This is the 170th diary on Haiti's recovery. Today is Part 2 of Damming The Flood. This is the Justice, Not Charity edition of the diary.
"The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice."
The Uses of Haiti last paragraph pg. 307
What, then is to be done? Speaking of events since the 1991 coup, Noam Chomsky has noted that "honest commentary would place all of this in the context of our unwavering opposition to freedom and human rights in Haiti for no less than 200 years." The first order of business, for citizens of the United States, might be a candid and careful assessment of our ruinous policies towards Haiti. Remorse is not a very fashionable sentiment. But for many, old-fashioned penitence might be the first step towards a new solidarity, a pragmatic solidarity that could supplant both our malignant policies of the past and the well -meaning but unfocused charity that does not respond to Haitian aspirations. The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice.
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This is where Paul Farmer's book The Uses of Haiti ends. This is where our new diary begins. Farmer answers our question- what to do first, "The first order of business, for citizens of the United States, might be a candid and careful assessment of our ruinous policies towards Haiti." that is what this diary will attempt to do (mainly through the discussion that takes place in the comments). Many of us are new to learning about Haiti. But we really want to help. This diary is a place to learn about Haiti, about US policy towards Haiti, and to advocate for Haiti.
There is a book list at the end of the diary.
:* Announcing** Please Join Us On July 12, 2010: Black Kos and Justice, Not Charity are teaming up to help Haiti!
Special Edition Haiti Matching Fund Diary is Co-Sponsored By Black Kos! The Wonderful dopper0189 Will Post The Diary On The Six Month Anniversary of The Earthquake. We Have $700 In Matching Funds. We Raised The Matching Fund Money From Contributions from Members of The Group. Now We Ask The Amazing Daily Kos Community To Match US. Last Time You All Showed How Generous, Compassionate, And Fabulous This Community Is. We Raised We Raised $3200. Lets Stay True to Our Word And Not Abandon Haiti, Again, This Time.
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For the two previous diaries about Damming The Flood, By Peter Hallward See here for the 1st diary,
here, and here for the 2nd diary
here. We will add tag Haiti book diary, from now on.
Sorry it is so long. I hope you read it because its time for us to learn more about the history of Haiti.
(2nd half of chapter 1) Chapter 1 covers from 1791-1991
Arguably, there is no single event in the whole of modern history whose implications were more threatening to the dominant global order of things. The mere existence of an independent Haiti was a reproach to the slave-trading nations of Europe, a dangerous example to the slave-owning US, and as an inspiration for successive African and Latin American liberation movements. Much of Haiti's subsequent history has been shaped by efforts, both internal and external, to stifle the implications of this event and to preserve the essential legacy of slavery and colonialism - that spectacularly unjust distribution of labor, wealth and power which characterized the whole of the island's post-Columbian history.(Damming The Flood, P.11)
Thursday's book: Damming The Flood: Haiti, Aristide, And The Politics Of Containment, by Peter Hallward: Chapter 1
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Ravet pa janm gen rezon devan poul
Roaches are never right when facing chickens |
France lost its highest producing colony. In 1804, the colony once named Saint- Domingue by the French was renamed Haiti by the former slave Dessalines. Jean-Jacques Dessalines was now President of an independent country. ( see last diary for information about the revolt and how Led by Toussaint L Ouverture the army of former slaves beat the French, British, Spanish and and groups of black and mulatto militias.) Haiti represented a slave holding country's biggest fear, slaves revolting and taking over. In the US it became common for slave-owners to cite Haiti as the cause of any “disobedience” from their slaves. Haiti could not be left where it would serve as an inspiration to slaves and as a threat to slave owners. (pg. 11) "Much of Haiti's subsequent history has been shaped by efforts, both internal and external, to stifle the implications of this event and to preserve the essential legacy of slavery and colonialism - that spectacularly unjust distribution of labor, wealth and power which has characterized the whole of the island's post-Columbian history." There was no middle ground. The world order depended on Haiti's failure. Haiti had to be crushed.
