Bay kou bliye, pote mak sonje
Welcome to the latest edition of Woy Magazine’s weekly newsletter, providing you with must-know news and commentary on Haiti and our Diaspora.
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Agreements upon Agreements
Last week we explained that Prime Minister Ariel Henry was conducting his own series of consultations with the aim of signing an agreement to guide this political transition. Here’s what we said:
“De-facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry is also undergoing his own process of consultations with various parties and sectors in the aim of proposing an agreement for a way forward. Since coming to office, he has struggled to wield any real power, having failed to repeal any of Moise’s decrees and has been unable to dissolve the contested provisional electoral council, who recently published the list of approved parties for the elections. His lack of legitimacy has pushed him to seek support. That agreement is nearly signed.” (Source: Woy Magazine)
Sorel Jacinthe (former Senator of Grandans) gave an interview to journalist Marie Lucie Bonhomme on Radio Vision 2000 on September 9th. In the interview Bonnehomme and Jacinthe detail the dynamics of the negotiations and walk through the important points of the agreement, which seeks to set up another government under Henry.
Ariel Henry signed that agreement with a number of political parties on Saturday September 11th to much fanfare, including the Sektè Demokratik e Popilè whose leader sees himself as the leader of the opposition.
The Commission for a Haitian Solution met with Henry on Thursday, September 16th. This was foreseeable as a compromise between these two sets of consultations and others would facilitate a consensus on the way forward or else this gridlock will persist.
The Struggle Continues
Last week we talked about Ariel Henry’s attempt to lead the government and being investigated in the murder of Jovenel Moise. Things quickly unfolded this week, revealing the deep rift within the PHTK party.
“But as leads grow cold and key suspects vanish, the investigation appears to be descending into a political power struggle. Competing factions of the country’s elite are using Mr. Moïse’s murder to attack opponents, leading many Haitians to fear that they will never see justice done for a crime that has left the nation adrift.
“They are fighting for power, and Ariel’s enemies are using the judicial system against him,” said Pierre Espérance, a Haitian human rights activist who is independently investigating Mr. Moïse’s murder. “What happened in the country today is something we have never seen before.” (Source: New York Times)
Henry ended up dismissing both the prosecutor and the Minister of Justice this past week.
Patterns of Domination
What's the US up to in all this? In July, Daniel Foote was appointed Special Envoy to Haiti by President Biden. In a piece published recently by Ayibopost, Ralph Thomassaint Joseph describes the US’s influence through Foote now, and reminds us of United State’s roll in the rise of the PHTK party in Haiti. Drawing a parallel between the discourse used by the US in Afghanistan and in Haiti, he states:
“Certains diront que dès qu’il s’agit d’identifier les causes de la crise permanente en Haïti, il est aisé d’indexer l’étranger comme coupable, surtout les États-Unis. S’il faut comprendre les conséquences à partir des causes, il serait malsain de ne pas attribuer aux États-Unis sa juste rétribution dans cette débâcle. Prétendre le contraire reviendrait à ouvrir une brèche qui plairait bien aux politiques américains.
Le magazine Forbes rapporte que la guerre en Afghanistan a coûté aux États-Unis 300 millions de dollars chaque jour pendant vingt ans. 83 milliards de dollars sont dépensés pour former et équiper l’armée afghane. Cette même armée n’a pas tenu face aux assauts des talibans, après l’annonce du retrait des États-Unis. Lorsqu’il fallait justifier les raisons de la débâcle américaine, Joe Biden pointe du doigt les Afghans.
« Nous leur avons donné toutes les chances pour qu’ils façonnent leur destin, déclarait-il le 16 août 2021. Ce que nous ne pouvions pas leur donner, c’est la volonté de se battre pour ce destin ».
Ceci a un petit air de déjà entendu chez nous en Haïti.” (Source: Ayibopost)
Similarly, in a piece for the New Republic, Jonathan Katz highlights the commonalities between US occupation of Haiti and the US occupation of Afghanistan. He explains that the US cut its teeth and developed some its key domination tactics during the occupation of Haiti that lasted from 1915 - 1934. He states,
“At first blush, these situations could not have seemed more different to Americans, watching events unfold on our devices from far away. But there is a deep and indelible connection between the two crises: an American one. Both Haiti and Afghanistan owe their sorry conditions to decades of direct U.S. control. Looking closely at the links between the two is essential for understanding how to respond to each in ways that help, rather than do more harm….
