Reply #98: tough questions

[okie]

No serious person has claimed Haiti's troubles can be attributed entirely to American Empire. France, for example, threatened invasion if the Haitians did not compensate them for the cost of Haiti's freedom. The country was locked into crippling debt from the time of the original devil's pact.

I also disagree with the idea that Haiti has been largely self governing since the 2004 coup. I think very little governing has been going on at all. Rene Preval may be the elected president, but he has no real influence. What's more, the Fanmi Lavalas party has been crushed with backing of UN "peacekeepers", and the few mild reforms won during Aristide's tenure have been rolled back. Lavalas members have been persecuted and even killed. And the UN force has done little to stop the criminals from carrying out these acts because they are collaborators. To talk of self governance when once-powerful political movements are violently suppressed makes no sense at all.

As for Haiti's future, I agree that things look quite bleak. One of the reasons Aristide was toppled was because he had the temerity to demand reparations from France. Wouldn't be a bad start, far as I'm concerned. But real freedom for Haitians will come when the exploitative structures of the global economy are dismantled. When countries like Haiti are not seen as sources for cheap labor and testing grounds for neoliberal structural adjustment. I don't wish to sound glib here, or like I'm spouting platitudes. These changes are obviously very big and complicated (involving many more players than the US and Haiti), and difficult to seriously address in short paragraphs on internet forums. But it would be wrong to look to the 1920's for answers here.