Much of US- Haiti policy has been been shaped by this threat - the threat of justice. The threat to the US is the threat of a change of this unjust distribution of wealth and power. True justice in Haiti would require the changing of the global socio-economic order and re-distribution of wealth and power, something that has threatened US policy makers since Haiti's founding and which they have conspired with the International Community to crush. Justice is a threat to Haiti's tiny ruling class as well. (pg. 13) "Haiti's ruling class became in the nineteenth century what it remains to this day - a parasitic clique of medium-sized and authoritarian land-owners on the one hand, combined in uneasy alliance with an equally parasitic though more 'outward-looking' assemblage of importers, merchants and professionals."
pg, xxxii
(quote by Lavalas activist Patrick Elie)
"....It didn't serve merely to put an end to the "threat of a good example," but also to discredit it beyond repair. Haiti's mobilization had proved that "the poorest people in the hemisphere", Elie goes on, " can know more about democracy than the people who are pretending to be beacons of civilization [...]. For the US, Haiti is an example that must be crushed, that must be made to fail."
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The US refused to recognize Haiti until 1861. France had placed an embargo on Haiti when it was taken from France in a successful slave revolt, which was particularly harsh because Haiti's economy was based on trade. The world routinely took what they wanted from the island. Haiti's economy, already suffering from the devastation from the war, needed to reestablish trade. And countries like Germany took advantage of the embargo and Haiti's isolation. They worked out trade deals based on Haiti's desperation.
In 1825 the French demanded that Haiti pay 150 million francs with interest to compensate France for its loss of slaves, labor and land. They would not trade with Haiti until and unless Haiti agreed to pay this "debt." France was making the statement that while the former slaves may have won their freedom, they certainly had not won any rights that France had to respect. However, because Haiti's economic system was based on trade and Haiti's economy was suffering, they took the deal. This debt was the biggest factor in setting Haiti on a path of perpetual poverty, indebtedness and loss of independence. France was not fully paid until 1947.
In 1915 under President Woodrow Wilson's leadership, the US invaded and then occupied Haiti for close to 20 years. Woodrow Wilson was the first US President to force the "structural adjustment” of Haiti. The US forced forced Haiti to become user friendly, i.e. investor friendly. The US' military regime removed the clause from the constitution that banned foreigners from owning property and took over Haiti's only bank. The US "adjusted" Haiti's economy to ensure that foreign debt would be repaid and took land to create large plantations. Our policy towards Haiti has changed in what the propaganda to justify our exploitation of Haitians says, but the actual policies remain astonishingly similar to what they have always been.
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The army was used to maintain control of Haitians while their country was being "adjusted"- to provide The US and International corporations opportunities to loot and to pillage Haiti as they pleased. The army used ruthless and brutal force to maintain order, while Haitians were exploited, tortured and used for forced labor. This marks the beginning of a problem that remains with Haiti today - the formation of the army and the use of it to maintain control with torture, kidnapping, and creating an environment of terror. This is a legacy that we, the US, left in Haiti.
The US strongly backed Duvalier because he kept the huge majority of Haitians under control. His son, Jean-Francois, Baby Doc, took over in 1971 when Papa Doc, Francois, died. Baby Doc made a deal with the Nixon administration. In exchange for US support, Baby Doc agreed to keep taxes low, suppress trade unions, keep the minimum wage low and allow the repatriation of profits. Haiti's army, along with the para military murderous Macoutes, ensured these new policies were complied with. Baby Doc inherited the para military force, the Tonton Macoutes, from his father. Papa Doc created this private militia immediately after stealing the election in 1957. He created it to protect him form the army (incase of an attempted coup) and to assist the army when fighting the army's only enemy the Haitians. Baby Doc was to make "good" use of this the Tonton Macoute. This was the beginning of a new error of "structural readjustment."
With Reagan came an acceleration of these policies. Neoliberalism was in full bloom in the 1980s. Baby doc agreed to continue to make Haiti user friendly for US corporations. At the request of the Reagan administration, Baby Doc, under the guise of structural adjustment, privatized many of Haiti's government agencies and further stripped its markets of protective tariffs. This is what the US called the American Plan. Haitians have a more accurate name for it - the Death Plan.
