The Power of Discussion & the Written Word / #Democracy #PeoplePower #HaitianRevolution #AmericanRevolution #humanrights #FormsOfProduction #theFreedomPapers
How important is the presence and absence of (1) open discussion of ideas to humanity, and how pivotal is the presence and absence of (2) the written word, and the (3) ability to physically (digitally) distribute such ideas to impact local, national, and global events? On page 88, of āSilencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995),ā Michel-Rolph Trouillot, paraphrases, Louis Sala-Molins āclaimā āthat slavery was the ultimate test of the Enlightenment.ā Whereas Trouillot goes one step further and sais that āthe Haitian Revolution was the ultimate test to the universalist pretensions of both the French and American revolutions. And they both failed. In 1791, there is no public debate on the record, in France, in England, or in the United states on the right of black slaves to achieve self-determination, and the right to do so by way of armed resistance.ā In such a manner does Michel-Rolph Trouillot place before the reader the possibility that the American Revo...