As you travel slowly down Haiti's rural roads---bumpy, rough, at times nearly impassable---at every milepost there are signs that say "French extortionists stole the money"; interpreted, this means for over 100 years enormous debt slavery payments to the French stole the money that could have paved this road. But to most people who travel these roads, these signs are invisible, unless you are wearing a special pair of glasses. Only historical glasses will enable a person to make the connection between past debt slavery beginning in 1825 and current bad roads.
At the same time that French extortionists were stealing billions (in today's terms) from Haitians, American oppressors were using wealth from "free" black labor to build schools, colleges, railroads, etc., on. "free" Indian land.
A sense of perspective from The Debt by Randall Robinson:
"Africa pays out upwards of 20 percent of its export earnings in debt service to Western creditors, making economic development a sheer impossibility. In the late 1940s after it had nearly brought the entire world to ruin, Germany was never required to pay out in debt service more than 3.5 percent of its export earnings. The IMF requires its African debtors to cut their subsidies to African farmers, schools, and health caregivers. Inoculations are down. Infectious diseases are up. Agricultural production is down."
By comparison, at times the Haitian government was required by the French to pay 80 percent of its income to France leaving little monies to build Haiti's roads, etc.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Friday, December 9, 2016
Haiti: State Against Nation
Not often does high quality history get written from the standpoint of the oppressed poor---the rural peasants of Haiti, in this case. But Haiti: State Against Nation is such a book. It could be titled How the Haitian Elite State Oppresses the Peasant Farmer. The author Trouillot traces the different systems of oppression that the French, Haitian and American elite use to exploit every penny they can from the poor, rural peasant.
1. 1700-1800, French slavery; slave plantations grew sugar and other tropical products for export to France.
2. 1825-1945, French debt slavery; huge extortion payments for the loss of slave property and to keep the French from reinvading.
3. 1804-2016, French and American neocolonialism; they continue to benefit economically as they control the export-import economy that the French originally set up. They created taxes on imports and exports that discriminate against the peasant. Customs taxes are the main form of taxation in Haiti.
4. 1957-1986, internal elite and U.S. elite; Papa Doc, a ruthless dictator, took over Haiti in 1957. Fidel Castro overthrew a ruthless, U.S. puppet dictator, Baptista, in 1958. During the Cold War, the U.S. supported any ruler who was anti-communist. The U.S. did not want Haiti to become communist so we supported evil Papa Doc and Baby Doc.
From slavery to debt slavery to controlled export-import economy to discriminatory customs taxes to U.S. exploitation of the import-export economy. Systems of oppression were not really eliminated, only redesigned. Fleeting, partial political freedom was not accompanied by economic justice; therefore, freedom was shallow, illusory.
The book Haiti is a comprehensive discussion of the problem, but it offers no solution. The Bible has the best, most comprehensive discussion of oppression to be found; also a comprehensive discussion of a solution---jubilee justice/kingdom of God justice for the oppressed poor.
Reread Isaiah 58 and James 2 in The Message.
1. 1700-1800, French slavery; slave plantations grew sugar and other tropical products for export to France.
2. 1825-1945, French debt slavery; huge extortion payments for the loss of slave property and to keep the French from reinvading.
3. 1804-2016, French and American neocolonialism; they continue to benefit economically as they control the export-import economy that the French originally set up. They created taxes on imports and exports that discriminate against the peasant. Customs taxes are the main form of taxation in Haiti.
4. 1957-1986, internal elite and U.S. elite; Papa Doc, a ruthless dictator, took over Haiti in 1957. Fidel Castro overthrew a ruthless, U.S. puppet dictator, Baptista, in 1958. During the Cold War, the U.S. supported any ruler who was anti-communist. The U.S. did not want Haiti to become communist so we supported evil Papa Doc and Baby Doc.
From slavery to debt slavery to controlled export-import economy to discriminatory customs taxes to U.S. exploitation of the import-export economy. Systems of oppression were not really eliminated, only redesigned. Fleeting, partial political freedom was not accompanied by economic justice; therefore, freedom was shallow, illusory.
The book Haiti is a comprehensive discussion of the problem, but it offers no solution. The Bible has the best, most comprehensive discussion of oppression to be found; also a comprehensive discussion of a solution---jubilee justice/kingdom of God justice for the oppressed poor.
