19746: radtimes: The history behind the unrest in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

The history behind the unrest in Haiti

-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 4, 2004
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

THE HISTORY BEHIND THE UNREST IN HAITI

[The talk excerpted here was given by Pat Chin at the New York Workers
World Party Black History Month forum on Feb. 20.]

The racist demonizing of Haiti continues today, aided and abetted by the
capitalist media that accuse the Haitian government of human-rights
violations, corruption and the use of armed gangs. These media call for
the capitalist version of democracy while promoting opposition forces
funded by the United States, much like they do with Cuba, Venezuela,
Zimba bwe, Yugoslavia and other countries that dare take an independent
path. They did the same thing to Michael Manley's government in Jamaica
in the 1970s and 1980s, and he wasn't even a revolutionary.

The first U.S. foreign aid--by slave owners George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson--went to help the French suppress the Haitian revolution. The
first U.S. sanctions ever were leveled against the new Haitian state.

Haiti has been vilified and kept in wrenching poverty as punishment for
having had the audacity to free itself from slavery, while today
resisting the restructuring dictates of U.S.-dominated financial
institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

There are hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants in the United
States. Many of them are refugees and undocumented. But that did not
stop them from joining the huge demonstration for immigrants' rights
last October in Queens, N.Y. In Boston, the majority of the members of
the bus drivers' union are Haitians. And they are present in large
numbers in other unions.

Goods can be sold cheaply in the United States because Haitians are paid
a dollar a day. The maquiladora production pro cess is based primarily
on the Haitian model.

The U.S.-backed Duvalier dictatorship that was finally overthrown by the
masses in 1986 created stability for the cheap-labor model of
exploitation to emerge and flourish. But with the revolutionary upsurge
of the 1980s that ended Baby Doc Duvalier's regime, some of these
companies fled Haiti to Central America, where conditions for the
exploitation of sweatshop labor were more stable and hence more
profitable.

Haiti provided Simon Bolivar with sanctuary, material and other support
to carry out South America's liberation. The only thing the Haitians
asked in return was for an end to slavery there. When you look at the
flags of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador you see the blue and red of the
Haitian flag.

There were up to 27 foreign military incursions into Haiti from 1804,
the year of independence, to 1915. In 1915, the United States invaded--
and then occupied the country for decades. The year before, in 1914,
U.S. Marines had invaded and seized the country's gold reserves, which
were later deposited into New York's National City Bank.

Haiti's first communist party was founded prior to a 1936 decree
outlawing such parties. Nevertheless, in the 1950s and 1960s there were
several communist parties. But they were basically run out of Haiti and
many of their leaders killed by Duvalier. Armed resistance fighters were
caught, killed or imprisoned and tortured with help from the CIA.

The Haitian Communist Party itself was infiltrated and taken over by
Duvalier. Many young revolutionaries joined and then were either
brainwashed into the Duvalierist way of thinking, were killed or
imprisoned. One of the principal CPs that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s
was the Haitian Liberation Movement. After 1986, when the masses forced
Baby Doc Duva lier to flee Haiti, leaders of the Unified Communist Party
returned home. But some of them opposed Aristide and the popular Lavalas
movement that was sweeping the nation.

The destruction of the left under Duva lier created a vacuum, which gave
rise to the liberation theology forces. Duvalier had expelled every
foreign priest and prelate, including the head of the Haitian church,
and installed Haitians loyal to him. But there were still many active
priests in the movement, including Aristide, who led the struggle for
justice and dignity along with other groups in the popular movement.

The popular movement comprises mostly peasant organizations. One
component of Haiti's popular movement is the National Popular Party,
which evolved out of the mass movement known as the National Popular
Assembly. Its Creole acronym is the PPN.

The PPN is a national revolutionary and anti-imperialist party based in
the peasantry. The PPN is fighting for Haiti's national independence and
against imperialist domination. The PPN is today on the barricades
against the death-squad gangs trying to take over the country. The PPN
defines itself as a democratic nationalist party but informally the
leadership has a Marxist analysis and approach.

The U.S. and French imperialists have instigated another coup and the
prospect of foreign military occupation to regain control of Haiti for
super-economic exploi tation. We must make our voices heard for the
people of Haiti, in this their bicentennial year, and in solidarity
always.

.