Race and Politics
Haiti Isn’t Cursed: The Imperialists That Have Targeted Them Since They Revolted Are
France isn’t getting enough criticism these days, so here I am to change that
Picture this:
You’re sitting at home watching harrowing footage of Afghan people desperate to leave the mess that was created, aided and abetted by the United States for the last 40 years. You see tragic videos of people handing out their newborn babies to soldiers in an attempt to save them, and you see people latching on to an airplane in motion to escape.
What is your first thought?
Don’t answer yet. Here’s another scenario I want you to imagine:
You open your social media account of choice and the first thing you see is a video of what looks like a makeshift shantytown filled to the brim with Haitian asylum seekers. You watch as border patrol agents use something that looks like a cord to chase down Haitian migrants and whip them as they seek to avoid repatriation to Haiti.
So let me ask again. What is your first thought?
You probably realize by now that both those horrific scenes are not from my imagination but happened on this green earth in the year 2021 within months of each other.
Tell me if your reaction was similar to President Emmanuel Macron of France. His first public response about the Afghan refugee crisis was typical of an imperialist country. He went on air to publicly calm his base by promising them that France would not open its borders to Afghan refugees. He basically said:
“Aw, that’s too bad, but don’t even think of coming here.”
These two scenarios are way more alike than you’d think. Let me tell you why.
In the case of the Haitian migrants in the U.S, many of them reported being sold a false promise of a better life if they left their country and gave up everything to travel north to the United States. So many did. They left their homes, their jobs and the sense of stability that’s afforded to you when you’re rooted in a strong community. They left, and now they’re being put in detention centres and whipped by border patrol agents.
And, throughout all of this, the Biden administration has been toughening measures to slow the entry of migrants into the country and not-so-subtly justifying the tactics they’re using. They’re not trying to let anyone in either.
Sounds familiar?
I see America, I see France
It’s easy to look at the United States when studying the devastating effects of global imperialism and anti-immigration, but France is a beacon for imperialist, colonialist and anti-immigration rhetoric.
When it comes to the U.S of A and France, it sounds like they’re taking pointers from the same sort of xenophobic handbook. France’s history with colonization and exploitation isn’t often discussed in the West. It’s such a small country and most people in the Americas have a very romantic view of it. In my observation, it’s often seen as the country of love because people think of France and immediately picture Paris and the glowing lights of the Eiffel tower. On the other side of the coin, Americans often admire the anarchist nature of the French people and their willingness to protest and riot, a phenomenon associated with the culture since the French revolution of the 18th century.
But if the French are so willing to riot, it is of my humble opinion that we should remember the words of Martin Luther King:
A riot is the language of the unheard.
And boy, do many French people, more specifically their immigrant and minority population, feel unheard.
Both photos above were taken in Paris during protests decrying the growing militarization of the police, something that is happening all over the world and that I touched on briefly in Issue #3 with regards to Ferguson, MI and Gaza, Palestine. Let’s be honest, both the United States and its daddy the U.K have crimes that can easily eclipse any other nation, but France has been practising that good ole European exceptionalism and colonialism for centuries now.
A brief history
After the Haitians revolted and took their freedom back from the French slave owners at the tail-end of the 18th century, the latter demanded that Haiti pay them for damages and goods lost in what is the biggest case for extortion in history. It’s interesting to note that the Haitians revolted in 1791, 2 years after the French did in Europe. One country is praised for it to this day, the other is vilified and remains under heavy foreign intervention. There’s definitely a connection there worth diving into, which at the speculative level I’m going to attribute to money, which is why…
France literally bullied a newly independent nation into giving them all their resources and threatened to invade them if they didn’t. And when Haitians refused, other countries, including the United States (because, of course) threatened to cease all trades with them. The debt was set at $150 million francs, which is around $21 billion dollars today. The Haitians were forced to borrow 30 million francs from the French to make the first two payments. Of course, there is no loan without interest, and the French demanded 60 francs of interest for every 1000 the Haitians borrowed. With widespread corruption and the invasion of Haiti by the U.S, along with taking possession of their Gold reserve, let’s just say it’s not a debt that was ever meant to be paid off.
Now I’ve read of Black Americans who travelled to France (and Europe in general) in the 1920s and 1930s and found that their experience was vastly different (for the better) than their experience in the United States. This is true, and some might qualify this as a testament to how well France treated Black people. I would rather view it as an indictment of how bad the United States was, that a moment of respite in France might seem like heaven.
The crazy thing about imperialism
Imperialist countries basically function on the exploitation of land or people to advance their own interests and drive profit. They use their politics in insidious ways and often have puppet presidents who move at the will of the very people who oppress them. I look at Haiti and the recent assassination of its president. Many called the murder suspect and accused Moise of not being a man of the people. He, like many other politicians across the globe, was at the mercy of the U.S.
This reminds me of president Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian territories. Many Palestinians are frankly sick of his willingness to fold under Israeli pressure and not get the ball moving for his people at all. Also in the last few months, Palestinian journalist Nizar Banat died while under detention by the Palestinian Authority. He was a well-known critic of the government, and no explanation was offered regarding his death, except that his health had suddenly deteriorated while he was incarcerated.
The vast majority of people don’t buy that story for a second, either.
And then, a country like the United States which historically intervenes in foreign affairs, destabilizes entire regions, and sets up puppet presidents, has the audacity to go on camera and ban horses after Haitian migrants are whipped, and tell refugees with their whole chest they’re not welcome at their doors. The U.S promised to overturn some of Trump’s anti-immigration politics but the Biden administration has done nothing but use them to their full extent, even more so than the previous president.
Back to France
Most immigrants in France hail from the countries that France has colonized at some point. Go figure. I’m thinking Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, and the other African nations that have French as one of their official languages. Immigrants are also vilified by French media and accused of bringing criminality into the communities and corrupting French youth. A tale as old as time, really.
France takes, takes, takes, from the colonies it once had. Did you know that several West African countries have their own currency, the CFA Franc? Touted as an “instrument for stability”, it’s directly tied to the French treasury, but many critique it as a tool that hinders the economic growth of colonized African nations. As recently as 2019, the Italian ambassador was ejected from Paris because the country claimed France was impoverishing the continent of Africa by siphoning more than they gave in aid. Gabon has some of the biggest oil reserves and natural resources in the world, yet its people are some of the poorest. Why? Allegedly, the politicians give the country’s natural resources to France to line their own pockets. What was that about puppet presidents again?
In terms of Haiti, it’s been struggling for years now. Decades, even. Centuries? Most definitely. The state-sponsored gangs are allegedly funded not only by a corrupt government at home but by the United States, the United Nations, the Core Group and the Organization of American States. Allegedly.
And still, some people claim that Haiti is cursed. It’s a word I’ve seen thrown around especially by upper and middle-class white Americans who claim to love the Lord and somehow vote against everything he stood for every four years.
It doesn’t sound to me like Haiti is cursed. It seems to me like the imperialist nations who’ve lined their pockets with the blood of the people they dispossess and oppress are. They are cursed with insatiable greed and will go to any lengths to obtain what they want. This is capitalism, through and through.
If you don’t want refugees and migrants to come knocking at your door, stop creating them!
Now France can proudly claim to:
- Order women to legally dress a certain way
- Make sure to let the world know they do not want refugees near them
- Syphon resources from African nations while leaving their most vulnerable population to fend for themselves
- Owe Haiti QUINTUPLIANS OF DOLLARS in reparations… LITERALLY
What does that sound like to you?
Imperialism is imperialism is imperialism. And just like the bogeyman, one way or another, imperialism is gonna get ya.