Reread Isaiah 58 and James 2 in The Message.
Hurricane Matthew and Super Hurricane Oppression
In neither America nor Haiti do most scholars---sociologists, historians, theologians---deeply analyze the hugely important role Western white oppression has played in creating and crushing the poor. The historical past does haunt the socioeconomic present.
In the United States, sociologists have conducted dozens of studies of black culture, black dysfunction. Rare is the sociologist who makes a serious study of the nature and impact of white American oppression and how it causes black dysfunction. Oppression---damage---dysfunction; the oppression damage precedes black dysfunction. Jonathan Turner is one of the few and he has only begun the process. The same with American theology; almost nothing on oppression. Few scholars seem to grasp that systems of oppression such as slavery never really end; they only get redesigned. Read The New Jim Crow and Dear White Christians.
The same in Haiti. Few scholars take a hard look at the 500 years of oppression and then tie oppression to current Haitian socioeconomic problems. The book Haiti: State Against Nation or my title State Elite Oppress Peasants is one of the few books that do study oppression in depth.
Corruption in Haiti is serious and widespread, but it is not Haiti's number one problem.
Poverty is serious and widespread, but it is not Haiti's number one problem.
Illiteracy is serious and widespread, but it is not Haiti's number one problem.
500 years of oppression is Haiti's number one problem and it causes or impacts corruption, poverty and illiteracy. But most visitors to Haiti will not see or recognize the systems of oppression---most of it is historical though some is current---they will see only the problems super hurricane oppression has created. One current form---customs taxes which discriminate against the poor.
In the United States, sociologists have conducted dozens of studies of black culture, black dysfunction. Rare is the sociologist who makes a serious study of the nature and impact of white American oppression and how it causes black dysfunction. Oppression---damage---dysfunction; the oppression damage precedes black dysfunction. Jonathan Turner is one of the few and he has only begun the process. The same with American theology; almost nothing on oppression. Few scholars seem to grasp that systems of oppression such as slavery never really end; they only get redesigned. Read The New Jim Crow and Dear White Christians.
The same in Haiti. Few scholars take a hard look at the 500 years of oppression and then tie oppression to current Haitian socioeconomic problems. The book Haiti: State Against Nation or my title State Elite Oppress Peasants is one of the few books that do study oppression in depth.
Corruption in Haiti is serious and widespread, but it is not Haiti's number one problem.
Poverty is serious and widespread, but it is not Haiti's number one problem.
Illiteracy is serious and widespread, but it is not Haiti's number one problem.
500 years of oppression is Haiti's number one problem and it causes or impacts corruption, poverty and illiteracy. But most visitors to Haiti will not see or recognize the systems of oppression---most of it is historical though some is current---they will see only the problems super hurricane oppression has created. One current form---customs taxes which discriminate against the poor.
Monday, December 5, 2016
Wanted: A Clear and Compelling Understanding of the Kingdom of God
Desperately needed: A Clear and Compelling Understanding and Practice of the Kingdom of God.
After reading the theological literature written on the kingdom during the 20th century, theologian Marcus Borg concluded that the Western church lacked a "clear and compelling" understanding of the kingdom of God. I agree. I would add that because of a divorce between personal righteousness and social justice, love and justice, faith and works, the Spirit and the kingdom as well as the lack of a theology of oppression, the American church lacks both an understanding and a biblical practice of the kingdom of God.
As a poor, black Alabama teenager, John Lewis discovered a clear and compelling understanding of the kingdom of God. Over the radio, Lewis heard one sermon on the kingdom (beloved community) preached by Martin Luther King. This teaching on the kingdom gave his life deep meaning, purpose and direction. Soon after, James Dawson gave Lewis and others a few months training in nonviolent social change. This combination of teaching and training turned shy John Lewis into a fearless soldier in the civil rights movement. He suffered numerous beatings and failings for the cause of the kingdom.
What are some Biblical Basics on the kingdom of God?
Amos 5:24 (The Message): "I want justice---oceans of it. I want fairness---rivers of it."
Mt. 6:33: "Fix your focus on God's kingdom and his justice."
Luke 4:18-19: "Hey church! Do want to know what good news to the poor really looks like? It releases the oppressed by doing Jubilee justice in poor communities."
