The Haitian revolution, the first successful slave revolt, and the blueprint for many revolts thereafter was successful because enslaved people took it upon themselves to burn down plantations and kill slave masters. The rebels led various uprisings to not only liberate themselves from slavery but also liberate themselves from French colonial rule.
Many movements of our time can learn from the radicals of the Haitian revolution. We must understand that the tools we need to dramatically undermine the systems of oppression are not going to be handed to us. We are never going to appeal to the empathy of our oppressors because our oppressors have no empathy for us. We cannot just ask them kindly to liberate us from the systems they benefit from.
-- Chiamaka Nwadike, Editor-in-Chief
