“People’s Tribunal” Launched in Haiti to Commemorate 101 Years of U.S. Occupation
“People’s Tribunal” Launched in Haiti to Commemorate 101 Years of U.S. Occupation
by Mark Schuller
Vol 10 # 4 Du 3 au 9 Août 2016
Thu., Jul. 28, when Hillary Rodham Clinton took to the stage to accept the Democratic nomination to be the first female candidate of a major political party for president, was also the 101st anniversary of the U.S. military occupation of Haiti that lasted 19 years.
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These contemporary struggles underscore the stakes in the efforts to re-unify the Haitian left. And they also underscore the need for a historical analysis and reparations. Without naming them all, here are six contemporary legacies of the first 1915-1934 U.S. Occupation:
1/ Creating a new constitution that gave foreigners the rights to land in Haiti. Today, land rights – intimately linked with food sovereignty – remains one of the biggest struggles. International projects – free trade zones, export-oriented agriculture like Agritrans, high-end tourist development such as that at Île-à-Vache, or mining – threatens this right.
2/ Creating an army – which had devastating consequences of human rights violations and massacres, not to mention setting the stage for the Duvalier dictatorship.
3/ Appropriating wealth – the U.S. stole $500,000 in gold reserves on Dec. 17, 1914, right before the Occupation. During the occupation, National City Bank took control of Haiti’s central bank. Since this time, Haiti’s financial management remains under international agencies’ rule.
4/ Centralizing political and economic power in Port-au-Prince. Regional economies were undermined as nearly all wealth and all industries were developed in the capital. Political power was also centralized. These factors contributed to the hyper-urbanization, and certainly after the killing of the Haitian pig population in the early 1980s. The 2010 earthquake exposed the consequences of this centralization in the “Republic of Port-au-Prince.”
5/ Fanning the conflict with other neighboring countries, certainly the Dominican Republic – it is not coincidence that the Dominican state chose the date of 1929, wherein if someone was born after this date their citizenship status was revoked in 2013. The U.S. occupied both sides of the island for several years, triggering a migration of Haitian laborers to cut Dominican sugar cane. Since Jun. 18 of last year – where tens of thousands were either expelled or left ‘voluntary’ fearing mob violence – this situation has become a crisis and massive human rights violation.
6/ Submitting the country under international agencies’ tutelage – many in Haiti argue that the Occupation that began 101 years ago has never stopped. The 1915 military occupation prepared the ground for foreign control of development and fiscal policies. Haitian sovereignty has been eroded ever since. The debt claimed by international agencies was the opening for what used to be called “Structural Adjustment” programs, where international agencies forced the country to be open to foreign products, especially U.S. rice. In effect, Haiti was turned into a dumping ground for the U.S. and neighboring countries. In addition to this direct control, the 1915 Occupation prepared the country for what Sauveur Pierre Etienne called an “invasion of NGOs.” After the earthquake, Haiti was often called a “republic of NGOs” undermining state capacity and authority. This “humanitarian occupation” is accompanied by a U.N. invasion. These troops, who have brought cholera to the country with several documented cases of rape and sexual assault, have immunity.
More:
http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume10-4/People’s%20Tribunal.asp