{"id":265897,"date":"2010-02-02T13:57:34","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T18:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seattleglobaljustice.org\/?p=625"},"modified":"2010-02-02T13:57:34","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T18:57:34","slug":"haiti-a-history-of-oppression-and-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/265897","title":{"rendered":"Haiti: A History of Oppression and Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Ashley Fent, Co-Chair of CAGJ’s AGRA Watch Campaign. The first part of this article, including ways you can take action, was published in CAGJ’s February 2010 newsletter, and is re-printed below the list of citations.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Pou w konprann sa k pase joudi a, f\u00f3k ou konnen sa ka pase anvan, \u201cTo understand today we must know the past\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although known today as \u201cthe poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,\u201d Haiti\u2019s history tells the story of an enduring\u2014and costly\u2014resistance to some of the world\u2019s most powerful forces. Following Columbus\u2019s bumping into the island of Hispaniola, the Taino people forcefully resisted their enslavement and extermination by the Spanish conquistadors. Their queen Anacaona was martyred in this opposition and remains a legendary Haitian heroine today (6).<\/p>\n

The French created of Saint-Domingue their most lucrative colonial possession, the \u201cPearl of the Antilles (7),\u201d whose sugar and coffee plantations were the envy of aspiring colonial powers and whose profits were made through the unpaid labor of African peoples shipped across the Atlantic. The marrons\u2014escaped slaves who formed communities in the mountains\u2014resisted by attacking and often killing their former masters. Inspired by the French and American revolutions but dissatisfied with their hypocrisies, the charismatic Toussaint L\u2019Ouverture led the Haitian people from slavery to individual freedom. In 1804, under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haiti became the first post-colonial Black nation (8).<\/p>\n

But Haiti has long terrified the United States. The Founding Fathers were entirely aware that an ostensibly free nation could not depend on slavery, and that, in Jefferson\u2019s words, they were holding a \u201cwolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go (9).\u201d Out of fear that the successful and violent slave rebellion would galvanize insurrections on their own plantations, they refused to recognize Haiti (10). Independent Haiti persisted, through many decades of French and American embargoes (11). The Haitian people dared to celebrate their independence, even when their ostracization forced them to pay an egregious cost that would cripple their economy for generations.<\/p>\n

That cost was a debt of 150 million francs to France, for the loss of its colony, commodities, and human capital. Until the last payment was made in 1922, Haiti held up its end of the bargain, using 70 percent of foreign exchange earnings and taking out loans from American and French banks to service the odious debt it owed to its former colonizer (12). The current value of the money Haiti repaid to French and American banks totals over $20 billion (13).<\/p>\n

In 1915, the Wilson Administration sent US Marines to occupy Haiti. For nineteen years, the US controlled customs, collected taxes, ran governmental institutions, and rewrote than Haitian Constitution to open land to foreigners and secure American access to resources (14). For nineteen years, Haitians revolted against their occupiers, and were massacred in response.<\/p>\n

As part of its Cold War mission to \u201ccontain\u201d the spread of Communism, the United States bolstered the regime of Francois \u201cPapa Doc\u201d Duvalier, even as he terrorized his people and extorted large sums of money. Over 40 percent of Haiti\u2019s $1.3 billion debt was accrued by Papa Doc and his son Jean-Claude \u201cBaby Doc\u201d Duvalier, who succeeded his father in 1971 (15). Meanwhile, priests like Jean-Bertrand Aristide used liberation theology to challenge the Duvalier regime. As a result of the Haitian people\u2019s struggle for democracy, in 1986 Baby Doc was forced into exile in France.<\/p>\n