Rom. 14:17: "What happens when the church combines the Spirit and the kingdom? An explosion of Jubilee justice, shalom, and authentic joy."
Some more Biblical Basics on the two-pronged gospel.
Acts 8:12; 28:23 and 31:
* Jesus Christ, the cross and resurrection, justification by faith.
* Kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor.
Acts 1:1-8:
The Spirit and the kingdom are closely tied together. Rom. 14:17 summarizes this close tie as justice, shalom and joy.
Messianic passages from Isaiah: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.
* translate 61:1 as oppressed poor.
* Spirit, kingdom and justice are tied together.
Exodus, chapter 1: oppression is ruthless and devastating.
Exodus 6:9: oppression causes mass PTSD.
My paraphrase of Luke 4:18-9, the key verses in Luke, and Mt. 6:33, the key verse of Matthew:
"With a laser-like focus, the Spirit-anointed church should make its highest priority, the incarnating of God's kingdom as Jubilee justice among God's favorites---the oppressed poor."
The American church lacks a clear and compelling biblical understanding of the kingdom of God; therefore, there is an inevitable failure to practice the kingdom as Jubilee justice that releases the oppressed.
Reread James 2 in The Message.
After reading the theological literature written on the kingdom during the 20th century, theologian Marcus Borg concluded that the Western church lacked a "clear and compelling" understanding of the kingdom of God. I agree. I would add that because of a divorce between personal righteousness and social justice, love and justice, faith and works, the Spirit and the kingdom as well as the lack of a theology of oppression, the American church lacks both an understanding and a biblical practice of the kingdom of God.
As a poor, black Alabama teenager, John Lewis discovered a clear and compelling understanding of the kingdom of God. Over the radio, Lewis heard one sermon on the kingdom (beloved community) preached by Martin Luther King. This teaching on the kingdom gave his life deep meaning, purpose and direction. Soon after, James Dawson gave Lewis and others a few months training in nonviolent social change. This combination of teaching and training turned shy John Lewis into a fearless soldier in the civil rights movement. He suffered numerous beatings and failings for the cause of the kingdom.
What are some Biblical Basics on the kingdom of God?
Amos 5:24 (The Message): "I want justice---oceans of it. I want fairness---rivers of it."
Mt. 6:33: "Fix your focus on God's kingdom and his justice."
Luke 4:18-19: "Hey church! Do want to know what good news to the poor really looks like? It releases the oppressed by doing Jubilee justice in poor communities."
Rom. 14:17: "What happens when the church combines the Spirit and the kingdom? An explosion of Jubilee justice, shalom, and authentic joy."
Some more Biblical Basics on the two-pronged gospel.
Acts 8:12; 28:23 and 31:
* Jesus Christ, the cross and resurrection, justification by faith.
* Kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor.
Acts 1:1-8:
The Spirit and the kingdom are closely tied together. Rom. 14:17 summarizes this close tie as justice, shalom and joy.
Messianic passages from Isaiah: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.
* translate 61:1 as oppressed poor.
* Spirit, kingdom and justice are tied together.
Exodus, chapter 1: oppression is ruthless and devastating.
Exodus 6:9: oppression causes mass PTSD.
My paraphrase of Luke 4:18-9, the key verses in Luke, and Mt. 6:33, the key verse of Matthew:
"With a laser-like focus, the Spirit-anointed church should make its highest priority, the incarnating of God's kingdom as Jubilee justice among God's favorites---the oppressed poor."
The American church lacks a clear and compelling biblical understanding of the kingdom of God; therefore, there is an inevitable failure to practice the kingdom as Jubilee justice that releases the oppressed.
Reread James 2 in The Message.
Friday, December 2, 2016
Review of Haiti: State Against Nation
As I continue to read Haiti: State Against Nation (1990) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot, a Haitian anthropologist and historian, I am very impressed with his insights and wisdom. I think I am ready to call this book a masterpiece, on the level with The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Jean Thomas, have you read this book?
This is a book about how an Haitian elite---military, political, urban and merchant---have combined to oppress and exploit the rural peasant farmers. Often in collusion with foreign, including U.S., merchants. "The Duvalierist state emerged as the result of a long-term process that was marked by an increasing disjuncture between political and civil society."
