Haiti's Present Crisis: A History of Capitalist Expansion

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444,retired

 US Capitalism Will Never permit an Independent Black Nation off its Shores

I have to confess that my knowledge of Haiti's history and the Island itself which includes the Dominican Republic, is not extensive. I understand the general process and the role of colonialism but the only book I have read and it is an excellent one, is The Black Jacobins by CLR James. It's been a long time since I read it but it gave me a real feel for what life was like there.

This video is not bad and interesting in that it points to the role of French and Spanish colonialism and touches on the US position. When Toussaint L'Overtuere led a successful revolution for independence in 1791  Haiti became the first independent black nation. There is no way that US capitalism will allow a truly independent nation a few miles from its borders, let alone a black one, particularly as revolutions produce radical changes that threaten US capitalism simply by their very existence. As Julian Assange pointed out, the US didn't invade tiny Grenada to corner the nutmeg market. Remember the US under Clinton kidnapped Aristide.

Haiti is also populated by the descendants of slaves brought to that part of the Island of Santa Domingo by the French, and the 1791 revolution terrified the young US ruling class as their wealth was built on the backs of human beings transported in chains from Africa and sold as slaves on the US market. They were convinced, and they were probably correct, that the newly formed black nation would threaten their system as African slaves in the US would be inspired by the revolution off their shores and revolt.

As I watched this video I don't think I heard the term, capitalism once. This is usually the case as the term is consciously avoided even by the liberals. It's as if we live in no organized system at all. It was the birth of capitalism arising out of the womb of the decaying feudal system that gave rise to the struggle for markets and the domination of commodity product and the need for raw materials. It is good that the video points, in a sort of historical materialist way, to the cause of the crisis but stops at colonialism. Feudalism was a self sustaining social system where what was produced was primarily for immediate consumption and the appropriated surplus for the feudal ruling class. Power and wealth was in land. Commodity production and market activity was limited.

With the rise of capitalism and production being socialized and dominated by commodities for sale in markets far and wide, the labor process became more brutal and exploitative.  Commodity production is a brutal form of production which is why American slavery was so much more brutal than slavery in ancient times, it was predominantly for commodity production. The racism we see and others experience is part of that development as well. The destruction of the environment, felling of entire forested regions, misuse of the land is all driven by capitalism's rapacious and inherent desire for profits.

If we don't look at history in this way, with a class perspective we cannot understand why things are like they are and can easily fall prey to all sort of false arguments with, racist, nationalist or religious sectarian bias.  When I was young growing up in England, Ireland, a few miles across the Irish Sea was a backward peasant country.  I worked with semi-illiterate Irish immigrants who had never left their villages back home. It was still a very poor rural economy except sections like parts of the British occupied North which had industry and significant shipyards. The Titantic was built there. And as is always the case with rural people, their habits and expectations were very different from the "sophisticated" urban dweller.

As with the poor and underdeveloped in Africa and South America, the poverty and underdevelopment was subtly and not so subtly explained away as an "Irish" problem. They were stupid, dirty, backward., racially inferior I remember "no blacks, no dogs, no Irish" signs in boarding house windows before the race relations act.  We only have to read older English/British newspaper articles about Ireland to get an understanding of the level of racial hatred waged against the Irish. The Irish economy could not develop being the first and longest held colony of British capitalism. Ireland was forbidden to trade with the rest of the world as an independent nation and as I have mentioned before, there was no famine as tons of food was exported as cash crops as people died of starvation.

I am not raising Ireland as a way to undermine the racist assault on people with black skin as some sort of competition of the oppressed, the latter is by far the more savage, after all, their look different, another way to divide, but the process that leads to it is the same.  The history of Haiti is not Haiti's alone, it is the history of the development of capitalism on a world scale. And capitalism cannot solve it, cannot reverse the process. Only a world federation of democratic socialist states can end what we see in Haiti and throughout the world. As I watched these people it made me realize how lucky I am. Day in day out them and millions like them eke out this meager living, hounded, beaten, harassed and demonized seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.

It should be mentioned in any study of this history that when uprisings begin to take on a political character which they always will, and their goals conflict with the interests of the imperialist countries (in our case the US) who move to crush them as US capitalism has done time and time again in Latin America and the Caribbean are we to be surprised then that at times the anger and madness explodes in to mass violence? We have seen this in US history many times. I think it was Martin Luther King who said that, "Riots are the language of the unheard".

A good book on the development of capitalism and the working class with it is: The Many Headed Hydra by Marcus Rediker and Peter Linebaugh. I loved that book

War Criminal Bush. His Book: "Decision Points." US Censorship. War. Haiti.

