IIRC Haiti still owes the French reparations for having won independence.
my contempt for the west grows everyday
The only correct response to that is “I’m not paying that, good luck making me”
I’m not too knowledgeable about Haiti, but I believe they started with that response and the French blocked ports, etc, making it almost impossible to do anything. Eventually they compromised and agreed to pay. Maybe someone else here knows more about it?
It is disgusting to me that most people have no idea that European business leaders - notably the ones in England - strongly supported the south. Further, it upsets me that most people don’t know that workers demonstrated and held strikes to force their bosses to stop supporting the southern war effort.
The US civil war was not a self-contained conflict, it was not just a concern to the United States. Every nation that benefitted from US products was involved in the southern war effort in some way, even if their governments officially supported the north or banned slavery. Hell, Brazil celebrated the confederates, and used fleeing confederates to colonize parts of Brazil. There are STILL pro-confederacy festivals in Brazil.
An Era of Darkeness by Shashi Tharoor?