Trouillot's sentiment seem to be on the side of the oppressed peasants as is indicated by this last sentence in his book; "The peasantry IS the nation."
Trouillot elaborates:
"Agricultural goods produced with the simplest means by a growing peasantry constituted the bulk of the country's exports, with coffee being by far the leading product. Peasant crops and imported consumer goods were the mainstay of local economic exchange. Taxes collected at the customhouses and ultimately borne by the peasantry provided the bulk of government revenues. Profit made from the peasantry contributed a large share to the returns garnered by an import-export elite that was dominated by foreign nationals and unconcerned with local production. . . . the urban elites who gravitated around that state pushed the rural majority into the margins of political life. Peasants were the economic backbone of the nation; yet peasants had no claim whatsoever on the state."
The Historical Legacy: Nationalism and Dependency
"Four fundamental traits characterized French colonial Haiti: slavery, dependence, commodity production for export, and the plantation regime. The society embodied internal contradictions that were ultimately irreconcilable: between slavery and freedom, dependence and independence, export commodities and foodstuffs, plantations and garden plots."
All Haitians agreed they wanted an end to slavery and domination by France---political freedom. But they did not agree on who should control the economic system and how it should be organized---economic justice. To prevent economic collapse, the military leaders wanted to continue the plantation system and the export of sugar. In other words, essentially continue the French system which came to be dubbed state controlled 'militarized agriculture.' Most freed slaves
did not want to have anything to do with the old plantation system, if they had another option.
The slaves, now the freed peasant farmers, had been allowed private garden plots to grow their own food. Now they wanted private, small scale farming to be expanded, including growing coffee for export. State controlled plantations versus small scale peasant farming---two radically different forms of economic justice.
The plantation system slowly faded. Then the Haitian state turned to controlling the customs taxes---fees on imports and exports. This became the new source of state revenues and the new system of oppression---discriminatory against the peasants.
Trouillot sums it up this way: "The leaders wanted export crops; the cultivators wanted land and food. The leaders wanted a country with plantations; the cultivators dreamed of larger garden plots."
The freedom which was highly prized and symbolically important was largely illusionary because it was soon replaced by French debt slavery and a custom taxation system that exploited the peasants.
I would like to end with a comparison of U.S. and Haitian systems of oppression. Neither were really ended, only redesigned. In the U.S., slavery was replaced by segregation; then legal segregation by mass incarceration; underlying them all was economic inequality. In Haiti, French slavery (100 years) was replaced by French debt slavery (for over 100 years); discriminatory customs fees were added to the mix; underlying them all was economic inequality.
In both Haiti and the U.S., we need a NT theology of social evil and social justice. Key social evil concepts are: oppression, exploitation, injustice, cosmos or evil social order, powers and authorities which rule the evil social order, and the rich who are greedy and oppressive.
NT words/concepts for social justice: the kingdom of God versus the cosmos, justice versus oppression, generosity versus greed, and love versus exploitation.
Systems of oppression will never end unless the church has better theology and practice of the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor.
This is a book about how an Haitian elite---military, political, urban and merchant---have combined to oppress and exploit the rural peasant farmers. Often in collusion with foreign, including U.S., merchants. "The Duvalierist state emerged as the result of a long-term process that was marked by an increasing disjuncture between political and civil society."
Trouillot's sentiment seem to be on the side of the oppressed peasants as is indicated by this last sentence in his book; "The peasantry IS the nation."
Trouillot elaborates:
"Agricultural goods produced with the simplest means by a growing peasantry constituted the bulk of the country's exports, with coffee being by far the leading product. Peasant crops and imported consumer goods were the mainstay of local economic exchange. Taxes collected at the customhouses and ultimately borne by the peasantry provided the bulk of government revenues. Profit made from the peasantry contributed a large share to the returns garnered by an import-export elite that was dominated by foreign nationals and unconcerned with local production. . . . the urban elites who gravitated around that state pushed the rural majority into the margins of political life. Peasants were the economic backbone of the nation; yet peasants had no claim whatsoever on the state."
The Historical Legacy: Nationalism and Dependency
"Four fundamental traits characterized French colonial Haiti: slavery, dependence, commodity production for export, and the plantation regime. The society embodied internal contradictions that were ultimately irreconcilable: between slavery and freedom, dependence and independence, export commodities and foodstuffs, plantations and garden plots."
