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<a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/17145" eudora="autourl">
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/17145<br><br>
</a><b>Québec & Haiti<br><br>
</b>April 14, 2008 By <b>Yves Engler</b> <br><br>
Over the past century, a line has divided the left around the world. On
one side sit "progressive forces" willing to support
imperialism and war, usually in return for a "seat at the
table" or some other perk of power. The most discussed example of
Left support for imperialism was at the beginning of the First World War
when most parties of the Second International sided with their own ruling
class and governments in the slaughter that followed. On the other side
of the Left divide, are those individuals and organizations that take a
principled position in favour of real democracy for all the world's
people and oppose imperialism and colonialism in all its forms,
especially when it is their ruling class involved. Some might say the
former is the "pretend Left" and the later the "authentic
Left."<br><br>
So what sort of Left is there left in Québec? To help answer this
question the case of Haiti is instructive.<br><br>
Corporations based in this province such as SNC Lavalin, St. Genevieve
Resources and Gildan Activewear reaped rewards from the overthrow of
Haiti's elected government on Feb. 29, 2004. Québec City provided the
coup government with important political support. "Various Haitian
ministers have visited Québec, particularly in the fall of 2004"
reports the government's website. During the coup government's reign,
Jean Charest made the first-ever official trip by a Québec premier to
Haiti. (The government's website boasts that Charest met the,
US-installed Prime Minister Gerard Latortue four times). These visits
helped advance a variety of educational and legal initiatives by this
province to further subordinate Haitian political sovereignty. And since
the coup, Québec police have been at the forefront in reestablishing
foreign control over Haiti's police force.<br><br>
The politicians who shaped Ottawa's decision to help overthrow Haiti's
elected President, Jean Bertrand Aristide, were all Québec-based Liberals
(Pierre Pettigrew, Dennis Coderre and Denis Paradis). These federalist
politicians acted with firm support from the Bloc Québecois. In a telling
example, at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and
International Trade, Bloc MP Pierre Paquette criticized the NDP for using
the word "removal" to describe what happened on Feb. 29, 2004
to Aristide. Paquette insisted the NDP's Alexa McDonough use the word
"departure" instead.<br><br>
As an advanced capitalist state, Québec support for Western imperialism
in Haiti should not be surprising. Already, thirty years ago, the Parti
Québecois stated that an independent Québec would continue its membership
in NATO, NORAD and even the Commonwealth. What's surprising is the extent
to which the ‘left' has been a participant in Québecois
imperialism.<br><br>
A recent report published by Alternatives, considered to be one of
Québec's most ‘left'-leaning non-governmental organizations, provides an
eye into this province's colonial attitude vis-a-vis Haiti. The most
disturbing statement in the report titled "Haiti: Voices of the
Actors" reads: "In a country like Haiti, in which democratic
culture has never taken hold, the concept of the common good and the
meaning of elections and representation are limited to the educated
elites, and in particular to those who have received citizen education
within the social movements."<br><br>
According to Alternatives, Haitians are too stupid to know what's good
for them, unless, that is, they've been educated by a foreign NGO. The
report, which was financed by Ottawa, is full of other attacks against
Haitians and the country's popular movement. "Haiti: Voices of the
Actors" is simply the latest example of (near unanimous) Québec
‘Left' support for western intervention in Haiti.<br><br>
At the height of the destabilization campaign against the elected
government in February 2004 the province's largest union federation, the
Fédération des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ), forcefully opposed the