The 'American Plan' was designed by the US to destroy Haiti's farm economy, thereby forcing Haitians to compete for sweatshop jobs. This policy was to use Haiti's "advantage of poverty” to provide cheap labor for US and International Corporations (mainly in the garment industry). The US would move their factories and sweatshop jobs to Haiti where they could exploit the cheap labor and take advantage of the lack of regulation, unions and minimal taxes and tariffs. This was imposed on Haiti by US policy makers and implemented by the USAID, IMF and IFI's "restructuring" programs. Supposedly this was to provide jobs for Haitians. This deliberate plan - to destroy Haiti's farm economy to open the Haitian market to US agricultural industries and to provide US corporations with cheap labor is well documented. The US forced Haiti to reduce or eliminate tariffs. Haiti was not allowed to subsidize its farmers. The US, on the other hand, heavily subsidized its own farmers. These subsidies, along with the low tariffs, allowed US agricultural industries to sell products for much less money. Rice is Haiti's staple food. The US dumped cheap rice in Haiti and Haiti's small farmers could not compete. So Haiti went from being able to feed itself "but poor" to starving and poor. (pg. 5) "By 1995 the subsidies provided by the US to its domestic rice industry had risen to around 40% of its retail value, but in that same year the Haitian government was forced to cut the tariff on foreign rice to just 3%. Previously self-sufficient in rice, Haiti is now flooded with subsidized American rice that trades at around 70% of the price of its indigenous competition.... Domestic production is undercut even more by the vast amounts of additional ‘free’ American rice that are dumped on Haiti every year through the ministry of USAID grantees,..." As footnote: (Clinton apologized in 2010 to Haiti for his trade policy that destroyed Haiti's ability to feed itself. He said that his policy may have been good for the farmers in Arkansas but they hurt Haiti. However he still advocates for and did not apologize for the sweatshop trade bills).
Pg. 8
...The cumulative effect of neo-liberal structural adjustment policies, says Lisa McGowan, has been to lock the Haitian national economy in a "financial straightjacket" that benefits "a few creditors, some foreign investors and consumers, and a small class of Haiti elites," all at the expense of the Haitian people themselves. Too many powerful interests - international lenders and entrepreneurs, US agribusiness, charitable NGOs, the employers who exploit thousands of desperate Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic, Florida, New York, Montreal, Paris...- have a stake in Haitian poverty to allow it to change anytime soon.
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Once the US accomplished the destruction of Haiti's farm economy, Haitians were forced to flee the countryside to sweatshop jobs in Port au Prince. Port au Prince became dangerously over crowded. The plan "worked." At first it did produce sweatshop jobs. But because of the constant political problems (the army terrorizing Haitians) and China's even cheaper labor, the jobs did not last. Haiti's average wages decreased 50% between 1980-1990. The American Plan – dubbed the Death Plan by the Haitians.
(Pg. 5)
In both theory and practice, the effect of there programs is to undermine the public sector, to do away with institutions and policies that might empower the poor majority, and to consolidate at all levels the grip on the economy of the dominant transnational class.
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Jean-Francois's private militia, the Tontons Macoutes, continued their war on Haitians through the 70s and 80s. The Macoutes oppression was not limited to Haiti's poor. It also targeted factions of the liberal elite. A portion of this liberal faction of the elite were tired of the military oppression. They joined the priests and the
organisations populaires (OPs/popular organizations) in the call for Duvalier's removal. This small group of elites was an essential part of this new coalition of anti-Duvalier activists.
In the late 1970's, some progressive Haitian Catholic priests began to break with the conservative tradition of the church. A number of these priests began to call for social justice and demand that Duvalier step down. The OPs, along with these new community based church groups, the ti legliz, were inspired by liberation theology. Some of the liberal elites united with the priests in calling for Duvalier to step down. Then students joined in. There were street rallies and demonstrations in Gonaives.
These protests continued, and by 1985 the US and the International Community began to doubt Duvalier's ability to suppress the population. In November 1985 three schoolboys were killed by the Macoutes at a demonstration in Gonaives. People demonstrated all over Haiti to protest these vicious killings. The violence was bad for business and the US decided it was time for the military rule in Haiti again. The US suspended aid. The military decided to cut its losses and get rid of Duvalier. The vast majority of US aid was given to the military and other paramilitary groups to suppress the Haitian people. So when the aid was suspended, the army was motivated to make a change.