All Haitians agreed they wanted an end to slavery and domination by France---political freedom. But they did not agree on who should control the economic system and how it should be organized---economic justice. To prevent economic collapse, the military leaders wanted to continue the plantation system and the export of sugar. In other words, essentially continue the French system which came to be dubbed state controlled 'militarized agriculture.' Most freed slaves
did not want to have anything to do with the old plantation system, if they had another option.
The slaves, now the freed peasant farmers, had been allowed private garden plots to grow their own food. Now they wanted private, small scale farming to be expanded, including growing coffee for export. State controlled plantations versus small scale peasant farming---two radically different forms of economic justice.
The plantation system slowly faded. Then the Haitian state turned to controlling the customs taxes---fees on imports and exports. This became the new source of state revenues and the new system of oppression---discriminatory against the peasants.
Trouillot sums it up this way: "The leaders wanted export crops; the cultivators wanted land and food. The leaders wanted a country with plantations; the cultivators dreamed of larger garden plots."
The freedom which was highly prized and symbolically important was largely illusionary because it was soon replaced by French debt slavery and a custom taxation system that exploited the peasants.
I would like to end with a comparison of U.S. and Haitian systems of oppression. Neither were really ended, only redesigned. In the U.S., slavery was replaced by segregation; then legal segregation by mass incarceration; underlying them all was economic inequality. In Haiti, French slavery (100 years) was replaced by French debt slavery (for over 100 years); discriminatory customs fees were added to the mix; underlying them all was economic inequality.
In both Haiti and the U.S., we need a NT theology of social evil and social justice. Key social evil concepts are: oppression, exploitation, injustice, cosmos or evil social order, powers and authorities which rule the evil social order, and the rich who are greedy and oppressive.
NT words/concepts for social justice: the kingdom of God versus the cosmos, justice versus oppression, generosity versus greed, and love versus exploitation.
Systems of oppression will never end unless the church has better theology and practice of the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
The Tragic History of Haiti
Summary Statement: Haiti has suffered 500 years of oppression at the hands of first the Spanish, then the French, then the Americans, none of whom have repented and engaged in restitution. Apparently they think they have a right to keep the plenteous plunder gained from oppression.
Haitian history in broad strokes:
1. 1500-1700 Spanish genocide and slavery.
2. 1700-1800 French slavery.
3. 1800-1900 plus French debt slavery.
4. 1800-2016. American neocolonialism/ economic exploitation.
* Two profoundly important events have forever poisoned U.S. Haiti relations; 1) The successful Haitian slave revolt (1804) set off alarm bells in the U.S. From President Jefferson on down, Americans were deathly afraid that U.S. slaves would follow the Haitian example and engage in a massive revolt; 2) closely tied to the possibility of a U.S. slave revolt was the pervasive idea of black/African inferiority. Haitian were black; Haitians were inferior. They could'nt manage their own affairs so they were a dangerous factor on the world scene. They needed a wiser, paternalistic master to directly or indirectly control the Haitian political and economic affairs. Unfortunately, the above factors created an open door for U.S. exploitation by an American economic elite working in tandem with an Haitian elite.
* The U.S. Marines invaded Haiti, 1915-1934; they trained an Haitian army.
* Haitian dictators, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, used the army from 1957-1986 to dominate and exploit and rob Haitians blind.
*The U.S. participated in an economic embargo of Haiti for several years which further devastated the Haitian economy.
*U.S. merchants have made substantial profits trading with Haiti for over 200 years.
* The U.S. participated in the kidnapping of a sitting Haitian president, Aristide.
The economic past haunts the economic present in Haiti. The French slave plantation produced sugar; most sugar was exported to Europe creating an export economy. The successful slave revolution against slave plantation did not stop the dependence on an export driven economy. Even the Haitian leaders of the revolt, like Dessalines, wanted the plantation export oriented economic system to continue as a state run 'militarized agriculture.' Not much different from the French run slave plantation system. Supposedly, without the products of the plantations, the economy would collapse.
Even today, 200 years after the Haitian revolution, the Haitian economy is still too much of an export-import driven economy. Today, Haiti imports 50 percent of its food. The U.S. benefits from Haiti's economic dependence.