Haitian government. On February 12th, the FTQ sent out a partisan press
release condemning the Aristide government. On February 16th and 17th,
Fernand Daoust, the former head of the FTQ, along with representatives of
Québec's next two biggest union federations, participated in an
international union delegation critical of Haiti's government. The
delegation garnered significant media attention in Haiti and after
returning from Haiti, Daoust was quoted throughout the Québec media
denouncing the Aristide government. On March 1st, a day after the elected
president was removed by US marines, the FTQ sent out a press release
celebrating the release of detained union activists and calling on the
international community to "help Haitians build democracy in their
country."<br><br>
The FTQ's condemnations of Haiti's elected government took place while a
CIA backed paramilitary invasion (led by well-known thugs such as Guy
Philippe and Jodel Chamblain) terrorized the country. All the while, a
well-orchestrated and internationally (principally the US, France and
Canada) financed destabilization campaign against Haiti's government was
under way. It is clear that the FTQ's criticism of Haiti's government
contributed to a successful destabilization campaign that helped justify
Canada's participation in the coup.<br><br>
To the best of my knowledge, the FTQ has not commented on the transport
union that was destroyed after the coup, the Confederation de
Travailleurs Haitiens (CTH) offices attacked in September 2004, the death
threats by the police against CTH leader, Lulu Cherie in December 2004 or
the massive increase in human rights violations after the coup.<br><br>
The FTQ, as well as the province's third largest union federation, the
CSQ, are members of the Concertation Pour Haïti (CPH) - along with
Development and Peace, Amnesty Internationale (Québec chapter), Entraide
Missionnaire and a half dozen other NGOs. The CPH is an informal group
that branded Aristide a "tyrant," his government a
"dictatorship," and a "regime of terror" and in
mid-February 2004 called for Aristide's removal. The CPH's antagonism
towards Aristide's Lavalas party wasn't merely a by-product of the
political upheaval of February 2004.<br><br>
The CPH repeated the claim first made by Haiti's ruling elite that
Lavalas launched an "Operation Baghdad," which included
beheading police officers. Numerous observers have noted that
"Operation Baghdad" was simply pro-coup propaganda designed to
divert attention from the de facto government's misdeeds, particularly
the murder of at least five peaceful, pro-constitution demonstrators on
September 30, 2004.<br><br>
In a January 27, 2006 letter to Allan Rock, Canada's ambassador to the
UN, the CPH and Montreal-based Rights & Democracy echoed the extreme
right's demand for increased repression in the country's largest poor
neighborhood and bastion of support for the ousted president, Cité
Soleil. A couple of weeks after a business-sector "strike"
demanding that UN troops aggressively attack "gangsters" in
Cité Soleil, the CPH questioned the "true motives of the UN
mission." The letter also questioned whether UN forces were
"protecting armed bandits more than restoring order and ending
violence."<br><br>
Criticizing the UN for softness in Cité Soleil flies in the face of
evidence of its brutality there, including a murderous attack on a
hospital documented by English-speaking Canadian solidarity activists
just prior to the CPH letter. Of course, the most stark example of UN
repression in Cite Soleil was a raid on July 6, 2005 to kill a
"gang" leader. That operation left at least 23 civilians dead.
(Kevin Pina's film Haiti: The UNtold Story documents the chilling
brutality of UN forces.)<br><br>
The Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI, in French) is
one prominent Québec NGO involved in Haiti that is no longer part of the
CPH. A year ago, a CECI spokesperson told me they were uncomfortable with
the political nature of the CPH. Yet prior to the coup, CECI's honorary
spokesperson, Haitian-Québec singer and high profile Québec nationalist,
Luc Mervil, led a demonstration in Montreal demanding Aristide's ouster.
