of Haiti, NY Times
Do Not Donate to Racist Red Cross,
SF Bayview
Do Not Donate to Racist Red Cross,
SF Bayview
Review of the Black Jacobins by
CLR James, the classic on Haitian history
The North American African As Haitian
Let us begin with the notion made by Mrs. Amina Baraka that the so-called Negro or North American African is a West Indian or has Caribbean roots since most of the kidnapped Africans were brought to the Caribbean first for the "breaking in," or brain washing/behavior modification to socialize them for eternal servitude throughout the Americas, including North America. Thus when Caribbean Africans refer to North American Africans as "you people," (meaning black American in the most derogatory sense)the North American African can shoot back that we are "you people" too.
But the similarities and parallels are even more glaring than our common Caribbean behavior modification. In the case of Haiti, our condition in the United States is not far different. Just as the Haitians are landless and lack an agricultural base, so are we. It is not stretching the imagination to say the North American African doesn't grow a tomato, a carrot or string bean.
He, like the Haitians, is a basket case, no matter that in terms of GNP he is the 16th richest nation in the world. In truth, he is a consumer who produces nothing, not even his own food, clothes, soap, beauty products or alcohol, of which he is a major consumer.
As a result of his being at the whim of the petrochemical agribusiness industry, he suffers a form of anorexia, starving like the Haitian, for the food he consumes is devoid of nutrients and vitamins, loaded with salt, sugar, and corn starch, leading him directly from the petrochemical (oil based) agribusiness corporations to the pharmaceutical industry/drug stores and medical facilities. In the old Muslim mythology, the so-called Negroes food consumption causes him to fall victim to the doctor, nurse and undertaker. But unlike the Haitian middle class mulattoes, the black middle class fare no better than the poor wretched underclass, for they do not take advantage of the health care they pay for or receive through employment.
Let us begin with the notion made by Mrs. Amina Baraka that the so-called Negro or North American African is a West Indian or has Caribbean roots since most of the kidnapped Africans were brought to the Caribbean first for the "breaking in," or brain washing/behavior modification to socialize them for eternal servitude throughout the Americas, including North America. Thus when Caribbean Africans refer to North American Africans as "you people," (meaning black American in the most derogatory sense)the North American African can shoot back that we are "you people" too.
But the similarities and parallels are even more glaring than our common Caribbean behavior modification. In the case of Haiti, our condition in the United States is not far different. Just as the Haitians are landless and lack an agricultural base, so are we. It is not stretching the imagination to say the North American African doesn't grow a tomato, a carrot or string bean.
He, like the Haitians, is a basket case, no matter that in terms of GNP he is the 16th richest nation in the world. In truth, he is a consumer who produces nothing, not even his own food, clothes, soap, beauty products or alcohol, of which he is a major consumer.
As a result of his being at the whim of the petrochemical agribusiness industry, he suffers a form of anorexia, starving like the Haitian, for the food he consumes is devoid of nutrients and vitamins, loaded with salt, sugar, and corn starch, leading him directly from the petrochemical (oil based) agribusiness corporations to the pharmaceutical industry/drug stores and medical facilities. In the old Muslim mythology, the so-called Negroes food consumption causes him to fall victim to the doctor, nurse and undertaker. But unlike the Haitian middle class mulattoes, the black middle class fare no better than the poor wretched underclass, for they do not take advantage of the health care they pay for or receive through employment.
This is partly due to the hostile relationship all blacks have with the medical profession--they have a well deserved fear of the doctor since the medical profession is known to misdiagnose North American Africans, subjecting them to unnecessary operations or over medicating them with pills.
Alas, there are more drug stores in the hood than grocery stores, and the grocery stores sell the worse quality food to the hood. A friend of mine recently retired as a truck driver for a grocery chain in southern California. He said what he delivered to grocery stores in the hood, he didn't consider food when compared to the gourmet food he delivered to white and upscale neighborhoods. And like the Haitian, the North American African owns few grocery stores coast to coast. I doubt he owns as many as Haitians in Haiti, for most stores in the hood are run by Arabs, Chinese, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, et al.
But driving through the hood and seeing the plethora of drug stores, one wonders are we really this sick? Yes, our addiction to white supremacy, especially the hostile environment all blacks work in (and live in), leads to the most severe mental and physical ailments. The health director of Alameda County theorizes that life expectancy is not determined by income but rather where one lives or space and place. If one lives in or near the hood, ones life expectancy is shortened by several years compared with those who live up in the hills as opposed to the flatland here in the Bay Area.
The hostile environment makes all blacks susceptible to stress related diseases, especially high blood pressure, depression, schizophrenia and paranoia. As per the later psychosis, someone is, in fact, after the North American African. He, and more often now, she, is not wanted in high positions challenging the glass ceiling of corporate America. He is not wanted on the streets, in the clubs, anywhere, except incarcerated where he is worth a minium of $50,000 per man per year. There are 2.4 million imprisoned with the majority black and other minority. One of three black men is connected to the criminal justice system, either in jail or prison, on parole or probation. In Washington DC, it is one of two black men.
Like the Haitian, the North American African is educationally challenged, to put it mildly. How can his educational system be any better than the Haitians when 50% to 70% of students in the hood either drop out or are pushed out--pushed out so they will not lower standards and disqualify schools of funding. And even if he received education on the level of whites, it would be mediocre compared with students in China and India who far excel whites, thus the reason for outsourcing of jobs. Why would the capitalist swines pay an American MBA, black or white, $140,000 per year when it can outsource to India and obtain MBAs for $14,000 per year who speak better English than whites or blacks?
With respect to agribusiness, the North American African, as I've noted above, fares no better than the Haitian who was hoodwinked into leaving the land and seeking wage slavery in the capital city, thus depriving his nation of food sustenance, making Haiti the worse basket case in the world. The North Amerian African who fled Up South, is similarly disposed. In California he lives in the richest agricultural valley in the world, yet is not involved in agribusiness to any meaningful degree. How many black students in California colleges and universities are majoring in agribusiness?
Even in tourism, seek out the North American African in the tourist cities of San Francisco and Seattle. You will generally only see him as street musician and/or robot at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and Pike's Market in Seattle. And how does he fare on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, pre and post Katrina?
Just as in Haiti, decades of underdevelopment has led to the criminal society in the ghettos of North America. In America, the prisons are largely de facto drug recovery and mental health facilities--without recovery programs and mental health treatment.
But driving through the hood and seeing the plethora of drug stores, one wonders are we really this sick? Yes, our addiction to white supremacy, especially the hostile environment all blacks work in (and live in), leads to the most severe mental and physical ailments. The health director of Alameda County theorizes that life expectancy is not determined by income but rather where one lives or space and place. If one lives in or near the hood, ones life expectancy is shortened by several years compared with those who live up in the hills as opposed to the flatland here in the Bay Area.
