March 9, 2024 - 8:00am
It has become insidiously normal to witness Haiti, among the most corrupt political basket cases in the world, veer from crisis to crisis amid coups, natural disasters, assassinations, gangsterism and failed governments. But the current crisis, which has been ongoing since 2021 when then-President Jovenel Moïse was killed by Colombian mercenaries (who gave the orders remains unknown), has reached new catastrophic levels this week, as the country seemingly hurtles towards civil war.
Where does one start? The government is effectively non-existent, as Haiti still has no elected officials. Millions are facing hunger. Cholera has surged. Fuel is scarce. There is no civic peace as armed gangs attached to demagogues and political movements practically rule the streets. Just a few days ago, gangs seized the airport and attacked several prisons, instigating a huge jailbreak and leading to a state of emergency being declared.
The head honcho of the gang alliance G9, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, declared that if current Prime Minister Ariel Henry didn’t resign and “if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide.”
Why Haiti has been a Hobbesian basket case for a long time is a very intricate question, one influenced by multiple historical and social factors weaved together to create a perfect storm.
Firstly, right after its independence in 1804, the country had to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to its former colonial master France. In return, it received diplomatic recognition to compensate for the slave owner’s loss of “property” — which it only stopped paying in 1947 — that severely deformed its economic development by encumbering the use of domestic funds to kickstart development projects. Secondly, like many postcolonial states, Haiti has been cursed with an oligarchic ruling elite which plunders the country for its own gain and dictatorially rules over an incredibly pauperised majority.
What’s more, it has been a victim of frequent interventions. The United States has treated Haiti like a semi-colony and supported many of the various regimes that have ruined the country, most notoriously that of Papa Doc Duvalier. The UN’s 2004 occupation was ostensibly geared towards “stabilisation”, yet it created the perfect environment for NGOs and international donors to go wild, thus creating a situation in which Haiti is barely sustained by external donations, rather than by domestic growth.
This process went into overdrive after the 2010 earthquake shattered the already exiguous state capacity and led to even more aid money flooding in, making Haiti less a sovereign state and more a dependency of the “international community”.
This void provides fertile soil for the reign of gangsterism the nation now endures. Politicians and oligarchs use gangs to intimidate opposition, impose their authority on communities, and extort money and votes. Their firepower has been bolstered by weaponry mainly smuggled in from the United States, often making them more powerful than the Haitian state’s security forces. Gang warfare has become the means of doing politics, which will only be to the detriment of the Haitian people.
Haiti — or Saint Domingue, as it was known back then — was in 1804 the site of surely one of the greatest moments in human history. For the first time ever, an enslaved people organised a revolution, emancipated themselves, beat off multiple great powers and created a new independent state — the first black republic — where slavery was abolished in toto. Which makes its current history of ruin and dependency even more tragic.
Ralph Leonard is a British-Nigerian writer on international politics, religion, culture and humanism.
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SubscribeNot another article blaming the West for the chaos in Haiti. It is solely the reponsibility of the Haitians to sort out their own problems. It is called independence and they have had it since 1804.
1804? What is happening today in Haiti must be the fault of Napoleon.
No mention of the genocide of the French Haitians, men women and children? “one of the greatest moments in human history”?
There’s more: the author could have clearly blamed Christoper Columbus but didn’t pick up the free money. Also the civil war that led to the formation of the other country on the same island, the Dominican Republic which today is as stable as Haiti is chaotic. So he blames “The West” and NGOs, agreed on the latter. What I am still waiting for is a reckoning on how much John Podesta and the Clinton Foundation have extracted from the wretched people of Haiti.
I am part of the West and deny that I have any responsibility for the Haiti chaos, however bad it is. I do not mistake the self pleasuring of pearl clutching for real action.
Now if you argue that I should support the UN, the WHO, or charities, then I would say fine… as long as they revert to their original purpose and not supply a rich seam of virtue to be mined by elite careerists.
Useless and half-hearted article. The freedom of Haiti as well as its ruin was achieved through the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Haiti’s once large white population. The fact the author didnt even mention it betrays his belief structure. As ever, the black community is portrayed as weak, incompetent dependents at the mercy of world events instead of a living, organic group with its own will. It’s racism, pure and simple.
Well said. His analysis betrays his own unwillingness to embrace his people’s own agency. He is still bound to a colonial mindset even though the colonists are long dead in the grave. I find it amusing.
“the black community is portrayed as weak, incompetent dependents at the mercy of world events instead of a living, organic group with its own will. It’s racism, pure and simple.”
Actually, that’s realism.
Race realism.
‘Firstly, right after its independence in 1804, the country had to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to its former colonial master France…..’
Japan was atom-bombed and recovered from that a lot faster than in 220 years.
‘Haiti — or Saint Domingue, as it was known back then — was in 1804 the site of surely one of the greatest moments in human history. ‘
‘;Slaughtering white people’ is not the same as one of the greatest moments in human history.
FAFO?
Haiti had the potential to be a prime tourist destination and exporter of premium products.
It’s typical of black commentators to paint the failures of this huge potential as a result of old whitey undermining them in various ways and they are therefore the victims, a sad and tedious narrative repeated across African nations with similar circumstances.
Ahhh..
That great all-purpose bogeyman, ‘The West ‘ is at it again.
Didn’t get past the first paragraph (or should that be paragrift?). I’m surprised there isn’t a Jewish world conspiracy lurking in the background.
So the Haitians killed as many French people as they could and the result today is that many Haitians are fleeing their independent country to live under French rule in French Guiana, which has an average income of about 16,000 Euros per person per year.
It’s hard to find polite words to describe the author.
That’s the way, blame the West for the countries problems, it gets blamed for just about everything else when third world states can’t govern themselves.
I agree with the writer’s implication that aid is not good for these countries, better to let them sort it out themselves. I suggest all aid from the West to more impoverished states should cease with immediate effect.
Haiti is a Francophone country in the western hemisphere, formerly colonized by a European power and with political and cultural systems modeled (however loosely) on European ones. By those standards, I would say that Haiti is part of the West. Therefore, if the West bears responsibility for Haiti’s chaos, then Haiti herself bears responsibility for her own chaos. Thus I wash my hands of the whole matter.
The West is losing its post-colonial guilt, since too much time has past. Grow the F up as cultures and solve your own problems.
I blame evolution.
Very discreetly expressed, and I entirely agree.
Haiti is a very violent violent place.