<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-taxonomy">
<b><font size="4"><a id="gmail-label" href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/haiti-black-despots-and-white-rulers" rel="bookmark"><span>Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers</span>
</a>
</font></b></div><b><font size="4">
</font></b><div class="gmail-author gmail-clearfix"><b><font size="4">
</font></b><div class="gmail-author-container"><b><font size="4">
</font></b><div class="gmail-author-details"><b><font size="4">
<font size="2"><span><a href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/author/Jemima Pierre">Jemima Pierre</a></span></font></font></b>
</div>
<div class="gmail-authored-date">
17 Feb 2021
</div>
<div class="gmail-translated-by">
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-share-icons">
<font size="1"><a class="gmail-facebook gmail-fbc-has-badge gmail-fbc-UID_1 fbc-has-badge fbc-UID_1" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.blackagendareport.com/haiti-black-despots-and-white-rulers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.blackagendareport.com/haiti-black-despots-and-white-rulers</a><br></font></div><div class="gmail-share-icons"><br><font size="1"></font></div><div class="gmail-share-icons"><a class="gmail-twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers&url=http://www.blackagendareport.com/haiti-black-despots-and-white-rulers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a class="gmail-mail" href="mailto:?subject=Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers&body=NewsClick - http://www.blackagendareport.com/haiti-black-despots-and-white-rulers">
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field--name-field-cover-image gmail-field--type-image gmail-field--label-hidden gmail-field--item"><a href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/sites/default/files/2021-02/Pierre_845x400.jpeg" title="Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers" class="gmail-colorbox gmail-cboxElement"><img src="https://www.blackagendareport.com/sites/default/files/2021-02/Pierre_845x400.jpeg" alt="Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers" class="gmail-img-responsive" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="426" height="202">
</a>
</div>
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field--name-field-image-caption gmail-field--type-string gmail-field--label-hidden gmail-field--item">Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers</div>
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field--name-body gmail-field--type-text-with-summary gmail-field--label-hidden gmail-field--item"><p>The
horror story in Haiti since 2004 is not really about despotic Black
government, but is the consequence and crime of global white rule.</p>
<p><strong><em>“Moïse is the product of a broader system blocking
Haiti’s democratic path and sovereignty, a system that is built and
maintained by the white rulers of the world.”</em></strong></p>
<p>The past week has seen growing <a href="https://www.leftvoice.org/protests-general-strike-and-a-president-who-refuses-to-step-down-crisis-in-haiti" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">protests<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> against
the contested presidency of Haiti’s Jovenel Moïse. An unpopular figure
who has ruled without a mandate, and, increasingly, by <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/1/13/political-vacuum-in-haiti-could-let-president-rule-by-decree" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">decree<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a>, Moïse <a href="https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/political-crisis-deepens-in-haiti-as-jovenal-moise-refuses-to-leave/" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">refused<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> to
relinquish power when his presidential term expired on February 7,
2021. While claiming that his term ends in February 2022, Moïse has
lashed out against his political rivals, <a href="https://www.thestkittsnevisobserver.com/haiti-moise-arrests-judges-to-maintain-power/" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">arresting<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> his
critics, members of opposition political parties, and supreme court
judges, all the while consolidating his draconian, some would say
dictatorial, rule over Haiti.</p>
<p>How Haiti arrived at this moment is predictable and unsurprising. Moïse’s election was marred by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/29/haiti-presidential-election-result-protest-jovenel-moise" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">fraud<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a>, extremely low voter turnout, and protests challenging his candidacy. He was handpicked by his predecessor<a href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/content/fools-and-sycophants-haiti%E2%80%99s-presidential-selection">, Michel Martelly</a>, a neo-Duvalierist and former member of the notorious <a href="https://www.coha.org/tonton-macoutes/" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><em>tonton macoutes</em><span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a><em> </em>who himself was <a href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/content/fools-and-sycophants-haiti%E2%80%99s-presidential-selection">installed</a> by the
Obama administration. As with Martelly, Moïse’s path to the Haitian
presidency was paved by U.S., Canadian, and French funding and support.
And like Martelly, Moïse has been credibly accused of <a href="http://www.ijdh.org/2019/03/projects/memo-from-ministere-de-la-justice-et-de-la-securite-publique/" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">corruption<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a>, embezzlement, and the <a href="https://canada-haiti.ca/content/president-moises-companies-embezzled-millions-petrocaribe-funds-court-finds" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">theft of national funds<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a>. Moïse has also followed Martelly’s lead in expanding the revived <a href="https://blackagendareport.com/content/unwanted-army-haiti">Haitian military</a>.
