Haiti Support Group

Not sure what’s going on with my hand in that pic 😆 but it was a really wonderful and generative meeting in these bleak times.

Haiti: Almost 1.3 million people have fled homes due to unfolding humanitarian crisis - Voice Online An additional 15,000 people in Haiti fled their communities after armed attacks in the communes of Dessalines and Verrettes

NEW: Almost 1.3 million people have fled homes due to unfolding humanitarian crisis in Haiti 🇭🇹😢

An additional 15,000 people in Haiti fled their communities after armed attacks in the communes of Dessalines and Verrettes.
www.voice-online.co.uk/news/2025/07...

A huge thank you to all who supported our Haiti Support Group AGM & public lecture yesterday. At this truly troubling time, we are united in our love of Haitian history & culture & forever in solidarity with our Ayitian brothers & sisters. #SolidarityNotCharity

haitisupportgroup.org/donate/

Professor Matthew Smith, Haiti Support Group Committee member (2)

Paul Clammer, Haiti Support Group Committee Member @paulclammer.bsky.social

Professor Matthew Smith, Haiti Support Group Committee member

A Hotel Made Famous by Graham Greene Is a Victim of Haiti’s Violence

Like many, we were devastated by the loss of the Oloffson. Please help us remember Haiti’s cultural, musical, artistic, literary & intellectual hub in a positive light by sharing your happy memories of a time well spent while staying at/visiting the hotel.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/w...

This is absolutely devastating news. Here at the Haiti Support Group we are deeply saddened by the senseless and terrible obliteration of the beloved Oloffson hotel.

Trump signs proclamation to ban travel from 12 countries | CNN Politics President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday evening to ban travel from several countries to the US, citing security risks.

An absolutely appalling act of bullying and cowardice. We stand in solidarity with our Haitian brothers and sisters and all those impacted by this atrocious decision. Shame on Trump and his vile administration. #Ayiti #Haiti

www.cnn.com/2025/06/04/p...

Electricity Service Resumes in Port-au-Prince The Péligre hydroelectric power plant resumed operations on Friday, May 23, after more than a week of shutdown.

#Haiti: Extraordinary. Desperate #Haitians in the Central Plateau shut down electricity transmission to the capital to protest the murderous gangs that dominate their area. Where is the world press? @haitijustice.bsky.social @haitisupportgroup.bsky.social lenouvelliste.com/en/article/2...

Bravo to our former Haiti Support Group Chair Dr Antony Stewart for appearing on @skynewsrss.bsky.social this morning. He did his best to combat media stereotypes and false narratives to provide an important historical overview on the current problems #Haiti is facing. #SolidarityNotCharity #Ayiti

Invitation to Haiti Support Group AGM 2025 The Haiti Support Group is delighted to announce the date of our AGM which will take place in London on Saturday 26 July 2025.

Join the Haiti Support Group for an annual update and a very special public lecture by our Chair Aïda Roumer in London on 26 July. The talk will include an update on Aïda’s recent visit to Haiti and our ongoing work with HSG civil society partners. All welcome.

haitisupportgroup.org/hsg-agm-2025/

The apparent fact that the pope’s maternal grandfather was born in Haiti with both African and European roots and chose to pass in Chicago as white people would have made this a far more interesting story too.

But no one asks me.

hnoc.org/publishing/f...

Neocolonialism through Debt: How French and US Banks underdeveloped Haïti - Haiti Support Group <meta name="citation_title" <meta name="citation_author" <meta name="citation_publication_date" <meta name="citation_journal_title" <meta name="citation_issue" <meta name="citation_firstpage" <meta na...

Neocolonialism through Debt: How French and US Banks underdeveloped Haiti. A fantastic online debate organised by our Caribbean Labour Solidarity comrades!

haitisupportgroup.org/neocoloniali...

200 years ago, France extorted Haiti in one of history’s greatest heists – and Haitians want reparations After being exploited for decades by France, Haiti ended up forking over huge sums of money to its former colonizer. Now, the Caribbean nation’s calls for restitution are becoming harder to ignore.

April 17 marks the 200th anniversary of the Haiti indemnity agreement. In March, tennis star Naomi Osaka, who is of Haitian descent, added her voice to the chorus in a tweet wondering when France would pay Haiti back.

theconversation.com/200-years-ag...

Haitian Human Rights Champion Mario Joseph Dies in Car Crash Mario Joseph, a prominent Haitian human rights lawyer, has died in a car accident at the age of 62. Joseph was an attorney at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and represented many poli...

We were recently informed that our very close comrade and dear, dear HSG supporter Mario Joseph was killed in a car crash in Haiti. There are no words to describe the impact of this tragic passing on our group and all our supporters. Rest in power brother Mario. www.democracynow.org/2025/4/3/hea...

