Page 4
February 2005
The AC Phoenix
If ElectioM Cun Happen In Iraq, Why Not Haiti?
By; Bill Fletcher Jr.
—Guest Columnist—
Having helped to bring about the horrendous mess that has been
unfolding in Haiti following the overthrow of elected President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Bush administration faces a
tremendous dilemma. There is no stability at all. The puppet
government has proven totally incompetent in addressing anything,
ranging from natural disasters to the reign of terror by the thugs of
the former Haitian military. The obvious hope of the Bush adminis
tration was for a smooth transition, but there is nothing smooth
about the situation in Haiti.
In this setting of chaos, a peculiar proposal has begun to
emerge. Sort of like the emergence of a rash, with first one bump
and then more, various individuals have started to suggest that the
situation in Haiti is hopeless. Specifically, they suggest that it is
impossible for Haiti to return to stability in the near future and,
therefore, the elections that are scheduled to take place in the fall
of 2005 will have to be put off. Actually, this line does not end
there: The elections would need to be put off indefinitely, while
Haiti is placed under a United Nations protectorate to help the
country recover from its current trauma.
On one level, this may sound quite reasonable. Killings continue
to take place, particularly targeting supporters of ousted Pres.
Aristide. Leaders from his administration, along with ranking
members of the Fanmi Lavalas political party, are underground or
in exile. Unemployment is going through the roof. So, one may
ask, why not just put the whole thing off?
The first answer is contained in one word: Iraq. As you may
have noted, the Bush administration has been willing to push
forward with an election in Iraq, despite the fact that there is a
full-scale guerrilla war underway, along with the activities of
terrorists. There is no stability yet the Bush administration and
many of their allies believe that an election needs to happen in
order to send the right signal—whatever it may happen to be.
So, what about Haiti? The violence is certainly not on the scale
that is taking place in Iraq. But more importantly, the violence can
be continued largely because it is being carried out by supporters
of the government, otherwise known as allies of the U.S.A. Thus,
it does not take an Einstein to understand that, should the Bush
administration truly wish to end the killings in Haiti and provide the
groundwork for elections, it could do this with a bit of pressure on
both the puppet government and the thugs running around the
countryside.
It is amazing that a situation that the Bush administration repeat
edly described as being “out of control” under the leadership of
Pres. Aristide is now either ignored entirely or considered
unredeemable, short of a UN trusteeship.
Demonstrations are taking place in Haiti on a regular basis,
calling for the return of elected Pres. Aristide. If there is any doubt
as to who should be the legitimate leader of Haiti, then free and fair
elections would be the most effective means of establishing an
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answer. In order for elections to take place, the killings must stop.
This demands that the Brazilian troops, currently in Haiti under a UN
mandate, take a strong and unequivocal stand in favor of the rule of
law and break the backs of the armed thugs. It is clear to most
observers that the armed thugs allied with the puppet government
could not withstand a crackdown by the Brazilian military.
A crackdown must be accompanied by legitimate, independent
assistance in paving the way for new elections. Unfortunately,
assistance from the U.S., with the possible exception of some
financial assistance to an honest intermediary, seems much too risky
for many to take seriously. The destabilization project undertaken
against the Aristide administration by the U.s., including a de facto
blockade, makes any suggestion of U.S. involvement a source of
concern. The same can be said for France, which played nothing
short of a despicable role in the overthrow of Mr. Aristide. There are,
however, countries in the Organization of American States (OAS) and
the African Union, along perhaps with the Nordic countries, that
might be willing and able to assist in the transition back to
democracy.
We have to sop permitting our leaders to speak with forked
tongues. There is nothing special about Iraq that permits it to have
elections in a time of war—leaving aside the entire question of the
legitimacy of their proposed elections—while Haiti remains under a
cloud. There are some disturbing racial overtones to the notion that
Haiti is an eternal basket-case that can only be improved by being
caged as a UN protectorate. The basket in which Haiti is encased is
one that was woven by the U.S. and France a very long time ago. It
is time for Haiti to regain its sovereignty and be permitted to follow its
own path.
(Bill Fletcher Jr. is president of TransAfrica Forum and co-chair
of the anti-war coalition, United for Peace and Justice. He can
be reached at bfletcher@transafricaforum.org).
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