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<h2>We have an anti-imperialist obligation to the people of Haiti</h2>
<h4>Ajamu Nangwaya</h4>
<h4>2014-02-12, Issue <a href="http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/665">665</a></h4>
<h4><a href="http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90522">http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90522</a></h4>
Toussaint, the most unhappy of men!<br>
<p>Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough<br>
Within thy hearing, or thy head be now<br>
Pillowed in some deep dungeon’s earless den<br>
O miserable Chieftain! where and when<br>
Wilt though find patience! Yet die not; do thou<br>
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:<br>
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,<br>
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind<br>
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies;<br>
There’s not a breathing of the common wind<br>
That will forget thee; thou has great allies;<br>
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,<br>
And love, and man’s unconquerable mind. [1] <br>
- To Toussaint L’Ouverture, William Wordsworth<br>
<br>
We are coming upon the 10th anniversary of the February 29, 2004 coup
in Haiti that was orchestrated by imperialism [2] against the labouring
classes and the democratically elected government of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. According to journalist and writer Yves Engler:
<br>
<br>
‘ On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2003, Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government
organized the ‘Ottawa Initiative on Haiti’ to discuss that country’s
future. No Haitian officials were invited to this assembly where
high-level US, Canadian and French officials decided that Haiti’s
elected president ‘must go’, the dreaded army should be recreated and
that the country would be put under a Kosovo-like UN trusteeship. [3]<br>
<br>
Just over a year after this pivotal meeting of the three Western states
in Canada, the democratic government in Haiti was overthrown, President
Aristide had been kidnapped and exiled to the Central Afrikan Republic,
hundreds of Fanmi Lavalas’s (FL) supporters killed, there was immediate
occupation of Haiti by 2,000 Western troops (latter replaced by the
United Nations’ military intervention), repression against grassroots
organizations, filling of the jails with political prisoners and
abandonment of the FL government’s investment in education, job
creation, healthcare, public services and preoccupation with increasing
the minimum wage. [4]<br>
<br>
The anti-democratic assault on the labouring classes in Haiti has
resulted in the banning of the Fanmi Lavalas party from serving as an
electoral instrument of the people as well as the execution of
initiatives by elite forces to co-opt opportunistic elements within
this political organization. [5] Charlie Hinton, an organizer with the <a
href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net/">Haiti Action Committee</a>, has
documented the different ways that the current Michel Martelly regime
in Haiti is pursuing a path toward dictatorship. [6] People of good
conscience across the world, especially those in the Americas, should
develop or strengthen their ties of solidarity with popular
organizations within Haiti’s working-class and peasantry. <br>
<br>
It is only through people-to-people solidarity based on mutual respect
and principled collaboration that Haiti will rid itself of the United
Nations’ (MINUSTAH) occupation force [7]; force France to repay Haiti
the ransom of 90 million gold francs (over $23 billion today) that was
extracted from the latter as the price for diplomatic recognition and
freedom from the threat of re-enslavement [8]; end the cycle of Western
military interventions, coups and/or propping up of anti-democratic,
anti-people regimes [9]; and put an end to the local elite’s and
foreign capital’s exploitation of the people. [10] Based on Haiti’s
contribution to humanity, it should hold a special place in the
internationalist programmes of progressive forces across the world.<br>
<br>
The enslaved Afrikans in Haiti were the only people to have
successfully overthrown a system of slavery in the annals of history.
