<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div class="container font-size5 content-width3">
<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"
dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/20/democratic-space-in-adverse-times-milestone-at-haitis-university-of-the-aristide-foundation/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/20/democratic-space-in-adverse-times-milestone-at-haitis-university-of-the-aristide-foundation/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Democratic Space in Adverse Times:
Milestone at Haiti’s University of the Aristide Foundation</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">by Leslie Mullin - April 20,
2018<br>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div class="moz-reader-content line-height4" dir="ltr"
style="display: block;">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<p>March 18, 2018, marked exactly seven years since
Haiti’s former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Mrs.
Aristide returned to Haiti from forced exile in South
Africa, where they lived following the 2004 <em>coup
d’etat</em>that overthrew Haiti’s democratic
government. On their return, they began to rebuild the <a
href="http://www.aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/about/the-university-of-the-aristide-foundation-unifa/">University
of the Aristide Foundation</a>[UniFA] whose land and
buildings had been appropriated, converted to military
barracks and trashed by U.S. and Brazilian troops during
the <em>coup</em>.</p>
<p>On the 7th anniversary of that historic return, UniFA
held its first graduation ceremony in Port-au-Prince,
Haiti. A delegation of Haiti solidarity activists from
the U.S. was honored to be there representing Haiti
Action Committee, Black Alliance for Just Immigration,
Global Women’s Strike, and the Haiti Emergency Relief
Fund.</p>
<p>In a joyous celebration attended by over 1000 people,
UniFA graduated 77 doctors, 46 nurses and 15 lawyers.
The setting was beautiful, the stage decorated with
flowers and banners in the blue and white colors of
UniFA. The famed <a
href="http://saintetrinitemusique.wixsite.com/saintetrinitemusique/opst">Philharmonic
Orchestra of Sainte-Trinite</a>played Haitian folk
music as well as classical music throughout the event.
Cameras were everywhere to record the occasion, which
was widely and prominently reported in <a
href="http://lenouvelliste.com/m/public/index.php/article/184820/jean-bertrand-aristide-propose-a-ses-etudiants-de-sarmer-de-la-science-et-de-la-conscience">Haitian
media</a>. The UniFA choir, joined by the entire
audience, sang Haiti’s national anthem, and later the
song of UniFA. Two young men carrying the flags of Haiti
and UniFA proudly led the procession of Faculty at the
opening of the ceremony. As a child, one of them – soon
to become a UniFA graduate – lived at <em>Lafanmi
Selavi,</em>the center for street children founded by
Aristide when he was a priest. His success is an example
of the university’s commitment to overcome social
barriers limiting access to higher education. “Education
sans exclusion” – education without exclusion – is a
central theme of UniFA, imprinted on its logo and
manifest in every detail of this remarkable event. The
exhilaration that infused the occasion spoke to UniFA’s
broader commitment, expressed by Mrs. Mildred Aristide,
“to break down the long tradition of exclusion of the
poor majority in Haiti from access to higher education.”</p>
<p>At the podium, Dr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President of
UniFA, stood to address the gathering. His <a
href="http://www.aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/2018/04/11/dr-jean-bertrand-aristide-addresses-unifas-first-graduation-ceremony/">speech</a>emphasized
that the University’s role is not only to instill
academic knowledge, but to promote ethical lives and
nurture students’ relationship with their community.He
spoke of the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which
recognizes that the essence of social consciousness can
be expressed as “I am because we are” – a person becomes
a person through community.Dr. Aristide said that “it is
not easy to eradicate evil at a macro level. But, on a
micro scale, you can fight it rationally.” He noted
that, “on a global scale, science is advancing,
consciousness is declining. May your professional
conscience contribute to the awakening of social
consciousness.”</p>
<p>To highlight this point, towards the end of the
ceremony, each graduating class – MDs, nurses, and
lawyers – pledged their commitment to serve their
people. In a country with fewer than two doctors for
every 11,000 people, UniFA’s graduate physicians are
already practicing medicine in regions throughout Haiti
where formerly there were no doctors. It is a hopeful
victory in difficult times.</p>
<p>After all the graduates received their diplomas, there
was a “passing of the torch” ritual during which
graduates from each program passed a flaming torch to a
student from the upcoming class. Gifts were presented to
the valedictorians, and finally, the graduates
celebrated with friends and family under an outdoor
pavilion on the beautiful campus. Long years of effort
to reach this day were visible in faces filled with
grace, joy and pride.</p>
<p>One of UniFA’s chief architects, Mildred Aristide, an
attorney and Haiti’s former First Lady, describes the <a
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/04/an-interview-with-mildred-aristide/">university’s
broader mission</a>to nourish democratic space within
an undemocratic country: “Haiti vitally needs a safe
space where young people can come together, think
country and construct a future under difficult
circumstances…An institution that will address national
issues and seek viable solutions to national problems.
