French workers demand freedom from Haiti’s ‘Reparation Service’
PARIS – French insurgents set fire to the Azerty data center in Paris yesterday, as the revolt against Haitian rule entered its thirteenth day. Flames tore though the building’s eastern wing, damaging the temperature control room. Firefighters, on strike since last week, lacked the staff to contain the blaze. The Haitian Ministry of Data Production estimates the financial losses at 1 901 941 179 gourdes. As night was falling, neighbors started to grumble about the heavy smoke entering their apartments.
That fire follows a dramatic escalation of violence in the whole country, led by insurgents calling themselves “the Children of Liberty”. The government calls them terrorists. For twelve days, protesters have blocked roads, freed workers from compulsory labor camps, and achieved to attack five out of six surveillance towers in Paris.
“Our claim is legitimate”, explains Léa Choireau, a former data technician who now leads a resistance cell in the 13th district. “Haiti says we owe a debt. But our children did not enslave anyone. They should not pay for our ancestors’ mistakes”.
The revolt began on September 29th, after the imperial government reevaluated the Reparation Service, which led to an increase of the measure. French citizens, classified by the Haitian government as “historical debtors” must work in cereal plantations, mines and data centers for a fixed number of years. This number went from 52 to 56, meaning that starting at the age of 10, French workers could enter their Free Period at the age of 64. Officials describe the program as a fair repayment for France’s colonial past. Insurgents call it “hereditary slavery”.
The conflict has deep roots. In 1804, enslaved people in Saint-Domingue rose against French colonial power. They succeeded in defeating Napoleon’s army and captured the French leader sent to crush them. Haiti’s independence was the perfect occasion for the weakened island to seize power in France. Within a decade, Haitian forces controlled Paris and transformed the former colonial empire into a province of the Haitian Republic. Leaders of the Republic argue they “reversed an injustice”.
Since then, Haiti has ruled France through a government appointed in Port-au-Prince. The Republic has built schools, hospitals and a flourishing economy across the Caribbean. “We defeated slavery once”, claims Professor Jean-Baptiste Célestin, a historian at the Port-au-Prince university. “But the French are now weaker than we were two centuries ago. They won’t fight us.”
Last week, President Samuel Macrin addressed the nation. He condemned the Parisian attacks and ordered additional security forces to France. “The Republic will protect the achievements of 1804”, he declared. “No rebellion will ever reverse history’s justice”. Her speech failed to calm the French rebellion. New tags appear each day, with the inscription “You taught us resistance. Now we learn”.
Other data centers have been attacked in the last couple of days, such as in Lille, Lyon and Marseille. The Minister of Historical Punishment is expected to address the nation on the crisis later today.
Charlotte Hoizey-Oud