They defeated the strongest military forces of the day, that of France,
Britain and Spain, in order to free themselves from the servile labour
regime and boldly assert their freedom and humanity. [11] This historic
feat, the Haitian Revolution, was significant beyond the victory that
the enslaved Afrikans registered in using armed struggle to effect
emancipation-from below. These Black Jacobins [12] etched the fear of
revolution in the hearts and minds of the enslavers or agricultural
capitalists in the other slave-holding territories in the Americas.<br>
<br>
America’s Declaration of Independence and France’s Declaration of the
Rights of Man and the Citizen are hailed as seminal texts that affirm
inalienable, universal human rights, but the revolutions associated
with these two documents were comfortable in maintaining slavery, a
state of unfreedom. [13] It was the Haitian Revolution by way of its
June 1801 Constitution that unambiguously declared universal freedom
from enslavement in Article 3, ‘There cannot exist slaves on this
territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born
free, live and die free and French.’ [14] Essentially, it was <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliban">Caliban</a>, in a switch
of roles, who introduced <a
href="http://shakespeare.about.com/od/thetempest/a/The_Tempest_Power.htm">Prospero</a>
to the virtue or practice of universal freedom and paid for this
significant achievement with the former’s blood.<br>
<br>
The celebrated French Revolution and the American Revolution were
parochial and hypocritical in allowing for the abridgement of liberty
through the institution of slavery. But The Haitian Revolution made it
clear to the world that the enslaved or the colonized had the capacity
to forge the path to freedom through their collective effort against
seemingly insurmountable odds. On the conclusion of the 1831-1832
Emancipation Rebellion in Jamaica, the British authority was so spooked
by the possibility of another Haiti with its freedom-from-below that it
passed an abolition law in 1833, which took effect in 1834;
emancipation-from-above.<br>
<br>
Haiti’s role in Simon Bolivar’s wars of independence in Latin America
is not widely known. In the spirit of principled international
solidarity, Haiti provided a place of refugee to Bolivar and his
comrade Francisco de Miranda in 1815 and gave them material aid in the
form of schooners, printing presses, fighters and as well as guns for
several thousand troops. [15] Haiti’s only condition for its
contribution was Bolivar’s commitment to abolishing slavery, which he
didn’t vigorously and speedily implement. Haiti was still living up to
the ideal of universal freedom from slavery and colonial domination.
This country was there, materially and morally, during a crucial
movement in Latin America’s struggle for self-determination. It is
rather instructive and ironic today to see Latin American military
forces serving in Haiti as an occupation army under the United Nations’
banner.<br>
<br>
Haiti’s legacy of defying and exposing the farcical nature of the
racist characterization of Afrikans as sub-humans by defeating the best
European armies of the period, taking its freedom in its own hands,
contributing to the liberation of Latin America and threatening the
continued viability of slavery has probably earned the country the
unenviable economic and political status it currently holds in the
region. [16]<br>
<br>
I believe Wordsworth’s was right in declaring to the deceived and
fallen Toussaint (and by extension Haiti), ‘thou hast great allies /
Thy friends are exultations, agonies, / And love, and man’s
unconquerable mind.’ Our anti-imperialist obligation to Haiti and its
people for their contribution to universal freedom entail the provision
of political, moral and material support in fighting our common enemies
of social emancipation and justice. Our internationalist sensibilities
and politics ought to be informed by Martin Luther King’s claim,
‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in
an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of
destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’ [17]<br>
<br>
We may demonstrate our international(ist) solidarity commitment with
the people of Haiti in the following manner:<br>
<br>
1. Form or join an organization devoted to Haiti internationalist
solidarity work. This type of formation is necessary to effecting
consistent and systematic public education, mobilizing and organizing
in support of the struggle of the Haitian labouring classes.<br>
<br>
2. Mobilize and educate to pass a resolution or policy on
internationalist solidarity with the people of Haiti. Mobilize, educate
and organize members in your trade unions, student organizations,
community organizations, faculty associations, progressive religious
organizations and other civil society groups to support a resolution
specifying actions and programmes that will be implemented to
materialize people-to-people solidarity with grassroots and popular
organizations in Haiti.<br>
<br>
These Haiti-based organizations are worthy of people-to-people support:
<a
href="http://www.ijdh.org/2013/05/topics/housing/eviction-threats-arson-assault-and-assassination-in-camp-acra-adoken-on-april-15-2013-by-defenders-of-the-oppressed-dop/#.Uu9ADPuzJKo">Défenseurs
des opprimés</a> (Defenders of the Oppressed) - - a human rights
organization; <a
href="http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca/content/profile-t%C3%A8t-kole-ti-peyizan-ayisyen-heads-together-small-producers-haiti">Tèt
Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen</a> (Small Peasants Working Together) - Haiti's
largest organization of small farmers;
[url=hhttp://www.batayouvriye.org/English/Welcome.html]Batay
Ouvriye[/url] - one of the most prominent labour organizations; <a
href="http://www.ayitikaleje.org/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/">Ayti
Kale Je</a> (Haiti Grassroots Watch) - investigative reporting; <a
href="http://www.sopudep.org/">SOPUDEP</a> (Society of Providence
United for the Economic Development of Pétion-Ville) – education and
community development; and <a
href="http://www.lethaitilive.org/bri-kouri/">Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye</a>