The group has also publicly endorsed the UN occupation. On January 31st
2007, their spokesperson told Le Devoir "the muscular interventions
led by Minustah [UN forces] in the hot zones of the capital have cooled
down the passion of the armed groups. We can now circulate more freely in
the capital."<br><br>
Six days before these comments appeared, a UN raid on Cité Soleil left
five dead and a dozen wounded, according to Agence France Presse. A month
earlier, on December 22, a UN assault on Cité Soleil (marketed by its
architects as an action against "armed gangs" allegedly
responsible for a spate of kidnappings) left scores of civilians dead and
wounded, including women and children. Agence France Presse indicated
that at least 12 people were killed and "several dozen"
wounded, a casualty total over 40. A Haitian human rights organization,
AUMOD, reported 20 killed. The Agence Haitienne de Presse reported
"very serious property damage" following the UN attack, and
concerns that "a critical water shortage may now develop because
water cisterns and pipes were punctured by the gunfire."<br><br>
Québec NGOs' (and unions) public endorsement of western intervention in
Haiti has gone a long way to dampen opposition to the coup. Just as
important, the above-cited NGOs are integral to the US-Canadian strategy
of supporting the middle-class opposition to the Lavalas movement. Too
often, NGO projects inadvertently divided the popular movement by
channeling Haitian political actors into piecemeal initiatives instead of
building a mass movement. Foreign NGOs also directly undermined the
Lavalas movement by funding only opposition groups. In June 2005, for
instance, an Alternative's representative, François L'Ecuyer, admitted
that all 15 groups Alternatives works with in Haiti are
anti-Lavalas.<br><br>
The differences between the Québec and English Canadian Left on Haiti are
stark. English Canadian unions, anti-war groups and radical media have
generally been sympathetic to the notion that Canada participated in a
brutal coup. When progressive media such as The Dominion, New
Socialist Magazine or Canadian Dimension published recent issues focusing
on Canadian imperialism, they all ran at least one article detailing
Canadian crimes in Haiti. Conversely, at the height of Canadian-backed
repression in Haiti, ‘radical' Québec publication À Babord! published an
issue devoted to Canadian imperialism that failed to even mention
Canada's role in Haiti.<br><br>
The story is similar amongst anti-war groups and unions. Canadian Peace
Alliance affiliates generally denounced and organized against Canada's
role in Haiti. Yet, when members of Montreal's Échec à la guerre, tried
to pass a (mild) condemnation of Canada's involvement in Haiti, they were
blocked by two of their members, the Canadian Catholic Organization for
Development and Peace and AQOCI (an umbrella group representing two dozen
Québec NGOs).<br><br>
In the months after the removal of Haiti's elected government,
progressive elements within the Canadian Labour Congress tried to pass a
resolution critical of Canada's role in overthrowing Aristide and
supporting a murderous dictatorship. The FTQ, which claims responsibility
for relations with "French" speaking countries at the CLC,
worked to dilute opposition within the CLC. Likewise, the FTQ's Le Monde
Ouvriere advanced hard line anti-Aristide propaganda in October 2004.
<br><br>
Last month the FTQ issued a 59-page report on Haiti that simply ignores
the coup and its aftermath. How can the future of Haiti be seriously
discussed without mentioning the coup? Would the FTQ discuss the future
of Iraq without considering the U.S. war? <br><br>
The closest thing in the report to a mention of the 2004 coup is when
Haiti's most important union federation, the CTH, is criticized for its
sympathy towards Lavalas. <br><br>
Probably the most disturbing example of a ‘radical' group siding with
imperialism in Haiti is Québec Solidaire. Québec Solidaire's
spokesperson, Francoise David, traveled to Haiti in the midst of the coup
government's crimes and upon returning, she publicly (on Radio Canada and
elsewhere) parroted the elite's perspective, blaming supporters of the
ousted government for violence in Haiti. On March 9th, 2006, David spoke
at a Concertation pour Haïti event along with Danielle Magloire, a member
of the "Council of the Wise" that appointed the brutal coup
prime minister Gérard Latortue. In mid-July 2005, Magloire issued a
statement on behalf of the seven-member "Council of the Wise"
saying that any media that gives voice to "bandits" (code for
Aristide supporters) should be shut down. She also asserted that
Aristide's Lavalas Family Party should be banned from upcoming
elections.<br><br>
The only example of Québec Solidaire publicly expressing its opposition
towards the intervention in Haiti that I've come across was a single line
by a candidate running in a heavily Haitian diaspora riding in Montreal.
