Rising with Haiti: Justice, Dignity, Reparations!

- Marie Dimanche, Frantz Andé and Yves Engler -

Protesters recently lobbed a Molotov cocktail and set fire to tires in front of the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince. At another rally, protesters threw stones at Canada's diplomatic representation in Haiti and a protester was filmed holding a sign saying, "Fuck USA. Shit France. Fuck Canada."

Although disturbing to most Canadians, these acts reflect the anger of an impoverished people who are tired of foreign governments managing their affairs.

For more than a year, Haitians have engaged in a remarkable popular uprising against a corrupt and repressive president who is backed by foreigners. Since September, schools and businesses in Port-au-Prince have been largely closed due to demonstrations opposing the president, racism and economic inequality. Haitians also reject Canadian foreign policy.

Jovenel Moïse remains president because he has the support of Ottawa, France, Washington and other members of the so-called "Core Group." Canada is providing the unpopular president with significant financial, diplomatic and police support.

Over the last 15 years, Haitians have increasingly identified Canada as one of the foreign powers holding significant historical weight over their country. On January 31, 2003, Ottawa hosted a secret meeting -- revealed by eminent Quebec journalist Michel Vastel -- to discuss Haiti's future. No Haitian representative was invited to the summit where senior U.S., Canadian, French officials and representatives from the Organization of American States discussed the overthrow of elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, placing the country under international trusteeship, and the resurrection of the dreaded Haitian army.

Thirteen months after that meeting, the United States, France and Canada overthrew Aristide. Over the next two years, they imposed a government responsible for thousands of deaths. The coup d'état also gave rise to a United Nations military force which, by dumping its feces into the waterways, caused a cholera epidemic that claimed the lives of 10,000 people.

Rally at Justin Trudeau's campaign office in Montreal, October 12, 2019, demands
that Canada withdraw support of illegitimate regime of Jovenel Moïse in Haiti.

Following the deadly earthquake of 2010, Canadian leaders continued their inhuman and undemocratic agenda. According to internal government documents that the Canadian press examined a year after the disaster, officials in Ottawa were concerned that a power vacuum after the earthquake would lead to a "popular uprising."

A "secret" briefing note explained that, "Political fragility has increased the risks of a popular uprising and fuelled the rumour that former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, currently in exile in South Africa, wants to organize a return to power."

The documents also explain the importance of strengthening the capacity of the Haitian authorities to "contain the risks of a popular uprising." To control the traumatized and suffering population of Haiti, 2,050 Canadian soldiers were deployed alongside 12,000 U.S. soldiers and 1,500 UN soldiers (8,000 were already on site).

One year after the earthquake, the United States and Canada forced presidential candidate Michel Martelly, from third to first place in an election from which Aristide's party was barred. Martelly is the mentor of Moïse, a central figure in the billion-dollar corruption scandal that recent protests tirelessly denounce.

It comes as no surprise that Haitians are angry with the Canadian government.

However, another Canadian position is also being proposed. On October 31, the Quebec National Assembly unanimously approved a motion affirming "our unreserved solidarity with the Haitian people and their desire to find a stable and secure society." It calls for "support of any peaceful and democratic resolution that emanates from stakeholders within Haiti's civil society."

A week earlier, the Concertation pour Haïti, a group of Quebec NGOs and unions, called for "Canada to make the right choice and use its influence within the international community to support" a presidential transition.

Last week, David Suzuki, Amir Khadir, Roger Waters, Maude Barlow, Yann Martel and more than 100 other writers, musicians, activists and teachers signed an open letter inviting the Canadian government to stop supporting a corrupt, repressive and illegitimate Haitian president.

On November 17, Solidarité Québec-Haïti is organizing a demonstration in solidarity with the popular revolt movement in Haiti.

Join us !

Marie Dimanche is the founder of Solidarité Québec-Haïti #Petrochallenge 2019. Frantz André is a member of Solidarité Québec-Haïti and also represents the Action Committee on Non-Status Persons. Yves Engler is a member of Solidarité Québec-Haïti and the author of 10 books.

(Solidarité Québec-Haïti #Petrochallenge 2019. Translated from original French by TML Weekly Photos TML.)

This article was published in

Volume 49 Number 27 - November 16, 2019

Article Link:
Rising with Haiti: Justice, Dignity, Reparations! - Marie Dimanche, Frantz Andé and Yves Engler

    

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