Haitian history in broad strokes:
1. 1500-1700 Spanish genocide and slavery.
2. 1700-1800 French slavery.
3. 1800-1900 plus French debt slavery.
4. 1800-2016. American neocolonialism/ economic exploitation.
* Two profoundly important events have forever poisoned U.S. Haiti relations; 1) The successful Haitian slave revolt (1804) set off alarm bells in the U.S. From President Jefferson on down, Americans were deathly afraid that U.S. slaves would follow the Haitian example and engage in a massive revolt; 2) closely tied to the possibility of a U.S. slave revolt was the pervasive idea of black/African inferiority. Haitian were black; Haitians were inferior. They could'nt manage their own affairs so they were a dangerous factor on the world scene. They needed a wiser, paternalistic master to directly or indirectly control the Haitian political and economic affairs. Unfortunately, the above factors created an open door for U.S. exploitation by an American economic elite working in tandem with an Haitian elite.
* The U.S. Marines invaded Haiti, 1915-1934; they trained an Haitian army.
* Haitian dictators, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, used the army from 1957-1986 to dominate and exploit and rob Haitians blind.
*The U.S. participated in an economic embargo of Haiti for several years which further devastated the Haitian economy.
*U.S. merchants have made substantial profits trading with Haiti for over 200 years.
* The U.S. participated in the kidnapping of a sitting Haitian president, Aristide.
The economic past haunts the economic present in Haiti. The French slave plantation produced sugar; most sugar was exported to Europe creating an export economy. The successful slave revolution against slave plantation did not stop the dependence on an export driven economy. Even the Haitian leaders of the revolt, like Dessalines, wanted the plantation export oriented economic system to continue as a state run 'militarized agriculture.' Not much different from the French run slave plantation system. Supposedly, without the products of the plantations, the economy would collapse.
Even today, 200 years after the Haitian revolution, the Haitian economy is still too much of an export-import driven economy. Today, Haiti imports 50 percent of its food. The U.S. benefits from Haiti's economic dependence.
Haiti: Systems of Oppression
The eternal and often elusive nature of systems of oppression.
Currently, I am in the process of reading a book on Haitian systems of oppression, the unbelievably tragic history of Haiti entitled Haiti: State Against Nation, 1990, by an Haitian anthropologist/historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Available from University of Iowa library.
The French are infamous for their two systems of oppression---slavery and debt slavery---which forever damaged and crippled Haiti. But what replaced the French systems of oppression? Haitian elites---military, political, urban, merchants who were often allied with foreign, including U.S., merchants---controlling an oppressive system of taxation, custom taxes on imports and exports specifically discriminating against poor peasants; for example, higher fees on coffee grown by peasant farmers than on sugar grown on plantations.
A Haitian-U.S. elite replaced the French elite creating a new systems of oppression---custom taxes and a different debt slavery. Read Naomi Klein's article on debt entitled "Haiti: A Creditor, Not a Debtor," in The Nation, March 1, 2010. She asserts: "Each [illegal debt] payment to a foreign creditor was money not spent on a road, a school, an electric line. . . . Failure to comply [make payments on illegal debt] was met with a punishing economic embargo from 2001 to 2004, the death knell to the Haitian public sphere."
Evil individuals running a system of oppression such as the high priest running the Temple as a "den of robbers" or Papa Doc, the corrupt Haitian dictator, may die or be deposed, but the systems of oppression they ran usually continue. Evil individuals may personify the system of oppression and the average person will think now that the evil individual is gone, the evil system has ended. Wrong! Systems of oppression outlive the individuals running them, sometimes for generations.
Even more deceiving is when a specific system of oppression such as slavery is eliminated, most people tend to believe the evil is, at long last, ended. Not necessarily! Quite often, a new system of oppression is invented to take its place. The Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation ended legal slavery. However, soon segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs and lynching took the place of slavery. And when legal segregation ended, mass incarceration took its place.
Some systems of oppression are more invisible than others. Using the criminal justice system to incarnate racial profiling and mass incarceration is an exceedingly clever and diabolic system of oppression. Done quietly, one male at a time, blacks are targeted. Blacks are not arrested and imprisoned in a mass roundup. For decades, even black civil rights leaders did not fully realize what was going on. Finally, Michelle Alexander exposed what was going on. A new racial caste system had been created; she called it mass incarceration, The New Jim Crow.
