Is there a racist conspiracy to keep Haiti in ruins?

Haiti in the 18th century was a slave island. People like You and I were kidnapped and then forced to work under such grueling conditions that most died within 8 years.

Haiti however freed itself from the yoke of Napoleon Bonaparte and France. A slave army that defeated one of the most capable Generals/Strategists in history.

Is there currently or in the past a understanding among white countries to destroy Haiti as revenge of their audacity to free themselves?

Please, only participate if you are a serious person as this is a very serious subject.

  • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
    1·
    1 year ago

    Haiti is poor because America and France instituted the most racist economic foreign policy that ever existed.

    Not even two decades after Haiti gained its independence, France demanded that Haiti compensate former French slaveowners for the value of all those slaves who set themselves free. Yes, France and the land of the free, home of the brave, essentially demanded reverse slave reparations.

    In 1825, France sent warships to Haiti and demanded 150 million Francs. Not only did the United States agree, but they backed up France’s demands for the debt on the international stage, imploring European countries to ignore Haiti’s existence until it paid this money.

    One could argue that this crippling debt, which thrust Haiti into poverty and took 122 years to pay, was partly the fault of the European countries who silently allowed France to enact this racist policy. One could even blame America for allowing France to extort Haiti. The 1823 Monroe Doctrine explicitly stated that “any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States.”

    Perhaps Haiti’s predicament is due to America’s fear of slave uprisings. Maybe it is at least partly America’s fault.

    Nah, B. This is white people’s fault.

    In 1804, when Haiti became an independent country, it scared America. The U.S. feared the Haitian uprising would inspire black slaves to do the same, believing “ a revolution by Blacks definitely was something that could not be.” Andrew Johnson wanted to annex Haiti and make it part of America, and the U.S. sent troops to Haiti’s doorstep 17 times between 1862 and 1915.

    • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      America ignored Haiti at the behest of southern slaveowners who were afraid a black nation conquered by slaves could also happen here. It was afraid that a tropical paradise could produce more crops than the U.S. agrarian economy. When Haiti declared its independence, black people owned very little land and very few banks. The U.S. was ruled by rich plantation owners and northern bankers.

      Also known as white people.

      In 1947, two years after America liberated the last concentration camp, 82 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 143 years after dismantling the shackles of their own slaveowners, the Republic of Haiti made the last payment toward its independence debt.

      Those payments didn’t include the money that was taken by U.S. Marines when they marched into the Haitian National Bank in 1919, took $500,000 and deposited at 111 Wall Street New York, N.Y., for “safekeeping.”

      The cost of German soldiers who assisted the American army in occupying Haiti from 1915-1934 don’t count either. Neither does the 40 percent of Haiti’s national income it was forced to pay to the United States and France when the U.S. occupiers wrote the demand into Haiti’s constitution.

      Whenever Haiti couldn’t make the payments, it would take out loans, sending it deeper into poverty, because the loans could only come from French banks. Over the years, French banks would lend the Caribbean nation money so often that Haiti wasn’t simply repaying its original reparations debt, it was paying the loans, interests and fees.

      As late as 1915, nearly 80 percent of Haiti’s government revenue was paid to service its debt. But by the time they made the last payment in 1947, Haiti wasn’t even paying France. It was paying an American bank that had bought all of Haiti’s debt from French banks.

      Located at that previously mentioned 111 Wall Street address, the City Bank of New York was founded by Moses Taylor, who made his fortune illegally importing slaves to Cuban sugar plantations after slavery was outlawed in the United States. So when Haiti made its last payment for dismantling slavery, it was paying an American bank that was built on slave-owning owned by a man who disregarded international law to build the City Bank of New York, built on the institution of slavery, with money partially stolen by an international conglomerate of white soldiers who occupied Haiti.

      • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 year ago

        Haiti is poor because it was forced to pay the equivalent of $21 billion, including billions to the City Bank of New York. But you might not know the history of that bank’s involvement with the slave trade and Haiti’s extortion. Or maybe you know the bank by its current name:

        Citibank.

        Despite repaying the independence debt in 1914, Haiti still owed billions to other countries and the World Bank because for almost two centuries, much of Haiti’s income was tied up repaying France and Citibank. But many of those countries, including the World Bank, have canceled Haiti’s debt. France’s president eventually forgave Haiti’s non-independence debt.

        Yet there are still people who will ask why Haiti can’t “get over” the past. They will use the same argument that American whites use against the descendants of slaves, as if this country is still not complicit in the historical oppression.

        Some might even ask why Haiti can’t bounce back. After all, Haiti is now debt-free. Some will even point to the historical government corruption as a determining factor, ignoring the fact that overwhelming poverty and debt is part of the reason that Haiti’s citizens cling to the false promises of despots.

        And yes, it is true that, since France became the last country to forgive Haiti’s debt, they might be able to one day bounce back. We shall see. Because, when France and the U.S. ignore calls to pay Haiti its money, they point to the fact that we keep bringing up old shithole stuff. They assert that France bravely forgave Haiti’s debt waaay back in the day…

        In 2015.

        That’s why Haiti is poor. Because America and the world refuse to acknowledge the legacy of slavery. Because of greed. Because of the apathy of capitalism. Because we believe that human bondage is something that doesn’t last for centuries. Because, even though Haiti remembers, we have done our best to make the world forget when it comes to Haiti…