(Noise Travels, News Spreads) - investigative reporting.<br>
<br>
3. Raise awareness about the 10th anniversary of the 2004 coup.
Organize teach-ins, film series, lectures, rallies, demonstrations,
informational pickets, do radio and television interviews and/or write
articles to raise awareness about the February 29, 2004 coup d’état in
Haiti and the role played by imperialist actors such as Canada, the
United States, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American
Development Bank, non-governmental organizations, local elite and the
Canadian International Development Agency in overthrowing the
pro-people government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A primary
objective behind the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 2004
coup is to motivate individuals and groups to participate in solidarity
projects or actions in support of the struggle in Haiti.<br>
<br>
4. Support the lawsuit of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and <a
href="http://www.ijdh.org">Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti</a>
that is aimed at holding the United Nations accountable for the
introduction of cholera to Haiti. The 2010 cholera outbreak has
resulted in over <a href="http://www.ijdh.org">8,300 deaths and
infected close to 650,000</a> Haitians. You can educate the people in
your community or civil society organizations about the action of the
United Nations and support or develop campaigns directed at getting
this international body to accept legal and moral responsibility for
the devastating action of its occupation forces.<br>
<br>
<br>
5. Mobilize and organize to end the UN’s occupation. Create or
contribute to a broad-based campaign of progressive forces in your
community, country or region aimed securing the withdrawal of the
United Nations’ occupation force of over 8,000 uniformed personnel in
Haiti. Haiti did not experience a civil war and there are no warring
sides being kept apart to justify this military presence. Support
initiatives in states that have troops or police personnel in Haiti to
build support for the pull out of their respective military and police
contingents.<br>
<br>
6. Contribute to the fight against neoliberalism. Your organizations
ought to support Haitian trade unions, rural organizations and other
progressive civil society groups that are fighting neoliberal
capitalist policies in Haiti. They have devastated Haiti’s rice
industry and flooded the country with heavily subsidized agricultural
products from abroad. As a result of the extreme neoliberal economic
policies imposed on Haiti, it has one of the most open economies in the
Americas. For those of us who are based in global North countries the
fight against neoliberal capitalist policies starts where we live and
work. <br>
<br>
I am in full agreement with the following assertion of international
solidarity activist Kali Akuno: ‘As we gather our forces to support the
resistance of the Haitian people, and join with it in common struggle
against imperialism, we will appear as a new defiant spirit and a force
to be reckoned with.’ [18] Challenging anti-working class policies at
home is a part of the global solidarity work of delegitimizing them and
pushing an alternative approach to human economic and social
development.<br>
<br>
7. Mobilize against any attempt to bar Fanmi Lavalas from participating
in the next round of elections. The conservative political and economic
forces have conspired to exclude this movement from participating in
recent elections because of its popular support among the people. Fanmi
Lavalas was the political organization used by President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide to win the presidency on two occasions (both times unseated by
a coup). It can lay claim to the series of economic, social and
physical infrastructure programmes that benefitted the peasantry and
the working-class during the Aristide administrations. [19]<br>
<br>
Irrespective of how we might feel about elections, if a progressive and
popular Haitian organization is deliberately and deviously barred from
participating or Fanmi Lavalas is seen by large segments of Haitians as
representative and reflective of them [20], as allies we ought to stand
in principled solidarity with the self-determined goals of the people.<br>
<br>
The abolitionist, former enslaved African, feminist and statesman
Frederick Douglass had this to say about Haiti’s role in promoting
‘universal human liberty’ and it serves as a reminder of our debt of
gratitude and obligation to its people:<br>
<br>
‘In just vindication of Haiti, I can go one step further. I can speak
of her, not only words of admiration, but words of gratitude as well.