The hostile environment makes all blacks susceptible to stress related diseases, especially high blood pressure, depression, schizophrenia and paranoia. As per the later psychosis, someone is, in fact, after the North American African. He, and more often now, she, is not wanted in high positions challenging the glass ceiling of corporate America. He is not wanted on the streets, in the clubs, anywhere, except incarcerated where he is worth a minium of $50,000 per man per year. There are 2.4 million imprisoned with the majority black and other minority. One of three black men is connected to the criminal justice system, either in jail or prison, on parole or probation. In Washington DC, it is one of two black men.
Like the Haitian, the North American African is educationally challenged, to put it mildly. How can his educational system be any better than the Haitians when 50% to 70% of students in the hood either drop out or are pushed out--pushed out so they will not lower standards and disqualify schools of funding. And even if he received education on the level of whites, it would be mediocre compared with students in China and India who far excel whites, thus the reason for outsourcing of jobs. Why would the capitalist swines pay an American MBA, black or white, $140,000 per year when it can outsource to India and obtain MBAs for $14,000 per year who speak better English than whites or blacks?
With respect to agribusiness, the North American African, as I've noted above, fares no better than the Haitian who was hoodwinked into leaving the land and seeking wage slavery in the capital city, thus depriving his nation of food sustenance, making Haiti the worse basket case in the world. The North Amerian African who fled Up South, is similarly disposed. In California he lives in the richest agricultural valley in the world, yet is not involved in agribusiness to any meaningful degree. How many black students in California colleges and universities are majoring in agribusiness?
Even in tourism, seek out the North American African in the tourist cities of San Francisco and Seattle. You will generally only see him as street musician and/or robot at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and Pike's Market in Seattle. And how does he fare on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, pre and post Katrina?
Just as in Haiti, decades of underdevelopment has led to the criminal society in the ghettos of North America. In America, the prisons are largely de facto drug recovery and mental health facilities--without recovery programs and mental health treatment.
Between 80% and 90% of all inmates were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs at the time of arrest. With 30% to 40% of inmates severely mentally ill, the jails and prisons are de facto mental wards of the dual diagnosed, those suffering drug addition and mental illness, to say nothing of the illiteracy level at seventh grade. We know those in the seventh grade read at the thrid grade level.
Just as there is no political structure in Haiti, none of substance exists in North America, despite the so called black president who doesn't mention the word black, despite the plethora of black elected politicians. Have they gotten any of trillions and billions of stimulas money for the hood?
Just as there is no political structure in Haiti, none of substance exists in North America, despite the so called black president who doesn't mention the word black, despite the plethora of black elected politicians. Have they gotten any of trillions and billions of stimulas money for the hood?
Have they called for a general amnesty for the 2.4 million imprisoned, mostly for petty, drug related crimes and for making deals without proper legal representation? Oakland has had three black mayors with no change in the political/economic order. Other cities suffer the same, Newark, New Jersey another example. Neo-colonialism is the order of the day from here to Haiti. It's been a week since the earthquake and we have yet to hear from the neo-colonial rulers in that pitiful island nation. It is now under de facto US military authority.
As in Haiti, the political structure is largely ruled by mulattoes, from Obama down. Poor Jesse Jackson couldn't be president if he ran a thousand times. Just as Haiti is a caste and class society, North American Africans suffer the same. The brown bag test still exists in politics, education, religion and the arts, especially Hollywood. If you ain't looking like Halle Berry, don't even think about Hollywood. Even the Nation of Islam is sugar coated with mulattoes in high places. And don't tell me I'm perpetuating the Willie Lynch Syndrome. No, Willie Lynch is perpetuating the Willie Lynch Syndrome.
Politics in Haiti is corrupt to the point of no return, as in the elected president exiled by US authorities who view Haiti as their turf, just as the cities are largely the turf of the Democratic party, with the resultant corruption of black officials on the west coast, dirty south and east coast. Take a trip from coast to coast and listen to the stories of corrupt black officials in politics, religion and education, from city halls, churches, mosques, secondary schools, colleges and universities. Corrupt officials under indictment. Find me an honest black man or woman who won't take a bribe! Find me one in Haiti and/or America.
Perhaps the earthquake shall bring about a new day in Haiti, though we doubt it. It will probably be exploited by capitalist swine developers. Their plans are already in motion. But just as Haiti needs a Marshall plan, so do North American Africans. With all the trillions given out to those who caused the global financial meltdown(they were rewarded for robbery), the filthy capitalist swine, those blood suckers of the poor, i.e., bankers, wall street robber barons, insurance companies, the poor in the hood did not receive an honorable mention. I have never encountered so many broke black people on the streets of Oakland. Think about it, North American Africans have been scammed out of their national wealth (homes) with the sub-prime loan schemes, including those blacks who qualified for prime loans.
The final comparison between Haiti and North American Africans is the fact that Haiti defeated the white slave masters, including the master military strategist of Europe, Napoleon. Haiti has never been forgiven for whipping the white man's ass. How ironic the white supremacist Rev. Pat Robertson said the Haitians are suffering from making a pact with the devil to defeat the slave masters and become the first free black republic in the Americas, aside from Palmares in Brazil that was independent for a century.
Politics in Haiti is corrupt to the point of no return, as in the elected president exiled by US authorities who view Haiti as their turf, just as the cities are largely the turf of the Democratic party, with the resultant corruption of black officials on the west coast, dirty south and east coast. Take a trip from coast to coast and listen to the stories of corrupt black officials in politics, religion and education, from city halls, churches, mosques, secondary schools, colleges and universities. Corrupt officials under indictment. Find me an honest black man or woman who won't take a bribe! Find me one in Haiti and/or America.
Perhaps the earthquake shall bring about a new day in Haiti, though we doubt it. It will probably be exploited by capitalist swine developers. Their plans are already in motion. But just as Haiti needs a Marshall plan, so do North American Africans. With all the trillions given out to those who caused the global financial meltdown(they were rewarded for robbery), the filthy capitalist swine, those blood suckers of the poor, i.e., bankers, wall street robber barons, insurance companies, the poor in the hood did not receive an honorable mention. I have never encountered so many broke black people on the streets of Oakland. Think about it, North American Africans have been scammed out of their national wealth (homes) with the sub-prime loan schemes, including those blacks who qualified for prime loans.
The final comparison between Haiti and North American Africans is the fact that Haiti defeated the white slave masters, including the master military strategist of Europe, Napoleon. Haiti has never been forgiven for whipping the white man's ass. How ironic the white supremacist Rev. Pat Robertson said the Haitians are suffering from making a pact with the devil to defeat the slave masters and become the first free black republic in the Americas, aside from Palmares in Brazil that was independent for a century.
