It's hard to listen to Haitian radio or watch Haitian television these days without hearing the uplifting government public service announcement song that goes: "We demand reparations, restitution. France, pay me my money, $21,685,135,571.48."
The television images show people in African clothing dancing and working in fields, the Eiffel Tower, infrastructure such as a dam and buildings and stacks of dollar bills.
Haiti is making serious efforts to get France to pay restitution of nearly $22 billion, according to Haitian Foreign Minister Joseph Antonio.
France colonized the Caribbean nation in the 17th century and imported African slaves to work the sugar cane and coffee plantations. The slaves rebelled, killing or driving out their French rulers, and Haiti declared independence in 1804.
France demanded 150 million francs, worth about $28.3 million today, as compensation for the loss of its colony and the Haitian government paid 90 million of that, enough to plunge the country deeply into debt for decades.
"It was not enough to have taken up arms in the struggle for independence," wrote Haitian novelist Jean Metellus in a historical essay. "It had to be paid for, too, and it's cost was high."
In April, President Jean-Bertrand demanded that France pay restitution, specifying the above sum, which takes into account inflation and interest.
After first refusing to discuss the matter, French President Jacques Chirac finally appointed Regis Debray, a left-wing intellectual, to head a commission to investigate the possibility of restitution.
With an invitation from the French Institute of Haiti, Debray held a conference in Port-au-Prince last month in which he made no promises about restitution but convinced attendants that France is seriously considering the matter.
| Continue Amy Bracken's Reuters AlertNet article (via World New York) "Haiti steps up fight for $22 billion from France"
As Haiti approaches the Jan. 1 bicentennial of its independence from French colonial rule, the plight of child slaves is threatening to overshadow official celebrations. It is also a measure of this ravaged country's progress in the two centuries since the slave rebellion.
"How can we be celebrating the bicentennial when this is still going on?" says Father Pierre St. Vistal, sweeping his hand to take in the barefoot, scarred and ragged children huddled around the doorway of his overwhelmed mission. "How can we as Haitians celebrate anything when our kids are on the streets, dying of hunger? This isn't a time for celebration but for being ashamed."
| Continue Carol J. Williams' "Column One" Los Angeles Times article "A Nation Loses Its Childhood"
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