[R-G] THE POWER OF HISTORY by Mumia

[Anthony Fenton]

THE POWER OF HISTORY
by MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
29 August 2007
Wednesday


The Haitian revolution "was the only incidence in world history of an  
enslaved people
breaking their chains and defeating a powerful colonial force using  
military might.
... In many ways, Black August
(at least in the West) begins in Haiti.
  It is the blackest August possible - revolution, and resultant  
liberation from bondage."

-- MUMIA ABU-JAMAL  
"Black August - 2004"

http://www.sfbayview.com/20070829390/News/Haiti/ 
The_power_of_history_Haiti.html

Recently, while speaking with a younger journalist, I made mention of  
several points of Haitian history and the writer looked at me  
blankly. Although he was well-read and had even traveled to Haiti, he  
hadn't the faintest idea of many of the historical facts to which I  
made reference. He simply had never read nor heard of them.

As a student of history, I recommended he read the work on Haiti by  
the late radical scholar-activist C.L.R. James entitled "The Black  
Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution,"  
originally published in 1938. He knew of the book, but he'd never  
read it.

James was a man of remarkable brilliance, and a man who wore many  
hats and mastered many skills. His book, "The Black Jacobins," is  
regarded as a masterwork of history, with perhaps the best telling of  
the story of the Haitian Revolution - at least in English. A  
revolutionary organizer as well as an accomplished scholar, James  
probed deeply into the forces that led to revolution, both in Haiti  
and in France.

One such factor was the relentless brutality of French slavery in  
Haiti, where sugar factories exploited Black labor so totally that  
the life span of a captive worker there was seven years. Seven years.

To replenish this slave labor force, more and more Africans were  
captured from West Africa's coast to work the sugar factories of  
Haiti. Black suffering and death meant white profits and sweets.

James cites an axiom commonly used in France at the time of the  
French Revolution: "The Ivory Coast is a good mother."

What that meant was slavery and brutality was good for business! Were  
it not for the immense wealth extracted from African slavery in  
Haiti, James explains, the French Revolution would never have  
happened. Quoting the French historian Jaures, James teaches us that  
"The slave-trade and slavery were the economic basis of the French  
Revolution."

"Sad irony of history," comments Jaures. "The fortunes created at  
Bordeaux, at Nantes, by the slave trade gave to this bourgeoisie that  
pride which needed liberty and contributed to human emancipation."  
Nantes was the centre of the slave trade. As early as 1666, 108 ships  
went to the coast of Guinea and took on board 37,430 slaves, to a  
total value of more than 37 million, giving the Nantes bourgeoisie 15  
to 20 percent on their money.

Haiti also had other impacts on the world.

Its revolution spelled the end for Napoleon's dream of a Franco- 
American empire. Shortly after the revolution cut off profits to  
France, Napoleon communicated to Thomas Jefferson his willingness to  
sell Louisiana to the U.S. for several million bucks.

Jefferson leaped at the offer, and by the alleged sale - so-called  
because Napoleon sold land that belonged to Indians, not France - the  
United States doubled its size overnight.

History is important; it teaches us why things are the way they are.  
It teaches not only about yesterday, but about today.

© Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Read Mumia's latest book, "We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black  
Panther Party," winner of the 2005 People's Choice Award, available  
from South End Press, http://www.southendpress.org or    (800) 533-8478.

Keep updated by reading Action Alerts at http://www.mumia.org and  
http://www.moveorg.net . To download Mp3s of Mumia's commentaries,  
visit http://www.prisonradio.org or http://www.fsrn.org .