Dreams of working, prospering and changing Haiti – not
chasing after a foreign visa or a job with a foreign
NGO. This is UniFA’s commitment.”</p>
<p><a
href="http://www.aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/about/the-university-of-the-aristide-foundation-unifa/">UniFA
was born</a>out of Haiti’s grassroots struggle for
democracy during President Aristide’s second
administration in 2001. It recruited medical students
from poor families in each of Haiti’s nine departments,
equal numbers men and women. Talented young people from
rural Haiti previously found it nearly impossible to
attend medical school. UniFA sought them out, asking
only their commitment to return to work in communities
throughout Haiti after completing their training. By
2004, 247 medical students were studying medicine at
UniFA. A School of Nursing was planned to open in the
fall. The February 29, 2004 <em>coup d’etat</em>brought
all of this progress to a halt. The faculty and staff
were forced into exile or hiding within the country.
United Nations and U.S. military forces drove the
students off campus, turning the site into military
barracks. The campus remained under the control of
foreign forces until 2007 when it was officially turned
back over to the Aristide Foundation for Democracy.</p>
<p>The University opened with three goals: 1) to prepare
doctors to care for the poorest of the poor; 2) to
increase the number of doctors practicing in rural
areas; 3) to break down the long tradition of exclusion
of the poor majority in Haiti from access to high
education. Today, UniFA has expanded its scope to offer
degrees in medicine, nursing, dentistry, engineering,
law, physical therapy and continuing education.</p>
<p>From exile in South Africa, a month before his return,
<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/04/haiti-earthquake-aristide-education">President
Aristide spoke</a>about education: “Education has been
a top priority since the first Lavalas government – of
which I was president – was sworn into office… on 7
February 1991 (and removed a few months later). More
schools were built in the 10 years between 1994, when
democracy was restored, and 2004 – when Haiti’s
democracy was once again violated – than between 1804 to
1994: 195 new primary schools and 104 new public high
schools constructed and/or refurbished.” The Aristide
government mandated that 20% of the national budget be
directed to education. For the first time in history,
Haiti began to implement a <a
href="http://haitisolidarity.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/WeWillNotForget.pdf">Universal
Schooling Program </a>aimed at giving every child an
education.</p>
<p>Aristide reaffirmed that, “As I have not ceased to say
since 29 February 2004, from exile in Central Africa,
Jamaica and now South Africa, I will return to Haiti to
the field I know best and love: education. We can only
agree with the words of the great Nelson Mandela, that
indeed education is a powerful weapon for changing the
world.” UniFA’s graduation is a significant step towards
transforming these words into reality. It is a
remarkable accomplishment to have been realized in seven
years.</p>
<p>While UniFA flourishes, elsewhere in Haiti education is
under attack. Successive neo-colonial governments
imposed by the United States by means of phony elections
have been plagued by widespread corruption, leaving
Haiti’s public sector on the brink of paralysis.
According to Dr. Aristide, “Like metastatic cancer,
institutionalized corruption devours our social fabric,
the future of our children and Haitian youth. The exodus
of our young people stems from this cancer.” Nearly 1%
of Haiti’s population left the country last year headed
for Chile, a mass exodus driven by young people, and
especially the rural poor. Many young people who want to
attend college leave the country. There are now 54, 000
Haitian students attending universities in the Dominican
Republic.</p>
<p>Haiti’s former President Michel Martelly, who rose to
power with U.S. support, made an empty promise
guaranteeing free education funded by a tax on telephone
calls and money transfers. Instead, many teachers
haven’t been paid in as many as two years. Where is that
money? Teacher strikes are met with growing repression
and students from college age to grade school join
striking teachers to demand the government pay teachers’
salaries. Everyone wonders what happened to the missing
$3.8 billion from Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program. Under
Petrocaribe, Haiti was supplied with oil at a favorable
price with flexible credit. The benefit to Haiti,
estimated at approximately $3.8 billion, was intended to
combat poverty. All reports indicate that the funds were
stolen and misappropriated by the past two governments.</p>
<p>The State University of Haiti closed the schools of
Humanities, Law and Ethnic Studies due to ongoing
strikes and protests. Last fall, police attacked school
children with tear gas in Les Cayes as they supported
their teachers’ strike. In the north, hundreds of school
children marched to demand, “<a
href="http://haitisolidarity.net/2017/11/reports-of-a-mass-killing-by-us-un-trained-haitian-police/">We
don’t want an army; we want education</a>” last
November. The students were saying no to the
government’s plan to restore the dreaded Haitian
military, disbanded by Aristide, which formerly consumed
40% of the state budget. They demanded that the money
instead be used to pay teachers their long overdue
salaries.</p>
<p>UniFA speaks to the urgent need for democratic progress
that has been denied Haiti during fourteen years of
U.S./UN military occupation. Failed government promises
contrast with the solid achievements of this people’s
university, highlighting its importance as a living
example of democracy in practice. “I like to tell
visitors that they are standing on sacred ground” says
Mildred Aristide. She continues, “This is not hyperbole.
The stakes and the country’s needs are too high. UniFA
is a national project that is slowly revealing itself to
be a national institution in the service of the
country.”</p>
<p><i><strong>Leslie Mullin</strong> is a retired medical
research administrator, social justice activist, and
member of <a href="http://haitisolidarity.net/">Haiti
Action Committee</a></i></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>