As in Afghanistan, the responses of the Haitian people to the U.S. invasion varied. Some were eager to collaborate, seeing an opportunity to outflank rivals, make money, and improve their lives with the help of foreigners who promised to respect the rule of law. Others were not as enthusiastic. Guerrilla fighters known as Cacos mounted an insurgency in the mountains of northern Haiti, a terrain almost as impenetrable to the Marines of that era as Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains are in ours. In response, the Marines developed a suite of military, political, and psychological tactics aimed at crushing the resistance and cutting it off from the people. These became the basis for what is now known as counterinsurgency doctrine.” (Source: The New Republic)
Business as Usual
This week, the Biden administration resumed deportation of Haitians one month after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in the Southern Peninsula of Haiti. This flies in the face of Haitians and advocates demanding a halt to deportations.
“Earlier this week, the White House produced accolades, tweets, statements of support for the immigrant and undocumented communities ahead of the House Judiciary Markup of legalization language. Yesterday, 86 individuals were deported to Haiti, a short few weeks after a major earthquake there and the assassination of the nation’s president," said Patrice S. Lawrence, co-director for the UndocuBlack Network.
"The word 'irony' comes to mind and we collectively question which immigrants the Biden-Harris Administration truly supports. Stop the deportation flights now and immediately stand up parole and relief programs for all Haitians fleeing into the United States," added Lawrence.” (Source: The Hill)
This comes the same week that the New York Times reports of a temporary shelter that has quickly formed under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. It is reported that thousands of Haitians hoping to seek asylum have taken up shelter there, and are surviving under terrible conditions. As Haiti's condition worsens, these are the risks its citizens are willing to take for a chance at better material conditions.
Vwazinaj Se Dra Blan
The technical coordinator of Haiti's Civil Protection Agency in the Sid department, Sylvera Guillaume, gave a frank and bleak assessment of the state agency's response after the earthquake. He explained that the agency's capacity was no match for the considerable need that the earthquake caused, and because of this aid has only reached a fraction of the people affected. The bulk of aid that has been able to reach families has been because of local authorities already on the ground.
"Le coordonnateur technique de la Protection civile dans le Sud a insisté sur le fait que leur capacité de réponse a été inadéquate face aux besoins de la population en raison de difficultés liées à l'accès puisque, a-t-il souligné, les sections communales sont les plus affectées par le tremblement de terre.
Sur 82 934 familles affectées, seulement 25 968 ont pu bénéficier d'une réponse en termes de distribution de ration alimentaire, 34 514 ont été touchées par des articles non alimentaires, a précisé Sylvera Guillaume. Il a aussi rappelé que les premières réponses au séisme ont été données par les responsables sur place." (Source: Le Nouvelliste)
Highlighting the gravity of the situation described by Pwoteksyon Sivil but this time in Grandans, JCOM released a video report of the situation of Zile Kayimit a month after the earthquake. Zile Kayimit is a separate island off the coast of Jeremie which is not reachable by road; this commune is only accessible via boat or airplane. In the report, citizens of Zile Kayimit explain that aid has passed them by for the last few weeks. The people of the town describe a heart breaking situation where many houses have been destroyed, and people have been forced to move back into their damaged homes because of rain despite the precariousness of the structures, and local authorities are nowhere to be found.
Kolektif 2D (a collective of Haitian photographers, videographers, journalists, and graphic artists based in Haiti) published a newsletter, titled Vwazinaj Se Dra Blan, highlighting their reporting on the earthquake in the South. To read their stories that include some striking pictures click here.
Recommended Reading
The Haitians Book Club, which is reading Jean Casimir's The Haitians: A Decolonial History, started the past week. The first session featured professor Laurent Dubois who translated the book from French into English and professor and translator Kaiama L. Glover. They discussed the challenges of translating the 400 page work into English, the subtilties of transmitting meaning, the merits and limits of the written medium (particularly for reaching Haitians in Haiti) and the bureaucracy of bringing an important work to a new audience.
BIT Haiti has announced the theme of this year’s En Lisant theatre festival: Migration.
Bon wikenn!
RastafarI love Woy! Mesi anpil for incorporating #TheHaitiansbookClub in your publication this week. I really enjoyed the discussion about tranlating and Haitian literature. I feel that Dr. Kaiama Glover brought a lot of sunlight to the discussion and she revealed so much about the process of translating the Caribbean/ Haitian text into English. I learned a lot, and my participation in the discussion helped me to realize that my heart and soul are with this Ayiti studies. But, it’s really hard to do well and succeed because I’m homeless in NYC. We need more journalists and media attention to address the problem of homelessness, impoverishment of Ayiti people in the diaspora. The literature that we celebrate in the diaspora highlights our success in the U.S. while overlooking the hardships, and pitfalls of migration. And, we need our Humanities and Social Scientists to help us figure out what the problems are and how to resolve them. Blessed love.#1804 #Ayiti #Woymagazine!