Haiti

September 25, 2007

"When people understand the way the winds are blowing, they trim their sails accordingly." With these words, Andrew Young pressured the Duvalier regime to better comply with the Carter ad- ministration's "human rights" policy during a visit to Haiti in August 1977. In the two years since, the U.S. State Department has worked hard to bring about greater "relaxation" of the Haitian political climate, carefully nurtur- ing a "free" and "independent" press, and unofficial political par- ties. Despite government foot- dragging, and occasional inci- dents of harassment, violence, and censorship, things were pro- gressing slowly, but progressing. Then, last August 29, the regime launched a blitzkrieg repression which ended in the ar- rest of the leaders of the fledgling political parties and over 200 others, the ransacking of party of- fices, the closing down of a radio station, and the complete muzzling of the press. After similar incidents in past years, the regime has beat a hasty retreat in the face of ensuing U.S. disapproval, blaming "irrespon- sible" or "unauthorized" elements or completely disavowing any in- volvement. But this time, Jean- Claude Duvalier has stood fast beside the August crackdown and behind his defiant statements made just weeks before: "I alone can blow the winds of liberaliza- tion. No one else can be put in power to blow the winds more strongly than I do. Never!" TECHNOCRATS VS. DINOSAURS These strong words reflect a sharpening crisis between the U.S. and the Duvalier regime. The U.S. is trying to "modernize" Haiti, but despite reform efforts, the regime remains a stumbling block to these designs. This conflict is reflected in a growing contradiction within the regime itself between two tendencies which essentially rep- resent the two sectors of Haiti's ruling class. Ever since independence in 1804, these two sectors have been engaged in a fierce rivalry for political power, with each sector trying to enlarge and consolidate its share of the surplus product ex- 49update * update * update . update tracted from the peasantry. Today this conflict has sharpened due to an imperialist penetration aimed at replacing the now dominant semi- feudal mode of production with capitalist production. The "comprador" sector great- ly benefits from the increased cir- culation of goods that expanding imperialist penetration brings. It provides the primary seedbed for an emerging class of managers that will head the imperialist- controlled industries and planta- tions. But the "feudals" oppose this change, since the introduction of large scale capitalist production, especially in agriculture, means the elimination of the economic foundations of their class. The "feudal" tendency within the regime, also referred to as the old guard or the "dinosaurs," is the force most responsible for the recent wave of repression. It has always been resistant to "liberali- zation." The "comprador" tenden- cy, also called the "technocrats" or the "Jean Claudistes," on the other hand, favors the develop- ment of bourgeois democracy and has emerged in the past eight years as the primary vehicle for U.S. policy in Haiti. To understand why Jean- Claude, as the leading representa- tive of the technocrats, is present- ly in confrontation with im- perialism, we must glance at re- cent history. SHARPENING CONFLICT Since 1971, when the staunchly feudal Francois Duvalier died and bequeathed the Presidency-for- Life to his nineteen year old son, Jean Claude, the theme of the regime has been "liberalization." The year 1971, not coincidental- ly, also marks the beginning of in- tensified corporate penetration. Until 1975 the penetration was characterized primarily by study and planning for the real thrust. The Haitian government's 1976-1981 five year plan, in ac- cordance with the prior studies and reports by the State Depart- ment, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and other multi-lateral lending institutions, essentially forecast the establish- ment of a basic infrastructure which would permit the develop- ment of large-scale agricultural production, all to be financed by these same institutions, at an estimated cost of $800 million. As Carter arrived in the White House in 1977, capitalist pene- tration in Haiti was shifting into high gear. "Liberalization," previously halting and uneven, was accelerated in an effort to dislodge the "dinosaurs" from power. The technocrats grew in numbers and strength. But today the "dinosaurs" still exercise sizable, if waning, power within the Duvalierist machine. They have undermined and set back "liberalization" several times: in December, 1977 a major publisher was publicly pummeled unconscious by members of the Tontons Macoutes, a ubiquitous semi-official terror force still large- ly under "feudal" control; in February 1979, widespread fraud and intimidation marred legislative elections that went to the "dinosaurs," while 9,000 copies of the magazine Le Petit Samedi Soir reporting on the abuses were burned before they could reach the streets; and in May 1979, the government ordered the shutdown of several critical theatrical pro- ductions. Moreover, the Duvalierist state has been greatly hindering the progress of "development" pro- grams. Problems have ranged from disorganization, inefficiency and corruption, to physical sabo- tage of certain "development" projects. Piqued at all these difficulties, the U.S. last May mounted and/or encouraged major pressures on the regime for more fiscal and political reforms. First, Washing- ton slammed the door on several major aid packages to Haiti. The NACLA Reportupdate * update . update . update press was given full rein to decry the May theatre censorship, and there ensued the largest open pro- test against a government decree in the history of the Duvalier regime. Journalists formed a new press association implicitly opposed to the government controlled one. Full and extended coverage was given to the Haitian Human Rights League's head-on criticisms of repression and torture. The coup de grace, however, was the emergence of three politi- cal parties for the first time in over two decades in July and early August, each party calling itself "Christian Democratic." The U.S. embassy then began behind-the- scenes pressure on Duvalier to hold new legislative elections. A new legislature would supposedly appoint Jean Claude as President with a seven year mandate, there- by ending his inherited life term. The sharpening conflict be- tween the U.S. and the "feudals" was pressing Jean Claude to make a move. He imagined that Wash- ington might turn to more "radical" technocratic currents, in the coun- try or even in exile. On the other hand the "dinosaurs" were still too influential to risk the major power struggle necessary for acceler- ated reform. He has apparently chosen to try reconciling the forces within his regime by making concessions to the "dinosaurs" with the hope that the U.S. will ease off in the face of a "united" Duvalierism. Baby Doc, in a speech in late July before the ma- jor internal security force, the Volontaires de la Securit6 Na- tionale (VSN), declared: We must straighten out all those who think that liberalization means free rein, who under- stand democratization to mean NovlDec 1979 anarchy, as if anyone can do what they please.... But the warning went unheed- ed. On August 28, Sylvio Claude, one of the party leaders, organized an impromptu political meeting of about 2,000 people in Port-au- Prince. The next day repression began. Claude "disappeared." A press clampdown was codified and enacted into law. Despite almost immediate reaction from the State Department, no public retreat has been forthcoming. On the contrary, in his national ad- dress on September 22, Jean Claude called his critics "impa- tient and blind." He accused them of being "westernized," "dream- ing only of those models built on the banks of the Potomac, the Thames, and the Seine." Whether the U.S. will bear with Jean-Claude Duvalier's faltering regime is not yet clear. Carter's announced plan of bolstering Caribbean regimes to "contain" Cuba may rule out any shifts at this time. At the least, the Cuban issue might provide a pretext for the resumption of the $18.4 million aid package, which Congress, earlier this year, made contingent on ad- ministration decisions. In addition, with elections approaching Carter may not want to risk another crisis, following Iran and Nicaragua. But with the electoral course ef- fectively blocked, if the U.S. decides to switch horses in Haiti despite the risks, we may witness a "democratic" military coup, like the recent one in El Salvador. (See accompanying article.) In either case, we must see the essence of imperialism's pressure for more "democracy" in Haiti. As a Haitian proverb says, "A dog has four legs, but can only go in one direction." No matter what forces imperialism relies on at this point, its goal remains the same: the maintenance and reinforce- ment of exploitation.

Tags: Haiti, Baby Doc, repression, feudalism, corporatism


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