Letter from the South African President & a Note from Ezili Dantò
*******

Who really abolished slavery?
by Myrtha Dèsulmè, Contributer, Jamaica Gleaner, June 3, 2007
*******
Carnegie Hall Video Clip

*******
Martin Luther King and the Man on the Road to Cite Soleil : The cry is always the same "we want to be free" by Jafrikayiti (Jean St. Vil)
*******

Africa: In Solidarity with Site Soley by Jacques Depelchin, Allafrica.com, March 22, 2007
*******

Hochschild's Neo-Colonial Journalism. Response to Adam Hochschild article in SF Chronicle by Marguerite Laurent, May 30, 2004

************
Toussaint Memorial & Fort Du Joux
************

"...Toussaint Louverture was certainly ahead of his time and a great visionary and warrior, and, in fact, he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered for his ideals...But, it turns out... Dessalines is the one who did what was necessary and then renamed the island, set forth its laws of existence and abolished colonialism. All over the developing world today, it is Toussaint’s then avant-guard idea that is in place and why Europeans prefer to exult Toussaint and teach that to Black and Brown people rather than to present Dessalines, whose idea of a Black-ruled independent nation is what all of Africa and the Caribbean and Latin American countries wish to bring to pass,” said Laurent..." From, Laurent on Glover's Proposed Haiti Film by Staff, San Francisco Bayview, May 23, 2007

***************

"...Both Toussaint Louverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines took up arms against the white enslavers and colonists. But because Toussaint Louverture fought for neocolonialism, he's the one revered by the whites. The whites still fear and hate Dessalines because he beat them and declared Haiti a Black independent nation. Down the annals of history, the impression has been propagated, to the interests of the whites, that Toussaint Louverture was sort of Ghandi-like and non-violent, which is totally untrue. (See also "Napoleon was no Toussaint" by Jafrikayiti). Toussaint Louverture killed his share of white enslavers and colonists as general of Haiti's indigenous army before Dessalines. And when Toussaint Louverture was kidnapped because he was too trusting of the whites, too compromising and too tolerant, it was time for Dessalines. Today, Haiti awaits a Dessalines. Ezili Dantò said this back on the day of Aristide's kidnapping. Haiti awaits a Dessalines. Read in particular "Moun ki fe bagay sa, jodi a -yo swaf dlo lan zye!: Haitian fratricide allowed for the Empire to eat up our divisions and make this February 29, 2004 Coup D'etat comeback" by Ezili Dantò on Feb. 29, 2004. (From
Ezili Danto's Comment that Jean-Bertrand-Aristide-Was-Too-Tolerant and-Compromising to Ben Dupuy on his interview with Peter Hallward )
********

************
Toussaint Memorial & Fort Du Joux
************

Venuezuela to Allocate $18 million dollars to Danny Glover by Cory Carroll in Caracas , May 21, 2007, The Guardian

· Chávez hopes venture will aid anti-imperialist fight
· Actor wants to educate US on Toussaint Louverture

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2084331,00.html

Photo: The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez (right), and actor Danny Glover embrace The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez (right), and actor Danny Glover embrace. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty

Venezuela is to give the American actor Danny Glover almost $18m (£9m) to
make a film about a slave uprising in Haiti, with President Hugo Chávez
hoping the historical epic will sprinkle Hollywood stardust on his effort to
mobilise world public opinion against imperialism and western oppression.

The Venezuelan congress said it would use the proceeds from a recent bond
sale with Argentina to finance Glover's biopic of Toussaint Louverture, an
iconic figure in the Caribbean who led an 18th-century revolt in Haiti.

It will also give seed money for a film version of The General in His
Labyrinth, Gabriel García Márquez's novel about the last days of Simón
Bolívar, who liberated much of South America from Spanish colonialism.

Glover, 60, who starred with Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon series, and more
recently with Eddie Murphy in the film DreamGirls, is a civil rights activist
and supporter of Mr Chávez's radical leftwing policies.

A document from the congress's finance commission said the culture ministry
would be a partner with Glover and give $17.8m for "scripts, production
costs, wardrobe, lighting, transport, makeup and the creation of the whole
creative and administrative platform".

The project could mark a breakthrough for Villa del Cine, a new government-funded studio outside the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, which is part of Mr Chávez's effort to combat what he sees as American cultural hegemony.

Glover, who visited Caracas at the weekend, told the Guardian that he would
direct the film, titled Toussaint. "It's so advanced that you can taste it.

We've scouted locations within 75km [45 miles] of Caracas. I can do
everything I need to do with this film from here." He said he had been in
talks with the government, but was unaware that a decision had been made
until journalists tipped him off about the congress's announcement. "That's
the first I've heard of it," he said.

He suggested that there was still some uncertainty over whether the venture
would go ahead. "One of the major axioms in theatre is never talk about
anything until the deal is signed. There's a lot of deliberation that goes on
before something actually happens."

It appeared that the congress timed the announcement to coincide with a media
conference in Caracas hosted by the television network Telesur, a
Venezuela-funded regional answer to CNN. Glover is on the board.

It would not be the first declaration to run ahead of reality. Mr Chávez once said the director Oliver Stone planned to make a film about him, but it came to nothing. However at the president's request, Villa del Cine, which was
inaugurated last year, is making a film about Francisco Miranda, who lit the
fuse of South America's liberation. A lavish production with hundreds of
extras and battle scenes, its costumes and sets could work for the Haiti film.