Duvalier was not able to contain the demonstrations, not even with the Macoutes' sadistic techniques. The US was deliberately moving Haiti from poor to destitute. Baby Doc's brutality backfired, and a movement based on liberation theology grew.
This was the end for Jean-Francois Duvalier who had declared himself president for life when he took office in 1971. On February 7 1986, Baby Doc was removed form office: And courtesy of the US flown to France and given a comfortable retirement.
Fifteen years of brutal rule was over. Or so people thought. It took a while for people to realize that the removal of Duvalier did not represent a change in policies. The change was one merely about who could best enforce the policies. The sadistic and brutal repression by the army would continue. However, it would take some time for people to realize this. For a while, Democracy was in the air. There was a widespread belief that things were going to change.
The US urgently began to fill the void. They, along with the Haitian army, created the National Intelligence Service (SIN). Supposedly this group was to keep track of drug traffickers. However what they really did was intimidate and monitor Haitians. The CIA helped set it up and recruited notoriously violent people including Emmanuel "Toto" Constant (we’ll learn more about him in future chapters). This group terrorized activists in the popular movement, while the elite worked on strengthening the army. The elite were determined to maintain their privileged status- Haiti had to remain the same.
General Henry Namphry replaced Duvalier. His administration was just as oppressive as the Duvaliers. More people were openly shot by the army in Namphy's first year in office than were in the 15 years of Duvalier’s reign. The US was concerned that the Haitian army was not up to the task of containing the masses and squashing the demonstrations.
In 1987 the Haitian constitution was modified to weaken the executive office to ensure nothing changed. The army, in plain sight of media outlets from around the world, murdered 150 people who went to the polls to vote in the 1987 election. After they finished killing people, the army canceled the election. Leslie Manigat was installed as president. However Manigat’s presidency did not last long. Four months later Namphry took the presidency back. (pg. 28) "In a day of violence that was exceptional even by Namphy's standards, on 11 September 1988 hundreds of petty thugs were hired to storm Aristide's crowded church. They killed at least a dozen members of the congregation and destroyed the building; Aristide was again snatched to safety by his supporters, his aura of righteous invincibility growing with each new attack." Rewarded for his acceleration of the American Plan and brutal suppression of the Haitians, Namphy's Administration was given $200 million in direct US aid.
In 1988 General Avril ousted Namphy. In 1989 there were more demonstrations to protest Avril's regime. " (pg. 29) "As human rights advocate Brian Concannon notes, Avril's regime had engaged in 'systematic pattern of egregious human rights abuses.' It found him personally responsible for enough 'torture, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment' to award six of his victims $41 million in compensation."
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:
We fight for the human rights of Haiti’s poor, in court, on the streets and wherever decisions about Haitians’ rights are made. We represent the unjustly imprisoned and victims of political persecution, coordinate grassroots advocacy in Haiti and the US, train human rights advocates in Haiti and disseminate human rights information worldwide.
IJDH is simply the most reliable source for information and analysis on human rights in Haiti. — Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
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In the four year span directly after the Duvalier period there were eleven different governments.
Seventy percent of the Haitian government's operating budget (and 90% of its capital projects budget) comes from foreign aid and loans. This obviously gives the wealthy governments that dispense the aid and loans enormous leverage. Haiti's elite represent a tiny percent of Haiti's population, yet they rule the country. They share the US' and international community's goal of keeping the power structure as is. They are the people that the US, UN, NGOs and IMF communicate with and give contracts to. The Haitian government has little hope of changing the power structure economically.
The OPs and the ti legliz continued to mobilize and grow. Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned from school in Jerusalem and Montreal in 1985, in the heat of demonstrations and calls for justice. He was born in Haiti to a poor family. He was a brilliant student with a deep dedication to the poor, and he was inspired by liberation theology. He preached in a church in La Saline. However it did not take long for him to be known across Haiti. He spoke the simple truth; tout moun se moun — every human being is a human being. And he spoke that simple truth standing with Haitians; He spoke Creole and respected their culture and religion. He was one of the people, and he never forgot that or lost his commitment to the poor. Liberation theology recognizes poverty and inequity as scandalous.
tout moun se moun —
(every human being is a human being)
Damming The Flood, (pg. xxxiv): Mantra from Aristide's 1990 campaign:
"Alone we are week, together we are strong; all together we are Lavalas, the flood [yon se`l nou feb, ansanm nou fo, ansanm nou se Lavalas]."
