A piece written from the book 鈥楲a Vie de J.J Dessalines: Chef des Noirs R茅volt茅s de Saint-Domingue鈥� by J.F Dubroca (1804)
When a transported Guinean forced to work the fields, living in bondage, hears myths of liberty, equality and fraternity in the mouths of his French masters, he decides to soon become conqueror, emperor, in what remains the surreal story of the 鈥�Chef des Noirs R茅volt茅s鈥� - The Leader of the Black Rebels.
Forefather of Haitian Independence, and notoriously hidden in Toussaint Louverture's shadow, often butting heads with the g茅n茅ral 14 years his senior, Jean Jacques Dessalines was always multifaceted, exuding a Machiavellian character in government and war. Yet, today, it is his name that bears the Haitian national anthem, La Dessalinienne, over Louverature鈥檚, despite being a name that still turns stomachs in the Caribbean country. The murderer of his first master, and the bearer of his second鈥檚 name, Dessalines inspired a theory that cannot be replaced, one leading the people of Saint Domingue to freedom, quenching an islandwide hunt for French blood, which he inspired. In a hot-potato-hold spanning half a millennium, the island passed between the hands of the Spanish, the French, briefly the Brits and finally the US each time relinquishing control over these dark, lucrative subjects! Though, Saint Domingue embraced this mixture of several continents, forming a profound cr茅ole which condensed global languages, spirituality and resilience that seemed all too precocious in the eyes of Dessalines, to be held in the hands of anyone but future Haitians. Through his crimes of pillage and burnt French villages perceived as 鈥済ifts鈥�, Dessalines swiftly ascended Georges Biassou鈥檚 military ranks, rewarded with leading 鈥減elotons鈥� of men distinguished by languages and habitudes, one of which included dance which the Congolese population were notably recognised for - showing little has changed since.
Eventually, Dessalines became a manufacturer of nightmares. Replicating the torturous techniques he witnessed as a slave, onto his victims, and curating some of his own, introducing the force-feeding of female captives their neighbours鈥� intestines, and plunging their children into searing hot sugar. He demonstrated an unprecedented contempt for the settlers, sparing no man, woman child or village, forcing all opposite to his sword to surrender everything. Becoming the 鈥減rodigy monster鈥�, he converted labour squeezed from 鈥渟oixante mille esclaves鈥� (sixty thousand slaves) from the most profitable plantation on the planet at the time, to the largest slave revolution recorded. The life of Jean Jacques Dessalines was one too familiar with struggle, strife and murder, written to be the story of a silenced slave who instead brought freedom to a nation, protecting something that was not yet defined, relentlessly fending off armies and invasions even after the Haitian revolution, with Napoleon seeking desperately to restore slavery.
Currently faced with its own leadership dilemma, without a sitting government, Haiti鈥檚 capital, Port-au-Prince, is today predominantly controlled by gangs. In a national state of emergency, Haiti must assemble and find its common strength, particularly with a general election scheduled to take place in November 2025 鈥� its first in a decade. Haiti must collectively reimagine its future, needing more than ever, 鈥楿n Chef du Peuple鈥�.