Since the 200,000 North American African troops were decisive in the Civil War, maybe they made a pact with the devil as well. For a surety, the South has never gotten over the fact they lost the Civil War, and they are determined to put the North American African back in his place. They are making a good effort to reinstate slavery by incarcerating them and subjecting them to involuntary servitude under the US constitution, to say nothing of the wage slavery that forces blacks in the South to work two and three minimum wage jobs to survive. God save Haiti, and God save North American Africans!
--Marvin X
1/20/10
http://www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/
Haiti, Oh, Haiti
--Marvin X
1/20/10
http://www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/
Haiti, Oh, Haiti
Haiti, Oh, Haiti
valiant
rich African history
mighty
in battle
in religion supreme
Haiti, Oh Haiti
defeated Spanish, French, English
your only sin
never forgiven
by the devils lingering on yur island in the sun
there are those who say evil shall prevail
but evil shall eat crow
this the devils shall know
Haiti, Oh Haiti
arise
as you did the Spanish, French, English
Come forth Toussaint, Dessalines, Bokman
Come in the name of Vudun
Check the devils at the crossroads
Haiti, Oh Haiti
Where is your president who loved the poor
flown into exile by those devils across the shore
your grave yards are not junk yards
but fields of life, hope, love
honor the dead, remember your history
you devoured the Spanish, French, English
Let the earth consume the evil ones
yes, the innocent must suffer
til the valiant children take control
in the name of ancestors
the living and yet unborn.
--Marvin X
1995, revised 2010
from Love and War, poems,
by Marvin X, Black Bird Press,
1995
Study Questions for Haiti, Oh, Haiti
1. What is meant by valiant, rich African history in general and Haiti in particular?
2. What battle is the poet speaking about?
3. Why is Haiti supreme in religion? What is the religion or religions of Haiti?
4.Why did Haiti defeat the Spanish, French, English? Haiti aided the US in what battle? She aidedSimon Bolivar in what battle? Who is Simon Bolivar?
5. Why is defeating the Spanish, French, English their only sin? What French general did Haiti defeat?
6. Who are Toussaint, Dessalines and Bokman?
7. What is Vudun or Vodoo? Why is it called a democratic society? This may have been answered in question number 3.
8. What is the crossroads? Who is the god of the crossroads? Who are the other chief gods in
the Haitian religion?
9. What president loved the poor?
10. Who flew him into exile? Where is he exiled today?
11. Why are grave yards called junk yards?
12. Why must the innocent suffer and how long?
13. What is the role of children?
14. What is ancestor worship?
Reflections
by
Comrade Fidel
NOTHING CAN BE IMPROVISED IN HAITI
Five days ago I read a press report stating that Ban Ki-moon would appoint Bill Clinton as his special envoy for Haiti. According to the report, Clinton accompanied the Secretary General on a two-day official visit to Haiti on March last in order to support the development program that had been designed by the government o fPort of Prince, aimed at awakening the lethargic Haitian economy.The report stated that the ex president had maintained a remarkable philanthropic commitment with the Caribbean nation through the Clinton Global Initiative. It likewise stated that the ex president had said he was honored to accept the Secretary General’s invitation to become the special envoyfor Haiti.Clinton reportedly stated that the people and the government of Haiti had the capacity to recover from the serious damages caused by the four tropical storms that devastated that country last year. The day after, the same news agency reported that Mrs. Clinton, the Secretary of State, had said with joy that Bill was an outstanding envoy. The UN Secretary General was said to confirm Clinton’sappointment as his new special envoy for Haiti. He said they both had been together in that country and that Clinton’s presence had helped to raise awareness within the international community on the problems facing that Caribbean nation. He added that the UN was afraid that, after a period of several yearsof a relative calm, propped up by the MINUSTAH, political instability could set in the country again.The new press report repeats again the story of the four hurricanes and storms that caused 900 deadly casualties, left 800 000 victims,and destroyed the scarce civil infrastructure that existed in that country.
The history of Haiti and its tragedy is far more complex. Haiti was the second country of this hemisphere after the UnitedStates –which proclaimed its sovereignty in 1776- that conquered its independence in 1804. In the case of the US, the white descendants from the settlers who founded the Thirteen British Colonies, who were fervent, austere and cultured religious believers and owned land and slaves, shook off the British colonial yoke and enjoyed their national independence. But this was not the case for the autochthonous population, the African slaves or their descendants, who were denied every right, regardless of the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Philadelphia. In Haiti, where more than 400 000 slaves worked for 30 000 white owners, the men and women submitted to that heinous system, for the first time in the history of humankind, were able to abolish slavery,maintain an independent State and defend it by struggling against soldiers who had brought the European monarchies to their knees.
That period coincided with the boom of capitalism and the emergence of powerful colonial empires that managed to dominate the lands and the seas of the planet for centuries.Haitians are not to blame for their current status of poverty; they were rather the victims of a system that was imposed on the wholeworld.
They did not invent colonialism, capitalism, imperialism,unequal exchange, neo-liberalism or any of the forms of exploitationand plundering that have prevailed in this planet during the last 200 years. Haiti has an area of 27 750 square kilometers and, according to some reliable estimates, in the year 2009 the population reached the figureof 9 million inhabitants. The number of inhabitants per square kilometer of arable land has increased to 885, one of the highest inthe world, without the existence of any industrial development or resources that would allow it to acquire a minimum amount of material goods indispensable for life.Fifty three per cent of the population lives in the countryside;firewood and charcoal are the only household fuels available to mostHaitian families, which hinders reforestation.
The absence of forests,where the soil gets spongy with the leaves, twigs and roots and helps to retain water, facilitates the human and economic damages that heavy rains cause to neighborhoods, roads and crops. Hurricanes, as is known, cause significant additional damage which will be ever greater if the climate keeps on changing so quickly. This is a secret to no one.
Our cooperation with the Haitian people began ten years ago, precisely when hurricanes George and Mitch battered the Caribbean and some Central American countries. René Preval was then the President of Haiti and Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the Head of Government. The first contingent of 100 Cuban doctors was sent on December 4, 1998. The figure of Cuban health collaborators in Haiti was later on increased to more than 600.It was on that occasion when the Latin American School of Medicine(ELAM), where more than 12 000 youths are currently studying, was created.
Ever since then, the Haitian youths have been granted hundreds of scholarships by the School of Medicine of Santiago deCuba, one of the most experienced in the country.The number of primary schools in Haiti had increased and progress was being made. Even the most humble families were eager to send their children to school, for that was the only hope that they could overcome poverty and work inside or outside their country. The Cuban medicine training program was very much welcomed. The youths who wereselected to study in Cuba had a good basic training, an inheritance perhaps of the achievements attained by France in that field. Theyshould spend one year taking a pre-medical course, which also includedthe Spanish language. That has become a good reserve of quality physicians.
