A Woy year in review
Welcome to the latest edition of Woy Magazine’s biweekly newsletter, providing you with must-know news and commentary on Haiti and our Diaspora.
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To mark the end of the year, we’ll be taking a look back at Woy’s most notable articles and take stock of where we are now, what has changed, and what seems to remain pretty much the same — for better or for worse.
Pandemic chronicles
Woy kicked off the year exploring the Haitian myth that "microbes don't kill Haitians". In this article, Woy contributor Dr. Kenny Moise warned of the casual treatment with which Haitian authorities were handling the global threat that was and remains the Coronavirus — though the country has not seen the high number of fatalities observed elsewhere.
In the face of the lax attitude of the authorities to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Haiti (no barrier measures are currently being enforced), individual precautions are doubly important. The time is only right to keep wearing masks, washing hands, avoiding crowded places with poor ventilation, practicing social distancing as much as possible and caring for one another.
When it came to vaccines, Haiti did receive shipments in 2021. However, authorities were hard pressed to find any takers and were forced to either return or donate several thousands of doses to keep them from expiring because not enough Haitians were interested in receiving the vaccine. It must be noted that vaccine hesitancy existed in Haiti prior to the pandemic — and it was no different with COVID-19. Dissatisfaction with the government and the political situation have been cited as cause for greater reticence against the COVID-19 vaccine in particular. This past week, the general director of the Ministry of Health revealed that only a little more than 1% of the Haitian population is vaccinated against the coronavirus during a Radio interview on Majik9.
More recently, on December 19th, the US Embassy announced the donation of 108,000 new doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Haiti’s Department of Health (MSPP). The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been found to be less effective against the latest strain of COVID-19 and the question remains as to what the difference will be between the Haitian government’s approach to this vaccine rollout versus to the last one.
A contested presidency
In February, the main debate within the public sphere took to issue the end of Jovenel Moise’s presidential term. Then and now, many credible civil society institutions like the bar associations, universities, and leading constitutional scholars agreed that Moise’s term was to end on February 7, 2021. However, Moise and his supporters maintained that his term was to end in February of 2022 — based on the length of his time in office rather than what the Haitian constitution mandates. To explain the overwhelmingly accepted position our Lead Editor, Nathalie Cerin, broke down the constitutional logic of the end of the presidential term. In it she explained:
President Jovenel was installed on February 7th of 2017. The constitutional calendar had his installation scheduled for February 7th, 2016. This was delayed because the first round of the 2015 elections were annulled because of fraud that was committed in favor of PHTK, Jovenel Moise’s party, according to the official Independent Commission Election Evaluation that was done after these elections. There was further delay because of Hurricane Matthew. Because of this, a new Provisional Electoral Council was established to continue the elections. They redid the first round, and Moise was named the winner as of the first round making a second round no longer necessary.
However, this was still a continuation of the same election. As proof, consider these three things:
1- the Electoral Council did not accept or invite any new candidates to enter the race because they specified that this was the same 2015 elections being continued.
2-President Privert declared on February 7th of 2017 that this was the finalizing of the 2015 elections.
3- Even Mr. Jovenel Moise declared in his inaugural speech on February 2017 that the road had been long because the election had begun in 2015 and was finally coming to an end in 2017.
May all who have ears to hear, hear! (Read the article full article here)
Despite the clear guidelines outlined in the constitution, Moise stayed in office well beyond the February 7th end date and was later tragically assassinated on July 7th, 2021 inside of his home.
Following this grim ending to this chapter in Haiti’s history, we explored what happened that night based on coverage offered by various news sources — as well as Moise’s legacy and the implications for the country moving forward. Here is some of what we said then:
So what is the legacy of Jovenel Moïse, exactly?
While to some he is a martyr — a humble businessman who only sought to do what’s best for his country, the facts surrounding him paint a larger, more disturbing picture.
First, there’s the issue of insecurity. Haiti’s kidnapping crisis has ballooned out of proportion. According to Alterpresse, the country witnessed 142 recorded accounts of kidnappings alone in the first three months of 2021. A June article from Forbes reported that the number of kidnappings within the first quarter of the year increased by 150% as compared to last year’s numbers. And no one has been spared: Catholic clergymen, Adventist church members, Dominican filmmakers, doctors, respected scholars, students and tons of others have all fallen victim to this violent trend.
Then there are the massacres. Since 2017, there have been more than a dozen massacres in Haiti, targeting mainly poor and working class communities. In April, the neighborhood of Bèlè suffered its third massacre in the span of two years, leaving many of its inhabitants assaulted, raped, killed, displaced and homeless.” (Read the full article here)
The investigation into Jovenel Moise’s death continues and has been mired with obstruction by the executive — who, back in September, fired their top prosecutor for seeking charges against Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The political meddling and corruption which blossomed during Moise’s stint in power has also had a role to play in Haiti’s justice systems inability to offer justice for the president’s death — even with the help of US investigators. Recent revelations put forth by the New York Times recounts a tale of what seems to us like the plot to an action movie. According to their theory, it is a purported list of drug traffickers that was the catalyst to Jovenel’s untimely demise.
#FreeHaiti
In March of 2021, a hashtag went viral featuring two words: Free Haiti. It came in the wake of mass protests against kidnapping, insecurity, and the Jovenel Moise presidency. Since Moise’s assassination protests have largely died down but the conditions that inspired them persist to this very day.
When fighting broke out in June among gangs in Matisan thousands of families were displaced and the southern departments were cut off from the rest of the country. The state’s abdication of responsibility to foster security left the country vulnerable to the recent manufactured fuel crisis.
