Why
Haiti Should Not Become a UN Protectorate
Anthony N. Morgan
November 23rd, 2010
This
commentary is written in response to Mr. Winston D. Munnings’s
commentary entitled, “Should Haiti Become a UN
Protectorate?,” which was published by Caribbean
News Now on November 22, 2010.
As Mr. Munnings’ notes, it is true that the
Haitian people have endured, and continue to endure, some of the worst
tragedies we have come to learn of in recent history. However, the fact that
“there is no other nation in the Western Hemisphere that has endured the
adversities and misfortunes as that of the Republic of Haiti and its people”,
as Mr. Munnings writes, seems to suggest that foreign
interventions in the country need to be reduced instead of increased given the
proven and unprecedented strength, resilience and spirit the Haitian people
have demonstrated in the face of incredible odds, and which they have
exemplified to the world since achieving independence in 1804.
As Mr. Munnings rightfully notes, Haiti’s
problem did not begin with the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.
However, it is not true that the country’s problems “started a half century ago
under a merciless dictatorship, a poorly planned economy, greed, corruption,
isolation”. Yes, the dual Duvalier dictators (first of Papa Doc Duvalier
1957-71, and his son, Baby Doc Duvalier,1971-1986) engaged in an appalling and
criminal campaign of tyranny, terrorism, repression and neglect against the
Haitian people for the entire duration of their reign. But Haiti’s
problems began at least 185 years ago in 1825. Here’s how:
In the early 1800s, the existence of a free Black republic was a great
threat to the major profiteers and politicians of Europe and America because of
their heavy economic dependence on the unfree labour
of enslaved Blacks at the time. As such, Haiti was diplomatically and
commercially isolated by the rest of the world out of fear that other enslaved
Africans around the world would revolt in demand of their freedom. In other
words, Haiti’s punishment for achieving freedom and independence was that the
economic powers of the world totally isolated Haiti in attempts to make the
Haitian economy fall into total collapse, the purpose of which was to dissuade
other Blacks from entertaining ideas of living free and governing their own
affairs (this logic is currently being applied to Cuba).
By 1825 Haiti’s leaders had decided that the people of Haiti could
suffer the effects of global economic isolation no more. With a bankrupt
economy, they invited officials from France to a summit. As if Haitian people
had not paid enough through being stolen from Africa and enslaved to make
European descendants wealthy, or through the blood shed to defeat European
armies and gain independence, the French officials decided that they would only
recognize Haiti as a sovereign state and engage in commercial relations with
this Black Republic if Haiti paid France 150 million gold francs. This, they
said, was the value of what France’s slave-holders lost when Haiti gained its
independence. Hoping to end Haiti’s global economic and political isolation,
repayment installments equal to 90% of the Haitian
economy began immediately and did not finish until 1925 when the last franc was
paid, exactly 100 years later.
In a campaign launched at the 2001 UN Conference on Race in Durban,
South Africa, it was shown by financial actuaries that 150 million gold francs
in 1825 was equivalent to US$ 21 billion in 2001. Today, this amount, with
interest, is some $40 Billion dollars. France still refuses to repay any of
this money.
The story does not stop there, however. Although Europe and North
America slowly began to recognize and open up trade and commerce with Haiti,
the Haitian economy remained severely strained to the point that by the late
19th century and into the early 20th century, Haiti was falling short on its
repayments to France. To keep Haiti paying the promised installments,
French officials encouraged American bankers to step in. The American bank,
City Bank, responded and eventually offered Haiti a debt exchange with a lower
interest rate and longer-term debt. Thus, the illegally extracted debt was not
fully paid by Haiti until 1947.
Despite the new terms of repayment offered by City Bank, Haiti still
struggled to pay the exorbitant sums. Payments slowed to such a level that the
US invaded Haiti in 1915 to protect the financial interests of France and City
Bank. As a pretext, the US claimed this invasion was necessary for strategic
military purposes given that North America and other leaders of Europe were in
the midst of a “Great” War. That war ended in 1919, the US occupation of Haiti
ended in 1934. After 1934, Haiti rightfully became of less interest to global
powers, as the world’s interest most appropriately turned towards crushing
Hitler and the Nazis.
The purpose of recounting this history is to demonstrate how deeply
problematic it is to think that the US and France should play any role in the
governance and internal policy-making of Haiti through the establishment of a
UN Protectorate or any other meaningful form.