Five hundred and thirty three Haitian youths have graduated from our medical schools as specialists in General Comprehensive Medicine; 52of them are currently in Cuba, studying a second specialty that is required right now. Another group of 527 are filling the vacancies that were granted to the Republic of Haiti. Four hundred and thirteen Cuban health professionals are currently offering their services, free of charge, to the people of that sisternation.
The Cuban doctors are present in all 10 departments of that country and in 127 of the 137 communities. More than 400 Haitian doctors who have been trained in Cuba, as well as the students fromthe last year of the career who are doing their practice in Haiti are also offering their services –side by side with our doctors- which make up a big total of 800 Haitian youths devoted to offer medical assistance in their homeland. That force will grow ever bigger withthe new Haitian graduates.It was a tough challenge; the Cuban doctors had to cope with difficult problems. Te infant mortality was above 80 per every one thousand live births; life expectancy was below 60 years of age; the prevalence of AIDS among adults in the year 2007 reached the figure of 120,000 citizens. Tens of thousands of children and adults of different ages still die every year from communicable diseases such as tuberculosis,malaria, diarrhea, dengue and malnutrition, just to mention some indicators.
Even the HIV is already a disease doctors can combat, thus guaranteeing the life of patients. But this can not be achieved in asingle year; it is indispensable to have a health culture, which the Haitian people are acquiring with greater interest. The progress observed shows that it is possible to improve health indicators in asignificant way.Thirty seven thousand one hundred and nine patients have undergone eye surgery in three ophthalmologic centers that were created in Haiti.
Those complex cases that can not be operated on there are sent to Cuba, where they are assisted at absolutely no cost.Thanks to the Venezuelan economic cooperation, 10 ComprehensiveDiagnosis Centers are being built, which are equipped with state-of-the-art technology that has already been acquired.Far more important than the resources that could be mobilized by the international community, are the human beings that make use of those resources.
Our modest support to the people of Haiti has been possible despite ofthe fact that the hurricanes mentioned by Clinton battered us as well.Solidarity is a good evidence of what the world has lacked.We could likewise speak of Cuba’s contribution to the literacy programs and other projects, despite our limited economic resources.But I do not want to expand on this; nor is there any desire to do itjust to speak about our contribution. I focused on health because itis an unavoidable topic. We are not afraid that others do what we are doing. The Haitian youths who are being trained in Cuba are becoming the priests of health required more and more by that sister nation.What matters the most is the creation of new forms of cooperation, so much in need by this selfish world.
The UN agencies can attest to thefact that Cuba is contributing what they describe as Health Comprehensive Programs.Nothing can be improvised in Haiti, and nothing will result from the philanthropic spirit of any institution.The project of the Latin American School of Medicine was later joinedby the new training program in Cuba for doctors coming from Venezuela,Bolivia, the Caribbean and other countries of the Third World, as long as their respective health programs required it urgently. Today, thereare more than 24 000 youths from the Third World studying Medicine inour homeland. By helping others we have also developed ourselves inthat field and we have become an important force. That, and not the brain drain, is what we practice! Could the rich and super-developedG-7 countries say the same? Others will follow our example! No one should ever doubt that!
Fidel Castro Ruz
May 24, 2009
A Short History of Haiti
By TRACY KIDDER
NY Times
Published: January 13, 2010
Published: January 13, 2010
THOSE who know a little of Haiti’s history might have watched the news last night and thought, as I did for a moment: “An earthquake? What next? Poor Haiti is cursed.”
Related
Op-Ed Contributor: Haiti’s Angry God (January 14, 2010)
But while earthquakes are acts of nature, extreme vulnerability to earthquakes is manmade. And the history of Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters — to floods and famine and disease as well as to this terrible earthquake — is long and complex, but the essence of it seems clear enough.
Haiti is a country created by former slaves, kidnapped West Africans, who, in 1804, when slavery still flourished in the United States and the Caribbean, threw off their cruel French masters and created their own republic. Haitians have been punished ever since for claiming their freedom: by the French who, in the 1820s, demanded and received payment from the Haitians for the slave colony, impoverishing the country for years to come; by an often brutal American occupation from 1915 to 1934; by indigenous misrule that the American government aided and abetted. (In more recent years American administrations fell into a pattern of promoting and then undermining Haitian constitutional democracy.)
Hence the current state of affairs: at least 10,000 private organizations perform supposedly humanitarian missions in Haiti, yet it remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Some of the money that private aid organizations rely on comes from the United States government, which has insisted that a great deal of the aid return to American pockets — a larger percentage than that of any other industrialized country.
But that is only part of the problem. In the arena of international aid, a great many efforts, past and present, appear to have been doomed from the start. There are the many projects that seem designed to serve not impoverished Haitians but the interests of the people administering the projects. Most important, a lot of organizations seem to be unable — and some appear to be unwilling — to create partnerships with each other or, and this is crucial, with the public sector of the society they’re supposed to serve.
The usual excuse, that a government like Haiti’s is weak and suffers from corruption, doesn’t hold — all the more reason, indeed, to work with the government. The ultimate goal of all aid to Haiti ought to be the strengthening of Haitian institutions, infrastructure and expertise.
This week, the list of things that Haiti needs, things like jobs and food and reforestation, has suddenly grown a great deal longer. The earthquake struck mainly the capital and its environs, the most densely populated part of the country, where organizations like the Red Cross and the United Nations have their headquarters. A lot of the places that could have been used for disaster relief — including the central hospital, such as it was — are now themselves disaster areas.
But there are effective aid organizations working in Haiti. At least one has not been crippled by the earthquake. Partners in Health, or in Haitian Creole Zanmi Lasante, has been the largest health care provider in rural Haiti. (I serve on this organization’s development committee.) It operates, in partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health, some 10 hospitals and clinics, all far from the capital and all still intact. As a result of this calamity, Partners in Health probably just became the largest health care provider still standing in all Haiti.
Fortunately, it also offers a solid model for independence — a model where only a handful of Americans are involved in day-to-day operations, and Haitians run the show. Efforts like this could provide one way for Haiti, as it rebuilds, to renew the promise of its revolution.
Tracy Kidder is the author of “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” about Haiti, and “Strength in What Remains.”
Reconsider Donating to Racist Red Cross
PLEASE reconsider donating to the Red Cross and recall how badly they used their funds after Katina. Millions were wasted, stolen and embezzled. That's public record. A fund that will use every penny of your donation for the people who need it most is the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. It was founded several years ago by Oakland attorney Walter Riley, Boots' dad, with Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte and works with the Haiti Action Committee headed by Pierre Labossiere. These are people you can trust! Donating is easy. Go to http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html or http://haitisolidarity.net/. That info and how to donate by mail and more is in the Bay View story, How to show your solidarity with heroic Haiti: resources, where to send donations. More info on Haiti and other critical topics is posted daily at http://www.sfbayview.com/.
