http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/15/france-haiti-independence-debt
News today that an appeal has been launched in France to repay the terrible debt which Haiti was forced to pay France in 1825 by the last of the Bourbon kings, Charles X, for the loss of France's slave plantations. This is truly one of the great injustices of history and should be righted by France.
This is exactly the text of a motion which I have drafted for the Green Party's autumn conference calling on our party to press the French government and the French Greens to see that this appalling historical wrong is addressed. Haiti really needs the money in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake it suffered this year and many economists have argued that it was the cost of the debt repayments to France which ensured that Haiti remained the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. For the temerity of ridding itself of its French colonial masters and becoming the first black republic, Haiti was forced to repay the debt until 1947.
France's role in the overthrow of the Aristide government, which was taking international legal action to have the debt repaid, is also clear. As Sarkozy unleashes the forces of the state against immigrants and Roma in France itself, which has even led to members of his own political party being outraged, it is time for France to live up to its historic responsibilities and the sins of its colonial past. France must repay Haiti now!
No comments:
Post a Comment