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The table of contents of J. C. Dorsainvil's Manuel d'histoire d'Haïti? which for a long time has been the bible for Haitian schoolchildren, has a little surprise in store for those who consult it. After chapter eighteen, none of the chapters has a title, which leads us to understand that the same title applies for all the rest. Thus, the thirteen chapters that follow must have the same title as the eighteenth: "Defending Haiti" ("Pour défendre Haïti"). These chapters cover the period from 1804 to today. Does this mean that since Haiti proclaimed its independence, it has always been on the defensive?
This makes you wonder: Did the generals who in 1804 led a victorious war know how to defend Haiti? From the early days, these generals did, of course, construct fortifications, of which the Laferriere Citadel is the most impressive. But these forts have never been in service. One could even say that they have not been able to prevent the comings and goings of foreign troops, the chronology of which gives pause for thought:
1803 Departure of French troops (29 November 1803)
1915 Arrival of American troops (28 July 1915)
1934 Departure of American troops (21 August 1934)
1994 Return of American troops (19 September 1994)
1995 Departure of American troops (31 March 1995)
2004 Return of both American and French troops (29 February 2004) (1 June 2004 French and American troops replaced by UN troops, under Brazilian command)
The fortifications erected in 1804 have not, therefore, stopped the return of foreign troops to Haiti. The famous slogan, inscribed in Article 28 of the 1805 constitution-"At the first warning strike of the cannon, the country disappears and the nation stands up!" (Au premier coup de canon d'alarme, le pays disparaît et la nation est debout!)-has never been invoked. It has not even been pronounced by any one of our generals or presidents, in spite of these continued comings and goings of foreign troops.
According to the well-known adage, war is the armed wing of politics. But the backbone of politics is mythology. The Haitian situation demonstrates to us the inefficacy of certain myths, or at least the need to rework them.
STRATEGY AND MYTHOLOGY
In the introduction to his translation of Mao Tse-tungs...