PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Genocidal racism from Jefferson and Napoleon.. then and now
by ARC, Brainard, and others Monday, Jul. 23, 2007 at 2:23 PM

the slave who defeated Napoleon and Jefferson ... from then to now

Racist Genocide in Haiti Caused by Jefferson Napoleon.. Through Present Day
by ARC, Jennifer Brainard, Monday, Jul. 23, 2007 at 10:18 AM

the slave who defeated Napoleon and Jefferson ... from then to now



FROM THE GENOCIDAL RACISM OF NAPOLEON AND JEFFERSON IN HAITI TO THE
KIDNAPPING OF HAITI'S ELECTED LEADER ARISTIDE BY US SPECIAL FORCES

Randall Robinson
wrote the book An Unbroken Agony, about Haiti from the
18th Century until the kidnapping of the elected Aristide who was kidnapped
by American special forces and taken to Africa.

Robinson, for 25 years the leader of Trans Africa said that only in Haiti
has there been a successful slave revolution in the Americas,
that the 12 year war took 150,000 Haitian lives and that
Napoleon ordered all blacks over 12 exterminated. The US for
60 years imposed sanctions on the new Haiti as did France for 115 years.
George Washington lamented the slave revolution.

A John Adams historian David McCullough has written that President Adams who had no slaves defended
the Haitians while Jefferson, a slaveowner and animal
concentration camp proprietor upon taking office changed
that policy and helped Napoleon to exterminate the Haitians.
Despite this, the Haitians prevailed over the French
and the US governments.
Virginia to this day continues executions, fox hunting, war profiteering.

The Vatican as well ostracized Haiti after the revolution.
Colin Powell was involved in the kidnapping of Aristide. Condoleezza Rice
called the Jamaican political leader threatening him should
he continue to give Aristide asylum.
Rumsfeld denied the kdinapping saying that Aristide
met with people in Antigua, which was a lie.
Bill Clinton refused sanctuary to Haitian refugees, says Robinson,
because of wanting to win Florida in the next election.

A NY Times reporter described the crowd of a 1/2 million people
at Haiti's bicentennial
supporting Aristide as 'small'.

(Randall Robinson had in the 80's organized protests of
apartheid at the S African embassy. Some 5000 people were
arrested. This helped drive S African sanctions through
Congress despite the veto of Ronald Reagan. Randall Robinson
during the Clinton administration
was hospitalized because of a hunger strike which resulted
in the screening of Haitian refugees, rather than their total
exclusion.
"
Unfortunately, modern Haiti politics has been clouded internationally by the voodoo animal sacrifice such as goat
killings in Central Park associated
with Haitians,

*

The bravery of slave revolutionaries was a cause of the
Louisiana Purchase

*******************


http://www.historywiz.com/toussaint.htm

The Slave Who Defeated Napoleon
by Jennifer Brainard

Napoleon was one of the greatest generals who ever lived. But at the end of the 18th century a self-educated slave with no military training drove Napoleon out of Haiti and led his country to independence. The remarkable leader of this slave revolt was Toussaint Breda (later called Toussaint L'Ouverture, and sometimes the “black Napoleon”). Slave revolts from this time normally ended in executions and failure – this story is the exception.

It began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint Dominique (later Haiti). Though born a slave in Saint Dominique, Toussaint learned of Africa from his father, who had been born a free man there. He learned that he was more than a slave, that he was a man with brains and dignity. He was fortunate in having a liberal master who had him trained as a house servant and allowed him to learn to read and write. Toussaint took full advantage of this, reading every book he could get his hands on. He particularly admired the writings of the French Enlightenment philosophers, who spoke of individual rights and equality.

In 1789 the French Revolution rocked France. The sugar plantations of Saint Dominique, though far away, would never be the same. Spurred on by such Enlightenment thinkers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the early moderate revolutionaries considered seriously the question of slavery. Those moderate revolutionaries were not willing to end slavery but they did apply the "Rights of Man" to all Frenchmen, including free blacks and mulattoes (those of mixed race). Plantation owners in the colonies were furious and fought the measure. Finally the revolutionaries gave in and retracted the measure in 1791.

The news of this betrayal triggered mass slave revolts in Saint Dominique, and Toussaint became the leader of the slave rebellion. He became known as Toussaint L'Ouverture (the one who finds an opening) and brilliantly led his rag-tag slave army. He successfully fought the French (who helped by succumbing to yellow fever in large numbers) as well as invading Spanish and British.

By 1793, the revolution in France was in the hands of the Jacobins, the most radical of the revolutionary groups. This group, led by Maximilian Robespierre, was responsible for the Reign of Terror, a campaign to rid France of “enemies of the revolution.” Though the Jacobins brought indiscriminate death to France, they were also idealists who wanted to take the revolution as far as it could go. So they again considered the issue of “equality” and voted to end slavery in the French colonies, including what was now known as Haiti.

There was jubilation among the blacks in Haiti, and Toussaint agreed to help the French army eject the British and Spanish. Toussaint proved to be a brilliant general, winning 7 battles in 7 days. He became a defacto governor of the colony.

In France the Jacobins lost power. People finally tired of blood flowing in the streets and sent Maximilian Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, to the guillotine, ending the Reign of Terror. A reaction set in. The French people wanted to get back to business. More moderate leaders came and went, eventually replaced by Napoleon, who ruled France with dictatorial powers. He responded to the pleas of the plantation owners by reinstating slavery in the French colonies, once again plunging Haiti into war.

By 1803 Napoleon was ready to get Haiti off his back: he and Toussaint agreed to terms of peace. Napoleon agreed to recognize Haitian independence and Toussaint agreed to retire from public life. A few months later, the French invited Toussaint to come to a negotiating meeting will full safe conduct. When he arrived, the French (at Napoleon's orders) betrayed the safe conduct and arrested him, putting him on a ship headed for France. Napoleon ordered that Toussaint be placed in a prison dungeon in the mountains, and murdered by means of cold, starvation, and neglect. Toussaint died in prison, but others carried on the fight for freedom.

Six months later, Napoleon decided to give up his possessions in the New World. He was busy in Europe and these far-away possessions were more trouble than they were worth. He abandoned Haiti to independence and sold the French territory in North America to the United States (the Louisiana purchase).

Years later, in exile at St. Helena, when asked about his dishonorable treatment of Toussaint, Napoleon merely remarked, "What could the death of one wretched Negro mean to me?"

www.naacp.org