She has grandly served the cause of universal human liberty. We should
not forget that the freedom you and I enjoy to-day; that the freedom
that eight hundred thousand colored people enjoy in the British West
Indies; the freedom that has come to the colored race the world over,
is largely due to the brave stand taken by the black sons [and
daughters] of Haiti ninety years ago. When they struck for freedom,
they builded better than they knew. Their swords were not drawn and
could not be drawn simply for themselves alone. They were linked and
interlinked with their race, and striking for their freedom, they
struck for the freedom of every black man [and woman] in the world. [21]<br>
<br>
* Ajamu Nangwaya, Ph.D. is an educator and activist with the Toronto
Haiti Action Committee and the Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity.<br>
<br>
END NOTES<br>
<br>
[1] Quoted in Brian Hickey, “Wordsworth Sonnet: “To Toussaint
L’Ouverture”, 38, Retrieved from <a
href="http://users.unimi.it/caribana/essays/caribana_2/HICKEY.pdf">http://users.unimi.it/caribana/essays/caribana_2/HICKEY.pdf</a><br>
[2] Richard Sanders, “A very Canadian Coup d’état in Haiti: The Top 10
Ways that Canada’s Government Helped the 2004 Coup and its Reign of
Terror”, The CCPA Monitor April 2010, Retrieved from <a
href="http://coat.ncf.ca/Haiti/Canada_in_Haiti.htm;">http://coat.ncf.ca/Haiti/Canada_in_Haiti.htm;</a>
Putting the Aid in Aiding and Abetting: CIDA’s Agents of Regime Change
in Haiti’s 2004 Coup, Press for Conversion, May 2008, Issue #62<br>
[3] Yves Engler, “Remembering the Overthrow of Haiti’s Jean-Bertrand
Aristide: The Occupation Continues” Counterpunch, January 31-February
2, 2014, Retrieved from <a href="http://tinyurl.com/p3shncx">http://tinyurl.com/p3shncx</a><br>
[4] Peter Hallward, Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the
Politics of Containment (New York: Verso, 2007), 250-276.<br>
[5] Charlie Hinton, “10 Steps to Dictatorship in Haiti: Why the
Grassroots is Taking to the Streets against President Michel Martelly,”
Counterpunch, December 7, 2013. Retrieved from <a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/17/10-steps-to-dictatorship-in-haiti/;">http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/17/10-steps-to-dictatorship-in-haiti/;</a>
Hallward, “Damming the Flood,” 263-264.<br>
[6] Charlie Hinton, “10 Steps to Dictatorship.”<br>
[7] Deepa Pachang, “UN in Haiti: Keeping the Peace or conspiring
against it?” Pambazuka News, November 3, 2011, Retrieved from <a
href="http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/77635">http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/77635</a><br>
[8] Noam Chomsky, Paul Farmer & Amy Goodman, Getting Haiti Right
This Time: The U.S. and the Coup (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press,
2004), 13; Hallward, “Damming the Flood,” 226.<br>
[9] Haiti Action Committee, Hidden from the Headlines: The U.S. War
against Haiti, (Berkeley: Haiti Action Committee, 2003).<br>
[10] Kali Akuno, “Confronting the occupation: Haiti, neoliberalism and
Haiti,” Pambazuka News, April 15, 2010, Retrieved from <a
href="http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/63698;">http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/63698;</a>
Hinton, “10 Steps to Dictatorship”.<br>
[11] C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the
San Domingo Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 1963), viiii.<br>
[12] “The Black Jacobins.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Jacobins">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Jacobins</a><br>
[13] Nick Nesbitt, Universal Emancipation: The Haitian Revolution and
the Radical Enlightenment (Charlottesville, Virginia: University of
Virginia Press, 2008), 81-82, <br>
[14] Nick Nesbitt, Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Haitian Revolution (New
York: Verso, 2008), 46.<br>
[15] Kim Ives, “Hugo Chavez’ legacy in Haiti and Latin America,” Haiti
Liberté, March 7, 2013, Retrieved from <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/8263;">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/8263;</a>
Michael C. Twomey, “Questions Concerning the Haitian Revolution and its
Impact in the Spanish Caribbean,” Retrieved from <a
href="http://tinyurl.com/nb65gql">http://tinyurl.com/nb65gql</a><br>
[16] Hallward, “Damming the Flood,” 11.<br>
[17] Martin Luther King, “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963,
Retrieved from <a href="http://tinyurl.com/73teqp">http://tinyurl.com/73teqp</a><br>
[18] Akuno, “Confronting the occupation.”<br>
[19] Haiti Action Committee, We Will Not Forget: The Achievements of
Lavalas in Haiti, (Berkeley: Haiti Action Committee, 2005)<br>
[20] Hallward, “Damming the Flood”, 136-140.<br>
[21] Frederick Douglass, “Lecture on Haiti, Delivered at the World's
Fair, in Jackson Park, Chicago, Jan. 2, 1893”, Retrieved from <a
href="http://tinyurl.com/nma3et7">http://tinyurl.com/nma3et7</a><br>
<br>
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