[Peace-discuss] Haiti debate

[Ricky Baldwin]

Folks,

If you've been following the events in Haiti over the
last year since the US-backed coup there, you may have
gotten the impression that there are only two sides:
Aristide and the US.  Of course we know it's rarely
that simple.  And in the case of Aristide, reluctantly
returned to power after the 1991 coup *only* on
condition that he accept certain economic "reforms",
it certainly becomes complicated.

A recent article of mine, of which I am particularly
proud, in Dollars and Sense took a worm's eye view,
from Batay Ouvriye, the workers' group I've mentioned
here before.  They have been attacked violently by
both sides, although definitely moreso by the
so-called "rebels".  And I was richly rewarded by the
following Stalinesque response, which I include here
in its revised form (with my brief reply) to
illustrate just what I'm on about.

I didn't bother to correct several misstatement of
fact, by the way, such as my alleged "surprise" that
Batay isn't clamouring for Aristide's return, or that
I somehow accused Aristide of "embracing" the
austerity measures (what I said was, he was "forced to
accept" them.)  I figured nobody who doesn't know me
would care about my attempts to defend myself, but the
basic thrust of this letter's argument needs
disputing.

Hope you find it informative.

Ricky


February 15, 2005

To the Editor:

We are writing to clarify several points raised in
Ricky Baldwin's article about Haiti, "Free Markets and
Death Squads" in the September/October Dollars and
Sense.

Unlike Mr. Baldwin, we are not surprised that Batay
Ouvriye is "not agitating to bring President Aristide
back this time." After all, they were one of the
organizations that called for his resignation before
the coup.  With that stance, they placed themselves
against the vast majority of the Haitian peasant and
labor movement.  It is ironic that Batay is now
experiencing repression from the very forces they
helped put in power.

Baldwin's article talks of recent attacks by the coup
government and paramilitary forces on farm workers,
but fails to mention that these farm workers had
received this land during Lavalas administrations. 
With the ouster of the Aristide government, the former
landlords have been emboldened to seize the land
again. 
By focusing almost exclusively on the repression
against Batay Ouvriye, Baldwin leaves out any mention
of the ongoing, wholesale attacks [ON OTHER UNION
MEMBERS, JOURNALISTS,]  and supporters of Aristide's
Lavalas party. Paramilitaries and police have killed
or displaced thousands of people since the beginning
of the coup in January, and up to 10,000 government
workers have been fired from their jobs - victims of a
witch-hunt directed at suspected Lavalas sympathizers.
Since September 30 the coup government has mounted a
state of siege against grassroots activists AND THEIR
COMMUNITIES in Port-au-Prince, with HUNDREDS OF people
killed, many of them execution style, and many more
arrested, including Father Gerard Jean-Juste. Fr.
Jean-Juste was finally released on November 29th after
a sustained international campaign, BUT MORE THAN 700
POLITICAL PRISONERS STILL LANGUISH IN HAITIAN JAILS.
ALMOST NONE OF THEM HAVE GONE BEFORE A JUDGE. Why is
this context missing from Mr. Baldwin's article?

On December 1st, according to first-hand accounts,
members of the Haitian national police murdered over
60 prisoners who were protesting abominable prison
conditions and the lack of due process. This attack
coincided with Colin Powell's recent visit to Haiti,
where he told the Latortue coup regime, "We are with
you all the way."  Despite this repression, tens of
thousands of Haitians demonstrated throughout the
country on December 16th [AND AGAIN ON FEBRUARY 7,
2005], calling for the return of President Aristide. 
Readers of Mr. Baldwin's article might find it hard to
understand this massive and continuing popular support
for Aristide. Mr. Baldwin claims that the Lavalas
government embraced a "neo-liberal" economic policy,
as evidenced by the Free Trade Zone on the
Haiti-Dominican Republic border.  In fact, successive
Lavalas administrations resisted privatization and
developed an economic and social agenda centered on
local development, health care, a massive literacy
program, enforcing taxation of the elite and raising
the minimum wage. Of the 11 national industries that
the IMF demanded be privatized in 1994, the Lavalas
government sold off only two of them. Aristide's
refusal to cave in on privatization is one of the
reasons international financial institutions cut off
loans to Haiti.

Batay Ouvriye focused its work in the Free Trade Zone,
where workers make far more than they do in the
Port-au-Prince sweatshops owned by Haiti's elite.  The
Aristide administration targeted these sweatshops,
where workers are paid, in some cases, as low as 55
gourds a day and are killed, arrested, beaten or fired
if they try to organize. This could account for the
passion with which the Group of 184, representing
Haiti's business elite, mobilized to support the
U.S.-French coup against Aristide.  And this could
also explain why Yannick Etienne of Batay Ouvriye, who
allied with the Group of 184's attacks on the Aristide
government, fails to condemn conditions in the elite's
Port-au-Prince factories.

Ms. Etienne grudgingly admits that President Aristide
raised the minimum wage and drew the ire of the State
Department and Haiti's elite in the process. But she
neglects to mention that immediately after the coup,
many of the Port-au-Prince sweatshop owners retracted
the raise and lowered wages.

The United States and France staged the coup in Haiti
not just for "cheap labor", but to destroy a social
movement that had given hope, democracy, literacy,
schools, health care, and even parks, to Haiti's
majority. This movement made Haitian Creole an
official language, and recognized Vodou as a religion.
The United States attacks Haiti, like it does Cuba and
every country in the world that has tried to take an
independent path to development, to prevent the
emergence of an alternative model that supports the
majority of the population.

Why is all of this absent from Mr. Baldwin's article? 
Why does he fail to discuss the work of Haiti's
grassroots labor and peasant federations, who
overwhelmingly support Lavalas?  In doing so, he
presents a distorted picture of Haiti's reality.  The
Aristide government and the Lavalas movement were -
and are -- the _expression of the hopes and dreams of
the clear majority of Haitians. That is why so many
Haitians have taken to the streets, risking arrest,
torture and assassination, to demand the return of
Aristide and democratic rule.

We would be happy to provide Dollars and Sense with
the names of labor activists from Haiti who could
share with you a far different analysis from that
presented by Batay Ouvriye.  Are you interested?

For more information, see reports of Haiti
Accompaniment Project and Institute for Justice and
Democracy in Haiti or visit the Haiti Action Committee
website at: www.haitiaction.net.

Charlie Hinton
Robert Roth

for the Haiti Action Committee
PO Box 2218
Berkeley, CA 94702
Daytime phone: 510-845-7114, x115


My reply:

Mr. Hinton and Mr. Roth accept a false dichotomy:
either one must be with the Aristide government or
with the US-backed coup.  Apparently this means we
must be willing to overlook abuses under Aristide,
such as when armed Lavalas supporters (“chimeres”)
assaulted striking hospital workers in Port-au-Prince,
accusing them of supporting the opposition (ICFTU
report, June 2, 2003).

Even speaking up against such abuse apparently means
one is “allied” with the rightwing coup.  It then
becomes “ironic” when rightwing paramilitaries beat
and handcuff workers affiliated with Aristide’s
critics.  All sorts of twists follow.

The truth is that Batay Ouvriye suggests an
alternative to either domination by business elites or
reliance on “populist” political leadership, of
workers organizing themselves directly and
independently.  Recent attacks on workers by Lavalas
supporters as well as by hired security and coup
forces would seem to demonstrate a need for just that.

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