200 years of independence for Haiti
A brief summary of Haitian history leading to the first
nation created by former African slaves 200 years ago.
 The
first black republic
The first black republic is only 200 years old. For the first
time an army of slaves defeated the oppressors and a new state was
born. January
1st 2004 Haiti celebrated 200 years of independence.
Rebellion among slaves happened frequently in all the slave-colonies
but the rebels very seldom succeeded to gain anything but more misery.
Haiti (St. Domingue as the colony in the Caribbean was then called)
was one of the richest colonies in the world producing mainly coffee
and
sugar.
And
as most
other colonies
in the 18th and 19th century it was completely dependent on the work
of slaves imported from Africa. Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492.
First Spanish and then French people made plantations started importing
slaves in great numbers.
Revolution
News of the French revolution in 1789 affected the political climate
for everybody on the island. The white farmers started discussing the
possibility of independence from France, but too late they realised that
also their black slaves could have dreams of “freedom, equality
and brotherhood”.
In August 1791 an uprising against the French farm-owners started among
the slaves in Haiti. There was a clear majority of black slaves in the
population and at first they had no problems in taking over control.
Plantations were destroyed and many whites were killed or forced to flee
from the island. French, Spanish, and English troops came aid. They were
fighting each other for control but they all agreed the main aim: to
prevent black domination in a former colony.
François Toussaint
L'Ouverture, the grandson of an African chief, became the military leader
of the former slaves. Toussaint remained in
charge in the following many years of frequent battles, but in 1802 he
was captured by French forces and later died in a French prison.
Independence
With
the French arrival a revolution started once again and when it was
finally over, an army of black slaves had their victory against the
army of Napoleon. On January 1st 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, an
African-born ex-slave could declare Haiti independent. It was the first
black republic
in the world and the first country in the Western hemisphere to abolish
slavery completely.
As word got around the black population in Haiti
became inspiration for Africans in the rest of the world.
 Haiti today
The historical events 200 years ago are well worth remembering, but
unfortunately the story of Haiti since then has been very unstable and
far from glorious. Officially Haiti is a republic with an elected government,
but ruling today is Jean-Bertrand Aristide who has turned
out to be a dictator of almost same level as the infamous François “Papa
Doc” Duvalier. Aristide came to power in 1994 with the help of
US troops. Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier escaped with a fortune
to live a happy life in southern France. Most Haitians and the outside
world celebrated the return of Aristide and had high hopes for a democratic
future of the Country. All started well, but within a few years he lost
interest in improving living conditions for his people and most human
rights where
violated. There are many reasons for the change in Aristide. Some of
them are probably personal paranoia and others were the pressure from
first of all the US and French governments, trying to push forward with
their own political motives. When Aristide refused to do as he was told
the outside world answered with economic embargos on Haiti and a landslide
had started.
Aristide won the 2000-elections with 92 percent of the votes. Obviously
the ballots were fixed and as a result Haiti lost even more of the international
support and aid. Today Aristide used the 200-years anniversary for his
own political motives, but the nation of Haiti today could hardly be
described as free and there was not much to celebrate for its 7.5 million
inhabitants.
Torture, murders, political violence, gang-wars and violation of most
other human rights are taking place every day. In public speeches Aristide
talked about love to the people and the common struggles of the black
race –but he was completely out of touch with his own people -and
only relied on hired (white) mercenaries from the US.
Writers and intellectuals in Haiti protested strongly against the
use of the historical events for political propaganda in a democracy
that was about to collapse completely. Many of these protestors was
arrested and imprisoned without any legal rights. Two famous
reporters
were gunned down in 2000 and people close to the government obscured
investigations. In the end of 2003 demonstrations against the Aristide-regime
took place almost daily. Police forces controlled
directly from the presidential palace were hitting hard on any signs
of uprising.
Aristide leaves Haiti
In the end of February riots increased in Haiti and different rebel
groups finally forced Aristide to leave Haiti with the help (or force)
of US miltary forces. He is currently in exile in the Central-African
Republic.
The
situation in Haiti is currently chaotic and uncertain because of the
many different
groups
of rebels
who are probably not better rulers than Aristide himself.
Earthquake
In 2008 a number of tropical storms kills almost 800 people in Haiti, but in January 2010 is should get even worse for the hard tried nation. The worst earthquake in more than 200 years hits the island with an epicenter near the capital Port-Au-Prince. More than 50.000 people are feared dead. Infrastructure and nearly everything else got a final blow, leaving Haiti in chaos and making the relief aid even more difficult. Help form the outside world is urgently needed.
Links to donation pages for the major Danish aid-organisations currently working in Haiti:
JC, December 2003. Last update: January 2010
Links to more about Haiti on the web
History of Haiti:
Haiti today, background, different views and news:
Illustrations: map and flag from: CIA
World Factbook: Haiti
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