A reawakening of Haiti's democratic project

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Saturday, August 14th, leaving a trail of economic and infrastructural destruction in the wake of a politically motivated attack that shook the country on July 7th. The recent murder of president Jovenel Moise, and the attempted murder of first-lady Martine Moise, marks the apex (so far) of multiple pre-existing crises. Around the world, intriguing questions have risen over Haiti, an often forgotten, but indispensable nation, whose land is considered a global symbol of freedom.

Associating the murder uniquely and exclusively to the country’s public safety problem, as has been done by the international media, seems to be an oversimplified perspective. And now, with the earthquake, both new and old questions about Haiti’s capacity to recuperate will arise. In this series, we invite you to take a walk, understanding the crises, and what to do about it, from the perspective of someone directly affected by it.

Amidst the latest events in Haitian society, it is possible to observe a political decadence that paralyzes the country increasingly more, prolonging an already deep social collapse characterized by extreme social and economic inequality. 

Said zeitgeist, contrary to what some might believe, does not prevent the scaling of economic depression. Concentrated wealth did not convert in any way into GDP growth, the construction of factories or a gateway to more employment. Access to health, nutrition, work, social security, public transportation and other basic rights have become more out of reach as the country’s political issues reveal themselves through traumatic episodes.

About Haiti: it was the first black republic in the world, the first country to abolish slavery and one of the first to implement a modern democratic project, in 1805, guaranteeing plain citizenship rights to all Haitians.

 C.L.R James’ The Black Jacobins (1938) outlines the country’s difficult beginnings: Dessalines, leader in the Haitian revolution and emperor of an independent Haiti, divided the territory, redistributing blocks of land to small farmers and the poor. Right after him, Alexandre Pétion took that very land and redistributed it to his own generals, organizing the republic while forming an oligarchy and proclaiming himself president for life. This roller-coaster approach, in between progressivism and the maintenance of a privileged elite, by a lineage of leaders who were symbols of democracy, characterize the history of Haiti until today. Henry Christophe and other revolutionaries fought not only to build a country, but against oligarchical structures that became consolidated during Pétion’s time in power.

In international lenses, Haiti is always depicted as a synonym to chaos and an example of the need for constant intervention as well as the global South’s inability for social, economical and political independence. It, therefore, needs to be remarked that the concept of social justice and redistribution of the means of production has been formed in Haiti long before it was ever developed in European land. Haiti is the owner of a modern democratic project and an inceptual welfare state. Its first emperor, Jean Jacques Dessalines, was the first of multiple non-consecutive local leaders with a developed concept of political and social responsibility.

When invited to write this series I made it clear my intentions were not to focus on the many, already known, historical fragmentations and struggles the country has gone through. Instead, I would like to discuss the political meaning of said fragmentations and the conditions through which Haiti had to establish and reestablish a republic. My goal, essentially is to share Haiti’s history and current context, inciting empathy and understanding in outsiders’ minds.

The disruption of Dessalines’ democratic project was intertwined with the establishment of a social elite and the creation of repression tools applied with the help of countries willing to sell weapons, train armies and welcome this militarized elite into their universities, social circles and exclusive markets. The external support for the maintenance of Haiti’s elite was carried with a neocolonial approach: exerting control over them, meant exerting control over the independent country, silencing with weapons, the protests of an unarmed population that wanted the opposition’s democratic project and social equality long before the current political crisis. 

During Alexandre Pétion’s regime, a new judicial system was established. From the insurgent elite was born a mostly well-intentioned but misguided intellectual class. Native to Haiti, but formed in foreign countries (mostly France), these new lawyers and leaders applied French ideas in French to a mostly Haitian-creole speaking, Haitian born and bred, population. The officialization of the French language over the country’s mother language was explicitly against Dessalines’ original project and increasing the distance between different social classes and making communication and consensus even more unlikely. This phenomenon has also made social class diversity within government rarer.

The categories used by the intellectual class to help the country rise economically and politically were completely outside its cultural reality. This vacuum sustained the local elite in power while deepening social differences and reinforcing the idea of the majority of the Haitian population as “uncivilized”, “incapable of self governing” and therefore, needing European intervention or the control of Haitian-born but European-bred leaders. That reality is not exclusive to Haiti, especially in the Global South, but before multiple natural disasters and an increasingly well-armed elite, it becomes louder.

 It is important to reiterate that these structural problems do not empty the Haitian citizen’s responsibilities, as predicted in Haiti’s groundbreaking constitution. On the contrary, these issues should be an invitation to reclaim and embrace its cultural, social, political and economic reality.

The reconstruction of a strong, cohesive, state that can prove its already present, but hidden, political maturity starts with the recognition of each of the nation’s socially segmented groups, including migrants, immigrants and expats. A strong future for Haiti’s economy should recognize gender equality, its internal defense and institutions whose socioeconomic mechanisms reflect the country’s unique reality. The reawakening of Haiti’s democratic project starts with opening its educational institutions to all Haitians, forming leaders that reflect its diversity. To Ayiti, better days will come!

Today, we described the formation of Haiti’s elite. In the next segment of this series we will discuss other segments of  Haiti’s complex society and the local meaning of the word “mulatto”/mûlatre.