Oppose US Occupation of Haiti

“Restoring Order”

The conservative Heritage Fund spelled it out: “We should rapidly deploy sufficient US military and civilian forces to help Haitians restore order in the capital of Port-au-Prince and in surrounding areas,” they write on their web site. They also clearly see the necessity of using the troops to prevent the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes from increasing their influence in Haiti. Nobody should be surprised if conflicts develop along these lines in Haiti. 

Obama also carried out the Heritage Fund’s recommendation of appointing Bill Clinton and George Bush to head up US initiatives in Haiti. Clinton has a long history of helping foster neo liberal policies there (low wages and privatization) as well as having supported the coup against Aristide. Bush is famed for his administration’s “relief” effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The failure to provide timely aid in Haiti shows that the direction of efforts in New Orleans was no mere accident, nor the product of the incompetence of one particularly stupid US president; it was the result of the policy of massive privatization. The fact that these two are in their present position regarding Haiti shows that nothing has changed.

One of the US military’s first steps was to seize control of the port and the airport at Port-au-Prince. Their priority has been to land more troops and lift out endangered US citizens. In fact, as the British Guardian newspaper reports (1/17/10) this is creating serious tensions with other countries – both rivals and allies – who are seeking access to the airport. 

Providing Urgent Aid

The main issue, though, is the delay in food, water and medical supplies reaching the Haitians. The US media gives the impression that the main reason involves “bottlenecks” at the airport, destroyed and blocked roads, etc. However, the US priorities are clarified by of Jarry Emmanuel, air logistics officer for the UN's World Food Program, who told the New York Times. "Most flights (allowed by the US to land) are for the US military. Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed. We have got to get those priorities in sync." This is the reason that, as al-Jazeera reports, “People could see helicopters flying overhead, US military vehicles in the city and aeroplanes arriving at the airport with supplies, so it was difficult to understand why little aid appeared to be reaching the people.” 

Meanwhile, a few Haitian troops and police are back on the streets. Already some clashes with crowds are reported. When US troops go out on patrol, as they inevitably will, what will their focus be?

The US press, ever a good predictor of coming US policy, is now full of comments about “looters” and near riot situations. This is to establish the justification here at home for direct repression by the US troops, including orders to shoot to kill. 

Return of State Apparatus

This shows priority of the US military which is, first to establish the presence of some sort of (capitalist) state apparatus until the Haitian ruling class can re-establish the Haitian state apparatus. Naturally, during a time of utter crisis such as now, the state apparatus will have to carry out some “humanitarian” aid. After all, capitalism cannot function and profits cannot be made if the working class is in such desperate straits. But this is purely a secondary by-product. 

Neighborhood Committees

There is and was a clear alternative to reliance on US (and UN) troops there. The 1985 earthquake in Mexico City shows this. As opposed to Haiti, the Mexico City earthquake did not devastate the nation as a whole, and therefore the state apparatus was not nearly destroyed. However, in Mexico City it failed to provide the forces for rescue and similar operations. As a result, neighborhood committees developed to clear the rubble, carry out rescue operations, etc. They showed how workers’ councils could start to develop. These neighborhood committees continued and flourished and out of them developed a mass community-based political movement in Mexico. 

In Haiti, there was already the infrastructure for such a development in the existence of the Lavalas Party, which has strong roots in the working class communities. Their base was demonstrated once again just last April, when Lavalas was barred from participating in the elections there. They called for a boycott and practically the entire Haitian population responded. Voter turnout was between 3-10%.

With little but their bare hands, Haitian workers were starting to organize to carry out rescue operations, including digging people out of the rubble. Within a day or two of the earthquake, Aristide stated his willingness to return to Haiti from his exile in South Africa. Given that the state apparatus – the military and police – had disappeared, he would have been able to do so without being killed. He could have then helped build an organizing center for rescue operations. Neighborhood committees, possibly based on the Lavalas Party, would have inevitably developed further and would have started to coordinate their efforts. With the return of Aristide, these committees would have started to take on a national role, including controlling both the port and the airport, in order to coordinate aid. 

Naturally, these tasks would have spilled over to the tasks of the daily running of society.

Working Class Appeal 

Most of the foreign troops are composed of working class people. Especially given the history of racism in the US and the racial composition of the US troops, as well as the severe economic crisis at home under which many of these US soldiers are suffering, they would be very open to fraternization by Haitian workers’ committees.

Now, several unions are mobilizing aid for Haiti. These same unions have a long history of acting as a front for the CIA and the US State Department. Their efforts to mobilize aid are positive, but it is likely that it will be used to buttress the aims of the US administration, rather than to help Haitian workers free themselves from the chains of poverty. Especially on the East Coast, many of these unions have a large Haitian membership. The IWW and other anti-capitalist forces within the labor movement can play an important role. We should involve ourselves in these efforts and through this make direct contact with our Haitian fellow workers. Through this, we should seek means of campaigning for: 

• A real, worker-based aid program.
• All foreign troops – including US and UN – out of Haiti.
• Direct links between the Haitian workers movement – community groups and unions – and that of the rank-and-file workers here in the US.
• Fraternization between Haitian workers, international aid workers (including from Cuba and Venezuela) and US and other troops.