He refused to organize parliamentary elections, allowing the terms of
parliament to expire in January 2020 in order to rule by decree. Moïse’s
administration has been exceedingly brutal in its <a href="https://blackagendareport.com/lasalin-massacre-and-human-rights-crisis-haiti">repression</a> of
Haitian activists groups, widening and deepening death squad style
repression across the country, allegedly funding and emboldening groups
such as the “G9” – a violent gang led by former police member, Jimmy
“Barbecue” <a href="https://woymagazine.com/2020/09/18/what-is-happening-in-the-neighborhood-of-belair/" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Cherizier<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> – which has been <a href="https://blackagendareport.com/lasalin-massacre-and-human-rights-crisis-haiti">terrorizing</a> pro-democracy activists. </p>
<p><strong><em>“As with Martelly, Moïse’s path to the Haitian presidency was paved by U.S., Canadian, and French funding and support.”</em></strong></p>
<p>Yet, it is all too easy to demonize Moïse. As calls for his removal
increase, many critics have fallen into a typical trap when it comes to
Haiti: focusing on one individual – the invariably “Black despot” – as
the source and root of all evil in Haiti’s politics. By doing so, rarely
are important questions asked about how Moïse came to power, how he has
been able to get away with his increasingly autocratic actions and,
until now, how he has survived calls for his ouster, let alone the
curtailment of his powers. To ask such questions is to recognize that
Moïse is not a sovereign political force. Instead, Moïse is the product
of a broader system blocking Haiti’s democratic path and sovereignty, a
system that is built and maintained by the white rulers of the world.</p>
<p>To understand how white rule functions in Haiti is to recognize that
Haiti is and has been under foreign military and political control. The <a href="https://thepublicarchive.com/?p=4639" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">second occupation<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a>, following the first occupation from 1915 to 1934, began in 2004 soon after the U.S.-France-Canada-backed 2004 <a href="https://www.globalresearch.ca/haiti-ten-years-ago-us-france-canada-coup-detat-aristide-forced-on-a-plane-at-gunpoint/5368274" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">coup d’état<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> against
the popularly elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide. This coup
d’état led to the establishment, in June 2004, of a multinational
military occupation force under the auspices of the <a href="https://blackagendareport.com/content/blame-illegal-military-occupation-cholera-outbreak-haiti">United Nations</a> (with
changing acronyms and shifting mandates over the years). It is an
occupation that is led and controlled by a group of white nations and
white-dominated institutions: the United States, France, Canada, the
United Nations, and the OAS. This is in conjunction with the <a href="https://dyalog.org/refleksyon/2019/2/11/the-core-group-as-a-parasite-on-haitian-sovereignty" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">CORE Group<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> –
a group composed of special representatives from the UN Secretary
General and the Organization of American States, as well as ambassadors
from Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, the European Union, and the U.S. The
Core group appointed itself as arbiters of Haitian politics. </p>
<p><strong><em>“It is an occupation that is led and controlled by a group of white nations and white-dominated institutions.”</em></strong></p>
<p>It is these white rulers of the world who continue to fund and supply
the Moïse government with arms, ammunition, and tear gas. It is the
white rulers who spent millions building <a href="https://blackagendareport.com/content/us-gives-haiti-gift-prisons">prisons</a> in Haiti and funding and training the Haitian <a href="https://sfbayview.com/2020/11/stop-the-massacres-in-haiti-end-us-and-un-support-for-the-criminal-regime-of-jovenel-moise/" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">police<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> and
military. It is the whiter rulers who have turned a blind eye to the
atrocities of the Moïse administration. It is the white rulers who have
condoned the lack of parliamentary elections, the ruling of the country
by decree, and the rewriting of the Haitian constitution. Most
importantly, it is the white rulers who have <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/10/haiti-political-crisis-biden-state-department-challenge/" class="gmail-0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">affirmed<span class="gmail-0"><span class="element-invisible"> </span></span></a> Moïse’s illegal extension of his ruling mandate. </p>
<p>The fight for Haitian sovereignty is against these white rulers of
the world. Indeed, it is easy to focus on the Black despot – Moïse as
the dictator in the making. But we cannot ignore that there is a global
white supremacist structure that creates the condition of possibility
for someone like Moïse. This is the structure that exacts its power with
laser precision, without regard to human rights or sovereignty.
Especially when it comes to Haiti. It is also a structure that can
easily replace Moïse with another despot when he is no longer useful to
the white rulers. </p>
<p><strong><em>“It is easy to focus on the Black despot.”</em></strong></p>
<p>At this moment of intensifying crisis, the questions confronting us
should be: what does it mean to speak of elections, the rule of law,
democracy, and constitutional mandates in Haiti when its people have no
rights – the Haitian nation-state, no sovereignty – that the white
rulers are bound to respect? What is a constitutional crisis – what are
elections – when a nation is under full political and military
occupation? </p>
<p>And how do Haitian people demolish this diabolical system and banish its white rulers once and for all?</p>
<p><strong><em>Jemima Pierre, a member of Black Alliance for Peace, is
also a professor of Black Studies and Anthropology at the University of
California, Los Angeles.</em></strong></p></div></div>
</div>