Aristide
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Aristide preached justice and equality rising up against Duvalier. In the midst of the oppression of the regime and with the threat from the Macoutes’ in the capital, Port au Prince, he called for Duvalier to step down. He called on the poor, the oppressed and all anti-Duvalierists to join together and become a force that could not be stopped. The Lavalas (Creole word meaning avalanche, flood, mass of people, or everyone together) now joined the OPs, the
ti legliz and the small group of elites. Aristide believed that power comes from the people, themselves, standing up together and taking control of their lives. He did not believe in the hierarchy of power. He believed in unconditional equality.
In the four years after Duvalier dictatorships, while Haiti had eleven governments, the Lavalas movement continued to grow and remained unified. Unity is a central aspect in Aristide's governing beliefs.
In preparation for the election in 1990, the US picked a candidate- Marc Bazin (with Serg Gilles as running mate.) The US spent an astonishing $36 million on his campaign. They also launched a propaganda campaign and brought the notorious Macoute chief, Roger Lafont, back to Haiti to run as an ultra right wing candidate and scare Haitians into voting for Bazin. This did not work out as Bush planned it to. What it did was to motivate Aristide to run for President of Haiti. Aristide knew that the election was sponsored by the US and meant for show only. He thought, rightly, that the Lavalas movement could use the election to make a change despite the US' intentions. As soon as people found out about Aristides’ candidacy, they rushed and registered to vote.
On December 16, 1990 Haiti elected its first democratically elected president. Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide was now President Aristide. He won the election with a whopping 67% of the vote. A full 80% of Haitians voted. Bazin won 14% of the vote. For the first time in Haiti's history the people had a voice; they had picked their own president. The excitement was everywhere. Poor neighborhoods around Haiti exploded with joy.
The elite, the US, and the international community panicked. How did the plan go so wrong? It did not take long for the US to act. They sent former President Carter with a group of high-level US officials to Haiti. Carter asked Aristide to step down and to denounce his own victory. The idea was to give the position to the pro-US candidate, Bazin, who had won only 14% of the vote. Even though 67% of the Haitian people voted for Aristide.
The US recognized that Aristide and the Lavalas movement were the biggest threat to the US' interests: A bigger threat than secular Marxist-Leninism and bigger than the labor unions. (pg. 37) "A US official spoke for a more general Washington consensus when he said that 'Aristide-slum priest, grass-roots activist, exponent of Liberation Theology-represents everything that the CIA, DOD and FBI think they have been trying to protect this country against for the past 50 years'."
Within the first couple of days of his Presidency, Aristide opened the doors of the Duvalier torture chamber and stopped political persecution and government sanctioned violence. He invited poor people to the Palace and had soldiers serve them a nice meal of rice and beans. The soldiers were furious. He did not try to turn Haiti into a socialist country over night. He knew that would cause a huge backlash. Instead he went about enacting reasonable policies. He balanced the budget. He enforced the tax laws and collected import fees. He began the process of replacing the hated section chiefs with police that would report to elected government officials instead of the army. He appointed honest lawyers and judges to investigate the numerous political murders. He slowly took steps to redistribute fallow land, started a literacy program, lowered the price of food, cracked down on drug trafficking and he slightly increased the minimum wage. He was cautious.
The elite, the army, the US, and the international community saw these small changes as a mortal threat to the world's social, economic structure. This is when Aristide lost the remaining support he had from the liberal elite faction. They would not tolerate any higher taxes, no matter how small.
Aristide's presidency was a symbol for the poor that they mattered. Poor people had a little more confidence.
jean-jacques dessalines pictures
Although the US and IFI approved Aristides budget, the USAID found the increase in the minimum wage and the government regulation of the price of basic food unacceptable. They contributed millions of dollars to the business elite’s campaign against the modest increase from 33 to 50 cents. The USAID suspended aid. Just to be clear, the US gave Namphy's administration $200 million in direct US aid - the administration that shot 150 people in plain view of the media. Now the USAID suspended aid to Aristide's administration - the administration that slightly increased the minimum wage and tried to keep food affordable.