More recent history also speaks to why France and the US should most
certainly not be called on to play such a role in Haiti. In particular, let us
recall the support the US and France tacitly and actively gave to the
aforementioned Duvalier dictatorships:
The US offered financial and military support for the Duvalier
dictatorships because of their communist paranoia, which gripped the world
during the Cold War (the Duvaliers were radically
anti-communist, which at the time translated into Haiti enjoying the support of
the US because of US fears of communism and another Cuba emerging in the
Caribbean). The US also gave this support to protect the immense profits of
American apparel and textile companies operating in Haiti. France similarly
supported these dictatorships by colluding with the US to ensure that properties
and businesses owned by French citizens and corporations in Haiti were
protected. The Duvaliers, their cronies, family
members and the Haitian elite that supported them actually frequented back and
forth between Haiti and France, quite often holding much of the wealth they
plundered from the Haitian people in France in the form of property and bank
accounts. Further, it is now in France that Baby Doc Duvalier resides and lives
comfortably. Moreover, in further consideration of the US and France’s relationship
to Haiti, it is interesting to note that when Baby Doc was forced from power in
1986 he was brought to France in an American Air Force aircraft.
Given this long history that the US and France have in destabilizing a
the Republic of Haiti, and their active and passive participation in ravaging
of the Haitian people from at least 1825 to 1986, it is hard to give any
credibility to suggestions that Haiti should come under the grips of the US and
France as a UN Protectorate. Further, one need not spend too much time reading
about Haiti’s recent history to see overwhelming evidence concerning how the
US-led and French co-signed embargoes and sanctions imposed against Haiti
during the 1990s, as well as the removal (both in 1991 and 2004) of Haiti’s
only freely and fairly elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, are directly
linked to the punishing poverty and ‘failed-state’ status of the Republic of
Haiti.
There are also extensive publications and reports concerning neo-liberal
policies that the US imposed on Haiti, the partial result of which caused
Haiti, once totally self sufficient in terms of rice production, to become
dependent on the rice of American farmers. American farmers have enjoyed
massive subsidies from the US government and thus have been dumping their rice
into Haiti since the 1990s. This has totally undercut Haitian-produced rice, as
well as decimated the Haitian rice production industry along with the country’s
overall food security and food sovereignty. Bill Clinton who was behind the
introduction of these policies, has recently publicly admitted his total
wrong-doing in this regard and also regarding the crushing sanctions he imposed
on Haiti during his administration. Sadly though, a very recent article by the
Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa showed that not much has changed as it
reported that a recently released US official report reveals that as late as
2008, the US provided $13 billion dollars in subsidies to its farmers.
Except for the underlying question of “where was the UN when France and
the US were doing all of this to Haiti?”, all that has been written so far
speaks only to why the US and France should play no kind of serious governance
and administration role in Haiti, and does not address the UN. Thus , let us
now consider why a UN Protectorate should not be made of Haiti, with reference
to the UN in particular:
The popular masses of Haiti are vehemently opposed to the presence of
the UN as it has manifested itself since 2005. Haitians are currently in the
streets, beating down, stoning and road-blocking UN vehicles throughout the
country in protest of their UN’s ‘over-presence’ in the country. Further,
despite incessant attempts to deny and suppress the truth about the origins of
the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti, the Swedish Ambassador to Haiti, Claes Hammer, just last week publicly stated that a US
official informed him that it has been confirmed that UN soldiers from Nepal
are the ones who brought cholera to Haiti. Haitians have responded by
protesting en mass, sometimes violently, to express their opposition to the UN
presence in Haiti.
The Haitian masses are also opposed to the UN’s MINUSTAH soldiers, which
have been in the country since 2005. These soldiers have been known to engage
in recurrent air and land arsenal attacks against Haitian citizens in slums
such as Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince.
All of this is to say that the popular masses of Haiti deeply distrust
the UN, and that recent history and current events demonstrate that they have
more than ample reason for this disaffection. To be clear, I am not suggesting
that the UN abandon Haiti totally, for there are many health and well-being
services that the UN is providing that would likely be unavailable otherwise.
Indeed, it is also clear that some military presence is needed at present.
However, given the forceful opposition of the Haitian people to the UN since
2005 to present, it would be a flagrant assault on the principles of democracy
to go as far as to make Haiti a UN Protectorate. Other forms of assistance may be
welcome, but UN Protectorate status would not be.
