Neocolonialism through Debt: How French and US banks underdeveloped Haïti

CLS zoom meeting –  Postponed until 4th May

Speakers: Bernard Coard and Steve Cushion

Two hundred years ago, the formerly enslaved population of the French colony of Saint Domingue defeated a French colonial army and declared the independent Republic of Haïti. Twenty years later, a French naval blockade forced the government of Haïti to agree to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to compensate their former enslavers. In order to finance this, the Haïtian government contracted a number of loans from French-owned banks that left the country impoverished and underdeveloped, paving the way for the US invasion and occupation.… Read on ...

RIP AVIS HART 1933- 2025

Luke Daniels, president of CLS said:
The sad news has reached us of the passing of Avis Hart. She was for more than 50 years the partner of Richard Hart (1917-2013), co-founder in 1974 of Caribbean Labour Solidarity (CLS). It was cheering to visit Avis and see her smiling, a year ago when Margaret Busby and I were warmly hosted by Avis’s good friend Ros Martin during the Bristol Radical History Festival. Here is a lovely tribute that Ros posted on LinkedIn earlier this month, reporting that “Avis died peacefully at her daughter’s home in Bristol in the company of … Read on ...

Claudia Jones Commemmoration 2025

Ceremony to commemorate the life of Claudia Jones, held at her graveside in Highgate cemetery

Luke Daniels, President of Caribbean Labour Solidarity was one of the speakers.

NGOs AND TRADE UNIONS DEMAND THE END OF EU’S PRODUCTION, EXPORT, AND IMPORT OF BANNED PESTICIDES

The EU has banned the use of a number of pesticides found to do serious damage to human health and the environment. However, companies remain free to manufacture these hazardous pesticides in the EU for ex port to other countries with weaker regulations, putting human health and the environment at risk. The EU also allows the import of food and agricultural goods grown with pesticides banned on its own fields, exposing European consumers to cocktails of dangerous residues and creating unfair competition for European farmers.

Over the past years, EU institutions have all recognised that there is a double standard … Read on ...