Through the structural adjustment and trade liberalization policies foisted on Haiti by US, IMF and World Bank in 1995 (16), Haiti was transformed from a country self-sufficient in rice production to one that imports nearly all of its rice\u2014from the sugar capital of the Caribbean into an importer of sugar (17). Earlier, in the 1980s, Haitians had been forced to slaughter the Creole pigs upon which 85 percent of rural households depended for subsistence\u2014international agencies insisted that the pigs were sick and promised new and better pigs from Iowa (18). The new pigs required highly selective feed and habitat, and their meat didn\u2019t taste as good. This \u201cdevelopment\u201d program cost Haitian peasants as estimated $600 million dollars, not to mention high social, health and environmental costs (19).
\nThe US has continually destabilized the progressive governments of Haiti, as it has done throughout the world. When the US-backed candidate in the 1990 election, a former World Bank official, overwhelming lost to Aristide (20), the US shifted its strategy to destabilizing Aristide\u2019s government\u2014although after three years of tyranny led by the Duvalier\u2019s paramilitary Tontons Macoutes, Clinton did send troops in 1994 to reinstate Aristide for the completion of his term. so long as he implemented structural adjustment programs, known in Haiti as the \u201cplan of death (21).\u201d\u00a0 Aristide\u2019s pursuit of \u201cpoverty with dignity\u201d and his attempts at progressive reform were continually quashed by the United States, until he was taken out of the country under questionable circumstances in 2004. Yet even now he is considered too pro-poor, too progressive, and too \u201cpolitical\u201d to have any role in Haiti\u2019s future (22). President Ren\u00e9 Pr\u00e9val\u2014considered in the eyes of the US a reliable and level-headed leader because of his adherence to neoliberal policies and his characterization as a pragmatic technocrat, spent the first few days after the crisis drafting agreements with foreign officials rather than addressing his people (23).
\nIn the meantime, as explained by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, the US can win the \u201chearts and minds\u201d of the Haitian people such that they consent to being denied their right to self-determination. The ultimate goal, of course, is to extract corporate profits from Haiti, and to counter the \u201cCastro-Chavez camp (24).\u201d Among the assets to be gleaned through disaster capitalism include mining contracts and the privatization of Haiti’s deep water ports (25). As well, Bill Clinton, the UN Special Envoy to Haiti who is now responsible for reconstruction, has long put faith in garment manufacturing and tourism to \u201cdevelop\u201d Haiti (26). Bill Gates too has called for long-term investment: “Haiti was the poorest country in the region before this\u2026 There’s a lot to be done there. I hope this is not just a one-time thing (27).\u201d Haiti needs long-term investment in justice and in equality\u2026 not in sweatshops and tourist resorts.<\/p>\n

Please note that the first five sources listed are from an article posted in CAGJ’s newsletter, which is re-posted below these sources.<\/em><\/p>\n

(1) Bell, Beverly. Walking on Fire: Haitian Women\u2019s Stories of Survival and Resistance. 2001.
\n(2) http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2010\/WORLD\/americas\/01\/21\/haiti.reform\/
\n(3) http:\/\/www.economist.com\/opinion\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15330453
\n(4) http:\/\/globalgeopolitics.net\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/18\/catastrophe-in-haiti-the-natural-and-not-so-natural-factors\/,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=122530936&ps=rs<\/p>\n

(5) Aristide, Jean-Bertrand. Eyes of the Heart.2000.
\n(6) Bell, Beverly. Walking on Fire: Haitian Women\u2019s Stories of Survival and Resistance. 2001.
\n(7) Ibid
\n(8) Waweru, Kimani. http:\/\/www.pambazuka.org\/en\/category\/comment\/55997
\n(9) Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. 1993.
\n(10) Waweru, Kimani. http:\/\/www.pambazuka.org\/en\/category\/comment\/55997
\n(11) Ibid
\n(12) Beckles, Hilary. http:\/\/www.pambazuka.org\/en\/category\/features\/61811
\nQuigley, Bill. \u201cWhy the US Owes Haiti Billions \u2013 The Briefest History.\u201d http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/view\/2010\/01\/17-6
\n(13) Quigley, Bill. \u201cWhy the US Owes Haiti Billions \u2013 The Briefest History.\u201d http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/view\/2010\/01\/17-6
\n(14) Ibid
\nToler, Deborah. \u201cHarvest of Hunger: The United States in Haiti.\u201d Food First Backgrounder. 1996.
\n(15) Quigley, Bill. \u201cWhy the US Owes Haiti Billions \u2013 The Briefest History.\u201d http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/view\/2010\/01\/17-6,
\nWaweru, Kimani. http:\/\/www.pambazuka.org\/en\/category\/comment\/55997
\n(16) Aristide, Jean-Bertrand. The Eyes of the Heart. 2000
\n(17) Quigley, Bill. \u201cWhy the US Owes Haiti Billions \u2013 The Briefest History.\u201d http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/view\/2010\/01\/17-6
\n(18) Aristide, Jean-Bertrand. The Eyes of the Heart. 2000.
\n(19) Ibid
\n(20) Waweru, Kimani. http:\/\/www.pambazuka.org\/en\/category\/comment\/55997
\n(21) http:\/\/globalgeopolitics.net\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/18\/catastrophe-in-haiti-the-natural-and-not-so-natural-factors\/
\n(22) http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2006\/02\/20\/international\/americas\/20haiti.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/01\/18\/world\/americas\/18policy.html<\/p>\n

(23) http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/01\/17\/AR2010011703370.html
\n(24) http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/01\/13\/things-to-remember-while-helping-haiti\/
\n(25) McKinney, Cynthia. http:\/\/www.pambazuka.org\/en\/category\/features\/61809
\n(26) http:\/\/globalgeopolitics.net\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/18\/catastrophe-in-haiti-the-natural-and-not-so-natural-factors\/,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=122530936&ps=rs<\/p>\n

