Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
THE WRITERS became speakers at the Institute of Jamaica's Lecture Hall, East Street, downtown Kingston, on Friday morning.
While the written contributions of Verene Shepherd, Marie José Nzengou-Tayo and Myrtha Désulmé to Haitian Echoes: Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery concentrated on various aspects of Haitian life, the three spoke of the circumstances around their contributions to the book, as it was officially presented to the public.
Shepherd traced the link between Jamaica and Haiti back to Boukman, C. L. R James' book The Black Jocobins and the hemispheric intentions of the newly independent Haitians of 1804.
Referring to the recent decision of the St. Elizabeth Parish Council to reject celebrations of the abolition of the slave trade, Shepherd said: "The struggle against forms of exploitation is as pertinent now ..."
Marie José Nzengou-Tayo's contribution to the book is about Haitian literature and she spoke of a situation where Haiti's rate of illiteracy, always high, has now dropped to about 50 or 45 per cent. However, in contradiction with those figures, Haiti has the highest literary production in the Caribbean.
It is not fiction, but mostly essays, "a tradition that started just after independence, as we had to justify our very existence."
Most of the essays are not in English and Nzengou-Tayo said that there have been attempts to have some of the texts from the 19th century translated into English.
"They will give you a different perspective on what we are and who we want to be," she said.
Myrtha Désulmé said, "I wrote about my personal journey and discovery of Haitian art," declaring that "it allowed me to delve into the marvellous realism that is the Haitian people."
Désulmé's journey took her from Haiti to Jamaica when she was five, then on to France at six. In her 20s, she was "steeped in European culture," with "Haiti symbolically demonised in the press and history books."
"Art in Haiti is an imperative. It is made whether there is a market or not," Desulme said, going on to make the link between voodoo and Haitian art.
The writers were not the only speakers on Friday in the function hosted by Bernard Jankee of the African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica (ACIJ).
Alwyn Bully of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said Haitian Echoes: Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery was a landmark in the organisation's slave route project.
The 'Lest We Forget UNESCO Slave Route' exhibition was opened at the Institute of Jamaica on April 14, 2005.
PERTINENT STRUGGLE
Bully spoke of Haiti's "eternal glory as the first black republic in the world ... which even today continues to pay the price of that achievement."
And the Institute of Jamaica's Wayne Modest said: "We are happy to be a part of changing perspective ... of using memory and history to understand our present."
Multiple performances by the Akwaaba Drummers and a delivery of Marcus Garvey's Masters of Our Own Destiny punctuated the speeches
Bully presented copies of Haitian Echoes: Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery to representatives of the ACIJ Library, as well as Alpha Academy and the Holy Trinity, Garvey Maceo and St. Jago high schools. The book is to be distributed to schools across the island and persons present at the launch were given a copy.
