200 years after France forced Haiti at gunpoint to pay for the “crime” of overthrowing slavery
WE DEMAND REPARATIONS NOT DEPORTATIONS
This July marks 200 years since France imposed its notorious independence ransom on Haiti. The ransom has produced incalculable misery and violence for Haiti’s people and a legacy of environmental destruction. In 2003, then President Aristide demanded that France pay Haiti back an amount now estimated at $115 billion in today’s currency. His call for Reparations and Restitution is echoed throughout Haiti today. As Haiti’s former First Lady Mildred Aristide said recently: “This…is what reparatory justice looks like. Advocating for what is just and right – restitution and reparations for all formerly enslaved and colonized people – while at the same time taking action to repair Haiti.”
Few places so clearly demonstrate the link between empire, colonialism, racial and climate justice as Haiti. To finance the debt imposed first by France and then by U.S. banks, Haiti took out predatory loans, imposed heavy taxes on peasants, and exported Haiti’s timber, driving deforestation. The debt robbed Haiti of money for schools and public services: sewage, electricity, water, and public health systems—the essential infrastructure to protect lives, especially in the face of climate change. Today, Port-au-Prince is one of the world’s largest cities lacking a centralized sewage system – increasing the deadly impact of heavy rains.
Empire and foreign plunder continue to shatter Haitian lives and wreck the environment: peasant land seizures dismantle domestic food production, drive dependence on imported food and lead to widespread hunger; extractive international mining propels human displacement, soil erosion, air and water pollution; foreign armies spread terror and sexual violence, target popular resistance, and subvert democracy.
Today, 40% of Haitians live in extreme poverty, and over 5.7 million are acutely food insecure. Haiti is one of just five countries worldwide where people face immediate risk of starvation. According to the U.N., Haiti is as dangerous for children as Gaza. Over 4,000 people have been killed in Haiti since January and over one million are displaced. This is the situation that Trump and company want to send ½ million Haitian refugees back to! NO TO DEPORTATIONS! FRANCE, PAY YOUR DEBT TO HAITI!
Take Action: Week of Solidarity with Haiti, July 15–22, 2025 Join Haitian grassroots activists! Demand Reparations and Restitution so that Haiti can rebuild a country that meets the needs of its people, not the grasping, greedy Global North. Let Haiti Live!
Ways you can take action:
- Banner drops, bring the message to the streets!
- Post a solidarity video, tag us & use the hashtags #Haiti #Reparations #AbolishICE #Ransom #Justice #Restitution #ReparationsYESDeportationsNO
- Write to the French Embassy (template link HERE)
- Organize or join an action at a French Consulate, Citibank, or ICE office
- Spread the word: Reparations Yes, Deportations No!