(27) http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/localnews\/2010890341_billgates26.html<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Posted in CAGJ’s February 2010 Newsletter:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pou w konprann sa k pase joudi a, f\u00f3k ou konnen sa ka pase anvan, \u201cTo understand today we must know the past\u201d (1)<\/p>\n

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake shook Port-au-Prince, with casualties in the hundreds of thousands of people. CAGJ sends our deepest condolences to the people of Haiti, and to the Haitian and Haitian-American people in the US who have lost loved ones. Without diminishing the devastation in Port-au-Prince following the earthquake, we also note that this tragedy is one piece of an ongoing catastrophe that implicates the United States, France and international financial institutions in under-developing and de-stabilizing Haiti. Rather than paying back the outstanding debt the Global North owes to Haiti, our government is taking advantage of the crisis to illegitimately extract even more money from Haiti. Former US envoy James Dobbins has stated that Haiti \u201chas undergone shock. Some of the institutional and social obstacles to reform may now be more movable. The Haitian system itself may be more malleable (2).\u201d Part of this \u201cmalleability\u201d comes from the strong US military presence now in Haiti indefinitely. The Global North claims that because of a governmental vacuum\u2014which it has helped create\u2014the Northern countries themselves should administer Haiti\u2019s reconstruction. An article in The Economist announced that \u201cHaiti\u2019s government cannot rebuild the country. A temporary authority needs to be set up to do it.\u201d The Economist suggests that this coalition be led by Bill Clinton or Brazil\u2019s Lula (3). Clinton, the UN Special Envoy to Haiti who is now responsible for reconstruction, has long put faith in garment manufacturing and tourism to \u201cdevelop\u201d Haiti (4). With the Haitian economy and infrastructure in \u201cshock\u201d following the earthquake, Haiti may finally become the acquiescent and well-behaved country the United States has always wanted it to be.
\n200,000 human lives and counting is too heavy a loss for any country to have to bear. When added to the casualties of slavery, colonialism, military occupation, tyrannical regimes, structural adjustment, and gross global inequality, the death toll is a catastrophe that should sit heavily on our collective conscience and inspire us to take action in solidarity with the long and enduring struggle of the Haitian people for dignity, equality, and justice. The words of Jean-Bertrand Aristide may guide us in this pursuit: \u201cThis is our challenge for the new century\u2026Our faith makes us certain it will come to pass. This faith, this certainty, may be the most valuable export we can offer the world. I invite you to share in it. You and I together, fingers of the same hand, are called to build a more human world in this new century, to bring the thumb and the little finger closer together, so that the hand may be strong and whole. I am certain that we can and that we will (5).\u201d May we show with our actions that we honor Haiti\u2019s lesson to us: that humanity and hope can indeed prevail.
\nHow you can act:<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Donate to relief and health agencies who maintain long-term and community-based relationships in Haiti, including but not limited to: Partners in Health, Grassroots International, Doctors without Borders
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Also donate to Haitian organizations that work within marginalized communities and should be empowered in the process of rebuilding infrastructure, communities, and hope. These include but are not limited to:
\nKonbit pou Ayiti: http:\/\/www.konpay.org\/splash\/
\nVia Campesina, in solidarity with Haiti: http:\/\/www.viacampesina.org\/main_en\/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=859&Itemid=31
\nHonor and Respect for Bel Air & Coordination R\u00e9gionale des Organisations de Sud-Est (CROSE) vis a vis Avaaz: http:\/\/www.avaaz.org\/en\/stand_with_haiti\/
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Use your political voice to demand that the US government repay its debts to Haiti, that it shun disaster capitalism and transnational corporations\u2019 reckless profiteering, and that it support instead political and social demands of Haiti\u2019s poor.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Learn more:<\/strong>
\nJean-Bertrand Aristide\u2014The Eyes of the Heart
\nBeverly Bell\u2014Walking on Fire
\nPaul Farmer\u2014The Uses of Haiti, Pathologies of Power
\nCLR James\u2014The Black Jacobins
\nEdwidge Danticat\u2014Krik?Krak! (novel)
\nAristide and the Endless Revolution (film)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Ashley Fent, Co-Chair of CAGJ’s AGRA Watch Campaign. The first part of this article, including ways you can take action, was published in CAGJ’s February 2010 newsletter, and is re-printed below the list of citations. Pou w konprann sa k pase joudi a, f\u00f3k ou konnen sa ka pase anvan, \u201cTo understand today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}