Sugar

by Christopher Pilie

Overview

1791 was a year where the power structures in the world were in great transition and in several cases collapsing in on themselves. The American Revolution had been fought and won, the French Revolution was beginning to rage in Europe, and a revolution was about to break out in the French colony of Saint-Domingue.

The fresh ideas of the Enlightenment collided with the old antiquated ideas of the Middle Ages creating a rejection of monarchies around the world and most of all a rejection to serfdom and slavery. Civilizations all around the world were exploring reason, science, individualism, philosophy, politics, and the arts. Most of all the world was beginning to break away from the societies run by the clergy and the religious.

While this was a refreshing stage in human development it was also a stage in human history that would set the stage for philosophies fueling revolution, imperial dictatorships, and mass murder in the twentieth century. Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote about the death of God in his book "Thus Spoke Zarathustra",

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us?" - Friedrich Nietzsche

It was this sentiment that resonated from the enlightenment and the revolution sparked from its ideas.

In the late 18th century Saint-Domingue, the French gripped tightly to the most profitable colony in all of the world while ignoring the inevitable revolution that was to occur as a reaction to the injustices of slavery. Many throughout history have placed the injustices of slavery neatly at the feet of racism. The evolution of the colony's society in the 18th century showed how racism was just a sliver of the manifestation of tyranny brought about by the French's inability to progress beyond the economic necessity of slavery.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." - Genesis 3:7-10

France along with much of the world was enslaved by slavery. The cycle of slavery was one that needed to be broken and the inability for the French to break this horrible institution brought violent death to the beautiful island of Saint-Domingue. It is for us to view this time in history with the view that it was not a simple act to outlaw the institution of slavery. This wasn't a façade on the face of French society that could simply be dismantled and discarded. The institution of slavery was an invasive weed where its roots wove itself through all segments of society to its deepest cornerstone and foundation. The only way to rid the society of this weed was to tear society apart.

"Slavery is a weed that grows on every soil." - Edmund Burke

Product Details

BN ID:	2940186061175
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	01/01/2024
Series:	Crimson Rada , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	450 KB

About the Author

Christopher Pilie’ was born in 1974 and grew up near the city of New Orleans. His family has been a part of the foundation of the historic parts of the French Quarter. While growing up in New Orleans and the deep south, Christopher learned about the region’s complex socio-economic culture and became fascinated with its origins and evolution. Through his studies, he learned of the cultural influences of the Spanish, Germans, French, English, Native Americans, Haitians, and Africans and became fascinated by the ways these cultures clashed and melded together.

In 2019, while exploring his genealogy, Christopher discovered the fascinating explosion of revolutionary activity in the world in the late 18th century. Being a mostly self-educated student of history through his fascination with the rise of Western Civilization, he became convinced that the year of 1791 was the fulcrum that changed the West and the world forever. It was this year that the Haitian Revolution began, which in part marked the beginning of the end to monarchies all around the western world.

Christopher is also an artist who focuses mostly on building his private collection as well as the maintaining the collection of his late mother, artist Patricia Pilie’s, personal collection. He has created the “Crimson Rada” effort to share his creative endeavors with the world through his vision of art, literature, philosophy, and spirituality.