Naomi Osaka Calls for Haiti Reparations from France: “Can Haiti Get Their Money Back?” Naomi Osaka flips the script on France with one powerful question about reparations:

France: Can we get the Statue of Liberty back?

Naomi Osaka: Can Haiti Get Its Money Back?

EXACTLY NAOMI. EXACTLY. #blacksky
www.bellanaija.com/2025/03/naom...

Rasanblaj Frankétienne!

Grateful to the organizers for doing this and looking forward to listening this afternoon.

Nous sommes profondément attristées par le récent décès de Frankétienne. Ainsi, nous vous invitons à nous rejoindre demain pour un rasanblaj virtuel afin de célébrer sa vie et ses contributions à la littérature haïtienne et mondiale.

us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

PhD at the Institute of Historical Research Undertake doctoral research in the history of the world from the fourth to the 21st century with supervision from the Institute of Historical Research.

Are you looking to take up a PhD in London in September 2025? I am currently taking new applications @ihr.bsky.social from PhD students in Spanish and Francophone Caribbean history, including Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Haiti. DM if interested!

www.sas.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Franketienne: le départ d’un génial mégalomane L’écrivain Franketienne est décédé, le jeudi 20 février 2025, à Port-au-Prince.

L’écrivain Franketienne est décédé, le jeudi 20 février 2025, à Port-au-Prince.

lenouvelliste.com/article/2535...

Help raise £5500 to save Atis Rezistans art works Iʼm raising money to save Atis Rezistans art works. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

It’s the final weekend of the Zombis exhibition in Paris which includes a contribution by our amazing Haiti Support Group Exec Committee member Leah Gordon. Please support her fundraiser to safely store the artwork of the fantastic Haitian Collective Atis Resistans www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

« J' écris comme si j'étais dans le monde dont je rêve. » Yesterday, launching the German translation of 'Soleil à coudre', we witnessed Jean d'Amérique and his characters coming to life. Characters 'fighting a world that denies them life'. Wishing Jean a wonderful writer's residence. Ayibobo!

Extract from 'Henry Christophe, the Haitian Revolution and the Caribbean's Forgotten Kingdom' by Paul Clammer: "Other innovations were less successful. In October 1818 William Wilberforce concluded one of his epic letters to Christophe on morality by noting that having discovered that Haitian farmers tilled by hand, he had ‘therefore taken the liberty of sending two iron ploughs, which I am assured are of the best construction’, in the hope that they would assist in the gathering of the ‘rich and glorious harvest from the seed which you are now sowing’. When two ‘honest rustics’ from Suffolk duly arrived in Cap Henry, Christophe wrote to Clarkson that they had set about cultivating potatoes and wheat. ‘Inevitably,’ Christophe lamented, ‘since they know not a word of French, they have been having some difficulty in instructing the young men who were sent to learn from them. I believe then that we shall bring in only these two, until we begin to see the results of the experiment.’ One of the trial plots yielded a respectable crop but the other (perhaps on land exhausted by years of sugar cultivation) was less fertile. Furthermore, the second plot was far from the city, and its farmer, who had optimistically brought his family with him, was left widowed and childless after they were struck down with fever. He spent the rest of his time in Haiti suffering from ‘constant trouble and vexation’. Christophe did eventually agree to expand the use of the plough, but he had perhaps been too polite to tell Wilberforce that Haitians were already aware of its potential benefits: when he ennobled the Comte de Trou and made him Inspector General of Agriculture in 1811, Christophe granted him the motto ‘Culture of Plenty’, with a coat of arms showing a plough supported by two oxen."

Coat of arms of the Comte de Trou, a noble from the Kingdom of Haiti in the early 19th century. The arms have two white oxen with red hooves supporting a shield painted with a plough. The motto in Frenc reads 'Abondance Culture'

For Plough Monday, the traditional start of the agricultural year, here's William Wilberforce in 1818 sending two wholly unprepared Suffolk ploughmen to the Kingdom of Haiti as an aid project. It didn't end brilliantly.

A picture of a book: The First and Last King of Haiti by Marlene Daut

Hot off the press!

Marie-Louise Christophe, Haiti’s First and Only Queen A Haitian Queen in Georgian Britain The Haitian Revolution remains, without doubt, one of the most important events in world history. Though the triumphant history of Haiti, which became the first ind...

Just spotted two new records from the Haiti Support Group. Did you know the Queen of Haiti once lived in Marylebone?
www.layersoflondon.org/map/records/...

Great to see @haitisupportgroup.bsky.social have joined BlueSky. Byenveni! 🇭🇹

Delighted to be a part of the HSG and hope to be able to contribute meaningfully to the awesome work it does!

We're delighted to announce @nlwillson.bsky.social was voted onto the Executive Committee of the Haiti Support Group. 15 years to the day after a devastating earthquake hit the country, we continue to support Haitian grassroots orgs in their fight for justice and rights. #SolidarityNotCharity #Ayiti