January 1, 1804
Today is not only New Year’s Day 2025, it’s Haitian Independence Day!
Instead of celebrating New Year’s Day, we want to give a nod to Haïti. The Haitian Revolution was a series of conflicts between 1791 and 1804 that resulted in the establishment of the independent Republic of Haiti. The Revolution was a response to French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue. It is the first Black country that was born from slave rebellion and revolt that was built on Black bodies and blood. Thanks to Haïti and other Caribbean uprisings, such as the Maroons from Jamaica and Cuffy in Guyana, the efficacy of slavery was drowned out by its cost of maintenance. It can be argued that it is also the birth of feminist resistance.
Britain didn’t end slavery, Haiti and other slave uprisings did. That fact is explained beautifully in this analysis of the Haitian Revolution:
Book recommendation: Black Jacobins by C.L.R James
A very similar event is happening now in the newly created Sahel States in Africa..
Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have 'evicted' France from their countries, siezed the French-managed mines and infrastructure for their own, and have (with the help of China) built up their Agricultural/Resource Management/Military sectors to acheive Food Security, process Gold, Diamonds, etc, to achieve first Food Security, build schools, reassign government agencies to actually address the population's problems..