The disinformation campaign had begun immediately. It would, as we read in later chapters, be one of the biggest, with millions and millions spent on it and be, perhaps, the most effective propaganda campaign in modern history.
(pg. XXXi)
"By the time of Fanmi Lavalas' May 2000 electoral victories, virtually all of the elite politicians who had allied themselves with Aristide's anti-macoutisme in 1990 had switched sides. They had all joined a US-funded pro-army opposition group known as the Convergence D'emocratique. Together with its allies in Haitian civil society and in the governments led by Bush and Chirac, this little posse of unelectable politicians (who collectively never enjoyed the support of more than perhaps 15% of the people) was then able to mount a remarkably effective campaign to deprive Aristide's government of funds and to demonize it as violent and corrupt. In over of the most impressive propaganda exercises in modern times, they were able to make the equation of Aristide and the Duvalier look like a self-evident cliché. This effort required considerable amounts of money and ingenuity: according to the best available estimates, supporters of Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas organization may be responsible for around a tenth of 1% of the number of political killings usually attributed to the Fracios Duvalier and his Macoutes."
Jesse Helms is one of the most vigilant and deceitful opponents of Aristide. While it was the Bush and Clinton administrations that sanctioned violence and hired former Macoutes and Cedras to terrorize the Haitian poor, Jesse Helms was an American policy maker who consistently portrayed Aristide as an unstable, violent dictator. Many people, here on Daily Kos believe these things that are rooted in Helms’ deceitful rhetoric (one of my purposes in writing these diaries is to learn for myself and with others and to bring to others the true history). I do not mean to imply that there is no valid criticism. He made mistakes and is human. And things in Haiti are always complicated, or that' what people tell me. However, a close look at the key players behind these lies is quite revealing. The book covers this in future chapters.
(Jesse Helms inspires me to show the Aristide Foundation a little love)
The Aristide Foundation for Democracy (AFD) was created in 1996 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (the first democratically elected president of Haiti) with a simple principle in mind: "The promise of democracy can only be fulfilled if all sectors of Haitian society are able to actively participate in the democratic life of the nation."
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The likelihood of a coup was enhanced by some of Aristide decisions and by lack of support from other politicians. He did not have the votes in parliament to enact his policies; he had to compromise. The FNCD was outraged when he did not appoint the regular government officials. After all, some elites returned to Haiti from exile in the post Duvalier period and fully expected to receive high level government positions. He, instead, appointed competent bureaucrats and activists from the Lavalas movement. He further angered the Party by remaining loyal and dedicated to helping the poor. He was the peoples president. Aristide has a deep commitment to the poor people that remains with him to this day.
When the National Front for Change and Democracy (FNCD) Party recruited Aristide, he replaced Victor Benoit as the Party's nominee. Victor Benoit was furious and waited for an opportunity for revenge. Victor was not alone in his hatred of Aristide. Some other politicians from the FNCD’s formed a deep rooted hatred for Aristide. Some of the most bitter became members of the US funded group called "Democratic Convergence." The first demand from this US funded party was that the brutal army be re-instituted. We see many of these politicians in articles and on TV. Evans Paul, Paul Denis, Gerard Pierre-Charles, Serge Gilles -all became members of the CD.
The first day of Aristides presidency he dismissed most of the officer corps’ high level men. Aristide's decision to replace the section chiefs that were under the army's jurisdiction with police that would be under the elected governments jurisdiction, was, perhaps, the biggest reason for the ensuing coup. Having the soldiers serve the poor people meals probably did not help either. The US backed army was not used to being treated this way, and would not tolerate it. He angered the elite with taxes, tariffs, and talk of equality. He refused to implement the US' and International Community's neoliberal policies. He had no allies. (Well the Swiss government tried to help train a security force that would be supportive, but there was not time.) The US backed army was too powerful for Aristide to fight off. (pg. 38) "But there was nothing that either this tiny force or the vast multitudes in the slums could do when the Ce`dras and the generals, with unofficial but unequivocal US support, moved against the regime on the night of 30 september 1991." And hence the first coup.