The party even remained quiet when in March 2006 Québec Premier Jean
Charest wined and dined bloodstained coup dictator, Gerard
Latortue.<br><br>
More than four years later, it should be abundantly clear that the coup
dealt a terrible blow to Haiti. The coup ushered in a terrible wave of
state-sponsored repression, a rise in kidnapping and other social
disorders as well as a multifold increase in the price of basic food
commodities. Also, Haiti's poor majority have rejected Canadian policy
time and again, most obviously by electing Rene Preval, an associate of
Aristide, as President. In the face of almost uniformly hostile national
and international press, tens of thousands continue to demonstrate
demanding an end to the occupation and the return of Aristide. A month
ago, between five thousand (Associated Press) and ten thousand (Haiti
Liberte) took to the streets of Port-Au Prince on the four-year
anniversary of the coup.<br><br>
So, why in the face of significant evidence (documented in a number of
books, movies etc.) does the Québec ‘Left' continue to support a brutal
class war by this province's institutions against an already impoverished
population?<br><br>
Could it be the numerous Québec-based companies that do business in
Haiti? Or the fact that the Aristide government promoted the Creole
language at the expense of French? Can it be explained by the role
of Québec missionaries in Haiti? Or have Québec NGOs simply been
bought off by Canadian aid money?<br><br>
Since the time of François (Papa Doc) Duvalier, Québec missionaries have
played a significant role in Haiti. Many of the clergy that were pushed
out of Québec during the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s made their way to
Haiti to work under the brutal Duvalier dictatorship (who took control of
the church). This relationship has continued over the years with Haiti
home to more Canadian missionaries than any country in the western
hemisphere.<br><br>
Much to the dismay of the Catholic church, the Aristide government
supported the voodoo religion, legalizing voodoo marriages, baptisms and
funerals in May 2003. Some of Québec's most rabidly anti-Aristide
NGOs, most notably Entraide Missionaire and the Catholic Organization for
Development and Peace, have religious ties. (In March 2006, a Development
and Peace Background paper explained: "The international media has
shrouded the departure of Aristide on 29 February 2004 with conspiracy
theories, going so far in some cases as to claim that the CIA deposed the
president in a coup d'état...In fact, Aristide himself was largely
responsible for the circumstances that led to his forced
departure.")<br><br>
An encounter with a Québecoise nun running a convent where I stayed in
Haiti's second city, Cap Haitien, provides a window into Québec
missionary thinking. She told me that Aristide was the country's biggest
drug runner. When pressed on the matter, she said she wasn't there for
politics, but to help people out.<br><br>
The importance of Québec missionaries in Haiti should not be dismissed.
The convent where I stayed in Cap Haitien was the largest institution in
the neighbourhood. Moreover, Québec missionaries have long received
official support. The initial disbursement of Canadian aid to Haiti went
to missionary work and in 1964 Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson justified
sending a Canadian naval vessel to Haiti by noting, "if Canadian
nuns or priests should be wounded or killed, it would be difficult to
explain why the Canadian government had not...taken some form of
action."<br><br>
Of greater consequence in tying the Québec ‘left' to imperialism in
Haiti, are the large number of international NGO's in this province. In
the late 1960s, Ottawa drastically expanded its aid to francophone
nations as a way to placate Québec nationalists. Prior to this, Canadian
aid was focused on the recently decolonized former British colonies. Aid
to the Francophonie was designed to convince Québec nationalists that the
Canadian government was sympathetic to francophone culture. Québec's
large number of CIDA-funded international NGOs (and the jobs they
provide) is a testament to the federal government's policy of tying
Québecers to its overall aid objectives. (Additionally, Québec City
provides much more development assistance than any other provincial
government, largely to project this province's linguistic
heritage.)<br><br>
Dependence on government money helps explain many NGO's position on
Haiti. Most of the groups that supported Canadian intervention in Haiti,
including the unions (through the Centre International de Solidarité
Ouvrière), have long received money for work in Haiti from the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA). And post-coup Haiti has been an
absolute bonanza for Québec-based NGOs they have received tens of
millions of dollars from the Canadian (and Québec) government.<br><br>
Canadian NGOs working in Haiti are largely from Québec. The reason is
simple: a perceived common language. Canadian Development Assistance to
Haiti explains Haiti's importance to Québec: "As the only
independent French-speaking country in Latin American and the Caribbean,
Haiti is of special importance for the preservation of the French
language and culture."<br><br>
But most Haitians don't speak French, they speak Creole. French is the
language of Haiti's elite and language has served as a mechanism through
which they maintain their privilege. A Québecois group in Haiti almost
invariably reinforces the influence of French. Whether conscious or not,
a French-focused foreigner in Haiti has taken (at least linguistically
speaking) a side in the country's brutal class war. The Aristide
government had (successfully) weakened the influence of French, which no
doubt contributed to many "progressive" Québecors' antagonism.
