Brazil Apologizes for Slavery

[AxelFoley]

BRAZIL'S LULA "SORRY" FOR SLAVERY

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41035000/jpg/_41035609_lula203ap.jpg





Brazil's president looks through the 'door of no return' on Goree Island


Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has apologised for his country's role in African slavery while on a visit to Senegal.

He asked for "forgiveness" in a speech at Slave House on Goree Island, from where Africans were shipped between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Brazil imported the most African slaves of any country during that time and only abolished slavery in 1888.
Almost half of Brazil's 180 million population are of African descent.
"I want to tell you... that I had no responsibility for what happened in the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries but I ask your forgiveness for what we did to black people," said the president, commonly known as Lula.
Accompanied by Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, he stopped to look through the "door of no return", from where chained Africans would take the dangerous journey across the ocean to the New World.
Some of his delegation shed discreet tears, Reuters news agency reported.
'Historical debt'
Senegal is the last stop on Lula's five-nation tour of Africa.
Along with a large, mostly trade-orientated delegation, he has visited Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and Guinea Bissau.
The trip is an indication of the importance the Brazilians are placing on expanding trade ties with other developing countries, say correspondents.
But Lula said he also wanted to build on Brazil's historic ties with Africa.
"It's not just about reaching business deals but it's the strategy of a politician who is conscious of the historical debt towards Africa," he said.

[vi_till_i_die]

nice of him to apologize, buh ah doan tink sorry would erase all the hurt that was caused...

[Cocoa4]

Look how long dat? A now him a consider slavery? Maybe he had nothing better to think about while in office.

[UrbanGal]

nice of him to apologize, buh ah doan tink sorry would erase all the hurt that was caused...


True. But at least Brazil will acknowledge it and apologize. No American president has even been able to do that(unless you count Clinton's half assed attempt in 1998).

[UrbanGal]

I wonder why he didn't visit Angola, Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville as well, considering the fact that so many of the slaves who went to Brazil came from these areas. And its Portugal should be apologizing as well, seeing as they were one of the "innovators" of the Slave Trade to Brazil.

[Haitiluv]

I wonder why he didn't visit Angola, Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville as well, considering the fact that so many of the slaves who went to Brazil came from these areas. And its Portugal should be apologizing as well, seeing as they were one of the "innovators" of the Slave Trade to Brazil.
Probably because his apology was more for show than anything else? :nah:

I'd pay good money to sit down and watch Dubya apologize for slavery in the US. Sadly, that money will likely never leave my pocket.

[UrbanGal]

Hey Haitiluv, since we are on the subject of Slavery aplogies, I'd like to know what you think about France's relationship with Haiti. Has France ever made any kind of attempt to apologize and help Haiti?

[Haitiluv]

Hmmm, as far as an apology, I don't think so. But I could be wrong. I know in the past France has given Haiti some money, but not much. And I know Haiti's had some financial debts to pay to France, not sure if those debts have been forgiven.

You've given me something to research, I'll be back later if I find anything. :thumbsup2

[RAGGA007]

Look how long dat? A now him a consider slavery? Maybe he had nothing better to think about while in office.

And how LONG has he been the PRESIDENT of Brazil, since you BELIEVE that he had nothng better to think about while in OFFICE???

The BRAZILIAN President has taken a BRAVE and MORAL step in the RIGHT direction by APOLOGIZING to AFRICA for BRAZIL'S INVOLVEMENT in SLAVERY.

During the time SLAVES were being SHIPPED to Africa, it was PORTUGAL who was in CHARGE of BRAZIL.

Brazil was a COLONY of Portugal during slavery.

Something that you should THINK about before you CRITICIZE the current Brazilian President.