This coup was officially objected to by the world.
To be continued...
Join us next Thursday for summary/plus Damming The Flood, Chapter 2.
"Dye mon, gen mon."
Translation: Beyond the mountain is another mountain.
(A proverb of both patience and the recognition of how difficult life in Haiti is.)
ijdh:
Anyone interested in democracy and rights has reason to be interested in Haiti. Over two centuries ago, Haitians challenged the notions of human rights taking root in Europe and the nascent United States, insisting that all people are human and that slavery could have no place in any republic worthy of the name. This was the beginning of the modern human rights movement.
— Paul Farmer, Co-Founder, Partners in Health
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Thursday is Haiti diary book day: Book List :
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This is our book list so far:
In the Parish of the Poor by Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
Mountains Beyond Mountains, Damming The Flood, The Uses of Haiti, Travesty in Haiti, Partner To The Poor A Paul Farmer Reader, Walking on Fire, Brother, I'm dying,
Bitter Sugar: Slaves Today in the Caribbean by Maurice Lemoione [1985],
The Black Jacobins, C.L.R. James (h/t Deoliver47),
Edwidge Danticat's TheFarming of Bones,
The Chosen Place, The Timeless People,
Krik? Krak!PIH has a book list,
Breath, Eyes, Memory,
The Rainy Season - Haiti after Duvalier by A. Wilentz,
PIH has a new website. They have recommended reading, book list, links to websites with action alerts. Articles.
Videos
The Agronomist,
Aristide and the Endless Revolution,
Life and Debt ,
Poto Mitan,
Any suggestions? We are looking for books, articles, websites where we can get accurate information about Haiti. Please share any information.
Please contribute what you can. All three of these NGOs are making a difference on the ground in Haiti:
The Aristide Foundation for Democracy (AFD) was created in 1996 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (the first democratically elected president of Haiti) with a simple principle in mind: "The promise of democracy can only be fulfilled if all sectors of Haitian society are able to actively participate in the democratic life of the nation."
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Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:
We fight for the human rights of Haiti’s poor, in court, on the streets and wherever decisions about Haitians’ rights are made. We represent the unjustly imprisoned and victims of political persecution, coordinate grassroots advocacy in Haiti and the US, train human rights advocates in Haiti and disseminate human rights information worldwide.
IJDH is simply the most reliable source for information and analysis on human rights in Haiti. — Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
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Partners in Health (*/A+) has now started a BLOG about its efforts called Stand with Haiti. It has very useful information. Partners in Health is also putting out a call for health volunteers, in case you are a medical professional who can help out that way:
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886 signatures the goal is 1000. If this was a petition regard whether Jane Hamsher Hates Haiti there would be 10s of thousands of signatures. This is to stop Haitian's from being evicted from homeless camps. The Petition to stop rape got results, see UN Human Rights Council Resolution: Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: ensuring due diligence in prevention.
Action Alerts:
Aid
Evictions: Stop Forced Evictions of Haiti's Earthquake Victims Institute For Justice & Democracy in Haiti has a petition, here.
The UN and Haitian Government agreed on April 22 to an immediate 3-week moratorium on forced evictions which expired, Thursday, May 13th. Within that period reports of evictions continued. Humanitarian aid, including food, water and sanitation facilities have been cut off in targeted camps (1, 2). In other locations, residents are being harassed and abused by the police. The people most affected by the earthquake, those who have lost their families, homes and livelihoods, now live in fear that they may be violently forced to leave their present settlements without viable options established for relocation (2).
Additional Action Alerts:
TransAfrica Forum
Stand up and be counted (Partners in Health)
HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE ACTION ALERT
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
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Thursday is Haiti diary book day. Here is the
Book List
ShelterBox: TexMex is busy moving, but carolina stargazer is still watching the store. The next ShelterBox diary is planned for Friday morning, but activity in Tuesday's diary will be monitored until then. Matching funds are available. To keep up with ShelterBox Diaries check here.
