22 Apr No such thing

By all accounts, i should be conferenced out; but, i dragged myself out to another one today and was delightfully surprised by the fantastic talk given by Carolle Charles from Baruch College, CUNY. The event is the Bridging the Antilles: Caribbean Conference Spring 2011, put together by the students of the Jackson School on the UW campus.

Her talk, The need for a paradigm shift in the relationship of Haiti to the Caribbean, was a beautifully woven narrative that shifted through time, not disorganizedly, but, rather, in a delightful and engaging way. She and i agree on many points – a relief in so many ways. She began with the two tropes against which most people’s knowledge of Haiti begin: 1) Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and 2) Haiti was the first black republic, the first successful slave revolt.

So, she asks, why is Haiti the poorest country? It is the convergence of social forces, both internal and external.

What struck me most clearly were her two points of intervention in Haiti’s poverty:

1. Haiti must regain its sovereignty
2. Haiti needs to redefine citizenship

On the first point – Haiti is know as the Republic of NGOs. Through neoliberal policies, the food production system has been destroyed, the government has been nearly completely dismantled. And now, with the IHRC, reconstruction has been completely handed over to an oversight body that is only half Haitian and headed by Clinton. As one of her colleagues put it, “Clinton wants Haiti as a plantation.” And although the Haitian diaspora sends $1.8 billion in remittances, they have only one non-voting seat in the IHRC.

On the second point – Haiti has, for the entirety of its existence been a place of exclusion. As she put it, Haiti has a history of megalomaniacs in power – of despotism and corruption. In Haiti, the prince has power over life and death and abuse of power is the mode of governance, using bandits to maintain power. Duvalier had the Tonton Macouts, the military rulers had FRAP, Aristide had the Chimeres, and now, Sweet Mickey is in power (and he also has ties to FRAP).

In Haiti, there is a saying, “After God, there is the State.”

Haiti, she asserted, has never been a democratic state with a sense of equal citizenship, rather, has always been in a state of “How do we control the masses?” Historically, the majority of the population has been described as outsiders. The model of exclusion in Haiti has been defined as social apartheid. At the same time, external forces tend to exclude people also (see IHRC).

She goes on to say that NGOs are complicit in undermining the state, are all part of the neo-colonial project. Even Partners in Health participates in the problem – they control nine clinics and hospitals in Haiti, with a budget that makes the MOH jealous. And now Farmer is Clinton’s second in command. Has he sold out for power, or is it that he feels he can do some good in that position?

But what i appreciated most was that she also spoke of how beautiful Haiti’s culture is. She spoke of the colourfulness of the people, the joyful music, that in Haiti, “Life is there, life just strike’s you!” It is lively and colourful, with lush landscapes and a uniqueness that is of its own, even in the region.