TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE AND THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT IN FRANCE

Ella Bosworth-Gerbino (OHS)

Despite taking place centuries apart, the Haitian slave rebellion and Independence Movement, and the French BLM movement stem from the same root cause: colonialism. Toussaint Louverture, also known as Francois Dominique Toussaint and sometimes called Black Spartacus, was a Haitian general and a very prominent figure in the Haitian Independence Movement. This movement was a series of fights from 1791 to 1804 between many parties, including the British, French, and Haitians, that eventually led to Haitian independence. Louverture fought for the Haitian slaves and the emancipation of the colony from France. More than 200 years later, the fight for liberty is still ongoing. The Black Lives Matter Movement has existed across the word for years, however, in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, far more attention was brought to it. In France, Adama Traoré is the victim at the front of the movement. Similarly to Floyd, he was also killed by the police, none of whom have faced any charges. Traoré was the son of Malian immigrants, and his sister has spearheaded the movement in France. This essay will explore Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Slave Rebellion, and how French colonialism has negatively affected France’s modern inhabitants - even though the empire is long gone.

Louverture was born a slave in the French colony of Haiti, then called Saint-Domingue, and debuted in the military world as a leader in the colony’s Slave Rebellion in 1791. He recognised the incompetence of the previous leaders and led the revolt to new heights. Initially he sided with the neighbouring Spanish colony Santo Domingo, but when France first outlawed slavery in 1794 Louverture rejoined the republic. He was made lieutenant governor by the French governor of Saint Domingue Etienne Laveaux, eventually growing to hold power over the whole colony. Once he had total control and had eliminated all of his rivals, Louverture turned his sights to Santo Domingo, who had not yet abolished slavery. Against Napoleon’s wishes, he overpowered the Spanish, seized the remainder of the island, and declared himself governor-general for life - harkening to the title of Julius Caesar, “dictator for life”. Eventually however, after Napoleon reinstated the slave trade in France and it’s departments, Louverture was arrested and died in prison in 1803.

Haiti (previously Saint-Domingue) was under France’s control from 1660 to 1804, and its slave rebellion was the first to result in a state controlled by ex-captives and people of colour, and the largest slave uprising since Spartacus and the Third Servile War in the first century BCE. When the gladiator and slave Spartacus unsuccessfully tried to rebel against, and capture Rome. While under French rule, Saint-Domingue was one of the largest slave colonies, having around 452000 black slaves, and produced enough sugar to rival all of the British ones. The fact that such an important and powerful colony was able to be usurped by a slave uprising shows the importance of community, and the capability of persecuted minority groups, even when everything is against them.

The slave rebellion was paramount to The Haitian Independence Movement, which led to Haiti becoming the first French colony to achieve emancipation. The French empire was ruled by Napoleon from around 1804 to 1815 when they were defeated by the British at the Battle of Waterloo. In this time, and while the monarchy still reigned over the hexagon, France acquired 84 colonies. The natives of these colonies are still facing the consequences of these invasions, even after their liberation. After slavery was abolished for the second time in 1884, all former slaves were made citizens of France. However, Haiti was not party to this agreement, as they achieved their own independence, meaning that they have been offered no compensation by France, and therefore have struggled economically. Despite it once being perhaps the most prosperous colony, Haiti is now one of the poorest countries in the world. With 59% of the population living below the poverty line.

France has a contentious history with citizenship. The French ideal of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité professes that all French citizens are equal to one another. Article 1 of the French Constitution states that the country is an “an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion.” Identity characteristics, and politics around them, are considered to actively undermine French ideals, and, as a result official statistical tools like the census, do not measure race or ethnicity. For those who are not French citizens, however, these rules do not apply. Not only does the French state record people’s race and ethnicity if they are foreign, but studies of a range of topics find that ethnic minority migrants often face differential (worse) treatment than white people. At the same time, there is a small but growing body of work and activism around these matters for French citizens too.

The secularism, or laïcité, that France pushes is constantly under interrogation from other countries and its own people, in particular by the Black Lives Matter movement. They fight for the recognition that French people of African and middle eastern descent experience the country and its practices differently. They have their own cultural identity, and while often it is partly tied to France, it is not exclusive to the hexagon. They fight for the government to acknowledge that laïcité is poorly disguised

xenophobia. In fact many of the immigrants that are so disenfranchised come from past French colonies

The impacts of colonialism and the French empire were not eradicated once the individual territories became independent, they are still visible today in the general public. As people of colour (frequently those with African lineage) face discrimination from the French police, government, and media. For example, the very high rates of police brutality against black people. As shown by Adama Traoré’s death. And Lamine Dieng’s. And Hakim Ajimi’s. And Amadou Koume’s. And the countless others that also go unpunished. It is clear that France’s history and present run parallel to each other. The republic, as are many other countries, is still held up by its oppressive ideals that date from its colonial history.

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