A Sense of History: Lessons From Haiti’s New Political Uprising

Around May of 2019, multiple cases of sexual violence against female students at Haiti’s Quisqueya University and the University of Port-au-Prince (both in the capital) were reported, sending shockwaves through student circles and the community. Then, in early October 2020, a student named Grégory Saint-Hilaire was killed in a clash with police at l’Ecole normale supérieure (a teachers college) at the State University of Haiti. Hundreds of university students took to the streets, blocked roads, and burned cars as they clashed with police in Port-au-Prince. This protest resulted in the death of another student who was shot in the head, allegedly by police. Later in October, a 22-year-old high-school senior named Evelyne Sincere was kidnapped and her naked body subsequently found on a garbage dump site in Port-au-Prince amidst government silence. 

Student activists in Haiti have risen up and played an important role in the massive popular protests against the current government of Jovenel Moïse. Moïse’s disputed presidency has been embroiled in corruption, protracted political instability, violence against women, and gang violence, the latter of which has often been linked to the state. 

There is also a deeper context: an ongoing economic crisis that is deeply tied to the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake. The quake opened the door for disaster capitalism and tightened the always enduring tension between the global interests of capital (and of Haiti’s business class) and the sovereignty of the Haitian people. Additional factors include the real effects the Venezuelan/PetroCaribe crisis has had on gas prices in Haiti and the government’s seemingly fraudulent handling of resources meant for building infrastructure in the country. 

A Legacy of Freedom Struggle 

The quest for Haitian self-determination has deep roots in Haiti’s colonial past. As the legendary Haitian pro-democracy activist and intellectual, Patrick Élie, once said: “we got the freedom from slavery . . but the rest, we didn’t get, and the cry for democracy now is the new definition of the old Haitian dream.” 

Similarly, a leading historian of Haiti recently made critical connections between the legacy of Jean-Jacques Dessalines (independent Haiti’s first head of state) and Haitian protests; namely,  that there is a desire for a “new kind of independence,” one that is free of “predatory leaders and reliance on international aid that comes with strings attached.” Indeed, the Haitian people have long been subjected to both external and internal forces that have crippled the country in many ways. 

For Haiti, external predation begins with France. In gaining independence from the French in 1804, Haiti became the world’s only successful slave revolt-turned-revolution and the first black state in the Western Hemisphere. And yet, the people who partook in the destruction of slavery in their struggle for self-determination quite literally paid a massive price for it, what one of Haiti’s most prolific scholars has called “the greatest heist in history”. Yes, Haiti (not France) in 1825 had to pay reparations to former colonial enslavers for “their lost revenues from slavery.” 

Foreign Obstacles to Haitian Sovereignty 

This dealt a major economic blow to Haiti in the 19th century and, as Dr. Marlene Daut has shown, it meant that French prosperity was built on Haitian poverty. In the 20th century, this imperialistic meddling in Haiti became standard practice. The United States occupied Haiti between 1915-1934 and, in many ways, shaped the material conditions through which one of the most brutal dictators in the history of the Americas waged racist and anti-black violence against Haitians. 

Even after the occupation, the US continued to back anti-communist coups and strongmen in Haiti. This led to the reign of the Duvalier regimes of François (“Papa Doc”) and his son Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”), a period of extreme violence and authoritarianism which lasted until 1986. Leading up – and subsequent to – the 2010 earthquake, the decades of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s saw multiple coups d’état, natural disasters, and constant interference by the United States – both militarily and economically. Internal strife and political corruption certainly contributed to Haiti’s problems, but a constant impediment to Haitian sovereignty, from independence to the present day, is still outside encroachment.

An Unyielding Politics of Struggle  

The counterpoint to these external forces has and continues to be the long struggle of the Haitian people for their autonomy. Whether it was against former French colonists, British invaders, Napoleonic armies, US-backed dictators (within and outside of Haiti), or ostensibly democratically elected presidents who mishandled (and appropriated) international aid donations, the Haitian populace has remained steadfast in their political participation and pro-democracy movements. 

By invoking the legacy of the Haitian Revolution, it is clear that the Haitian people derive their legitimacy from a sense of history, and not from what the US or any other foreign country may deem as valid. Haitian people understand that the politics of their freedom are deeply entwined with the country’s past. The massive protests of the past few years are yet another example of how Haitians will fight both internal and external powers in the face of unimaginable odds. From students to journalists to others in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, the people of Haiti are standing up to Moïse’s regime and his plans to draft a new constitution, which would allow him to stay in power another five years. Yet, their actions also invoke a resistance to foreign intervention into and perceptions of Haiti. 

A New Silencing? 

In spite of the massive popular uprisings against Moïse’s dictatorial turn, there’s been a relative silencing from major western media outlets regarding the current situation. In the mid 1990s, anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot wrote a seminal book in which he brilliantly demonstrated how the West refused to acknowledge the Haitian Revolution. Since then, there’s been a flourishing of research and scholarship on Haiti and the Revolution within academic circles. But what can we make of the current situation in Haiti (which some see as a second revolution) and what appears to be a lack of major news correspondents on the ground? 

Pieces from The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Guardian suggest that corruption, poverty, and lack of internal governance are at the root of Haiti’s troubles. The editorial board’s opinion piece at The Washington Post even went as far to suggest that the only way to lessen the flow of Haitian migration into the US (and therefore alleviate the problem of deportations) was for the Biden administration to take a harder stance on Moïse, the [actual] source of the problem. This stance of US interference in Haiti is historically consistent, and it miserably fails to acknowledge that perhaps the US is itself one of the foundations of Haiti’s current predicament. 

Experts of Haiti on social media have further pointed out how the language used by these media outlets reinforces colonialist tropes that have reduced Haiti to the lazy and racist characterization of “the poorest country in the western hemisphere.” Thus, the few major outlets that have covered Haiti have in fact done actual Haitians on the ground a disservice. By shifting the focus towards Haiti’s failed internal leadership, its poverty, or the images of violent protests, major media outlets engage in a process of silencing the rising tide of a Haitian people who have long engaged in the politics of freedom.

Lessons 

After the Haitian Revolution, one of the most famous Latin American independence figures – Simón Bolivar – went to Haiti (not the United States or France) to seek arms and munitions for his campaigns. His request was granted, provided that he abolished slavery in the newly liberated and former Spanish territories. Bolivar did so, and soon Haiti became a beacon of hope and freedom for the millions of people across the Americas who were at that point still enslaved. Haiti inspired slave conspiracies and revolts throughout the Americas, and showed African and African descendants throughout the Hemisphere the possibilities of freedom, if only one rose up to take it. 

It is time we look to Haiti once again, not just for inspiration but also for lessons on how to engage politically and fight for one’s freedoms and rights. In an age where nativism, xenophobia, authoritarianism, and global anti-blackness are on the rise all over the world, Haiti should serve as a reminder of what is possible when people come together en masse and fight for their liberation. Even more, we may be able to understand popular engagement and civic participation in ways that may not always fall neatly in line with how western countries envision political engagement. In this regard, Haiti’s new political uprising can offer us lessons for how to reimagine a more just and autonomous future. 

Banner image: A Haitian National Police officer runs following demonstrators after dispersing them with tear gas during a protest against the government of President Jovenel Moise marking the 214th anniversary of the killing of national independence hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 17, 2020. Aljazeera, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.