War Criminal Bush: Draft dodger at the time of the Vietnam War. Liar to start the present wars in the Middle East. War Criminal in his pursuit of these wars. Author of recent auto biography Decision Points. The Wall Street Journal the mouthpiece of US capitalism collaborates with Bush in censoring his life and his work. They allow him to review his own book in their November 13/14 issues. No critical review for their friend. In his own review he is allowed to avoid any mention of these two wars or his draft dodging at the time of Vietnam. For more censorship see our comments on the Wall Street Journal and Haiti also below.

We have explained in this blog how the US is an extremely censored society. I read two articles in the Wall Street Journal today and yesterday which confirm our position. One is on Haiti. In a full page article the Journal discussed the cholera and earthquake catastrophes in this country this year. This article also discussed the extreme corruption and inequality of Haitian capitalist society. But and here is where the censorship comes in.

They managed to do all this without a single mention of the Aristide government of some time ago which had tried to do something to improve Haitian society for the poor masses and which because of this was overthrown by the US government. Yes the US, the so called land of the free press and freedom is an extremely censored society when it comes to talking about important issues such as how it overthrows governments which try and improve the lives of their own peoples. This article censored out the US role in keeping Haiti in a state of abject poverty, corruption and inequality and its role in overthrowing a government there that was trying to do something about these evils.

The other example of censorship is the coverage this paper gives in this weekend edition to George W. Bush's book: "Decision Points." To make absolutely sure there would be no problem the paper let Bush himself review his own book. Incredible. What about a critical review? No. Not a chance. After all this is the most important paper of US capitalism and Bush was their most mouthpiece for eight years.

Bush's review takes up close to half a page. Now this is the President who lied to take the country into two wars both of which are still going on. Hundreds of thousands have died on all sides. There is no end in sight. These wars are being fought to consolidate and increase the power of US capitalism in the region. This is also the President who has taken the country into debt such has never been seen before. Yet in an absolutely staggering example of censorship there is not a single mention of either of these two wars nor of the bankruptcy of the country. Censorship rules okay in the USA.

But it is not only that. Bush was a young man during the Vietnam war. He was the age for the draft. So was Cheyney his vice President. Neither of the two of them fought in the Vietnam war. Cheyney when asked why arrogantly dismissed the question by saying he had other priorities. But do you think this is mentioned in this review of Bush's book? No! Not a chance. The review leaves this out. And the Wall Street Journal lets him do this. Collaborates with him in doing this. More censorship.

I am reminded of the article by a journalist who was sent to interview the mother of a young man from a poor family from Indiana who was sent to fight in Vietnam. He did not have Bush's connections you see, so he had to go. He was later tried for war crimes and the journalist was there to talk to his mother about this. I broke down in tears when I heard the journalist report what happened.

He went to the family home, a broken down house in a poor working class neighborhood in Indiana. His mother came to the door and when she heard who he was and what it was about she said: "I sent them a good boy and they sent me back a murderer."

It would break any decent person's heart. But not the hearts of the Bushes and their class. For them it is only right, the working class and the poor are meant to suffer and fight the wars, they on the other hand are meant to rule and to live in luxury and be protected in every way, by their state, their press, their politicians, their media, by their fancy universities. It is things like this that make me hate the Bushes of this world with an unconditional hatred and makes me hate the rich politicians and elites like the Bushes and the censoring mass media which supports this system and make up its ruling class.

Sean.

Haiti. Cholera epidemic hits capital.

Nearly 600 people have been killed by Cholera in Haiti in the past few weeks. This is a disease spread by unclean drinking water and poverty. It is entirely preventable. We have printed some history of Haiti recently on our blog. Haiti is a nation where the overwhelming majority of the people live in extreme poverty. The reason is that over the centuries the major capitalist powers have robbed the country blind and have prevented it from developing.

US capitalism , or as it would be more accurately described, US Imperialism, sees Haiti mainly from the point of view of making sure it does not become a security threat, that is does not develop as a radical left alternative which could attract other nations in the area. The last government which tried in the most mild way to move in this direction, the Aristide government, was overthrown by the US. The Haitian people are left to the most miserable of conditions because this is what suits capitalism.

Doctors Without Borders record over 9,000 people with cholera and expect this number to rise significantly in the next five to seven days when the full impact of last Friday's hurricane is felt. At particular risk are the 1.3 million people still homeless and living in tents since January's earthquake. But Doctors Without Borders say that as well as these high risk people they are seeing increasing numbers of patients coming from the two large slums of the country's capital Port-au-prince. One heart breaking scene is described in the Wall Street Journal where a woman is brought to a treatment center in a wheelbarrow and another woman is beside her screaming: "I'm going to die. I'm dying."

