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The Haitian Tragedy

Nov 19, 2010 Editorial

The tragedy of Haiti is not the news that more than 1000 persons have perished and 15,000 are hospitalised with another 200,000 infected to date in the still not controlled outbreak of cholera that broke out last month. It is not even the 230,000 that perished and the 330,000 that suffered horrific injuries in the earthquake of January earlier this year. Nor the 1.5 million that still live in tents following that earthquake with no jobs or prospects for a better life in sight. The tragedy is that the Presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for Nov 28, are proceeding apace, with practically no country – even those from CARICOM – pointing out what a farce it is.
How can one give greater weight to an election against such manifold destruction of human life, property and prospects? For the simple reason that Haiti is not an ordinary country – especially for those of us in the Caribbean. A product of European greed and barbarism, Haiti was flooded with African slaves to produce sugar under the whip for the rising French middle classes. When the French underclasses revolted against their monarch and his nobles, it was the Haitian slaves under the brilliant leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture that took on the French might for their own freedom. Defeating the armies of Napoleon, the successors of Toussaint created the first black republic in the Western hemisphere in 1804 and provided a beacon of hope to the other slaves and their descendants in all our colonies.
Haiti’s tragedy was always political. A standing indictment on the Caucasian claim that Blacks could not rule themselves, the former conspired to crush the fledgling Haitian republic. It was not Cuba that faced the first economic blockade in the Caribbean. In the years since they won their freedom, Haiti was ruled by one army-supported dictator after another, all supported by European and then US governments that placed their strategic interests ahead of the immiserated Haitian poor. The political question in Haiti was always: When would the country finally be ruled on their behalf rather than that of the tiny elite?
Democratic forces were only able to overthrow Duvalier and his Macoutes (in 1986) and then, after a long army crackdown that killed another thousand people or so, to overcome direct military rule (in 1990).
Jean-Bertrand Aristide had become the first democratically elected president of Haiti. Much of the momentum of this mobilisation survived the murderous CIA-backed coup of 1991, and Aristide was finally able, at great cost, to disband the army in 1995. When Aristide then won a second overwhelming mandate in the elections of 2000, the resounding victory of his Fanmi Lavalas party at all levels of government raised the prospect, for the first time in Haitian history, of genuine significant political change in a context in which there was no obvious extra-political mechanism – no army – to prevent it.
In 2004, a coup lead by former Haitian soldiers in tandem with members of the opposition reversed all of that. Aristide has consistently asserted that he was forced to resign at gunpoint by members of the US Embassy. US officials have claimed that he decided to resign freely following the violent uprising. His “sin” was to move to empower the masses – and demand reparations from France. He was flown to South Africa where he still waits to get his diplomatic passport renewed. He is not allowed to travel outside South Africa.
What can one say about the nature of the upcoming election in which the largest party in the country – the Fanmi Lavalas party of ex-President Jean Bertrand Aristide – has been prevented from participating because of a new rule that presidential candidates must register personally! This is not to mention that 13 other parties were also excluded by the country’s Provisional Electoral Council, which itself is not constitutionally composed, having been practically handpicked by the incumbent President Rene Preval.
So once again the aspirations of the millions of poor and powerless ordinary Haitians are being sacrificed on the altar of “security” and “stability” as defined by external powers. But does CARICOM have to go along?

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