[Haitiluv]

Hey Haitiluv, since we are on the subject of Slavery aplogies, I'd like to know what you think about France's relationship with Haiti. Has France ever made any kind of attempt to apologize and help Haiti?
Hey Urbz, found this on Haiti Progres, known to be a reputable source of information:

http://www.haitiprogres.com/2003/sm031022/eng10-22.html

October 22, 2003

On Anniversary of Dessalines Death, Restitution Remains Burning Issue
October 17 marked the 197th anniversary of the assassination of Haiti’s founding father, Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

To mark the occasion and following tradition, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide traveled to the town of Marchand-Dessalines, nestled under the mountains at the edge of the fertile Artibonite Valley, where General Dessalines, a former slave, had established his headquarters.

There Aristide renewed his call that France restitute Haiti some $21 billion for the 90 million francs Haiti paid France during the 19th century as “compensation� for winning its independence in 1804.

Aristide originally called for restitution and reparations from France during ceremonies on April 7, the bicentennial of the death in a French prison cell of Toussaint Louverture, another former slave who led the struggle to abolish slavery and became governor of the French colony St. Domingue in 1801.

The French government has rebuffed Haiti’s request, responding that it already provides aid to Haiti and that Aristide’s government does not manage money well.

But the Haitian government has persisted in its demand, which is echoed in regular demonstrations outside the French Embassy in Port-au-Prince like the one held on Oct. 16. Last month, Haitians also demonstrated outside France’s Mission to the United Nations in New York (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 21, No. 28, 9/24/2003). The slogan “Restitution and Reparations� now adorns every Haitian government podium and stage.

The pressure campaign seems to be causing cracks in France’s defenses. Last week, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, appointed Régis Debray to head up a “Committee of Reflection on Haiti.� Famed for his collaboration with both Che Guevara and François Mitterand, Debray, the quintessential French intellectual, is on a “perilous mission,� quipped the French daily Le Monde. “Haiti represents a return to the source for Régis Debray, since Latin America and the Caribbean was the land of choice of the young student.�

Meanwhile, the Haitian government’s own “Interministerial Commission for Restitution and Reparations� organized an international colloquium in Port-au-Prince from Oct. 13-15 entitled “Restitution and Development.� Attended by a diverse crowd of lawyers, historians, economists, and activists, this meeting starred another well-known French intellectual, Claude Ribbe, who has just published a French-language novel entitled The Expedition. The book tells the story of France’s doomed 1802 mission to restore French rule and slavery in Haiti through the eyes of Napoleon’s sister, Pauline Bonaparte, who was married to the expedition’s leader, General Charles Leclerc.

Ribbe was the guest on the government’s “Press Tuesdays� TV show, where he read an extract of Leclerc’s Oct. 7, 1802 letter to Napoleon. “I will have to carry out a war of extermination,� Leclerc wrote. “This is my opinion of this country. We must destroy all the blacks in the mountains, men, women and children over 12 years old, destroy half of those in the plains, and not leave in the colony a single man of color wearing epaulettes.�

On the television program and during the colloquium, Ribbe, a philosopher and historian, acknowledged the “unspeakable� crimes which France committed against the Haitian people’s ancestors during both slavery and the independence war. Supporting Haiti’s demand for restitution, he called on the French government to “assume its responsibilites� and for French President Jacques Chirac to visit Haiti.

Aristide addressed the opening of the colloquium at the National Palace on Oct. 13. He said that he wanted to “abandon the path of confrontation� and find an amicable solution to the dispute between Haiti and France. “We know what happened here in Haiti,� he said. “There was slavery, a crime against humanity... In this spirit of dialogue, the government invites our foreign friends to look at the case for Restitution, to speak calmly and see how together we can arrive at the fruit of comprehension.�

The colloquium included guided tours of the Museum of the National Pantheon (MUPANAH), work shops, debate sessions, and an exposition by artists who participated in a contest on the theme of Restitution.

“Let’s not forget, that capitalism was built principally from the colonies of the Antilles and particularly from St. Domingue,� said one Haitian intellectual during the colloquium’s opening session. “Thus the splendor of Europe, and particularly the splendor of France, was built on Haiti’s back. Haiti didn’t owe France any debt. France owed Haiti a debt.�

In 1825, France sent an armada to Haiti to intimidate the young, isolated republic’s President Jean Pierre Boyer into signing an agreement for Haiti to pay an unprecedented indemnity in exchange for France’s recognition of Haiti’s independence.