Think of all the resources of the US economy. Think of the machinery and human resources of the US state. These have the capacity to solve the crisis in Haiti in a few months, put in clean water supplies, heath care for all, fresh food and so on. But US capitalism has no interest in this and it will never do it. They are only into making profits and fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to protect their wealth and power and profits. Think what all the resources being used to fight these wars and how an equivalent amount of resources could be used to solve the catastrophe in Haiti.

But this will never happen. Capitalism will never solve the crisis of the poor and the ill. It is addicted to increasing its own wealth and power. Only an international workers' movement which ends capitalism and remakes the world on a democratic socialist basis where the world's resources are brought together on a planned basis for the good of all can solve these problems. The US and international workers movement should rush resources to Haiti, to link with the Doctors Without Borders and help with the crisis there. At the same time it should take on the big capitalist corporations in the US and internationally and build a movement to end their rule and replace it with a democratic socialist world.

Sean.

Haiti and Poverty, the result of 300 years of capitalist robbery

Left: life just a few miles from the US. This could be stopped for a fraction of the cost of the war in Iraq

by Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world but has a rich history. It was the first independent Latin American nation and the world’s first black republic. From its inception, Haiti was under constant attack, either by direct military invasions and coups or by economic exploitation and assault. After the revolution, it was forced to pay millions of dollars to France because of the revenue that French capitalism said it lost from the ending of the slave trade. So from the beginning the newly independent nation was being plundered.

Interference in Haitian affairs by US capitalism has been non stop. The US occupied the country from 1915 to 1934 and has continued to destabilize and control it ever since. The US, through the International Republican institute created and funded a front political organization, the Convergence Democratique (CD) in 2000 as an alternative to the Aristide government which was attempting to introduce reforms to help the poor. These reforms angered the Haitian elite and its backers US capitalism and the Bush administration. The CD was unable to gain much support for its right wing pro US policies. The result was that the US and its proxies in Haiti overthrew the Aristide government in 2004. Aristide who now lives in exile has always claimed he was kidnapped by the US.

The present outbreak of Cholera that has killed 260 people is yet another blow to a country wracked by crisis. Much of the capital city of Port au Prince was destroyed by an earthquake earlier this year. The 80% of the city that are classified as slums are vulnerable. As are the 1.3 million people still living in tents since the earthquake. Cholera is a water borne disease.

The reason for Haiti’s poverty has nothing to do with natural disasters and everything to do with a small island next to a giant capitalist country which controls and exploits it. Haiti is a victim of US imperialism.

It is criminal that 1.3 million people are still living in tents after the earthquake earlier this year. The US is about to sell $60 billion in military hardware to Saudi Arabia, including attack helicopters. This is a regime that has religious police, publicly lashes women for being out in public without the accompaniment of a male relative, forbids Unions and gave billions of dollars to the mullahs in Afghanistan. Haiti could be completely re-built for a fraction of the cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Capitalism is a murderous system.

US Baptists stealing Haitian children--part of centuries of plunder in Haiti by US imperialism

So some US Baptists have been detained trying to kidnap 33 children from Haiti after the devastting earthquake that hit this month. The Christians claimed that they were trying to rescue "abandoned and traumatized" children. The group were members of "Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission" and claimed they were trying to get the children to the safety of an orphanage in the Dominican Republic according to reports in the mass media.


Of course, this may well have been true, but like all missionaries that claim to be helping the poor of the third world, the motive is not so pure, they are recruiting new members here.


What gets me about these people and the millionaire artists and singers that are now so concerned about the country is that the force they need to rescue Haitians from is the US government. US capitalism imposed and supported ruthless dictator Papa Doc Duvalier and his son, Baby Doc. The US kidnapped Haiti's legitimate president Aristide as its corporate media claimed it was rescuing him and taking him out of the country for his own safety.


Historically, Haiti has been looted and plundered by US imperialism and it is this force from which it needs rescuing. The fact that so many people die in the former colonial world is not due to the natural disaster itself but the fact that capitalism cannot and will not develop the infrastructure of the nations that it plunders for raw materials. Even when it visits them in search of cheap labor it develops only those areas and structure that make the extraction of the raw materials and surplus value more efficient. The rest of the country can rot.


The former colonial world has had enough of missionary visiting by now I would think.

Haiti. The policies of US imperialism which lie behind this catastrophe.

We print below the statement on Haiti by the ANSWER coalition.