Mary Ratcliff
SF Bay View
Review of the Black Jacobins, A Study of the Haitian Revolution
The Black Jacobins (1938), written by the Afro-Trinidadian writer C.L.R. James (4 January 1901–19 May 1989), is a historical interpretation of the 1791-1804 Haitian revolution. Secker and Warburg first published this history in England in 1938. Later a second edition of the work was published in 1963. An appendix titled “From Toussaint L’Ouverature to Fidel Castro” was included in the 1963 publication.[1]
James's book chronicles the story behind the San Domingo revolution and also the actions of the former slave Toussaint L'Ouverture to lead the revolution. First James examines the events leading up to the Revolution and how these events contributed to the social necessity for revolution. James establishes the reasons for the revolution before discussing the revolution itself. This allows him to provide context as well as a place to introduce the important factions and players in the revolution. After establishing the causes of the revolution James includes a section in which he looks at the revolution itself in depth. Throughout the entire book James puts a large emphasis on Toussaint L'Ouverture’s role in the revolution. He also discusses how he believes it was Toussaint’s unique background and skills that made him a successful leader for the rebel slaves. James views the event of the revolution from varying perspectives, notably exploring the Marxist point of view. The work also explores the economic relations between the Caribbean economy and the European economy during the era before the Haitian revolution.
This work is unique in many ways. James uses his idea of how historiography should be conducted as a justification for including his own ideas in his history. His reference to the presence of bias in the work, as well as ability to apply Marxist ideas to a history help James make this book unique. As a result, the text remains a valuable resource on the history of the Haitian as well as in the study of historiography.
James’s interpretation of historiography
In the 1980 foreword, James claims he was “specially prepared to write The Black Jacobins”, having grown up in Trinidad and having researched the Russian revolution in depth while studying Marxism in England.[2] Instead of focusing on the history of the Haitian revolution, in the foreword, written forty-two years after the first publication, James diverges to focus on the history of The Black Jacobins itself. In this section he includes information about his own background, his reasons for chronicling this history, and major people who influenced the work. While James stated that he hoped others would elaborate on his research, he felt that no one could dispute the accuracy of his history; he “was never worried about what they would find, confident that [his] foundation would remain imperishable”[3].
The Black Jacobins is the history of the Haitian revolution, “the only successful slave revolt in history”[4]. In the foreword, James discusses his motives for chronicling the revolution, while also stating why this work is unique when he says “I would write a book in which Africans or people of African decent instead of constantly being the object of other peoples’ exploitation and ferocity would themselves be taking action on a grand scale and shaping other people to their own needs”[5]. James motivation for this work is to give the people who were actually part of the revolution a voice. To do so, however, he does not stick to the traditional model of historical writing.
The preface provides James with a medium from which he can introduce the reader to both the area he will be writing about and his view on the nature of historiography. James believes that good historians must interpret historical situations and apply their own ideas and insights to them. Although this strays from a more traditional view of historical writing it is not unprecedented as often historiographers are presented with information together from unparallel sources and must piece it together. It is this unique view of historiography that allows James to include a bias in his work as he states, “the traditionally famous historians have been more artists than scientists”[6]. The preface again helps James as it allows him to introduce the bias present in his work due to the emotions involved in the recounting of the revolution.
[edit] Literary responses to the work
Published at the onset of WWII the work was overlooked by many at first, however over the years it has established a place in academia for its historical significance as well as its contribution to historiography. Literary critics have consistently appreciated the value of this work since the publication of the first edition in 1938. In a review for The Hispanic American Historical Review (1940) Ludwell Lee Montague asserts that James “finds his way with skill through kaleidoscopic sequences of events in both Haiti and France, achieving clarity where complexities of class, color, and section have reduced others to vague confusion”[7] . This review questions the validity of some of James’s conclusions but nevertheless compliments James on the effort. While this review does not predict the impact The Black Jacobins will have on the academic community, it does appreciate the work as an “illuminating study”[8] that will spark conversation at the very least. Another reviewer, W.G. Seabrook, gives The Black Jacobins an even warmer welcome in 1938 heralding James’s work as “a public service for which he merits the attention due a scholar who blazes the way in an all but neglected field”[9] . Seabrook even proceeds to predict the importance of the work to Caribbean history in general and the probable extensive circulation of the book. These contemporary reviews reinforce the works importance in its field as they comment on the necessity for The Black Jacobins.
More than 25 years after the first publication of the work, The Black Jacobins was being used by authors to strengthen their arguments about Caribbean culture. For example, in his 1971 article “African Religious Survivals as Factors in American Slave Revolts” William C. Suttles uses James’s discussion of the voodoo in The Black Jacobins to describe how religion served as a means of conspiracy[10]. James also builds from his own work in his 1963, Appendix: From Toussaint L’Ouverature to Fidel Castro.[1] In this appendix James looks at patterns between more recent developments in the Caribbean and the Haitian revolution. Literary critic Santiago Valles summarizes what James attempts to do in the appendix: “In an appendix to the second edition, James noted intellectual and social movements in Cuba, Haiti and Trinidad during the 1920s and 1930s. First in Cuba, Haiti (1927), then in Brazil, Surinam and Trinidad (1931), other small groups faced the challenge of coming to terms with events which disrupted their understanding and connectedness to the wider world by revealing the relations of force”[11] . Drawing from his own previous work allows James to show similarities between the Haitian revolution and recent movements in the Caribbean. This both strengthens his opinions in The Black Jacobins and allows him to make new points.
Today the book is still considered to be the one of the most authoritative texts on the Haitian revolution. Historians still continue to comment on the significance of the work and how it has paved the way for more detailed study of social and political movements in the Caribbean region. In a look at the role slaves themselves have played in Caribbean and American rebellions Adéléke Adéè̳kó̳ points specifically to The Black Jacobins influence on the perception of slaves in The Slaves Rebellion.[12] In this modern work, published in 2005, Adéè̳kó̳ says, “The Black Jacobins stirs this high level of inspiration for its symbolic reconfiguration of the slaves’ will to freedom”[13] . Contemporary and modern reviews appreciate both the value of James’s history and the value of James’s ideas regarding the revolution.
[edit] Bias (influence of Marxism)
In The Preface to the First Edition, James emphasizes that there may be bias in his work due to the nature of the Haitian revolution. In chronicling the story of the Africans taking action on a grand scale he attempts do to something that others before him have not. As there is no precedent to follow James establishes his own ideas in his history. As James’s historiography is somewhat unique he believes it is his duty to interpret history and insert his own ideas to it. James does not directly use the word bias however he mentions the impossibility of accurately portraying the emotions of the revolution as he says in the preface:
“The writer has sought not only to analyse, but to demonstrate in their movement, the economic forces of the age; their moulding of society and politics, of men in the mass and individual men; the powerful reaction of these on their environment at one of those rare moments when society is at boiling point and therefore fluid. The analysis is the science and the demonstration the art which is history. The violent conflicts of our age enable our practiced vision to see into the very bones of previous revolutions more easily then heretofore. Yet for that very reason it is impossible to recollect historical emotions in that tranquility which a great English writer, too narrowly, associated with poetry alone”[14] .
