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An Alternative Proposal for Showing Regional Solidarity with Haiti Mervyn Claxton
Claxton, An Alternative Proposal
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An Alternative Proposal for Showing
Regional Solidarity with Haiti
Mervyn Claxton
I shall begin by explaining the reason why I do not support the idea of a petition demanding France
to repay the indemnity ($21 billion at current prices) it extorted from Haiti in the 19th century as the
price of French recognition of Haitiian independence. Firstly, such a petition is not at all new.
Indeed, an identical petition (still in circulation), was launched in New York in May 2004, by the
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (/petition/restitution4haiti/?e).
When Norman Girvan posted the petition on his website in December 2008 and called for
signatories from other Caricom countries as a demonstration of support for Haiti, I engaged in an
extended exchange with him in which I expressed serious misgivings about the usefulness of such
a petition. From my knowledge of France, French political history, French political culture, national
character, and worldview, I was convinced that such a petition did not have the slightest chance of
success. The French have a deep-rooted cultural aversion to admitting any error or fault - an
aversion that is reflected at both the individual and the national level. Repaying the indemnity
would be an admission that its extortion was blameworthy which is something, I am quite
convinced, that France is culturally incapable of doing.
Mention has been made of such a petition shaming France into repaying the indemnity. I dont
think that it is possible to shame France into doing anything that goes against its perceived
national interest. France and the U.S. are perhaps the two Western countries which most single-
mindedly pursue their national interests, overriding all other interests in doing so. However, there is
one essential difference between them. The US both wants (and feels a need) to be liked by the
rest of the world and to be considered a moral authority, which makes it
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