Just this past week on December 27th, a massacre carried out by an armed gang took the lives of several citizens in the neighborhood of Matisan.
In an article for Woy back in March 2021, Etant Dupain offered a reflection on what is at stake when Haitian people call to be freed and insists, along with many others, that the solution to the current crisis lies with Haitians.
"There is no true liberation for Haiti without a true movement against all systems of oppression. It is not an accident that the economic elite in Haiti that supports the establishing of dictatorship in the country resembles the colonizers in our history. The reality is this stems directly from white supremacist thinking that wants you to believe that there is a specific category of people that should never be able to prove that they are able to govern themselves."
It is sobering that in the aftermath of years of such passionate cries for justice, that we are still experiencing violent incidents such as the ones frequently occurring in Matisan and elsewhere in the country.
Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn
In Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn, Valerie Jean Charles took us back to the networks and strategies of activism among Haitians residing in the US decades ago.
“In an hours-long phone conversation, my mother walked me back to a time where Haitians were organized and ready to defend themselves here in the States and their loved ones abroad. A time where they didn’t fall so easily to pandering, but searched and demanded accountability for any slight committed against the community. For example, in 1986, a racist-driven physical assault of a Haitian woman customer, Ghiselaine Felissant by Korean shop owners sparked the Red Apple Boycott, an 18-month long boycott and protest of Korean owned stores thanks, in part, to local Haitian leaders in the city.”
In this article, Jean-Charles goes on to call on fellow Haitians from the diaspora to “see ourselves less as individuals who are hellbent on jumping through the hoops of white supremacy bred capitalism to prove our worth, with dreams of building and enjoying lavish homes back in Haiti in violently neglected towns. To see ourselves as a collective, united by our history, united by our fights for liberation wherever we may land, to know that we are all interconnected, whether it is the mother fighting for a phone call in a detention center in Texas or the machann struggling to put food on the table in Leogane.”
Consistent with this call, Haitians rallied around the leadership of Haiti Bridge Alliance after thousands of Haitians attempted to seek asylum in Del Rio. Despite calls from activists around the globe, this week marks the 150th flight deporting Haitians under the Biden administration — a broken campaign promise to his Haitian American constituents. Groups such as the Haitian Bridge Alliance and Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees continue this movement as Haitians continue to flee from the country. Just this past week, 52 Haitian migrants landed in Florida Keys.
Hands Off Haiti
In the aftermath of Jovenel Moise's death, calls for foreign intervention resurfaced, particularly in Op-ed and editorial pieces in the press. To contribute to that conversation, our Co-Editor Melodie Cerin wrote a piece in July on the dangers of foreign intervention, and the need for time and space for Haitians to determine their own way forward. In it she said:
" Questioning these knee-jerk proposals by observing the reality of Haitian lives under PHTK over the past decade also defends against discourse that eulogizes Jovenel Moise and make him a martyr. The haste with which such calls for boots on the ground does not give Haitians the time to figure out what really happened with Moise’s death and what political settlement could be formed. That is going to take time. Instead, Haitians have found ourselves being rushed by the international community while conflicting ambitions for power abound; a consensus is unlikely. " (Read the full article here)
In the same vein, we have also highlighted the efforts of the Commission for a Haitian Solution in its process to consult representatives of the Haitian society and propose a transitional plan. As of the last newsletter, they’ve established the Conseil national de transition (CNT) consisting of a representative body made up of 44 members — charged with the task of electing an interim president and prime minister to lead in the “transition de rupture”.
Goudou Goudou
On August 14th 2021, another serious earthquake ravaged the south of Haiti, taking the lives of 2,248 Haitians, and delivering yet again the stark reminder of how unprepared Haiti is for major natural disasters and incidents — despite the devastating earthquake that took place more than 10 years ago and the outpouring of support that flooded the country in response. With a weak infrastructure, struggling healthcare system, and an absent government, incidents that would claim the lives of a few in other countries, prove to be devastating in Haiti still today. The explosion in Cap-Haitian in early December was another reminder of the state’s weak capacity to absorb otherwise manageable shocks, claiming the lives of 75 people.
After the earthquake, Woy Magazine was able to raise $10,574 thanks to our readers and their networks — using the funds to distribute tarps and tents. Because, as Melodie Cerin reminded us in an article for Woy earlier that summer, this is what we do in the face of government failure.
"We always hope that the government will step up and at least attempt to meet its end of the social contract in moments like these. But in the meantime, even as we ask the government to act, as always, Haitians have been taking care of each other. There is no need to explain to Haitians the merits of mutual aid. We have been surviving on mutual aid since before there was a term for it. In the place of a dysfunctional social protection apparatus that serves few and is further crippled by state capture, Haitians have erected a set of social protection practices anchored in institutions like the lakou and our values of konbit."
In another piece for Woy, Cassendy Lafond, recounted what he witnessed as he led efforts of distribution in the aftermath of the earthquake and the lessons to be learned.
"For the time being, only solidarity can help alleviate the population’s burden. The day after the earthquake, various groups of people, coming from diverse social backgrounds, began cooperating to get help to the Southern peninsula of the island, where damages were substantial. From the internet to radio stations, calls for solidarity were coming from everywhere, and everyone was lending a hand. Messages were sent out quickly. It had been a long time since Haitian solidarity had been this palpable and concrete."
Bon Makaya
December 21st to January 6th is Makaya season, a Vodou celebration observed around Christmas time in Haiti. It is a time for cleansing one’s home and body.
We leave you with a song, Wozo by Belo. Happy New Year! Tomorrow marks Haiti’s 218th Independence Day. Viv Ayiti!