Further, it must also be noted that the UN’s legitimacy and credibility
concerning Haiti strongly come into question by the mere fact that they named
Bill Clinton the UN Special Envoy to Haiti. This is the very same man who is
largely responsible for Haiti’s more recent economic underdevelopment woes;
namely, through the severe sanctions, embargoes, economic and agricultural
policies he forced Haiti to accept (as discussed above). Regardless of his
recent mea culpa, Clinton had ample
time to admit and remedy his wrongs during and after his presidency. It reeks
of the vilest form of opportunism for him to come out now as a “friend of
Haiti”. It behooves us to ask, what is behind his
about-face? Mr. Clinton, why Haiti and why now and not before?
Everything that has been outlined in this present commentary speaks not
to an attempt to intellectualize anything, but, quite the opposite. The aim is
to do nothing more than draw attention to the cold hard facts of history and
current affairs to demonstrate why the idea of making Haiti a UN Protectorate
is a misguided idea, no matter who is voicing. There is still more to be said,
however.
Contrary to what Mr. Munnings states, Haiti
needs no external “guidance” or to be “taken care of” by “parents”. As
Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “The devil hath power to assume a pleasing
shape”. Considering this, the UN, US, Clinton and France should be regarded
with, at the very least, significant suspicion when it comes to Haiti and decisions
about how it will, and should, be governed.
Moreover, despite what Mr. Munnings writes, it
is offensive to the history and spirit of the Haitian people to seriously state
that, “this is not the time to talk of Haiti’s autonomy as a sovereign entity”,
and that Haiti’s “survival” should instead be our focus. From 1804 to present,
Haitians have shown the world time and time again that if there is one thing
they have absolutely no need for it is lessons from others on “survival”.
In fact, they should probably be paid to give the people of the Western world
lessons on just that considering how up in arms they are about current
austerity measures (Greece, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Lithuania, France, UK)
and bailouts (Greece, US, Ireland) being used by their governments to safeguard
their fragile economies.
If we want to seriously serve Haiti’s “industrious and hardworking
people who deserve, like other peoples, the opportunity to live and to be
recognized and treated as human beings”, the UN, US and France should
immediately begin with the following:
Ensuring the return, in full and without conditions of:
1. The $40 Billion dollars France stole from Haiti in 1825;
2. The tens of millions Haiti paid to City Bank between the late 19th
century up until 1947, after this bank re-financed the illegally extracted debt
Haiti was forced to pay France;
3. The tens of millions of dollars in revenue and profits that the US
apparel and textile companies have pocketed from their exploitation of Haitians
in their factories since the late 1950s;
4. The tens of millions of dollars in revenue and profits gained by US
farmers through the dumping of their rice and other agricultural products into
the Haitian market since the 1990s.
A critical assessment of Haiti’s history and current affairs reveals
that the one thing Haiti has never enjoyed is the right to govern itself and
develop on its own terms without significant foreign intervention of all forms,
economic, political, social. Thus, it is difficult to see how a UN Protectorate
being made of Haiti would mean anything other than a re-packaging of more of
the same that would result in furthering the underdevelopment of Haiti.
Indeed, there are many other ways the UN, US and France can be involved
in partnering with Haitian people. One such way is public-private partnership
initiatives geared towards capacity building of Haitians in areas of farming,
agriculture, construction, medical, health, education services and
infrastructure development. These should be led and informed by Haitians
legitimately selected by the popular masses. Business loans should also be made
more accessible. The Haitian Diaspora also needs to play an active role in this
process, being deeply engaged in it and not just consulted after decisions have
already been made.
Finally, It would be absolutely wrong, absurd and offensive to disregard
the agency of Haitians and claim that they have played no part in creating a
situation where, before the quake, 80% of the population was living under the
poverty line and 54% of its people lived in abject poverty. However, the point
of this commentary is to show that there is a long and relatively unknown
history of the US, France and the UNs’ action and omissions that have resulted
in the effects of the earthquake, hurricane Tomas and cholera being
exponentially greater than they ever should have been. In light of the history
and current affairs outlined in this commentary, it becomes clear that a UN
Protectorate is not the way for Haiti.
The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey is known
for openly championing the statement, “Africa for the Africans, at home and
abroad!”, in a time when even the thought of such a thing seemed absolutely
absurd to European and African descendants alike. Today it is most important to
update and particularize this clarion call by asserting, “Haiti for the
Haitians, at home and abroad!” Such is the only way to fully and rightfully
recognize the dignity, humanity and history of the Haitian people.
Anthony N. Morgan, who is from the Caribbean, is a law student at McGill
University. He can be reached at: anthonynmorgan@gmail.com. Read
other articles by Anthony N..
This article was posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 6:59am and is
filed under Disasters, France, Haiti, History, Military/Militarism, United Nations.