004

Citizen of France, you are probably unaware that your government is currently
committing a number of crimes against Haitians, an impoverished people whose
history has some very unfortunate and unpleasant connections to that of your
own. We take this opportunity to alert you to this fact and to call upon your
sense of honor to disavow and help redress the wicked and despicable actions
that the government of Jacques Chirac and Jean-Pierre Raffarin have thus far
committed, in your name, against Haiti.

On April 7, 2003, A Constitutional Haitian Head of State issued a public demand
that, as a matter of honor and justice, France finally settles an outstanding
debt towards Haiti by returning the outrageous 1825 ransom. The latter was
collected at gunpoint from the Africans who had broken the chains of racial
slavery on the former French colony of Saint-Domingue and had created the free
Republic of Haiti. Indeed, in 1825, under the threat of re-enslavement, and
with 12 warships armed with 500 canons, France blackmailed Haiti into agreeing
to pay a bounty of 150 million Gold Francs for the lost of men, women and
children they had deemed to be “French property” (slaves). That ransom (lowered
to 90 million francs), estimated at over $22 billion  (US) today, extorted from
Haiti by France and which tiny Haiti had to pay while France sold off Louisiana
to the U.S. for only 15 million francs (Louisiana then virtually doubled
Haiti’s size), that vengeful weight put upon the shoulders of Africans digging
themselves out of 300-years of white imposed slavery, forced illiteracy and
other inhumane physical and psychological trauma, virtually began the colonial
model of debt dependency that was then used throughout the African continent
after their "independence". Therefore, to say that the Charles X Ransom had a
devastating and lasting impact on the impoverished people of Haiti would be a
gross understatement. Decades after decades, Haiti had no money for social
spending and development and had to close its rural schools, adopt the Rural
Code which further systematized the class divisions (between rural and city
folks) and bound the majority to work the land to pay off a hideous, racist and
unfair debt.

On February 29, 2004, the Constitutional Head of State who issued Haiti’s
restitution demand, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced out of office amidst
great controversy. Solid evidence now points to French and American complicity
in the illegal and violent activities surrounding this blatant coup d’état. As
a matter of fact, just hours following the abduction of its constitutional Head
of State, French and American troops were occupying Haiti and helping local
mercenaries quell public dissent against a U.S.& French-imposed puppet regime.

To add insult to injury, on April 15, 2004,  Michèle Alliot-Marie, newly
appointed French Minister of Defence lands in Port-au-Prince as the first
French dignitary of high rank to come to Haiti since the triumph of the
anti-slavery revolution in 1803. On the heel of that oddly-timed visit, Mrs.
Alliot-Marie obtains a public declaration by Haiti’s now illegal regime that
restitution of the Charles X Ransom is no longer at issue. A month later, on
Saturday May 15, 2004, Michel Barnier, your current Minister of Foreign
Affairs, would also land in Port-au-Prince. Meanwhile, repeated attempts by the
U.S to bully the Caribbean Community, the African Union and the U.S.
Congressional Black Caucus to follow their lead and recognize the puppet regime
they installed in Haiti remain fruitless. Simply put, the racist stains of this
illegal regime change are simply too blatant to be overlooked.<?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />



This latest criminal Franco-American partnership painfully reminds Africans
worldwide that in 1805, one year following Haiti’s declaration of  freedom and
independence, French foreign minister Prince Charles Talleyrand wrote to U.S
Secretary of State James Madison “The existence of a Negro people in arms is a
horrible spectacle for all white nations” ? Back then, the United States
answered this open call to white supremacist solidarity by banning trade with
Haiti in 1806 and renewing its embargo in 1807 and 1809.  Since then, this form
of solidarity in wickedness would be renewed several times over as France, the
U.S., Germany and Spain would take turns ransoming Haiti at gunpoint throughout
the 19th and 20th centuries.  Now here we are in 2004, when the U.S. and France
have joined hands to abduct Haiti’s democratically elected president and
established in its stead an illegal puppet regime to once again keep the
Haitian people in check. A regime that is so willing to trample the rights of
Haiti’s black majority in exchange for the continued approval of its U.S.-Euro
master puppeteers, that it has now vowed to erase France’s huge and infamous
debt known as “the Charles X Ransom” .

As we submit this letter to your attention, we are mindful of a recent
declaration of elder Nelson Mandela who observed that “we now live in a world
where powerful countries - all of them so-called democracies - manipulate
multilateral bodies to the great disadvantage and suffering of the poorer
developing nations”.  Consequently, we do realize that this matter of
restitution to Haiti of the Charles X Ransom holds little chance of being
satisfactorily resolved at the United Nations any time soon. And so, we, world
citizens of good will, have taken the initiative to affirm and bring to your
reflection the following facts:

1) Restitution of the Charles X ransom is and will remain an issue that shames
the people of France until it is justly resolved to the economic advantage of
the People of Haiti.

2) The people of France must not be and shall no longer be kept in the dark
about this historical debt and its terrible lasting consequences on generations
upon generations of Haitians.

3) The current leaders of France are guilty of shameful and criminal attempts
to cover-up their legal and moral obligations with respect to the Charles X
Ransom. They do so, chiefly, by propping up, with U.S. complicity, an illegal
puppet regime in Haiti that has proven to be their willing partner in crime.

All these illegal actions were taken in your name, people of France, albeit
without your direct approval.

So, having now been apprised of the facts, we invite you to join a noble quest
for long overdue justice by endorsing the following petition which summons the
legal representatives of the State of France to return to the State of Haiti,
the Charles X Ransom.

N.B.: The fact that the current holders of political power in Haiti are illegal
and un-elected does not constitute valid ground to delay this restitution.  The
ransomed funds can be immediately deposited in a safe account to collect
interest until it can be accessed by its rightful owner, the People of Haiti,
through constitutional authorities that are duly appointed to manage its
affairs.

“In this generation, we will have to repent not only for the wicked actions of
the bad people, but also for the appalling silence of the good people”

Mindful of these inspirational words of Dr. Martin Luther King and in the name
of justice and human decency,  the Haitian Lawyers Leadership invites you to
please sign this important petition :

http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/restitution4haiti/  (ENGLISH)


http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/restitutionpourhaiti/  (FRANÇAIS)


http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/Restitisyonpouayiti/ (KREYOL)

or at: http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignseven.html



Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
June 6, 2004
For more information:
Contact Our Campaign 7 Leadership Network Coordinator
Mr. Jean Saint- Vil (Jafrikayiti)
E-mail: Jafrikayiti@hotmail.com
cc: Erzilidanto@aol.com

References:



1) While Trying to Send Aristide Back to Africa, U.S. and France Thwart UN
Investigation of Haiti Coup

http://www.haitiprogres.com/2004/sm040421/eng04-21.html

2) 1803 -2003 “Restitution – Reparation”  par Haiti Progrès

http://www.haitiprogres.com/2003/sm030409/index.html

3) THE DESTABILIZATION OF HAITI BY MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402D.html

4) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) resisting the bullies !

http://www.haiti-progres.com/top05-26.html

5) Washington and Paris overthrow Aristide

http://www.voltairenetwork.net/article7.html

 6) International Politics and Haiti in 2004

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=International_Politics_and_Haiti_in_2004