[News] The Non-Election for the Non-Government of the Non-Sovereign State of Haiti

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Wed, 12/01/2010
http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/non-election-non-government-non-sovereign-state-haiti

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

The Haitian people didn’t want it, even most of 
the candidates rejected it, so who was supposed 
to benefit from last Sunday’s farcical election? 
“The exercise only has value for those who paid 
for it, the Americans, who spent $14 million on 
this fraud in hopes of disguising the fact that Haiti is a U.S. colony.”

The Non-Election for the Non-Government of the Non-Sovereign State of Haiti

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“There is no Haitian state to speak of, no prize to win.”

The multitudinous assaults on Haiti's dignity 
reached a crescendo with this weekend’s 
elections, imposed by foreigners for the benefit 
of foreigners against the wishes of the Haitian 
people and even of most of the candidates. It is 
as if severely wounded and sick hospital patients 
– make that prison hospital patients – were 
ordered to dance and sing for the pleasure of 
rich visitors. As should have been expected, most 
Haitians refused to perform like circus animals, on demand.

The Haitian sham elections for president and most 
of the legislature may go down as the most 
bizarre and macabre exercise in hypocrisy in the 
history of U.S. imperialism. Haiti’s most popular 
political party – no, the ONLY political party 
with a truly mass following – the Fanmi Lavalas 
organization of exiled president Jean Bertrand 
Aristide, was barred from running. By the time 
Sunday rolled around, 12 of the 19 candidates for 
president were denouncing the government for 
perpetrating a “massive fraud” on the citizenry. 
Turnout was probably not much more than single 
digits – which is actually the usual for Haitian 
elections in which Aristide’s party is not 
allowed to participate – an electoral travesty 
equivalent to outlawing the Democratic Party in 
New York City, Boston or Chicago.

With at least 1.5 million Haitians without 
adequate shelter, the entire population still in 
shock over the lost of 300,000 in January’s 
earthquake, an economy in ruins, a non-existent 
infrastructure and a raging cholera epidemic that 
international observers say could spread to 
200,000 people, Haiti is the last place to stage 
an election. But the most important question has 
been: an election to what? There is no Haitian 
state to speak of, no prize to win. Haiti is no 
longer a sovereign nation, but has been reduced 
to a protectorate of the United States, France 
and Canada, with blue-helmeted United Nations 
soldiers acting as internal security. French 
African colonial regimes wielded more authority 
in the transition to independence than Haiti’s 
shell of a government exercises, today.

“Haiti is no longer a sovereign nation, but has 
been reduced to a protectorate of the United States, France and Canada.”

Haiti is an occupied country, the victim of 
multiple invasions. The U.S. invasion of 2004 and 
the kidnapping and expulsion of its president 
opened Haiti to United Nations occupation – proud 
Haiti, stepped on and ground underfoot by an 
international cast of foreign armies paid for 
largely by the United States. Haitians themselves 
call the country the “Republic of NGOs,” with 
more foreign “aid” outfits per capita than any 
place in the world, all of them doing their own 
thing with no accountability to a single Haitian, 
including the despised, outgoing president, Rene 
Preval. Only a fraction of the billions raised 
for earthquake reconstruction have been spent, 
and only a small part of that was allocated to the Haitian government.

So, what election, for what government? The 
exercise only has value for those who paid for 
it, the Americans, who spent $14 million on this 
fraud in hopes of disguising the fact that Haiti 
is a U.S. colony. The U.S. insists on treating 
Sunday's results as valid, which may mean that a 
singer named “Sweet Micky” who sometimes wears 
diapers on stage will become the nominal head of 
state. And why not? There is no Haitian state. 
That is something for the Haitian people to 
build, once they have thrown off the dictatorship 
of Washington. For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen 
Ford. On the web, go to 
<http://www.BlackAgendaReport.com/>www.BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted 
at <mailto:Glen.Ford at BlackAgendaReport.com>Glen.Ford at BlackAgendaReport.com.




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