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France’s president says that making Haiti pay for its independence was unjust (apnews.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by Timbits@lemmy.ca to c/world@quokk.au
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French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that historic injustice was imposed on Haiti when it was forced to pay a colossal indemnity to France in exchange for its independence 200 years ago.

Macron also announced the creation of a joint French-Haitian historical commission to ‘’examine our shared past’’ and assess relations, but did not directly address longstanding Haitian demands for reparations.

France ″subjected the people of Haiti to a heavy financial indemnity, ... This decision placed a price on the freedom of a young nation, which was thus confronted with the unjust force of history from its very inception,’' Macron said in a statement.

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[-] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

if anyone was curious of how much france needs to pay back:

They approximated that in total 112 million francs was paid in indemnity, which when adjusted for the inflation rate would be $560 million in 2022, but considering that if it had been invested in the Haitian economy instead, it could be valued at $115 billion.

(from Wikipedia)

and obviously, this is only from the debt. reparations for the enslavement of Haitians will cost much, much more

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 3 points 2 weeks ago

iirc most countries agreed to pay huge sums of money to the slavers, not to the slaves, when slavery was abolished

this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
137 points (99.3% liked)

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