France and Haiti
I like to look at history. Often it gives strong reasons, why things are done in the way they are or in Haiti’s case, it points to why the country is such a basket case. I had vaguely heard that the country had been founded by a slave revolt acouple of centuries ago, but I didn’t know the truth.
Now Ben Macintyre in a powerful article in The Times lays the blame firmly on France. Here’s the history.
In the 18th century, Haiti was France’s imperial jewel, the Pearl of the Caribbean, the largest sugar exporter in the world. Even by colonial standards, the treatment of slaves working the Haitian plantations was truly vile. They died so fast that, at times, France was importing 50,000 slaves a year to keep up the numbers and the profits.
Inspired by the principles of the French Revolution, in 1791 the slaves rebelled under the leadership of the self-educated slave Toussaint L’Ouverture. After a vicious war, Napoleon’s forces were defeated. Haiti declared independence in 1804.
As Haiti struggles with new misfortune, it is worth remembering that noble achievement — this is the only nation to gain independence by a slave-led rebellion, the first black republic, and the second oldest republic in the western hemisphere. Haiti was founded on a demand for liberty from people whose liberty had been stolen: the country itself is a tribute to human resilience and freedom.
France did not forgive the impertinence and loss of earnings: 800 destroyed sugar plantations, 3,000 lost coffee estates. A brutal trade blockade was imposed. Former plantation owners demanded that Haiti be invaded, its population enslaved once more. Instead, the French State opted to bleed the new black republic white.
In 1825, in return for recognising Haitian independence, France demanded indemnity on a staggering scale: 150 million gold francs, five times the country’s annual export revenue. The Royal Ordinance was backed up by 12 French warships with 150 cannon.
Haiti finally finished paying the debts to France in 1947. But by that time it was a bankrupt nation with no resources.
Read the full article.
Kiss My Badge
Footballers have a reputation for kissing the badge after they score. Tonight one of the West Brom footballers did something similar, except it was the sponsor’s logo. And who was the sponsor?
The Disasters Emergency Committee advertising the Haiti Appeal.
I have no problem with that. And I suspect no-one does!
Timekeeping
There have been a lot of complaints recently about referees in football. There always have been, but some, including Alex Ferguson, have been extremely vocal lately.
We had another incident on Saturday at Ipswich. Town were leading 2-1, when four minutes were indicated by the fourth official. I was nervy about Ipswich conceding another goal to Coventry, so I judged the extra minutes on my watch.
Inevitably Coventry scored. The BBC shows it on their match report as being scored at five minutes and two seconds after the ninety minutes.
I left moaning about the referee’s timekeeping, as I felt he should have blown earlier.
But then Pablo Counago scored for Ipswich another seventy seconds later, to restore their lead.
The most extraordinary thing was that the BBC timed the match as ending just one second short of nine minutes after the ninety minutes.
I know two goals were scored, someone was booked and there was a substitution, but that surely doesn’t add up to five minutes. The only thing that you might say, is that the mini-match at the end, didn’t alter who won or the goal difference.
Surely, we should go to an independent timekeeper and a clock that everybody could see start and stop. Then there would be no arguments. Except I suspect from one high-profile manager. To be fair to both managers on Saturday; Roy Keane and Chris Coleman, they took it all with fairly good grace.
But then with Haiti in the news, football is almost irrelevant and a welcome distraction.
Haiti
Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries and seems to lurch from crisis to crisis. And now it’s suffered a disastrous earthquake.
I have no personal experience of the island, but I remember meeting a Japanese diplomat on the Galápagos who served there. He found the island wonderful but sometimes very harrowing and dangerous.
So we should support the people of Haiti with appropriate donations. I suspect that the Disasters Emergency Committee, will be bringing it all together, but they haven’t changed their web site yet.
The Anonymous Widower 