Toussaint Louverture is a towering figure in the region's history. A freed slave of African descent, he led thousands of slaves in successful campaigns against British, Spanish and French troops before being betrayed, captured and exiled. He died in 1803, just before his followers succeeded in establishing the island's independence. William Wordsworth wrote a sonnet about him.

Glover said he wanted to educate the US about the story. "It's been essentially wiped out of our historic memory, it's been wiped clean."

The actor is chairman of the TransAfrica Forum, an advocacy group for African Americans and other members of Africa's diaspora, and a vocal critic of the Bush administration. Along with the singer Harry Belafonte, Glover is the best known celebrity supporter of Mr Chávez, whom he considers "remarkable".

He is a regular visitor to Venezuela.

Venezuela's congress, which consists entirely of Chávez supporters, also said it would give $1.8m to develop a screen treatment of The General in His Labyrinth, by a Venezuela-born director, Alberto Arvelo. Some rate Gabriel García Márquez's account of the final days of Bolívar along with the Colombian writer's better known novels, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.

To build consciousness of what Mr Chávez calls "21st-century socialism", the government has funded nationwide screenings of Charlie Chaplin's classic film Modern Times, about the exploitation of US factory workers during the depression.

- Guardian Unlimited | Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

Laurent on Glover's Proposed Haiti Film


Venezuela giving Danny Glover $18m to direct film on Haitian revolution
Staff | Wednesday, 23 May 2007, San Francisco Bayview

http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=
com_content&task=view&id=155&Itemid=15

Actor, humanitarian and San Francisco native Danny Glover and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who have worked closely together politically, plan to expand their partnership to moviemaking with a film about the slave rebellion that made Haiti the first Black independent country in the world. While celebrating this remarkable initiative, however, prominent attorney and performance artist Marguerite Laurent, founder of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, hopes the film will focus on Jean-Jacque Dessalines, the revolutionary leader most Haitians credit with Haiti’s independence, rather than solely on Toussaint Louverture, the leader better known to Americans.

Glover, chair of TransAfrica Forum and a vocal critic of the Bush administration, is, along with Harry Belafonte, the best known celebrity supporter of Chávez and a regular visitor to Venezuela. It was from the press that he learned that the film deal had progressed from the talking to the funding stage, that Venezuela’s Congress had allocated $17.8 million for “scripts, production costs, wardrobe, lighting, transport, makeup and the creation of the whole creative and administrative platform.”

The project could mark a breakthrough for Villa del Cine, a new government-funded studio outside the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. “I can do everything I need to do with this film from here,” Glover said. He will direct the film, which he said will be titled “Toussaint.”

A freed African slave in Haiti, Toussaint Louverture led thousands of slaves in successful campaigns against British, Spanish and French troops before being betrayed, captured and exiled. He died in 1803, just before his followers succeeded in establishing the island’s independence. Glover told the British newspaper The Guardian that he wants to educate the U.S. about the Haitian revolution. “It’s been essentially wiped out of our historic memory; it’s been wiped clean,” he said.

“I truly hope someone gets to Danny Glover on this Louverture issue,” Marguerite Laurent wrote to the Bay View when she heard the news. “Toussaint Louverture was certainly ahead of his time and a great visionary and warrior, and, in fact, he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered for his ideals.

“But, it turns out today all over the developing world the independence that the former colonies enjoy is that which was espoused by Toussaint – who saw that the most he could do for Haiti was free the captives and get Haiti to be a Black-ruled French colony, with himself as governor for France.

“Dessalines is the one who did what was necessary and then renamed the island, set forth its laws of existence and abolished colonialism. All over the developing world today, it is Toussaint’s then avant-guard idea that is in place and why Europeans prefer to exult Toussaint and teach that to Black and Brown people rather than to present Dessalines, whose idea of a Black-ruled independent nation is what all of Africa and the Caribbean and Latin American countries wish to bring to pass,” said Laurent.

Pointing out that, like Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela would never glorify their former colonists over their own independence, she cautioned against preferring Louverture over Dessalines. “Dessalines is despised by the powers who continue to subjugate and colonize. Toussaint’s structure is now their accepted norm for imperial governance, the exploitation of Black and Brown labor, lands and resources.”

“I hope,” Laurent said, that “we don’t find ourselves with a Danny Glover film that claims Toussaint is the founding father of Haiti and its ideal of a Black ruled independent nation.”

**********************
Contact For Louverture Films and Carrie Productions:

Louverture Films, LLC
101 West 23rd Street, #283
New York, NY 10011 USA
Tel: 1-212 229 3960
Fax: 1-212 229 3963
Email: info@louverturefilms.com

and also, Danny Glover's Production Company:

Carrie Productions
Telephone and fax
Tel: 510 450 2500
Fax: 510 450 2506

Address
2625 Alcatraz Ave
#243
Berkeley, California 94705
USA

Forwarded Mail
From: "Jean Saint-Vil" <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>
To: erzilidanto@yahoo.com, info@louverturefilms.com
CC: chan@members
Subject: RE: Laurent on Glover's proposed Haiti film
Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:59:32 +0000

Dear comrades,

There is a lot that needs to be said on this topic but, more importantly, there is still a lot of time and opportunity left to make the Toussaint film the success and powerful educational tool it can and ought to be.

I have been following this film project for many years now and I am convinced that Haiti can benefit a great deal from such a production. I am also convinced of Danny Glover's sincere desire to make an excellent product - otherwise this could have been on the screen long ago.