Here James directly compares a historian’s job to that of an artist, and also discusses the impossibility of being completely unbiased in any historical work. This introduces James unique perspective on chronicling history. James also accepts bias in his form of historiography because each historian has influences and particular areas of study. James remarks that his background his appreciation and study of Marxism and the Russian revolution apparent in the foreword. Throughout the work James’s Marxist approach can be seen behind the history and that has led some critics to question the historical validity of The Black Jacobins.
The significance of bias in The Black Jacobins has been discussed since the book has been published. Montague references it in his 1940 review of the work, “The author’s sympathies and frame of reference are evident, but he tells his story with more restraint than can generally be found in works on this subject by others less plainly labeled”[15]. Undoubtedly the bias is present, however Montague believes it is suppressed well. Others point to the bias as far more visible, “James work is radical, conceived with a Marxist framework, and favors the search for determinative factors within social dialects”[13]. Adéè̳kó says that while bias detracts a little from the historical accuracy of the work, it allows James to raise many important ideas about the revolution. He goes on to say that instead of detracting from the meaning of the work this bias increases its importance through adding a level complexity. While the bias is undeniable, both recent and contemporary reviewers agree that James ideas and opinion of historiography make the work extremely valuable in the study of Caribbean history.
[edit] Class struggles: Central to the work
Through the Marxist bias James is able to convey ideas about how social class affected the revolution. This sets The Black Jacobins apart from other contemporary works is James’s focus on social class as opposed to the role skin color played in the revolution. Víctor Figueroa lists James’s contemporaries who particularly focus on the issue of race over class in his article “The Kingdom of Black Jacobins: C. L. R. James and Alejo Carpentier on the Haitian Revolution” to be Luis Palés Matos, Alejo Carpentier, and Edouard Glissant.[16]
James focuses on the classes of individuals and how this shaped the revolution and subsequent history. Racism and the color of one’s skin still played a very large role in people’s judgments at the time when this work was published. In an attempt to draw away from this, James places a heavy emphasis on the different social classes each played their own part in the Haitian revolution. James is very thorough in his analysis of class, including not only the major classes in the Caribbean but also outsiders in France who played a role the revolution, such as the French bourgeoisie and British bourgeois.[17] Víctor Figueroa, in The Kingdom of Black Jacobins: C.L.R. James and Alejo Carpentier on the Haitian Revolution, says that James Marxist influence may be the cause for this as he asserts, “James’s emphasis on Haiti and Africa reflects his resolve, […], to not allow race to be subsumed in the category of class, but rather to open a space within Marxist revolutionary agenda for the particular plights of the Black peoples of both continents”[16] . Figueroa also goes on to say that although race is not a primary focus for this book, it goes hand in hand with class in terms of people’s perception at the time period. Another reason for James’s decision to write about class and it’s influence is because by focusing on this he directly supports ideas raised in some of his other works.[18] In his writings James argues for socialists to support the emerging black nationalist movements, as this could lead to more socialist countries as well as providing these countries with a model to follow. The importance of class can be directly linked to his Marxist background. James can justify this focus on class by applying his own version of historiography to the Haitian revolution. James’s form of historiography shows that while James embraces a Marxist approach in the examination of social class in the revolution he can also stray from this to analyze the individual characters of the revolution, such as Toussaint L’ouverature. James’s focus on, and treatment of, Toussaint is interesting because by focusing on the individual James is drifting away from communist ideals. This exemplifies the importance of James’s form of historiography as it does not confine him but allows him to embrace ambiguous ideas.
[edit] Importance of Toussaint L’Ouverature
Toussaint L’Ouverature is considered by many to be the most important figure in the Haitian revolution. Although he spent the majority of his life as a slave, Toussaint had more opportunities presented to him than most. James comments on this by saying “both in body and mind he was far beyond the average slave”[19] . Toussaint joined the revolution after its initiation and was immediately looked up to as a leader. He quickly established himself, organizing the Haitian people into the force that was able to break the French hold upon the colony of San Domingo. He then went on to be more than a military leader after the revolution was successful. Because of Toussaint large role in the revolution, James must include a large section about Toussaint, or his work would be an incomplete history. Throughout the text James’s attitude toward Toussaint is unclear as James asserts that while Toussaint is a great man, he may also be the product of a social necessity. While James establishes his respect for the brilliant military leader Toussaint L’Ouverature in the preface, he also makes it clear that he believes it was the slave’s passion for freedom that shaped Toussaint into the figure remembered today. James devotes two whole chapters, ‘The Rise of Toussaint’ & ‘Toussaint Seizes Power’ to Toussaint L’Ouverature, however he appears to have an ambiguous attitude towards him. James' attitude can be seen clearly as he states, “men make history, and Toussaint made the history that he made because of the man he was”[19] as well as “Toussaint did not make the revolution. It was the revolution that made Toussaint […] Great men make history, but only such history as it is possible for them to make. Their freedom of achievement is limited by the necessities of their environment”[20]. This apparent contradiction is still a point of controversy among scholars, as James was vague in his opinion of Toussaint. Victor Figueroa attempts to shed light on this attitude however simply refers to James opinion as “Paradoxical” as he both “criticizes (and also implicitly celebrates)”[16] Toussaint.
[edit] Notes
^ a b James Appendix
^ James vi
^ James vi
^ James ix
^ James v
^ James ix
^ Montague 130
^ Montague 130
^ Seabrook 127
^ William C. Suttles
^ Santiago-Valles 73
^ Adéléke Adéè̳kó
^ a b Adéléke Adéè̳kó̳ 89
^ James xi
^ Monatgue 126
^ a b c Victor Figueroa
^ James 56
^ Santiago-Valles
^ a b James 91
^ James x
[edit] References
James, C.L.R. The Black Jacobins. 3rd ed. London: Allison and Busby Limited, 1980
Adeeko, Adeleke. The Slave's Rebellion: Literature, History, Orature. New York: Indiana UP, 2005.
Figueroa, Víctor. "The Kingdom of Black Jacobins: C. L. R. James and Alejo Carpentier on the Haitian Revolution. " Afro - Hispanic Review 25.2 (2006): 55-71,227. Research Library. ProQuest. UC e-links, Berkeley, CA. 13 Nov. 2008 http://www.proquest.com/.
