 March 2004
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Sara Burke, Managing Editor Sam Diener, Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
The Roots of the Haitian Crisis: Serge Bordenave, Coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee's program in Haiti, wrote this in early February, as the political crisis deepened, and armed groups had seized Gonaive.
Haiti is currently in a situation of violence that deepens daily. It is a very worrisome situation, with its roots both in the distant past and in the absence of a commitment to democracy on the part of Haiti's leaders. The oppression that accompanied the colonization of the island of Hispaniola (starting with Columbus), the pillage and exploitation of resources by the colonial forces, and the violence of the slave system, resulted in a slave revolt. The revolt succeeded, and Haiti's independence was declared 200 years ago, on January 1, 1804. The violence used during the independence struggle has echoed down through the years. Hatred became structural and the majority of the country's heads of state achieved power through violence (coups d'état, civil wars, revolts, etc.). Haiti's tradition of political violence was reinforced by the US military occupation in1915 (for 19 years), the US sponsored 30-year dictatorship of Papa Doc Duvalier and his son Baby Doc (1957-1986), and the three years (1991-1994) under the coup leaders who overthrew Aristide and proceeded to kill 4,000 Haitians after Aristide's first election in 1990. The direct result is that all political movements in Haiti typically adopt violence and its tools: small arms, hand-made bombs, Molotov cocktails, and assassinations.
The explicitly nonviolent struggle in the early years of the Lavalas ("cleansing flood") Movement was a notable exception to this tradition. Aristide led Lavalas, which overthrew Baby Doc Duvalier through a nonviolent insurrection in 1986. In 1990, the Haitian people, by a large majority, elected Jean Bertrand Aristide to bring the country through a democratic transition. His term was cut short by a coup in 1991 carried out by right-wing forces and the military. People resisted the coup leaders, and the US re-invaded. After three years in exile, Aristide was restored to power. Since his return, the Aristide government, through increasing corruption and repression, has gradually generated the present crisis. Aristide armed his partisans, the chimeres, who have life-and-death power over any who question the arbitrary decisions taken by the Lavalas government. Aristide's supporters have had nearly total impunity. For example, on January 13, 2004, they openly attacked a restaurant where several radio announcers, seen as troublemakers by the government, were gathering. No investigation was made despite requests from the opposition and civil society. Public demonstrations against the government are systematically attacked by Aristide's supporters, and President Aristide has never condemned the violence. The escalating number of political assassinations have led the opposition and large sectors of civil society to demand that Aristide be replaced immediately by a government of consensus. The call for Aristide's departure is reinforced by the steep rise in the cost of basic products, the deterioration of living conditions, the murders of students at the State University of Haiti, and political polarization. Much of Haiti's civil society has demanded Aristide's immediate resignation. Anti-government demonstrations have increased across the country, especially after government supporters, along with the Haitian National Police, invaded the Social Science College and the National Institute for Management and International Studies on December 5, 2003. They destroyed all the computers at the Social Science College and injured many students. Even the Rector and vice-Rector were not spared despite their attempt to mediate. The government supporters broke both of the Rector's legs with iron bars while the police stood by and did not intervene. The police opened an inquiry, but it is widely regarded as only an empty exercise. It is pure demagogy to speak the rhetoric of peace without taking any actions to stop violent behavior, something that needs to be addressed at the deepest levels. The situation is in flux and is quite complicated. For example, the former supporters of Aristide's government in Gonaive (in the North of Haiti, the country's fourth-largest city), had been armed to violently attack the opposition. After the assassination of one of their leaders, Amiot Métayer, they became one of the forces most violently opposed to Aristide. Since September 2003 there have been daily violent demonstrations in Gonaive. The schools, businesses, and public administration have not operated since then. Many civilians and police personnel have died. Many people, especially those living in the poor neighborhood of Raboteau, have fled in fear of becoming the next victims. In early February 2003, the city of Gonaive was taken over by opposition forces, at a heavy cost in lives. Shortly thereafter, other cities were taken over, and dozens have died.
The AFSC Haiti Program is trying to continue our development work, attempting to prepare for potential cutoffs of supplies to the region, and working to prevent the escalation of violence. Since this was written, armed groups took control of several more cities and then besieged Haiti's capital, Port au Prince. The US claims US officials and Aristide (according to Congressperson Maxine Waters and activist Randall Robinson) agree that the US informed Aristide that the US was withdrawing security forces protecting him, and that the rebels wanted to kill him. Under this pressure, Aristide apparently signed a letter of resignation and boarded a plane, which flew to the Central African Republic. After the UN Security Council approved the intervention, US Marines and French, Canadian, and Chilean forces have landed in Port au Prince. The situation of the general population is dire, as food supplies dwindle, health care facilities curtail services, and roads and communications are disrupted. Already, looting and revenge killings have taken place. Meanwhile, President Bush, on February 25, 2004, in contravention of the 1951 Refugee Convention and other international refugee laws, declared his intention to turn back any Haitian refugee who flees the country.
To learn more, visit www.afsc.org/latinamerica/int/haiti.htm,
www.hrw.org/doc?t=americas&c=haiti,
www.nchr.org, and www.nacla.org.
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