05 Mar Aristide and my favourite theorists

I wrote about the support to bring Aristide to Haiti earlier this week. This is a follow up to that post.

I received a link to an open letter posted in The Guardian the other day to an open letter that has been signed by a rather impressive list of political theorists, intellectuals, aid workers, activists, academics, lawyers, politicians, etc., both international and local to Haiti (and the diaspora). My eye was caught by the header: “Haiti needs the world’s support: Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Slavoj Žižek and others call on the US, France and Canada to keep out of Haiti’s democratic process in an open letter to the Guardian.”

It is a beautifully crafted letter:

The powers that dominate Haiti have facilitated the return of the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier while discouraging the return of the twice-elected president (and Fanmi Lavalas leader) Jean-Bertrand Aristide. These powers, with their allies in the Haitian business community, have made it clear that they seek to delay Aristide’s return until after 20 March. They will only allow Aristide to return after a suitably pliant new government has been installed, to preside over the imminent reconstruction process.

We the undersigned call on the Haitian government to make the security arrangements that will enable Aristide’s immediate return, and we call on the international community to support rather than undermine these efforts. We call on the Haitian government to cancel the second-round vote scheduled for 20 March and to organise a new round of elections, without exclusions or interference, to take place as soon as possible.

The letter goes on – do read it.