If one took care to exclude the impenitent collaborators who are basking in their subservient role in administering the country, the solution to Haiti’s woes have been beyond the control of ordinary Haitians, many of whom are systematically hunted down, murdered, ostracized and humiliated since the start of the occupation (2004-?). Even Mother Nature is cooperating with the occupiers, as Hurricanes Jeanne (2004), Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike (2008) and the January 12, 2010 earthquake that killed 2% of Haiti’s population demonstrate. Sheer coincidence, may be. The ramifications are nonetheless too palpable to ignore as the international community’s self-assigned nation-building role could ultimately endanger Haiti’s very existence. Even the premise of the endeavor, (Haiti being a threat to international peace and security), is ludicrous, if not malicious.
Recently Rwanda’s Paul Kagame elaborating on the western powers’ paternalism in Africa summed it up this way: “They criticize the good things we do (Africans) and try to hold us responsible for the bad things they do.” He further added “Africans are capable of forging their own destiny; we don’t need the lessons that we’re always being given.” In Haiti’s case, the western powers seem no longer content to criticize or give lessons as the unlawful occupation of the country attests, they are bent on imposing their will by any means, using the most preposterous argument and brutal tactics to that end. While the international community is slow in delivering its promised aid for the reconstruction, the United Nations is sending more soldiers and police officers in Haiti to neutralize any upheaval that is likely to occur.
Complicating matters is the fact that the corrupt and servile political class remains silent on the U.N occupation by choice. Taking a principled stand against the occupation means forsaking their personal aspirations, something that members of this particular group will never do. In the process, they are lending credence to the notion put forward by the international community that Haiti needs supervision or protection from them. A presidential candidate, senator Jean Hector Anacacis, looking to endear himself with the occupiers, proposes reconstructing the decommissioned Haitian Armed Forces (FA d’H) and creating a secret service agency that would bolster security and create a safer environment for foreign investors. Another candidate Charles Henry Baker laments on his website “the full range of political rights and civil liberties guarantees by the Haitian Constitution remains precarious as there is a lack of any legitimate security force’ (he is passionate about the restoration of the defunct Haitian Armed Forces). How precisely these absent-minded approaches correlate with solving the problems of the 1.3 million homeless living and dying in inhumane conditions in squalid camps since the January 12 earthquake may baffle economists and historians for years.
With turncoats like Préval, Anacacis and the facilitators of the February 29, 2004 invasion and occupation of Haiti, one needs to ask whether the Haitian revolution was a mirage or a genuine attempt by men of valor to do away with institutionalized injustice. As for Préval’s contemptuous attitude toward the Haitian people, it was evident in the aftermath of the January 12 disaster when he failed to address the traumatized nation for a month, preferring instead to give interviews to foreign media and lamenting about the collapse of his palace, presumably the one he inherited from his father. With a leader like Préval, the Haitian people certainly do not need enemies, hence the prevailing view in the international community that Haitians are responsible for their torments.
At this juncture, the revolutionary spirit that embodied the likes of Mackandal, Boukman, Biassou, Toussaint, Dessalines and Christophe, to name a few, has vanished into thin air. To think that 20% of the Black population of Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti) perished for a righteous cause that many of their descendants consider irrelevant to their existence is an insult to the Negroid race. In sabotaging the commemorations of the bi-centennial of a hard won victory over injustice and arrogance, Haiti’s political class along with the foreign-born or affiliated elite have shown their true colors and ought to be designated “special enemies of the nation.”
Unless the presidential candidates take a stand on the issue, the electorate should boycott the November 28 vote which is a mockery of Democracy. This particular election will legitimize the Security Council mandated-occupation of the country and nullify the principle of auto-determination enumerated in the United Nations Charter. Considering the occupiers’ effective control of Haiti with the explicit support of local collaborators and because the Haitian people are factually prevented from deciding or addressing their own future, participation will amount to voting under duress.
Because a year in politics is an eternity, the redundant assertion that Haitians are responsible for their torments is no longer valid after 6 plus years of occupation of Haiti by MINUSTAH. Whether the international community cares to admit it or not, Haiti’s problems have been its responsibilities since February 29, 2004, and the argument that whatever has been achieved between 2004 and 2010 is now buried under the rubbles is patently disingenuous and totally ridiculous. In that regard, the international community can either admit defeat or claim victory and make an honorable exit. Evangelization, coercion and occupation can never obliterate our national character, which was built on a core principle: rejection of all forms of subjugation. Like its predecessors, the republic of NGOs will inevitably crumble in the most unexpected way.
ddjougan@gmail.com