In Haiti, French legal, physical slavery is gone; it has been replaced by a somewhat more invisible system---custom taxes on imports and exports targeting poor peasants.
Jesus called the operation of the Temple "a den of robbers." How so? The national treasury was part of the Temple bureaucracy; church and state were not separate in Israel. The poor paid a
Temple tax. The Temple treasury became incredibly wealthy. Follow the money; follow the system of taxation. Who runs the system of oppression? In this case, we have a religiously legitimated system of oppression; perfect cover for oppression. Read Kraybill's The Upside-Down Kingdom.
Where has the church been in all of this? Invisible, hiding in a building, or sometimes participating in the system of oppression. There is extensive biblical teaching on oppression, 555 references to oppression and its synonyms in the OT, but very little theology on oppression in the Western church. So oppression runs rampant, sometimes unrecognized, unchecked and unchallenged by most of the church. Any volunteers to change this atrocity?
Currently, I am in the process of reading a book on Haitian systems of oppression, the unbelievably tragic history of Haiti entitled Haiti: State Against Nation, 1990, by an Haitian anthropologist/historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Available from University of Iowa library.
The French are infamous for their two systems of oppression---slavery and debt slavery---which forever damaged and crippled Haiti. But what replaced the French systems of oppression? Haitian elites---military, political, urban, merchants who were often allied with foreign, including U.S., merchants---controlling an oppressive system of taxation, custom taxes on imports and exports specifically discriminating against poor peasants; for example, higher fees on coffee grown by peasant farmers than on sugar grown on plantations.
A Haitian-U.S. elite replaced the French elite creating a new systems of oppression---custom taxes and a different debt slavery. Read Naomi Klein's article on debt entitled "Haiti: A Creditor, Not a Debtor," in The Nation, March 1, 2010. She asserts: "Each [illegal debt] payment to a foreign creditor was money not spent on a road, a school, an electric line. . . . Failure to comply [make payments on illegal debt] was met with a punishing economic embargo from 2001 to 2004, the death knell to the Haitian public sphere."
Evil individuals running a system of oppression such as the high priest running the Temple as a "den of robbers" or Papa Doc, the corrupt Haitian dictator, may die or be deposed, but the systems of oppression they ran usually continue. Evil individuals may personify the system of oppression and the average person will think now that the evil individual is gone, the evil system has ended. Wrong! Systems of oppression outlive the individuals running them, sometimes for generations.
Even more deceiving is when a specific system of oppression such as slavery is eliminated, most people tend to believe the evil is, at long last, ended. Not necessarily! Quite often, a new system of oppression is invented to take its place. The Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation ended legal slavery. However, soon segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs and lynching took the place of slavery. And when legal segregation ended, mass incarceration took its place.
Some systems of oppression are more invisible than others. Using the criminal justice system to incarnate racial profiling and mass incarceration is an exceedingly clever and diabolic system of oppression. Done quietly, one male at a time, blacks are targeted. Blacks are not arrested and imprisoned in a mass roundup. For decades, even black civil rights leaders did not fully realize what was going on. Finally, Michelle Alexander exposed what was going on. A new racial caste system had been created; she called it mass incarceration, The New Jim Crow.
In Haiti, French legal, physical slavery is gone; it has been replaced by a somewhat more invisible system---custom taxes on imports and exports targeting poor peasants.
Jesus called the operation of the Temple "a den of robbers." How so? The national treasury was part of the Temple bureaucracy; church and state were not separate in Israel. The poor paid a
Temple tax. The Temple treasury became incredibly wealthy. Follow the money; follow the system of taxation. Who runs the system of oppression? In this case, we have a religiously legitimated system of oppression; perfect cover for oppression. Read Kraybill's The Upside-Down Kingdom.
Where has the church been in all of this? Invisible, hiding in a building, or sometimes participating in the system of oppression. There is extensive biblical teaching on oppression, 555 references to oppression and its synonyms in the OT, but very little theology on oppression in the Western church. So oppression runs rampant, sometimes unrecognized, unchecked and unchallenged by most of the church. Any volunteers to change this atrocity?
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