<br><br>
What motivates an individual to actively support imperialism is difficult
to pinpoint. But vocal anti-Aristide critic, the FTQ's Fernand Daoust
provides some interesting hypotheses.<br><br>
Daoust, who is one of Québec's leading advocates for the French language,
sits on the board of the Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie (named after the
former head of CIDA). The Fondation Lajoie teaches Haitian primary-school
children in French and is known to be antagonistic to Creole, the
language spoken by all Haitians.<br><br>
Was Daoust antagonistic to Aristide for promoting Creole? Maybe not, but
his views of Haitian politics were likely shaped by people who
were.<br><br>
The former leader of the province's largest union also has revealing ties
to parts of "Québec Inc" that benefited from the interruption
of democracy in Haiti. When Daoust went to Haiti in February 2004, he
hadn't worked for the union for a decade. Rather he was Special Advisor
to the FTQ President regarding its investment arm, le Fond de Solidarite,
which he's helped turn into a $7 billion source of capital. Le Fond
controlled 12% (once as high as 16%) of the world's largest blank t-shirt
maker, Montreal based Gildan Activewear, had one of three outside seats
on the company's board and was cited throughout Gildan's internal
financial reports. (Three months prior to the coup, le Fond announced it
would sell its highly profitable shares in Gildan due to the company's
history of terrible labor practices in Honduras, yet as of Feb 2007 La
Presse reported that le Fond still held a significant amount of Gildan
stock).<br><br>
At the time of the coup, Gildan had a factory in Port-Au Prince and
planned to close its remaining North American operations to expand in
both Haiti and the Dominican Republic (which they've done). Gildan was
also the primary subcontractor for Alpha Industries, owned by Andy Apaid,
head of the Group 184 domestic opposition to Aristide. Directly and
indirectly, Gildan employed as many as 5,000 people in Haiti's assembly
sector. Presumably, both Gildan and Apaid were disgruntled with the
Aristide government's decision to increase the minimum wage from 36
gourdes to 70 gourdes in February 2003.<br><br>
Did anyone Daoust knows at le Fond de Solidarite with connections to
Gildan, criticize Aristide to him?<br><br>
Daoust also has ties to the leading beneficiary of post-coup Canadian
government reconstruction projects in Haiti, Montreal based SNC Lavalin.
(SNC is probably Canada's leading ‘disaster capitalist' corporation.) As
a Fond representative, Daoust sits on the board of the Montreal Council
on Foreign Relations, along with SNC Lavalin's vice president for the
Americas and a number of other pro-coup NGOs. Similarly he sits on the
board of the Université de Montreal with Bernard Lamarre, president of
SNC-Lavalin. In 2004, le Fonds purchased Papeterie Gaspésia de Chandler
for $350 million with SNC and another partner.<br><br>
Did Daoust's contact with SNC representatives contribute to his support
for western intervention in Haiti?<br><br>
In February 2004, Daoust confidently opposed Haiti's elected government
yet during a conversation in the Fall of 2007, Daoust confessed little
knowledge of Haiti. He did not even want to talk about the subject
without notes. Daoust admitted that after the coup he was surprised to
encounter Haitian Montrealers who still supported Aristide.<br><br>
To summarize, there seems to be four structural reasons that led the
Québec Left to participate in brutal western intervention in Haiti: the
French language, missionaries, Québec Inc and Canadian aid dollars. Tying
them all together is nationalism. The Left is reaping the reward for
decades of allying itself with nationalist elements of the Québec ruling
class.<br><br>
What sort of Left is left in Québec? The type that is willing to side
with its bosses and the bosses of Haiti against the poor majority of
Haitians. The sort of Left that participates in imperialism. Most of the
Left in Québec even sides with Ottawa and Washington, against much of the
English left.<br><br>
For many decades the English-speaking left in Canada was impressed by the
militancy and strength of Québec unions, political parties and grassroots
organizations. If the example of Haiti is an indication, it's about time
they look elsewhere for inspiration.<br><br>
<br><br>
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