Montague, Ludwell L. "The Black Jacobins. Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Review." The Hispanic American Historical Review Vol. 20. (1940): pp. 129-130
Santiago-Valles, W. F. "C. L. R. James: Asking Questions of the Past." Race & Class. 45. 1 (2003): 61-78. Saga Journals Online. UC e-links, Berkeley, CA. 13 Nov. 2008 http://rac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/45/1/6
Seabrook, S.G. "The Black Jacobins Review." The Journal of Negro History Vol. 24. (1939): pp 125–27.
William, Suttles C. "African Religious Survivals as Factors in American Slave Revolts." The Journal of Negro History Vol. 56 (1971): pp. 97-104.
[edit] External links
Extract from The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins
Conference in London in February 2008 to mark 'Seventy years of The Black Jacobins' organised by the London Socialist Historians Group
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Jacobins"
Categories: History books History of the Caribbean Books by C. L. R. James
In the 1980 foreword, James claims he was “specially prepared to write The Black Jacobins”, having grown up in Trinidad and having researched the Russian revolution in depth while studying Marxism in England.[2] Instead of focusing on the history of the Haitian revolution, in the foreword, written forty-two years after the first publication, James diverges to focus on the history of The Black Jacobins itself. In this section he includes information about his own background, his reasons for chronicling this history, and major people who influenced the work. While James stated that he hoped others would elaborate on his research, he felt that no one could dispute the accuracy of his history; he “was never worried about what they would find, confident that [his] foundation would remain imperishable”[3].
The Black Jacobins is the history of the Haitian revolution, “the only successful slave revolt in history”[4]. In the foreword, James discusses his motives for chronicling the revolution, while also stating why this work is unique when he says “I would write a book in which Africans or people of African decent instead of constantly being the object of other peoples’ exploitation and ferocity would themselves be taking action on a grand scale and shaping other people to their own needs”[5]. James motivation for this work is to give the people who were actually part of the revolution a voice. To do so, however, he does not stick to the traditional model of historical writing.
The preface provides James with a medium from which he can introduce the reader to both the area he will be writing about and his view on the nature of historiography. James believes that good historians must interpret historical situations and apply their own ideas and insights to them. Although this strays from a more traditional view of historical writing it is not unprecedented as often historiographers are presented with information together from unparallel sources and must piece it together. It is this unique view of historiography that allows James to include a bias in his work as he states, “the traditionally famous historians have been more artists than scientists”[6]. The preface again helps James as it allows him to introduce the bias present in his work due to the emotions involved in the recounting of the revolution.
[edit] Literary responses to the work
Published at the onset of WWII the work was overlooked by many at first, however over the years it has established a place in academia for its historical significance as well as its contribution to historiography. Literary critics have consistently appreciated the value of this work since the publication of the first edition in 1938. In a review for The Hispanic American Historical Review (1940) Ludwell Lee Montague asserts that James “finds his way with skill through kaleidoscopic sequences of events in both Haiti and France, achieving clarity where complexities of class, color, and section have reduced others to vague confusion”[7] . This review questions the validity of some of James’s conclusions but nevertheless compliments James on the effort. While this review does not predict the impact The Black Jacobins will have on the academic community, it does appreciate the work as an “illuminating study”[8] that will spark conversation at the very least. Another reviewer, W.G. Seabrook, gives The Black Jacobins an even warmer welcome in 1938 heralding James’s work as “a public service for which he merits the attention due a scholar who blazes the way in an all but neglected field”[9] . Seabrook even proceeds to predict the importance of the work to Caribbean history in general and the probable extensive circulation of the book. These contemporary reviews reinforce the works importance in its field as they comment on the necessity for The Black Jacobins.
More than 25 years after the first publication of the work, The Black Jacobins was being used by authors to strengthen their arguments about Caribbean culture. For example, in his 1971 article “African Religious Survivals as Factors in American Slave Revolts” William C. Suttles uses James’s discussion of the voodoo in The Black Jacobins to describe how religion served as a means of conspiracy[10]. James also builds from his own work in his 1963, Appendix: From Toussaint L’Ouverature to Fidel Castro.[1] In this appendix James looks at patterns between more recent developments in the Caribbean and the Haitian revolution. Literary critic Santiago Valles summarizes what James attempts to do in the appendix: “In an appendix to the second edition, James noted intellectual and social movements in Cuba, Haiti and Trinidad during the 1920s and 1930s. First in Cuba, Haiti (1927), then in Brazil, Surinam and Trinidad (1931), other small groups faced the challenge of coming to terms with events which disrupted their understanding and connectedness to the wider world by revealing the relations of force”[11] . Drawing from his own previous work allows James to show similarities between the Haitian revolution and recent movements in the Caribbean. This both strengthens his opinions in The Black Jacobins and allows him to make new points.
Today the book is still considered to be the one of the most authoritative texts on the Haitian revolution. Historians still continue to comment on the significance of the work and how it has paved the way for more detailed study of social and political movements in the Caribbean region. In a look at the role slaves themselves have played in Caribbean and American rebellions Adéléke Adéè̳kó̳ points specifically to The Black Jacobins influence on the perception of slaves in The Slaves Rebellion.[12] In this modern work, published in 2005, Adéè̳kó̳ says, “The Black Jacobins stirs this high level of inspiration for its symbolic reconfiguration of the slaves’ will to freedom”[13] . Contemporary and modern reviews appreciate both the value of James’s history and the value of James’s ideas regarding the revolution.
[edit] Bias (influence of Marxism)
In The Preface to the First Edition, James emphasizes that there may be bias in his work due to the nature of the Haitian revolution. In chronicling the story of the Africans taking action on a grand scale he attempts do to something that others before him have not. As there is no precedent to follow James establishes his own ideas in his history. As James’s historiography is somewhat unique he believes it is his duty to interpret history and insert his own ideas to it. James does not directly use the word bias however he mentions the impossibility of accurately portraying the emotions of the revolution as he says in the preface:
“The writer has sought not only to analyse, but to demonstrate in their movement, the economic forces of the age; their moulding of society and politics, of men in the mass and individual men; the powerful reaction of these on their environment at one of those rare moments when society is at boiling point and therefore fluid. The analysis is the science and the demonstration the art which is history. The violent conflicts of our age enable our practiced vision to see into the very bones of previous revolutions more easily then heretofore. Yet for that very reason it is impossible to recollect historical emotions in that tranquility which a great English writer, too narrowly, associated with poetry alone”[14] .
Here James directly compares a historian’s job to that of an artist, and also discusses the impossibility of being completely unbiased in any historical work. This introduces James unique perspective on chronicling history. James also accepts bias in his form of historiography because each historian has influences and particular areas of study. James remarks that his background his appreciation and study of Marxism and the Russian revolution apparent in the foreword. Throughout the work James’s Marxist approach can be seen behind the history and that has led some critics to question the historical validity of The Black Jacobins.