Ironically, the most vocal critics of Haiti’s demand for restitution has been the small clique of politicians, power brokers, and pundits huddled in the Haitian opposition’s formations: the 15 “party-cle� Democratic Convergence opposition front, the hyper-inflated “Group of 184" organizations of assembly-industry-owner-turned-activist Andy Apaid, and the Civil Society Initiative of former neo-Duvalierist-minister Rosny Desroches.

Opposition spokespersons have argued, for example, that Haiti’s indemnity was paid not to the French government but rather as compensation to the former colonialists who lost their property in the independence war. Therefore, the French government is not liable, according to them.

Convergence leaders such as Gérard Pierre-Charles of the OPL and Evans Paul of the KID have also parroted French government retorts that Aristide has displayed poor governance and cannot be entrusted with a large restitution, as if it were up to France to decide.

Aristide responded to such statements during his speech in Marchand-Dessalines. “Is the big money [that restitution would bring] for the big leaders?� he asked the crowd. “That’s how it used to be done in the past. But with the Lavalas it should never be like that at all. Services should be provided if big money comes. Leaders had better make roads, hospitals, town squares, distribute food, irrigate land, and make the country more beautiful. That money has to serve everybody, rich and poor, minority and majority, people in the Lavalas and those not in the Lavalas.�

[Haitiluv]

Then I found this on http://www.haitiaction.net/News/Rest.html


In 1825 France demanded that Haiti pay the French government 150 million gold francs to "compensate" French plantation slave-owners for their "financial losses" and in exchange for France's recognition of Haiti's independence. Years later, the amount was reduced to 90 million gold francs. The Haitian elite who had gained control of the country following independence, caved in to the pressure, seeing this ransom as an inevitable and necessary financial obligation if the country were to be allowed to live in peace and freedom and resume trade with its former colonizers. It took Haiti close to 100 years to pay off this debt and the debt was paid, not out of the money made by the elite through the export of raw goods, but rather on the backs of the Haitian people who continued to work the land. All the public schools in Haiti were closed in order to make the first payment, the first example of the imposition of a structural adjustment program.

Today, the people of Haiti have joined with their democratically elected government to demand that France restitute to the Haitian people this "debt" money - 21.7 billion dollars in today's currency. On behalf of the people of Haiti, President Jean Bertrand Artistide has made an official request to France, which has formally recognized slavery to be a crime against humanity; French legislators have verbally recognized the legitimacy Haiti's request for restitution. Although several international lawyers are working on the case for restitution, the hope is that France will act according to its stated principle and pay its debt to the Haitian people without the recourse of international law. Unfortunately, in an echo of the ugly "1825" past, the French government has reacted to this just request by placing Haiti on a list of "undesirable" countries not to be visited; this vindictive and unjustifiable response is being protested by people of conscience, particularly in France and Haiti

I always thought most or all of that 90 million was forgiven. Learn something new everyday

[pocaton]

i think nations who had slaves as a way to run their economy should repay the same way the german paid and still paying israel for wwII

[UrbanGal]

And how LONG has he been the PRESIDENT of Brazil, since you BELIEVE that he had nothng better to think about while in OFFICE???

The BRAZILIAN President has taken a BRAVE and MORAL step in the RIGHT direction by APOLOGIZING to AFRICA for BRAZIL'S INVOLVEMENT in SLAVERY.

During the time SLAVES were being SHIPPED to Africa, it was PORTUGAL who was in CHARGE of BRAZIL.

Brazil was a COLONY of Portugal during slavery.

Something that you should THINK about before you CRITICIZE the current Brazilian President.

:2eek: The dead have risen! Haven;t seen you 'round these parts in awhile.