Stand with the people of Haiti! What the U.S. government isn't telling you

We at the ANSWER Coalition extend our heartfelt solidarity to all of our Haitian sisters and brothers, as well as to all those who have friends and family there, as Haiti copes with the destruction and grief of the massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck yesterday.

All of us are joining in the outpouring of solidarity from people all over the hemisphere and world who are sending humanitarian aid and assistance to the people of Haiti.

At such a moment, it is also important to put this catastrophe into a political and social context. Without this context, it is impossible to understand both the monumental problems facing Haiti and, most importantly, the solutions that can allow Haiti to survive and thrive. Hillary Clinton said today, "It is biblical, the tragedy that continues to daunt Haiti and the Haitian people." This hypocritical statement that blames Haiti's suffering exclusively on an "act of God" masks the role of U.S. and French imperialism in the region.

In this email message, we have included some background information about Haiti that helps establish the real context:

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive stated today that as many as 100,000 Haitians may be dead. International media is reporting bodies being piled along streets surrounded by the rubble from thousands of collapsed buildings. Estimates of the economic damage are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Haiti’s large shantytown population was particularly hard hit by the tragedy.

As CNN, ABC and every other major corporate media outlet will be quick to point out, Haiti is the poorest country in the entire Western hemisphere. But not a single word is uttered as to why Haiti is poor. Poverty, unlike earthquakes, is no natural disaster.

The answer lies in more than two centuries of U.S. hostility to the island nation, whose hard-won independence from the French was only the beginning of its struggle for liberation.

In 1804, what had begun as a slave uprising more than a decade earlier culminated in freedom from the grips of French colonialism, making Haiti the first Latin American colony to win its independence and the world's first Black republic. Prior to the victory of the Haitian people, George Washington and then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson had supported France out of fear that Haiti would inspire uprisings among the U.S. slave population. The U.S. slave-owning aristocracy was horrified at Haiti’s newly earned freedom.

U.S. interference became an integral part of Haitian history, culminating in a direct military occupation from 1915 to 1934. Through economic and military intervention, Haiti was subjugated as U.S. capital developed a railroad and acquired plantations. In a gesture of colonial arrogance, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the assistant secretary of the Navy at the time, drafted a constitution for Haiti which, among other things, allowed foreigners to own land. U.S. officials would later find an accommodation with the dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, and then his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, as Haiti suffered under their brutal repressive policies.

In the 1980s and 1990s, U.S. policy toward Haiti sought the reorganization of the Haitian economy to better serve the interests of foreign capital. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was instrumental in shifting Haitian agriculture away from grain production, paving the way for dependence on food imports. Ruined Haitian farmers flocked to the cities in search of a livelihood, resulting in the swelling of the precarious shantytowns found in Port-au-Prince and other urban centers.

Who has benefited from these policies? U.S. food producers profited from increased exports to Haitian markets. Foreign corporations that had set up shop in Haitian cities benefitted from the super-exploitation of cheap labor flowing from the countryside. But for the people of Haiti, there was only greater misery and destitution.

Washington orchestrated the overthrow of the democratically elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide—not once, but twice, in 1991 and 2004. Haiti has been under a U.S.-backed U.N. occupation for nearly six years. Aristide did not earn the animosity of U.S. leaders for his moderate reforms; he earned it when he garnered support among Haiti's poor, which crystallized into a mass popular movement. Two hundred years on, U.S. officials are still horrified by the prospect of a truly independent Haiti.

The unstable, makeshift dwellings imposed upon Haitians by Washington’s neoliberal policies have now, for many, been turned into graves. Those same policies are to blame for the lack of hospitals, ambulances, fire trucks, rescue equipment, food and medicine. The blow dealt by such a natural disaster to an economy made so fragile from decades of plundering will greatly magnify the suffering of the Haitian people.

Natural disasters are inevitable, but resource allocation and planning can play a decisive role in mitigating their impact and dealing with the aftermath. Haiti and neighboring Cuba, who are no strangers to violent tropical storms, were both hit hard in 2008 by a series of hurricanes—which, unlike earthquakes, are predictable. While more than 800 lives were lost in Haiti, less than 10 people died in Cuba. Unlike Haiti, Cuba had a coordinated evacuation plan and post-hurricane rescue efforts that were centrally planned by the Cuban government. This was only possible because Cuban society is not organized according to the needs of foreign capital, but rather according to the needs of the Cuban people.

In a televised speech earlier today, President Obama has announced that USAID and the Departments of State and Defense will be working to support the rescue and relief efforts in Haiti in the coming days. Ironically, these are the same government entities responsible for the implementation of the economic and military policies that reduced Haiti to ruins even before the earthquake hit.

The ANSWER Coalition