The significance of bias in The Black Jacobins has been discussed since the book has been published. Montague references it in his 1940 review of the work, “The author’s sympathies and frame of reference are evident, but he tells his story with more restraint than can generally be found in works on this subject by others less plainly labeled”[15]. Undoubtedly the bias is present, however Montague believes it is suppressed well. Others point to the bias as far more visible, “James work is radical, conceived with a Marxist framework, and favors the search for determinative factors within social dialects”[13]. Adéè̳kó says that while bias detracts a little from the historical accuracy of the work, it allows James to raise many important ideas about the revolution. He goes on to say that instead of detracting from the meaning of the work this bias increases its importance through adding a level complexity. While the bias is undeniable, both recent and contemporary reviewers agree that James ideas and opinion of historiography make the work extremely valuable in the study of Caribbean history.
[edit] Class struggles: Central to the work
Through the Marxist bias James is able to convey ideas about how social class affected the revolution. This sets The Black Jacobins apart from other contemporary works is James’s focus on social class as opposed to the role skin color played in the revolution. Víctor Figueroa lists James’s contemporaries who particularly focus on the issue of race over class in his article “The Kingdom of Black Jacobins: C. L. R. James and Alejo Carpentier on the Haitian Revolution” to be Luis Palés Matos, Alejo Carpentier, and Edouard Glissant.[16]
James focuses on the classes of individuals and how this shaped the revolution and subsequent history. Racism and the color of one’s skin still played a very large role in people’s judgments at the time when this work was published. In an attempt to draw away from this, James places a heavy emphasis on the different social classes each played their own part in the Haitian revolution. James is very thorough in his analysis of class, including not only the major classes in the Caribbean but also outsiders in France who played a role the revolution, such as the French bourgeoisie and British bourgeois.[17] Víctor Figueroa, in The Kingdom of Black Jacobins: C.L.R. James and Alejo Carpentier on the Haitian Revolution, says that James Marxist influence may be the cause for this as he asserts, “James’s emphasis on Haiti and Africa reflects his resolve, […], to not allow race to be subsumed in the category of class, but rather to open a space within Marxist revolutionary agenda for the particular plights of the Black peoples of both continents”[16] . Figueroa also goes on to say that although race is not a primary focus for this book, it goes hand in hand with class in terms of people’s perception at the time period. Another reason for James’s decision to write about class and it’s influence is because by focusing on this he directly supports ideas raised in some of his other works.[18] In his writings James argues for socialists to support the emerging black nationalist movements, as this could lead to more socialist countries as well as providing these countries with a model to follow. The importance of class can be directly linked to his Marxist background. James can justify this focus on class by applying his own version of historiography to the Haitian revolution. James’s form of historiography shows that while James embraces a Marxist approach in the examination of social class in the revolution he can also stray from this to analyze the individual characters of the revolution, such as Toussaint L’ouverature. James’s focus on, and treatment of, Toussaint is interesting because by focusing on the individual James is drifting away from communist ideals. This exemplifies the importance of James’s form of historiography as it does not confine him but allows him to embrace ambiguous ideas.
[edit] Importance of Toussaint L’Ouverature
Toussaint L’Ouverature is considered by many to be the most important figure in the Haitian revolution. Although he spent the majority of his life as a slave, Toussaint had more opportunities presented to him than most. James comments on this by saying “both in body and mind he was far beyond the average slave”[19] . Toussaint joined the revolution after its initiation and was immediately looked up to as a leader. He quickly established himself, organizing the Haitian people into the force that was able to break the French hold upon the colony of San Domingo. He then went on to be more than a military leader after the revolution was successful. Because of Toussaint large role in the revolution, James must include a large section about Toussaint, or his work would be an incomplete history. Throughout the text James’s attitude toward Toussaint is unclear as James asserts that while Toussaint is a great man, he may also be the product of a social necessity. While James establishes his respect for the brilliant military leader Toussaint L’Ouverature in the preface, he also makes it clear that he believes it was the slave’s passion for freedom that shaped Toussaint into the figure remembered today. James devotes two whole chapters, ‘The Rise of Toussaint’ & ‘Toussaint Seizes Power’ to Toussaint L’Ouverature, however he appears to have an ambiguous attitude towards him. James' attitude can be seen clearly as he states, “men make history, and Toussaint made the history that he made because of the man he was”[19] as well as “Toussaint did not make the revolution. It was the revolution that made Toussaint […] Great men make history, but only such history as it is possible for them to make. Their freedom of achievement is limited by the necessities of their environment”[20]. This apparent contradiction is still a point of controversy among scholars, as James was vague in his opinion of Toussaint. Victor Figueroa attempts to shed light on this attitude however simply refers to James opinion as “Paradoxical” as he both “criticizes (and also implicitly celebrates)”[16] Toussaint.
[edit] Notes
^ a b James Appendix
^ James vi
^ James vi
^ James ix
^ James v
^ James ix
^ Montague 130
^ Montague 130
^ Seabrook 127
^ William C. Suttles
^ Santiago-Valles 73
^ Adéléke Adéè̳kó
^ a b Adéléke Adéè̳kó̳ 89
^ James xi
^ Monatgue 126
^ a b c Victor Figueroa
^ James 56
^ Santiago-Valles
^ a b James 91
^ James x
[edit] References
James, C.L.R. The Black Jacobins. 3rd ed. London: Allison and Busby Limited, 1980
Adeeko, Adeleke. The Slave's Rebellion: Literature, History, Orature. New York: Indiana UP, 2005.
Figueroa, Víctor. "The Kingdom of Black Jacobins: C. L. R. James and Alejo Carpentier on the Haitian Revolution. " Afro - Hispanic Review 25.2 (2006): 55-71,227. Research Library. ProQuest. UC e-links, Berkeley, CA. 13 Nov. 2008 http://www.proquest.com/.
Montague, Ludwell L. "The Black Jacobins. Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Review." The Hispanic American Historical Review Vol. 20. (1940): pp. 129-130
Santiago-Valles, W. F. "C. L. R. James: Asking Questions of the Past." Race & Class. 45. 1 (2003): 61-78. Saga Journals Online. UC e-links, Berkeley, CA. 13 Nov. 2008 http://rac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/45/1/6
Seabrook, S.G. "The Black Jacobins Review." The Journal of Negro History Vol. 24. (1939): pp 125–27.
William, Suttles C. "African Religious Survivals as Factors in American Slave Revolts." The Journal of Negro History Vol. 56 (1971): pp. 97-104.
[edit] External links
Extract from The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins
Conference in London in February 2008 to mark 'Seventy years of The Black Jacobins' organised by the London Socialist Historians Group
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Jacobins"
Categories: History books History of the Caribbean Books by C. L. R. James