Current News:
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Election
IJDH Releases Report Calling for “fair, inclusive and constitutional elections” in Haiti
IJDH is shap ing the dia log around elec tions in Haiti with a new com pre hen sive report that ana lyzes con sti tu tional pro visions in depth and breaks the myths around elec tion mechan ics. The report dis cusses the impor tance of “fair, inclu sive and con sti tu tional elec tions” in Haiti, and ana lyzes the main obsta cles to achiev ing this goal.
Kim Ives, Marc Bazin is Dead:
Marc Louis Bazin, a former World Bank economist who lost Haiti’s historic 1990 presidential election to former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide by a landslide, died at his home in Thomassin, Haiti on Jun. 16. He was 78. A family member said the cause of death was prostate cancer. In 1992, Bazin became the second de facto prime minister, after Jean-Jacques Honorat, to front for the military regime of Gen. Raoul Cédras and Col. Michel François, which overthrew Aristide in 1991. Bazin held the post for a year before resigning.
Miami Herald, Préval closes door on elections panel revamp
During the discussion, Préval stuck to the facts, providing journalists with copies of letters sent with the recommendations of various Haitian institutions to him after he requested nominees for the council.
The letters and suggestions of CEP members, he said, were proof that he did not ``handpick'' members of the CEP, as critics have accused.
Bill Clinton/Trade/Aid
Haiti’s Future: Repeating Disasters:
[2] The plan mainly called for the country to open access to the world market by: 1) using its cheap labor to attract foreign investments in the export assembly industry or garment production, which would be carried out in Free Trade Zones (FTZs); and 2) prioritizing the production of selected agricultural goods for export, mainly mangoes. In Haiti and its diaspora, there was substantive opposition to this plan on the ground, though this was virtually ignored in mainstream media. Haitian grassroots organizations and long-term advocates called for a more humane approach that would be less detrimental to Haiti's future. The Collier plan would only maintain the recirculation of foreign capital. Those fortunate enough to land one of the 125,000 jobs the plan sought to create would have to contend with exploitative labor relations aimed at reinforcing the concentration of wealth at home and abroad.
A Tremor for Haiti's Aid Industry:
But aid agencies didn't buy it. They had failed for 2½ years to audit the plant, a requisite for procurement, and so instead, they imported their own stuff: a similar supplement called Plumpy'nut. The result? Even before the earthquake, the market for so-called ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) was flooded -- and Medika Mamba wasn't able to compete. And while the needy children were still getting fed, it was a major blow to the mamba-producing Meds & Foods for Kids (MFK) factory and its local employees.
Vulture Capitalism
The Washington Informer, Halliburton in Haiti:
But this ridiculous scene will be replaced by an even scarier one. While the dust from the collapsed buildings still hung in the air of Port au Prince, contractors began to salivate over the eventual contracts to rebuild Haiti. If Iraq reconstruction is any indicator, we can expect a rebuilding process that has nothing to do with the welfare or interests of the Haitians people.
Still homeless from Haiti earthquake, thousands fight forced evictions
:We are cutting back the diary to 3 days a week but diaries will have new information in them. If you are interested in posting a dairy please leave comment.
UPCOMING DIARIES
Monday: **open**
Thursday: Book day - allie123
Saturday: Aji
If you would like to volunteer to contribute a diary to continue this series, please volunteer in the comments below. Norbrook has created a Google documents file with the source code the first version of the diary with the NGO list. allie123 created a Google doc for the new series Justice, Not Charity. However, because we are cutting back to 2 or 3 diaries a week we will be adding a focus and new information to each diary now.
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The icons and March 13 formatting revision of this diary series are courtesy of the html artist known on Daily Kos as Pluto. The "Help Haiti" image at the top of the diary that has become the "logo" of this series is courtesy of AuntKat. Big thank you to swampus for maintaining the google doc for months.
Please let me know if this is ok with everyone? and if there are any mistakes.
Once the entire $700 has been raised we will donate the matching fund to NGOs that we have seen working hard and getting results in Haiti:
$700 $200 to Partners in Health; $200 to Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti; $100 to Aristide Foundation for Democracy; $100 to at this link for Reiser Relief; $100 to The Lambi Fund